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“No matter how old you are, no matter how badass you think you are, if a toddler hands you their ringing toy phone, you answer it.”

August 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Or, the less well known version: “No matter how badass you might be, if your 3 1/2 year old daughter asks you to take her doll to work because she has things to do today, you’ll do it”

and you’ll send your wife photos all day of your adventures with Penelope, the doll.  Captions provided by my husband, of course.

made it to work!

nap time!
Toon Time!
Lunch time!
Calling Mommy to check in. 
Bath time!
Coffee won’t stunt my growth!
I’m an artist!
playing doll house!
almost time to go!
surfing the nets!
I’m ready!
If I could only reach the gas…
Shiftin’ the gears…
car seat.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it was a wildly slow day in the the IT world.

Filed Under: photos, toys

Caught Up

May 2, 2011 By 3 Comments
I’ll be the first to admit that I got caught up in all the Royal Wedding hoopla.  I read the stories, watched the behind-the-scenes specials, and woke up early Friday morning to watch the ceremony live on television.  
I smiled and giggled at how beautiful the bride looked.  I said ‘Awe!’ when I saw William wink at Kate during the ceremony.  I even watched the coverage a second time later in the day so I could prolong the fairy tale just a bit more.  
I reminisced about my own wedding back in 2002.  I was only 23.  Andy and I had a very small ceremony at a quiet chapel in Gatelinburg, TN.  I got lost driving to our ceremony.  Apparently my sense of direction couldn’t help me navigate from our cabin on the mountain to the little chapel on the strip.  
One of the only traditions we kept was choosing not to see one another from the night before the wedding until the actual ceremony.  While I was attempting to arrive at the chapel and was already into dangerously late territory, my dear mother-in-law actually said to Andy: “You know, she’s not here yet!”  
That scared the crap out of him.  I actually found out later that his biggest fear was me not showing up. Or passing out at the alter from his heart condition.  
How could I not show up and marry this beautiful man?!

Our ceremony lasted just over 7 minutes.  It was simple, quiet, and entirely about being married versus having a wedding.  When the ceremony was over we quickly slipped away from our family and went out to have a crazy meal in a dive bar where we laughed and giggled at the fact that we were newlyweds.

We came home from out 4-day trip and bought a house.

It’s been 3 kids, numerous pets, several sizes, and multiple marriage spats since 2002.  But, it’s been pretty damn near perfect.  Someone mentioned on Facebook the other day that this whole Royal Wedding/Fairy Tale was just a social construct that we buy into.

Perhaps it is.

But when you’ve been lucky enough to experience the real thing, I say sometimes it’s okay to believe in the magic of fairy tales.  

Filed Under: hubby, marriage, photos

Silhouettes

March 25, 2011 By 5 Comments
They arrived today in a simple, plain envelope.  White.  Showing no indication of the treasure that slept inside.  I’ve waited for this day – for this package for years.  
I’ve wanted to have silhouettes done of my children for a long time.  But something came up.  It wasn’t the right time.  Too young.  A bad haircut.  A million reasons.  Why now, I don’t know.  But my heart felt a calling to have them done.  Now.  Today.  
So I pulled out my camera, snapped profile shots of my babies, and sent them off to the talented and lovely Rachel.  She worked her digital magic and gave me the shadows, the captured moment in time for each one of those unique souls.  

We chose to surround their images in their favorite childhood colors as a constant reminder of what part of the spectrum they choose to see the world.

Amelia, with her blue blanket.  A symbol of the softness of her heart, the calm of her spirit, the blueness of her eyes.

Jacob, surrounded by orange.  Representing his fiery passion, the intense emotion and sensitivity that runs through his veins.  My warm boy.

Charlotte hugged by all things feminine.  Lilac, the perfect blend of pink and purple, marking the world of smiles and rainbows and unicorns that she twirls in every single day.

I waited so long for these to grace my walls.  My living room.  My memory.  Each of them telling their own unique story.  And there they hang – perfectly framed from a single moment in time.  Perfectly representative of three genuine individuals.

Thank you to the amazing Rachel at Apple Blossom Prints for creating such amazing silhouettes.  You rocked it and I am grateful!

Filed Under: photos, reflections

Dining Room?

February 11, 2011 By 5 Comments
Our dining room is the one room in the house that I love.  It’s the only room that’s all grown-up and not inundated with kid crap.  
I love that the furniture belonged to Hubby’s grandparents.  I love that it’s the one room that’s always clean and actually decorated with intentionality.  I love that it holds the fancy tea set my in-laws bought me and that the curtains had to be specially ordered to fit the big windows.  
It’s a lovely room.  Except right now.  
Right now it looks like some schizophrenic graduate student vomited textbooks and articles all over the place and then tried to staple and hole punch her way to sanity.  

When any of the kids come near the table I’m all Don’t touch anything! Don’t move anything! Don’t breathe funny! I have a system!


It’s a messy system.  A neurotic, color-coded, and labeled pile of crap, but a system nonetheless.

This is what attempting to complete COMPS as a PhD student looks like.

I’ve got textbooks, articles, extra printer paper, space to spread out, and 3 months and 3 questions until it looks all pretty again.  Every time I attempt to sit down and work one of the kids usually wants to hijack my pen or highlighters and ‘make your notebooks pretty, mama.’

You can’t do that, kid!  The system!  You’ve got to remember the system!!


Then they run away crying, I feel unbelievably guilty, and the world returns to its normal orbits.

This weekend I’ve cleared my schedule, secured overseers for the kids (thanks, Ma and Granddaddy!), and I’ll attempt to take my pile of crap and turn it into the most brilliant 25 page essay on qualitative research methods ever written in the history of graduate students.

Well, I’ll attempt to turn it into an essay anyway.

But, until the end of April when all this COMPS messiness is behind me, I need to take a minute and mourn the loss of my pretty, pretty dining room.

And learn a bit of Krav Maga because if one more little person tries to mess with my system I’m going ape shit on their asses.

Put that in your grad school brochure and smoke it.

Filed Under: PhD, photos

Snow Day #5…

January 14, 2011 By 5 Comments

Mexicans don’t panic on snow days

my happy pill refill has yet to be picked up…
Filed Under: photos, snow

A perfect fall weekend!

October 18, 2010 By 1 Comment

Now, if I can just get around to turning the $40 worth of apples I bought into applesauce I’ll be all set!

Filed Under: Fall, kids, photos

Hey Kids, Wanna Feed the Ducks!?

April 4, 2010 By 4 Comments
No thanks, Mama.  We’d rather just eat the frozen, stale bread and let the duck fend for themselves.  

Seriously, kids.  Can you stop eating the frozen, stale bread just long enough for mommy to snap the ‘we’re having fun’ family picture?

I really gotta learn to pack snacks!

Filed Under: kids, photos

Spring has sprung and it has taken the form of soccer

March 8, 2010 By 5 Comments
Charlotte started soccer this weekend.  
Lil’ Kickers Soccer.  
She’s a Thumper.  I don’t know what that means.  
We got up early Saturday, packed up the troops, and headed out to show our support for our baby’s sports debut.  
She started off by holding a ball and keeping guard of all the others.  My Balls, Mama!

Here she is, again, holding her ball.  

Here I am trying to tell her that there is more to soccer than just holding a ball. In fact, this is where I attempted the ‘no hands’ conversation.  

I didn’t get through.  She walked away from me.  
Holding her ball.  

She dropped her ball once and I had every hope she’d attempt a kick.  She didn’t.  She just picked it back up again.  

She did put a cone on her head at one point – but kept several balls close by just to be safe.  

I don’t think she gets this whole soccer thing – especially the no hands part.  
But with that happy face who really cares.  

Filed Under: charlotte, photos, soccer

for the love of books

March 4, 2010 By 5 Comments
Anyone that knows our family or our children would be hesitant to argue that we are lovers of the written word.
We are readers. Plain and simple.
We love to fill our home and surround ourselves with books and stories full of magical adventures, memorable friends, and lessons that warm our hearts. When we had children we knew without a doubt that we wanted to pass along our love of books and reading. We wanted our children to understand the joy and learn to appreciate it for themselves.
So we bought them books.
We bought them more books and more books and more books.
We read them stories at bedtime, in the middle of the afternoon, while they took baths, and whenever they craved the comfort of a story.
And the rewards have been endless.
We have a daughter that shares the same love of Goodnight Moon at almost six years old that began so many nights ago with her and her daddy on the couch.

We have a son that begs for reading time every night before bed and would gladly choose a trip to the bookstore over almost any outing.
That love of books that started in the comfort of a highchair is something he chose to share with his new baby sister shortly after she joined our family.
And, now, that not so little baby doesn’t hesitate to grab her own book and begin her own love affair with stories.
So, we read as a family and have the joy of riding trains, changing colors, comforting pets, dressing fancy, and reaching the stars at a moment’s notice.
We cherish our books.
And, we embrace the memories, adventures, and togetherness they give us.
How empty our lives would feel without our books…

*March is National Reading Month. In honor of National Reading Month take some time to share a story with someone you love. You may very will inspire a lifelong reader! Thanks to the Yahoo! Motherboard for inviting me to join their community. I look forward to the adventures we’ll have together!
Filed Under: books, motherboard, photos, reading

See, I’m a good mom. I even waited until she left the room before I choked back some vomit

February 22, 2010 By 2 Comments
Tonight for dinner I made a splended meal:  

  • toasted pecan encrusted chicken
  • mapled glazed sweet potato puree with caramalized onions
  •  steamed veggies in a light sauce
Okay, the veggies were from a steaming bag, but still.  I rocked this meal. I rocked those caramelized onions.  I rocked the casbah.  
My daughter was kind enough to provide dessert for us as well.  
Yellow cake with chocolate frosting cooked by lightbulb in her easy bake oven.  
Yum?  
For the record that photo was taken immediately after she finished applying the frosting.  Immediately after she proceeded to lick the spreader thing, share some licks with her gross brother and sister, and double dip the entire time.  
I assure you this was not taken post-chewing.  
She offered me some.  
I declined.  
Especially after I saw a big, fat, curly hair hanging off the side.  
Sorry kid, Mama’s allergic – to disgusting stuff!

Would it be totally wrong of me to break her lightbulb oven?
Sorry, kid.  Mama was collecting some toys for the disabled orphans and dogs association when I accidently fell on it while rescuing a cat from a tree that I saw was sick and injured while I carried the bags of donations out to the car.  I tried to repair it, but I got distracted by a sudden urge to make you cookies and brownies and cakes by the powers of a gas oven.  Come inside, my darling, and while you enjoy some homemade baked goods I’ll show you the pony I picked up today on my way home from buying tickets to Princessland!

Totally believable, right!?
Filed Under: kids, photos