words to live by?

Because quotes have seem to come up a lot in the last week or so.  What are some quotes or prayers that you live by.  

My number one prayer is Serenity Prayer.  Thanks to my mom.  Anytime I struggle she says to remember the Serenity Prayer and anytime I post the first few (well known) verses on my facebook page, she finishes it for me.  

God, give grant me serenity to accept the things I cannot change, 

courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference. 

Another one I try to remember and incorporate into my daily life is in my email sig block.  I forgot I even had it in my sig block until the lady from Family Circle (yes the magazine) commented on it while talking to her via email.  More on that later.  It's an Einstein quote 

Learn from yesterday, Live for today and hope for tomorrow.  

There is another part to it "The important thing is to not stop questioning." Evidently I like to cut quotes and prayers short.  Maybe that's my problem.  Maybe I need to focus on the whole thing and not bits and pieces.   Maybe then they would actually work!

And another one that I have heard a couple times from a friend and recently at a Relay for Life meeting and it caught my daughter's attention too.  

If you want the rainbow you have to deal with the rain.  

Some days though, the rain sucks.  I would settle for partly cloudy, and not the tsunami that seems to be my life lately.

So I am going to try to focus on the my serenity, courage, wisdom, learning from my mistakes, enjoying today and hoping for tomorrow, and dealing with the rain all while hoping for that rainbow. 

Five years.

Something new for 2014 I am going to do one of these for both of the kids on their bdays.  Serena's first one will be 13 years late but better late than never right. 

So writing this now because it's on my mind a lot now.  In 4days, my son, aka my baby, will be five years old.  FIVE.  Xander has such spunk and such a fun personality.  He's so loving.  So kind but very ornery.  He keeps us on our toes and melts the hearts of many.  He is mean to his sister but loves her very much too.  Scooter is his best friend.  Xander proved his persistence and personality way before blessing our lives.  

Xander a/k/a

X
X-Man
Xander Bean
and
Turtle. 

He was called wimpy white boy in the NICU.
Because "white" boys' lungs develop the slowest.

He has a special connection to my cousin Katie.
I cannot explain it.  He just does.  Kindred spirits I guess.
 

  She will ALWAYS be his popcorn Katie.
And he will always be her Turtle.  

He loves all his grandparents and loves to tell everyone stories about them.

One of my favorites:
When standing in walmart when he was about 2, he pointed to the coffee and said Grandma!  Evidently he learned her love of coffee at a young age.
Mom, be glad it was the coffee aisle and not wine.  ;) 

He calls all his aunts and uncles: Aunt _______ and Uncle ___________
rarely are they ever just called by their name.  

^this is how he became "nephew Xander" by Uncle Scott.

He thinks having two aunt Nikki/Nicky's is cool. 
They both had babies this year so that gives them brownie points in his world. 

He knows Travis and Casey are his godparents,
but often gets confused and says Casey is his grandmother.
Sorry Casey, we're working on this mix up. 

He thinks every city with tall buildings is Chicago.

He also thinks he is going to marry one of the kindergarten teachers at D12.  He also has a crush on just about every single 6th grade girl he has ever met and knows the ones he met, by name. 

He loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, super heros, power rangers  and dinosaurs right now. 

He is so loving and kind, but when that mean streak comes out.  Watch out!

His thoughts are so random and often leaves us in tears or saying What in the World? 

He is clever.  I give them assigned rooms to clean.
He just moves everything from his room into the room Serena is cleaning. 

He also has a special connection to Aunt Sandy.
 Can't explain it.  He just does which is kind of cool because so do I.

We love you, Xander!