Miss Sandalwood

This past week was the Miss Sandalwood pageant at Sandalwood High School. Alexis was gorgeous!!! She had a wonderful friend backstage helping her to change her clothes and touch up the make up and hair. It was great having someone back there so I could enjoy watching her during the show. 

She sang Reflections from the movie Mulan and did sign language while singing acapella. I personally think her talent was awesome but of course, the judges didn't agree. 

She didn't place in anything but she is such a great woman that she is happy to have had the chance to be in the pageant. She is also happy for the girls who placed and the girl who won. 

I'm so proud to be her mother and to be able to see her perform!!!!

Few things I've learned

These are just a few things that I've learned from 2011.

1. Facebook is great for keeping in touch with out of state people.

2. Facebook is replacing relationships with people. No phone calls, face to face conversations, etc

3. Life is short so enjoy every minute to the fullest.

4. People will let you down and then pretend they didn't let you down.

5. I don't want to be the source of someone's pain in their life.

6. Kids grow very fast and are changing constantly.

7. There will always be the people in your life that think they know what's best for you and your family. Even when they don't.

8. To not expect a phone call back when I hear, "I'll call you back".

9. To love myself and how I look. (Still a work in progress)

10. To enjoy my family as much as possible.

Just a few things that I've learned this past year. Hoping that 2012 will bring better things for everyone.

Love

What is Love?

I've heard it said that love isn't just a noun, it's also a verb. That is so true.
It's easy to say I love you to someone but it may be hard to show that love.
When you say I love you to someone, do you just say it in passing? Mean it? Prove it?

I know I'm probably stepping on toes but this has been on my heart for a while.

When someone feels unloved they deal with a lot of different emotions at one time. Indifference is the same as not loving someone to me.

Love is a choice. You can choose to show love or choose to show dislike. Whichever you choose can make or break someone's day.

I just hope that everyday I am able to show my husband and my children that I love them and not just say it to them.

Crazy life

The start if this school year has been a whirlwind.

Alexis got a job right before summer ended and is now juggling school, homework and work.

Autumn wanted to get back into tumbling so she's prepared for high school cheerleading. And also wanted to take a contemporary dance class. And now she's helping teach a dance class too.

My girls like to keep me busy (which I normally don't mind). But there was a lot going on the first few weeks that we are trying to get back into routine for school.

I love that my kids have different interests and are involved in more than just sitting at home playing video games. Alexis is in drama at school and is a wonderful actress. I'm looking forward to watching her in the plays at school. And looking forward to Autumn's recital at the end of the year.

Just a little taste of the craziness that has become my life this month. Hopefully it will slow down soon. :-)

Respect

What is respect?

We are taught from a young age to respect our elders, parents, friends, belongings, etc. But what do you do when you get disrespected all the time?

Should you be disrespected for what you wear? How young you look?

I have been dealing with people disrespecting me because of my age for as long as I can remember. It's tough being a young mom as it is and being told what I should wear and how I should raise my kids bothers me. I thought by now in my life that people would see me as a peer not a child that they have to talk down to.

My feeling with respect is: you give respect to earn respect. It's hard to show respect to someone who treats you horrible or indifferent. I know that you're supposed to treat people the way you want to be treated but that is a hard thing to do.

This is one thing in my life that I need to work on.

NYC fun

This past weekend Alexis, Sharon and I went to NYC. This was Alexis' 16th birthday present. We flew up early Friday morning (which was hard for me since I haven't flown in a long time). The plane had tvs on the back of every seat so it made it a little less scary to be on the plane. We landed in NYC early and hopped into our very first taxi cab. I have heard how bad the taxis drive but wasn't really prepared for the experience. We got to our beautiful hotel and checked in, left our bags with the bellman and headed out to explore the city. We walked to Times Square and I have to say that it was amazing. We enjoyed looking at all the different buildings. I love how there's a modern building next to an older building with lots of character. It was soon lunch so we stopped in a little cafe to eat something. Headed out for more exploring. In the afternoon we went back to the hotel to rest up for the broadway show we were going to that night. We got to experience real New York style pizza and I have to say that it was delicious. That night we walked down to the Gershwin Theater to see Wicked. Alexis was beyond excited to see that play. She is a drama kid through and through so a broadway show is right up her alley. Amazing show!!! And when we left the city was all lit up and it's definitely breathtaking.

Saturday, we rode a subway for the first time. Alexis didn't really enjoy the ride so when we got off at Grand Central Station we got a taxi to the museum. She wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History (you know the one from Night of the Museum). Spent a few hours exploring in there and then walked through Central Park to get back to our hotel. We stopped in Central Park and Alexis asked to get her face drawn by one of those street people that draw characters of people. It was a nice relaxing time just sitting watching all the different kinds of people in New York. Made it back to the hotel and rested some more.

Sunday, we made sure we got up and left the hotel in time to get to Serendipity. It's one of those places that you need to be there early and stand in line to eat at. We decided on ice cream for lunch, because that's how we roll when on vaca. I had the best hot fudge sundae ever there. Alexis enjoyed the whole experience there. After we ate she was ready to head home so we headed to the airport. We arrived home and have been smiling ever since.

It was a magical experience to spend a weekend with my beautiful teen and Sharon. I will never forget this trip.

Fun vacation

We just got back from a great weekend at Discovery Cove in Orlando. We were so excited to go because we've never been there before. We've been to Disney a lot, Islands of Adventure a few times, Universal and Sea World. All the different theme parks are fun but this is definitely different. The cost of the experience is worth it!! We rented a house about 20 minutes away from Discovery Cove and drove to the park. We were close enough to Disney that we were able to go into Downtown Disney a couple of times for our favorite treat, Ghiradelli ice cream. Yes, when we are on vacation we have ice cream for dinner.

The whole weekend was a surprise for my uncle Dave who was turning 55. I don't remember ever going on a family trip with him so I was really excited to spend a whole weekend with him and his girlfriend, Ceil. He had no idea that we had this planned.

Friday afternoon we showed up at his house and when he got off work just drove to Orlando. The house we stayed in was really nice and had a screened in pool.

Saturday morning we got up pretty early and got to the park by 8:10am. We wanted to get a good time for our dolphin experience. We check in and are given lanyards with picture ID's to wear all day. We proceeded to go inside and saw a two-toed sloth. I've never seen one of those up close and personal. There were photographers that take your picture when we first come inside. We then got lockers and either wetsuits or vests to wear. Let me say that the water is pretty chilly. Our dolphin experience was so wonderful that it's hard to describe. After we were worn out from a full day there, my uncle, Ceil and dad went to the Jax Sharks game in Orlando. It was really neat that they were playing down there the weekend we are there.

Sunday we got up and went to Aquatica. I have to say that was a cool waterpark to go to. I love our waterpark here but that one was bigger and some crazy rides. We rode almost everything and some things multiple times. Aquatica had an option on their website to order a picnic lunch for a family for an awesome price. So we ordered that and didn't have to worry about standing in line for food or spending a lot of money. We definitely wore ourselves out being in the sun and water all day that day too.

This was an unforgettable weekend for our whole family. And summer has just started so there are more trips to enjoy and new experiences to be had.