Looking For Your Opinion

Okay family, friends and followers...I am having a hard time deciding on a subtitle for "Family Ever After," and am looking for your honest opinions. Below is the cover to my book and four subtitle options. Let me know which is your favorite, or if you think of something better. Thanks!

Apparently Spider Man is Important

     Friday morning, I was banging together medal bowls, with the intent of getting my kids out of bed. I could see my Daniel stirring. In hopes that my noisy breakfast preparation was working, I pressed on. Jackson was already awake and running around in his diaper.  Ella wandered in looking less than amused and made it to the cushy chair in the kitchen to lay back down. Julia followed, booking it to the bathroom...luckily she made it. Daniel however had no intention of getting out of bed, and no amount of coercion could do the trick. I began to lose patience in my children's inability to get up and get ready for school. The smell of breakfast finally convinced Daniel to end his slumber, and just as I was about to give him a piece of my mind, he began to share his dream.

     With all the wonder and excitement of a six year old he said, "Mom, I was dreaming that I was Spiderman and I just didn't want the dream to end." He threw out his arm as if to throw a web. With fascinating animation he continued, "I could climb walls, jump off buildings and throw my own web. It was so AWESOME!"

Now I understood, and I was grateful I didn't destroy his excitement in my impatience.

Somewhere in Chapter 3: Defining What's Important

     I love it when my husband helps me with my creative projects and he loves it when I go fishing with him. Neither of us in our heart of heart loves the others hobby, but we love each other. We love making each other happy and we love being together. In order to show our loved one’s what is important to them is important to us, we must actually know what is important to them. I know it is important to my four year old to read her stories. I know it is important to my 9 year old to listen, look and help her with creative projects. The only way to know what is important to our loved ones is to pay attention, listen, and inquire. Sometimes it means we have to stop doing what we are doing and refocus our attention towards our family.

*I now know how important Spiderman really is to my Daniel. I'm so glad I listened.

Got Your Ever After?

     Okay, so I know I disappeared for a while. My upcoming book, "Family Ever After" has been consuming my world. We had to push back our deadline, because I am not the oh so speedy writer I thought I was. I am however well on my way into my 10th round of editing . . . that's not a joke. Family Ever After will soon be making its debut in April 2013. My world is consumed with editing, and cleaning up the toilet water Jackson loves to play in. He totally drank it yesterday. I thought about calling poison control, but for some reason I don't think they would have been able to help. Anyway, I thought I might leave you with a tidbit of what I've been working on. Enjoy.

Family Ever After--Somewhere in chapter 1
     As the pace of life quickened, our waistlines began to fill, our hairlines began to recede, and the stress of life began to creep in. As our children joined the ride of our lives, our bed became the communal sleep fortress, and we forgot what it was like to have a solid night of rest. We would blow a kiss and holler an ‘I love you’ as we passed through the portal of our home.  It was as if there was a constant time lapse between us, and we could never land ourselves in the same place at the same time.
     My happily ever after was quickly transforming into a heap of work, and I found myself thinking, “This is not what I signed up for-this is not how I pictured my happily ever after.”  Then I realized, maybe this is what I signed up for and I just don’t know how to make my ever after happy. I began to wonder, maybe it is possible to have a happily ever after even when my white picket fence is broken, my ‘beautiful’ lawn is dead,  and my children are less than angelic.