Happy Birthday America!

Ahh the carefreeness of being almost two just puts a spring in my step.



My first smore!


A seasoned smore eater.


What can I say? She is the dancing Queen.


Lindsey steals some of Amanda's shade.


The sugar induced coma is just beginning.

It is Time. . .

Ahh those famous words of Rafiki.

It is time for me to loose some weight. Now I realize you are probably thinking I should not be too hard on myself. I'm not. I think I have some pretty good excuses for putting on 10 ok 20 ok 30 extra pounds. However I realized that I don't want to look back at my Disney pictures some day and see my extra pounds. I want to look at those pictures and see a great time and a lovely family, including me. Do I care too much what I look like? Perhaps, but I'm ok with that:)

So I am planning on starting the South Beach Diet. I've helped George through it before but I've never really dieted before. That's the reason I'm blogging about it. I figure if I blog about it I will be more compelled to actually do it. In the past when I needed to loose weight I just needed to start excersising and drop 5-10 lbs. No biggie. However, recently I looked in the mirror and thought "mother of Ben and Jerry I need to loose some weight!" (Another indicator was that my maternity clothes are snug and Christin beat me in a race) So here I go, about to begin on the first real dieting attempt of my lifetime. . . tomorrow (seriously!)

As I embark on this journey do you have any words of wisdom for me?!?! Or just mean things to keep me going to prove you wrong (for example, "Hey Shannon, I have a picture of you and you look huge! Good luck with the diet!")

A Friend Loves at All Times

So I've done some ranting and raving about how well meaning people can be insensitive but I'm not sure I've shared how stinking awesome people have been to us. First of all the cards, gift cards, money etc. has been wonderful. People have thought of everything from giftcards to shoprite, Denney's, Friendlys, some nicer restaurants, and even giftcards to Build-A-Bear for the girls. As if that wasn't enough some people have gone above and beyond.
Some of our close friends from church (who shall remain nameless since we don't even know who they all are!) have decided that our family needs a vacation. While we couldn't agree more they have gone above and beyond and are sending us to Disney World. You know the place were Mickey Mouse lives?!?!?!?! They have taken care of our flights, hotel, food, and even a little spending money. I'm sorry to tell you that I have to coolest friends. You may think your friends are great, mine are better.
We also have another fabulous group of friends who paid for the girls and I to go to Camp Hebron (check out the pics in the Moms and Tots album). These are awesome camp friends who I haven't seen in years, yet God, in His wisdom, told them exactly what we needed and they obeyed by twisting my arm until I agreed to go (thanks girls!). The girls and I had so much fun together. I cried every day but the laughter far outweighed the tears. I was able to laugh and really enjoy my wonderful girls plus have some grownup girl time. I truely did heal so much in just 5 days.
So yeah, I pretty much have the most wonderful friends!

Imitation: the highest form of flattery!

My children, like all children, like to pretend that they are other people. Christin is a fan of pretending to be religious characters. This sounds like a great thing but rarely does it end well. Recently the girls were taking a bath when I noticed I hadn't yelled, "Stop splashing," "Don't touch anyone!", or "Why is she crying?" for awhile. As always, when it is quiet I worry that there is trouble. A quick peek in the bathroom assured me no one was hurt yet, and Christin is retaining the Bible stories we tell her. Lindsey was sitting in the tub crosslegged facing Christin, eyes closed. Christin had handfuls of bubbles which she was spreading on Lindsey's closed eyes. When Lindsey started to protest (due largely in part to the pain, I'm sure) I heard Christin say, "This is the mud! I have to put it on your eyes so you won't be blind anymore!" I don't believe the Bible story says that Jesus first blinded the man with mud but whatever:)
Now for Lindsey. Lindsey is a shape shifter. She becomes whomever she is around. I often feel like I live in a cave. Everything Christin says is echoed by Lindsey in words, tone, and gesture. It doesn't have to make sense, she just repeats. She has two things she has picked up from me saying "darn it!" and putting on makeup. Fortunatly she cannot get into my makeup, unfortunatly she can get into mom's. On a recent trip over there she covered herself in make up (lipstick and foundation) and pulled apart some stuff in mom's room that mom was just telling me how proud she was of herself for putting together (oops). When Lindsey came strolling into the piano room thoroughly proud of herself Mom and I both scolded her as we went to survey the damage. Lindsey just carefully smacked her lips together to make sure her lipstick was even, it wasn't.
We are hoping that Nana will let Lindsey come over again sometime in the next couple of years.

What Not To Say

First let me say that this is not an angry blog. Sometimes it amuses me the things people say to me. I know that no one is being heartless, however, in the effort to say the "right thing" people often say the wrong thing. Sometimes it makes me angry but usually I just nod my head and later laugh about it. So here it goes, a list of things not to say to someone grieving:

1. "I know how you feel" You don't, no one does, grief is such an individual process that unless I have told you how I feel there is no way you can know. No two people feel the same way. You can only know if I tell you, and even then my feelings can change in an instant. Which brings me to

2. "How are you doing?" Talk about a loaded question. I feel this is the question people use to test out their rusty Psych 101 skills. Good=Denial Bad=Depression or Anger. I've decided "We're OK" is the only appropriate answer, it keeps people guessing (unless of course the took more than one psych class:)

3. "Are things back to normal?" I'm not sure I even understand this question. There is no way to go "back" and I'm not even sure what "normal" is. I believe what people are trying to ask is if we are moving on but for some reason people are afraid to ask us that.

4. "Are you going to try again?" Ok, many of you whom I LOVE have asked me this but can we stop and think about this. I feel the connotation with this question is you failed, don't give up. We didn't fall of a horse people. There is no getting back on. Jack's death is not a failure, we had a successful pregnancy that resulted in a baby. I believe what you mean is, "Do you think you will have any more children?" (we don't have an anwer to that question yet)

So if you ever come across a person in grief here is my suggestion:
Give them hug. Tell them you love them and are praying for them. Ask them how they feel they are coping. And if you are really close to them ask them if they have any plans for the future. Lastly, gage their mood and make a suggestion to do something to either allow them to cry or give them the freedom to laugh (or both:)

I hope this post is informative and at least a little amusing. As painful as Jack's death have been there have certainly been times of laughter (admittedly sometimes at the expense of others ie: laughing at peoples' "I feel sorry for you face":)

As a side note: Jack continues to make an impression on our girls. Lindsey still prays for him and Christin will still get sad and miss him, she is however, not above getting fake sad at bedtime in order to stay up later and talk and we are seeing fewer real tears everyday!

We still appreciate everyones prayers and thoughts!