tuesday.

today is tuesday... it took me an entire minute to think of that.  if that tells you how off schedule we are... :)

so... last week.

friday.



meet the teacher day... i was on time.  i had my act together.  i even got a photo.  i had to let you know that.... you know, because sometimes if you want the photo, you won't be on time ;)  

and i am so so so so so so so happy with their teachers.  i really know it will be a great year.



savannah definitely was worn out.  she didn't even make it home before zonking out... sweet sleepy girl.

and to celebrate a successful meet the teacher, i waited in line at the in n out burger and bought myself a cheeseburger.  and ethan a milkshake.

i was also celebrating not getting the god-awful stomach flu that my MIL and my husband had.  i even made him stay with his mother because i did. not. want. sick. kids.



saturday.

and we didn't have sick kids over the weekend.  the weekend by the way, started with a "pop."  as in the popping of a transformer.  in the alley.  from the garbage truck hitting it with the dumpster.  at 7am.
and the {very nice -- i really like him, i swear.} redneck neighbor yelling at the garbage truck driver.

in his underwear.  saying he would tar him.  {as in - tar and feather.}  i'm telling you... we are not in the 'burbs.

and then said neighbor gets in his pickup truck and blocks the garbage man in the alley.  and the garbage man raises the arm of the truck.  they were in a stand off.  and the neighbor was yelling.

i told my husband that it would not be wise to attempt to diffuse the situation.  stay. in. the. house.

the police and firemen diffused the situation.  our power was off all day.  we ate breakfast at the cracker barrel and went to grammy's house.  because, well, it is not exactly leave-the-a/c-off-and-enjoy the-breeze-through-the-windows weather.

strange saturday, no??

well, i also drank some wine on saturday night...  maybe one glass too many. 




sunday.


sunday rolled around, and what i thought was my little wine "hangover" was actually my run with the wretched stomach virus!!!

total. misery.



monday.

but worse?  ethan had it yesterday.  3 baths.  3 moppings of the floor.  true love of a mother -- being puked on.  true pain of a little sister -- being puked on.

i am sure that my husband enjoyed missing yesterday by working a 15 hour day.  though, he mananged to be here for one of the baths... there is no escaping it!



tuesdsay. 

and today?  we are well.  ethan is bouncing around.  and we have had no puking.  and no fever.

praise.

and sister -- i am begging and pleading with god to let it pass her.  so far, she seems perfectly fine.  albeit yesterday she was a little sleepy.

i am hoping that my breast milk and it's amazing antibodies keep her well.  and if those antibodies keep her well, i might consider nursing her forever.  kidding.  i swear.

so far, so good... so i will be sending both my rascals to school in the morning.

sweet, glorious, school.  

little tidbits.

catching up with the randoms... you know how i said we managed to pack a lot into our last week?  well, i feel like i am just giving you the highlights... and leaving out the good stuff.

like how when we were at target around 9:00 am on monday morning, picking up cat food, ethan decided that it would be really cool to stick his fingers in the holes in the buggy.

and they wouldn't come out.

niiiiice.

so, i tried hand lotion from a tester.  nope.  then i decided to ask a target employee... and yes, my child wasn't the first.  it turns out baby oil will do the trick.

this photo doesn't even do the situation justice...

please do tell me you have had a similar experience.  no?  just us.  that's what i was worried about.   thank goodness we asked before they began their start-the-morning-employee-meeting.  i wouldn't have wanted to be the entertainment for that :)

but lets rewind a touch... the day before we celebrated ella and grace {my nieces} birthday... can they really already be 1???  i swear, they were just born.

savannah liked their gifts and certainly tried to kidnap their baby dolls.  oh sister.

and while we are on the subject of savannah... well, missy is at that age where if you take your eyes off of her for a moment, she will be into something.  and i mean, a moment.

sometimes, i feel like i just sit on the couch and watch her.  and then, i think -- i've got to get xyz done... and the problems begin.

stir a pot on the stove = savannah dunking her pacifiers in the cats' water bowl.

go to the bathroom = jumping on the couch/playing with the wireless modem cord/pulling a cat's tail/conflict of violent proportions with brother

change a load of clothes = pull all the shirts out of brother's drawer.

i could go on.  and on.

but it did warm my heart when i was cooking and in a panicked rush realized she was not in the kitchen anymore... and not watching t.v. with brother {i know, bad mommy, but i was trying to pull her attention to the living room!}

my little reader.

i must also tell you how completely adorable it was to see my daughter act like a little mommy... trying to give paci's and bottles to the little babies we played with... so sweet.  and she is quite gentle.  m e l t

and too, i must brag on brother. who had wonderful behavior... even though it wasn't his turn for a playdate.  savannah goes along for all of his, but this time, he went along for her's... and i was secretly beaming with joy.  no whining.  not a smidge of destruction on a non-preschool proofed home.  non-toddler proofed too... he would take the breakables out of savvy's hands ever so gently and hand them to me.  oh so very sweet.  and when he did this, and savvy's copped some sass... he put his hand over her mouth and told her "be quiet" because the babies were sleeping!

when did he get so grown up???

and finally... i leave you with this.  as i was getting ready for the day, ethan decided he would too... he was already dressed and ready to go, but decided to get daddy's deodorant and put it in his "arm pits" which were actually the bends in his arm behind his elbows... he said to me:  "smell me.  i put this on my arm pits and now i smell great!!!"  and was SO PROUD of himself.  ahhh... to be 3.

xoxo, s

the last bit of summer...

we've been soaking in the last bits of summer before we "meet the teacher" tomorrow.

i've managed to pack quite a bit into the week... beginning with a trip to see my parents {what a cheap way for ethan to think he is on vacation} and now a playdate for savannah with her two of her future baylor theta sisters ;)

more soon.  xoxo, s

exhausted in a good way

this week has been full.  full of fun for the kids.  not necessarily full of an empty laundry basket or a week of tasty suppers.  i have yet to have a week where all aspects of the week are "on"

but the house stayed picked up all week.  and we stayed busy.  some weeks we don't stay all that busy but boy do i cook great dinners.

win some, lose some.   yet, obviously, i can't let it go.  i want it all, all of the time.

anyway, we enjoyed playdates and a visit from my mother... i don't think i had any nap overlap with the children... but occasionally, ethan DID nap.  praise!   ethan's behavior is really getting so much better and we have had fun working on lessons together during savvy's naptime.  and sister has been amazing me with what she says.  she sings the first part of abc's.  green {the color of the popsicle she was eating}, recognizing the letter 'e', calling a friend by name.  the words!  the opinions!  new things e v e r y d a y.  slow down sister.  you are growing so fast!

and next week is our last week of summer!  i've felt the shadows change in the evening for about a week and a half now, i noticed last wednesday.  fall is right around the corner. 

and then, i will relish the structure.  and surely will blog more.  :)  i have all kinds of things to say that aren't child-related.  i actually start many posts and end up not finishing them.  i have one from the beginning of the summer about checking on my new years resolutions... i have another that said my google reader was empty.  and then it promptly filled up again.  and while we are on that subject..  oh my gracious, my email is out of control.  heaven help.

lots to think about...

back to school teacher gifts?


fall garden?  y i k e s.  haven't even thought this far.  maybe i need to start my seeds, like, right this minute?  oh my.

if i want to give handmade christmas gifts... now would be a good time to start.

and don't even get me started on my pinterest list.  we did manage to tackle this and this.  only 200 million to go :)

and why is my heart being tugged at to stop eating grains?  i love bread.  with my whole heart.  grrr....

xoxo, s

can i ask for a favor? please?

i wake up every day and i feel so lucky to have my wonderful, healthy children.  i read to them, and play with them... i cook for them and clean for them.

i will be honest, some days i want to pull my hair out.

most days it reveals to me my imperfections.  what i need to work harder on.  my attitude.  my temper.  my patience.  my time management.  my organization.

and those revelations are really what make me want to pull my hair out.   i think that people say it is hard to stay at home with your children, not because you are home with children.  but home with yourself.  expecting great things out of yourself.  disappointing the people you love if you don't measure up.  no boss to badmouth.  no company to complain about.

or at least it is this way for me.

but i wouldn't want it any other way.

and then, sometimes, i get an extra reminder of how precious my little babies are.  i have been squeezing my two silly muffins even tighter after hearing about baby james.  baby james is a sweet little baby that won a battle against a brain tumor only through leaving this world to be healed by our Heavenly Father.

to imagine losing either of my babies is simply the most devastating thing.  to imagine the pain of this mother is unbearable.

i don't know kara, but we both went to baylor.  we know some of the same people.  it seems so close to home.  she and her husband wrote with such transparency on their blog and i think and pray for them daily.

but here is where you can help.  baby james had a thing for giraffes... and the dallas zoo had a little giraffe born a few days after james was buried.  and the dallas zoo wants help naming the giraffe... sooooo.... the very obvious conclusion here is that the new giraffe should be named for the sweet baby that loved them, right?

so go on over to kara's blog and read about how to make it happen. {basically, print out the giraffe form and mail it in... the giraffe is a girl so we want to name it JAMIE}

thank you very much any and everyone who does this.  and if you have babies... squeeze them extra tight, because life is indeed a precious gift.

xoxo, s

miss manners

our little lady uses a fork now.  i love it.  so glad i caught it on camera.

little miss manners was the highlight of my day... and casie, do you read this??  that was the fork you sent us :)  thanks!

xoxo, s

Ewww...

back in the summer of 2002 i went to italy for a study abroad program.  i took italian, an italian cooking class, and a wine course.

of course i wanted to bring home some wine and asked the man who taught my wine class what would be nice... and he made a recommendation.  i didn't want to put it in my suitcase... and didn't want to carry it one because i was not quite 21...

so i paid the big bucks to have it shipped... with the word "books" stamped all over the box...  {that did irritate me, and i thought, gee, why didn't i just tell them i was shipping books and pay less??? }

anyway, a few weeks ago we went to the most delicious Nonna Tata for a farewell dinner with our dear friends that have escaped to florida for a fellowship year.  while we were at dinner, imbibing on vino, we talked about how i still had a bottle of wine from my trip... and that i needed to drink it!!

here we are...  sort of a ridiculous amount of wine on the table for four people... eek.

anyway, fast forward to this past weekend... faustino and i decided to open the wine... and.... it was really disgusting.  maybe it would have been gross had i drank it back in college... maybe not... but i think it was definitely past its prime.

think:  vinegar

oh well.  a complete waste.  i decided to photograph the bottle, because, well, it just seemed like such a waste to pour it down the drain and throw the bottle in the blue bin.

p.s. don't let this green patch of grass fool you... other parts of our yard look like this :)

dead grass... the garden border needs to be edged... and the poor garden is all that is making it... because it gets watered for an hour a day... sometimes twice a day.

what can i say? i was 103 last night at 9:30. INSANE.