Archive for the ‘celebrate it’ Category

Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry.  -Tom Mullen

Last night we went to a celebration dinner for my baby brother (He’s 28, can I still call him that?) and his lovely bride to be.  They are getting married this Saturday.

As we drove away from the party my husband said,  “I think they make a really good couple.  In some ways they are opposites, but they compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  I think they’re a great match.”

I agree with him.  Josh and Jen are like two pieces of a puzzle that fit together beautifully… making a whole.

Jen is fiercely loving, extremely generous, thoughtful and kind.  She knows what she wants in life and has the talent to get it.  She is also a lively story teller and is easy for all of us to love.

Josh has been the life of our family since the day he was born.  He is easy going and fun.  He is totally unjudgmental, which means he has the largest (and oddest) collection of good friends of anyone I know.  He is quick to anger, but even quicker to forgiveness.  Everyone loves Josh to pieces (including me.)

Josh and Jen have all the makings of a great marriage.  So my one bit of advice to them is this:  A good marriage is a matter of choice.  You must choose to let the little things go and focus on what’s good in your spouse.  You have to choose to support each other when times are hard.  You must always choose to love…

Josh and Jen, I love you both.  I can hardly wait for Saturday.  All my love, Calli

Hello school.  Hello Mrs. Pope.  Hello Mrs. Smith.  Hello Mrs. Smith.  Hello homework.  Hello 8:30 bedtime.  Hello routine.  I’m so ready to have you in my life.

Today is the first day of school.  Can you believe it?  I never started school until after Labor Day.   But everyone in our house is excited and ready.  Here are a few traditions we have for the first day of school.

I make a good breakfast for the kids.  Everyone has new clothes to wear.  And we don’t miss taking pictures.

We meet up with our friends and walk down to the bus stop at the end of the street together.  We take a few more pictures.  Everyone is holding up the grade they are going into.

After school, I always greet the kids with a plate of freshly baked cookies, right out of the oven.  We have cookies and milk and talk about how the day went.

This is a tradition I have carried on from my childhood. My mom always made cookies on the first day of school.  I remember her sitting intently, asking questions about our teachers, what friends were in our class, what we enjoyed most about our day…   I love carrying on that tradition.

Yesterday Lily asked me what cookies I was going to make.  She wondered if I wanted to make the Peanut Butter with Peanut Butter Cup cookies.  I asked if that is the cookie she wanted.  “Yes… or you could make chocolate chip, but I really would like the Peanut Butter cookies best.”  Hmmm, I better get cookin’.

It’s a simple routine…  one that happens all over the country, I am sure. But aren’t the simple traditions sometimes the very best?