single mom-ing it

Dear Riches,

I missed you this weekend while you worked & visited your parents in Arizona. These are some of the things you missed around here: I had to plunge a toilet & you know how I'm ridiculously bad at doing that. I had to vacuum up a fly the size of a BIRD and it was not an easy task since I was gagging the whole time. And just so you know, I am not exaggerating the size of this fly. CREEPY! Kimball helped me though. He kept calling it a bird too, even though fly is almost his favorite word. That should confirm it's size! My friend was sweet enough to drive the kids to school in the morning (just like you usually do for me) and then brought me over a bag of chocolate. She didn't even know that you left me alone with no chocolate for 4 days. You did however leave me with diet coke, so I shouldn't complain. The bag of M&M's slept on your side of the bed, just so I wouldn't feel so alone. Wasn't that nice? We had a crazy windstorm here that blew shingles off the roof and made the fence "wave" according to the kids. I didn't get as scared as I normally do, so I guess I'm growing up while you're away. I dropped the kids off at babysitting group and went to my favorite burrito joint, FreeBirds, and ate all by myself. I normally feel sorry for people who eat at restaurants by themselves but maybe they have been single mom-ing it too and just needed a break. I wished you were with me but didn't feel sorry for myself either. I'm really a big girl now! I went to Ikea and thought of how much you'd hate being there. My shopping course made no sense and I went the wrong direction and had to ditch my cart for awhile to go upstairs and shop some more. You would've shaken your head and swore to never set foot in Ikea again, if you were here. On Saturday I let the girls invite friends over for a Sprinkler Party. I baked pizzas and we froze lemonade to make slushies. They thought I was the coolest mom ever. I am you know. I decided that I can do alot of things without you, I'm not as afraid anymore. But I also decided I don't want to. So please come home already. Taxes are due on Monday and we haven't finished them & the wall paper in the office is a bit overwhelming to take down myself. Life is just nicer with you...... and just so you know, I missed you more than the ipad. And that says alot!

Tater Tot is 7!

I can hardly believe it. SEVEN! SEVEN whole blissful years with this cutie. We had a packed day of fun and by 8pm I was beyond wiped out. We started the day with Taylor seeing her first gift. A swinging (from the ceiling) chair in her bedroom. Am I the coolest mom or what? I always wanted one as a child and knew T would think it was amazing. And she did! She even tried to get dressed for school while swinging in it. Let's just say, it was tricky! I surprised Taylor by bringing her friend who's homeschooled for lunch & stayed for M's lunch too. After school 5 little girls headed to Sonic for shakes, followed by nail painting at the salon, and then on to Sam Moon for accessory shopping. The girls loved it & it was shopping, so you know I loved it! After we took the girls home, we had pizza, corn & fruit. That was the exact dinner Taylor wanted. Odd? Yes. This girl eats corn like it's cotton candy! Aunt Mandy sent a darling package with all the things to make a cake, she called it "birthday in a box." The girls made their own cake with the help of their babysitter on Saturday night. They even made their own purple frosting and decorated it all by themselves. Taylor was so proud of herself! Making a wish...... I hope it was for a house keeper & a chef! Oh, right...... her name's MOM. I'd like to explain this picture, but honestly have no idea what's going on here. This is typical Morgan..... Nail salon getting all dolled up to go shopping! The cake the girls made together. Isn't she purty? Morgan was so cute and for Taylor's birthday she did a bunch of jobs around the house to earn money. She earned enough money to take Taylor to the movies to see HOP. It was a good movie & even Kimball enjoyed it. Success! Kimball was pretty excited about Taylor's birthday. By the end of the night he could sing Happy to you. Did you think I forgot to type Birthday? I didn't. It's just Happy to YOU when K sings it! And yes. That's a GIANT hula hoop. Can you believe she ended up getting two? It's pretty fun, so I may steal one!

don't take the last coke, ok?

Last night I layed my head on your chest while you watched tv, just like I always do. You played with my hair and scratched my back, just like you always do. And I pretended I was asleep, just to see if you'd keep playing with my hair if I didn't coax you. You surprised me. Instead, you gently said in almost a whisper.... "after I drop the girls off to school, right after I've kissed you goodbye, I sometimes just feel alone & I miss you."

Oh, you're good.......Just when I feel like there's nothing new to know about you, you surprise me. And after you left for work this morning, when I went to the fridge to get a diet coke, I found an empty box. And instead of being sad you took my only link to sanity for the day, I'm remembering how cute you are when you thought I was asleep. And I missed you too.

Fun is exhausting

Fun is exhausting. Hence, Kimball falling asleep at the counter. I had to capture this photo quickly before he fell off his bar stool. This Spring time change is no good for little ones.

We had two small miracles occur this week, which I feel so grateful for.

- One is that during a home fix-it project that went wrong every step of the way, Rich found a MAJOR problem. The hot water vent wasn't ever attached to the flute. Hence, we could've had carbon-monoxide poisoning over the last 5 years without knowing. I'm making a trip to Home Depot this weekend to make sure we get some Carbon Monoxide alarms.

-Second miracle is my Mason Jar Chandelier wire got pretty close to catching on fire. It's a nice shade of black, when it should have been clear. We will be finding a new light fixture this weekend as well and putting in new smoke detectors too. I am grateful for not dying of a fire or carbon monoxide poisoning!

A funny thing happened though that I found quite hilarious. Rich helped a friend late one night who was stuck downtown with a broken car. Without many stores open that late for car parts, Rich was able to chomp on Tums and spit on a carroded battery. Amongst other things like pulling out many manly tools, the crisis was averted! I guess Tums comes in handy to keep in my purse! Thank you MacGyver!

Morgan's Art Award

Morgan has mad skills when it comes to her artwork. Once again, she managed to be showcased in the annual Art Gallery for our community. She had two pieces awarded this year! Yay Morgan! We were thrilled for her and celebrated with Sonic floats afterwards. Here are her masterpieces.........

"A Starry Dallas Night". Morgan and her art teacher Mr. G. Someday I'll learn what the G stands for.


And her second piece is some kind of scary mask. Should I be worried that she opted to put a nose ring on her creature? Hmm, we may have to have a talk about piercings girl!

Taylor's version of giving M's artwork "2 Thumbs UP!" Kimball is too fast to be pictured. That kid is a runaway train wreck. Seriously.

first oreo's

I was hoping to get a really cute photo shoot of Kimball eating his first oreo's. No such luck. Once I handed over the cookies & milk, there was no way I was directing the show! This kid knew what to do & I simply had to stand back and laugh!
He seems a little concerned that his hands are getting messy. But only for a BRIEF second!
Kimball's thought process: "that was awesome, let's do that again!"
Yep, it's official. He's an addict now.

Will you be mine?

Valentines. Sigh. It should be fabulous right? A romantic dinner, flowers, chocolates. That's what's expected anyway. To me those are just things. I wish I had spent more time getting into Valentines Day this year. I could've made it a 2 week experience but I was just so busy with the flu, Rich's 40th birthday and Joe coming for a visit that I didn't get to spend a whole lot of prep time on this holiday. Even so, we had a blast.

The night before Valentines Day, I had to try out some chocolate dipped fruit. Usually I do a chocolate fondu pot, but this microwave version was so easy. All the kids wanted to make this a Sunday evening tradition. After I dipped strawberries, black berries & blue berries in chocolate I set it in the middle of the table and everyone went at it. If you notice Morgan's expression, it was obviously a BIG HIT!

On Valentines Day we dipped strawberries for our neighbors and the did the same for us. Their's looked prettier and next year we'll have to up our game!

Morgan and Taylor set the table with printed napkins. Mine said "you rock" cause I do!



We had mashed pototoes, roasted turkey breast, & sauteed sugar snap peas. And dessert, well, you know we liked our dessert!

What does a green shirt and a horse vest have to do with V-day? We'll never know, but that's Morgan for ya. She picked it out special just for dinner!

Here are the valentines that we attached to our sweetheart boxes for a classmates and friends. We had great intentions of mailing them out to our friends and family, but they're still sitting here on my desk. Another long sigh. Happy Valentines my little family. I hope you know that I adore you!