another list

Chris, thankfully, doesn't need to travel a lot for his job, but he is gone for maybe 3 weeks during the year. In days past, I hated when he was gone. When Ellie was a baby, I doubly hated when he was gone. It was hard work. Plus I was terribly jealous of all the fun he was having (like San Diego pool party fun) while I was stuck home with little tiny drool monster who woke up 3 times a night.

These days, however, I have come to appreciate his absences. I miss him, of course, but there are some distinct advantages to not having him around for a week.

Advantages such as:

-being able to sleep in the middle of the bed using all 4 pillows and not having to have the blasted fan on.

-way less laundry. I have done 1 load this week intead of 3.

-cereal for dinner.

-no stinky basketball clothes to wash.

-no schedule, whatsoever.

-buying cookies and knowing they will be there in the morning.

-being able to sit on the good end of the couch.

Despite all these perfectly wonderful things, I really do miss him and much prefer him home. I sleep a lot better when he is here, I don't have to play horsey with Ellie, he rubs my feet every night, and cereal for dinner gets old, real quick.

Hurry home baby!

tradition

When I was a little girl, my dad started taking me to the race track with him to bet on the ponies. I absolutely loved it. I can remember walking up to the bet taker saying:

"two dollar trifecta box on 3, 6,& 9", before I was 9.

Obviously, Dad had to fork over the cash to place the actual bet but I remember feeling very important. This was back in the day when the place was filled with old crumudgens smoking their ciggies and cigars and drinking beer by the gallon. It is still filled with the old crumudgens, but the no smoking law is a godsend!

One thing we both really wanted to do was take Ellie to the track, and I wanted her first visit to be with Grandpa. This week that happened. I got a little teary at the importance of it all. Needless to say, Ellie is just like her mama and loves it as much as I do. Here they are walking up to the track.

I would read through the names of the horses each race and Ellie would pick who she wanted to bet. This is the first horse she bet on. She always like the horses with absoutely no chance of winning. Of course.

Here they are getting ready to watch her first face...

and this is her first ever ticket.


In the 6th race, she picked a winner. Bakers Eye Candy blew the field away. Grandpa and Ellie shared a high five on that one. She was so excited. She won a whopping $3.20 on a $2 bet.


The neatest thing however was when we were over at the side watching all the goings on, and I was explaining what was happening, a jockey walked up and handed her his old, stinky, dusty, real live jockey goggles. I thought she was going to die and go to heaven.

And then we got to talking to a guy there who happened to own a few of the horses running that day (which we had very fortunately been yelling for) and we got to go back to the barns to see the thoroughbreds. I about died and went to heaven. Seriously. The horse they put her on, however, about gave me a heart attack. He was a bohemoth. Name: Winston.

Then we watched them load the gate...

and take a pic to commemorate the day.


So glad we did that. It was such a fun day.
Money lost: $20
Memories made: abundant
We will definitely be going back.
LOVED IT!

a summer day

The other day found us with nothing to do. So we just hung out. I hardly ever just sit and listen to ellie, I am always trying to get the dishes done or the weeding or the car cleaned out, etc...

Plus, the girl talks nonstop. Like, uses up her word quota by 9am nonstop. People say she gets that from me. Hm.

This day, I just sat and listened. And I remembered how funny she is. I caught up on all her imaginary friends. She has about 32. The main ones are Baby Jaguar, Dolphin, Unicorn, and Lamby. I am not a fan of Lamby. She is bossy and sometimes mean.

As I was listening to the soap opera that is Ellie's imaginary friends, I was enjoying a vintage cola. Delicious.

And of course I watched her death defying feats on the slide, 246 times.

Then I mentioned that my tomatoes might need watered,

and she got the hint and got right on it.

Then I had a little water spa treatment.

Then she was all tuckered out so she took a little rest for a minute. She said Lamby wouldn't let her in the pool. It was just for imaginary friends for awhile. See, Lamby is bossy!


We were gonna grill for dinner, but it is still bloody freaking hot here, so we opted for Steak and Shake instead. I love Steak and Shake. Coke Zero with a shot of Cherry is the best.

Then we hit up a farmers market...

and got the worlds best snickerdoodle.


These are the days I will remember. Just the every day, simple things. The days right now are so very perfect. She is healthy and imaginative and funny and stubborn and beautiful and wonderful.

Chris and I try and soak as much of her up as we can every day. It is going so very fast.

take a hike!

Chris and Ellie and I went on a big hike yesterday. It was so nice. It was bloody freakin' hot out, but the woods were relatively cool and we just walked and walked and walked. All that walking made Ellie very hungry so we stopped and had a little snack.

Then we hiked and hiked some more and finally ended up in the river. She had a great time.


As a matter of fact, she had such a great time, Chris and I both joined her in the river. It was a good time indeed.

The neatest part of the whole day was the fact that we all found heart shaped rocks that now have a permanent place in our house. It was the funniest thing. I said I was going to look for one, Chris looked down and found one. I looked and looked and couldn't find one, told Ellie to help me look, she reached down and found one, looked and looked some more, and finally found one. Pretty cool.

all by myself

Yes I am. And I have been since Friday morning. Chris and Ellie went to visit Nana in Indiana and I stayed here. Alone. All by myself.

I had grand plans to be all wild and crazy. My friends, however, did not cooperate (pesky holiday weekend), so I ended up spending a lot of quality time with yours truly.

I had forgotten how much I like myself.

I did go see Eclipse yesterday with Paige. And the dude that plays werewolf Jared just happened to come into the theatre to see me. How cool is that?

Chris and Ellie are on their way home now. And don't tell anyone, but I missed them a lot more than I thought I would.

enough already

Ellie barfed on Saturday night around 8pm.

All over the kitchen floor.

Then again around midnight.

All over herself, bed, sheets, lovey, etc...

Then again around 3:42am.

in the bucket (praise God!)

Then again around 6:15.

in the bucket again (praise God again!)

Then again, every hour on the hour for the next 24 hours.

I don't even want to talk about the time she threw up in the bucket then accidently knocked it off the couch and barf went everywhere.

Peach oatmeal barf.

Nope.

Don't even want to think about it.

Gag.

I hate the 24 hour barf virus.

It can rot in H-E-Double Hockey Sticks.

Kids are resiliant though aren't they? Exactly 24 hours later, she lifted her little sick, sweaty head up off her pillow, proclaimed she felt better, and off she went. Just like that.

what is summer?

Summer.

We love you.

Like, for real, love you.

Because to us, you represent:

lighting bugs

the smell of sunscreen on sleepy little girls

hiking trails

the emergence of freckles on 4 year old skin

petunias and impations

bathing suits and towels drying in the backyard

exploring different playgrounds

tremendous thunderstorms

playing outside until 9:45pm

ice cream with friends


beers on the front steps after Ellie is in bed

the realization that I can still hit the golf ball a long way, but that my short game needs a little (ok, A LOT) of work

eating outside

fairs and fireworks

hanging out a little longer on the deck

sunburns

dirty feet

open windows with fluttery curtains

sprinklers

farmers markets

leisurly breakfasts with just one more cup of coffee

cute dresses

flip flop tan lines

messy popsicles

talking with neighbors over back fences

container gardens with fresh tomatoes and squash

cheap fruit (hello $1 blueberries!)

So You Think You Can Dance

and swimming all day at a newly discovered swimmin' hole.




Please hang around awhile. You can never wear out your welcome.