831!

It's my birthday! As long as I can remember my birthday has been sacred. The numbers 831 are just the very best and when I see them on license plates or a clock I am usually apt to announce with glee "831 it's my birthday!" (Or dyslexic my birthday if I see a 138 or 318 or something. One of my license plates even randomly was assigned a dyslexic my birthday when I transferred the registration from MN to IA.)  

Over the past few years though the excitement of my birthday has worn off, just a little. I am no longer peeking in boxes and trying to see what I got early. I still haven't opened anything and back in the day I would wait until approximately 12:01 am before digging into something at least. 

Last night Husband and I made penguin cupcakes. Because C has this thing for the book Hello Cupcake! And they're on the cover. And he's been asking for months. And I like him. 

Since last year I made walrus cupcakes for my birthday but actually for C, this is starting to sound a bit familiar. But really, I am not picky and I love seeing him happy. 

Also, why has no one told me you get your own Google doodle on your birthday? I must be a moron because when I logged on last night (after 12 EST but not quite in my timezone yet) there was a birthday Google doodle. I clicked on it because I was like "What famous person do I share a birthday with?" Because my known list wouldn't really warrant a doodle. (Richard Gere, Van Morrison, Chris Tucker, Sara Ramirez from Grey's Anatomy, Hilary Farr from Love It or List It.) 

 

But it wished me my very own happy birthday. Obviously they warranted screen shots! 

Since today is Monday which is not my favorite day of the week we had a mini-celebration yesterday. We took the local water taxi out on the river and one of the stops is right at TGI Fridays, so we had a special lunch. (The second time ever the 4 of us have gone out to eat together.) The food was really only so-so but the experience was fun. C liked riding the boat for the whole loop. We saw: turtles, ducks, geese, seagulls and excavators. It was very exciting. 

Anyway, have a wonderful 831! It may not be your birthday but I am wishing you some of my 831 joy because why not?! Let's all just settle into happiness today.  

I Don't Stand With Cherish

I Don't Stand With Cherish.

I'm sure you've seen the hashtag. I'm sure you've read the story somewhere. Cherish, mother of 4 in Arizona, accidentally left her 2 month old son in a shopping cart. Loaded her other kids and groceries into the car. Drove away and didn't come back for 40 minutes.

Now, I am not for a minute saying she did it on purpose. While I legitimately cannot imagine forgetting your baby somewhere, I don't think she had malicious intent, which is needed in "crime." But I also don't think that 99% of parents who forget their kids in hot cars do that on purpose.

It's a slippery slope folks. We can't punish the people who make the same mistakes but the only difference is that something bad happened. Drunk drivers are ticketed regardless of whether they've been in an accident or not.

And it's not like she called 911 immediately after realizing she left her kid and cried and told them she was coming back and could someone go check on him to keep him safe until she got there. Because for the 20 or so minutes when she DID know he was missing she did nothing but turn around to go get him. At that point, she was actually knowingly putting her child in danger. And that is child endangerment.

I am not trying to advocate for her kids to be taken away, I am sure she's no worse a mother than most, she just made a bad mistake and then made a bad judgement call after the fact. But I do think she should have a probation period. Someone to check in on them occasionally and make sure all is well. And maybe an evaluation just to be certain Cherish isn't suffering from PPD. Because if she is, and this is a terrible manifest of her symptoms she does in fact need help.

Again, I don't think she should go to jail. I don't think her kids should be taken away. But I also don't think this is a situation where we are all supposed to stand together and make all consequences go away.

So no, I don't stand with Cherish. At least not in the way the hashtag implies.

I'm Throwing A Bridal Shower

Yesterday I found myself sitting on the floor of my kitchen, and standing on a step stool in my kitchen, scrubbing my white cabinets with a magic eraser and cleaning solution. (Not at the same time.) I learned three things:

1. I should really scrub my cabinets more frequently than "whenever I am trying to impress people by the cleanliness of my house/people who have never been to my house." 
2. I should really just repaint all these doors and use good scrub-able paint. 
3. White kitchens are pretty but wow do they show dirt. 

Prepping for this shower has been eye opening to how we live. Our house is pretty old. (Built in 1920) Our house is not huge. And so we do not live in a way where I can clean leading up to the event and hope it stays clean. Oh sure, I can dust, and I have. But the bulk of the cleaning prep is going to happen tonight after bedtime because seriously, that whole saying about cleaning with children around is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos? True story.

Today has been gloomy gloomy outside. It might rain later, but regardless it's the kind of day most people would just want to snuggle under a blanket with a book or a movie. Maybe a nap. Heck... I'd love to join in. But this house is not going to clean itself. 

It's going to be a small shower. But that's okay. It should be fun.

We are playing Name That Tune: Famous First Dance Songs and Match the Famous Couple.

We are serving pulled-pork sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, veggies, fruit, German chocolate cake, mini apple pies, strawberry lemonade punch and water.

Now if only I could get the house clean! Back to it.

A+ Wifeing

Do you ever just have one of those days that goes impeccably well? Because I am having one of those.

I woke up this morning and I did not bite the heads off of my husband and children. *Honesty people, the morning is my weakest time and it can get ugly. I'm not proud.* But again, I was almost perky.

We left the house for our appointment and the construction did not even phase me. I didn't blink. I am not sure why they waited until after school started and the last week of August to start these projects that crazily limit my journey away from my house, but no worries because it's going to be great.

We had a good appointment. I can't really take any of the credit for this because it was all C, but still, it makes a mom proud.

I ordered M's winter coat today. And a few other things that we need for the house. So I felt accomplished.

I got dinner started in the crock pot. We are having roast. With potatoes. I'm going to steam up some broccoli too, but that is the last thing, no need to start that now. Then I got all excited and made dough for rolls. After the 2 rises, they're in the oven as I type. Fresh rolls... awesome. And I thought to myself "Self, this is a pretty good dinner. We should have dessert."

So I made cookies. And they're done and wrapped on a plate for when we finish our roast, potatoes, broccoli and rolls. To keep it real though, some butter dripped onto the bottom of the oven and started smoking a little.

Then M's chair arrived so I put it together. I folded a load of laundry and put it away.

And... okay that's pretty much it but still. It feels like a pretty A+ Wifeing kind of day. Some days have to be good to make up for the not so great ones. The ones where you call your husband at work and tell him that he should walk in the door with food because there ain't no way you're going to be able to get a meal going because you're losing your mind. *Ahem, last Friday.*

Train of thought rambles

We are getting into those days that are hard to dress for. Chilly in the morning but by afternoon jeans are just a little too much. But you know what? I love it. I love this weather. And yes, I am getting all weather-nerd on the blog here but it's just because I love this weather so much. I love having my windows open. I love the way the sun warms the kitchen but the breeze cools it right back down again.

I love that we've got this weather and it's only August!! You guys, it's not even my birthday yet. Now don't get me wrong. You KNOW that it will probably be hot and sticky and somewhere in the 90s by then again but I am not going to lose hope.

I am trying to figure out some fall-ish clothes for my kiddos. I need to get long sleeved shirts for C and M is right on the cusp of going up a size and I have some things ordered, but they're not here yet and pretty much I just need to go baby girl clothes shopping.

In my planning ahead-ness, Halloween costumes have been ordered. Both costumes require clothes underneath it, but I don't want to buy them until I see the exact colors of the costumes.

M's birthday shopping is underway, Prime Day helped with that a bit but still there are things to get. Christmas shopping is also underway. It's weird to me that M's birthday is just 2 months out from Christmas. In my family birthdays end with me in August. May, June and August birthdays. Then Husband came along and added April to the mix but still... that's not close to Christmas either.

Fun question: Convertible Car Seats. What is the hip kind these days? C is still RF in the Britax Marathon 70. They don't make that exact seat anymore and the click-tight just had a recall. I am up to my eyeballs in reviews and I just don't know. But it will soon be time for M to move on and while I am sad about that I want to know she's in a good seat. I am irrationally against the Graco brand (seriously, I have no good reasoning why but I just can't do it.) but other than that I am open to suggestions. Clearly we are extended rear-facers so a seat that is good for that is great.

I am throwing a shower this weekend for one of Husband's cousins and I am pretty sad because it looks like next to no one is coming. Me and the cousin co-host, her sisters, 1 aunt and grandma. I haven't heard back from a few cousins but it bums me out on her behalf. From a hosting perspective, it makes my job very easy however.

Anyway. I've got some tidying to do. This little break when C is at school and M is napping is good.

Sometimes You Do a Photoshoot

We had a photo shoot Saturday to capture some 10 month pictures and hopefully some of the two of my kids together because pickings are slim when it comes to those. It turned out to be a not too bad shoot. Nice weather, good light and fairly cooperative subjects. 

Gosh I just love these kids. Happy Monday and a Happy Birthday to my Mom!! 

4 Things I'm Thinking About

one. Thursday night was the annual baseball game in a suite with Husband's work. It was wonderful. Very few people from the 2 departments went so it was super fun. We were able to actually watch the game for a part and we didn't pay for parking or food or anything. So nice to go out as a family. And the weather was the most perfect day ever ever ever. 75 and sunny with fluffy white clouds. Man. So lucky to have this perk. Of course we didn't take any pictures except for of the grasshopper that C liked. That boy and his creatures.

two. I am becoming convinced the people we bought our house from, actually entered witness protection. When we toured the house the house was just perfectly set up with the door unlocked. But I didn't think much of that at the time. The sale of the house went fairly quickly and then... we moved in. We have never had respite from getting their mail. Never. We get Christmas Cards, family reunion notices, their reminders for vet visits, driver's license renewals and jury duty. We get bills. But the man was also ran a home-based business and we get all that stuff too, plus the address on Google says that we are a business. No matter how many times I try I cannot convince Google otherwise that it's just my house.

three. M turned 10 months yesterday. Gah. That is insane.

four. My brother left on Thursday to study abroad for the semester. To say that I was sad about his departure would be fair. I am so excited for him and I think it will be so good for him. And seriously, he sent us this picture from Cannes (of film festival fame) and I think he is pretty darn lucky. I will miss him but Christmas isn't that far away.