dolphin tale

My kid has a thing for dolphins.

And by, "thing," I mean, woulddieforthemwantstobeone.

It's serious.

When Dolphin Tale came out, I knew we would be first in line.

What I didn't know was that we would be wearing a wetsuit to the theatre...

Let me explain:

She desperately wanted to be a dolphin for Halloween.

The only costume I could find in her size was in Australia.

And cost $56 for shipping alone.

No thank you.

So, I started thinking outside the box...

and girlfriend is going to be a dolphin trainer for Halloween.

Wear a wetsuit, carry a dolphin, tape a few construction paper fish to her treat back and

Voila!

We have a dolphin trainer!

PS.  We also wore the wetsuit to Target before the movie.

That was fun.

Got some looks.

Had some explaining to do.

Etc...

Life with a 5 year old is never dull.

pioneer girl

Sunday found Ellie and I getting in tune with our inner pioneer girls.

(It also found someonewhoshallremainnameless home on the couch nursing a massive hangover...

but that is a story for another day...)

There was this fun little pioneer festival and we went with some friends.

We swung.

 Had a mini meltdown when our butts got wet.

 Checked out some pioneer toys.

Walked on stilts.

 Made a flower arrangement.

 Rode a pony.

(She was so mad they kept ahold of her.  She kept saying "I have been to pony camp!  I know what I am doing!  You can let go!")

 Had a "Kids vs. Moms" tug of war contest.

Sadly, it wasn't as one sided as you might think.

 And goofed around.

These two.

There aren't enough words in the world to describe these two.

 For real.

It was a fun day.



a day in the life of me

This is fascinating information people.

Cause I am sure you are all dying to know how I spend my days.

6:30: alarm goes off.

6:35: Chris nudges me to turn off alarm.

7:00: get out of bed.

7-7:15: make coffee, breakfast for Ellie, lunch for Chris.

7:20: Wake Ellie up.

7:30: Kiss Chris goodbye.

7:30-8:00: Hustle up a lollygagger.

8:00: Leave for school.

8:15-9:00:  Make my own breakfast, drink my coffee, internets.

 9:00-9:30:  Tidy up this disaster and others like it around the house.
(PS.  I hate my kitchen.)

 9:30-9:31: Admire Ellie's first Math Quiz score.

(I don't remember having quizzes in Kindergarten...)

 9:31-9:55: Hit the library and get some books.

Can you guess which one is the smutty one??

 10:00-11:00:  Dr. for physical.

3 things:

1.  Tetanus shots freaking hurt.

2.  They should remind you not to eat breakfast so you can get your bloodwork done.

3.  They should carry the Flu Mist so they don't have to go down to Peds to get one.

Seriously.

11:00-11:30 - Head to the grocery for bread, milk, and soda...and end up spending $57.

(There was lots I forgot we needed: paper towels, shredded cheese, grapes, etc...)

 11:30-11:35: Break up a brawl...

 and put someone in Timeout.

 11:35 - 12:15: Throw in a load of laundry, take out the trash, paperwork, etc...

12:15-1ish:  Make and eat lunch while watching the finale of Big Brother. 

Today's special: Fried cornmeal and grapes.

Don't judge me.

 1ish - Make up with someone.

 1ish to 1:15 - Put out new mums, tidy yard a little.

1:15-2:15 - Get my expanding bum to the gym.

It thanked me.

2:15 - 3:00 - Shower

 3:00-3:30: Take recycling to drop off and enter the dreaded "pick up" area at school.

Read and Wreck while waiting.

(Wreck This Journal will be a post all it's own soon.  It's neat.)

 3:30-4:30: Pick up Ellie...

 watch her monkey bar...

 with a friend.

 4:30 - 5:00 Homework.

Cause apparently our M's weren't up to par.

 5:00-6:30: Watch a movie and Ellie eats dinner, cause Daddy had volleyball tonight, and I din't want to cook a real meal.

 6:30 - 8:00: Bath, play, stories, bed.

Oh.  And I made my dinner too.  To be eaten later, cause:

1.  I like it just a titch stale.

2.  I get some kind of perverse pleasure while eating during Biggest Loser.

Isn't that awful??

So there it is, my day today.

Wasn't that fun!

friends

I have the best friends.

Really.

They are intelligent and funny.

Gorgeous and kind.

Witty and motivated.

They are wonderful.

If I could wish one thing for Ellie as she gets older,

it would be that she surrounds herself with good girlfriends.

Friends who push her out of her comfort level,

and are always there for her.

Friends she can be silly with,

and say anything to.

Friends who will tell her when she is being unreasonable,

but love her more because of it.

Friends who tell her they love her.

These are the kinds of friends I have.

These are the kind of women they are.

And I am grateful for them.

Every single day.

 Our husbands are pretty cool too.

 Jeff and Megan are getting married.

This makes me happy.

We were celebrating their engagment last night.

It was a fantastic time.

As an added bonus, 2 of the girls brought their teeny tiny babies.

This is little Perry Leo.

Love.

my fridge and me

I saw this over on lifeingrace and knew immediately I would be copying.

It is basically what your fridge says about you...

So here's what I think my fridge says about me.

1. I buy organic when I can. 

2.  I must throw that frosting away.  Maybe tomorrow.

3.  The season of watermelon and cantalaupe is about over. :(

4.  Yes.  I am hiding Lori's jam.  It's that good.

5.  Chocolate greek yogurt.  Yes please!

6.  Love me some cornmeal mush fried up in the mornings.  I swear, ya'll, I was supposed to be a southern girl.

7.  A fridge without turkey bacon in it is a sad fridge indeed. 

8.  Ellie's been on a yogurt kick lately.  I bought a lot.  Murphy's Law states she will now no longer like yogurt.

9.  I hardly ever use most of the sauces in the door.  They just sit there, neglected.

10.  The chinese leftovers disappeared overnight.  Bigfoot ate it.

11.  You can't see all the cheese on the top left.  There's a bunch.  Mama likes her cheese.

12.  My fridge needs a good cleaning.  I am really surprised I even let you see it.  It's kinda embarrasing.

busy

I am busy!

I have over 8 hours of free time and I feel busier and more stressed than ever.

How is that even possible?

Well...

I took up a temporary part time job doing some serious manual labor.

It is both dirty and exhausting.

And I am working with a bunch of young guys.

Who keep calling me Ma'am.

Ha!

I am old!

Plus, Ellie is keeping my busy with her new schedule.

Lunch boxes need to be cleaned out and repacked.

Homework needs to be done.

Nightly baths need to be taken.

Etc...

(And as a PS, her teacher asked for classroom volunteers, I volunteered. I was thinking it would be a one or two time thing.  Wrong.  It is weekly.  So, I am the new Monday afternoon volunteer.

Yay.)

Plus, I am looking for something full time to do.

Chris gave me strict instructions....

It has to be something I enjoy.

(Isn't he sweet?)

So I am looking for a job, preferably during school hours.

Or even better, from home.

This is very time consuming.

When the world is your oyster,

you quickly realize how many oysters are out there.

And it's a little overwhelming.

So I am looking into this and that.

Checking out some seminars.

 And boning up on things I used to know how to do.

Plus, my standards on my house have triplicated.

I want it clean!

At all times!

This is not happening.

And I am trying not to be such a stickler on it.

But Mama does like a clean house.

My blog has sadly taken a back seat.

But I will be better.

Swear.

Oh!

Noonie is doing really well at the moment!

Halleluyah!

(I can never spell that word, and I am to busy to look it up right now...)

But I do worry so about him.

Oh!

One more thing.

Since Chris reads my blog...

Will you pretty pretty please with sugar on top watch Survivor with me tonight?

Please?

saturday

This was a nice weekend.

Relaxing.  Kinda rainy.  With a little fun thrown in.

I love the the days Daddy goes and get donuts.

No cooking for mommy.

Except the eggs.

Gotta have some protein in the morning.

That new little robin mug down there.

Love.

His name is Joey.

Then we did a little bird watching.

 And window sitting.

 And coloring.

 And perfecting our "watchyou looking at?" stare.

 And even had time for a little tea party.

Then we left E with the babysitter and headed to a clambake.

Chris' very favorite thing in the whole world.

Dude can eat some clams!

And as for Sunday and the opening day for the Colts...

I don't want to talk about it.

what happens when a 5 year old takes over an iphone

All these trips back and forth to Indiana have found Ellie looking for new activites to occupy her time.

She often asks for my phone. 

The other day, I was flipping through my phone photos and giggled at what she had found to do, unbeknownst to her Dad and I.

First, the required camwow photo.

Sloth love Chunk!

 Then she turned all professional photograper and posed her loveys for a photo shoot.

 But quickly got sidetracked by the scenery.

Cause, you know, it was so breathtaking.

 She got an action shot of her Daddy driving,

 And one of her mother turning into a flesh eating zombie.

 Then it was back to the photo shoot, this time for close ups!

I give you...

baby polar bear...

 and pink dolphin!

(She isn't very original when naming her friends.)

 Then I believe, we captured an elusive picture of the cargo area of the CR-V.

How exciting!

 All this excitent caused the famed photographer to fall asleep.

I stole her camera and snapped this shot.

For prosperity, of course.