Here's hoping!

Last fall on our way to the Arbonne Cancun trip, Nicole and I walked by a troop of military men in the airport. The soldier guy in charge (not trying to be disrespectful, just have no idea what rank he was) of the troop was calling all the guys to line up to board the plane. He wasn't shouting or straining his voice AT ALL and yet Nicole and I had to pause our conversation because we couldn't hear each other. It was powerful.

I looked at Nicole (who has a son Eliot's age) and said, "Do you think his mother went crazy trying to get him to quiet down all the time?" Since then whenever Eliot's behavior is driving me crazy, I've been trying to put a positive spin on it. Hoping that perhaps the things he's naturally good at (that drive me ka-zonkers) will turn out to be a blessing? Anyone? Like maybe Shaun White's mom had to repeat "Stop flipping off the couch!" 800 times a day?

Like maybe Eliot will be a ground-breaking sound effects creator? Or maybe his obsession with spoilers on cars will turn into a love for aerodynamics?

Like when he's grown and doing what-have-you and his employer/professor/whatever says how natural he is at ______, will Russ and I look at each other and smile knowing how an element of that used to drive us crazy?

Any mothers further down the road noticing this?

Bits of my weekend, vol. 9

***If you have a blog and you're not doing Bits of My Weekend yet, I highly encourage it! I am LOVING it! (as you can tell, the posts get longer and longer...)


Friday night was haircut time! Woot!

Saturday we tried a new recipe. E enjoyed the first step...


This isn't quite what they're supposed to look like. This was what was salvaged from all attempts. There was no resuscitating that recipe. I had visions of this being a spring tradition, Eliot calling from college, asking me to send up some of our baseball cookies we make every spring...
We gave up and had a couple of these instead, I'll send him some of those in college:



Saturday night was gorgeous so we went to Forest Park (a huge perk of living in STL) to fly a kite.



Eliot and friend D keeping themselves occupied at Russ' kickball game Sunday afternoon.


Eating peanuts at Roadhouse with Dad! (Sidenote: when I called my Mom to see if she was enjoying her Mother's Day, she said, "Yes, Dad took me out back."
Um...pause..."What?" Then I remembered she loves going TO Outback. Remind me to tell you about my hearing issues as of late...)


Hope you had a great weekend!

For more Bits of My Weekend from around the country, click here!

Happy Mother's Day, v2!

This time to my mom(s)!




I love you ladies!

Happy Mother's Day!

Spontaneous Combustion of Fun.

Ten minutes before bedtime Eliot requested a kickball game. Our neibs were outside and joined in. Eliot was in heaven.

In our kickball league, the pitcher ALWAYS high-fives the kicker for a job well done.


Daisy was not very helpful on defense...

Look at that form!

Dear Sports Illustrated, feel free to contact me for my athletic artistic viewpoints.

Coming soon to a Guatemala near you!

These headbands from Amanda at AppleBlue Blog & Shop



She gave me a killer deal on these since they're going to adorn some cute Mayan heads very soon!! I can't wait! I wanted to bring something that's different from anything I've seen in the markets there and immediately thought of these cute head bands.

Postscript: Amanda at AppleBlue is doing a very cool giveaway that ends on the 10th! Go!

OhHowIHateOhioState?

(I grew up in Michigan, so you understand...)

In case you're having a long week, here's a couple of videos that I've seen this week that entertained me. You know, if you're living in a hotel, constantly administering meds, trying to figure out flood insurance claims, or whathaveyou, maybe GLEE meets FlashMob will be what takes your mind off of it.

Or perhaps you like a good TrunkMonkey?

Or may I offer you a tasty FE song and video?

Your turn!

If you are AT ALL interested in the foster system, questions, wondering, etc, there's an informational meeting this Saturday in St. Louis. This is with an agency that we trust and love and heavily support.




They do ask that you register beforehand so they know how many to expect. Click here to check out more info and to register. This is strictly informational, you won't be committing to anything by attending or be handed a kid on your way out the door. Although, you might feel this excited by the time you leave...

Bits of my weekend, vol. 8

Friday night? Playing w/ tornadoes and getting stuff ready for the bake sale at E's school.

This might be my first follow-up on a previous Bits of my weekend, but look at vol 2, we watched them build the nest and now we have little fuzzy friends! (not pictured: me singing "Circle of Life" and Eliot saying, "No thanks, mom.")

We hung out at the school's garage sale for a bit and then around the neighborhood to see if we could score any other good deals. Like this beanie baby. Total. score. (ugh.)

After Eliot lost all faith in the phrase "Just one more yard sale..." we headed to the zoo. I LURVE that our zoo is not only amazing but free. So, spending less than 2 hours there before naptime doesn't cost us Eliot's college education. We zip in, check out a few things and zip back out. Done and done.

Since it's free admission, once in awhile we spring for something cool like petting sting rays...

...aaaaand there's $3 I'll never get back.


What's better than me in gray cotton? A chocolate chip in gray cotton acting like a tiger.

Sunday we got the special treat of going to the Cards game, our first of this season, and wouldn't you know, it was free bat day for kids. 15,000 HEAVY, wooden bats + kids = REALLY?!? Crime rate? Anyone?

Our friend Sara!

Do you see those 2 birds on the wire above? Eliot pointed those out to us to let us know they were watching the baseball game.

GUESS WHO LOVES THE WAVE?! YES!!




Playing imaginary baseball with our new weapon, I mean, bat at Margie's house after dinner.

Dana and Joe!



For more Bits of my Weekend from around the country, click here!

In case you needed a reminder:

Heed their advice at the bottom of the screen.