Girls Are Mean

Tonight I noticed that Bella was acting "off".  We are lucky in the sense that she is a very laid back child, loves to sit and color, play games, read books, watch Scooby Doo, play Barbies, she has some sass but not too often.  She is always very happy, laughing, playing, just being silly, not so much tonight.  She seemed sad and just wanted to snuggle.

Immediately I thought she was sick, but no temperature and she told me she felt ok.  At that moment she said nothing was wrong and she didn't know why she was feeling sad.  So I dropped it and let her snuggle with Papa watching some tv.

When it was bedtime, that was time for us to have a talk.  Bella has had problems with a girl in her class since the first day of school, as a mother it has been heart wrenching to see her go through this.  I notified her teacher immediately and she has been wonderful, the counselor as well.  It seemed like things were getting better, there have been some issues here and there, but nothing too major.

So I ask Bella to tell me about her day, how school is going, how Lily Pad was after school.  She gets all excited and is telling me about her day at school and then she pauses and gets this sad look on her face.  She tells me that her timeline material got put on the wrong table and the girl she has issues with grabbed it and was very rude and pushy in giving it to Bella and trying to make her take it away.  Bella said she went to tell her teacher right away, but the girl was pretty rude the entire day.

Bella then goes on and says, "mommy, I just don't know why she doesn't like me."  OMG, talk about heartbreaking, to see my little Bella all teary eyed, holding back the sobs and being strong, wondering how someone could not like her.  I told her immediately how wonderful, amazing, strong, sweet, caring, loving she is, I mean it was serious diarrhea of the mouth!

Then Bella hugged me and said, "I know mommy, you tell me every day how special and strong I am.  I know that and I have way more friends than "the girl" does because she is bossy and mean to everyone.  She gets in trouble a lot and I just wouldn't want to be her friend."

WOW.  I could not be more proud and in awe of my six year old daughter, seriously.

We have long road ahead of us, there will be mean girls throughout her life.  I hope we continue to help Bella grow into a strong and confident young lady, I know from personal experience how tough it can be to not have the confidence to face the mean girls.

I love you Bella, you teach me more than you could ever know and make me want to be a better person every day.

Say A Little Prayer

Pam Mohwinkle passed away on Friday, January 18th.  She was a bright light for so many people, a rock for her family, such a very special person.

And He will raise you up on eagle's wings, Bear you on the breath of dawn, Make you to shine like the sun, And hold you in the palm of His Hand. And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

Rest in peace Pam, you will forever be remembered and in the hearts of all you have touched with your beautiful life.

LOVE

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides. ~ David Viscott

Hug your family, tell them how much you love them, don't take anything for granted.

A tough week in this life, a very dear family friend that has been battling cancer for years is facing her final battle.  I pray for her and her family, watching a loved one lose their battle to cancer is one of the hardest things anyone can go through.

I pray for peace for her family, and peace for Pam.  God please wrap her in your warm embrace and carry her to your Kingdom, give peace to all those who love her and give them the strength to say goodbye.

Changes in 2013

Life is just full of surprises!

After an interesting journey for Kyle he decided to resign from his sales job right before Christmas, it just wasn't a good fit, he wasn't making any money and was very unhappy.

Kyle has been bartending at a Japanese steakhouse, Osaka, he loves it there and is happy to be bartending again.  We are grateful that he had this job while the sales job was obviously not working out.

He had applied for a position as a Business Coach with Jimmy John's, he was the perfect candidate and they were very excited to have him join their team. That was until he went in for the face to face interview (which was a six hour drive round trip), wearing a nice long sleeved button up and he was asked if he had tattoos.  Yes he has tattoos, he showed they guy his tattoos and was told he would get a phone call later in the day about the job.  He was told he would have the job as long as their tattoo policy worked out with his tattoos.

Rather than a phone call Kyle received a very short email from Jimmy John's letting him know they do not hire people that have to cover tattoos.  It was a joke, we went on a rampage and found out there are numerous employees that have tattoos that are visible.  Jimmy John's in this area will have lost some business, the tattoo community is pretty large here and we're a tight group.  The support has been overwhelming!!!  

There are some that want us to file a lawsuit, but really what would that give us, other than bills for a lawyer and a big headache.  No thanks, we just choose to never give Jimmy John's our business again.

We went through all of this and the Saturday after the Jimmy John's debacle Kyle is now going to be a personal trainer and class instructor for the biggest 24 hour gym in Cedar Rapids.  Too say he is excited is an understatement!  He has wanted to get back into a gym for a very long time.

How funny life is, it seems everything has worked out as it should.  I get a free gym membership and we have an amazing gym to use for my training for the figure competition that I WILL be doing this year in October.  That fun is all being documented on my fitness blog :)

We have decided as a family to cut out as much negativity and drama as we can.  I know it is just the beginning of January but man are we taking this seriously.  It is amazing how much better it feels to leave others' drama to themselves, ignore any negativity, and choose to be a more positive family for us but mostly for our beautiful daughter Bella.

Speaking of Bella, she is rocking at school, reads like a champ, can add and subtract, LOVES school, I could go on and on about our angel who gets us through everything and teaches us to just be happy and enjoy our life together.