What's for lunch?

When Sweetpea was in daycare I never had to worry about what she would eat. They served breakfast, lunch, and snacks and there were no substitutions. Either the kids ate or they didnt, the motto being "you get what you get and you don't make a fit." This was wonderful. Now that we are in real school Sweetpea has figured out she has a choice which means we have conversations like this one..

Mom: Hey for lunch tomorrow they are having Beef BBQ sandwiches. If you don't want that you can get the alternate lunch of a Bologna and cheese sandwich.
Sweetpea: Can't you just pack me a bologna and cheese sandwich?
Mom: Well I could but then I would have to go to the grocery store since you are eating the last 2 pieces of bread right now.
Sweetpea : Ok go to the store.
Mom : I don't want to go to the store tonight. Listen - I would really appreciate if you could just buy the sandwich.
Sweetpea : Well I DON'T appreciate buying it, but I will. (said with a pout on her face).

So today she is buying her lunch. Yippee. Best of all I think there are 2 more times this week I might be able to convince her to buy too.

Heart to Heart Conversations

Sometimes in life there are those moments where words are left unsaid. They are thought but never uttered for various reasons. This reason is typically based in fear (of rejection, of hurting the other person, of just sounding plain silly). We also hold words in for fear of exposing our true selves, even to those we love the most. I know I am guilty of doing this. I suspect (or hope I suppose) that we all do this.
Then comes the time when things have to be said, they have to be aired or they eat away at you. These are the things you come to realize should have been said in the moment but once again you held back. Last night we (hubby and myself) had one of those conversations. The kind that I cry through as I say all of the awful things I can't bear to even hear outloud and as I say them they twist like a knife in my heart. These are things that need to be said for my own fragile sanity yet they hurt.
The amazing thing to me is that all of the things I am afraid to say my husband can handle. He doesn't crumble into pieces and he still loves me (even if I think I am hurting him). Even after 10 years of marriage he still amazes me. So is our marriage perfect? No, but is marriage ever perfect? Is our marriage worth working at and making better, absolutely. So I will try. I will be honest with myself; I will be honest with my husband. I am sure that I will cry again but it makes us stronger. Us - together - as it was meant to be.

Growing up too fast

I took some random pictures of my girl this weekend just because I love taking her picture. After looking at them I can't help but wonder where my baby went...she is too grown up for me even when she is posing with her favorite My little Ponies.

We also added a new pet to the family. Her name is Hammy and she is a black bear hamster. We gave our dog away a month or so ago to save my sanity and the hamster was the item traded for. We are hoping she does well and doesn't get sick like my nephew's poor hamsters do. He is on hamster # 5 and #6 already and only started buying them about 4 weeks ago. Because of this we have a strict no touching policy in place since we are told they need at least 2 weeks to acclimate without feeling stressed. Any advice for raising a hamster let me know!

And the winners are...

Yes - That's right the Fall W'all giveaway has ended and I decided that I would send out 2 candles. I used Random.org to generate my numbers and the winners are......
WindyCindy and Christina.

I will make them their custom painted candles this week and I will post some photos here before I send them out.

Congratulations to all who won!