I saw God today!

Well, last night.  Seriously, this is the absolute coolest most amazing thing I've ever personally seen and experienced! Take a look at this picture.....

Now take a better look at the picture hanging on the wall behind us.  Do you see that woman in the right corner of the picture?  We have no idea who she is.  An angel maybe?!

The only other people in the house at the time of this picture was my mother in law and father in law.  That lady is NOT Mrs. Barbara.  Her face is rounder and her hair is feathered out. Neither of which is a description of my mother in law.  Looking at her, it is as if she were standing by Mr. Kevin and Mrs. Barbara and she got caught in the reflection of the glass.  When I look at her, the only description I can give is that she looks very content,serene.

We've been traveling back home a lot lately to spend time with Mr. Alfred.  He's been diagnosed with cancer and his chances of beating it are very slim.  This picture was taken a little after we learned about the diagnosis at his house. 

I have no idea what made me take a look at this picture last night but I did.  I just knew everyone was going to laugh when I brought this up, but those who have seen it all agree that it's not Mrs. Barbara, but they do see her. Mrs. Barbara and Mr. Kevin actually went over to Mr. Alfred's house and attempted to catch themselves in the reflection of the glass just to see if there was a possibility of it being Mrs. Barbara.  They weren't able to do it.  I am completely beside myself over this.  I think we've all been a little down lately and the comfort that he has someone watching over him is good. Think what you may, but I choose to believe that it's an Angel.  It's good for the soul and there is no other explaination :) 

So, for those of you who are down over something going on in your own lives (and I know there are a lot of us right now), I hope this brings you comfort and hope.    

Man I'm boring...

Sometime Tuesday night, I came to realize something.  I can no longer carry an interesting conversation with people who do not have children.  How sad is this?  Okay, well, maybe mostly guys, because girls don't usually mind you babbling on about your child, but still.  I mean, I've always been a little reserved around people I don't know, but those I've been friends with for years?? 

I can't believe it's taken me this long to notice this but it has.  While driving back from MS this past weekend, we stopped to have lunch with a college friend of ours.  I did have to focus on a slightly irritable child, but thinking about it, I think I may have said a total of ten words directly to our friend.  I'm sure they were about Madelyn too!  Then on Monday, we had lunch with another friend who had been visiting and I felt like a total outsider.  Seriously, I should have just taken Madelyn to play while Jeremy had lunch. 

I don't really know how much this bothers me, but I do find it rather comical.  It's like I've left one "club" in order to join another.  They don't understand us and we don't really have much in common anymore :( Really.  I can talk all day long to someone who has children.  I can even talk to people I barely know! But have me entertain someone single, I'm in trouble.  I wonder if I'd even be able to flirt anymore?!  If anyone would even find me "sexy" (other than my husband) and he came up to me, I imagine the conversation would go a little like this:  Hi.  I'm ___________ .  Care for a drink?  Me: No thanks!  I don't want to get home too late.  My daughter will have me up pretty early and hangovers with a two year old are no fun!  FAIL. And don't even get me started on dancing!  Ha! I couldn't even do that BEFORE Madelyn!  It's a good thing I'm happily married and won't have to be submitted to that again, God willing!    I guess I've truly closed that chapter in my life where I wore cute flirty little outfits and pranced around like I knew I was hotstuff.  Now it's more conservative, practical, yet still very cute outfits and my scene is the park instead of bars...Oh how times have changed.... 

A Southern Gentleman!

I don't know about you, but I was raised in the South.  This means boys and girls were raised with "southern charm".  I say this because I do realize that in other regions certain things we look at as common courtesy can be frowned upon.  Well, around my "neck of the woods", these things were just expected.  Yes Ma'am, no Sir, please, thank you, holding doors for women and elders, giving women and elders your seat, etc.

From day one, I have tried to drill these things into Madelyn.  We always make her say please and thank you as well as other things.  It's just expected.  However, I see that these things just aren't as important to most as they used to be.  Why is that?  Your guess is as good as mine!

Well, today my faith was somewhat restored!  There ARE still people who think like me!  We were at a playdate at a friend's house.  Madelyn and her friend, Eva, are so girly and really are just precious to watch :) Anyway, back to the point!  Eva and Madelyn had been sitting in two little princess chairs. A boy named Brady sat in the one Madelyn was in so she began saying " I want to sit down."  A very sad puppy dog look took place with this as well.  Usually, this goes by ignored and the child left out gets over it.  Well sweet Brady got up, held his hands out to the chair and offerred it to Madelyn! I seriously about fell out! I've never been so proud of a child that was not my own :)  Pam, his mother, got so excited when she saw it too.  She said she's been trying her best to teach him to be a gentleman and this is the first time he's applied that!  Maybe Madelyn's just that special ;) I'll keep an eye on Brady as they get older as he could be a very good prosepect for a first boyfriend haha!

  

Precious Tutus!

I wanted to take a moment to talk about a friend of mine who has just launched her new tutu store!  I know tutu's have been a bit over done lately and to be honest, I know most of you are thinking "Ugh, not ANOTHER tutu store."  BUT, I have seen her girls wearing a few of these in person and they are wonderful!  They are so much more classic than the ones I've seen and aren't just your every day cutesy little girl tutu!

She offers full length dresses and skirts.  I just LOVE what she's done which is why I am actually taking it upon myself to promote her work!  Along with her classic looks, she also throws a little fun in there which is great for the holidays or whatever event you may have in mind.  I'm sure she'd also be willing to do something special for you as well :)

So, if you're interested, or know someone who may be, please take the time to hop on over to http://www.daisyandlilly.com/ and take a look! 

Yet another "moment"

  Well, two really.  I love it when Madelyn says cute little things.  I guess because kids don't really think about what they're saying, they just say what they think.  This is probably the reason I enjoy the toddler/ preschool years the most!  Anyway, on to the events!

I pre-ordered Beauty & the Beast way back in August! As soon as I heard it was coming back out, I knew we'd be getting it and I wanted the one that has all three discs.  I didn't dare tell Madelyn it was ordered because I knew she would not understand the waiting process.  Well, the release date was Tuesday and we still hadn't gotten ours in the mail....Not a happy momma!  Thank goodness she's not old enough to realize when things are out yet :) Anyway, we got it in the mail today and I was SO excited (this and Mermaid were my childhood favs).  I came back in and said, "Guess what we have in the mail!!!"  She came running over and as I opened the package and showed her the box, her face lit up and she screamed out the name with the most excited and animated voice ever followed by "wow!"  We then watched it three times IN A ROW!

Later, while I was taking her to potty, she said, " Mommy, you're my favorite!"  hehe so cute!


Isn't it fun hearing what your kids think up and the innocence they have in their little lives!! 

One day, I'm going to start a never ending post that contains all the cute/funny stuff she says and does...Anyway, hope you all have had a great week!

Race Day Results

So, Saturday went well!  The race was fun and fueled my competitiveness!  I'm thinking I'll do another one for two reasons.  1) I really want to run with my Dad atleast one time. 2) I want to run in a "real" race. 

This was the Susan G Komen race for the cure 5k.  Walkers were also signed up to do it which caused a real road block for runners.  (That is my excuse for why my numbers weren't better than the were!!)  Running through the start line was like fighting  a crowd on Black Friday --only slower!  So...my friend and I decided to take to the sidewalks which turned out to be a good decision :) It took a good half mile to get ahead of the huge walking crowd and back into the rest of the group.  From there, it was smooth running!

At one point during the run, I thought I was going to crash so, shamefully, I walked for a minute :( But, picking it back up, I rounded the course to see the finish line! Once I saw the crowd welcoming everyone in, I knew I had done it!  Yay for me :)  I made sure to stomp on that finish line in one large victory in itself!!!! With that, here are my results:

435th out of 956
24th out of 49 people in my division (broken down my age and gender)
223/648 Women
31:52 minutes
The overall average for racers was 34:22
Around 10 1/2 minute miles (my best outside run is 10:13)

This all means....I was in the top 50 % and my time was better than the average!!! So, although I didn't WIN (well, duh!) I consider this a pretty good start and a victory :)

Now, my pictures aren't so great because my camera is terrible, but I have a couple from a friend, and they'll be uploading the rest of theirs shortly!!! Thanks for all of your support these past few months!!

Beautiful morning for a race!!

Thanks to my "coach"!

All those walkers I was talking about plus many more!

Madelyn had to be a part :)

My sweet girl!

More to come when I get them!!!!!