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

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

if you were the floor i'd wanna be the rug

My computer has owned me this week.

i have been eating out of its stupid plastic hand. But i've finally finished and uploaded my valentine project for my dear sweet husband...and its not even March! Take that old farty computer (just kidding apple i still love you)

*thanks to those who sent in your kids love quotes. It was fun reading them (and i wish there was space to include them all!) Thanks to the moms of Jack, Travis, Sadie, Adrian, Quinn and Gibson for letting me include their adorable thoughts on love with you here :) kids are so silly.


team Boo ♥'s you

better to be haaated than love love loved for what you're not.

"team Boo: the most interesting blog you've read...since the one you just came from." -myself

When i was a freshman in college, I was certain that the only alternative to my homebody lifestyle was one of two things:

a) playing airport hide and seek, cupcake bingo or something equally as dorky at church institute. 


or

b) getting plastered. 


I had a lab partner that all but slipped me a roofie to get me to go to the black and white "ball" for his douche fraternity. After weeks of pleading, finally through my clenched jaw, i agreed (sure it was to be a mistake). It wasn't a mistake...it was a di-saster. First, he told me that all the girls had to wear white. WHITE! the cardinal sin of dress colors as far as i'm concerned. The only thing that my recent 40 pound weight gain looked forward to more was getting family pictures taken or dripping bacon grease on the front of my shirt (or anything else that drew attention to myself). I got the next best thing...a passenger seat full of teriyaki sauce on my big. white. butt. To add insult to injury, every girl there was wearing...you guessed it, black (the night was off to an inevitable start). The 15 minutes before the "party bus" arrived was tolerable (with my date's cheesy v neck sweater tied around my waist, of course). But then the conversations got confusing and, at last, i was abandoned in an insufferable bubble of sobriety. Pretty soon after that, my date ditched me and later got thrown out of the club for underage drinking or something (duh!) I did my best for the next 4 hours to find the least intoxicated person in the dark. i never did. Blah blah blah, drunk screaming, throw up, lots of unreciprocated conversations and me = the biggest sucker of Arizona State University. the end. "NEVER AGAIN!" i cried out (*fists clenched to the sky*). 


And then i set that white dress on fire.

Needless to say, these social nightmares only validated my choice to continue being a hermit (safe from vomit or humiliating disappointment). So, i spent Friday nights watching movies like Secret of Nimh and overdosing on Krispy Kremes (hence the 40 pound weight gain). It's is through divine intervention alone that I ended up marrying Adam, and came out of my nerd coma. Luckily he lived in another city at the time, and therefore couldn't smell my pathetic cartoon watching shame.

What is the point of this story, you ask? (besides a glimpse into the unflattering stage i set for my adult life and a way for my children to solidify my un-coolness with stories of my youth). It is clarification (mostly to myself) that even if i am a misfit in the blog world, I am the "leading lady in my own life!" (i swiped that from The Holiday starring the elegant Kate Winslet). But hermit or not, I have changed a little since college (but nothing worth calling the Rickie Lake Show about...ie."i used to be fat, but now i'm all that!") Though still scrappy, I'm a bit more ambitious, much more self assured and have discovered my creative side (not to mention completely traumatized by Krispy Kremes). And lucky for you, now I blog about it :) So unless you're searching for the lastest DIYs or pretty picture of a teacup in a windowsill(?), i'll be here...posting things that i think are worth remembering/being the best blogger everrrr! ;)

...and probably eating nachos or something.

team Boo ♥'s you

Fudgesicle.

Sheamus got a "famous fudge" making kit for christmas and was beyond thrilled because, incase you have been reading his name wrong all along, "famous" rhymes with his name ;) (This is a subject that is always in the foreground of his thoughts..."mom does 'cheese' rhyme with 'shmeeze'?...does 'iron man' rhyme with 'pi-ron pan'?...does 'blanket' rhyme with 'sp-lanket'?") 

He is sometimes anxious and fairly particular about his belongings (for example: he saves all the garbage packaging and "constructions" to all his new toys, so at any moment they might be displayed as originally purchased) So when he decided to do a "seller" stand of his famous sheamus fudge, i was curious as to how it would play out. 

Maybe it was the frigid air, but he was a bit stressed at all the children staying gathered around his booth putting their greedy little fingers on his product, so he'd sometimes forget to say thank you when someone paid him $5 for a watered down cup of cocoa (in his defense the concept of money is as clear as speaking chinese is to me)...and he gave absolutely NO freebies (not even a family discount to Elyott). So like a savvy/anal retentive little business man, he came out about 15 dollars ahead! 

Even though he is the cutest salesman I know, we may have to teach him a little customer service 101 ;)

team Boo ♥'s you

bowling for pinks.

We have a few young citrus trees that bear a lot of fruit but still aren't mature enough to make fruit that doesn't taste like crap. So we picked them anyway and played the old classic: bowling grapefruits at spray paint cans. Apparently i am a total killer-joy of a mother cause I somehow manage to make a simple game like this too structured. In my mind it was simple and fun: throw the grapefuits and see how many cans you can knock over, yay!...what would i possibly have to micromanage?

Me: "take turns throwing them so you know who knocked them over....wait sheamus back up more...just throw the big ones...now go pick up all the ones you threw so we can start over...wait! let me finish setting up the cans before you try to knock them over again!" 

It's no wonder they resorted to throwing stuff at me, i am SO ANNOYING!!" (adding "take stick out of butt" to my resolution list) I could have easily been all "la la la, look at us play our simple cave man game. aren't we silly and spontaneous?" But I needed to be called out on this one, cause I was being a freak. So finally, Dad came out to save the day with a simpler "throw the grapefruit as high as you can and see it explode on the ground. There are no rules to that game (or are there? ;)

team Boo ♥'s you

flashdance.

wait....i mean flashback. to 2010. the year of hospitals and love (and love handles). We kicked it off like rock stars with a death scare (like a for real one) but emerged victorious, hooray! (in your face flesh eating bacteria) Elyott turned 7...minus dad :( But he got better just in time to bring the sunniest Sonny there ever was in all the land! He was cute, just like them. I pretended to be domestic but then traded it for being evil by making defenseless babies play dress up while they were still too uncoordinated to get away (I'm not used to compliance). 

Then we told AZ to suck it and took our second little/long road trip that ended too soon, then returned to melt our faces in new ways. Elyott got inspired, and then shiny new teeth. School started, and i got confused. Then i took baby steps to get my groove back (still waiting). I sat in the hot seat, and then I blinked and my Sheamus boy turned 5 (but is still as sweet as ever). 


We sipped pina coladas, and then painted cardboard until our souls turned black . We took a little time out for family and celebrated talked about the 8th year since we put a ring on it. I got older. We made a lot of cardboard candy. Sonny smiled and nursed nonstop. Then Adam got older. We got our first official family pictures taken and owned it. BUT, most importantly...we loved each other's faces off. 2010...you got served! the end :)

team Boo ♥'s you

*remember to mix in a lot of stress and heartache. It's just not as fun to hear me whine about money or days i spend in the fetal position. But if life is for learning...we learned a lot ;)

team boo gets cold

{music by Zee Avi}

not the most interesting footage of our lives, but we don't see snow very often...so we got excited and made a snowman on the side of a sidewalk with like 1 inch of snow/gravel.
(see two years ago)
team Boo ♥'s you

squeak.

the only thing cuter than a picture of my boys on christmas morning?...a picture of my boys on christmas morning where sonny is a Christmas mouse (with nap face). Hope yours was just as sweet!

how about some christmas 2010 high/lows:

-sheamus reacting to his toy batman car "oh my gosh! are you kidding me!? this is so expensive!!" (it wasn't)

-the kids sleeping until 7:30 (pshew)

-elyott rollerblading the whole day around the house...in rapunzel hair

-silly uncle chris t.n.s.d.c.m (texting nonstop during christmas morning)

-Elyott's bedtime tummy ache from a day of straight up donuts and candy :(

-finally some guilt free time to relax with my computer and a little Paper Heart.

team Boo ♥'s you


p.s. J&W has new stuff :)

Mermaid Lullaby

{via Purl Bee}

somebody made this! with their brain and their hands. i'm jeal.

this week is making me sad. i won't get into why. but it's times like these when i'd love a momma come play with my hair and sing me to sleep. any momma will do (that's a lie, she has to smell good). this is what i sing to my kids when they need a little extra help settling into their beds (after which they are forbidden to come out of their rooms for ANY reason other than the house being on fire...but then they do anyway when they have a hangnail or something else equally important ;)

(i substitute "mermaid" with their name...or as sheamus requests "handsome boy")

Rest my little darling

You’ve had a busy day

The sun is a'falling

And it’s time for me to say

Hush, hush, hush little mermaid,

Good night.

Hush, hush little mermaid,

Sleep tight.

Close your eyes,

Close your eyes and lay down your head,

In your peaceful ocean bed.

Have a snooze, please, like I said and

Hush, hush, hush little mermaid,

Good night.

Hush little mermaid,

Sleep tight.

You’re feeling kind of sleepy,

You’re feeling kind of loopy,

Your fins are getting floppy,

And your eyelids getting droopy.

May your dreams be sweet,

As you fall into a snooze.

Perhaps again we’ll meet,

But now we have to cruise.

So hush, hush, hush little mermaid,

Good night.

Hush, hush little mermaid,

Sleep tight.

Hush, hush little mermaid,

Good night.

Hush little mermaid,

Hush little mermaid,

Good night.

The Backyardigans - Mermaid Lull...

mermaid lullaby backyardigans songs | music videos | lyrics

p.s. i'll be okay :)
team Boo ♥'s you

team Boo gets cheesy.

Thank you Geoff and Stacie (yes, they have real names!)...we will surely be back. As for the rest of you...well you haven't seen the end of us yet (cause doi, you read our blog) but also because we have a fun thing we are making with these pictures, but it's a gift...so it's top secret until christmas. shhh.

team Boo ♥'s you

breakfast of champions.

...all mornings should begin in dress up.

Last night's conversaysh with my boy:

me: "Hey you sweet boy, you smell like....a hotdog!!"

Sheamus: "no silly, Daddy is just cooking a hotdog!"

me: "oh duh, i guess you're right ;)"

Sheamus: "mom, wanna know what your smell like?" then coyly whispers in my ear ..."beautiful"

(melted)

team Boo ♥'s you


i know this is getting lame, but if you are down with teamBoo vote here :)

vacation lobotomy.

In theory, I am organized.

On paper, I am responsible.

In my head, I am efficient.

In my dreams, I am a rock star in sequin leggings.

But here i am, so discombobulated it's ridiculous.

In Mexico...we ate nachos until we started to sweat liquid cheese. We bronzed our bodies (only I freckled mine even despite my OCD like sunscreen reapplication) i watched a pack of dogs invade the beach mere minutes after i left it = severe panic attack avoided (friggin' mexico) We floated down lazy rivers and slid down water slides, and only once did a kid tell me (as my inner tube began to capsize under my nacho engorged body) "lady, you're so big for this." We had fun making family MEMORIES for heavens sakes!! 

And now i am in my usual home-from-vacation coma. Is vacation worth the inevitable tilting off my axis? (...that's what she said?) My baby can't poop and woke me up at 4 this morning to scream in my face about it (vacation poo syndrome knows no boundaries), my fridge is empty, my house is crazy, i have a halloween party and baby shower to plan in like five seconds and i am desperately craving a run. Heeeeelppppmeeeeee.

(woe is the poor housewife back from her week long trip...Yes, you can punch me in the face now) So, are vacations refreshing, or just a new layer to my crazy? I can't decide. 

I think I'll play hookie today.

team Boo ♥'s you

M.I.A (gunshots included)

Hey guess what, I'm alive!

Did you wonder why i abandoned you?

Were you worried that I got in a terrible accident?

Were you cold and afraid?

Or should i get over myself and just write a stupid post already?

but first you want to hear something ironic?

whenever i shut my face (my blog face)...i gain readers.

what does that tell me?

nothing. 

it's completely confusing. and i should be insulted.

I won't though cause it takes a lot to offend me. 
seriously. I think it's because i just give the universe so much ammo to use against me.

For instance...I am sitting at the table, in my trusty cutoff ACDC shirt, with one engorged boob, and Honey I Shrunk the Kids playing in the background...at 11:00am...on a Thursday. (insider tip that makes this even more pathetic: last night when i was sleeping and my milk started to leak, i changed out of said ACDC shirt so i wouldn't get milk rings on it, then put it back on in the morning)

ANYway. I am in mexico.

pretending like the internet doesn't work (it totally does)

eating delicious mangoes with chili flakes

letting my kids risk getting lice to have their hair braided on the beach

and reapplying sunscreen like its nobody's business.

(i am terrified of the sun...and the ocean. Wait, why am i here?)

Oh ya, cause im not in AZ

and that's the only reason i need.

...and the reason i haven't been posting.

sorry charlies. Arriba!

team Boo ♥'s you

(p.s. my kids hate when i call them "charlies")