it's a butterfly, baby!

Sisterly advice:

e: Don't worry Grant, someday you'll have a big penis like daddy....

8 days & counting:

I finally cried. I had held myself together all summer, knowing Ella was embarking on a new chapter of her life and all was well. Then, I got the envelope. THE envelope. The name tag to pin on her shirt, the PIN number for her hot lunches, the payment coupons for all day kindergarten (thanks, Mr. Bush) and the letter. The letter that read: Dear Ella, I can't wait to meet you.....I have so many fun things planned for us......we'll have a great year.....Love, Ms. Elling. Tears. Lots of tears. Now starts 13 years of best friends, worst friends and designer jeans.

Life Sentence:

If I ever find myself in a courtroom awaiting sentencing, forget jail...just give me a stack of Potterybarn catalogs. I cannot look through one of those without saying...oh I wish I had the money for....and oh that is so freakin cute....and oh if only we had a bigger house....

true punishment.

What IS this?!

The person who thought "Let's put a gigantic head of a StarWars guy on a little space-ship thing and sell them at McDonalds!" better have lost his job (I rudely assume it's a "he," as a "her" would never have let this fly) This thing is down-right disturbing:

"Hey Honey!
Let's put a few rocks around the fire pit..."

I've birthed a new baby blog:

life...by-the-numbers

14 Days & Counting:

Potterybarn Monogrammed Backpack with matching lunchbag?
Check!

Back-Off Mama Bird!

An overheard conversation between Ella and Mystery Neighborhood Boy:
MNB: Shut-up you! You have a big fat blubbery mouth!
(Whoa....there buddy! In swoops over protective mama bird:)
mama: Hey! Don't you dare talk to my daughter that way!

What, Mama Bird?!?! Haven't those parenting magazines taught you anything?!
Ooooooops. Strike one. What I should have said was "Hey! We don't talk to our friends that way....let's use nice words!"

Oh well, maybe next time.
For now, I'm officially the mean mom on the hill.

What happens when a working mom of two manages to squeeze in 50 hours of work into her 4 day work week, and over-commits herself to meetings and/or activities every evening? This:

on bees & birds:

e: mom, does jesus just decide when you should have a baby in your tummy and put one in? or do you have to ask him to put a baby inside?
c: well, kind of both. really, it's quite complicated.
e: oh.

(whew, that was easy. and no, I don't have a baby in my tummy)

now, THIS is a s'more fest:

l to r: jake the dog, Montana the cute neighbor, Ella the five-year-old turned twelve-year-old, Jarek the neighbor/gangster, Daddy the roasting supervisor, Joie the other dog, and little G the marshmallow eater....nevermind the grahams....give the boy a "Mar-mah-yoh!"

What a difference four years and a ton of elbow grease makes:

Sale-Pending, April 2004:

(ryan had to convince cara that it might someday be a house she would like...and that since we had sold our townhouse in four hours it really would be wise to find a place to live)

Summer 2008: finally more than just a house.

mama confession #2:

I bought $84 conditioner. Eighty-four-dollars! Justification: I only wash my hair 1-2 times per week and one bottle lasts me about a year, so that comes out to being roughly 80 cents per use. I won't buy lunch for two weeks to make up for it... bad, bad mommy.

e: grant, I don't have a peepee, can you say vagina?
g: ba-jeye-na! yea! ba-jeye-na!
e: mom! grant said vagina!
m: oooh, wow, that's great! (ahem)

e: mom, rachel ray goes poop.
m: um, yeah, I suppose she does.