Fashion Statement

Guest post by Mommy:

Now I have told my sweet husband that I am going to post this story and he is mortified. I told him that I think that this is more a reflection on the type of person I am and what I wear than him as a husband.

Yesterday I had kind of a crummy afternoon. Things in my professional life have kind of hit a low and April just has not been a good month for me at all. So to cheer me up we went to pick out some glasses for me (I only wear them to read...which makes me sound old..I told you 27 was terrible! But also to drive at night.) Anyway we went up to the mall and walked through Dillards first and I saw all the pretty shoes and fun styles and turned to Pete and said "Ooo do you know what would make me feel better?"

And without missing a beat, he responded "A new pair of flip flops?"

I laughed so hard. But he is so right! I got two new pairs of flip flops for my birthday and I was THRILLED. However I'm noticing a lot of cute shoes out there and I am beginning to think that I need branch out and maybe, I dunno, try some cute heels.

Right after this exchange, we walked over by the pantyhose section and Pete saw the Spanx ones and said, out loud, "Or maybe we should get you some of these!" He was teasing of course, but one of the woman employees heard him and said "Oh you are in trouble!"

It was a very funny five minute stroll through Dillards and cheered me up quite nicely.

Happy Easter!

We were lucky and started our Easter celebrations on Saturday morning! Mommy and Daddy took us to the park by our house to go on an Easter Egg Hunt with some of our neighbor friends. Apparently it was a little early for Cara or maybe she just got tired of waiting for other people but either way check out the look she gave Mommy! "Don't take my picture!"



She needed a little bit of coaxing to pick up eggs and wouldn't take any of the candy that was lying around that wasn't in an egg. I on the other hand, needed no coaxing. This was the year that I finally got it. I understood everything about the Easter Egg hunt and I fisted the candy that was just lying on the ground right in to my basket.





And this was Cara's basket:



Then this morning, the Easter Bunny was kind enough to leave our baskets full of play dough and special markers with special paper and these really neat colored bubbles. For some reason, Mommy and Daddy looked a little less enthused about the colored bubbles...I wonder why?





We went to church and listened to Daddy sing in the choir and learned about what makes Easter so special and then we headed to Grandma's house where the Easter Bunny had hidden all our eggs. (It just occurred to Mommy that she has no pictures of us all pretty in our Easter dresses....so pay attention to how pretty they are in these action shots!) We had fun on our Easter Egg hunt and then basically just played around at Grandma's while it thunderstormed and didn't go home until way past our bedtime. Pretty much a normal Sunday!







(We also just noticed that Mommy must have had a fingerprint smear on the front of her camera for the egg hunt so it kind of gives it this fuzzy glowy look like maybe we already made it to heaven!)

Fun with cousins!

At the beginning of this week, Aunt Rachel came down with my cousins, Romney, Chase, and Emma! We had so much fun. Mommy already wrote about fun at her birthday but we also spent time jumping on the tramp, hiking, swimming, and having a pajama party that became a tea party with Fresca and Lucky Charms. I loved it. Romney slept in my room every night and on the last night she was here we stayed up telling each other silly stories for so long! I think Chase even enjoyed it because on our hike we went in search of lizards and found so many. Unfortunately for Chase, nobody actually caught one but we still chased lots!






(I appear to be unhappy in the above photos which was untrue...it was very hot at the end of the hike but also I just kept posing for photos with Romney like that!)




(This last photo is the only one Mommy has with all five cousins in the shot, and you can't even really see Cara!)

And Mommy would also like to include some her favorite photos that Aunt Rachel captured of us kiddos:

There are others!

So here is another post about a link that needs to be checked out. This is a column by LZ Granderson and is all over CNN right now.

I'm so excited to see that there are more parents out there who are screaming for standards for our kids! I posted about my blog stalking earlier for the woman who didn't want to see childhood disappear and it's awesome to see that this is article is not from a white suburban mom but a black urban man! I don't think we're as much as a minority as I was afraid. We just need to be louder!

Another year older...

Guest Post by Mommy:

So as it turns out I'm not as gung ho about getting older as I thought. I haven't been in a great mood as my birthday approached anyway (despite all the fun that surrounded my Dad's awesome birthday). Life had kind of beaten me down and so I was more inclined to just pretend the 18th of April didn't even exist. So much so that I am actually doing this post on the 19th because I didn't want to acknowledge my birthday. I will be changing the date on the post though so that for historical purposes this post will be reflected on the appropriate day. Sorry that was kind of convoluted. Anyway back to getting older and wanting to just kind of not exist for the past week. I had been repeatedly asked by family what I wanted to do for my birthday and when I wanted to celebrate and basically I was just evasive and wouldn't commit. Part of it, as it turns out, was that 27 is a lot closer to 30 than I was really prepared to think about. My sweet husband tried to warn me of this and I remember him saying something about 27 but I guess you're never really prepared for it to be you.

Luckily, my awesome sister in law, Rachel, and her three kids arrived on Sunday and helped pull me out of my funk. (The next post will be dedicated to the fun we've had.) She insisted on a cake, we got my family over here during the afternoon and I got a lot of presents! I really felt loved (despite the lack of facebook happy birthdays.)





Rachel made a delicious cake and then kept my kiddos occupied while Pete and I wandered (literally...we walked) to our favorite eatery (Pizza Factory express anyone?)




All said and done...it was a terrific birthday despite the fact that was grey and overcast and the five cousins all were crying at separate times throughout the day. I think I'll be okay. I can handle 27. I have a house and two BEAUTIFUL and very silly girlies. Like my brother's girlfriend said to me (remember Marty is on a mission): "Well at least you have life all figured out! You've already picked who you're going to marry and married him!"

Happy 50th Birthday, Grandpa!

Grandpa turned 50 today! We had a great time celebrating with him all week. Mommy even went climbing with him. Yesterday we hung out on the boat while Grandpa wakeboarded in the 59 degree water. (He cheated and had on a wet suit!) Grandma, Mommy, and Aunt Angie also helped throw a fiesta for him on Friday night. There was LOTS of food and people and drinks. Oh and really yummy desserts. We didn't get to sing to him until his actual birthday (today).



Oh and Aunt Angie would request you don't look too closely at this cake but Mommy wants to throw out a tip to not try a new frosting recipe that includes using a candy thermometer on a night when you are also making food and decorating for a party of 50 people. She and Aunt Angie owe Grandma a new stovetop!

What has Siena been up to lately?

Guest Post by Cara:


Mommy realized that it has been quite sometime since she updated on Siena. (It's probably been awhile since we've talked about MY new skills too!)

Siena talks to just about anybody now. According to Mommy and Daddy, she used to be just so shy that she wouldn't even look up at someone. Now she'll talk (albeit very very quietly) and play and sit near you! (Okay maybe if you're not a big tall guy like Uncle Nick or Uncle Ben.) She loves to tell stories and play pretend. She's also getting very good at going to the potty without any help at all. I can't believe my big sister that is so grown up.

One of the funniest things that she does right now though is in almost refusing to learn how to write her ABCs. Oh she writes. And likes to sign her name whenever Mommy does. She is actually pretty peculiar. Here are two terrible photos of some of her writing samples. She always stays on the line. In fact she loves it!







Oh and one last picture to make Uncle Marty just a little bit jealous out there on his mission and to show him that we miss him...

Remember this picture?



And now check out this picture....