Kind words, give them and get them

Last week, we took Marty out for his birthday to Applebees. Behind us sat a family with two young children, actually a infant and a toddler. The whole time we were there, we never heard the toddler. When I stood up to leave, he started waving at me and smiling huge smiles. Being the kid person that I am, waved and smiled back. As I walked by, I told him hello and said, "You were such a good boy, I didn't even know you were back there." His mom beamed as I looked her in the eye and his grandma said, " He is a good boy". I remember back to when my kids were younger and how much it meant to me when people complimented my children. My favorite compliments were from my grandparents, telling me what good kids I had and what a good mother I am. Those still reasonate even though they are gone. This weekend, a older couple told me what well behaved children I had. I was glad to hear that because lately at home, they have been not so well behaved. Then today, a friend/old co-worker told me, "You are lucky to have a good husband and father for your kids. You have a really nice family and you are lucky." WOW, talk about a good feeling. For me, that means so much. One thing, Marty and I both come from broken homes, where we didn't grow up in a traditional family setting. We feel so blessed, to have something we always longed for in our childhoods. The second part, is no matter how sick Marty gets, it could be so much worse. We could be miserable and unhappy. But, we aren't and we are blessed even more. So the moral of this blog, when you see a behaving child, be sure to tell the parent. When you see a family that you admire, tell them and encourage them. You never know what goes on behind closed doors and how much that may encourage them.

Connerisms

Conner has been on a roll lately, I know how much many of you enjoy his little "Connerisms" so I thought that I would record them for posterity.

After hearing someone worry, he said, "Worrying is hard work." , wow! Pretty insightful and true.

We took Marty out for a birthday dinner the other night. He was wanting the Orange Chicken bowl. My mom had it last time we went and it was spicy. So I told him, "It's spicy, you won't like it." about three minutes later, he turns to Marty and says, " I want the orange chicken bowl, but I heard it was spicy." I cracked up laughing, I love it how he "heard" it was spicy.

Not a Connerism per se, but very cute. On Valentines day, he bought his sister a card. Upon later inspection by Elizabeth and I, we found out it was a card "To my brother with love." he thought it was "from" brother. Even funnier, he signed it "bro bro" So cute and heartwarming.

At baseball tryouts, he got a chance to stay late to help out. When he was putting on his gear, he said, "It's called showcasing Mom!" Oh dear! Then two nights ago, while watching pairs skating. He asked, "Why doesn't the guy pick the girl up by her blade and swing her around. I want to see them do that!" Oh dear!

Olympics

I am so excited the Olympics are here again, I love the winter Olympics especially. I have been a life long ice skating fan and loved to ice skate when I was younger. One of my most favorite memories comes from the 1984 Olympics. I remember sitting in my Gramie's den, on her lap and watching Scott Hamilton skate to Olympic Gold. I was hooked! Then in 1984 the Olympics came to LA and we got to experience the Olympics in our hometown. It was fun watching the torch run go through our hometown. I remember taping and watching the Opening Ceremonies over and over. Then of course, the famous Nadia miniseries came on channel 5 and my life changed. I became obsessed with all things Nadia and gymnastics. I also had that on tape and watched it everyday for two years. Then of course, the 1988 Olympics and the battle of the Brian's, I loved Brian Boitano. Katrina Witt won her gold medal that year, beating out Debbie Thomas. I have so many fond memories of watching the Olympics as a young girl. Now I love teaching my kids about them and watching along with them. Someday they will be my age and remember where they were when they watched. Conner loved seeing We Are The World premiere during the Opening Ceremonies. He said it was cool that when I was young the first one came out and now he is young and the second one came out. So if you wonder where I am for the next two weeks, you know I will be glued to the television.

time to blog again

Slacker, such a slacker. I need to blog more often, recently I have been in a slump. I always have things in my head to blog about, things the kids said or did, things I want to say( sometimes I must refrain from saying, lots to blog about. Maybe I just need to be random, actually I am random as it is, but maybe just put my randomness down on paper. ~ I am happy to be who I am ~ Three F's state who I am ~Faith is the foundation, proud to be a daughter of the king. ~Family is number one, I am part of something bigger than myself. ~Friends are really important to me. I am blessed to have some really great friends. I recently shared my life's journey at a missions meeting. It was very emotional to see where I have come from and look to where I am going in life. ~kindness is important, just a little goes a long way. ~time is wasted by being rude in any manner ~treat others as you yourself would want to be treated and love your neighbor as yourself. Words to live by. ~live life with no regrets, it's a waste of time. ~ if someone is hurting help them ~if someone is hungry feed them ~listen more than you speak( that's a hard one! I love to talk) Just some things that are really important to me. Things worth saying, things I want my kids to know about life, things that I work hard to instill in them for the future. I told you it was randomn.