I'm strong to the finish!

Dylan is laughing his head off while watching old Popeye episodes. And, for some odd reason, there is an empty bag of spinach sitting on my counter. What a nut!

...Just a simple carol...

Last night Dylan's cousin, Shaylee, was here playing. Right in the middle of them playing Dylan jumped up and said, "I need to go sing a Christmas song to the neighbor." With that, he ran upstairs and put on his church shirt and ran out the front door. A couple of minute later he came back with a box of chocolate from our neighbor, Cindy. She thought it was the most adorable thing ever!

Brrr!

"Mom, don't you dare shovel the snow till I get home from school 'cuz I wanna help do it!" Not to worry o little love of mine...Not to disappoint! I will be inside in my jammies sipping hot cocoa and working...Brrr!

Cutting it short...

So we were waiting to get Dylan's hair cut today and he was trying to talk me into letting him get a mohawk. I told him he needs to look nice for his Christmas pictures so he gave up on the mohawk idea. Before long, Dylan pointed over to a guy getting his hair cut. The girl was trimming the short hairs on top around the nice round bald spot in the back. With all seriousness, Dylan pointed and said out loud, "Well can I at least get it cut like that guy and just have the middle bald then?"

Deep thoughts by Dylan Findlay

"Mom, I think when I grow up I'm going to be a farmer. Farmers don't have to go to church 'cuz they're too busy feeding the animals."

UGH!!!

Me: Dylan, I am tired of picking your clothes up all over the house. When you change your clothes why can't you put them in your hamper?
Dylan: I can definitely see where you're coming from, Mom.

Deep Thoughts by Dylan Findlay...

"Mom, when I grow up then my wife is going to work and I am going to play football!"

I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!

Don't Mess with the Princess!

"If your heart beeps then that means you're alive...But if your heart doesn't beep then you're died." --Shaylee Saddler

Happy 6th Birthday, Dyl!

Six fabulous years ago I became a mother. Oh, how time flies! Every time I think back to the day Dyl was born I remember every little detail about it...From going into the hospital the night before to waiting to hear the sweet little cry of my newborn son, and then my mom bringing Dyl over to me saying, "Look, Nicole...He already needs a haircut!" Today is a celebration of one fabulous, amazing kid! I am in awe every time I look at Dylan and realize the talents and awesomeness he has been blessed with. Today as I reflect back on the past 6 years a lot has changed...and every little bit of it is happy and cheerful and wonderful, all because this little boy was born into my life. Happy 6th birthday, little man! Mom loves you more and more every day!

Happy 100th Day of Kindergarten!

It was quite the event in kindergarten today as the class celebrated the 100th day of school.  A donut, 100 treats and a wonderful celebratory hat!  It was also Dyl's day to bring home the book "Curious George" with the class "George."  I thought both these pictures were cute and couldn't decide which 1 to post so thought I'd post both.  You may see a lot of pictures in this same spot...my office...as I gotta catch Dyl when he gets home from kindergarten and before he goes to adventure camp.  Otherwise we'd forget all together!  Crazy life!

Airborne! ...Look out below!

When the cousins come down there's certainly no lack of ENERGY!!! Since the adults were about to go bananas--and it was too cold to send them outside--we figured we'd take the kids for a bouncin' great time at Airborne. We thought they'd be worn out from jumping wall to wall like a bunch of crazy monkeys...Nice thought! The party had just begun!

Is it Spring yet?

We love snowmen...But we're ready for some SUNSHINE!

Mama's 'Lil Dragon

Happy Days

I had a miserable day today. Ok...I guess it wasn't miserable, but that's the only big word I can think of right now. It was one of those days when I gotta wonder why I got outta bed. It began when I splattered hot oatmeal down my jammies and all over the kitchen floor, breaking the glass bowl into a million tiny pieces...and ended with me sitting here typing on my blog about how bad of a day I had. :) Work: stressful and exhausting; Weather: blowin' cold, rainy and windy; Toilet: broken; Attitude: in the toilet; Mood: irritable; Printer: out of ink; Head: hurts; TaeKwon Do: late... I know it doesn't sound that bad but I like to feel sorry for myself every now and again to liven things up. Pretty sad when your child tells you that you need to set a goal to be NICE! ugh! Life is definitely not perfect around here but I appreciate God for mixin' it up a little bit here and there. Wouldn't want life to be too boring. Besides, there's always tomorrow to try it again! Keep up the smiles and keep a truckin' along!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." — Dr. Seuss (Oh, the Places You'll Go!)

Truths about who I am...Cheap therapy!

Ok...Randomly I'm going to share little thoughts about the way I look at life. Scary, I know! I'm not much for sharing "feelings" or really getting too personal with too many people so this is going to be a definite challenge. Although reading these so-called "thoughts" may convince you I need a good dose of therapy, the "Nicole" you thought you knew will probably be lurking inside somewhere.

Let me start by pointing out a few known facts that belong in the world of Nicole:

1. Chocolate and a 44 oz cup of Diet Coke can solve any problem.
2. When you get rid of all the fluff you realize most people just want to feel validated and understood.
3. The world is full of good people doing good things without anybody knowing it.
4. When you know better you do better.
5. It's impossible to do something nice for someone (with a genuine heart) and feel bad about it later.
6. What goes around comes around!
7. There is no reality...Only perception

I could add and add and add to that list but the blogger police would probably come and take my computer away for taking up so much space. At the ripe 'ole age of 37 I'm only beginning to somewhat understand myself. I've sailed through life with lots more good times than bad but have never really been at peace with myself. I can't really pin it down to 1 particular thing. I know I'm a little insecure at times, sometimes a little bold and opinionated, goofy, moody, and all sorts of other stuff all wrapped into 1.

This will probably end up sounding like a bunch of babbling rigamaro but who cares? You can always stop reading if you fall asleep.

In my mind, I've never really believed that anybody "gets" me. When I got to thinking about the "why's"---I had a very big "lightbulb" moment. After much deep thought I came to this conclusion: I am a pleaser...Always have been. It was important to me growing up to be "liked" by everyone. I spent years and years and years sacrificing time, freedom, self-esteem, money, you name it. The hardest life lesson I've learned so far is that you can never be anything to anybody unless you're true to yourself. I've always been insecure about my weight and have always felt that, in order for people to like me, I had to go to the ends of the earth to be a good friend, wife, sister, daughter, whatever. Somewhere in there I lost ME. I have since realized that those who matter don't care about what size I was and never did. I have also realized that what I've viewed as "weight discrimination" was my own perception about myself, not reality.

I don't know what has changed in my life. Actually, I do. Dylan is the reason I refuse to live in chaos and insecurity. Being a mom has changed me, moreso over the last year for some reason. I'm at peace with myself. "Normal" to both me and Dyl is the family we have. It may not be "traditional" but it's perfect for us. I realize how lucky I am that I have a good job. Qwest has been extremely good to me and, unlike many single moms struggling to survive, I am only required to work 1 full-time job instead of 3. I'm so proud of Dylan's strength and abilities and I love him more than I have ever loved a human being in my entire life.

No apologies to anyone for who I am. Apologies for the many mistakes I make, as they are many. Friends have come and gone and I treasure those who have stuck around. I no longer have tons of friends, but the friends I do have, both young and old, are amazing to me. They remind me I don't have to be anything except what I already am.

My extended family dynamics has also changed over the past year or so. After a few years of drama and conflict, I've decided to take a step back and excluded myself from participating in all the childish games. My Mom and Dad are wonderful grandparents to Dylan and he loves and adores both of them. They make an effort to attend important milestones in Dylan's life and I appreciate that. We have some amazing, beautiful children in our family and I want to be someone they can all look up to and come to if they need anything. I don't really feel the closeness to all of my siblings as I'd like, but times are good when we get together. FINALLY a little bit 'o comfort...Dylan deserves it and I'm committed to it...

Peace and love and everything fabulous to all those cheering us on. Gratitude for those little acts of kindness sent our way: Always appreciated, even when we don't know who you are. Many thanks to positive role models and the teachings of respectability and honor in Dylan's behalf. Loves, Nic

Changin' it up!

I know, I know, I know!  I have been a total loser lately at keeping up on my blog.  Eventually I'll gather up the ambition to go back and post Christmas pictures and such...promise! 

I've been thinking about my blog and the reasons for posting on it.  My whole purpose of this blog is (because I'm horrible at keeping up with photo albums and scrapbooks) I'd like to have something for Dylan to look back on and treasure. Therefore, I'm planning on changing up my blogging style just a bit.  My goal this year is to not only blog about events and milestones, but also to go a little bit deeper into the details of our lives...What we do on a normal day, who we see, who we're grateful for, those kinds of things.

I feel like I have so much to be grateful for and God sends miracles every day to remind me of that. I plan on including little stories and tidbits about those we treasure most and why they're such a blessing to us. There is never a day that goes by when I don't thank God for the life we live and for the people in it.  To many our adventures are small but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Lazy Sundays and Sunshine...

It's a Jungle out there!



Announcing Jordan Ridge Elementary's amazing performance of "The Jungle Book" starring Dylan Findlay as Baloo!


 

Forget about your worries and your strifes!

Dyl and his best friend, Elephant Nicholas

  

So my friend, Tamara Baggett, teaches at Dylan's school and this is what she had to say about Dyl's performance in front of the school (and I quote, directly from Facebook) "Dylan was the cutest thing today!!  His LOUD voice with his lisp was the greatest! I could have just eaten him up. He was the hit of the operetta!!"

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Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts Tracy, Kathy, & Leslie, and cousins Chase and Shaylee all came to watch the grand performance...Dylan was a hit!