Brides Against Breast Cancer

I wanted to bring to everyone's attention an organization called Brides Against Breast Cancer. You may have heard about them recently on various talk shows, such as the Today Show and Oprah.

This organization sells donated wedding dresses to raise money and provide an opportunity for metastatic breast cancer patients’ dreams or wishes to be fulfilled. Their wish-granting service helps put the realities of this terminal illness aside, if just for a few days, while providing the opportunity for a family to spend quality time together. Their hope is that every metastatic breast cancer patient will be able to pass from this world comforted with the joy of having left his or her family a final beautiful memory—something the family will look back on and remember for a lifetime.

So, how can you help? Please consider donating your wedding dress to Brides Against Breast Cancer. Your gift, including shipping cost, is tax-deductible. And please help the cause by passing this information along to others who have been recently married.

I know many may find it difficult to part with such an important reminder of your special day, or may want to save your dress for your daughters. I struggled briefly with the decision myself. But, keep in mind that with this donation you will be helping create a special memory for a dying woman and her family.

Disneyland

We just returned from 5 days in Disneyland with the kids, and it was soooooooo much fun!

Day 1,Friday: We leave for Disneyland in the afternoon, and the drive that normally takes us about 6 hours takes us 7.5 hours due to rain.   Ugggh! We get to our hotel, the Candy Cane Inn, at about 10:30 at night and we are all cranky and tired. Not a great start. We have a room with two queen beds, and the kids absolutely refuse to sleep with each other. Heaven forbid someone's feet might touch the other. So, I sleep in the bed with Kayla, and Andrew sleeps with Matthew.

Day 2, Saturday: I awaken in a much better state of mind. I look over and see that Matthew is hogging the entire bed, and poor Andrew is literally on the very edge. I wake him up and we laugh at the kids sleeping habits. Andrew describes one of Matthew's nighttime moves as "Jesus on the Crucifix" - he frequently throws both arms out in a t-formation and gives you a whack to the face. Kayla, on the other hand, is fond of jujitsu at night. She gives you a wicked, double-foot side kick to the stomach, and a backwards head butt to the nose. Both kids love to snuggle up very close while they are sleeping, which is one thing that is absolutely wonderful about sleeping with them.

We get ready and head to the park. It is packed! Way more packed than when we were there in the summertime. We manage to go on Pirates of the Caribbean with no wait, and two other rides before the lines easily reach 45-60 minutes in length. We stay off most of the big rides. We have lunch and watch the Jedi Training Academy. Matthew has to purchase a light saber after the show with his Christmas gift card money. We head back to the hotel after lunch for some much needed naptime, and then we go for a swim in the hotel pool. Swimming in February you ask? Yep...while it may only be 60 deg out, the pool is a cozy 90 degrees. Very fun.

We head back to the park around 5 and try to get some wine over at CA Adventure. It is packed, and now I'm annoyed because I have to wait 30 minutes for a glass of wine.  We eat dinner and then head back over to Disneyland.  During the nighttime shows we go on a few more rides and on the newly refurbished It's a Small World.   The Peter Pan ride line takes 1 hour, and the ride is only 2 minutes long.  Kayla doesn't like the fireworks, and we're stuck in the crowds, and it takes us 45 minutes to walk down Main Street in Disneyland.  Think cattle, and mooing.  That's how crowded it was!  We go back to the hotel exhausted.

Day 3, Sunday: Much less crowded today - hooray!  We go on tons of rides.  The kids are totally into the rides this trip, and Kayla isn't scared at all.  A fun day.  We end up with more weapons - both kids now have Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.  Kayla wanted to wait in line to see Mary Poppins , and was soooooexcited when it was her turn.  It was really cute.  We head back to the hotel a little early tonight - Disneyland definitely takes its toll on you.

Day 4, Monday:  A rainy day.  First off, let me say that this was the best day at Disneyland.  Disneyland doesn't shut down on rainy days because most of the rides are inside, but no one wants to brave the rain, and the park is practically empty.  It's fantastic!  We came prepared with rain boots, rain pants, rain jackets, and warm clothes.  We walked on so many rides - there were literally no lines at all.  We went on Splash Mountain three times in a row - no line, and we were already wet.  We made sure to go on every ride we wanted for our last day.   We ended up going on Pirates of the Caribbean 8 times!  Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.  The other family favorites were the Matterhorn, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and Pinocchio - went on these at least 6 times each.   The only bummer about this day is that they decided to close the park early due to rain, so we had to go home at 9.  I highly recommend Disneyland in the rain.

All in all, this was a fabulous family trip.  We had a wonderful time, and there were far less fits and tantrums than anticipated.  The kids surprised us by really enjoying all of the rides this time around.  Matthew even went on Indiana Jones and loved it.  They were both really brave and adventurous.  It was so fun as parents to see our kids having such a great time.  They are already planning our next visit to the Magic Kingdom.

Clean Jokes from the Jungle Cruise

The Jungle Cruise ride at Disneyland always has the best jokes. I never can remember them, so I decided to write them down in this blog so I can look back later when I need a clean joke.



"Why do tigers have stripes?"
Because they don't want to be spotted



"So, my friend asks me the other day, 'What do you get if you cross an elephant and a rhinoceros?'"
So I replied, 'El-eph-i-no'



Very silly.

Valentine's Day is Different Now

Valentine's Day will never quite have the same meaning to me that it once had. It used to be about cards and flowers and having a romantic evening. But that all changed seven years ago when our family lost my cousin Matthew at the young age of 24.

He was the kind of person that everyone loved - not because he was a saint or anything, but because he truly lived life to the fullest. He was fun to be around - a total charmer. He always found a way to make something boring into something fun.

Seven years ago after an evening of having perhaps too much "fun," he fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a traumatic brain injury resulting in the loss of his life. Our family, and all of his friends suffered a grave loss that Valentine's Day, and there will always be a hole in our hearts because Matthew is no longer here with us.

So for me, Valentine's Day is still about appreciating those that you love that are in your life, but in a deeper and perhaps more serious way than before. I learned that year just how short life can be, and while a busy life ensures that you can't always appreciate every single moment in your life, you can take this one day to ensure that you let those around you know just how special they are to you.

Book Recommendation

I don’t know about you, but every now and then I like to read a parenting book. This usually is brought about by some behavior change in the kids that makes me feel particularly ineffective, and I cope by turning to books in the hope that I will learn some technique that will help. I just finished Siblings Without Rivalry, which really requires no further explanation, but it had some good ideas in there.

I just received a recommendation forwarded to me from my sister, and I thought I would share it with other moms out there. It comes from a marriage and family therapist, so she has some good insight into what books are useful. I just placed my order on Amazon.

"I have recently had the pleasure of reading two of what I believe are the most important parenting books of our generation. I realize that these are strong words and I do not use them lightly - I have the unique position of sharing this information with you as not only a mom, but also a Marriage and Family Therapist who works almost exclusively with teens. In addition, I have read more than twenty odd books about parenting and child development over the course of the past ten years and these two books stand head and shoulders above the rest.

And as most of you know when I get fired up- I just want to share! Furthermore, I believe each one of you is a great mom and truly wants the best for your kids -the tools and information in these books is invaluable. Likewise, if we all operate from a greater knowledge base our children and our community will benefit.

The two books are Why Gender Matters and Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax, MD PhD. Both books address the biology that forms our children along with the practical ways that biology manifests itself Finally these books also provide strategies to work with our children's natural strengths. The information is presented in an easily digestible manner and is very well researched. Although they are nonfiction and academic in their presentations neither is a difficult read, in fact both are rather engrossing. I have found the information helpful in better understanding Greg, Stephanie and even little Nick, and invaluable in understanding some of my teen clients. I only wish I had had some of the information presented in these books earlier in both my career as a mom and LMFT.

I hope this encourages you to give these a read and provides you with some of the same insights I have received."

The Happiest Place on Earth

This Friday we are heading to Disneyland! I'm pretty sure that Matthew and I are tied for who is the most excited to go in our family. I just love Disneyland! I think we may have traumatized Kayla a little bit the last time we were there, and while she is excited to see the Princesses, she is not excited about the rides. She has stated several times in the last week or so that she will not be going on the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Matthew and Kayla have gift cards for Disneyland that they got from my parents at Christmas. We've been telling the kids that they can use it to buy whatever they want, and it's finally starting to sink in. Matthew has now decided he wants to buy a gun, a sword, and candy. Kayla says she wants a Little Mermaid toy and a Cinderella toy.

We went to Disneyland last summer, so we learned a few tips and tricks to help us survive the trip. Unfortunately the Zemans won't be with us this time, which is a bummer because that was a very fun trip! We will be hitting the park early every morning, then going home after lunch for a nap. Then we'll go back to the park in the late afternoon, and hit the wine bar at California Adventure for happy hour (I firmly believe that's the key to parent survival at Disneyland). We'll watch nighttime festivities, and then head to bed exhausted and ready to start another day at Disneyland. Along the way there will be laughter and tears - after all, you can't expect to have a trip to Disneyland without several enormous tantrums (it's just not realistic). And this time, I hope I actually get some pictures without a toddler's fingerprint on the lens to document what is hopefully one of many family trips to the Magic Kingdom. Happiest Place on Earth...here we come.

Weekend Update

We had a really busy and fun weekend. Matthew turned 5 on Thursday, and we celebrated on Saturday with a birthday party at a gymnastics place called Airborne Gymnastics. His friends from daycare came, and cousins, too. It was very fun. I can't believe he's 5 already.

Andrew and I went out on a date Saturday night, which was very fun. We had a great dinner (tasting menu with wine pairings - yummy!) and then went to the Improv (again) to see Margaret Cho. She was hilarious, but it was definitely not for the sensitive viewer. It was really raunchy. The Improv is a very fun way to spend a date night - I highly recommend it.