by Sarah | Aug 11, 2015 | All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Redefining Perfect, Top Ten Tuesday
Definitely time to get my kids on my top ten. I’m going to start with Molly this time around because – well, luck of the draw. 😀
Molly is the middle girl, and unique in so many ways.
She’s a challenge, and yet makes life ultimately fun.
Her heart is as big as anything, and we treasure every moment with her, even when she’s making us pull our hair out with some of her quirks.
So here is my top ten list about Molly, our little alligator (that’s aggilator to us)
1. She’s an artist. Most of the time you can find her bent over a piece of paper, drawing her favorite My Little Pony characters (Fluttershy is her favorite, by the way).  And most of all? She’s really good. I envy her talent.
2. Literal. Not to be stereotypical or anything…but MAN is this girl literal about everything. You have to be careful what you say, because she will take you completely to heart.
3. Every O’clock. This is one of the quirks that has come up this summer. Perhaps because she’s counting down the time until school, or maybe it has nothing to do with that, I don’t know…but she has to see every o’clock. If she misses it, she is bothered and watches extra close for the next one, even cheering when she sees it. Now, let’s just hope this doesn’t mess her up during the school year.
4. Model Dreams. A few years back I posted about Molly’s dreams of being a model. She still holds onto that dream, and I can still see her achieving it.
5. Seriously, those eyes. 
She got those eyes from her daddy, and they are stunning. To this day they maintain that ice blue from her baby days into today. Just gorgeous.
6. Perches. I don’t know how this started or why, but Molly doesn’t ever…well, sit. She perches. On her feet, knees up. I was asked to not let her wear skirts to school because of this (or put shorts under them). Somehow it makes her feel comfortable. I’m sure she’ll eventually grow out of it, but for now it’s her thing.
7. Blind Love. No matter what, now matter who, no matter anything…Molly loves blindly. Once you’re in her circle, she will always love you and never forget you (I do mean never, mind like a steel trap). Her heart is so big and dear.
8. Comics. This goes along with her art thing…she makes her own comics. She draws the cells and writes the funnest, most unique stories I’ve seen.
9. My Little Pony. She is all about the ponies. That is all.
10. Conquering Fears. Molly has a lot of fears that compete with her dreams. She loved horses, but was afraid of climbing on top of one that stood so very tall…in the end, she sucked in her fear and climbed into the saddle. At Disney ALL the rides terrified her. With some encouragement and me by her side she eventually rode the Dumbo Flying Elephant ride, and then managed to get through Soaring (all tied to her supreme fear of heights). Â She has already said next time we go to Disney she is going to try a roller coaster, and more rides! She may take a gentle nudge, but that girl pushes her limits and finds so much fun.
And that is my big girl Molly. I can’t begin to encapsulate her in 10 items, but it was a start. She’s my Molly, my gator, my big, unique, beautiful girl.
by Sarah | Aug 6, 2015 | All About Denver, All About Erik, All About Family, All About Kennedy, All About Me, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, Make-A-Wish, Redefining Perfect
For two of the kids there was one park that was a hands-down favorite.
Epcot.
Molly absolutely loved the world showcase. Perhaps because there weren’t any rides she was too afraid to go on. She loved seeing the different countries and meeting the Princesses in their areas.
Denver loved the rides (and is mad, like me, that we totally missed a few), and the world showcase was top notch for him. He liked exploring and seeing all the different things to offer. His biggest regret is that we missed the one Disney Princess he would have agreed to get a picture with – Mulan.
But, what we all loved, unanimously, best about Epcot is situated right in France.
It has been my favorite place since my first trip to Epcot, and remains so today. I cannot wait to go back, and plan on budgeting a bit more money for more sweets than last time. They were so good, and I could totally bring them back with me to the villa. 😉
We bought four whole desserts last time, and scarfed every single one of them down. The favorite was, of course, the macarons. Light, airy, and so packed with flavor in every bite. I think I ended up with the vanilla, while the kids got the blueberry, raspberry and chocolate.
I think the kids and I totally ignored lunch that day and just pigged out on desserts. Poor diabetic hubby didn’t get to share in the joy as much, and was disappointed that all of their sandwiches had sauces (he doesn’t like sauce on his sandwiches). But, he satisfied himself with other treats as we were there during the food and wine festival.
Anyway, we’re already prepping our menu for next time, and seeing as my parents will be with us, it’s going to be quite a to-do, I’m sure. I might even actually get a sandwich this time, there were so many that looked good…but really, the whole point in going there is for the desserts. I can snack all day in Epcot, but here I get serious and sit down and really dive into the sweets.
by Sarah | Aug 5, 2015 | All About Me, All of Us, Blogging Life, I'm A Writer, Redefining Perfect, Wordy Wednesday
July was an exceptionally busy month for me in my writing world. I started using this blog again, but then got so wrapped up in word count on one of my stories that I just lost all sense of time and space. Drove my husband nuts to see me so lost in my computer again.
I managed almost 100,000 words in the month of July. 75% of that in the last two weeks. After a slow, steady, not overly productive year I really took off and found my niche. Apparently my decision to take a year off from Lake Point really got my muse a-rockin’. Â I still have another Lake Point book to complete for this year, but then it’s free-wheeling fun (some of which may involve Lake Point).
So as for what I’m working on now…
1) I’ve started the revision of my original Dominion Falls Series novels. In a read-through I did a few months back I found some errors and some scenes I thought could use a much deeper point of view.
2) By returning to Dominion Falls with my revision I have managed to gather some major plot points and scenes for upcoming novels in the series. There will be one novella and two or three full length novels.
3) I finished Haunted Hearts (Holidays in Lake Point 12) and turned it in for edits. Any day now I’ll be getting edits for Love For Hire (Holidays in Lake Point 11), and plan on writing Mistletoe Mixup (Holidays in Lake Point 13) during the month of August.
4) And I need to get back to work on book 4 of my Tribe series, The Raven. It’s half done and I’m eager to finish.
Speaking of which, it’s time to get back to it now!
by Sarah | Jul 26, 2015 | All About Indiana, All of Us, Photography, Redefining Perfect, Snapshot Sunday
Continuing with the storm pictures from a couple of weeks ago. Most of these are from the local park, along with a couple of my never-ending cloud pictures.
What? I have a thing for clouds.
Anyway, onto the lot of them.
*
*
*
*
Fluffy.
Bark.
Water at the side of the road.
Sun Breaching the Clouds.
Is it Water or Sand? Take a Guess.
Bridge Over Troubled Water.
That’s Not A Bird On That Wire.
And that’s it for this week!  More to come next week…considering I get my camera back out 😀
by Sarah | Jul 25, 2015 | All About Denver, All About Family, All About Me, All of Us, Disney, Redefining Perfect, Story of Me
Growing up, I always knew I’d become my mom. It ran in the family, after all. She was turning into Grandma, and I favored her over my dad, so it stood to reason I’d turn into her.
I never expected to become my dad.
My family had a tendency toward vacations that were road trips. My dad has a bit of a nomadic side to him, so I think those road trips really helped ease that need to go, go, go.
My dad was also a control freak.
I remember half-teasing that he had a tendency to plan our vacations down to the minute.
Trips to Disney. To California. Hockey tournaments. Busch Gardens. The Henry Ford Museum.
Everything was thoroughly researched and plans made that we weren’t allowed to deviate from.
It was intense vacationing.
I swore I’d never do that.
And I haven’t…
Exactly…
When the word came down that Denver’s original wish was going to be a no-go, I knew what that meant.
A return to Disney World (his backup wish).
This time we’d have the experience of last year (and the handful of missteps we made, rides we missed, etc.) to guide us…
Which meant planning was going to happen.
Turns out the teen is as much my dad, if not more, than I am. We’ve gathered books (these are just two of the 6 we have), watched every single Disney special on TV we could find, and I got the free Disney vacation DVD. We’ve written down what we missed that we want to see, and things we saw we want to do again. Denver has even located a map w/ approximate walking times between attractions (seriously).
I’ve made meal reservations (we sort of flubbed this last time), and Denver’s plans are revolving around those times and the parks we’ve mutually agreed we want to visit each of our three days.
Since he’s been gone most of the summer we haven’t gotten down to nitty gritty, and I’m still insisting on complete flexibility (not minute-by-minute) in our planning because things happen, and my dad is ill, and my mom has a horrific back (they are going w/ did I mention that?)–so flexibility is key…but we are going in with some plans this year.
It’s oddly soothing.
Just don’t tell my dad I said that.
by Sarah | Jul 24, 2015 | All About Molly, All of Us, Autism, Blogging Life, Friday Feels, Redefining Perfect, Special Needs
Molly had a stellar year at school this year. Top notch, best on record.
Her grades were through the roof awesome, she jumped ahead in math and managed to get an angle on language arts and push forward.
Life was pretty good.
Then, came the end of that.
Fresh off the bus on the last day of school the first thing she said was, “I want to go back to school.”
See, Molly doesn’t handle change well at all.
She doesn’t handle the loss of a routine well.
So despite the leaps and bounds made during the school year, we have had a very difficult summer.
Molly is struggling.
Not sleeping on several occasions (like, at all).
Behavioral issues, despite taking her medicine nearly every day.
Anger, silence, uncontrollable laughing.
Enough to concern us.
And enough to make us look forward to the start of school in a few weeks.
I hate seeing her struggle and not knowing what to do for her.
I can only hope that the return to a routine and school, where she loves to be, will bring her back into focus.
Now if I could just get over the fact that she’s going into middle school….
Definitely time to get my kids on my top ten. I’m going to start with Molly this time around because – well, luck of the draw. 😀
She got those eyes from her daddy, and they are stunning. To this day they maintain that ice blue from her baby days into today. Just gorgeous.
