Spring Break is upon us and I am starting to gather information to keep my little ones busy. I love Pinterest and all the wonderful finds on there. I am going to sort through all my book marks to share in one place. I love the thought of making Fairy doors for the Tooth Fairy to come through, "Fire flies in a jar" by using a glow stick and the list goes on and on. The one that is meant for kids but I want to try is a bubble bath with glow sticks and the lights off. I think that is the epitome of indulgence.....add a glass of wine and I am set!

My kids are looking forward to having some down time and I am certain that the "down time" will be over by Monday (the day it actually starts). We will check out the goodness of our local library, visit the children's museum, make some art, make some homemade goodies and maybe visit some long over due friends and family. We will not be taking a vacation for the Spring but we will take a break. I feel that I need to refocus and spend quality time with them because so often I am focusing on school. I will have the summer as well but like to say this is the "prelude" to the summer.

We may even make a giant "to do" list for the summer and add to it as we go along. This will make my planning much easier and the kids will have a say in what will happen over the summer. I live in a stae of controlled and well planned Chaos but I love it!

Hello. This journey of being healthy and smoke free has been wonderful and hard at the same time. I am going through pictures to post because this journey has changed focus for a moment. It is about me and taming my own Chaos so I may pass on some peace to my children. I found very few pictures of myself from the past years. It seems somewhere along the way I have avoided the ugly truth in who I have become. I not only wish that there were more for documentation sake but to remember each moment for what it is.

I have now begun to really look at my children with a new perspective. My son is really starting to read. For this Mamma, there is nothing more wonderful than seeing my son sounding out words. He will be able to guide his own interest and discover a new path of independence when the words make sense. I am so very proud of him!

My daughter is (and always has been) fiercely independent. I watch how she can take a moment and turn it around in a flash. She is the youngest of the neighborhood posse and this sometimes causes a few tears. She can come in crying, get a hug or just be heard, and then back out she goes. If only life were really that simple!

I am smoke free for 63 days! For those who ask "How do you do it?" I had just had enough. I really feel for me I had been chained to the nicotine and the habit for so long. I had been contemplating this move for some time but just really thought  I couldn't do it. Like a new diet; I will start Monday....etc. Well, I truly haven't missed out on anything! I do think about smoking when I am stressed, bored or just really having a moment. I do something else. I make a choice to move past it. I would love to say my house is a bit cleaner, the love(scrap) books are a bit fuller, I exercise a bit more....not so much; I am smoke free though. I am tackling all I can right now. I graduate college in May and will concentrate on walking everyday for at least 30 minutes. I am taking baby steps because I am a work in progress!