Florida Pics see previous post

Just a little "bump" to update those who follow my blog... new entry.....

Florida Trip and Life Today.. Jesus Take the Wheel

Edited to add: Today is actually March 30th. I started this entry a week ago but have been too tired to finish and publish it....

Well I am back. Did you all miss me? I missed you and the world of blogging VERY MUCH. I gave Facebook up for Lent and that is hard but I could never give up blogging. For me it is putting my heart on paper. March 14th the boys and I minus(Chris) headed to Dade City, FLA to spend time with Ken and Eva.. aka Grandpa Ken and Grandma Cha Cha. We had a great week. Spending time with my parents as a grown woman has been a really interesting and wonderful experience. During this time I get a lot of answers about myself. I understand why I do certain things I do. I see where I get all my good and even some not so good habits(smile)...... . We really enjoyed ourselves and time with the grands. Mom and Dad Thank You so much for all the love/support you gave me as a child and now today as a grown woman! I love you very, very much! I love watching the boys with you!

We arrived back and I have wanted to post but I have been EXHAUSTED. I have been fighting a cold AND I think I am working through some emotion and fear as it relates to Wachovia/Wells Fargo Integration. Every evening I want to blog but by the time I get the boys down... I fall into bed. I am just exhausted as I said from a cold and I think just from some stress I have been carrying inside... but as I quiet and get out of my head and into my "true knowing self I know it will all be MORE THAN OK.
Here is my take.... the new leaders( Wells) are good people doing the best they can. Many banks want to give back the TARP Money( money taken from the government) to restore investor confidence, so there are many aspects pushing for trimming back expenses. Financial Services is transforming before my eyes. My mantra is that I am a contractor now. Everyday with some work is an opportunity but no guarantee for past the day or the week. Layoff is a very real possibility for me. People very close to me have been laid off. My initial reaction is FEAR. I find myself thinking, "how will we pay the mortgage? how will we eat? how will we provide for the kids?" Then once I peel the layers of fear I realize that I HAVE POWER! ALOT OF IT. Layoff is being let go just from a company but that can bring great OPPORTUNITY! I am a really smart chick! I am great with people! I am a great coach/motivator....all around person. I am a great Training Consultant/Coach! and I will create whatever the next step for me professionally is......... If God wants a big overhaul of my professional life.. he will create it. So I am scared a bit... excited a bit.... tired a bit..... thankful a lot...... blessed alot... Here's to a new day of life. The sun is shining and I am going to grab this day and make it GREAT!
And here are some pictures from Florida that I have been wanting to post.

Our second night with my parents Discovery flew right by the house. It was soooo cool. I am so glad CJ got to see it! We sat outside and all screamed as it flew by!

The Grandparent Motto:

My mom has three grandsons....my sister is Due in June with Grandchild #4. Do you think my mom wants a girl? She has been busy crafting for months. Such cute/CUTE things. My mom is my Crafting Idol!

Cute little box for Grandbaby #4

Blanket for our friend Melissa G's baby boy Parker coming soon...... We grew up with Melissa on Long Island and our parents are still good friends....

I love this picture. I took it the first night we arrived.. as the sun set

Sunday.. church. I love Mother Teresa. She is my favorite Saint. My parents go to a church called St. Anthony's and this was hung on the side of the schoolhouse.

Over the last few years my devotion and love for Mary has grown a lot. I find myself praying to her a lot and asking her to speak to the "Big Man"... Heavenly Father on my behalf.

St. Anthony's... San Antonio FLA/ Dade City.. love the Florida style churches

We made it through about 20 minutes. Luckily the church has a great playground.

With stuff like this......

And this....

After mass

View from my parents backyard FORE!

I loved these sweet little ornaments my Mom hung outside. They remind me of NENE of NENE Dialogues.. my favorite Mommy Blogger.

The park near my parents house. My fave tees for the boys " Please Look after Earth Until I grow Up"! I am a tree hugger at heart!

My dad! Love you and look at that sky. Majestic!

Grandma Cha Cha... thank goodness her back surgery now allows her to play with the boys.

Me and sweet peas.......

Mason

At the Lowry Tampa Zoo. One of CJs favorite places in the world I think! He was soooo happy and ran from site to site with pure JOY! Gorillas in the background....

Backyard eating icys bliss!

Papa and Mason

Someday I may open a little studio for Mommy Coaching/Workshops/ Yoga etc. I would want it to look like this.............. this is Dade City Town.. so cute/ great little antique stores etc.

Dade City Library.. very fun

Listening during a Reading Time Activity

After reading time... it was CRAFT time. CJ was very into it as was CHA CHA.

My parents have a neighbor my age.. Marge. Marge and I have become goodbuddies. She took us to a really cool Strawberry Farm. Here are Mara(4) and CJ.

This place had rows and rows of Strawberry's hanging from baskets. It was sooo cool! PS: Note Mason has this thing about sweatshirts right now. They are his security blankets.

May May

Rows and rows of strawberrys

I felt so peaceful and calm. I choose to keep those feelings back home in the storm( lol)!

Uncle Clarence and Auntie Elvia came to visit. Picture is blurry but I had to have them on my blog. Great soulful people! They are my dads brother and sister.

Auntie Elvia and Mason

We visited Museum of Sience and Industry ( MOSIE)... Although girly I love museums and love dinosaurs and stuff like this! LOVE IT. I loved watching CJ filled with joy!

Berewick School: Meet the Principal

Hey ya'll this is important.. wanted to make sure this is on everyone locals radar:

http://www.steelecreekresidents.org/Newspages/news615_NewSchoolMeetings.htm


Happy Friday........short and sweet post today... life is good... albeit crazy and a bit scary.. but as long as we can weed out the limiting thoughts and see all the beauty in life we can create great lives for ourselves..... hugs and love Gigi

Launching Pretty & Pink Mom Life Coaching: New BLOG as my Virtual Office

Ok so one of my goals was to launch my Life Coaching Business. And with this blog I am doing so!

Yippee WOOO HOOOOOOO.....

Bookmark this site( below), check it often for discussions and mom resources and let me know how I can support you etc. I am available for one on one sessions, group sessions or public speaking events.


http://prettypinkmomlifecoach.blogspot.com/


Hugs From Gigi/Gieselle
Trained by Coachville, holding various Coaching Certifications already and working toward Coachville Designated Coach Certification

Contentment

Last night as I sat in my old glider rocker rocking Mason to sleep it occurred to me what a perfect moment it was. As I sat there looking down I saw Mason's sweet face... pink from the sun, Chubby little cheeks.... long beautiful lashes and I knew I was sitting in awareness of a perfect moment! As I sat rocking.. rocking.. rocking and Mason drifted off to sleep my mind played back the day and it too was great. It left me feeling Content. Very, very Content.
The morning began with participation in the Catholic Moms Bible Study Group I am now a part of. I am really enjoying this group. We are learning a lot from one another. Then later we attended a birthday party in the neighborhood for our friend Austin who turned One. As we played with our neighbors and sat on the lawn in the backyard on a beautiful Saturday eating some yummy BBQ food.. I looked at my family and many of our good friends.. and there it was again.. Contentment. Chris and I really searched for a Community to call home we looked for friends who would become like family and Berewick offers that. I am very Content with our little slice of heaven on Earth.. Berewick/Steele Creek/Charlotte.
Then for dinner we ate from Five Guys. They make (in my opinion) a perfect burger. We are eating less and less red meat.. but I do enjoy it when we do. Biting into that burger.. ahhhhhhh Contentment and even JOY! Then Amber and Brian called to ask us to meet them at Brewster's for Ice cream. It was Pajama Night on a warm wonderful evening. We all had short sleeve shirts on and the kids played and we watched all the patrons show up in PJS( you get a discount if you wear your PJs) and the staff served in PJs. Some old time music blared in the background. We sat and enjoyed the evening together.. and there it was for me again Contentment. Amber and I enjoy some great conversations... we chat about family.. and blogging and motherhood and I sooo enjoy it. God is sooo good to me because he finds these great people with great souls and makes them my friends! We drove home and yep there it was again..... Contentment..... and that is how our weekend has gone....really good and I am just very Content!
Quick update on the boys...... Mason is going through a funny phase of having to wear CJ's clothes or at minimum some kind of "hoody". He has spent the last several days wearing CJs shirts or "hoody's". What happens is I will bring both boys' clothes for the day downstairs and right after breakfast wash them up and dress them for the day. As I start to dress CJ, Mason will walk over and take CJ's shirt.. I spend the next several minutes chasing Mason around to get the shirt back or trying to explain he too has a shirt that is a better option. Mason wants none of it and we have had several instances of Mason wearing CJ's shirts out of the house rolled up as to not drag on the floor or create a safety issue for him. Life with a toddler can be MADDENING! The kids makes me laugh though. He just really makes me laugh. They both do!
CJ is definitely going through an interesting "sorting and organizing phase". He has ALWAYS been a kid that likes things in order(well except for the playroom- which drives me BATTY) . But he has definitely inherited Chris' organizational skills. He sorts and characterizes everything.. dinosaurs by type, trees by type, animals by type. Throughout my house you will see... a line of elephants, dinosaurs.....by type.. etc etc. Attached is a picture of Fruit Snacks that he organized by color. I find it amazing how the mind of a young child works... just amazing and wonderful. So that is it for tonight. The world is crazy, and the Barn is burning down*( metaphor for what is going in in the world right now and in my life to some extent)! Life is chaotic, challenging, and sometimes very scary. An yet I feel for the most part I sit in the middle of the tornado in the calm spot of it. A calm very content spot in the eye of the storm.

If you look closely you can see how CJ has organized his fruit snacks by color... This is the type of thing he loves to do... CRACKS ME up.

New spiky hair cut. I love it.. and he does too but does not like to fuss with it like mommy fashionista does....

Up close..... ADORE THIS KID....


A moment of calm.... Mason did not get a hair cut... Last time did not go sooo good.

Brian and Savannah. Good dad... cool guy.....good friend!

My dear chica... Amber and Savannah... Note how they match. Love this!

Chris teaching Sebastian a thing about golf...

CJ, Sasha, Zack and Mason hanging at the mini pool.

A beautiful day outside having lunch outside with our neighbors at Austin's awesome party.

CJ I am sure looking for bugs or something.....

Can you believe this cake? Love the theme and so did all the males in my house.....

Me with arms full of children... Just how I like it!

At Brewster's Saturday night.... kiddies hanging out

Girlfriends..... loved our chat about which Wife on Big Love we like the most!

Sunday attire.. another Uncle Jerry or Grandma Dream gift!

And CJ with a new polo also from either Uncle Jer or Grandma Dream

We are saving pennies to donate during Lent as part a church event. I love doing this.

PS: I modified our blog name wanted something shorter...... and a bit more private..... IF YOU BLOG.. though, you love sharing your life/dirt RIGHT?????????