Happy (Official) Birthday Lily Billy!

After a whole weekend (and then some) of celebrating Lily's birthday, the day is finally here! Lily was excited to go to school today to be with her friends. She's a big kid now! SEVEN!

Happy Birthday Lily Billy!!

Seven Is Halfway to Fourteen.

Happy 7th Birthday Lily!

I remember when I first learned that I was pregnant with Lily. We had just moved from FL to CA and we were living on a sailboat in downtown San Diego. I remember being so nervous about being a mom and thinking that I was crazy to be having a baby at 24. On October 26th 2003 we had our first little girl and named her Lily, after her Great Grandmother Lillian.

It's been seven years since she was a little newborn baby in my arms and celebrating her birthday this weekend really made me think about how fast time flies. On Tuesday, I will officially be a mother of a 7 year old and a 4 year old. There is not a baby bottle or diaper in the house. Both kids are able to play with the small Legos without the threat of choking and both kids are able to maneuver scissors in the proper manner. But there is something about Lily that makes me wonder where the time has gone... She's not a little kid anymore. She's almost a "tween" which means that she is halfway to being an official teenager!

Lily was the first grandchild on both sides of the family. She was so spoiled and is still to this day! I love that she's a unique kid with her own thoughts and ideas. She is logically smart and artistically inclined. She got the best of me and her dad. She walks to the beat of her own drum and she is fine with that. She is becoming a confident young girl who sticks up for her friends while staying level headed. She reacts well to change and typically keeps a positive outlook on things.

"Lily Billy" and her dad at her first hockey game.

Since Lily's birthday lands on a Tuesday this year, we decided to take her out for dinner with our close friends and then to her very first hockey game this past Saturday. Her birthday is so close to Halloween and various Fall Festival activities that she decided that it would be OK to have her birthday party in November instead of cramming everything in on one weekend. Like any other milestone a baby or toddler makes, this was the first time that I heard Lily make a thoughtful and insightful decision on her own. As a parent, we're so used to telling kids what the plan was and that was that. For the first time, I saw that Lily took the initiative to plan things out. Wow! It was like watching her take her first baby steps again. I wanted to capture it on camera...

The Russell Family Four!

Well at any rate we cannot control time. We can only let things happen and enjoy the good, cope with the bad and experience everything in between. Adults grow up and tell their kids funny stories about when they were kids and they will do the same when the time comes. We can only hope for the best for our children and once in a while give ourselves a pat on the back for being a good parent. Cheers to being seven!

"Growing old is mandatory; Growing up is optional."

- Chili Davis -

The Stillness of October Gold

Summer is over... Did I mention that I love Fall?

Honestly, for me there is no other Season that evokes more life in me than Autumn. It's quite ironic that I come alive when Mother Nature starts to hibernate. I take pleasure in the cooler weather, the brilliant golds and browns that take over my surroundings. This is the time to start over, to be quiet, still. This is the time to listen to your thoughts in silence and to follow what your heart wants.

It was almost like the month of October hit and I ran into our attic to search for those wonderful orange and black plastic containers that hold the pure happiness of Autumn. The boxes exploded with pumpkins, silk maple garlands and those pesky plastic spider rings. Right away I cleaned the front porch and hung the Fall garland around the front door. I arranged the silk flowers in the red Radio Flyer and when it looked the way I wanted it I sat at the porch and admired it!

A week later, the inside of our house looked like an Autumn tornado hit. The stairs have lovely golden brown leaves wrapped around the rails and every table has some sort of Fall decoration. I really can't help it. I wasn't lying when I said that I love Autumn!

Perhaps my most favorite time of the Autumn Season is the fact that I can submit myself into my crafting again! My knitting basket will come out of its holding pattern that Summer brought with it and my sewing machine will soon begin the chatter of constructing Halloween costumes and trick or treat bags.

Its the small indulgences that I love about Autumn! You can drink hot coffee in a warm mug. You can turn on your oven and bake tasty treats. Give in to scarves, jeans and sweaters. Listen to music, read a book, snuggle in a blanket with your husband and kids.

Autumn is enchanting! It's time to enjoy!

"Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it.
And if I were a bird I would fly about the earth
seeking the successive Autumns."
- George Eliot -

Happy Birthday to Lolo!

My dad.

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

I miss you so much. You were an amazing father and role model.

Isn't he handsome?

You are forever in my thoughts...

"And in the end, it's not the tears in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

- Abraham Lincoln -