Movie Monday

Feb 28, 2011

Happy Birthday!!!

Feb 24, 2011

Happy birthday to the best husband and father your girls could ever ask for.


She loves this song...

Feb 23, 2011

Cracks me up that certain tunes make kids move. Happy tunes make kids sway and smile. Amazing.

Movie Monday...

Feb 21, 2011

Daily goings on in our car!  



Dog food...really Scarlett?

Feb 17, 2011

She absolutely refuses to eat.  She will sit in her high chair for hours, staring me down, daring me to stuff a bite in her mouth.  Hand perched on the side of her food tray ready to toss another piece of avocado to the floor when I am not looking.   If only we had a dog...oh wait then she would be doing this...


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That is dog food.  She came up to me at my moms, grinning with a piece of dog food between her teeth.  I could have set out a plate full of the best, most appetizing human food, and she still would have passed it by for that one little nugget of dog food.  The thrill of finding a bowl of something she cant have...whats a mom to do but laugh and take pictures?

Is this love...

Feb 16, 2011

I had a revelation the other day while holding the legs of a chair that Scarlett was rocking on, saving her from the doom that she didn’t even know she was creating for herself.   I realized this is what we do as parents.  This is love.  It is a love that doesn’t take any work, or thought.  I just naturally hold the bottom of the chair, knowing that if I don’t no one else will.  If I don’t she will fall and I would sit for 20 minutes kissing away her tiny tears.   Although she might learn from that one mistake, chances are she will try it again as soon as the memory of the fall fades away.

Now that Scarlett is walking I spend my day moving obstacles that might cause her to trip before she even knows that they are there.  I trail her around the park, just waiting for her to fall on the stairs or flip the wrong way on the slide.  When she needs me I will be there, and when she doesn't I am slightly disappointed.  I am her mom, she will always need me, right?

Yesterday she was a little blob of a person barely able to turn onto her own stomach, today she is running, scraping her knees, and dancing in the car. Every day there is less and less need.  She is an explorer.  As much as I want to save her from every impending doom, she is starting to make decisions.  

But for now I will settle for silently holding the bottom of her chair or pulling the loose cord in hallway tight as she stumbles by.  I will cherish her cries of "mama" in the morning, her hugs, her smiles and her laughter.  I'm just going to love, a love that doesn't take any work or thought.  This is a parents love.

The dollar section...

Feb 15, 2011

I LOVE Target's dollar section...seriously I would marry it if I could.  Thank you Target for your abundant supply of seasonally specific dollar items.  You rock my mommy world.

Color fun place mat that wipes off for everlasting color fun...$1,  no spill snack cups with cute little happy deer that Scarlett refuses to stick her hand into no matter how much the gold fish inside are screaming her name...$1,  compartmentalized food trays that make me the happiest mommy on the block because if you know me you know that I love to compartmentalize my food (yes, this means TV dinners, airplane food, prepackaged cottage cheese and peaches...I just can't help myself)...$1.  Shopping in Target's dollar section and scoring big time...priceless. 

Movie Monday...

Feb 14, 2011

A little bit of help around the house....she LOVES sitting in the dishwasher.  Weird child.

A letter, years later

Dear Husband,

Four (or five) years ago we went on a trip to Argentina.   While doing some research for a "secret project", I came across my old journal from the trip.  This is the memory that I still remember and cherish. 

"My ears listened intuitively to the subtle motion and clink of Carlos' keys hitting the dashboard, I imagined his face, tanned by the heat of the sun, focused on the road, driving with an instinctive passion as he dodges potholes so as to allow us Americans as much comfort as possible.
The smell of the rising dust from the powdery path that leads us to our final destination slowly fills the truck bed.  Suddenly I feel the warmth of Chris's hand covering my mouth to allow me the cleanest air possible.  Yet, the smell manages to escape through the holes between his fingers and enter into my nostrils, leaving a mix of Chris's skin with smell that can only be described as Earth.  ...
Chris still holds me close, with a hand to my face, as my head bounces on his shoulder to the beat of the unpaved road.  It is in this simple gesture that I finally allow my senses to feel where my thoughts had failed. 
It is here that I feel safe...it is here that I know love."

Thank you for the years of simple gestures of love.  May there be many, many more small moments that we can cherish for years to come.  Happy Valentines Day! 

Weekly words of encouragment...

Feb 13, 2011


Chris has lately been feeling overwhelmed with Soccer, school work, early mornings and late night meetings.  So at the beginning of a new semester and with new guidelines for our evenings together we also started "weekly words of encouragement" in our house.  I read it every morning and remind myself that juggling "life" isn't so hard if you focus on one thing at a time.  This week...be a better teacher.  I try to teach Scarlett one new thing every day.  How to say "park", which crayon is red, how to build a tower without knocking it down before stacking only two blocks. 

Movie Monday...

Feb 7, 2011

with 3 hours to spare!

Scarlett learned that ducks like snack time too.

Dear husband...

Feb 2, 2011

This weekend you said to me, "no more TV for a month"...no more Jeopardy?   That night we sat by the fire and drew some spectacularly unflattering pictures of Scarlett and we laughed.   I'm glad you said it. You thought it, you felt it, you said it.   Please keep doing this, because in that moment you brought new life to our marriage.  You gave us new expectations for our evenings together, you gave us goals, you encouraged us to explore our marriage.  You said you wanted to paint together, listen to symphonies, write, sew, create. Let's do this.

Yesterday we sat at the dinner table after Scarlett went to sleep and just talked.  We talked about our day, we talked about our inner thoughts, we talked about our struggles, we talked about your job, we talked about God, we talked and talked.  I like talking.  I miss talking.  We have been so caught up with soccer, and school and Scarlett, and social events, we haven't talked.  Let's do this more. 

I love life with you.  You encourage me to be a better wife and mother.  Thank you.

P.S.  Dear West Wing, you are our "no television" exception...we will not give up on you.  See you tonight. 

Disheveled baby...

Sometimes Chris puts Scarlett to sleep with wet hair...and this is the result.




















Sometimes I feed Scarlett beans in public...
and this is the result.

Child prodigy...

Chris has been trying to convince me since we got married that we need to buy a piano.  I think this just sent him over the edge.  Is it time?