Crazy, Beautiful Life....

I will blog more.  I will blog more.  I will blog more.  I keep thinking if I say it, it'll happen.  You remember, "If you build it, they will come"? The title of this post basically sums up my surroundings.  At the moment, I'm trying to mother and wife (I can use that as a verb, right?), friend, daughter, sister, teach and study, all while maintaining some level of cleanliness and sanity in my home.  Piece of cake, right?  I understand that, most of the time, I seem to be turning these blog posts into A. bitch sessions or B. "woe is me" sessions.  Here's the deal.  No one has time to hear me bitch or complain around here.  You are a captive audience.  So there.  And, yes, I understand that I just used the "B" word twice.  I searched for other options but couldn't find any that quite fit the bill.  Apologies in advance.  Enough with the "B" attitude.  How about some pictures of my precious girls to lighten the mood?

I've been back on the "healthy cooking" kick around here.  Hanna hates my guts, but everyone else is cooperating.  My Chlo is literally the "world's best eater". She had a wonderful babysitter, who cooked and fed her real food every day.  Hence the love of broccoli. 

We spent some real time with Bill's best friend and his girls.  Seriously, how many people can say they have the same best friend after 35 years? (More on that topic later).  His sweeties, Langley and Lillian, are stair steps in the middle of my girls and they all had the best time together.  

One of those heart smiling moments for sure.  

This is Chloe with her buddy, Molly.  Long story short, Chloe went to the bathroom with Molly AND helped her get cleaned up.  You can complete the rest of the story on your own.  Molly's mom, Becky, and I were laughing SO hard we had tears.  In Becky's words "Chloe is a REALLY, REALLY good friend!"

Chloe went to her buddy, Emma's, Princess Tea Party a few weeks ago.  It was really one of the cutest things I've ever seen.  Ten 6-year old girls, princess dresses, finger sandwiches.  However, the zillions of dollars of antiques surrounding them sent me into palpitations a time or two.  You've met my girl, right?

We cheered on the Herd against ECU.  We won.  Chlo walked in the door and began to make her concession stand check list.  Blue snow cone was obviously at the top.  

On MLK Day, Chloe announced that she wanted to go "hit some balls".  Daddy jumped straight up to head outside.  She seriously drove this ball at least 50 yards.  Finished her swing.  

Bill looked like the cat that ate the canary.  

I turned 34 last weekend.  Yep, I said it.  And survived it.  I've shed the typical "I'm looking old and fat" tears, but I'm basically over it now.  Sweet friends took me to dinner Saturday night to celebrate.  We had an old women date which consisted of my favorite things:  dinner, book store and Starbucks.  I came home to find my entire family down for the count, so these little gems made up the remainder of my evening.  Side note:  "Beautiful Disaster" is one of my favorite books from the past 10 years.  It's not very academic, but man, is it fun to read! I seriously started it on Thursday (home with a sick Chlo) and read ALL day until the evening.  I think it made me feel young.  Whatever the case, I'm counting the days until the sequel comes out. 

Driving to Hanna's game the other evening, this little gem came on 90's on 9.  Yep, Color Me Badd.  I took this pic for my BFF, Sara.  We both had this cassette, most likely purchased from Hill's.  Mine broke I played it so much.  She and I actually had a lengthy text convo the other evening about Boys II Men and how many members they had.  She text me yesterday morning to tell me "Motownphilly" was playing in her gym locker room.  Little things make my day. 

We got a little snow.  Chloe was ready to head outside.  I could eat her up.  

Trying to redeem my Mommy love, I made homemade cinnamon sugar doughnuts for above mentioned snowy morning.  They loved me a little bit extra.  I do whatever I can around here. 

Upon inserting these photos, I realized that my Hanna seems to be left out in the cold in the photo area.  Let me clear things up:  She's almost a teenager and hates to have a picture taken.  Period.  Refuses to smile, most times, when I do talk her into it.  So there.  I'm not a Mama that plays favorites.  I don't think Chloe is cuter.  She's just more accepting of my photo taking madness.

To update you on my new year's resolutions:  Eating healthier, hitting treadmill when I can, and haven't bitten my fingernails in a month.  That's right.  Peeps who know me know this is HUGE.  I must say that I am super proud of my hub.  He's been "treadmilling" every evening.  This is major.  Not complaining about my baked, not fried, dinners.  I think he's actually on board.  I could kiss him when I think of his lack of complaining lately.

Also, crazy cleaned out my closet, my kitchen cabinets and my living room tables just this weekend.  It's amazing what makes me crazy happy.

Here's to a week filled with two hour delays for school, treadmill time, healthy eating, lots of hugs and smooches and little to no "B" time.