What are you thankful for?

What are you thankful for....

Today I am thankful for....

Ugly days...They make pretty days possible!

2 amazing children...

     1 a "momma's boy" for better or worse

     1 growing up far, far too fast

Parents with resiliency and a sense of humor!

Friends who are supportive and encouraging!

Co-workers who are so much more!

Time to read amazing, inspirational blogs!

Glasses of wine!

The ability to chit chat with other adults football practice!

Forced time outside on a chilly fall night!

The opportunity to teach my son perspective...

     Some things matter....many people don't!

     Don't waste tears on someone that is not important!

An amazing husband

     (have I mentioned that he makes the lunches, gets up early,  

     food shops, cooks dinners, mows the lawn, takes out the 

    trash, finds and buys cool toys, plays endlessly with your 

    children and so, so, so much more!)

A job!

A house!

A computer!

A blog!

When I Grow Up...

When I grow up....

via tumbler.com

It's not shocking that I have a family  

who think outside the box! 

I'm married to the smartest man 

I have ever met who is still a boy at heart! 

He's professional! 

He's intelligent! 

He's hysterical! 

He makes an excellent living!

He teaches me something new just about everyday!

And my smart, amazing, wonderful husband still loves 

Legos, comic books, and Disney World! 

When he was in 5th grade, my now teacher husband, announced to his classmates that when he grew up he wanted to be a professional wrestler!

My little Luke has had always kept me on my toes with his hopes, dreams, and career aspirations!

When he was in preschool he explained one night at dinner how he wanted to be a dentist, a teacher, or a clown!

(hmmm...completely logical!)

At his kindergarten graduation, 

the teachers prepared a video yearbook of sorts 

where there was a section of video 

where all the students were interviewed about 

what they wanted to be when they grew up. 

Of course there were tons of teachers, doctors, 

police officers, and dentists. 

Luke's adorable face comes on screen and I smile.

"Hi! My name is Luke Mingacci. 

When I grow up I want to be a tight rope walker in the circus!"

WAIT! 

WHAT! 

NEVER HEARD THAT BEFORE!

I began laughing out loud! 

(Along with all the other parents!)

Not in an embarrassed kind of way! 

But in a please never lose your dreamer personality way!

Today we were working on his All About Me poster he will need to present to his classmates next week for his 

Star of the Week role!

Me: "Luke, here is where you write what you want to be when  

        you grow up!"

Luke: "Ok! I really want to be a time traveler when I grow up!"

Me: "That sounds amazing! Go for it!"

Luke: "How do you spell traveler?"

I walked in the other room and just lost it!

Luke, you make me laugh! 

I love you more than you'll ever know!

Then to top it all off...as I was reading Nicholas his bed time story, he was telling me all the Disney characters in the story. I was acting confused and he would laugh and correct me! 

I kissed him on the head and said 

"I love when you teach me new things!"

He looked at me and said, 

"When I grow up I want to be a teacher." 

I said "Really?"

No lie......

He said "YES! 

A teacher or Bullseye (the horse from Toy Story!)!"

Nope not the cowboy! Not the space ranger! 

Not an human character!

He wants to be a teacher or a horse!

via younghouselove.com

(Guess we're not the only dreamers!)

I just love them!

And who am I to talk?

I'm 32 and I still haven't decided 

what I want to be when I grow up!

Maybe a writer or a photographer....

Maybe a singer or a piano player....

Maybe a teacher forever and I would be forever happy....

But watch out...

The Mingacci's may go out on tour!

The professional wrestler!

The piano playing singer!

The time traveler who specializes in tight rope walking!

And the horse teacher!

If you could be anything in the world when you grow up...

What would you be?!?!?!

These are the Happy Matters of our life today!

Taking a break....

Taking a break...

http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=325

It's been an exceptional very busy few days!

My days at school are a bit smoother which is an enormous relief. Unfortunately, they are no less exhausting! Each lesson I do becomes a circus act or comedic performance! I have a very special relationship with the ladies I work with in my classroom. They have seen me act like a complete moron to hold the attention of a child to teach them something new! There is an immense amount of blackmail out there on me!

The weekends have been filled with football activities and weekend planning. One of the things we have been planning was Luke's birthday party and the weekend was finally here!

Friday was filled with cake making, cake decorating and house cleaning! Then came the big day!

A morning of fun at 

The County Movie Theatre in Doylestown 

for all his classmates, 

our friends and their children, 

and some of our family!

It was a HUGE HIT! 

Everyone had a great time!

Luke especially!

After the party, we had some family over for lunch and cake. 

It was relaxing!

It was fun!

It went so smoothly!

I woke up this morning knowing we had a few errands to run before spending a cold, potentially rainy, afternoon outside at Luke's football game,

and I decided to take a break!

I still had sleepy eyes...

I had major bed head...

and I knew I wanted to write a post 

but didn't know where to begin...

so I made a conscious decision to do nothing!

I took a break!

With mellow music on 

and my coffee in hand,

I closed my eyes, 

breathed, 

and consciously chose to do nothing!

I was successful for maybe 4 minutes 

before Domenic said I seemed too quiet (HA!)

But it felt AMAZING!!!!

Later this afternoon, as I was procrastinating from planning my circus acts and writing my material for my comedic performances, I stumbled upon this picture with an article about how as a society we stink at taking breaks.

I promised myself I would try harder to take good breaks!

I'm joking of course but breathing in the moment 

and recognizing all the happy matters in my life 

is definitely a worthwhile practice!

Perspective on Happy Matters!

Perspective on Happy Matters!

via The Joyful Mother

Domenic turned to me just a few days ago and said "You haven't been blogging recently!" Not a beat went by and I said, my blog is called Happy Matters. I only like to write when I'm happy!

Then I realized that I've been doing a poor job at being myself!

Maybe thats unfair. Maybe I need to cut myself some slack. Maybe it's my wonder woman role I like to assume! Maybe it's being self-absorbed! 

I like to think of myself as a bright, cheery, positive, silver-lining searching, happy, helpful, "I can tackle any challenge!" person! 

And I've been struggling....with all of it!

Brightness dims quickly
Negativity seeps in
Happiness and smiles 
     take back seats to frustrations and sighs
There's struggle to find silver linings
I'm not helpful to others
And I'm feeling like I'm losing daily challenges!

*I feel like I need to write that my life is completely balanced! There is no need to worry! My children are wonderful! My husband is amazing! Our families are healthy and amazing! I am just a control freak and things haven't gone as planned the past few weeks in one teeny tiny area of my life! 

Unfortunately, to a fault, I let this area of my life absorb me often. 

So yesterday I went to get my hair done and while the dye (to cover my extreme grey hair) was sitting I decided to catch up on reading the blogs I subscribe to. 

Little Miss Momma is one of my most favorite blogs around right now! She's a mother of 2 boys who writes about her adventures and her meltdowns of being a woman, wife and mother! She's way craftier than me! She's a stay at home mom! But I feel like we have so much in common. Often I'm reading her words about her experiences and I forget they're not my own. 

So I'm sitting in the hair chair and I'm reading about one of her bad days and her rescuing another mom from a tough moment and her story about why she blogs, and  tears start to stream down my face...in the hair chair! She wrote, 
I like to be positive.

Not unicorns and princesses positive,
but I like to find the silver lining in all of life’s lessons.

When I have a bad day,
I write about it.
And by the time I’ve finished the post,
I’ve usually found that silver lining.

And I thought...I need to go home and write! Enough of this feeling sorry for feeling challenged! I was inspired to write about my challenges to help myself find the silver linings!

Then I came home, told Domenic about what happened and we laughed about what a crazy person I must've appeared to be!

I sat down on the couch after putting the boys to bed, checked facebook and a friend posted this as their status...

I know I'm lucky for many reasons. This is a good time to remember to remember. - N.M.

And so I'm back! Writing when I have the time! 

Writing about my adventures, my struggles, and my happy matters!

September 11th...

September 11th...
A day to remember..

     Where you were....
          Who you were with....
               What you watched....
                    How you felt....
                         Everyone's story is different....
                              And none will be forgotten!

I say my prayers 11 years later 

for the little boys and girls

and the husbands and wives

who had a parent or a spouse

 be a hero that day! 

Never forget!

The real to do list....

The real to do list....

When I'm feeling so overwhelmed I can't possibly sort my thoughts to make a coherent or manageable to do list....

I find this!

BREATHE!!!!!!

Everything will always work out!

Always!

And always Sing 1st!!!!

(With ice cream not far behind!)

What a week...

What a week...

Sometimes this is easier said than done!

It was quite an eventful week!

Everyone had their first days of school!

Most importantly....

Luke's 1st day of 1st grade at a brand new school!

(He did great!)

And Nicholas's 1st day of Nursery school!

(He loved it!)

It was overwhelming at times!

Exhausting at times!

And wonderful at times!

I loved walking through the door each afternoon 

and hearing about the boys days! 

All the little adventures and activities that filled their days! 

As I was preparing to begin my 10th year of teaching, 

I was confident and excited!

My first day left me feeling challenged and defeated!

I put on a smile, 

pushed my worries into my back pocket 

and promised to try harder tomorrow! 

My baby sister said it best...

Only 1 way to go from here! UP!

 I so agreed!

Still I tried to not dwell on my daily adventures 

(adventures they were indeed...unexpected and spontaneous)

and I focused on being there for my boys!

Asking about Luke's day...

checking in on if and how he was loving his new school...

He was loving it!

The science lab is his favorite!

His teacher taught him about fluency! 

(such a big word coming out of his little body)

And he was making new friends!

Asking about Nicholas's day...

checking in to make sure he was being a good listener 

and making new friends!

He was and he was!

Domenic's days were wonderful, as usual!

I'm sure the girls love him!

I know I do!

I'm writing about remembering the little things 

because there's a good chance 

my days will be tougher than my nights 

for at least the 1st few weeks 

as we get into our routine as a family!

I need to remember that 

no problem is big enough to get you down all day

and when my day is over

I still have 3 men that need my love, patience, 

understanding and cuddles!

And those are the things I'll remember!