Action on the Blog Coming Soon...

I'm behind. I'll catch up.

 

Boys Will Be Boys...

 

Looking Forward...

It's over. It's finally over. No more tax returns for quite a while. Ahhhhhh. Back to lazy bum hours. Time to clean out the email inbox. Time to relax a bit and look forward to fun times this summer.


 

Just To Calm the Nerves...

Move Over Meryl...

Ella is so dramatic and over the top. Literally.


 

She never fails to do something worthy of a photo or blog post. She is an absolute scream.


 

Every day with her is like a day with my own personal entertainment. It's probably wrong to laugh at your own children, but oh my word, I can't help it!


 

You've Got to Give Me a Minute...Or Thirty-Five...

I know. I know. I'm a little bit on the slacker side when it comes to the blog lately. Come on man. It is tax season. It is the final countdown of tax season. I can see the finish line. I can taste the extensions. Toner is burned into my index finger, and I will no doubt be the last person to leave the office this weekend because I chose to take the morning off to go see the littles play soccer.

Until I come up with some new and brilliant material. This old picture of Layton will have to do. By the way...his back is sore...from carrying the team. Hahahaah!! You'll have to hear the full story sometime. :)

Crazy, Curly, Hair...

 

Is That a Gecko on Your Shirt?....

 

Before I Go Cray Cray...

-Layton crawled in the bed with me earlier this week. He hugged me and kissed my face and said, "You are the best Mommy a boy could have." I pretty much gave him whatever he wanted for the next three days.

-There is a Sonic cup in the backseat of my car. It's been there for almost a month. I probably won't get around to throwing it away until tax season is over. I might not even throw it away then. It's become a lovely addition to the family. Every morning we go through a checklist on the way to school. I say, "Backpack," and the kids say, "check." Lunchbox. Check. Tennis shoes. Check. Sonic Cup. Check. I think I'll name him Teddy. Yes, he's a boy.

-Speaking of tax season. It really hasn't been too bad. This new job is seriously spoiling me. Yes, I have worked more than I did outside of tax season, but I haven't been too stressed and have managed to get a good bit completed. I know that I haven't put in near the hours that some employees have put in, but I also know that the new job has afforded me so much more flexibility and a higher quality of life. Suuhhhweeet. My boss might not be able to get rid of me. Even if he fired me, I'd probably still show up there the next day. I'm that happy with my job.

-Can I ask where you all stand on gifts and what happens to them later? That didn't make sense. Ok, I'll try again. Let's say you give someone you love an expensive gift and later found out the gift was sold for cash. Would you be upset? What if it were something really generous, say, a washer and dryer? Let's take the scenario to an even more absurd level. Let's say you lend something to someone you care about. Not a gift. A "borrow this until" situation. Only later you find out the borrowed item was sold for cash. Would you be upset?

-I've been trying out the Dove deodorant that is supposed to help reduce how often you have to shave your pits. I can't tell a difference. I still have 5 o'clock shadow fifteen minutes after I get out of the shower freshly shaved. And. It doesn't help with the BO much. I have had catastrophic deodorant failure way too many times lately. Time to go back to Lady Mitchum. The container says "So Effective You Could Skip a Day." Totes true. Best deo ever. I want to french kiss the scientist who invented it.

-There is no hope for my hair. It is a mess and will stay that way. About 15 years ago, I cut it all off and went pixie. It was so easy to maintain. I'm debating doing it again. Must have input from the hubs first...Or I can keep the scary banshee thing going a while longer. A gal at work asked me if I got a hair cut. I had to tell her no. I just happened to have actually brushed it that morning. That was not completely serious by the way. I do brush my hair every day. I have to. It's curly but frizzes so badly that I never wear it curly.

-This "Dancing with the Stars" business I keep hearing about...is it a good show? I remember telling myself to watch a while back (maybe it was a few years ago) when the Beatle's one legged ex-wife was going to be on it. I am kind of embarrassed to admit that watching a one legged woman dance almost got me to watch a TV show. I am so tragically mean.

-I might spend my entire lunch hour walking downtown. I love downtown and haven't gotten to spend much time there this busy season. If weather permits, I'm going to sit on the courthouse lawn and eat my lunch and then walk and window shop.

-Ooooo, that reminds me, if you happen to live here and go in Pimento's today and happen to make a purchase, tell them it's for the hospital. The owner of Pimento's is graciously donating a percentage of all the money she makes to the movement for a new cardiac wing at the hospital. Our hospital definitely needs this, so it's a great cause. Shannon (the owner) is also allowing people to buy items at wholesale to put in the silent auction. If you happen to need a mother's day gift....

-Do you ever feel like you are in a state of hyper alertness? What I mean is that every day someone tries to raise my awareness...breast cancer...autism...ovarian cancer...texting while driving...genocide...Be aware...I feel like I am becoming too aware...or too bombarded with things to be aware about...maybe I should step away from the Today show...Damn you, Ann Curry.

-Layton announced that he wants to be a director when he grows up. He then proceeded to give me the plot of his first movie. It was all boy. Full of farts and belches and falls.

-Ella wanted to buy a TV dinner at the grocery store the other night. It was a Weight Watcher's pasta dish. In vodka sauce. I have no idea what attracted her to this. She asked me (in a REALLY loud voice), "Mommy, what is vodka?" Hadley replied, "It's like beer Ella. Mommy only drinks it with orange juice." My face turned so red. Another mother who happened to have her two small children with her looked at me, smiled, and said, "A trip to Publix with the kids makes me buy vodka too." Needless to say, I scurried my little ones to another isle as quickly as possible.

-Facebook. Makes me feel dirty. There are just some things I shouldn't know about the people in my community, but all the info is right there on Facebook staring at me. Sometimes, I have to say ewww.

-I have been working on a tax return that has WAY too much going on. Lots of work and schedules. I told a coworker I'd give her $50 to finish it. She wouldn't take it. So I told my boss I'd give him $50 to finish it. No dice. That's all that's left the last week or two of tax season...the crazy difficult, labor intense, hours upon hours of work, three inch thick tax returns. I'd just about kill for a 1040A right now.

-Peace out, friends. Catch ya after the deadline.

Men and Their Cars...

...or boys and their matchbox cars....


 

Makes me smile every time. 

See the Kitties...

 

Here Kitty Kitty....

True story. My dad wanted one of those African birds that talk. I honestly cannot remember the specific kind of bird, but the thing's life expectancy would have been like 50 years or something vulgar like that. I can remember the whole family joking with him that if he bought a talking bird, we would teach it to say Here Kitty Kitty. My family has always been so loving and kind. (Picture me rolling my eyes.)

Anyway, the new kittens at the farm are just about the cutest little kittens I have ever seen. Hadley is especially taken with this one. I won't let the kids have an inside cat or kitten; Ella is allergic to them. They will have to settle for a barn cat at the farm that drops a litter of kittens every other month. At least it seems that way.

Poor Ella loved on a kitten a good bit the other day, and she sneezed all afternoon. She really, really wants to love on the kittens, and I just hate it for her that they make her sneeze and have watery eyes.

 

Here Kitty Kitty. 

If You Guessed Trouble...

If you look at this picture and guess that these three boys are up to no good, you're probably right.


 

Layton would push the gate as far open as it would go. Then he would jump on and use his weight (what little of it there is) to swing the gate shut. They stayed on the gate for a good hour swinging and being boys. It was quite the sight. 

Brand New...

Is there anything better than the smell of new car? Yes, the smell of new person. New person smell is positively intoxicating. Babies. Yum.

Well, I'm not sure if it smells good, but new kitten sure is adorable.


 

Ella had so much fun holding a one day old kitten at the farm. 

Sidewalk Art with Hadley....

 

Girl does love to draw...

What Does Hadley Do While Camping?....

 

She lays all across the chair instead of sitting in it. 

She Looks Far Too Serious....

 

Soccer...

Soccer practice is going well for the littles. Layton is especially excited about it. Are these not the cutest shin guarded legs you've ever seen? Humor me people.

 

Layton is actually under the impression that he runs faster with them on. It's hysterical. He asks me every day if he can wear his cleats and go outside to play. He wants to wear them just running around our yard! Cracks me up every time!

Dear Lacey...

Lacey,

Someday, I hope you will know how much this very moment meant to me. You won't remember it because you're just three, but I will remember you telling me that "Manna" was going to sit outside with you because you love me. You sat in a pink chair and I in a yellow chair.

 

We talked about the grass and the new kitties, and you asked me where the boys had gone.
It is amazing. Watching you grow.

Love,
Manna

Relapse...

I have relapsed. I have continued to obsess over the cuteness. Even when the cuteness decides to break dance in the driveway...


 

It started out normal enough.



It started to get a little out of control.

 

The neighbors might be calling the police because my young child is shaking his booty and screaming the lyrics to Vanilla Ice.

He likes to finish it up with "Word to ya Motha." No, he really says it before making this pose.

And then he wanted to know why I kept telling him to rap in his "inside voice."

I might need more than one 12 step program pretty soon. Ha!

OWMCA...What an Acronym...

I am a woman obsessed. I need a 12 step program for "I'm Obsessed with My Children" - aholics anonymous.

I admit I am powerless against the cuteness. Only a power greater than I can restore me to normalcy.



I am making an inventory of all the things I have done because the cuteness overcame me. I will make amends for giving in to these whims.

I will meditate and practice being mean when the cuteness hits.  

 

I will carry these principles to other Moms who are also "Obsessed with My Children"-aholics. 

Still Short on Words...

Tax season is almost over. It's a bittersweet time for me. I love the feeling of being super busy at work during tax season, but I also love the flexibility of only working part time outside of busy season. March on my friends!