Are you a good mom?

So, I have this friend (I'll call her KK for short)... I think she's a great mom. But yesterday she emailed me and was very upset. It seems her 8 year old had just discovered packaging for a gift that was supposed to be from Santa. He started questioning her and in her haste to get out the door in the morning, she couldn't come up with a viable reason for why it was in her closet. The cat was out of the bag! She was feeling guilty for not being able to keep the magic alive for a while longer. I think she was also feeling bad because she was scheduled to work late last night and wouldn't be able to go home and have a good old heart to heart with her son to make sure he was okay with the news! She was also concerned about her 8 year old spoiling things for her 5 year old. She was not feeling like a good mom.

But... let me tell you... this is the same friend who schemed and planned for months and months to surprise her 2 boys with a trip to Disney for Christmas. In the weeks leading up to their trip, she was giddy as a school girl. She couldn't contain her excitement. And it wasn't excitement about the trip itself, it was excitement over how the boys would react to the news that they were going on their first trip to Disney (including a Disney cruise!). To me, this is the sign of a good mom.

I started thinking about this last night and wondering why we moms are all so hard on ourselves and why we don't take our own advice. When my little man is upset about not being able to do something perfectly, I talk to him about not being so hard on himself. I say things like "Just try your best. That's what matters!" Why do we not realize this is the same for us? As mothers all we can do is try our best for our kids. Things won't be perfect all the time and that's fine. We need to realize this and not get down on ourselves when things don't go as planned or when we don't have all the answers. We need to listen to our friends who tell us we're amazing and we need to believe them. I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, but this one seems like an okay one to strive for!

That's my pep talk for today!

PS... I'm sharing the Halloween pic because for me, that's just a little example of me being a good mom... You see, I'm really not big into dressing up for Halloween but it made Evan happy to see me as a cat!

DWTS Wrap Up

So the last time I wrote was the day of the big Dancing With the Stars event. I was nervous, excited and terrified all rolled into one ball of stress!!!! So I thought I'd just share with you how the night went!

If I had to pick a single word to describe the evening, it would be "amazing"! It truly was the best show of all 3 years this event has run. The dancing was fantastic, the hall was beautiful, our guest performers who sang brought me to tears, Everett Smith was simply breathtaking in his performances and incredibly insightful as our celebrity judge, and best of all, it looks like we've made significantly more money this year for Hopespring.

I have to admit, going into the evening I was feeling like I might be a bit sad that I wasn't dancing in the show this year. But honestly, it didn't matter. I was so excited to be there behind the scenes and had such an immense feeling of pride at my involvement in organizing such a well run, entertaining evening.

So, to all of you who came out and enjoyed the show, thank you so much for your support. To those extremely generous people who donated their time and helped out that evening, know that your time is greatly valued and often means the difference between a highly successful event and one that is just ok! And to those who donated prizes to our auction or sponsored one of our talented dance teams, your generosity is so greatly appreciated and is the main reason we significantly increased the financial success of our evening. Because of you, many more people will have access to the wonderful services that Hopespring offers to cancer patients and their family and caregivers.

Here's a segment of my closing speech that I feel sums up the evening well. Thanks again to everyone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usyl-jHN4Es

Tonight's the night!

Well, after 9 months of work by an amazing committee of people, tonight's the night for the big Dancing With the Stars show benefiting the HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre. I may not be dancing this year, but that doesn't mean I'm not a bit nervous!!! I'm so proud to be a part of this event. HopeSpring does amazing, wonderful things for so many people and I can't think of a better way for me to spend some of my time. If I've learned one thing over the past 2 years with this event, it's that donating my time is just as important as donating my money!

So, wish me luck. I may have danced in front of 700 people last year, but I've never had to speak in front of that many before! Think great thoughts for us tonight and cross your fingers we break the records for money made on this event! That's my ultimate goal this evening!

Too much pressure?

We all want something great for our kids. Some start them in hockey at the age of 3 with the dreams of their child being the next Gretzky. Some, like this kid, strive to be the next Michael Jordan. Despite what the clip says, I find it hard to believe that his parents aren't pushing him even just a little bit to practice those 4 hours a day after school!

But I'm different.. I swear I am! Or at least I was until last week! I told myself when I had my babe that I would never pressure him into anything he didn't want to do. In fact, the hubs really wants little E to play hockey. Little E isn't so keen on the idea. So, I've gone to bat for him and I think Ronnio now agrees that as long as E can skate like a real Canadian, we're doing fine!

But now something big has happened that has changed all of this. E has turned a corner and there's no turning back. Now the pressure starts from me... BIG TIME! Can you say "the next Lance Armstrong"??? You be the judge!

The next Lance Armstrong???

The single life!

So, I've decided that I need to take my blog a bit more seriously! I started this blog in August 2009 just on a whim. I written a few times over the course of the past year but lately I've been feeling like I'd like to write more often. The challenge is always figuring out what to write about.

So, thanks to my good friend Claudia for giving me the inspiration for this post! She thought it would be fun for me to write about what life would be like if I was single. Not just without a kidlet, but completely single. Not 25 and single, but the age I am now, with the lifestyle I have now, just on my own (never married, not divorced). Don't mistake this as an indication of me being unhappy with my current life. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm happy with my life... my hubs, my kidlet, my work... everything is good. I just think it's fun to surmise what my day to day life would be like on my own. So, here's what I think a typical week day would be like:

7:00am - wake up well rested after a wonderful, uninterrupted sleep

7:15 - 8:15 - get ready for work, watching the news that I want to watch without the channel being flipped

9 - 5 (yes, in this fantasy day, I work only 9-5! Can't remember the last time this was reality!) - work a full day in the office (or in my home office depending on the day). At work, I'd talk about what I did the night before or the weekend before or what I plan to do tomorrow or on my next vacation!

5:30 - head to the gym to do either a spin class or a cardio pump class

7:00 - head home or meet up with a friend for Thai food for dinner. If I was heading home, I'd make myself some toast for dinner. Or on a good day, I might make myself some eggs!

8:00 - soak in a hot tub and watch my favourite shows and just think about what I might do on the upcoming weekend. Maybe call a few single friends to see about making plans for the weekend.

10/11:00 - head to bed. Read a book, and settle in for another perfect, uninterrupted sleep!

Flip to a single girl weekend and it's all about me! I'd probably go to the gym or go for a run or 2. I'd do some grocery shopping, I'd do a bit of me shopping, I'd clean my house, I'd visit friends, maybe see a movie, go out for dinner, maybe do a bit of work and do a whole lot of relaxing!

All this sounds absolutely wonderful, doesn't it! Imagine never having to worry about anyone else. Imagine not having to be at someone else's beck and call or having to adhere to someone else's schedule. Imagine not having to worry about picking someone up from school or about what to make a picky eater for dinner!

Just 1 problem... if that was my life, I'd be missing out on everything I actually have now... I'd be missing out on the super-duper Evan snuggles, I'd be missing out on the feeling I get every time Evan says "I love you, Mummy", I'd be missing out on all of the laughs and love I have with Ron and I wouldn't have anyone to share my day to day stresses, joys and accomplishments with. So really, what fun would that be?

In honour of Oktoberfest!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Dancing With the Stars 2010

So this time last year, I was sweating bullets. I was one week away from making my public dancing debut as a "star" in the Dancing With the Stars fundraising event benefitting the HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre. I originally got involved as a challenge for myself. I don't like being the centre of attention and I really felt the experience would force me to confront that fear. I also happen to think that HopeSpring is a charity worth supporting. They provide amazing services free of charge to people going through cancer, as well as their caregivers. All this with absolutely no government funding!

I have to admit though, it wasn't until after the show was over and the money was counted, I really felt the impact of what my involvement meant. Being involved in that show meant that many more people could have free wigs as they lost their hair to chemo. It meant more people could reap the benefits of one on one and/or group counselling sessions.

So, when I was asked after the show last year if I would help organize the event for this year, I didn't hesitate to say yes. This year, I'm the chair of the organizing committee and am once again, so proud to be involved in this event. This year, for the first time, we've gone after, and found corporate sponsors for each of the couples competing in the show. This means the event will raise so much more money for such a terrific cause. I'm proud to be a part of this committee who has worked so hard for the past 9 months to organize what promises to be a great show.

Also for the first time ever, we have a celebrity judge and guest performer. Everett Smith from So You Think You Can Dance Canada will be there to critique the dancers as well as wow the audience with 2 performances. We've got incredible prizes up for grabs in our live auction as well. I really think this year promises to be the best show yet and I'm so excited to be a big part of it.

So, if you're looking for something fun to do next Friday (October 15th), get a ticket. I promise you won't be disappointed. Tickets are still available from HopeSpring but they're going fast.

Oh, and wish me luck... I may not be dancing this year, but I may have to make a speech in front of the 700 people in the audience!!!! YIKES!!!!!