Favorite Quotes of the Week

"I'm Home, I'm home, it's time to take me home..." (Lil Man's interpretation of "Hi Ho" by the Seven Dwarves

"Can't go to swim lessons today." Why not? "There's a monster in the pool!" (Lil Man's reason/excuse for not wanting to go to his swimming lessons. Gotta love his creativity!)

"Bill ate Ben." (OK, not true. One of Lil Man's frogs passed and this is his explanation for what happened. But, have no fear, we got him a new frog - and his name? Ben)

Bringing Joy to Others

This story warmed my heart and I had to capture it. Lil lady is nearing 7 months old (woo-hoo!!). She is a 13.3 lb bundle of joy, full of smiles, giggles and jabber-chatter. She's a little social butterfly! (I LOVE that peanut girl!!!)

During the day, our good friend and neighbor takes care of Lil Lady while we're working. On this particular day, she needed to deliver some of her Avon orders and took peanut along to an assisted living community.

When she walked in with Lil Lady, a man and his wife (new to the community) spotted her immediately and made their way over to her. As they approached, it was clear that he was crying. He proceeded to say, "Thank you, thank you for bringing her here today! God bless her." And he handed our friend a penny and said, "here's a penny for her piggy bank."

(I'm getting goosebumps as I type.)Our friend continued to say that more people came up to her, wanting to see Lil Lady than she had seen before. She saw many new faces. Some people approached with arms outstretched, wanting to hold Lil Lady. Others extended their finger for peanut to hold onto. Once she grabbed a hold of it, a clear shot of immediate joy spread through these men and women, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, grandmothers and grandfathers ... like lightening.

Peanut is very expressive and made her many faces. She has a smile that radiates, beaming throughout her whole body. She smiled, cooed, laughed and chatted with everyone. Loving each and every person, bringing joy and smiles to light up their day.

It was clear that she brought a great deal of joy to these men and women... maybe reminding them of their family, of being parents, bringing back memories, taking them back to a different time, or just bringing some joy to their day. Lil lady has this infectious effect on people - making them smile a little bigger, turning a serious expression to a happy one, etc.

I can't wait to share this story with my peanut girl someday. She did more that day in just being her loving little self that many people ever do. I'd like to think about what the men and women thought of her overall, how she made them feel, and how she impacted their day. I can't wait for her to go back again!!

It prompts me to ask, what have you done today to bring a little joy to someone's life? Sometimes just being yourself or doing the simpliest of things can brighten someone's day. I challenge myself, my family, friends and everyone out there to pay it forward. Have you done something nice today?

What your excuse?

Three-year-old-isms:

"I can't go to swimming lessons. There's a monster in the pool!"

"It's too windy, I'm going to swallow the wind!"

"Papa you're getting smaller, mama you're getting bigger."

"I can't go to school today!"

Mine's Bigger ... My Earthquake that is

Today was a first. We were sleeping (wish I could say soundly, but I had recently gone back to bed after nursing lil lady) and then at apx 4:00 AM, we were awoken by the room shaking. We experienced our very first earthquake!!

My husband and I are both from the Midwest, so this was definitely a first. The good news is that no one was hurt, the kids didn't wake up and the dog didn't even bark (which is a miracle as he is quite a talker!!).

Two things I had to share. The first is an email that my husband sent to my entire family (which is split between living in IL and California) - mom, dad, sisters, brother, etc. all included. The second speaks to the immediacy of social media and its impact on how we communicate.

First, here is my hubby's email (not for the faint of heart or anyone easily offended).

Subject: Mine's Bigger...
My Earthquake that is - it's bigger than yours. We we're awoken at 4:00 AM this morning by a 4.1 earthquake, which is pretty substantial for the Land of Lincoln.

- The house started shaking
- We woke up
- Stephanie said "WHATS THAT?"
- I said "Earthquake, go back to sleep"

How ya' like me now California???!!!

The second is about social media. You see, I did not go back to sleep after the earthquake. I was a little shaken, no pun intended, so I decided to see what was being said on TV. I turned to all of the local news stations, waiting for a moment... and then nothing. No breaking news, nothing. I then went online to see what Yahoo news or MSN would have to say, but again, nothing. (I actually thought that maybe I was delusional. Maybe it was not an earthquake at all.) So, I turned to Twitter. I got on Tweet Grid and typed in earthquake. There I found it. A stream of tweets that was running as fast as it could, trying to keep up with all of the new tweets. There, and within minutes, I was able to find out that it was a 4.3 earthquake and that the epicenter was just outside of De Kalb, IL.

Later the news stations caught up, but it was social media that prevailed with the fastest account and urgency on the day's anomaly. Our world is changing and I can't wait to see what happens next!!!