All Moms Go To Heaven...

...and here's my Top 10 list of reasons why, based on my own little corner of the world!

10. We need some rest!

When else are we going to get it? The whole sleepless nights thing starts with us in pregnancy with the heartburn, aches/pains, kicking/rolling babies, frequent potty trips, and insomnia. It then moves on to the middle of the night feedings, diaper changings, walking the hallways, rocking/shushing. After that comes all of the potty training fun, sick in the middle of the night, nightmares, and scared of storms stuff. I'm guessing it doesn't end -- well, ever. I mean, the whole waiting up for teenagers to make curfew thing is in there. And now that I think about it, my own mom (as well as my mother-in-law) has volunteered herself for sleepovers with my kids and that means middle of the night wakeups, early mornings, etc.

9. We know how to count to 10!

As much as we'd like to, we *usually* don't join our kids in throwing ourselves on the floor to have a tantrum when things don't go our way. (Although if you're like me, this is often very tempting.) I'm not saying I don't lose my temper from time to time, but typically it's my job to remain calm, be the voice of reason, offer reasonable choices -- including natural consequences, and make deals when appropriate. Honestly, I think that police forces across the country should seriously think of hiring moms for the negotiator position...we have some serious experience in dealing with hysterical people who are out of control!

8. The laudry -- oh, the laundry!

On the off chance that my mom ever reads this, I'd like to apologize right now for the state of my bedroom for oh -- my entire 18 years at home. I had no idea how aggravating it could be to see clothes that had JUST been washed, dried and folded in heaps on the floor -- right in there with the yucky ones yet to make it to the laundry. I cringe just THINKING about that! If I don't do at *least* one (usually two) loads of laundry a day, it piles up like crazy, and I mean piles very literally. I have had a super busy week and laundry was not a part of that week. Today I am seriously digging out and know it will take me 3-4 days to catch back up. The laundry alone has some pretty powerful golden ticket power, if you ask me.

7. Cook, wash dishes, put away dishes, clean kitchen -- repeat.

This is the cycle in my house, at least. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between. If someone wanted to know what I spend the MOST time doing each week (besides laundry - DUH!), it would definitely be the kitchen thing. I need to add that since I am the very proud mommy of a 13 month old, you can guess that the 3+ daily high chair cleanups are also in there. That drop the food over the edge of the tray trick is in full force right now, which I think, just bolsters my "let me into heaven" case even further.

6. Played out!

I know I'm not alone on days where I would rather be at the dentist than pull out my stellar Sir Topp Em Hatt voice AGAIN. Or keep stacking up blocks so that little hands can keep knocking them down. Or play peek a boo...over and over and over and over. Or dig in the sandbox for hours. Or make ANOTHER playdough snake. Most days I really do enjoy it, but some days play is definitely work for me.

5. Poop. Lots of Poop.

This one is self-explanatory, isn't it? Well, maybe not. I mean, it's not just that it's poop. It's more like wrangling the poop. From mastering the ol' pin the legs and entertain the face diaper changing trick, to sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting for a potty training toddler to finish up, to the oh-so-fun stomach bug runs...poop is a big part of any mom's day. Might I add, dealing with any of the above while pregnant should be worth double points. (Are there points??)

4. The sickies.

I don't know many things that I would put ahead of sick kids on my list of things I really, really don't like. It's so hard to see them sick and miserable, and all of the energy, love, patience, and compassion that any mom expends on a daily basis is tripled when kids are sick. Feeling helpless to make them feel better (physically, feel better) stinks -- so it's like you do everything else you can to compensate. Backrubs, snuggles on the couch with favorite videos, special treats so that they'll eat and drink SOMETHING, extra hugs and kisses...all that stuff. You don't do it because you have to, you do it because you want to -- but at the end of the day, it leaves you even more tired. Worrying about your babies, battling over giving medicine, dealing with the extra crying/whining/clinging all takes a toll at the end of the day on us Mommies.

3. We are some fun people!!

Whether it's making a pillow/blanket fort in the living room, spending 4 hours decorating a train birthday cake, making up funny songs that are special for your kids, shopping online when you'd rather be on the couch just so you can keep an eye on your ebay bids for the PERFECT Christmas bargain, making chocolate chip cookies together, or making the perfect Bob the Builder costume out of the stuff you already have lying around the house...we try our best to find creative ways to make each day fun, even when there's no extra money around to spend.

2. We remember the important things!

I couldn't even begin to tell you how many times I've forgotten things for myself when we leave the house, but I can truly count on one hand how many times I've forgotten the big stuff for my kids. I might leave my cell phone on the counter, but the snacks make it into the bag. My own coat might still be hanging on the hook, but both kids have hats, coats and gloves to bundle up with when the cold air hits. When I went to Las Vegas with my husband in February, I was upset to find that I'd forgotten a dress, two shirts and a pair of pants while I was packing my own suitcase. Did the kids have all of the clothes and gear they needed for a few days with my parents? Absolutely. Taking one for the team is just part of the job when you're a mom.

1. Love.

Honestly, it feels kind of bizarre to write this list because it feels like complaining. Don't get me wrong, I could probably do a top 20 with no problem, but the thing is -- all of the things that I do as a mom I do with love. I think that even though I'm far from perfect and have many, many do-overs in my mind from various days on the job as a mom, I am proud of the fact that my kids won't hestitate to say that they are without a doubt LOVED by their Mommy, no matter what.


Read more about why all moms should go to heaven here:

http://crazyhipblogmamas.com/?p=206

And visit a really cute store devoted to the whole concept here:
http://www.allmomsgotoheaven.com/

The New Cookbooks Are Here! The New Cookbooks Are Here!

Remember that part in "The Jerk"? Well, except that it was phone books, not cookbooks. Well, regardless, that's how I feel. Picture me doing that same goofy jumping around and flailing my arms, minus the hideous 70's leisure suit look.

Some friends and I have put together a cook book with some great recipes in it. It started out to be just for fun, but in the end, it's a lot more than that. It honors a precious little life and every single cent we make off of it is going to the March of Dimes in her name.

I have to say that personally, this has been something that has done my heart some good. You know when you feel like you just need to do something -- anything -- to try and help someone? Well, how in the world do you take away pain when one of the best people you know has lost her precious baby girl? There's no way. So we did what we could and turned a project we were already excited about into a way to say we love you.

So, Jamie -- just know. I love you. Keiran is truly ALWAYS in my heart. Thanks for sharing so much of yourself, and your precious angel, with me.

Okay...wiping away the tears...

Click below to read the story and um, HELLLOOOOO...

Buy the cookbook!!!!!!

Photo Friday: Messes!!

The theme for this week is "Messes". I love this picture because it's my son's favorite way to make a mess during the summer. He loves to climb in the sandbox to scoop and shovel dirt for hours. He always ends up like this -- sweaty, sticky, and covered with sand from head to toe. This stinky kind of mess will always stay tucked away in my heart as a personal favorite.




Check out the other photos here.

What is she saying??

Thanks to Nutmeg for the brilliant idea! I love it when I don't have to come up with my own ideas, so I am all over this one.

Okay, so look at the picture of my baby girl below and tell me what you think she is trying to say. I'm looking forward to this one!

I think she's saying "Get 'im, Rock! You're a tank!"

Photo Friday...

Photo Friday is a new little thing I'm going to play along with. Well, I'm going to try and not forget, anyway. So far, I'm one for one. Awesome.

This week's theme is "Your silly little baby face" and I immediately thought of this picture.

Georgia was about 3 weeks old here and her expression just cracked me up. My best friend's brother actually emailed back that she looked like Snoop Dogg. Personally, I think it's just a pink version of Mickey from the Rocky movies.

If you would like to play along on your own blog, feel free. Or leave a favorite picture in the comments. Or just mosey on down the road enjoying my strawberry-hatted little punkin. Your choice!

Happy Friday!

Tired...

Okay, I must have already called a post tired, because when I put in the "ti", the whole word popped up. Well, I guess that's not surprising.

I'm friggin' tired, people.

My kids were sick last week and now my husband is sick. This all means that I try desperately not to *get* sick while caring for them while they are sick. I'm sick of all of this flippin' (different than friggin') sickness!!!!

I do have to say, I'm sort of an idiot though. I mean, here I am, devoting an entire post to being tired and it's 11:21 pm. Am I in bed? Ummmm, not so much.

See, the problem is that when I get tired, really tired, I get wound up.

Off to unwind...

P.S.

I wanted to add (since I thought about this in the shower) that I know that I am *often* the actual saran wrap holder. I also wanted to add that the saran wrap is not usually a good roll, it's usually full of petty, historically irrelevant, selfish things. The last thing I wanted to say that in case there's a question, the entire "what's important" post was made in reference to real-life events.

What's really important?

It's a question that has come up in my life many, many times in the past few weeks. I know that it comes up daily on a regular basis, but I'm not talking about letting my four year old watch another half hour show.

I mean those times where you have to really stop and pause. Think about what you want to say to someone. Then you have to think about what you probably should say. Then you have to decide what you actually will say.

I am talking about those times where you are trying to sort out the various "problems" or "issues" that life has recently brought to your doorstep.

The past few weeks have been no different than any other chunk of time to the outsider looking inward on my life, but for me, they've been pretty heavy. Lots of deep thinking. Lots of decisions to make that are chain reaction type of decisions...as in what I decide to do about this very small detail could very well end up in a landslide of spinoff details. The whole anthill type of situation.

One thing I've come to realize these past few weeks is how important perspective is. Someone who is in a relatively calm period of their own life would agree...these are pretty decently important issues. These are legitimate problems I'm trying to sort out. Someone else would laugh in my face and say "You are SUCH an idiot. This crap is not a PROBLEM...it's an annoyance."

I'm trying hard to give myself permission to address them as issues, but decide if the things that I am currently wrestling with are truly problems for me, or if I'm making a choice to let them be problems. I think I'm starting to see that some things that I'm working through are truly other people's problems and it's like I'm walking through a roll of their saran wrap slathered in super glue. (Okay, I realize that sounds bizarre. But hey, this is my blog, so it's my warped little analogy and it's staying. Deal with it, people.) It's their "thing", but they've held it out in my path so it's sticking to me. I can either do my best to peel it off, give it back and say "Oh, here ya go. I believe this is yours." Or I can start freaking out and yell "Ahhhh -- I've got saran wrap on me and it won't come off!!!" I can hold a grudge toward the saran wrap holders or I can make a choice to own only my role in walking through the saran wrap, realizing that it is in fact theirs and it's the glue -- the link between us -- that has complicated the issue.

The other thing that has jumped out at me recently is the fact that I do a very poor job of truly appreciating the good in my life. The gifts. The successes. The love. The happiness. I realize these things are positive. I realize these people are treasures. I realize that I have so much more than I probably deserve and so much more than many people will ever have. But do I truly, truly appreciate it? No. I think that I stumble through life taking the people, things, feelings, gifts, and my surroundings for granted each and every day.

That's part of what I'm hoping will change. I know it won't happen overnight, but I'm bound and determined that it will happen. I'm trying to look at everything in my day as a choice and trying hard to make better choices, particularly when it comes to my own feelings and what I decide to carry around with me every day.

Wish me luck. It's a pretty daunting task.

Stumbling away...

My husband and I went to Las Vegas last week...on Valentine's Day, actually. Neither of us are big on that holiday, but our 5th anniversary was on the 9th and we waited until this weekend so that we could enjoy a LOOOONNNGGGGG weekend together, with President's Day being today.

As I was preparing to leave, Murphy's Law kicked into overdrive around here. (The whole if it can go wrong, it will go wrong deal.) My parents said that they would be over here by 5pm at the very latest so that I would have an hour and a half to do last minute things without the added bonus of trying to wrangle and feed my two little munchkins. Well, as luck would have it, there was just enough snow that day to make a mess of the roads, so my dad was late getting home from work, they were late leaving the house, and traffic pretty much sucked the big one. In addition, Chris was late leaving work and got to do his own traffic fighting stunt, completely crushing all hope in me that I would be able to actually focus on packing.

It might just be our little slice of crazy over here, but from 4-6pm is pretty much known as "the witching hours" in our house. Those two hours between Georgia's afternoon nap and dinner usually present the biggest challenge for me during any given day. The kids are restless, tired, somewhat bored, and so am I most days. There's also the whole dinner thing in there, too. I hadn't even thought about dinner Wednesday night because part of my mom's generous plan involved her bringing and feeding the kids for me. Clearly, that got blown out of the water.

I was trying to pack myself for 4 nights in Vegas -- attempting to account for unknown weather conditions, fancy dinners, casual dinners, and lounging by the pool attire. At the same time, I was trying to pack up two kids for 4 nights at their grandparents' house -- and trying to cover my bases with regards to having enough clothes, church clothes, pajamas, underwear, food, medicine, loveys, etc.

That's stressful enough in itself, right? Well, add to that the fact that my *ahem* well intentioned mother-in-law did my laundry on Tuesday. Most people would probably be exceptionally grateful and appreciative of another person doing laundry without being asked to, but for me -- it actually added to my stress level. The thing is, I am ultra anal about my laundry. Chris has tried three times to do laundry in our five years of marriage and I think he pretty much just gave up after that. (I wasn't very nice about it.) I don't mind doing laundry -- I really don't. I have a very specific organizational system for the whole process and usually plan it out. My MIL came over to watch the kids here on Tuesday afternoon while I saw a couple of clients. I hid the ironing from her because I knew if I didn't, that's all she'd do while she was there. I *thought* about asking her to PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't touch the laundry, but I bit my tongue as I left because I didn't want to be tacky. Well, that will teach me. I had three loads of laundry -- one in the dryer, one in the washer finishing up and one in the basket. When I walked in the door, the first thing she said to me was "I hope you don't mind, but I did the laundry." And there it was -- all three loads, piled up on the recliner and loveseat. As I tried not to roll my eyes in agitation and managed an "Oh, okay", she added that my bra was hanging on the rack in the laundry room.

Perfect. Doesn't everyone want to be greeted by their MIL telling them that she has hung their underwear up for them? Seriously.

Anyway -- I'll just say that things were "folded" much differently than when I do it and our clothes were all together -- I sort them by family member as I fold, so I was just out of synch on that end, and those three loads were *of course* the stuff I really needed to pack for all of us.

Okay, so back to the chaotic pre-departure evening. As luck would have it, both kids were pretty wound up -- Mitchell was really excited to go to stay with my parents, and I think Georgia was just feeding off of both of us. I worked up a sweat running around and trying to do a million things at once, toting the kids from room to room to room with me. Finally, my parents arrived and I was able to bark orders at them and try to not leave absolutely everything at home. The plan was to leave the house at 6:30. My parents arrived around 6:20 and Chris got home at about 6:45.

We said goodbye to the kids, leaving me in tears. The funny thing is, neither my dad nor my husband really said anything about my crying. My dad asked if I was okay and Chris gave me that "You're going to be fine" look. I think they were afraid if they asked for details, I'd actually give them and no man wants that. We were all fine with them talking sports and me sniffling alone in the dark.

Our plane ended up being delayed for almost two hours, which just added to my sense of frustration. Hurry up and wait. Why I expected anything else is beyond me.

The good news is that my husband I enjoyed a wonderful, long weekend away. I knew we would, and really, it didn't matter *what* was in my suitcase. I don't know why I get so stressed out in situations like that -- I was doing the best I could with what I had to work with and I still got snippy and freakish.

Oh my goodness -- here comes that dreaded line -- I'm becoming my mother.

A Glimpse Of The "Old" Me...

I went to a professional conference this weekend and it was a very strange experience for me. Truth be told, I was going for two reasons: a cheap, easy way to get credits/continuing education, and to see my friends.

It was two full days of wearing a name badge, sitting in mostly uncomfortable chairs, eating hotel food, taking notes, listening to speakers talk and talk and talk, and more sitting. Wanna know something strange? I really, REALLY enjoyed myself all weekend. Yes, even the sitting.

I realized something pretty major at the end of those two days...I miss that part of myself and my life a whole lot more than I thought I did.

I used to work in an elementary school full-time and was part of a district-wide group of colleagues that was at least 50 in number. I used to complain daily about the number of meetings and staffings I had to attend...they are usually how I would both begin and end my day. Now, I seriously wouldn't mind just hanging out in the conference room during a staffing -- and if you are reading this and have been a special educator at any point in your life, you will know just how sad that is. Pitiful.

The thing is, now that I'm contracting on my own, my professional contact with other providers is EXTREMELY limited, and it's all done via phone, fax or email. I had no idea how much I missed the face to face conferring, and all of the fun chit chat that goes with it. I guess saying that I'm professionally lonely is the best way to describe it, as ridiculous as that sounds. I miss my team...a lot. I mean, I know I missed them before, but man...I REALLY miss them now. I think that they made me better at my job, and they certainly added to my enjoyment of it.

I called a friend of mine (a teammate) last week...I dialed her cell phone. Someone else picked it up and I recognized the voice as another teammate but thought I must be losing my mind because I know I dialed the first person's cell phone. Turns out that she was just goofing with me and that they were at a class together. As much of a pain in the butt as those were, I remember how much fun we would have, eating salads from Wendy's as we all watched the clock. We did some learning but we also did a LOT of laughing. I know that they would all have rather traded places with me, sitting at home in my sweats, cleaning my kitchen...but for a brief moment, I wished I was at class with them.

*sigh*

Anyway, I'll get back there eventually and I know that when I do, I'll be aching for the gift of freedom that I have now. The freedom to work three hours a week and not have to attend one single, solitary meeting or staffing. The freedom to compose my notes and reports in my pajamas. The freedom to not have to submit grades or do progress reports for 60 kids 3-4 times a year. I know I'll miss it.

Right now, as crazy as it is, I can't help but think that the grass is just a little bit greener on the other side of the professional fence. Good thing I have two sweet little sleeping peanuts upstairs to remind me why my feet are firmly planted where they should be. These moments are theirs...they are ours. I'll jump the fence again someday, and I know that the pangs of regret and "I would love to's" are much easier to digest from this side.

I feel like Ziggy...

Remember Ziggy with the ginormous pile of stuff in the "in" box and the teeny tiny pile of papers in the "out" box?

Yeah, it's like that.

I have this huge "to-do" list and even though I scratch off a thing or two each day, I also add a thing or two each day, so that hamster running in a wheel thing seems to be status quo around here. I guess the good thing is that no one is hurt and no walls have fallen down yet because of the unchecked items on my list.

A definite negative is my own little mental game around this pesky list. I think that I have overwhelmed myself by putting too much on one list and then I never feel like anything gets accomplished.

I think what I need to do is make a list that's full of longer-term items and more like a daily/weekly list for shorter-term things. I think that will work much better...I can cross off a couple from each one every day and then I won't feel like the whole thing just grows. Yep, that's my new plan.

I think I'll put making my new lists on my list of things to do.

Snow

Anyone want some? Anyone? Anyone?

I'm over it. It's pretty to look at. The first time. Maybe even the second time. Now that it's (I think) the 5th snowstorm since Christmas week, the novelty has worn off. The road suck. The sidewalks suck. It's freezing.

The thing is, I was prepared to just enjoy this one. 1-3 inches, not so bad, right? Ha! I get up this morning (after my angel hubby let me sleep in, by the way) and looked outside to see that it was going to be MUCH more than that. He said "Yeah, they revised it to up to 6 inches." Now, I understand that this is a don't shoot the messenger thing, and that it's not the weather people's fault that it's snowing, but COME ON.

I'm just cranky and cabin fevered and ready for some warmer days and clear streets and sidewalks.

Okay, done complaining. For now. (It's still snowing really hard so I reserve the right to pick up where I left off if it gets on my nerves again.)

I've gotta be smarter, right?

I mean, he's only 4. I've got a few years on him.

Then why do I get the feeling that if he's not already smarter than me, he's closing in quickly?

I think it's just his quick wit that gets me. That and the fact that those little wheels never stop turning. (Well, perhaps BRIEFLY while he's sleeping, but I'm not kidding you -- half the time the first words out of his mouth pick up exactly where we left off before bed. Like he was on pause or something.)

Tonight we put him to bed a bit early, but it just worked out that way. He had a bit of a nap in the car because we were driving around a lot today, but we let him run wild at the mall play place for quite awhile and gave him free play time when we got home before dinner. A nice, soothing bath, a book with Daddy, and all set, right? That was at about 7 pm.

8:30 pm ... Chris and I are snuggled in on the couch watching Super Nanny (ironically). My husband would probably appreciate it if I let you know that he was only watching the show because he usually works late on Mondays and so I watch it by myself, so tonight he was just being nice by watching with me. Anyway -- I tell him to pause the tv because I hear little footsteps on the stairs. Sure enough, there's M peeking his head around the corner.

M: "Uhhh, Mommy? My leg...ugggghhh...it really hurts!"
(See me looking at Chris and both of us stifling giggles here.)

Me: "Well, come here and let us look at it."
(Under my breath to Chris: "Pause the tv since that's what he wants to see.")

M: (with a completely lame fake limp on the way over) "Uhhhgggg. It hurts." (In a weak voice.)

Pause. Looks at paused (love that tivo!) TV.

M: "Hey!! What's this show?? Who's that boy?" (In a completely rejuvinated voice. It's a MIRACLE!)

Me: "M. Which leg hurts?"

M: "I don't really know but it hurts bad." (His weakened state has returned.)

(See us both giggling out loud a little bit at this point.)

Chris: "Come here and let me look at it."

(Looks, prods, squeezes M's leg.)

Chris: "Looks fine, buddy. 'Night!"

M: "Uhhhhggggg..." (all the way up the stairs)


What I'd like to know is who taught him this trick??? I am a horrible sleeper myself. (As a matter of fact, it's 12:30 am right now.) I can remember being 4 years old and sitting on the top of the stairs wayyyyyy over next to the wall watching my mom and dad's tv while they watched from the couch in the living room with their backs to me. I never figured out how they knew I was there, but they usually let me sit there for a few minutes and then utilizing those infamous eyes in the backs of their heads, they'd tell me to go to bed. In all of my years of childhood insomnia did it EVER cross my mind to fake a leg injury? No. A stomach ache? (Last week's claim.) No. Any sort of ailment? No.

I can't wait to see what he comes up with next week. I'm guessing foot. He really likes that fake limp he's developed.

Random thoughts...

**I hate waking up at 4 am for no good reason, especially when it's FREEZING outside and that's awesome sleeping weather.

**My hubby brought home a new electric blanket last night. I turned it on about 10 minutes before I got into bed, turned it off before I fell asleep and I was so happily toasty warm. Heaven.

**I love this new cookbook my dad got me for Christmas. Total nerdy thing to be LOVING, but it's really perked up my week. We're doing phase 1 of South Beach and the new recipes to try has made it a little more interesting, food-wise.

**Now that we're gonna move, I'm really noticing how much crap we have that we need to just part with. Unbelievable how much you accumulate!

**I'm gonna be a crying wreck on her birthday.

**Having sick kids is one of the quickest ways to make me feel helpless.

**I still like to bowl! (And I don't totally suck.) I just started bowling with my mom again once a week with all of these little old ladies. It's super fun and SO not about anyone but me! Imagine that!

**Renee, honey -- I'm thinking LABOR, LABOR, LABOR and praying hard for ya, sister!!!

**The only thing standing between me and Starbucks this morning was the FREEZING cold weather. Sigh.

**I have a pretty incredible husband and he is such a good Daddy.

That seems like a good place to stop.

Change...

It's so hard. It doesn't matter what you're (okay, I'm) trying to change, it usually stinks.

Right now I have a few personal goals I'm working on and they all pretty much suck. I guess the part that sucks is trying to find the motivation, stamina and willpower to make them happen. I don't feel like I've set too lofty of goals, I just feel like I'm all BLAH to try and get to them.

Are there really people out there that set goals and say "Gung ho!! No stopping me now!!" Come to think of it, when did that stop being me? I used to be like that, but now I just feel like a lump.

I have no idea what I'm trying to say other than I frustrate myself. Sweet.

(By the way, Mitchell started saying "Sweet!" this weekend...whoops.)

My sweet girl...

Sweet, Sweet Georgia,

It is crazy to think that your first birthday is only two months away. You have grown and changed so much, and before even one more day goes by, I want to document what makes you "you". I know that you are our last child and I'm so afraid that I'll forget some of these things. So, Georgia, if you are now a teenager and reading this in your scrapbook, here's what you are like at 10 months old...


*Goofy! If you figure out that what you are doing is making someone laugh, you will keep on doing it over and over and over. Prime targets are grandparents, as your new "tricks" are usually pretty novel to them and they will encourage you to keep on doing whatever it is you think is so hilarious. Favorites at the moment include blowing raspberries (which you are NOT encouraged to do at home), hiding behind something and popping your head out, shaking your head back and forth when someone says "nooooooo", your version of "dancing" and saying one of your new words, like "uh oh". One of the things I absolutely adore about you is that you are smiling the majority of the time you're awake, and the majority of the time you're smiling, you're also giggling. There is no shortage of things to smile or laugh at in your world, lovie.


*Curious! A friend of mine brought the term "Curious Georgia" to my attention. Here's what prompted that label...

You had just finished breakfast and I was simply rinsing off your highchair tray before I came to play with you and Mitchell in the living room. It's gated off on both ends to keep you contained, and I don't think I was away from you for longer than a minute. I came back and you were standing up in the train table drawer! First I helped you sit down so you wouldn't flip backwards and hit your head on the heating vent, and then I ran for the camera. The funny thing is, Kiki and I had just been talking the day before about how you were turning into a climber and we'd have to watch you with dresser drawers...guess we should have added train tables to the list. This picture captures you so perfectly at this age; you are at your happiest when you are right in the middle of everything, surrounded by chaos. You get awfully proud of yourself in situations like this...you have just learned to say "Ta-Daaaa" and it is just SO you.

*Sweet! You are such a sweet baby girl, Georgia! You love to give kisses, and your idea of a hug is to smother something completely. You have several toys that you love to "give lovies" and to you that means laying on top of them and smushing your face into them. (Why I haven't yet taken a picture of this is a good question -- today I definitely will!) I guess that action describes you pretty well...you do everything to the extreme. You can't just "kiss", you have to bathe someone or something in a big, wet, openmouth extravaganza. You can't just "hug", you have to use every available square inch of your body to show your love. You love to give people kisses and your favorite part is when they say "Oh, thank you!" Makes you clap and smile.

*Busy!! Yes, two exclamation marks for this one. You are on the go all the time, and the only time you're not is when you're sleeping. You have been like that even before you were born. When I was in my last few weeks of pregnancy, I had a horrible time sleeping. You would move like CRAZY for up to 4 hours (and that is not an exaggeration). It didn't matter what position I was in, you were just going nuts. My dad called you "The Tsunami" when you did that because it was just huge waves, one after the other. I can't remember who, but someone also said it was like two cats in a bag fighting...not too far off with that description. We should have seen it coming after that, I suppose. Anyone who spends more than 5 minutes with you usually offers up a "She's a busy girl, isn't she?" We just nod and think to ourselves that they have no idea. Your brother falls asleep in the car after 10 minutes, no matter what time of day it is. It is a rare occasion when that happens with you...you are just so afraid you're going to miss something. (Scary moment for us both: that is exactly how I was described as a child. Uh oh!!)

*Chatty! Your brother waited until right up to his second birthday to talk (and hasn't stopped since, I might add), so it took us by surprise when you decided that 9 months of waiting was long enough for you. "Dada" was your first word of all time at about 6 months, and I'm convinced this was nothing more than a strategic move on your part. Your first word other than one of us was "Santa" at 9 months, just in time for Christmas. You also like to say "uh oh", "thank you", "mama" and "ta-daaa". I played peek-a-boo with you and Mitchell at Kiki's house just to see if she heard what I did (I didn't tell her to listen for anything either) and she said "Did Georgia just say 'There he is'?" Guess I'm not crazy after all. You find something new to say just about every week now. You shake your head no and I'm sure a big fat "N-O" is on its way soon.

*Spunky! Let's just say that you are unafraid to assert yourself. If you are playing with something that's not safe for you, the poor person who gets to remove it from your hands is immediately met with a loud screech of displeasure, sometimes combined with the "no" head shake and maybe even a bounce up and down with hands waving all around. You get MAD at people for getting in your way and (gasp!) telling you where to go and what to do. You definitely are not afraid to take on this world...my Mommy radar tells me that this is most likely a double edged sword type of thing for the future. Your brother is finding out how much "spunk" you have, and I have a feeling that when you figure out how to walk, he better practice running even faster!

*Adorable! Yes, I'm aware that this is an extremely biased thing as I'm your mother, but it's true. You're cute. You're beyond cute. I think besides that crazy hair, those big brown eyes, and that grin that is a mile wide, all of the things I've talked about above shine through you. You are without question, an adorable baby girl.

You love to play with your brother, hate to be strapped into a highchair or carseat, will not allow yourself to be rocked to sleep, think that batting beachballs around the room is hilarious, love to "help" with the laundry, crawl as fast as you possibly can (even though it sometimes invites a faceplant) when the gates are open so that you can explore the rest of the world, are a maniac in the bathtub, wave hi and bye bye when we put coats on or take them off, can't wait to be held by Mommy and Daddy when we come back after being away (even following naps), act like a mermaid kicking her tail when you are picked up from your crib, and most importantly, are one in a million.

Georgia, I could never "nutshell" you, but this is my best attempt. You, my precious baby, are a gift and you are cherished and treasured.

I love you,

Mommy

All the kid wanted was a snowman...

Apparently, his name is "Mel" and he's a cab driver and he now lives in my backyard.

Chris wanted to build a snow fort with Mitchell, so they worked on that for awhile. Well, after an hour out there, my little man (who already has a cold) face plants in the snow while being silly and gets snow in his gloves, all over his face, down his neck, etc. I decide that is the signal for him to come in. He is devastated that he won't get to build a snowman. Chris assures him that he'll take care of it.

Mel comes to life.

I try to stop laughing and tell him that he's gonna be in trouble with "The Boss" because he wanted a snowman, not a snow MAN. He laughs and says "Don't you like him?" I just shake my head, roll my eyes and go inside to show Mitchell his dad's handiwork. "That's a cheese cutter hat, by the way!" I hear yelled at me on my way in.

I take Mitchell upstairs to the bathroom, as you can see the entire backyard from up there and tell him that Daddy's done. He says "Oh boy, did Daddy make me a Frosty?" I said "Uhhh, well, sort of." I lift him up so he can see Chris proudly standing next to his, errr, cab driver. Here's the conversation from that point...

Mitchell: Daddy, WHAT did you build me?
Chris: His name is Mel!
Mitchell: But where's my Frosty?
Chris: This is a snowman, buddy.
Mitchell: But where's my Frosty?
Chris: I didn't make a Frosty, I made Mel.
Mitchell: Well, make me a Frosty.

There's still no Frosty. Lucky for Chris, Mitchell didn't say another word about it. Oh, and he claims that the snow wouldn't stick enough to make a Frosty. Seemed to stick enough to make a Mel, now didn't it?

**Funny P.S. Mitchell just asked me, "Mommy, Did my man melt yet?" Not snowman. Man. Nice.

Let's start the New Year with...

Some Mitchell-isms. Here are some I've written down from this weekend:

Me: Georgia, NO.
Mitchell: Georgia, NO.
Me: I'm the Mommy, you don't need to chime in.
Mitchell: But I'M the MITCHELL.

**************************************************************************************
Me: Georgia is a nut!
Mitchell: No she's not, she's a pickle.

**************************************************************************************
Mitchell: You're the best Mommy I ever had in my whole LIFE.
Me: You're the best son I ever had in MY whole life.

*************************************************************************************
Mitchell: Mommy, who is your favorite? (Cars character)
Me: Sally.
Mitchell (to Dad): Daddy, when I'm a Daddy, I'm gonna buy Mommy TWO Sallies.

*************************************************************************************
Mitchell: Mommy, when Daddy wouldn't let me go where all the Cars stuff was (at the store) it made me angry.
Me: Well, what did you do? Did you throw a fit or use your words?
Mitchell: I cried and screamed.
Me: Hmmm...well, what do you think would work better next time?
Mitchell: Daddy could let me go play with the Cars stuff.

*************************************************************************************
Me: That's not a nice word, we don't say that. (Someone in the Cars movie --sensing a theme? -- called someone else an idiot.)
Mitchell: That's right, Mommy. We need to call them nice idiots.

Whew!

Christmas is my favorite holiday, but I wish that someone would invent another holiday just for tired people who are wiped out from the Big Day. Actually, I wish there could be some wacky new law that MAKES tired moms lay down on the sofa while someone else swoops in to clean up the mess, organize the toys, put away the Christmas dishes and take down the tree and decorations. Around here, the next day was just "Tuesday". Not nearly as restful.

Don't get me wrong -- it was a wonderful holiday, but sheesh -- I'm beat.

Mitchell was like a rubber ball bouncing around the house the ENTIRE day on Christmas Eve. He was so excited, he just couldn't stand it. Bless his heart, he wasn't trying to be naughty or not listen, he just could not control himself. To get him dressed was like trying to nail jello to a tree. He was on full throttle, jumping, squirming, giggling, you name it -- he was doing it.

We always have a big Christmas Eve dinner at my parents' house and this year was no exception. 20 adults and 6 kids. Chaos.

Santa always makes a visit at the end of the night and it's so fun to watch the kids and their reactions. I was hopeful that maybe this year Mitchell might be brave enough to give him a hug, but I guess the plus side to that not happening is that he didn't end up getting close enough to figure out that it was my father in law. (Bought another year on that front.) Georgia sat on Santa's lap and just stared with wide-eyed wonder. She didn't cry at all -- just stared. The second Santa walked in, Mitchell hit the floor like you're supposed to do if there's a gunman in the room. He hid behind my legs and said "I just want to LOOK at him." (This is code for PLEASE don't make me go near him, but I really do like him.)

Santa always knows JUST who will be at dinner and has a gift for each one of them and calls them up by name. My cousin's kids had the routine down pat -- listen for your name, turn around and pose for the paparrazi. My nephew did the same thing. Mitchell snuck up there, reached out on his tippy toes to get the present and ran off as soon as he could. As I already said, Georgia just stared and stared.

Our tradition is that the kids get to open one gift on Christmas Eve and it's always Christmas pj's. (This is one I carried over from my own childhood.) We put the kiddos in their jammies and headed off for 11 pm church service. This has *never* been a problem, as Mitchell always just sleeps through it or cuddles up on us and lays down quietly. Well....it seems that Miss G has new plans for our family on Christmas Eve...and they won't include the 11pm service.

They were both sacked out when we arrived to the church at 10:30. We got them out, went inside and found a seat in the back on the aisle. Mitchell curled up on Chris and went right back to sleep. Georgia? No, no, no. Georgia might miss something if she did that. If you are holding her, no matter HOW tired she is, she refuses to close her eyes or put her head down. She has to stand up, look around, and check it all out. She just fussed and squirmed, and squirmed and fussed some more. Finally at 10:55 we decided not to ruin the service for everyone else and packed it in for the night. Bummer -- that was Chris' and my favorite thing to do. Oh well -- we'll get there again eventually, but it might have to be a mid-day Christmas service or an early afternoon one for the next few years from now on.

When we got home, Mitchell was too sleepy to help put out cookies, milk and celery with me so I did it for him. He snuggled into his bed and went right to sleep. I was exhausted and told Chris I'd rather just get up early instead of staying up late. He said that was fine and only asked if I'd get him some water when I went downstairs to get something. As I was downstairs, I started looking around at all of the stuff I needed to do before breakfast and that was all I needed to get a second wind. I went upstairs with the water and to tell Chris that I changed my mind but he was already asleep, so I headed back down.

It ended up being kind of nice -- a little quiet time for myself to reflect on the blessings of the season. I got a lot done but I enjoyed the time alone with my thoughts more than anything. I have so very, very much to be thankful for and I took some time to say some prayers for people in my life (and even some I don't know) whose holidays I know were not quite as merry.

In the morning, I got up at 7 (I was going to get up at 6 but couldn't drag myself out of bed) and got Mitchell all set up with his Cars movie in our room. I shut the gate and told him he needed to stay up there till we told him he could come down. Chris came down with me and soon Georgia did, too. We got the food going, the table set, etc. Both of our parents came along with my grandma and we had a wonderful morning together.

When it was finally time for the kids to come down and check out the goodies that Santa had left, I think that Mitchell was a little overwhelmed. He was very reserved, quiet, and shy. He didn't dive in like we all thought he would -- I don't know if he was extra tired or if he was sort of taken aback by a roomful of grandparents and cameras. Either way, he definitely warmed up and soon became immersed in all the glory that Christmas morning is when you are a 4 year old boy. Package after package brought all of his wishes and dreams come true. It was a fun thing to watch, but almost as fun for Chris and I were watching the faces of all of the grandparents -- I'm not sure who was happier. His favorite gifts included all of the "Cars" die cast characters (Ramon, Flo, Red, Stanley, Lightning, Mater) but most of all "The King" . We'd been hearing about "The King" for weeks, so it was so much fun to see him light up. He also got a big Fast Talking Lightning McQueen, and a remote control train. The list goes on and on, of course. Sigh.

As for Georgia, she was happy shuffling between the bows, ribbons, paper and all of Mitchell's stuff. She loved her Sesame Street Purse from Mommy and Daddy and tried to kiss Elmo through the packaging. I think her favorite gift of the day was the Night Glow Pooh from my parents. Mitchell loves playing it for her and she would just smile, laugh, and smother Pooh with hugs and kisses. It really is cute, so I can't blame her there.

Anyway -- after all of our guests left, we were left to start cleaning up the mess (HA!!), put the kids down for a nap/rest, and get ready for dinner at my in-laws. We headed over there and had a WONDERFUL evening with them. It was kind of funny -- last year, we went dressed casually and my BIL/SIL were dressed up so we decided we needed to dress up this year. We arrived and my SIL was in her pajamas, using our casual dress from last year as her reasoning. We agreed that next year, none of us would go above casual...HOORAY!! Dinner was delicious, the company was so enjoyable and the kids had a ball. At one point we caught Mitchell and his cousin Madison (a year younger almost to the day) double fisting Papa's peppermint bark behind the kitchen counter. Too funny! His most prized gift of this party was by far Cranky the Crane and Georgia enjoyed getting a Glow Worm.

When we got home, we got the car unloaded, the kids in their jammies, and into bed. Then Chris and I did our own gift exchange. We plugged in our little Charlie Brown tree -- it's a little 2 feet (that's being generous) tree that I got at a craft fair years and years ago. We sit by it every year for our gift exchange and I think it's one of our more romantic traditions, personally. We each have a drink and take turns opening presents. It worked out this year that we each had exactly the same number...usually I open more than he does. After we were done opening gifts, we sat and read the year in review book together. My husband started this tradition when we were dating and I adore it. In 2001, it was my last Christmas gift from him -- a 30 page review of the year together. In the end he said that he hoped we could take turns giving the book to each other and that it would become a lasting history for our children. It's just so neat and every year you end up laughing, crying and saying "Oh YEAH...I'd forgotten about that!" I only made it through February so far, but he'll get the rest by New Year's.

Anyway -- after that, we headed upstairs with aspirations for some continuing romance but before you know it, we were both asleep. Oh well -- we'll make up for that later!

Last night we concluded the Christmas chaos with dinner at my parents' house to exchange gifts with my brother's family. All four of our kids are around the same age, with Mitchell being the oldest so you can imagine that it was neither quiet nor dull around there. It was fun to watch the kids play together and open their gifts...the highlight of THIS opening party was a Thomas watch and some VERY cute clothes for Georgia.

I'm about ready to fall over from being so tired, but I should count my blessings. I realize how lucky I am to have so many places to go, gifts to give, gifts to open, meals to prepare and eat, and most importantly, people to love and love me back.

It was a wonderful Christmas...and I didn't even mention this, but it was even a White Christmas, too!

Let it snow...

And snow, and snow, and snow...

You know what is craziest about this big ol' blizzard that turned our entire city upside down this week? I didn't really even know it was supposed to snow until the night it started happening. Yes, I am just *that* in tune with the latest happenings.

G had about 2 (and I'm not exaggerating) diapers left and barely any baby food so we went to the grocery store the day before, but it had absolutely NOTHING to do with me being prepared. Just good timing for once. Then my hubby had to stop for some stuff on the way home the night before the big snow dump and I had him grab some more things because I realized that it might be a pain to get out the next day.

Here's the thing...I watch the news and they say 5-10 inches. That might sound like a lot to some of you warm weather people, but to this CO native it's like "Ehhhh...the next day sorta sucks but other than that, no biggie." Well, THEN I see a newscast where they are comparing the snow that's supposed to come with March 2003 and I thought "Oh, wow."

I totally remember that...M was 3 months old and I was so scared that my hubby wouldn't make it home from work. His employer didn't let them go until 4pm that day so by the time he got home, the snow was insane. He got stuck on the street about 3 houses down.

Know what's funny? He got to leave 3 hours earlier this time, but got stuck in the EXACT same spot in a different car. I went out to shovel the driveway and street (again) so he'd have a shot at getting the car in the garage and as I made my first line down his side of the driveway I looked up and saw a car sitting in the middle of the street. It was SO covered with snow that it took me a few minutes to figure out that it was hubby's! After about an hour, the neighbor, most importantly her snowblower, Chris, our shovel, and M's little shovel had him in the garage. (Might I add -- M's shovel kicks some butt!!)

We had a really fun family day yesterday and the snow was like a little boy's dream come true. Mitchell had SO much fun digging and rolling and climbing and running in the snow. I can't imagine how it must have looked from way down there -- looked like a lot of snow to me and I was taller than it!

I think tomorrow we'll help him build a snow tunnel in the backyard during G's afternoon nap. I remember in the blizzard of '82 (OMG -- how old do I sound there??) my dad helped us build a snow tunnel in the backyard and it was the COOLEST thing ever! Even cooler than my Strawberry Shortcake sleepsack. Or my OP shorts. Or my red Nike tennies with the plaid hologram swoosh. Or my moon boots. Or my gymnastics day outfit that I'd wear to school -- my leotard with cableknit tights, a polyester mini skirt, clogs and a terry cloth headband. Or my powder blue eye shadow.

(Sorry -- I love all that 80's crap.)

Hopefully M will think the tunnel is cool like that!! Okay -- off to wrap presents, which is what I should REALLY be doing right now.

Happy Holidays!!!

Yuck. And Beyond...

So, I spent 18 hours between Saturday night (midnight) and Sunday evening (6pm) being REALLY sick. Both ends sick.

Nasty. Disgusting. And STINKY.

I am SOOOO thankful that this joyous little adventure was all mine -- the only thing worse is when you have to take care of others who are doing the both ends thing while doing it yourself, so I'd like to stop and say another round of thanks to The Big Guy for not unleashing that upon the house. My angel of a hubby stayed home and took care of the kids, both of whom decided to be complete saints all day long.

I just drank a cup of chicken and rice soup -- it's noon and it was the first thing I could bring myself to eat. Half a piece of bread for breakfast -- does that count? Thankfully it seems to be fine, I'm just a little gunshy because of yesterday.

Oh well, I feel pretty much back to normal, I just don't want to push things. Nothing like a day of complete misery to make you realize just how thankful you should be for your daily health.

I'm thankful, believe me, I'm thankful.

Birthday update and other holiday happenings...

You'd think I'd have been blogging every day lately, I've had lots to write about, just lacking in the motivation department. I've even signed in a few days, stared at this blank box and then said "Nahhhh. Nope, not today."

So, my "little" boy is now 4. He turned 4 last weekend and we celebrated for three days straight. I don't know why but I *really* had a hard time with this one. Maybe it's because "4" is the last age that sounds little to me. Turning 5 means one thing -- school aged, and not preschool. How in the WORLD is he so close??? Now I'm thankful that he gets an extra year before kindergarten -- not only do I think *he* needs it, but I know that even more importantly, Mommy needs it!! Anyway - -it was like he was moving out or something, I was a little emotional about it all weekend...just feel like time is going too quickly. You know it will, if you are a parent you know that is the annoying mantra that every other parent of older children CONSTANTLY tells you...well, hey -- I might join the legion of annoying preachers myself because it's really true. His favorite story to hear is the story about when he was born...I almost couldn't do it on his birthday without tears.

Okay, so moving on-- birthdays and running -- when do they go from the best things in the world to things you dread? He was in HOG heaven for three days! He and his buddy (from our lamaze class) had a joint birthday party and a local museum that has lots of cars and trains. It was PERFECT!! We had this big room that had the exact amount of tables we needed already set up when we walked in, tables already set up for food, etc. There was plenty of room for the kids to run around and believe me, they did. For over an hour straight. The only real bummer of the day was that someone walked off with the big Lightning McQueen from the cake. Let me tell you how sad M was about that. I think his buddy A was, too. We were going to call Sam's and see if they'd give us an extra since it was a joint party, but now we'd need two more. I just can't believe someone would do that. Anyway -- hopefully it was an accident, but I'll tell ya, if I was a parent and found out that my kid made it home with that, I'd be calling the birthday kid's mom and 'fessin' up. That's a pretty big offense in the 4 year old world.

That night we went to the parade of lights. Beautiful and fun but REALLY cold. We got to sit in my hubby's office and watch though so it wasn't horrible.

The next day we had a pizza/cake party at my parents' house since we didn't invite any of my grandparents to the big party. (They're all near or actually are 85 and it snowed like crazy for his party -- does every year, actually -- so we didn't think they needed to be wandering around in it.)

The NEXT day -- yep, I was wiped out by then -- he got to do a cupcake thing at preschool for snack. I sent hats and napkins for the kids and had ordered some Cars toothpick things and cupcake liners so he was ALL excited about that.

So, that was the birthday extravaganza around here. Delayed our getting Christmas decorations out, but that's happening tomorrow. We were gonna do it today, but tomorrow is fine. We're just hanging out today.

M also had his program at school on Thursday night. Last year he FREAKED out and wouldn't sing at all, just stood there with his fingers in his mouth at the Christmas program. For the spring program, he freaked even more and when he saw me in the aisle, he refused to go up there.

I was cautiously optimistic about this one. He loves to sing and much like his momma, LOVES Christmas music. We have it on all the time right now and he sings along with me -- I love it! Anyway -- he knew all of his lines, all of the songs, and all of the little hand motions. He was so excited about his program, but I couldn't be sure if he really would do it or just get up there and freak out again. My gut said it would be okay, but I didn't want to be disappointed, because I have to say, that's a pretty intimidating thing to be so little and up there in front of a whole CROWD of people that are snapping photos and shooting videos like the paparrazi. Lots of pressure, especially if that sort of "performance" is not in your comfort zone to begin with.

Well, we got there and hurdle one was overcome...he went into his room with no problem. Happily shed his coat (no hat -- couldn't risk the hat hair) and started doing some puzzles with his buddies. He looked so handsome...he had on a cute button down shirt and a "tight" just like Daddy. He also had on some cute navy cargo cords and his "Handy Manny" shoes -- aka, penny loafers. (Don't ask me about the HM thing -- he wears boots, but M swears they are his HM shoes. He loves to wear them -- puts them on with sweats and everything. My brother had a pair of cowboy boots like that -- I guess we're doing the loafers version.)

I never post pics here, but I just have to share this one. This was right before I left to go get my seat. Doesn't he look adorable and excited???



I get settled into my seat in the 2nd row that the awesome grandparents had scored...too bad it was on the wrong side...his class was on the other side of the aisle, but that's okay. The music started playing and my hubby and I looked at each other like "here we go". They started walking in and here came my little buddy...holding onto each of his ears like they were going to fall off. Hee hee. But dang it -- he got up there and wasn't crying or anything -- he was actually smiling, just holding onto his ears for dear life. (He's had a thing with his ears since he was tiny - -they're his little comfort thing -- some kids suck their thumb, our little man just plays with his ears. Again, don't ask me where that came from.)

My hubby leaned over and said "Rrrrriiiibbbbbiiiittttt." I started cracking up. We call him "Michigan J. Frog" because if you remember that cartoon from when we were kids...it's the construction worker that finds the singing frog who only sings when no one else is around. He even rents out this whole theater to do this singing/dancing frog show, but when he opens the frog's box all he says is "Rrrriiiiibbbbbiiiiitttt". So, my hubby does that when M is being all nutty and we know no one would ever believe what a ham he is because he gets so shy around other people.

So, about halfway into the first song, M decides he feels comfy enough to let go of the ears. We all were so happy because we knew we were home free at that point. It just made me so happy to see my little guy up there looking so cute and doing such a great job. And the best part? You could just see him beaming and having so much fun! I am getting teary just typing this. My hubby thought I was a total nerd and sap when I looked at him with tears in my eyes and said "He's doing it!!" but I just couldn't help it. It was such a special feeling in my heart.

My very, very favorite part was the first time he spotted us, and more specifically, me. He was already smiling, but when he saw my hubby's dad, his eyes opened a little wider, his smile, got a little bigger and he instantly scanned down the row till he saw me. We locked eyes and I smiled so big and waved at him...he started giggling his famous little (heeeheeeheee -- I could just hear it) M giggle and waved at me with a look of pride and pure joy.

In addition to the image of him burning rubber down the greenbelt path ahead of us on his tricycle pretending to be Dale Jarrett, I will also have that image of him giggling and waving to me forever imprinted on my Mommy's heart. (Yes, I'm now full on crying in case you were wondering. I'm a blubbering fool.)

He also provided a little comic relief for us a few times. His buddy who is our neighbor is in a different class and on a different day, so they NEVER see each other at school anymore and this was neat for them to be up there together. She was right in front of us and when she finally saw M, she just HAD to get his attention. Unfortunately, this moment happened exactly when her class was saying their speaking part. Her whole class is reciting their memorized lines and she's totally leaning forward, bent over and wildly waving her arms whispering "Miiiitttccchhheeelll". He was in la-la land but finally saw her and starts waving just as wildly. OMG -- I was laughing so hard.

The other funny thing he did was during "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". They did this thing with their arms that looked like what you might do if you're a grouchy grandpa --- ball up your fist and swing it in front of you to say "Oh, rats." Anyway--this little arm swing was only supposed to happen on "wish". Well, our little spazmobile decided to adopt it throughout the song and exaggerate his movements on top of that. He almost gave the poor little girl next to him a bloody nose about 4 times. We just watched my mom's videos of the program last night and her camera is shaking like crazy because she was cracking up. I looked at Chris and said "Well, I guess we had nothing to worry about."

So -- I go from not blogging for 2 weeks to a post that will take you 2 hours to read. Nice.

Random...

I don't have enough in my head for a good, long post so this will just be Random Monday happenings.

*Nothing will make me laugh faster than my kids laughing. For whatever reason, the car is the prime time funny spot for those two. Mitchell (even though he's strapped into a 5 pt carseat) manages to put on some sort of goofball show for her every day and she just laughs and laughs. Today she was FULL ON belly laughing for a good 5 minutes, Mitchell was laughing (mostly at himself, I think) and I was just giggling the whole time because it's contagious!

*Every couple goes through those swings of ups and downs. I wouldn't even term it a "down" but EVERY weekend for the past month, we've spent most of the time arguing. Sometimes downright fighting. Half the time we don't talk after a blow up...last night it had been a good 3 hours since we'd said two words to each other that didn't involve quick questions about dinner or diapers, and I was still mad. Know the sad part? I couldn't remember why. I was washing dishes, stopped, looked at the ceiling, remembered and said "Oh yeah. No way I'm talking to him anytime soon." (I guarantee he was sharing the sentiment.) Nice and mature. That's us! I hope we get out of this phase -- maybe some makeup nookie would help. He DID bring me a Starbucks yesterday so it's not THAT bad. Hee hee.

*We have a decent house. I'll tell you this -- it looked about twice as big before we moved in. No kids, half as much CRAP, but still -- it's average sized. Let me tell you about how much STUFF you can cram in here if you want to. I spent most of the day yesterday consolidating, organizing, etc. our four (yes, FOUR) overflowing toy baskets. I still have to do the train table. Again. As I was doing it, I almost felt nauseated because I know that there are families out there who are in agony because they can't afford to buy their children even ONE thing. And here I am disgusted with the amount of stuff we have to the point of calling it crap. That would be GOLDEN crap somewhere else. Ugh. We are overly blessed. I'm thinking about next Christmas insisting that everyone who wants to get Mitchell or Georgia a gift donate to this community thing out here. They have gifts donated and families can come shop for 25 cents on the dollar so that they still "buy" the stuff. I mean, seriously -- my kids don't need another thing as long as they live and the sad part is, I know many people who put our little stockpile to shame. It's really pretty crazy when you stop to think about it. (That said, guess who has already reviewed her list of bday and Christmas purchases and realized that she's already done more than she said she would.) *rolls eyes at self*

*I have some very, very good friends. I appreciate them more than I can say. I was thinking about that the other day and really -- I just can't imagine my life without my girlfriends. I feel sad for those women (I'm sure you know some yourself) who don't get along with other women. I can't imagine. I'm sure they're quite happy, but man (ha, ha), I'd be miserable.

*I bought some soy egg nog and let me tell you how much I love it. Lots. It's yummy. Get some!

Random enough for you?

My first turkey...

Okay, so you'd think that I wouldn't be nervous about something like that, right? But I am. I think it might be because I've seen so many sitcoms and cartoons about women taking a smoking, charred black turkey out of the oven. Or someone going to slice it up and it flies around the room like a balloon. Or it pops.

Clearly, I'm not worried about that, but I think it might be that for 33 years now I've been eating other people's turkey. I mean, here I am, 33 years old with two kids and I've never made a turkey. I just want to know that people won't be going home saying "Well, *I* should have made the turkey. That sucked." Or something like that.

My mom has assured me that it's the easiest thing on the menu. I don't know about you but for some reason, that almost has disaster written all over it.

I guarantee I'm taking a picture of this bad boy. Part of me is tempted to do it with the half lemons underneath like boobs just to make sure it's got my own special touch. Well, and because how funny would that picture be?

Okay -- so I'm nervous about my first turkey but I'm sure it will be good. I just wouldn't be me if I didn't worry about ridiculous stuff like this. (For example, Saturday night we hosted a little dinner party and this is the first time I can ever remember not laying there worrying that someone was going to get food poisoning. Seriously. Usually I'm up for hours with a pit in my stomach.)

Oh, and if you'd like to get a mental picture of me cooking my turkey -- as soon as my kiddos and I are done watching the parade on tv, I will have on my apron and be singing as much of this song as I can remember while I'm in the kitchen...my hubby and I both serenade each other with it every single year.

Happy Turkey Day!!!

PSA...

If you're planning family pictures, you may want to invest in some helmets and body armor for the kids to wear the week before.

We're scheduled for Sunday and so far we have one split lip and one mini-goose egg on a forehead. It's only Tuesday.

Stay tuned. I have neither helmets nor body armor, so we may be screwed.

A literal stroll down memory lane...

So, this weekend my hubby and I did some big-time reminiscing. I mean like giganto.

We got up Saturday morning, got everyone fed and dressed and dropped the kiddos off at my in-laws house. Then, we got back in the car and drove an hour up the road to the town and college campus where we met. Our old stompin' grounds! It wasn't homecoming, we weren't meeting anyone there, it was just something my hubby proposed about a month or two ago and it sounded fun, so we just went for the day. We left our day pretty unstructured, as I was sick (and still am) with a pretty yucky cold.

It was probably one of the best days of our married life.

The whole way up we played the "remember when" game. We were laughing about the STUPIDEST things we've seen, said and done together. We also laughed about what a complete idiot my husband is for not trying to marry me sooner, but that's a whole different Oprah right there.

Before I get into our day -- my hubby attended school there from '90-'94 before he moved back east for law school. I was there from '91-'95 and then stayed till '97 for grad school. Just use that as a frame of reference.

One of the first things we noticed when we drove into town is that "The Gambler" is not "The Gambler" anymore. This was very distressing to us, as our first drive back into town smacked of change on a fundamental level. How in the HELL could that happen? I mean -- that was where you went to get REALLY "happy" with your friends. It was a complete dive -- a country bar with penny pitchers...you get the idea. The best part about it was that it was TOTALLY within walking distance to my house. *sigh* I sure hope "Jack's Place" provides the same opportunities for drunk dancing, groping and obnoxious memory making that The Gambler did.

Okay -- change #2...we drove past my house, which is a few blocks away. CRAZINESS!! The entire block was wiped out on the other side of the road...they tore down all of those houses and built apartments! It was nuts! I still remember that we were friends with all of these looney guys that lived across the street from us and we'd walk to class with them a few times a week. It's crazy to think that now their house is gone. (Am I sounding really old yet? Are you detecting a theme here?)

Moving right along -- the shock wore off of that and we decided to head to campus. We turn onto the street and both go "What is THAT?" A *very* nice building that definitely was NOT there when we were at school. We both were like "Ummm, we were not consulted on this and that is NOT how we remember it." Well, adding a building didn't prepare us for what was around the corner -- they flippin' STUCCOED our dorms!!! Our dorms when we were there were white wood with black trim. Now they are a yellowy tan stucco with lots of brick. We both just started laughing when we saw them because it was like "what is THAT?!?" I think part of it is -- that was our special memory -- that's where we met. That's where he first toted my luggage around. Hee hee. I swear to you -- we both were like "ooookay, this is gonna be a strange day."

And it was.

We took bets on what would still be in the University Center, what wouldn't etc. Let me tell you, those of you that know me will know this is a big announcement -- THERE IS A STARBUCKS in the UC!!! How in the WORLD did I miss out on THAT?!? Ugh!!! All of that time that I spent there with no Starbucks???? Come ON!! Those kids better appreciate that one!

OMG -- I just called them kids. And meant it. And I'm TOTALLY a "ma'am" to them. Crap.

Anyway -- the bookstore is now owned by Barnes & Noble, so that was bizarre. We spent almost $300 in there buying clothes and hats and dumb stuff but it was so much fun! We wandered around and basically both couldn't believe it really had been over 10 years since we were there together. Just insane.

Okay -- so after that we decided to go to our favorite restaurant for lunch. It is a complete DIVE but they have the BEST carolis (like calzones) and really cheap beer. Hey -- Georgia was elsewhere so I was on that. We ordered the Bazookas, just like old times and guess what -- I actually finished mine. We just laughed the entire time we were at lunch and enjoyed ourselves entirely. Of course the humongous beer did its usual make me frisky thing, so I spent the next hour telling my hubby to pull over so I could attack him and he spent the next hour laughing at me. Good times...

Okay -- so after lunch we decided to drive over to where he used to work. That meant a trip to a really fun little newspaper stand and he was very good -- we were only there a few minutes because that man could stay there for HOURS. They have any magazine you'd ever want to read and then some. After that, a trip to the STUPID little nascar store. Ugh. The lady just HAD to tell him that his driver stuff was 50% off so that took forever, even though this store is like the size of a broom closet. That didn't stop him from taking his sweet ol' time. Nerd.

(This is very long, and please know that I am not EVEN doing our day justice.)

Okay -- so I finally yank him out of the nascar nerd store and we get back in the car. This time we decide to drive over to the other side of campus and walk around -- over by the library. It's funny -- I can't describe how it was like an instant flood of memories walking back into that library -- I spent soooooooo much time there in grad school. LOTS of time. The sight of the dang copy room -- I don't even want to think about how much money in dimes I spent in there making copies. Insane. But I told my hubby, I really wish it was closer -- I'd LOVE to spend more time in there again. Seeing all of these kids in there studying, laughing with their friends, it made me realize just how completely EASY I had it in college -- I never, ever thought I'd be longing to do that stuff again, but I think it would be SO fun!! Oh, and by the way, coffee kiosk in the library now, too. Gimme a break -- spoiled brats!! (That's jealousy speaking, there.)

We walk around, laugh about places we used to hang out and where we always seemed to run into each other -- and then we get to that new building that we saw on the way into town. Oh my word -- that place is a brand new "dining hall" but it looks like a fancy freakin' RESTAURANT!! We were like "Are you KIDDING me with this???" Sheesh.

By this time, I was feeling not so hot so we decided to just drive around some more so I could get back to my beloved bottled water and cough drops. (Uhhh - yeah. Old. I know.)

We drive around and look at a park we used to love and the other side of campus. I feel a recharge of energy (youthful??) so we walk around some more. That's the old part of campus that they stuccoed to make it "new" again, so it felt weird to us because nothing looked the same. They'd built some more dorms, and changed the way everything looked but that same ol' feeling was there walking with him. Pretty nutso.

Back to the car we go -- and off to dinner at another favorite place. We had a great dinner and made our Christmas list of gifts we need to buy while we ate. (Yes, by this time, it's official -- we are crusty ol' farts.)

On the way home, I'd like to point out that my husband saved our lives. I'm not even kidding. We were on a pretty rural road that didn't have any street lights. We were on the main road and coming up to a cross street. There was no stop sign or anything but my hubby started slowing down. I was like "What are you doing?" Just about then, he starts saying "Oh my God, she's NOT gonna stop" and lays on the horn. I totally didn't even see it but this girl driving a sedan BARRELED through the stop sign coming the other way and would have NAILED us right in my passenger door if he hadn't been so alert. I cannot explain to you how close it was and how my heart literally was pounding away. I looked back to see the girl's car stopped on the other side of the main road on the shoulder. My guess is she was figuring out how to clean the poop out of her pants. I was shaking and hubby was very calm but told me he saw her because her phone was lit up and he could tell she wasn't slowing down. He said that ever since those crazy Volkswagon commercials started, he's always aware of getting t-boned like that. Thank GOD for him because I'm serious, it would have been a NASTY accident. Scares me even to think about it.

Anyway-- we ended our day with picking up the kids, getting them home and to bed. We both just laughed at how funny it is that we ended up together like this. We met when I was 17 years old and now here we are married, in the suburbs with a minivan and two kids.

Anything is possible, people. Never say never to anything -- we are proof that it may take awhile, but crazy things happen every day.

I'm so very, very grateful that life is like that.

What is it...

Does Target have a magnetic draw to my wallet? Is there some hypnotic field that I pass through each time I walk through the doors?

There has to be.

Check out how stupid I am. Seriously, not bright.

So, last month I went and spent $245 at Target. I thought my hubby's head was going to spin right off of his shoulders and land on the living room floor when I told him. Not mad...just, um, incredulous? Like HOW do you spend that much money in one trip? Wanna know my answer? HOW do you NOT spend at LEAST $100 each time?

I guess it helps that the only time he's EVER in Target is when I'm there, but still...

So, anyway, back to my frivolous spending. (Sort of -- most of it I'll go down on the ship for.) SO, I make this little pile of things that I can take back. $40 worth of stuff -- pretty good, huh? So I take it back today. And guess what -- I spent $126 more.

Uhhhhh, y-e-a-h....tonight should be fun when I break THAT news.

I swear, it's all stuff we need. Sort of need. Want. Really bad. Not me, the kids.

(How's it going so far...think he'll buy it? Me either.)

Letsee -- here's what I got...

*M's santa gift -- a big (like gigantic oversized slipper size) Lightning McQueen that talks and drives in crazy patterns...it's the ONLY thing he wants the Big Guy to bring him and I know if I waited, they'd be sold out.

*Some Cars cars for his stocking

*A Cars ornament. He loved decorating the tree last year and this way we can remember his Cars birthday party. (logical, no??)

*Georgia's stocking -- again, does our daughter deserve LEFTOVERS? I think not. No, instead she needs the talking/singing Elmo stocking. (Why am I driving myself nuts with these toys, by the way? This will NOT help my cause with the hubster.)

*The Cars DVD - -it's M's bday present from us and it came out yesterday. I was thinking it might be sold out -- not so much, but still, now when it DOES sell out, it's SO not a problem here. *insert VERY cute smile and a few blinks here*

*The newest US Weekly. *cough* I feel sick and trashy mags help me feel better. *more winks and blinks and smiles*

Okay, so not such a good day at ol' Target today. Hope I don't have to cry. LOL

Living vicariously...

is SOOOOO much fun. My best friend was here for a visit this weekend and oh my gosh -- we had so much fun living through each other's eyes.

She's knee deep in being courted by many guys that I had the good fortune of seeing on the internet -- some made us literally almost pee ourselves. Some made us drool on each other. Some made us take a breath, look at each other and do the "oooookaaaayyyy, not so much" in concert thing. It was so fun to be a single, dating woman for a couple of hours each day.

I'm knee deep in sassy 3 year old boys and recently crawling and puppyish biting infants. I think for her it was so fun to be a frumpy, stay at home mom for a few days.

In some ways, I think we both not only appreciated what we love about our own lives, but also sort of got a new appreciation for each other's lives.

There were cupcakes and brownies involved, too -- that never hurts anything.

By the way -- if you don't have a soul sister, get one. You just *shouldn't* attempt to do "life" without one.

Mmmmwwwwahhhhh, Stacer. Love you, love you, love you.

Oh, and the french? Le no. Not so much. :)

Being censored...

SUCKS.

When you have a lot (and I mean a truckload) of things you want to say to someone, that you REALLY feel like they need to hear, but someone else tells you not to say them, because in their opinion it would make a situation even worse...

That SUCKS.

Yes, I am being censored against my will. It is NOT easy and I also have to figure out how to not be a complete jerk to said people next time I'm in their company. Hmmmm. I'm guessing not talk at all -- which will still be me being a jerk, but at least I'll keep my trap shut.

Let's just say if I bit my tongue any harder, it would be in two pieces. You know when Yosemite Sam gets really mad and turns red and starts hopping around and steam comes out of his ears?

Yeah...it's like that.

Creative outlets...

I need them. Badly.

Right now, my only creativity comes in cooking and I'm not even really being all that daring. I mean, I got SO excited that someone passed along a recipe for the crockpot that involved 3 ingredients -- one from a can and one from a package. Sad, isn't it?

Thank goodness for the good ol' Blog, but honestly, how creative have I really been? As my friend Renee said, you go to write in the blog and it's like "The house is dirty, the kids are cranky, I don't know what to make for dinner, the laundry is piled to the ceiling and I want a nap."

In case (I seriously doubt this is an issue) there is anyone who ever is disappointed that I've skipped a day of blogging, just know that that's what it would say had I taken the time to type it out. Kind of like when people go on vacation from work and their email will autoreply with "I'm out of the office until Oct. 29th", mine would say my little dirty house, crying kids, dinner TBD, too much laundry and exhaustion speech. You're seriously not missing anything.

The thing is, I consider myself to be a creative kinda person. How sad is it that the most fun creative artsy-fartsy thing I've done in the past month is make a nametag for myself at my MOPS group? Seriously. That's just sad.

I have a humongous rolling thing of scrapbook stuff in the basement. I really WANT to do it, I just can't face the getting it out, putting it away routine. A little secret -- one of my really, really big want a bigger house reasons is to get a scrapping space. A little corner of a room all to myself. I can't WAIT for that.

Until then, I'll just blog. About the same old stuff. And call it creative.

As my hubby would say, "Well, whooopedeee Dooooooooooo."
(The Wedding Singer was on this weekend. Of course we watched it again. I won't apologize.)

Helpless...

Ya ever feel helpless?

Like when your hubby has 90 bijillion things going on at work and you can't help him do them?

Or when someone you know is in the crappiest relationship and you just have to sit back and watch them get pooed on and be there for them?

Or when someone you care about is in physical pain and there's now way around it?

Or when people make other people feel like crap and then buddy up again when they need something? And you want to say something but the crapee doesn't want you to?

Or when both of your kids have double ear infections and fevers?

Stuff like that makes me feel helpless.

Vacation

My husband and I are trying to decide where to go for our anniversary in February. It's a kid-free trip and for a long weekend. It's our 5th anniversary and we're both really looking forward to it.

If only we could decide where to go and what to do.

Actually, I think we've decided what we want to do -- a whole lot of nothing. Well, maybe with a whole lot of "something" thrown in -- *wink, wink*.

The thing is, we don't travel much. Our family is here, and the ones that aren't here are only an 8 hour car trip away. We get there and stay for free with them.

We're out of the whole "a vacation is expensive" ball game. We've just started pricing our trip and while I know it's probably very reasonable for people that are used to it, we are like "WHAT?!" We can and will pay the money - it's just a little hard to swallow when your big expense is a $300 trip to Sam's Club once a month.

I think we're going to end up in Las Vegas -- we want to just sit. And eat. And have some "adult beverages". And shop if we want to. And lay around. And talk. And sleep. And laugh. And that "whole lot of something". And sit in the hot tub. And order pay-per-view. And maybe gamble a little -- but not much. And sleep. (I think we're both looking forward to the laying around and sleeping the most.)

What better place to do that than Vegas? The people watching (one of our favorite sports) is awesome, the food is awesome, the pools are awesome, and you can walk or lie down all day without a problem. If we feel like going somewhere at 3am, we can. We've always gone with other people so it will be fun to set our own agenda -- or have a complete lack of one.

Anyway -- if we can just realize that we're like the only people on the planet who can't believe how expensive everything is, we'll be fine. We are old fuddy-duddies looking to bust out of that mold for awhile.

Colds. Suck.

Both of my kids have one.

We were in the car for 18 hours this weekend.

Need I say more?

Thirtysomething...

Okay, so your 20's are your carefree years where, though you are a full-fledged adult, you can get away with pretty much anything. Yes, you're expected to have a job, but pretty much any job can shut people up because you'll be said to be "finding yourself". You are expected to still party too much and do semi-crazy things with your also unattached, carefree 20-something friends. You can rent instead of own and no one will hound you about when you're going to buy a house. You can remain single and no one really gives ya grief before the big 3-0. If you're married, you can really get by for quite awhile without having people asking when you plan to have kids. (Disclaimer on that last part: this is what I hear and not based on personal experience -- I myself didn't test that theory beyond a time span of 3 weeks post-vows while being 28, which is dangerously near 30.)

Looking back, I had some SERIOUSLY fun 20's. A little rough patch in the middle that I'd like to just pretend was someone else's completely moronic series of life decisions, but other than that (like how I actually did just pretend it never happened?), fun and full of accomplishments. I made some of the best friends I know I'll ever have -- and have forever. I found love, lost love, found love again, and went to some really fun places. Might I also add -- I will forever maintain that I was as smart as I'll ever be -- the end of my grad school experience had my brain at full capacity -- there will never be that much USEFUL information swimming around in there again.

I was a typical 20-something woman -- enjoying life to the fullest and COMPLETELY unaware of how good life was. Funny how you don't TRULY appreciate something until it's past. Maybe it's just me, but that seems to be my pattern. I think I appreciate it, but then looking back on things, I find that I didn't appreciate something nearly as much as I do later on.

Okay -- so moving onto the 30's. People start expecting all this stuff. Like stability and responsibility. You pull a stupid move in your 20's and you get excused -- "Hey, she's young. She'll learn." You pull that same move in your 30's and suddenly you're an idiot. Being single in your 30's takes things to another level both for yourself and those around you from what a few of my friends have told me. You put more pressure on yourself and other people around you definitely don't cut you much slack. If you're married and past the age of 30, you better have a date circled on the calendar for when you plan to start "trying" -- this is especially important for the future grandparents. If you'd like to maintain any other avenue of conversation, I suggest leading off with that information at dinner parties and family celebrations. (Again, refer to earlier disclaimer.)

As a 30-something woman now, I say that life is still good but Good Lord I long for my carefree 20-something days every now and then.

Like this morning when I had to wake up at 5:45. For work? No, no, no.

My minivan needed to go to the shop.

Okay -- seriously. My carefree 20-something self never saw this one coming.

I had to wake up at the butt-crack of dawn to make sure that the DVD player in my freakin' minivan can get repaired before we go on a road trip, toting two pajama-wearing kids in parkas with me and depositing a suit wearing husband off downtown afterwards. (By the way, he looks super cute when he wears his Bronco hat with his suit. Wouldn't think it would work like that, but it so does.)

I guess there are pros and cons to every age, but man -- sometimes when I think about my life and the things I do every day, I realize that I really *AM* a thirty-something mom of two kids who drives a minivan and is worried about things like private school and retirement.

So depressing. Sort of. Not really. Just weird, I guess.

Don't blink...

No "might" here -- you WILL miss something.

Overnight these little people grow and change. They are subtle changes and if you're not watching or listening closely, you will indeed miss it and be left wondering when it happened.

Some examples...

Tonight, for the first time, when I asked him to choose "In Between The Lions" or "Sesame Street" for his bedtime cd, he answered "Sesame Street". Why is this unusual? Because up until today it's been "Seh-me Street". When did he add the "suh" syllable in the middle? Not sure. To make myself feel better, I'm going with tonight.

This afternoon, after a month or two of modeling it for her, Georgia touched (like a light clap) her hands together when I had her do "more" for getting more tickles from Grandma. She did it over and over and it was more than evident that she knew EXACTLY what she was doing. Again, today -- first time.

Earlier in the week, my little boy who even the prior week was a blubbering mess during drop off at preschool, told me "I am going into my classroom ALL BY MYSELF today, Mommy. You stay here with Georgia, okay?" (I did let him know that I'd first need to escort him across the parking lot.) Why is it that last week his tears annoyed me and this week I'm the one in tears because it appears I am on the verge of annoying him?

Georgia has developed a new game. It's called the "Ahhh-yell" game. Basically it consists of her and another willing participant to exhange yellish "Ahhhs". She's quite good at it and I've become accustomed to playing each day. My mom asked me when that started -- I have no idea. Another subtle change -- snuck up on me.

Mitchell can now dress and undress himself completely, except for socks and shoes. This is HUGE for us, but if I had to nail down exactly when he mastered this skill, I'd be guessing. I was watching, just not really WATCHING.

Georgia is able to drink from a sippy cup, but prefers drinking ice water from a big person's glass. It's one of her very favorite things to do each day. When did she start this? Hmmmm...

One eye on the kids, the other one on the calendar, people. That's the name of the game.

I forgot...

How much I *hate* political campaign commercial season.

They are SOOOOOO annoying.

It totally irritates me that they spend more of their money telling you why you *shouldn't* vote for the other person than they do telling you why you *should* vote for them. What kind of sense does that make?

That would be like my husband asking me what was for dinner and me spending 5 minutes telling him all of the things that we're NOT having for dinner. Or if I went to a store and asked how much a jacket cost and they proceeded to tell me how much a pair of pants, shoes, shirt, etc. cost.

Tell us about yourselves, people!! But here's the catch -- these days in my state, it's dangerous to make a commercial about yourself because your opponent will surely use it, edit it, crop it, and use it AGAINST you in their mudslinging ad about why people shouldn't vote for you.

On the positive side, some of them have at least been slightly amusing this year. Hard to tell since I change the channel so quickly.

Overwhelmed...

So I have had a SERIOUS motivational lack this week. For what? Anything, really.

Laundry. Returning phone calls. Cleaning. Taking a shower, some days.

Am I depressed? No. I think I'm just tired. And tired of being tired. And I wanted to rest.

The only problem is that I am now motivated but overwhelmed.

Like 8 (literally) loads of laundry. All 3 bathrooms dirty. A PILE of junk mail on the kitchen table. The floors need mopping. The carpet (whole house) needs to be vacuumed. I need to make some stuff food-wise.

Ugh. Oh well, just took a break to say that this sucks and I *REALLY* want a cleaning lady. I might even give up Starbucks for that.

SUB!!!!! I need a sub!!!!

I wanna talk about me...

Sorry -- totally nerdy Toby Keith reference there. I am feeling less than creative today and decided to follow my friend, Kim's lead on this one.

A) Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Hostess at Black-Eyed-Pea
2. Waitress at Applebee's (woot, woot -- Renwoit - hee hee)
3. Receptionist/physical therapy assistant/word processing for the Rehab Dept at a hospital
4. Dry cleaning counter person

B) Four movies I would watch over and over: (only 4?!?!)
1. Pretty Woman
2. Urban Cowboy (Dang, Gina -- the first scene after he shaved? HOT!!!!)
3. Baby Boom (yes, nerd alert)
4. When Harry Met Sally

C) Four places I have lived: (I'm positively WILD, I tell ya. WILD.)
1. Englewood, CO
2. Greeley, CO
3. Aurora, CO
4. Denver, CO

D) Four TV shows I love to watch
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Sex and The City Reruns
4. America's Funniest Videos (am I not THE coolest person you know yet???)

E)Four places I have been on vacation:
1. San Francisco, CA
2. Seattle, WA
3. Victoria, BC
4. Las Vegas, NV

F) Four Web sites visited daily (weekly):
1. Pregnancy.org
2. ebay.com
3. bestsimplerecipes.com
4. target.com

G) Four of my favorite foods:
1. Lasagna
2. Ice cream
3. Anything mexican (but mostly chile rellenos and guacamole tostadas)
4. Cheese

H) Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Girls Night Out
2. The scrapbooking store
3. Disneyland with my family
4. On a hawaiian beach with a margarita and my cabana boy, errrr -- husband

So go ahead. If you have a blog, blog it. If you have a board, post it. If you have neither, just write it down and think about it.

You HAVE to go!!

Okay, if you have a list of things to do or places to visit, I have one for you to add.

You have GOT to see a concert at Red Rocks! If you've ever seen the U2 video from "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" then you know what I'm talking about.

My husband and I went last night and it was just amazing. Both of us are from Colorado, so we've both been to lots of concerts there, but it never gets old. Ever. PLUS -- they've done some really nice additions and remodeling to the bathrooms, added a restaurant, all kinds of stuff.

Actually, I'm kicking myself because I know they did some movies there this summer at night and now I'm wishing we'd looked into it. It's a hike from our house, but so very worth it. We're definitely taking the kids there next summer.

The energy there during the show is crazy -- concerts are always power houses of energy, but here, it's just nuts. I seriously think it's the best place EVER to see a show. Maybe this year we'll go to the sunrise Easter service -- I've always wanted to.

Okay -- there's my PSA for the day. Go to Red Rocks and thank me later.

A dream come true...

Saturday night, one of my husband's life-long dreams became reality.

He took his son to a major league baseball game.

To some people, this might be a small event. To my husband, it was a MAJOR milestone in his life, not just Mitchell's. I know, without a doubt, that he will remember and savor each and every moment from last night forever and it was a magical night for me to watch it through both of their eyes.

It was really chilly and the day before was pretty miserable -- cold, windy, rainy and I was dreading the game the next day. Friday night I started the whole "I don't want him to get sick again" talk and started throwing out the possibility of not going. Hubby was so excited that he'd already bought the tickets, so we were sort of locked in at that point.

Well, Saturday came and though it was cold, it wasn't too windy and wasn't rainy at all. We dropped Miss G off at my in-laws house and headed on downtown. I don't know who was more excited, Chris or Mitchell. They were both looking forward to it, and I'm not sure either of them knew what to expect. We got there and Mitchell spent the whole walk from the car to the stadium in a slow jog because he just couldn't wait. We finally got there and the lights on the side of the building showing the baseball guy (yes--very technical term) sliding into base just fascinated him. He couldn't understand why we had to wait in line so long (security) and just wanted to show the guy his ticket.

We finally got through the gates and that "feeling" set in -- you know the one. The energy from the crowd, the smell of the yummy junk food, the buzz of everyone chatting as they walked and talked and ate. I don't think he walked the rest of the night -- he floated. Chris was also just so excited and couldn't wait to get to our seats.

The first time Mitchell saw the field a big "whoooaaaaa" came out of his mouth and another baseball fan was born. To watch my boys walking hand in hand in the same wondrous daze was so much fun. Mitchell climbed onto Chris' lap and listened as he described the important landmarks on and off the field. Mitchell's eyes were big as saucers and Chris' eyes danced with joy.

The game was chilly but we kept warm by snuggling together under a blanket eating pa-corn, hot chocolate milk, and chips. (That would be popcorn, hot cocoa and nachos.) The boys sang "Take me out to the ballgame" together and I took a video of it.

Chris made comments throughout the game like "Well, that will be a trivia question someday -- who hit the first homerun at M's first baseball game". Mitchell kept asking "Daddy what is" and "Daddy why" and "Daddy who" questions the whole night, bless his heart -- exactly what he was supposed to do.

It was a chilly, wonderful night of magic for two boys -- one big and one little. And for one dreamy-eyed mommy who felt lucky just to be there to take it all in.