Thursday/Friday "Mia's Plan"

In a couple of weeks

Mia will dive in her first regional meet.

Gotta love this kid.

She's got her dive down to a science.

Hung in a spot she sees every morning and night.

Maybe I can learn something too...

A story about a story

Not very long ago, a date with my sweet girl 

would be "taking a trip" to the park.

Or maybe for some ice-cream.

When I was a super bad mommy I'd take her to

McD's for chicken nuggets and a Sprite.

We'd laugh and smile.

Giggle and hug.

And I remember wanting those moments to never pass.

We still go on lots of dates

and as the years have passed they seem to get better.

Like tonight...

Tonight I went on one of the best dates with my sweet girl.

It wasn't to the park or to Cold Stone.

Instead it was to a book signing.

Really, you ask?

My favorite author was in town with her sweet daughter.

Their co-authored story was just published.

It was awesome sitting with Mia listening to

both mother and daughter share the

experience of how the book came to be.

They are funny, sincere and super-REAL.

We laughed and smiled. Giggled and even hugged.

After the talk Jodi and her daughter Sammie signed our books.

It was an amazing night! 

We rode home with the windows open

signing along to the radio.

And talking about how cool it was to meet

a real-life author.

Indeed it was.

Jodi signing Mia's book 

The signings. Thanks Jodi and Sammie.

Completely Unacceptable

I'm officially melting.

It's not okay.

Fire up the glue gun...

I'm busy friends.

I mean it.

2 active kiddos

A over-achiever hubby

A full time job

Volunteer organization

That's a lot.

Right?

No matter how many hours a day I'm busy

there is always time for the glue gun

Damn you, Pinterest.

What's the Risk?

Saturday Night Date

Daddy and Mia went on a date tonight.

It was a big night.

The Mercury were playing the LA Sparks

AND Hope Solo was there to recognize

the 40th anniversary of the passing of Title 9.

(If you don't know what title 9 is, you should

look into. It was a literal "game changer.)

As a mom of a sporty gal, what I know for sure is that Title 9

is a super good thing.

I also know that the smiles on my loves' faces

are a good thing too.

Big

No more hand-holding.

He just goes.

All by himself.

Carrying his own stuff.

He walks with purpose.

He's big.

Wed

Tired

Come on Baby, light my....

First, there was the traffic on the freeway.

Then there was a closed off ramp.

Then there were accidents on the freeway

caused by the closed ramp.

People in Phoenix get fussy

when there's too much traffic

on a day when the thermometer

reads 113 degrees.

This is what caused it:

A fire.

A big fire that had black smoke

blowing all over.

A fire that had every fire truck in the

county racing to the rescue.

Here's the traffic.

I was grumpy.

Hot.

Frustrated.

And then...

I remembered.

Remembered there were firefighters

that were likely way hotter than me

(in more ways than one)

and I remembered

there was a business owner

watching his business going up in smoke

(literally)

and then I remembered

people might have been hurt.

So I had to stop being frustrated

that the worst part of my day

was just a little sweat

just a little traffic

and just a little inconvenience.

Perspective is a good thing.

Cheers to our guy

Happy Father's Day to our guy!

We're lucky in every way to have him.

Blessed is a better word.

Love you more than you'll ever know.

Back from camp

Someone else is back from camp!

He's barely hanging on.

So much adventure he can barely

keep his eyes open!

But boy am I glad to see that smile.

Welcome home, buddy!

Horsin' Around

Picture courtesy of Mia!

She's home.

Finally.

She's been gone for six days.

I don't do so awesome when my kids aren't in their

beds at night.

I'm feel a little lost.

But tonight, she's HOME.

She's full of stories and memories.

She loved the horses the most

and the meatloaf the least.

She's bigger.

Smarter.

And the sun kissed her and left a few more freckles.

Welcome home, Mimi.

We've missed you!

Froggy, froggy are you there?

Trey is at camp.

I'm really glad he comes home tomorrow.

Really. Glad.

For many reasons, actually.

He's funny.

He's kind.

He has a sweet smile.

He takes care of his  fish and frogs.

But since he's gone, he asked that we

take care of his one fish and two frogs.

Why does he have a fish and frog?

Because his sister was sweet and got them for his b-day.

One of the three bit the dust Sunday.

Two hours after we dropped the kid off at camp.

Maybe it was depression.

Or frog disease.

Who knows.

What I do know is that the remaining critters are still blowing bubbles.

That's a good thing.

Right?

Can't wait to see that kid.

Nor can his fish or frog...

Simple Pleasures

93 cents.

That's how much it took to make my whole day.

My kids have been gone for three days.

I'm starting to miss them.

A lot.

Oh sure it's fun to hang with my Frankie.

Dinner out. Quiet home. No mess.

We've managed to act like newlyweds

and let me assure you,

IT IS FUN!

But today, I felt a sense of ache.

And when a friend said, "If you could have

anything you could have beside your kids coming home

what would it be?"

My answer...a snackwell cookie!

They are that good.

And not an hour later, I had a surprise.

It's the best 93 cents that gal has spent in a long time.

And yes, I'm still missing my kids

but I was able to say buh bye to that little ache

called a sweet tooth!

yum.

Leave it behind

Attitude - What's yours?

Sometimes I get all dark and twisty inside.

Kinda like Meredith Grey.

You know her, don't you?

I'm a lot like her except I'm not 5'10"

and don't wear a size negative 8.

Oh and I'm not a surgeon.

That's sorta a big difference, huh?

Anyway, everynow and then funny things happen.

Today when I was being dark and twisty about work

I opened up this book and here was this quote.

I love it.

I love when life is cool like that.

So, here's my cool thing for the day.
It made me think

and change my attitude.

All Camped Out

Ahh, Summer.

How we adore thee.

Kiddos left for camp this morning.

Actually, we dropped kiddos off at camp this morning.

Make that this afternoon.

After meeting for shotgun caravan start

and stopping for treats

to get us through to lunch

before we left them for seven whole days

at a super awesome

camp with lots of fun waiting for them.  

 Above is the crew, minus one.

The "one" is meeting us up at camp.

See ya there L.

Below is a pic of Happy Mia.

She's barely making it.

She's the lone gal among the six boys.

She's meeting her friends up at camp.

Lucky girl gets to drive up with us.

Can't you see the utter joy?

She claims she can already smell the boys...

Thank goodness for her that she'll be living sans boys

for seven whole days!  

 And here's the one pic I managed

to get with my kin

before I leave him for SEVEN whole days

at a camp where there's potential danger all

around him. I would name all the dangers

but perhaps the other moms who I convinced today that camp

is amazingly safe may read this.

Clearly, he's overly excited about another photo op.

See ya in a week kiddos.

Daddy and I will miss you...

We promise.

One Sweet Saturday

Every now and then

a totally normal Saturday turns into

an extraordinary day.

Like today!

Wanting to catch up after too long of a stretch,

my sweet friend Erin and I met for lunch.

And lucky me, amazing G came along for the fun.

With Mia five minutes into being 12, I sometimes

forget how awesome 6 can be.

We giggled, and giggled some more

and added in a belly laugh here and there, too.

We used too much lipgloss, ate too little of our pizza

and decided tea wasn't as sweet as Sprite.

We used our manners, 'cuz Mom made us

and decided more peeps needed to

be loud and silly and fun like us.

My time with Erin and G didn't last long enough

but I suppose nothing that awesome ever does.

Until next time...

Stay Sweet, Little G.

You do my heart good!  

Someone that I know

When my kiddos were little

and we'd take a trip to the store,

I'd explain in the car before we'd go in that

we were going to have a "no gimme" day.

That meant that no one was to ask for a treat

or a snack or even for me to buy something they

thought they might like to enjoy later for lunch.

Basically, it meant they weren't allowed to ask

for anything! Even, if it was strategically placed at the checkout

by the smart marketers who knew moms were tired and worn out

and likely would use the dang product to bribe whiny kids.

As my kids have aged to the ripe age of double digits, I

don't need to remind them of much other than the

occasional, "please don't push your brother/sister!"

As we walked in the snack aisle today, my sweetie

said with that raspy voice that drives me wild,

"Hey Mom, look it's me! Wonder if I'll get paid royalties."

The fact the kid knows what royalties are and that she's indeed right

about the new princess being just like her made me smile.

I took the box and threw it in...

Totally worth the three bucks to make us all a lil happy!

Picture from Tucson - told ya I'd be back....

First...I'm back.

I won't go into long sordid stories about what kept me away.

Because frankly, there's nothing sordid about it.

Second...on the day I'm back I've ingested a roll and a half

of Tums. I've also had two soda waters.

All to calm the stomach that is doing hula hoops

around my ass

No it's worse.

It's more like around my knees.

The diver kid of mine is 90 miles away

diving off the the likes of those platforms above.

She left at 6 a.m.

In a car

with other kids.

To practice in Tucson.

I won't say the name of the school.

That would just cause more heartburn.

Good lord please don't let her go to school there.

I know, that's horrible.

Back to the kids and the car

and the 6 a.m.

She's 12.

Of course when she asked to go and the dad

said, "hell NO!"

She quickly retorted with, "I'm almost a teenager!"

She's five minutes into being 12.

But she won her case.

She's in Tucson.

On a platform.

Diving.

To, in her words, get "better training and experience"

She just called minutes ago,

"hey mommy, it's awesome here, we're gonna stay longer, k?

p.s. I did it off the highest one. it was sick!"

I think sick means good.

But she called me mommy.

And for some reason that made the hula hoops go away.

At least for now...

I'll be back.....tomorrow.

Believe me...I don't lie! :)

Monday and Tuesday, Too

It's June 4.

June.

Fourth.

Four.

The fourth day of June.

Where the hell did the first three days of June go?

Or perhaps the 31 days of May?

Friends, I admitedly (is that a word?) have to come clean.

I've been in a complete haze.

Maybe a better way of describing it would be a funk with fog.

I've been in a foggy hazy funk causing me to apparently lose track of time. 

Lots of time.

I couldn't really tell you why.

I think I've gotten into the habit of just saying, "everything is great"

"We're fine"

My typical response to "how are you doing?"

is
"Awesome, no complaints"

And really, I don't have any.

But by always saying it, I begin to forget that maybe it's all not fine.

Nor dandy.

My rhythm has been way off and I've not been able to find it.

That makes me feel less than awesome.

But why the hazy funk?

I'm a blessed girl. I've pretty much got it all.

I think I can answer in two words.

Ready.

Set.

Go.

No CHURCH!

With red cheeks of shame and trembling fingers I type

that we took a major hiatus from going to Sunday mass.

I hate to say it. Type it. Admit it.

It's who we are.

It's what we did do.

But we hadn't.

And it makes me sad.

Sad for so many reasons.

I'm mad at me for not pushing.

Encouraging the going.

Making it priority.

Enforcing the non negotiableness of the situation.

But I haven't.

And I don't know why.

Don't worry, friends. This post won't be all doom and gloom.

There's sun shining through the fog. The haze. 

Guess who was back at Mass yesterday?

C'mon I'll give you a free guess.

The Bs.

We went yesterday.

It was awesome.

The real kind of awesome.

We were there as a family. The four of us.

Praying. Singing.

Staring off into the distance.

Getting up seventy two times for water

the bathroom

to pick up the shoe that was accidentally dropped behind the pew

(don't ask, I don't know)

Basically, I can't explain what finally brought me to the

breaking point of being the pusher of all things mass - ish

I just said, "enough, we're going."

And so we did.

And since we're playing guessing games, guess whose found her rythem?

Yup.

Little old awesome us...

What I love about Sundays

You see that smile?

It's all mine!

Frank is the cook in this deal we got going on.

I'm a preparer.

There's a lot I love about Sunday mornings.

Some things I love we've not done in a while and

we're trying to get back to them.

But Frankie's cooking is something that's a constant.

Omelets.

Bacon.

Pancakes.

He's a keeper.

And I'm lucky.

Having it all

Having it all.

When I was little, yes very little,

I dreamed of being some crazy successful

attorney who would put bad people in jail

and make the color orange illegal

(it's true, I hated orange. HATED. It has since become one of my faves...

funny how things change).

I thought I would go away to Harvard or maybe Stanford

And live in some big fancy city.

I'd have a driver

And a doorman.

I'd have a cook to make me real mac n cheese with bacon sandwiches

I'd live in an apartment with floor to ceiling windows.

I'd go on vacations to the beach

and be super skinny

and be funny, too.

I'd have long flowing hair that sparkled in the sun...

And no...I didn't watch Bethanny Frankel when I was 7.

She was only 11 and still had a pube-do and no money.

Back to me.

Then....

I met a boy.

Who today is my husband and the amazing dad to my kids.

I don't practice law.

Instead, I get paid to communicate.

I help people understand why coming to work
everyday is worth their time.

Most days I believe what I'm telling them.

Somedays I need to convince even myself.

It's a thankless job but one that I'm damn good at.

I do however, practice mommyhood.

Every dang day,
I practice at getting better at being "mom."

I also practice being a better human.

A giving, kind, charitable human.

Which lately has me very busy.

Friends, today I'm looking for someone

The someone who convinced me I could have it all.

Who the hell was she and what was she smokin'

Maybe she had a doorman?

And someone who made her mac n cheese.

But she's not like me because in the midst of being

supremely pissed off about trying to live up to this "dream"

I think she left a major caveat out
of her whole dreamy thought. 

Here's my thinking...

Stick with me it's not that complicated.

Maybe it is possible to have it all...

 But perhaps where I'm tripping over myself

 is believing that I can have it all,

all at the same time.

Yeah...

THAT'S IT!  

I can be a freaking hard core communicator

And a completely amazing mom

but not at the same time.

I can be a kick ass wife

and a rock star volunteer

on different days

but not at the same time

(unless I'm volunteering for Frankie-the man)

It's simply not possible...

So today, I'll just keep practicing being

amazing and awesome

and I'll get better each day

at one thing at a time.

P.S. No...I did not take the picture of myself

flying through the air with my cape.

I couldn't be awesome and a photographer but not at the same time.