Happy Trails to You

Today was officially my last day of work - I was assisting on events as needed as my boss is looking for a replacement - so I sent out the officical "goodbye" email. I considered not sharing on my blog because I didn't want it to seem insincere, but it's a memory for me. So here goes...

"I know I’ve sort of kind of been gone already for a month, but as I’m finally officially leaving I couldn’t very well leave without emailing any sort of goodbye. Although I know I’ve made the right choice, and I’m blessed and excited to have time to spend with my babies, this change and transition is intimidating as all hell and I know that I’ll miss this place. I can’t do individual thank yous, because it will wreck me (and conveniently nobody is actually here today) so I wanted to sum it up in a way that will likely not make sense to anyone… but here’s hoping:

It was a pretty fantastic thing when a line from my favorite movie was mentioned in one of my favorite TV show years ago. Young Dawson was troubled because there were too many changes coming up and it was intimidating, so his girlfriend explains that the part everyone remembers about the Wizard of Oz doesn’t resonate with the rest of the movie. Everyone remembers the line “there’s no place like home” but forgets that home is a gray, dust-bowl of a place where an old lady was trying to kill your dog. Oz on the other hand is Technicolor and along the way you make friends. There are these people you never knew existed growing up. Straw people, tin people and lions – and throughout the shared journey you help each other realize that the things you want to be, you already are.

I basically just moved to Cleveland when I got this job, and like the chapter now before me, it was intimidating. But I made friends… so, thank you for being my straw people, tin people and lions. Working for the Cavaliers has been phenomenal opportunity – but I know the reason I loved this job so much wasn’t the day to day but the people who filled it. Please keep in touch, I plan to."

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus, Timeout!

Bella loves singing happy birthday to Baby Jesus before we had my family's tradition of coffee cake breakfast. It's all super sweet and melts your heart, but my favorite part is when she goes to hit the high notes, it's so cute!

Then we had a talk about where Baby Jesus from the nativity set was, because he spent a lot of the Christmas season missing. Turns out he was currently in timeout, again. He was missing for over a week at the beginning on the month for touching the Christmas tree, and apparently on Christmas Day he had done it again. tsk tsk.

here, Joseph and the three wisemen had to have been up to something because after Bella went to bed we found them all in trouble. Timeout!

Feliz Natal!

I love that we've had the opportunity to go see the same Santa with Bella so we can watch her grow with each consecutive year. and now we watch as our family grows long with St. Nick as well! It certainly adds to it that this is hands down the best Santa I've seen - and he's legitimately great with the babies. Miracle on 34th Street anyone?

2010 - Bella 2 1/2 years, Austin 9 months

2009 - Bella 18 months

2008 - Bella 7 months

MeRrY ChRiStMaS!

Moving Pictures

This post, like many to follow, is long overdue. in the late summer I saw previews for "Tangled" and was so excited knowing immediately that this would be the first movie I took Bella to. Our first mommy/daughter date night! The movie was scheduled to be released in the middle of November so I bought a couple of the Rapunzel books and the doll thinking that if she was at least familiar with the characters and the story, she'd stand a chance to actually sit through the movie. I waited until the day before to bribe her for good behavior with promises of the "Punzel mobie". She was simply angelic those next 24 hours. So the day it was released we bought tickets for the regular screening (I knew it'd be expecting way too much for her to keep the 3D glasses on) bundled up and headed out for our big afternoon complete with a lunch and the movie.

She. did. amazing. She was giddy the entire lunch but settled pretty quickly and quietly into her seat once we got to the theater. (note to self for the future: toddler's aren't heavy enough to keep the fold-down seats down, it literally swallowed her up - much to her laughter - every time I took my foot or hand off her chair, so I need to bring a booster seat next time.) Bell was completely enamored the entire time, not so much as cracking a smile at the funny parts because she was watching too intently. In fact, each time the three teenagers next to us would laugh she would turn her body but not her eyes and "shhhh" them, it was hilarious! It wasn't until the very end of the movie when the hero is riding through the castle to save the princess that Bella started crying... so I just walked her to the aisle and we watched the rest of the movie spinning in circles so she wouldn't see the brief moments I thought may scare her. I have to say, Disney didn't disappoint at all, it was a fantastic movie! Even without the excitement of watching it with Bella, I really enjoyed the entire thing and can't wait to buy it when it's released on DVD.

When the movie ended she was in such a good mood jibbering on and on to whoever we passed on the way back to the car showing them her Rapunzel doll she brought with her from home and telling them as much about the movie as they'd patiently wait and listen to. AND as the bragging mom I couldn't help my chest from swelling a little with pride each time we were stopped and received comments about how cute she was with her curly hair and doll in hand. It was easily one of my favorite moments with her and I look forward to more special moments and memories as she's getting older. That girl, she lights up my life, quite literally.

getting ready to go...

enjoying a quick bite before the movie...

Bella's first movie? check.

"Ten Things from 2010" Photo Edition

Our Christmas family newsletter (yes, I'm one of those) but complete with pictures...

1. On March 19th Austin Lee was born at 8 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches. The newest addition to our little family quickly filled a void we didn’t know was missing and we’ve settled fairly seamlessly into a family of four.


2. Bella is a fantastic big sister to Austin – she simply loves to love on him. She's so proud of her ability to trap his attention and he's more than content giving it to her.


3. Justin and I celebrated five years of marriage with a weekend trip to Chicago. Joined by my sister, Andrea, and brother-in-law we went on a boat tour, caught a game at Wrigley Field, ate deep-dish pizza, went to the top of Sear’s Tower and spent time on Magnificent Mile shopping. No one could tell we were tourists I’m sure.


4. Bella’s vocabulary increased abundantly and we are the receiving end of her hilarious, rambunctious and independent spirit that’s newly evident through words and phrases she’s learned.

okay, no picture for this, but you can watch her sing "bringing home a bumblebee" here

5. Austin has smiled throughout each and every day he’s been alive and has blessed us with every single one of them. It’s not uncommon to get stopped when we go out from people commenting on his smile.

6. We were blessed and thankful for the opportunity to give the Lord what is His in September when we dedicated Austin at church. It was one of the first moments of truly relinquishing ownership of our child and recognizing that he is the Lord's.

((no photos of this one but the video of his dedication is here!))

7. Because we didn’t have enough on our plates, we put our house on the market two days after Austin was born. We’ve had multiple open houses and a few showings but no love from buyers. If you know someone looking, tell them to buy our house. but seriously…

this was taken the day we bought our house in March 2005

8. Acquiring the attention span to (almost) watch a full-length movie, Bell’s love of Disney Princesses has increased despite Justin’s best efforts. fine, despite mine too.

9. Bella and Dana recently enrolled in Mommy and Me gymnastics (or to Bella: “doodastics”) and it’s become the perfect outlet for her extra energy. She loves it and I love watching her obvious pride of the new tricks she learns weekly.


10. In the middle of November I left the Cleveland Cavaliers and took my talents south to Olmsted Falls, officially becoming a stay-at-home mom. A month later we’re still in the process of adapting to one another on a fulltime basis, but I’m already sure the right decision was made!