To see your offspring, the product of your loins, grow and become independent is a wonderful thing…

in some ways.

There is a price to pay…

Are you reading this while your little one sits on the floor in his or her adorable matching outfit… complete with matching socks?

Are you? Enjoy it. Those days are gone for me…

My son never used to care about what he wore… so I could dress him!

But now, he does care… he just doesn’t care if it matches or not.

He’s picking out his own clothes and (Mom Victory… wait for it…) getting dressed completely by himself!
We used bribery for the latter… Hey! Don’t throw stones!

But what price did I pay?

His favorite, ‘go-to-even-when-they-are-dirty’ articles of clothing are: his orange pants and his blue blazer…

Click Here To Continue Reading This at DC Metro Moms Blog…

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our Light, not our Darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

Actually who are you NOT to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.
And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.”

-Nelson Mandela

You just walked out of divorce court,
wondering where do I start now?

You no longer have the same support system you had as you did going through the divorce process. It’s easy to feel scared and insecure. But the good news is, there is life after divorce and you can have a more passionate and fulfilling life than ever before…

A friend of mine has a website for divorced moms,

her name is Colleen Bushby,

and she’s created a great support community ,

complete with a blog, free resources, a blog radio show,

as well as cds to buy.

Her site is Savvy Divorced Chicks,

And you can go there and get her FREE GUIDE,

Jumpstart Your Life After Divorce,

5 Savvy Steps You Can Take Now

and you can contact Colleen at colleen@savvydivorcedchicks.com

Mom Power!

This time last year I had never heard of ‘Twilight’…

and after I heard about it I didn’t know what the big deal was.

Fast Forward to today:  I’ve read all 4 books and seen the Twilight and New Moon movies.

This is my review of the final book in the Twilight saga- Breaking Dawn.

Like I have said before:

* Do Not, Repeat, Do Not read this book if you haven’t read the other 3 books *

Start from the beginning and read them all; after the first one, you’ll have no choice, you gotta see what happens.

With that said… on with the review:

Breaking Dawn is VERY long, but like the other books, is a great, quick read.

The writing is good.

I liked that there was a twist involving Jacob, that I actually didn’t see coming until the chapter before it was revealed,

I love when that happens!

It wasn’t a Keyser Soze moment… but then again, nothing is better than ‘The Usual Suspects’.

Even with the suspension of disbelief that the reader is allowing for- with vampires and werewolves, or excuse me-

‘Shape Shifters’, Breaking Dawn has some moments that are a little hard to believe, even in the made-up world of

Stephenie Meyer.

But the book has to go to these lengths to get a happy ending, and you do get a happy ending,

in fact the last chapter is entitled: Happily Ever After.

Enough Said.

If you’ve read Twilight, do yourself a favor and read the rest of the ’saga’.  If you don’t have time right now,

buy the books (or borrow them- SOMEONE you know has them, trust me) and pack them up with you when you go to the beach, or somewhere like that.

They’re unbelievable… and fun to read.

Like I said in my Twilight Review, this whole ’saga’ is about true love, vampires, werewolves, good vs. evil…

It’s Sixteen Candles and Jake Ryan is a ‘Good’ Vampire… What’s not to like ?  :)

Do You LOVE American Idol?… (crickets chirping)

Okay, do you like American Idol?  (I’m in this category).

American Idol: Have You Jumped the Shark?

First of all, I used to love to watch the opening auditions; who doesn’t love a good train wreck, and more importantly, the discovery of a great unknown talent?!

But this year seems different; it is different.

I was never a huge Paula fan, but… I miss her now, or rather, I miss what she brought to the show.  There – I said it.  I miss Paula!

And Simon is leaving after this season and seems like ‘this-American-Idol-judge-thing’ is tiresome.

And who can blame him?  His ‘X Factor’ show is starting up next year, supposedly an ‘American Idol’ without age limits.  He’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars, so it’s not about the money, a.k.a.- he doesn’t need this gig. And he’s supposedly asking Paula Abdul to be a judge on his ‘X Factor’ show–

for all the rolling of the eyes he used to do-  HE MISSES PAULA TOO.

Ellen DeGeneres has brilliant comic timing on her show, but I’m not quite sure she works on American Idol.  And Kara, the super-talented singer songwriter judge, is still looking for her role… I think.

But American Idol is about finding singing talent…

Where is the talent this year?  It’s there… yes.  But I’m not completely excited by anyone.  I was spoiled last year by Adam Lambert.  I tuned in every week to hear him sing and was excited to hear what new arrangement he would put together (yes, I admit it).

Adam Lambert was CRAZY good.

This year EVERYONE seems just, a, little,   tired.

Move Over Fonzie,

American Idol is slipping… into its waterskis to- Jump The Shark.

“The minute I heard my first love story,

I started looking for you,

not knowing how blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.

They’re in each other all along.”

-Rumi

BananaBlueberry wants everyone to know about a special night at the circus that is coming up!

It’s the 13th Annual Children’s Premiere Night-

Tickets are discounted and proceeds go to Friends of the Clinical Center, The Children’s Inn at NIH and Special Love for Children with Cancer!

You can print this page and send it in with your money for the tickets,

or email my friend, AND MOTHER OF 5 BOYS (Woo, Woo), Mary Jane at

37purchasing@gmail.com

She’ll answer any questions and can even meet you somewhere

with your tickets.

Join us for the 13th Annual Children’s Premiere Night !

Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at the Verizon Center

6:00 pm – All Access Pre-show

7:00 pm – The Main Event

You won’t hear about this on the radio or television because this night is only for special

invitees from the NIH R&W…and you and your friends and family are invited!!

Proceeds benefit Friends of the Clinical Center, The Children’s Inn at NIH and

Special Love for Children with Cancer

Plus, help provide free tickets to over 3,000 needy children from area hospitals and social service

agencies! The Children’s National Medical Center, Ronald McDonald House, Howard University

Hospital, Bethesda Cares, The Dwelling Place, Linkages to Learning, Boys & Girls Clubs, St. Ann’s Infant

& Maternity Home, and the Marie H. Reed Community Learning center identify children who would benefit

most.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Circus Ticket Order Form

Name:_______________________________________________  Phone:___________________

Address:_____________________________________________  E-mail:___________________

□ Count me in! I will purchase _____ tickets at $ 24 (regular ticket price is $35)level 100

□ I will purchase _____ tickets at $ 14 (regular ticket price is $18)level 400

□ Front Row        _____ tickets at $ 60 (regular ticket price is $75)

□ Circus Celebrity ____ tickets at $ 90 (regular ticket price is $110)

□ I will sponsor ___tickets for needy kids at a cost of $ 15 per child for a total of $_____

Please make checks payable to R&W Foundation

Mail your check and order form to Friends of the Clinical Center, PO Box 340139, Bethesda, MD 20827

Questions? E-mail Heidi Grolig at groligh@mail.nih.gov

Friends of the Clinical Center is a 501(c) non profit organization providing emergency financial aid to patients of the

National Institutes of Health and their families.

Well, we all made it through… the DC Snowpocalypse of 2010…

I love Mister Rogers!  He basically Rocks!

I mean, what’s not to love? He plays pretend, always gets into ‘comfortable clothes’, has snacks, and visits cool neighbors!

Do you love Mister Rogers?  Of course you do!

So celebrate his birthday by voting for your favorite Mr. Rogers episode!

PBSKIDS is providing the opportunity to vote for a favorite episode of MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD. Voters can choose from seven favorite MISTER ROGERS episodes available at www.PBSKIDS.org/rogers. The winning episode will broadcast on-air and online on Saturday March 20th, celebrating Fred Rogers’ birthday.

Along with voting for a favorite episode, you may also be interested in the never before-seen clips, behind the scenes moments and outtakes from MISTER ROGERS NEIGHBORHOOD online at www.pbs.org/video.

Happy Birthday Mr. Rogers!

Well, the impossible has happened.
Pigs must be flying,
And Hell must be frozen over…
because-
my son is able to SLED down this HUGE mound of snow in our flat front yard,
thanks to the BULLDOZERS, yes, BULLDOZERS that plowed our street and covered every front yard with literally, walls of snow.
Everybody’s yard, lawn and landscaping is shot…
But that is another post, for another day…

The kids on our street are happy !