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!



Birthdays, Best Buddies, Butterflies & Barbies

Top reasons Dylan and ShayBugs are buddies:

• Dylan is the only boy who will play "the handsome prince" during playtime
• Shaylee never has to worry about anybody pickin' on her when Dyl's around!
• "Pink Stuff" isn't ONLY for girls!
• Both like to be silly
• Dyl's not afraid to play with Barbies
• Shaylee is one tough cookie!
• 2 words: CHOCOLATE & MISCHIEF!



I took Shay and Dyl to Applebees on my birthday...They ate this ENTIRE thing up, just the 2 of them!

 

Happy Birthday Shay and Dyl!



Cutest Ever!



You want WHAT?

Aunt Kathy treated us to an amazing dinner @ Tepanyaki and, afterwards, we headed over to have a visit w/Santa...Talk about 1 excited little boy!  The list started with the following things...

On the way to visit Santa Dylan added 1 more thing to the list...A million dollars...To which Santa responded "Well I don't know about the million dollars!"



Disappearing Bellies

So last night Dylan was laying on my belly and started to rub it. I jokingly said, "Hey...don't jiggle my fat." His response was, "You should buy some vibration tea. What happens is that you drink it and it goes all the way down to your belly and the fat disappears.  They also have this mix stuff that you can buy at the store...It tastes like lemonade and it gives you lots of energy."  I can't wait to get my hands on these fine products!

Scary School Projects...Boo!

Halloween Hooligan...

Pickin' Pumpkins