Rainy Day Musings

We lost another toof!!


On another childhood note, mornings in our home can turn into bloodbaths on a dime. I've made many attempts to reorganize our morning routine so as to avoid this, however, some mornings still tend to be a bit more laced with mayhem than others. C'est la vie, right?



This morning was no exception: Shoes were missing (although they ended up being exactly where they belong - on the shoe shelf in her closet), breakfast was too cold (this is what happens when you loaf in bed for 20 mins while your breakfast sits on the table), we were out of her "favorite" toothpaste and she had to settle on the not-so-tasty toothpaste (is it supposed to be a snack?), etc, etc ...

It's a rainy morning and as we hurried out the door, she scrambled to get up into the car and she slipped. Hit her shin on the step of the car and it was turning red immediately. She cried like a banshee and I could feel her pain as we've all knocked our shins and we all know it hurts like crazy.

So I check to make sure it's *just* a bruise and nothing's broken or bleeding and we continue the rush to school ... meanwhile she's still wimpering about it as I'm trying to navigate PITA traffic.

Finally she says, in the sweetest voice ever, "Mama, could you please just kiss it?"

Now we were late, traffic was a mess, and I was stuck in a situation where I could not pull over.

However, my baby is nearly 6 and she needed a kiss to heal her lil wound. I know for sure that the magic power of kissing-it-and-making-it-better is going to be a distant memory very soon. And honestly I was quite surprised at this request, as it's been months since I've heard it. So, I pulled into a random turn lane, put the car in park, and kissed her little shin. All better :-)

And I paid no nevermind to the idiots behind me honking. You'll get to your destination soon, people - right now I am in a hurry to embrace this sweet moment of childhood innocence because it won't last forever.

Channeling Gloria Gaynor in 2010!

As it goes, blogging took a backseat to *life* this past year. Details are unnecessary, as they've been left behind in the dumpster that was 2009 :)

This won't be the case in '10, however! It's a fresh new year and already looks promising, thank GOD. :)

So much has happened, both positive and negative and photography even took a backseat to *life.* Groan! But my girl and I are now living a life we want to take pictures of again! Even if we clash in our idea of an acceptable Christmas-card picture:


Speaking of which, Annie and I LOVE a good Kitchen Dance. Mind you, both of us have two left feet and couldn't carry a tune if we had it in our pockets, but when we hear a good song on the kitchen radio, we break it DOWN! This morning, the first day of 2010, Gloria Gaynor belted out good ole "I Will Survive." We cranked it as high as we could and went CRA-ZY. This, my friends, is how we're going to spend our year. We're gonna be Crazy Kitchen Dancin' Surviving Fools!


And because we are not taking ANY chances this year, we have spent the better part of the day following the age-old New Years Day superstitions TO. THE. LETTER.
Found here: http://www.snopes.com/holidays/newyears/beliefs.asp

We choked down plates full of black-eyed peas and ham, fried sauerkraut w/ sausage, and corn bread. No one said anything about cornbread, but we both like it, so why not!?

So for the rest of the evening, we are staying inside clad in our new clothes, ignoring the dishes and laundry, and avoiding all breakables and tear-jerker movies! Onward, ho!!!

Happy 2010! May it be everything you wish, need and deserve! <3

Four years and counting ...

I know it's cliched - overly cliched, at that - but WHY oh why does time fly so quickly the moment a bundle of baby is placed in your arms? I can remember the moment I met my daughter as if it were five minutes ago, yet it's been four years. Four fantstic years, to be exact.

Our first meeting went a little like this ...

Ok, so we both look utterly terrified. And we were.

Fast forward to the first year - which seems like a million years ago, yet last week all at the same time ...




There have been so many consistencies along the way ... the love for animals, for one:


And the love of helping w/ the housework:


Oh and who can forget how smitten she is over the jolly ole elf?


And she certainly still loves a good meal:


She's always been known for her style:


Oh, the mud ... it was love at first sight ...


We've now made four trips around the sun together and it's amazing how much she changes, yet stays the very same ...

Still has a fabulous sense of style:



Still loves animals (maybe moreso now ;-) )


Never passes up a chance to play in the puddles (the muddier, the better)


Always takes chances, even if she realizes it probably wasn't a good idea ;-)


Most of all, she's been a complete joy - absolutely added a much-needed spice to our lives :-)



Happy 4th, baby girl! Thank you for the daily reminder that life is not meant to be taken seriously :-)





Anna's birthday breakfast of choice: (who can blame her?)


Here's to many more, my silly gal!! :-)

Who's On First?

While strolling the aisles of the local Kroger yesterday, my blue-eyed beauty chose the frozen-foods section to inquire about the following:

Anna: Mama? What letter starts wif POOP?

M: P, Anna, now hush ...

Anna: No, not PEE! POOP! What letter starts wif POOOOOOP??

M: Anna - really, it's the letter P, please hush.

Anna: Listen to me - it's POOP! I need to know what letter it starts wif. Don't talk to me about PEE!

M: (wishing I'd come up w/ another pet name for urinating) You want a lollipop, darling?

Anna: Yea, and I want to know what letter starts wif POOP.

So the days of sticking a lolly in it are over, I'm afraid ;-)

Walk With Me ...

I have this OCD *thing* about not blogging till I'm caught up. With that OCD come SSS (Severe Slacker Syndrome) so this is why I've fallen so far behind. Looks like it's time for another photographic journey of the past few months. I think we left off around Halloween. Lots of fun stuff has happened since then. Christmas, for one. Then Easter. Now Anna's fourth birthday is approaching as is summer, so I need to kick it in high gear.

You think this display of SSS is bad - you should see my laundry ;-)

We spent Thanksgiving in D-town w/ the family. Here's Anna w/ her two favorite people on earth. In fact, I'm convinced she believes they are on the *only* people on earth.


After Turkey Day, PaPa decided Anna needed to go to the local western store because she. doesn't. have. enough. cowboy. crap.



I don't think Anna'd be happier at Disney World ;-)

She and ole Brown Eyes became fast friends:


And no trip to the western store is complete w/out a lasso:


As is tradition, we ended the Thanksgiving weekend in downtown Decatur. It wouldn't be Christmas w/out another shot of Anna on the random chicken bench. One day she might actually look at the camera ;-)


Then on to Santa's house. Now my girl is not a fan of Santa. And that's putting it lightly. BUT my gal wanted the jolly ole elf to bring her Butterscotch for Christmas, so she made a concerted effort to cast aside her fear and confront the old dude.

She looked in the window and said, "But there is no Butterscotch in there!"


A child of the 21st Century, Anna was fully anticipating receiving Butterscotch the instant she sat on Santa's lap. No instant gratification here ;-)


Whew - it's OVER:


We walked outside to this mess in Central Park - WTF?


Moving on to Del's Popcorn Shop for some yummies:


And the ride home:


Anna loves making random crafts and sharing them w/ her loved ones. If you didn't receive one of these lovelies this year, please accept my sincerest apologies:


In early December, Anna visited the dentist at SIU. She gave Anna the what-for about using the paci. And because the person was not me, Anna listened! So, we tied all the pacis to the tree out front and called up to the paci fairy to come get them and leave two stuffed horsies in place of them. If my nabes didn't think I had a drug problem before, they did then ;-)

Retrieving the gift from the Paci Fairy:



The Paci Fairy's only shopping option was the ghetto cesspool Walmart - and wouldn't you know they didn't have a single stuffed horsey??? WTF? So I had to improvise w/ stuffed reindeer and hope she didn't notice the difference. Of course she did, so it was fitting that I tossed in some High Fructose Corn Syrup & Red #40 laden candies so as to convince her there's no way it came from me ;-) It worked!


Anna worked really hard drawing this picture of me. I'm hot, aren't I?



We baked out hearts out during the holidays. Is there anything cozier than the scent of baked goods during the month of December?



We think not :)


Speaking of baked goods, I found an Easy Bake Oven and decided to flirt w/ nostalgia. Anna was THRILLED:




The product, however, left PLENTY to be desired:


Anna's preschool had a Christmas program that was silly and cute. I got most of it on video and very little pics. This sweater set just seems to keep popping up ;-)






We're getting good at this:




'Twas the night before Christmas ... Anna's now fully DESPERATE for Santa to bring Butterscotch and is worried the he'll be too big to fit on the sleigh ... so we whip up a batch of reindeer food to sweeten the deal:



Santa came through!