one sweet day.

After one's initial baby shower, all other subsequent ones are really just a reason for friends to get together with the mother-to-be before she is forced back into lactating hybernation (...or crotch rehab. or sleepless stay-cation. or hormonal prison...whatever you fancy). So last weekend when my sister Lisa was having her "last-girl-time-for-a-long-time-lunch-time" for her 4th baby we, as wise old seasoned mothers, decided it would be at a restaurant. without games. and without our previously fully celebrated kids. 

Elyott, being in between the kid age and pre-teen years, was crushed.

So, a couple hours before we had to leave, my mah-dre (pronounced with no accent) and i decided to take her to the nail salon for some cliche 80's movie montage girl time (cue the Cyndi Lauper on your walkman). 

Elyott and i waited forever! Do i have a weak chin? Was it the blue collar callouses on my hands? Like dogs and fear, i swear those nail techs knew that I had like seven dollars in my bank account...but those seven dollars were gonna pay for them to paint my daughter's chewed off nails in whatever hooker nail color she wanted gosh darnit! ("i said here's your one chance fancy don't let me dowwwwn") Instead of complaining, and to keep Elyott from playing with the freaky wax display hands, I decided to make a little "mommy daughter time" of my own. 

So just for funsies i jacked the cut off plastic tips from my moms acrylics (who by no coincidence does not have a students budget and got in right away. hmmm.) snuck some super glue and applied them shamelessly to elyott's fingernails. We painted them sparkly purple and spent the rest of the time taking pictures of her two finger eye frame posing and pretending to scratch the air with her two inch claws. If they were gonna ignore us then the least they could do was be cool with me using their scraps to play "jersey shore" with my 8 year old. They kinda were. But I'm pretty sure they were talking smack in another language at that really low decibel that only other nail techs and earth worms can detect. 

The best part of it all was when the owner guy came over to see if i was "still waiting for my polish" (code for "i can see you using my supplies you free loader") and then sat down at a nearby station to open some drawers and shut them like he was looking for something, I totally heard him softly singing along to the Mariah Carey they had playing in the background (the only american music that truly deserves all the gold and grandeur of a nail salon). To break the ice I playfully let him know that i totally just busted him singing along. He might have liked me a littIe more after that. Or maybe just the opposite? either one. 

After that Elyott forgot all about wanting to go to the baby shower and instead was excited to go show everyone her new nails that would completely retard her abilities for the next 45 minutes until she would desperately tear them off. And i was able to go to the baby shower kid free!

Oh and also i figured out why people can tell I am a teensie low budge.

team Boo ♥'s you

april FOOL

Elyott came up with the brilliant idea to throw an April fools day party. 

Her idea was Wednesday. 

The party was to be Friday :/

last minute supplies:

1. silly props

2. fake sushi

3. poop dessert

2 days, 10 kids, negative $ budget to spend coupled with her worthless attention span (which she gets from her mother) equals the joke was actually on me. There i was, all day before the party started hanging streamers, piping out fake piles of poop (brownies) and stuffing balloons with confetti all for a bunch of crazy kids who think parties grow on trees. TREES!! 


They ate pizza, they karate kicked each other on the trampoline, they told Jokes, they watched Yogi Bear. It turned out to be fun (ish). But that depends on who you ask. The kids with bellies full of fake food, or the mom who is one impromptu idea by Elyott away from banning children from my house forever! April Fools indeed sucker (me).

Thanks Elyott for being so enthusiastic, even if you suck at follow through, and thank you pregnant sister for helping me pull it off :)


team Boo ♥'s you

she's not...too sexy for your shirt

It never used to occur to me that thrift stores were for anything else but finding sweet second hand furniture, books, knick knacks or fabric. But in the last few years i have come to learn that if you have daughters that need new clothes (and your husband is a full time student)...hit up your local Savers (i specify savers cause they are much more organized than other thrift stores and also Good Will is the thrift Devil is overpriced and cluttered. Last week Elyott and I scoured through its filmy racks like it was no body's business. I think since little girls usually have so many clothes and they grow faster than they can make them disgusting, we always hit the jackpot. However don't waste your time looking for your 3-8 year old son...unless you like faded pokemon halftops.

Since Elyott is a blogger now (private), and a girl, the only logical thing she could think to do next was a fashion show, duh. Here's a little nugget of her adorableness:

"Welcome to Elyott's thrift store girls fashion show! 

Today i went to Savers with my Mom and i felt very grown up because there were some baskets that had wheels on the bottom and they had a handle like a small cart. So...I got to pick my own clothes and i tried on pretty much a million things!" 

Take your daughters! Make it a date (with some hand sanitizer of course and the promise of ice cream, since it's kind of a weird/disgusting date). It is always a confidence booster for girls to get new clothes. And don't be scared because, while they are in the dressing room trying stuff on, you can slowly swap out the various (nasty) pink leopard jumpers or puffy sleeved silk and toile bridesmaid dresses (of which she has inevitably filled her cart) with the items that won't make her throw up when she looks back at her childhood photos :)

team Boo ♥'s you


p.s. if you've ever had a "team Boo dream" (as a few of you have expressed) don't feel dumb....last night i had a dream that i was Justin Bieber's bodyguard slash (non-romantic) date for his high school prom. shame.

what's in an age?

I peed my pants well into my 20's. As a kid, my sisters would hold me down and make me laugh until i peed (it didn't take much). Once, when i was pregnant with Elyott, I had to change my pants 7 times during one particularly hilarious game night. SEVEN times. I was 19. I thought it's what every little giggly girl did, until I grew up and very few of my friends could relate to my pants wetting confession. It isn't my most proud feature, but there it is (for the record i haven't in like 5 years ;)

My daughter Elyott can relate to this. like 100%. 


And it is ultra disgusting when i go to check if her clothes are clean or dirty and i (without fail) take WAY too big of a whiff (when just a little sniff would've sufficed)...and then my face melts off. And then i think, "uhhh! when is she gonna grow out of this!?" and then the little cricket that lives in my clock reminds me of my first sentence of this blog post (damn.) 

Then sometimes I stress about Elyott seeming "so big" already at the ripe age old age of 8. Like how most of her conversations have a varied but certain degree of precociousness (i'm sure every mother kinds feels this way about their kid) but more specifically lacking that awesome preschool aged janky vocabulary set. Most of the time she is usually pretty spot on when she is figuring something out, and I start to long for the days when she said and did really awesome and ridiculous things like: pulled her halter top shirts down below her nipples cause she thought it looked "fancy" or sang the lyrics "popcorn popping on the 'rake-a-dot' tree!" (instead of "apricot") or when she was a baby and we'd say "i love you" and she'd say a very efficient "too"...OR when she laid her clothes out for school to look like this.

At what point are we "matured"? Does it happen over night? Is it a certain age? What qualifies as being grown up? Does it even matter? 

A few nights ago, while talking with Elyott in her bed (this is the time of day when my kids often get very big picture-y and sentimental, sometimes to the point of weepiness ...Sheamus: "when i go to college will you come with me?" or the classic "mom I don't want you to get white hair cause then you'll die!") She asked me this adorable question:

Elyott: "Mom, if God loves us so much and wants us to be safe, then why did he create Lions?"

Me being the over explainer that i am, gave her some very logical answer (plus, for as long as i can remember, those are the only ones she will accept anyway. Sometimes we call her "logical Mcgee"...clever, i know.) But inside, i melted at the adorable youth she still maintains, cause seriously that is the cutest question for such a thoughtful little girl.

Those who know us could observe that in some ways she might be more mature than me...or if nothing else my equal ("if peeing your pants is cool, consider us miles davis") But the innocence and sweet intent of her heart is pure...just like a kid's should be. And that is something I hope I always strive to "regress" to. Screw growing up! Let's all be little!!

(but maybe minus the peeing your pants part ;)

 A very happy belated birthday post to you my sweet girl! You are just the right age for me :) (also...what kind of a jerk mom tells the world that you pee your pants? this one.)

team Boo ♥'s you

stuck in the moment.

two unprovoked moments:

(sheamus is his hat over hood "justin Beaver suit")

It seems these days (in our home) that unless a topic of conversation starts with a J and ends with an "ustin Bieber" it doesn't hold up. I have done my best to spare you the posts about the loooong (10 minute) car rides with the ipod on Biebs repeat...or the tiny place in my heart that he has branded his initials with his stupid tiny heart shaped pitch fork. It's not that things haven't been eventful, I just haven't made the time to carve recent memories into stone (the internet counts as "stone" right?...I had a Taiwanese neighbor named Stone a few years ago, and he was legit as the chicken neck bones that floated in the soup his wife often made for us, bless her heart). 

Okay so there may be other reasons for the blogging silence. Getting back to the gym regularly (twice counts?) Reading books that don't have pictures. A clingy teething baby (that still will not put even one ounce of food to his own mouth so that i have to hand feed every morsel into his 5th percentile bones) Not to mention Adam being back in full time school (stealing my laptop on a regular basis)...it reminds me of one of my favorite Jack handy quotes: 

"To me, it's always a good idea to always carry two sacks of something when you walk around. That way, if anybody says, 'Hey, can you give me a hand?' you can say, 'Sorry, got these sacks.'" 

In other words, when people ask me when i'm gonna blog again, i just shrug my shoulders and say "sorry....got these sacks." Thats when it gets really awkward. Trust me, when i say Jack Handy quotes don't translate well in a literal sense. Still, it's more effective than trying to explain to a group of my very dubious and very non 12 year old friends that the Never Say Never movie was "actually really endearing"

So now you see that this period of silence was really a favor to your brains. I will probably lose 10 followers because of this lame post (those cold hearted snakes with their high reading standards and their "better things to do"). And if you are looking for a reason to blame this potential downward spiral of mine (ie. i actually ate a reheated baggie of Sonny's scrambled eggs today...for dinner!) i am quite confident it can be traced back to that sneaky pouty faced angel we all know...and sing along to. Curse you Justin "Beaver"! Somehow i want to see more you and then none of you. forever.

team Boo ♥'s you

a sweet valentine (re-post)

this is me half "a" blogging.

i am having a love affair with a book i'm reading and since its February i figure you will understand (cause February is about "love"...remember?) Ok that's a stretch, but for now i found this old comic post and i think it is worthy of your eyeballs' time.

If i weren't so lazy i'd make you a 2011 version. maybe about a Sonny who is one year this week, only 17 1/2 pounds, and needs to start eating more high calorie foods (seriously, you can see rib cage) but is too in love with my bosom ("can't quit the sugar tit" as my grandma would have said) but that might be too graphic?? 

i'll spare you.

team Boo ♥'s you

T.N.T.

Elyott ducked into a neighbors house last week on an emergency potty run. And theeeeeen she came out with this. 


"Ty's mom said i could have it!"
...yes love...i'm sure she did. 
And what kind of mother would i be if i deprived my child a free 4 foot hot pink super static-y gorilla?? 
(answer: the kind who wished she had just let her kid pee her pants)

Love is:

spending "quality" time together

...this is what quality time means to Handsome Bob (who filmed and created the following):

dodge ball on Vimeo.

you see, it all worked out in the end. Ty's mom got rid of the giant gorilla from her house, and then we hit her kid (in the blue shirt) in the face with a giant rubber ball :)

(another bonus: after posting this video we'll probably never get asked to babysit for the rest of our lives!!!)

team Boo ♥'s you


p.s. please don't report us to CPS :)


p.p.s. oooh Renee i forgot...what you didn't see in the video is that our walls are actually made out of candy, and instead of walking we just ride hover boards. 

Plus my body transforms into Justin Bieber. sooooo....

Never say never.

{via veer}

Love is:

the BEST!

(except when it's not)

Elyott says that pretty much all the girls in her class have boyfriends, but they don't go to their school. 

I said "that probably means they don't really have boyfriends."

"No, they do!" she says "it's Justin 'Bea-ver'" 

My guess is that, unbeknownst to him, he's dating every second grader on the planet (that two timing piece of crap). So it has finally happened guys...

...Elyott is 8 years old. and she has "Beaver" Fever. 

And despite it's borderline inappropriate and very unintended pun, I just don't have the heart to correct her on his name...yet. Also i have just been informed that baby words like "tummy" and "potty" and "bum" are officially graduated in Elyott land. Which makes sense now that "Beav" is a household name ;)

team Boo ♥'s you


(Miley Cyrus is SO five minutes ago)

a vampire. and a winner!

Today was such a nice day! It almost made me want to go for a walk. 

Almost.

...and the winner of the Goose and Trisser giveaway is:

two happy hearts!! 
(who has quite a lovely blog herself)

(email me at teamboolovesyou@gmail.com)

thanks for playing :)

team Boo ♥'s you

santa baby

When my kids are babies, even though i want them to stay babies forever (minus the pooping in the pants part) I am always so anxious for the day they will learn to talk. 

This is exactly why...

it's part adorable and part sad when they ask for impossible things. Luckily all sheamus wants is a ten dollar toy and for his teeth to either rot or be sharpened...

team Boo ♥'s you

come on sucker lick my battery.

I keep promising myself SLEEP after Friday's Christmas party wrap, but it keeps eluding me. Contrary to my week of spray-painting-induced-carpal-tunnel and cardboard-cutting-till-the-sun-went-down-sore-back, it was Elyott who had the best week ever. 

Thursday, before the decorating chaos ensued, we played hookie from school and she got to plan a morning of straight up mom and elyott-ness. She chose: Park, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts...and told me like 27 times it was the "best day ever!" It was.

Friday night she sang the polar express duet on stage for the ward party (that she was not an ounce nervous for) and she nailed it. It was the cutest thing ever!

Saturday she had a dance recital (that clearly Sheamus and Sonny were thrilled to attend) and she nailed it...again. She got flowers from us and a box of cookies from Grandma D that, according to Elyott, was the "best present ever!") 

Unfortch, today she kept me on my toes with her continual vomiting (from all the cookies??). I was sad for her. But then also for my eyeballs (cause i'm tired from all that action).

team Boo ♥'s you

turkish delight.

sonny & uncle cheese

This is me resisting the urge to post the classic picture of a giant plate of Thanksgiving food (you better believe i took one) You also won't find any pictures of me preparing any food (cause i didn't) If you are thinking you might see a picture of me blowing out a candle or two, think again (for this marks the 28th year my birthday was overshadowed by driving and packing :) But if you are dying to hear a good throw up story, then i am your blog, cause I've got tons (since my family has the gag reflexes of champions, or rather non-champions).

We seriously have someone throw up at every holiday. Like this year on Halloween, I reminded my kids all night not to eat too much candy or else they would get a tummy ache. When we got home...Adam threw up (from eating too much candy). And let us not forget this time.


So this Thanksgiving when cousin Ashlyn burped at the table, Elyott was so grossed out, she heaved every last morsel she had just eaten back onto her plate (such a considerate thrower-upper) When cousin Ashlyn saw this, she went to the bathroom to toss her own cookies (this is also a girl who one time barfed at her own fart smell). I don't make this stuff up guys, luckily it doesn't even phase me any more. 

team Boo ♥'s you

are you my mother?

Elyott and I ran in our local 5 K on Friday. Naturally, we wore our matching purple pants (i've come a long way with purple, i even own two purple dresses! it used to burn my eyes, but now i'm okay-ish with it) We made the mistake of bringing our borrowed spaz dog, who when let free is okay with other dogs...but when on a leash, has something major to prove (like short guys who buy monster trucks). This picture was taken about 4 seconds before he "ferociously" ran face to face with a giant wolf dog that could have swallowed him whole. Griff doesn't know he's small. He's like Lenny from Mice and Men, but instead of being giant and too strong for his own good, he's a rat dog....who is in denial.(did i seriously just write about a dog twice in one week!?!)

Anyway, the race was so much fun to run with Elyott. I surprised her that afternoon at school with a spaghetti lunch and garlic bread (her fave). At the race she pretty much wanted to hold my hand the whole time, which at first i thought would be really uncomfortable while running (plus my hands get oddly sweaty even when i'm doing non exercising things, like playing X box with Adam) but it was actually pretty sweet. Just me and my girl running along, holding hands for encouragement, noticing all the kinds of runners that were there, and looking for daddy (who was all flustered while carting both boys, snacks, diaper bag, jackets, a boat sized stroller, and that same nutbag dog....tables are turned sucka!) for three miles. I really like that girl.

It would be so fun if she ended up enjoying running as a hobby. So far she likes most things opposite of me, but i think that is just a daughter vs. mother thing (?) This time I "lured" her in with the well played matching purple pants (shes a sucker for "twinsies" ;) If not, then thank you sweet girl for humoring your dear old mother :) You are my best girl.

team Boo ♥'s you

Grow up and blow away

Elyott: "mom, what was your name when you were little?"


Me: "i always used to wish it was 'Sally' but it was 'Carolyn' just like it is now"


Elyott: (giggling in disbelief) "mom! That's a grown ups name!!"


Me: "well if you want to get technical, it's more like a 55 year old lady bus driver's name."


Elyott: (completely ignoring how right i was) "I wonder what my name will be when I grow up..."

team Boo ♥'s you 

so when you feel like hope is gone, look inside you and be strong.

wanna hear something 75% hillarious, but 100% pathetic?

...today after i posted about my glorious teamBoo pillow giveaway. you know the one. the one that isn't perfect but is free and awesome? the one where all you have to do is comment that you are already a teamBoo follower (cause i have eyeballs and i know you're there) and you are in the running? 

i'll tell you what happened....i LOST two followers.

I realize the heart is a little big and the talking part looks a wee bit like a clam foot, but seriously are you guys allergic to free stuff? Are you afraid that since i always tell you how scummy i am, there will be boogers on it or something?? Do you not like LOVE?!? this is about encouraging me to keep sewing guys. sheesh ;)

Then Sheamus pooped in the bath. you know, the kind that breaks into a bajillion pieces but that are still too big to go down the drain. Adam played the "sensitive gag reflex" card (said in a dopey voice that he'd claim he sounds nothing like), and i cleaned it up solo.

BUT its cool cause then Elyott (who BTW came home from school today in a thrifted full unicorn costume that my sister surprised her with during carpool...amazing) reminded me that, amongst all her very precocious verbal skills, she still refers to the Falcon (her school mascot) as a "Phallic-on"

...that always makes me giggle. i'm basically a ten year old boy inside.

team boo ♥'s you

today is not a dress rehersal...it is your life.

(i am trying to be better about inserting myself into my life exploitation/blog...I'm pretty uncomfortable posting pictures of myself. It makes me feel vain. or like you'd imagine i was all "ooh this is an awesome picture of me" and you'd be all "meh" But seriously there aren't many days when i am not a total dirty slob, so its slim pickin's. This one is in disneyland on the POTC ride. The first two sheamus smiled and i looked like a tranny. The third I looked fine but sheamus's "cheese" face was lacking enthusiasm. But guess what? I am the teamBoo captain so MY normal picture wins. booyah) 

moving on to less lame tangents....

Today sheamus talked to the garbage can. Actually he does this on occasion. "hang on" he said "I'll get your other tooth soon.....My food (garbage) is your candy, huh"

Today Elyott had the "BEST day EVER!" She had the same snack at school as her friend Hope. I love this.

Today Sonny pooped on my lap.

Today Adams crustache was off the hook. He went to the gym with it unshaved, and a cutoff t-shirt with his own face printed on the front. Hows that for confidence!?

Today i realized I could "fit" into an pre-pregnancy pair of pants. Translation: it fit over my butt without giving me a giant camel toe. (...buuuuut I still have to tie the top button with a hair thing).

Almost. almost.

What happended in your "today"?

team boo ♥'s you

this train don't stop.

So I know I talk tough here and there, but I must admit i am a wee bit achy to send these little munchkins to school. Just a reminder that i can't slow life down.

(figurative group hug?)

(photo inspiration)

I am really trying hard to let Elyott own her independence and not manipulate "persuade" her to wear things that I think are cute....but did i really let elyott go to school looking like such a raggamuffin??

geez.

team boo ♥'s you

adaptation (minus nicolas cage)

When I was about Elyott's age our family's video camera was the hot (not to mention giant) ticket. My sisters and i would record commercials and skits for hours on end. As Elyott recently watched one of those our old/super low tech movies (inspired by the cutting edge visual effects by Evie from the show "Out of this world"), she got it in her head that she too was destined for the small screen. So without further ado, here is Elyott's 7 year old directorial and acting debut...

(All audio and visual effects also chosen by Elyott)

I know i am biased...but Elyott, you are ridiculously awesome. 
(I'm so lucky to be your momma)


p.s. I may have been a teenage mother, but I promise to never force you to be a child actor. 

team boo ♥'s you

team boo loves old stuff...

I posted a few vintage items in my etsy shop....(clickity click)

team boo ♥'s you

touche'

For mother's day my kids went with Adam to pick out some sweet little things of their choice.

One trip to Walmart later, and my jewelry collection was $23 dollars improved.

A pearl "wedding ring" that my kids were so relieved to see on my usual bare hand

(...my original fell in the ocean only one month after purchase. wah wahhhh)

Some colorful earring studs...Elyott liked the star ones with diamonds inside, sure to make the scuzziest of mothers feel her fanciest

And finally a silver heart locket set engraved with "mom" (think sailor tattoo)

As we stepped out for church, i donned a little of everything, sure to impress, and asked Elyott and Sheamus in the hoitee toiteest voice i could do...

"How do I looook?!"

Elyott looked over at me straight faced, and very patronized, and said:

"Mom. you don't have to say it like that."

...and just like that I graduated from a mom to a MOOOOM.

team boo ♥'s you