Being Grateful After A Rough Year

2016 hasn't exactly been a picnic. I'm a bit terrified for 2017 to be honest. The days following January 20, 2017 to be exact. Not that things were perfect before - nothing is ever perfect. But I'm especially afraid for what is to come. The night of the election I wrote this: How Do I Explain This To My Children? and I still feel the same way.

Anyway, I'm making myself sit here and find 12 things I'm grateful for from last year because I need to focus on the positive and put in the effort to move forward and find the peace within me for myself and for my children.

1. I'm grateful that we have gotten rain. We live in Southern California and we are in a really bad drought and we desperately need rain. So grateful for the rain!

2. I'm grateful that a site like Ancestry.com exists because we have finally found more information about my dad's side of the family. He grew up in an abusive, broken home and spending quality time with family and relatives telling stories about the old days and keeping track of who was who wasn't really what they did. I was actually able to trace back to the late 1600's and find full-blooded Cherokee Indians in our bloodline. My 9th Great Grandmother was an amazing Cherokee woman who I could actually read about on google!! Her name was Quatsy of Tellico (of the Wolf Clan) and one of her sons was a man called Standing Turkey (Old Hop) who also has fascinating stories about him.

3. I'm grateful for rainy, gloomy, lazy post-holiday weekend days where the whole family is home and I'm sitting around writing, still in jammies, drinking lattes all day long which is perfectly acceptable on a day like this.

4. I'm grateful for summer beach days with friends or with family. Where we get there early and spend the day digging in the sand, finding crabs hiding out on the pier pilings, boogie boarding in the waves, drying off to eat a sandwich and maybe catching a small cat nap on a towel in the sun. After a long day of beaching it up I'm always grateful for our favorite Mexican restaurant next to the pier where we spend the evening eating tacos and eating chips and salsa reminiscing about our beach day while planning the next one.

5. I'm grateful for kids who crack themselves up silly while watching cartoons. Those days pass quickly, so it's fun to hear kids being kids who enjoy slapstick comedy like only a kid can.

6. I'm grateful for holidays filled with yummy homemade food made from recipes that have been passed down, lots of family who share funny stories, (even if they are the same funny stories year after year), kids running through the house and even the happiness and calmness when everyone gets the heck out at the end of the evening so I can finally decompress!

7. I'm grateful for dancing babies. Especially my own who will dance to any music, any time of the day or night. Even in his sleep.

8. I'm grateful for my sweet 6 year old child when I see him playing on the playground just before I pick him up from school and I observe him being a good friend to others and a helper to his teachers - even though he doesn't know I'm watching him. There isn't anything better than watching your child enjoy their childhood.

9. I'm grateful for my daughter. She is an amazing big sister (most of the time - I mean she is human after all!) and she has such a caring heart and a sweet, spunky soul. I love watching her create art because she enjoys it so much and she has really become such a great little artist at only 8 years old. I hope to collaborate with her someday on a children's book and have her be my illustrator. I also love to see her interacting with animals. She has a real gift when it comes to animals.

10. I'm grateful for my husband who is on this crazy journey with me, who makes me laugh daily and who is always doing funny accents to crack us up. He's a great dad, a great husband and a hard worker. And we both share the same crazy dream of being organic farmers someday too. We already have the house full of animals. Our 8 and 1/2 year old daughter, our 6 year old son and his 2 year old toddler brother who is like 10 animals in one.

Happy New Year! Be safe and please call a cab or an Uber as opposed to driving drunk. My husband lost his very best friend 11 years ago this January due to a drunk driver hitting him and killing him. He was only 31 years old. I hope the coming year is good to you and your family. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to practice more gratitude. Especially during this year of the "terrible two's." As I type, my 2 year old is currently face down, crying uncontrollably, feet kicking while he's screaming because daddy put his favorite chair back at the kid table and he wanted it at the kitchen table, even though you can't see him at all when he's sitting in it because the table is too tall....Oh wait, now he's running in the other room laughing at a ball his big brother just threw. Thank goodness for the easily distracted toddler! All is right with the world.

Unless you move the chair again. #momlife

xo
Coll


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I'm grateful for having an entire beach to ourselves!

Family day at the beach.

Top 10 Things Never to Tell a Pregnant Women During the Holidays (or anytime!)

Pic credit: Barginlifestyle dot com

It's the holidays and you're out and about feeling merry and bright with your most precious gift - your baby belly - when sure enough someone makes a Grinchlike comment that dims your holiday glow. In the spirit of giving, share this list, and help make the world a better place!

1. “You're looking quite jolly in that red dress.”

2. “Are you hiding an elf under there?”

3. “Are you sure you aren't having twins? (This really has nothing to do with the holidays.)

4. You: “Hey Babe, does this white maternity snow jacket make me look too fat?”

Hubby: “No, it's cute. You look just like a snowman.”

5. “Too bad you can't have any wine right now. We're drinking the bottle we just brought back

from that little winery villa we stayed at in Tuscany." (Holiday or not, this is So-Not-Cool!)

6. “You know you can't eat that raw cookie dough, right?"

7. “How cute, when you laugh your belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly.”

8. “Are you sure you want to eat a third piece of pumpkin pie after you raided the refrigerator at midnight and finished off the rest of the turkey and mashed potatoes? You've been complaining a lot about heart burn, insomnia, swollen ankles, gas and constipation. You can't blame everything on the baby.”

9. “It looks like the bird has been stuffed already.”

10. Your Husband: “Honey, I just got the menu for my holiday work party. They are serving candy cane martinis and cranberry sangria, all you can eat sushi, and sashimi, goose liver pate, oysters on the half shell, deli meat tray with brie, camembert, goat cheese and port cheese, authentic Caesar salad, swordfish or Thresher Shark with veggies covered in hollandaise sauce, and a dessert tray with spiced rum cake, dark chocolate mud pie with espresso ice cream, custard tarts, Grand Marnier and Bailey's filled chocolates, homemade eggnog, hot buttered rum, and Irish cream or Kahlua coffee.”

You: "Looks I'll be making scrambled eggs for dinner again.

Did an interaction with a stranger (or loved one who should know better) leave you feeling Scrooge'd this holiday season? Tell us your awkward pregnancy comments below, and let us revel!

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*This was originally posted on December 23 for mom365. Click here to read more of my Top Ten Lists on Mom365.

Is August Too Early To Get Excited For Christmas Time At Disneyland?

This photo is the property of My Tales From The Crib and @Coco_Cana. It was taken by Colleen Duncan Canavan at Disneyland during the 2012 Christmas season. We just so happened to walk by the castle when it was all lit up and they had blocked it off for something (fireworks maybe?) and I captured this in about 2 seconds as we were walking by. Mind you there are a GAZILLION people behind me, next to me, annoyed with me for stopping yet waiting to take my very spot to capture their own castle shot with out anyone in it. My husband is not one to stop in the dead center of a very busy, moving crowed and swim upstream like a salmon to capture the perfect picture...but I am. And I'm glad I did.  I love this pic. We blew it up for our daughter's room. Even though it's not a professional shot and it's pretty dark, it's priceless to us. 

We are kinda Disney Freaks over here. I worked there right after I graduated from high school. In fact the day I started was the very next day after my Grad Night as a senior. I was exhausted during orientation to say the least. But it was an awesome summer job. I was an "Outdoor Vendor" so my job was to sell things from the little carts scattered throughout the park like churros, ice cream (the ice cream bike in Toontown was so much fun!), hot dogs, drinks and popcorn. Lots and lots of popcorn. I was also the person holding about a million Mickey Mouse balloons on Main Street.

Over the course of the summer I think I posed for about a thousand pictures with people from all over the world because they wanted to stand next to me holding the balloons. (BTW, "no you can not hold them yourself! Even for 'just' the photo!" LOL!) I also worked at all of the popcorn carts and sold glow sticks along the parade route back when it was The Electrical Light Parade and The Lion King Parade. (Somewhere in the distance I just heard my mom say, "That was my favorite parade!  I wish they would bring that one back. I loved The Lion King Parade!!") I agree with her. It was an awesome parade.

Btw, this was the summer of 1994.  It was a such cool job for an outgoing single girl who had just graduated high school, who had her own car and was about to turn 18. There were close to 500 people in my department alone! So every single day I worked I met new people (meaning I met new cute guys!)  Plus I could get into Disneyland for free whenever I wasn't working and I got a discount on everything plus free parking. It made a great date night with co-workers!

One of the best jobs ever!!

Even though I worked there and saw all of the behind the scenes, "backstage" stuff, (like the characters walking around in the back carrying their heads under their arms...) I still love it! (This was PRE California Adventure btw - back then it was still a giant paring lot!) Now as a married mom of two young kids we have annual passes and go as a family all the time. There have been months where we have gone at least 4 times a month (every weekend) and sometimes even during week nights after my husband gets home from work. We have also used it as a date night where we ride all of the big rides and walk around like free birds without a stroller and a diaper bag. We love to go by ourselves for our anniversary or a birthday and we'll go have a fancy dinner at the Blue Bayou (the dark, romantic restaurant in the Pirates Of The Caribbean ride).

We do love taking the kids though. You'd be surprised, but there is so much to do there for young kids who are not quite tall enough to go on everything. I have no idea why people wait to go until their child "is old enough/tall enough to ride all of the rides" because a child gets in for FREE until their 3rd birthday.

Have you ever heard the words "FREE ADMISSION" and "Disneyland" in the same sentence?!  

It's not common, that's for sure. Unless of course you live out of state or you are really far away and don't make it here very often. In that case, I understand why you would want to wait to come until everyone in your family can ride everything. But if you live here and you are waiting to go til they can ride Space Mountain, I strongly urge you to reconsider. Right now (2013) a 1-Day park ticket for a kid 3-9 is $86.00!!!  A 2 yr old and a 3 yr old can ride pretty much the same stuff.  They can have a million dollars worth of fun at Disneyland as a 0-3 year old. Plus there are many, many rides they can go on too and if you have a meal at any of the buffets like Goofy's Kitchen, Minnie & Friends Breakfast In The Park, etc. (and they are under 3 years old) they eat FOR FREE!!!  I repeat, they eat for free. Google it. It's true.

Someday I will blog more about Disneyland and share all of our "insider tips" for going to the park with small kids but for now just trust me. Take the baby. Take the toddler. Take the preschooler. They will LOVE it! Besides, if you want them to really be into getting pictures with all of the characters, keep in mind that kids are way more savvy at a way younger age these days. An older kid who can ride all of the big rides might not be as smitten with Mickey & Minnie like a little one will. Those pictures and moments of them truly believing they are real are just priceless and to die for!  You can't recreate that kind of childhood magic when they are older and wiser and don't want to wait in line for 15-20 minutes just to get a picture with a character because it's cutting into their Radiator Springs Racers time, hello?! *Tapping watch* (That ride is a Must Do btw.)

Since we've been pretty much during every single month of the year in all types of seasons and weather and festivities and crowds, one of our very favorite times to go to Disneyland is when they are all decked out for Christmas (yes it's very busy and yes it's still totally worth it.) There is something very magical about it. We can't wait to go this year and take our traditional picture with Santa Claus, pet his real reindeer, take a picture with Mickey Mouse dressed up as Santa, see the icicle lights on the castle and watch the snow fall on Main Street.

Magical!! 

It's not too early...right?  Christmas is exactly 4 short months away from today! Heck, some of the stores are already itching to get rid of the pencils, lunch boxes, back packs and crayons they put out the day after the 4th of July and put out the holiday stuff up. Costco already has Halloween costumes!  (Boo.)  Besides, school started for us in the middle of August this year so my head has already completely switched over to Fall. After Fall comes pumpkin spice lattes, planning the Thanksgiving dinner menu and going to Disneyland for Christmas!

Oh and in case you didn't read it above: This photo is the property of My Tales From The Crib and @Coco_Cana. It was taken by Colleen Duncan Canavan at Disneyland during the 2012 Christmas season. We just so happened to walk by the castle when it was all lit up and they had blocked it off for something (fireworks maybe?) and I captured this in about 2 seconds as we were walking by. Mind you there are a GAZILLION people behind me, next to me, annoyed with me for stopping yet waiting to take my very spot to capture their own castle shot with out anyone in it. My husband is not one to stop in the dead center of a very busy, moving crowed and swim upstream like a salmon to capture the perfect picture...but I am. And I'm glad I did.  I love this pic. We blew it up for our daughter's room. Even though it's not a professional shot and it's pretty dark, it's priceless to us. 

Like I said, "Disney Freaks!"  ;-)