Happy Birthday, Russ!

Hope you have a fantastic birthday! The good news is that you and Chele are old enough to not have to share a party anymore!

Happy Birthday, Chele!

Hope you had a wonderful day! You are the best sister a girl could ever have.

Say it ain't so

Kids have a way of sallowing your skin, growing dark circles under your eyes and forcing those earthquake faults to show up on your forehead. I blame my current facial state squarely on their shoulders. Okay, let's widen that scope... my whole body is courtesy of Mallie and True. Yes, that is what I am going to keep telling myself.

I've just recently noticed that changes in my face and have taken drastic action to do something about it. I've pulled in the big guns courtesy of my sister because I need all the help I can get these days. I bought this: MD Forte III. I skipped steps one and two and went straight to the good stuff. I don't have time to wait to get to the version of the product that would make me look like a new woman. Anyway, thanks Chele for introducing me to this product. It really works. When I remember to use it.

So, I am trying to get into a beauty regimen because I must take action. The last few days I've patiently washed my face, then put on the cleanser, washed it off, put on moisturizer, etc. This is SO painful for me because it seriously takes too long. Really, five minutes is too long for me. But, I endure. While I was in mid-face wash tonight, I happened to cut my eyes up to the mirror. I'm not sure why, but I think the gasp I let out was heard by the entire neighborhood.

I found a gray hair. A wiry gray hair sticking straight up for the entire world to see.

I've found them in my eyebrows before, but that didn't seem to be such a big deal to me. Pluck it out and no one was the wiser. But the hair ... the hair is different. Gray hairs on your head are like little bunnies. They have a way of multiplying. I was so upset that I ran out of the bathroom and woke up Shawn to tell him. His response, "at least you aren't losing your hair." Yeah, that made me feel so much better about the whole situation. Then, I looked over and saw Mallory standing there wondering what was going on.

Mommy: You did this to me, didn't you?
Mallory: Nope, must have been someone else in the house.
Mommy: No, I'm pretty sure it was you.
Mallory: No, I'm pretty sure it was someone else.

So, next time I head to my second husband (the hairdresser) I will point this out and make sure he covers it over. Until then, I need to find a new way to style my bangs and hope no other little gray friends show up.

Resourceful

Mallory is home sick today. She was throwing up this morning and hasn't eaten hardly anything. But she's up for running around the house this afternoon. I looked over and saw this new use for gloves. Nifty, huh?


I've been remiss in writing in the blog. Been busy traveling around the US for work and dealing with sickly kidlets (and a sickly me). I keep reminding myself that this too shall pass. In the meantime, I've picked up this new toy (aka Samsung Netbook) to help me be a little more resourceful. And I am LOVING it. It has a 10.2" screen and weighs about 2.5 lbs. Small enough to put in my purse and go anywhere. Happy tax return to me!

Play time

We had a great time this weekend with the girls.


Ava, Kendall and Kennedy came over to play Saturday. The date started out with some Happy Meals and chaos at home. Then, we walked down to the park and the girls burned off some energy. After that Raquel and I took turns pulling all three of them in the wagon back up hill to the house . I needed a nap afterward.

We're going to do it again soon.

iPhone my phone

Mallory and Truett love to play with my iPhone. The thing is seriously amazing. Entertainment for the kids (hallelujah for podcasts and videos!) and for me. There have been several occasions where I've had to pry it out of Mallory's hands so I could take a call or send an email. Now, Truett has taken to calling it "mine."

I try to keep the phone put up on the charger so it's not easy for them to pick up and carry around. But this weekend we were at my parent's house ... alas no charger. I saw Truett pick it up and play with it but wasn't too concerned. Until I took it away from him and assessed the damage -- he had deleted all of my text conversations with my sister. Oh well ... it wasn't anything I really needed to keep. I thought that was the extent of his "work." Then I saw the email from my sister. Apparently Truett had sent her an email message:

Ttafayruphtal
Sent from my iPhone

I'm not sure who else may have received something along these lines. If you did, consider yourself lucky that you've received one of Truett's very first emails! Not bad for a 21 month old! Now I'm going to have to start telling both Mallie and True that the phone is "mine."

Houston, we have a meeting

This post isn't anything special. Just a snapshot of what's gone on so far this week. Even the kids have just been run of the mill and not their usual genius. Must be that we are ready for Spring to arrive.

MONDAY
We had an emergency request from a client to fly down to Houston for a Monday morning meeting. So, Monday morning we caught the 6:15a flight. Yeah ... it wasn't a happy time for me. I really never want to see 4a on the alarm clock. Shawn on the other hand was pretty happy because he got to sleep in (he usually gets up @ 3:30 - 4), even if he did have to trade off getting the kids ready for a few hours of extra sleep.

It was a pretty run of the mill trip until we hit the rental car place. I know the economy and markets aren't doing well ... but when did Hertz start passing these out when you exited the rental car property?!



I also took a few pics of Reggie, my boss, in action. He was working hard, as you can tell. Of course, he had no idea I was taking pictures.




Then I came home and did five loads of laundry.

TUESDAY
I fought some fires at work and then came home and finished folding laundry. Good times.


WEDNESDAY
Well, it's turning out to be a pretty good day. But the to-do list grows longer. I'm avoiding it and trying to run as far as I can. Hence the randomness of this blog entry.


THURSDAY AND FRIDAY
Well, who knows what will happen the next two days. I know I'll be cleaning the house as we have a playdate with Ava and Kennedy on Saturday afternoon. Wouldn't want them to know the truth about my housekeeping abilities so it will take me some time to make the pig pen presentable.


MISC INFO AND RANDOM THOUGHTS

1. Mallory has moved up to the next class @ pre-school. Hew new teacher is actually accredited but couldn't find a job at one of the local school districts. All is going well and Mallory seems to responding well to Ms. Mandy.
2. Why didn't any of you people with kids warn me about the "look at me" phase? I think my child is the most beautiful little girl in the world, but I really don't need to look at her every five seconds while she pretends to dance, be the next Nastia Liuken or pick her nose.
3. Maybe Mallory is going to be a fashion model. She's taken to stripping down and putting on random outfits from the dress up chest. Then she parades through the living room shaking her hips. Honestly, she's pretty good at it. Maybe we should work on that a little more so we hit supermodel status. Then she could support mommy and daddy?!
4. We've changed classes at gymnastics as well. Her coach said it was time to move up to the next level of challenges so off we go. Starting this Saturday.
5. Mom is doing well. She's getting stronger every day. She can get up and down from the couch and chairs. This morning I called and she was in the kitchen waiting on dad to serve her eggs. I won't touch that one.
6. Shawn is prepping for his trip to Moab this April. This is going to sneak up on me. While I'm not looking forward to keeping the kids by myself for a week I know that he will have sooo much fun. Plus, it's good to have "guy time."
7. I'm looking forward to my "girls" trip to Central TX at the end of April. Three girls, a car and an open road. Trouble with a capital T!
8. One day I will have something really interesting to say. Until then I am glad you all keep coming to read!