Post of the Day Award

So, the newly annointed "Post of the Day Award" goes to a fun friend from Charlottesville. Melin has an amazing knack for writting exactly what motherhood feels like, making me laugh with one sentence, and cry over the sweetness of it all on the next. She also happens to be one of the best moms I know and has darling kids.

But most of all, she wins the award today because we've all been there...

This doozie is little C's painting of me for his preschool Mother's Day Tea. The
paintings of all the moms were up with no names. We were supposed to guess
who was who. Obviously I didn't guess "the angry" mom first but went for the
mom in the blue shirt, or green shirt, etc. But apparently this is how
little C views me. Very angry.

So when people ask me how I manage 4 kids under age 5...with anger is what I'll say.

And part two here:

Return of the Beast

Today we had a discussion, prompted by a question from Mms, about who the
Devil was. Basically I said the Devil was someone who wants us to do bad things,
unlike Jesus who wants us to do good things that make us happy.

A rather enjoyable day was finished off by a lot of whinning, crying and
little C throwing an enormous tantrum to which I gave him a spank on his
bum.

During dinner a few moments later.

"Hey, I'm sorry I spanked you. I shouldn't have done that."
"Thats ok mom." little c.
"Yeah, you were just acting like Satan again." Mms.
"Thanks Mms."

The luckiest...

The big 3-Oh was much more painless than I thought it was going to be!:) In great anticipation for the good Cougar football season, Casey had bought a rather large television and signed up for cable, which I jokingly referred to as "My birthday present". Poor guy must have felt a little bad--who knows, maybe the guilt helped motivate him to make this birthday the best ever!!

He threw a great barbecue in the backyard, taking care of every detail from invites, shopping, cooking, setting up and clean-up. Are you kidding me?!? What a terrific guy! The kids really were so great--Tyler every once in a while throughout the day would just come up to me and say, "Mom?" "Yeah, Tyler?" "Happy Birthday!"

That, and the fun afternoon that I got to spend scrapbooking with my aunts & cousins--some of the ladies that have been the biggest influences in my life. What more could a girl ask for?!?

Seriously--I would turn 31 today if I could recreate such a great day!

Preschooler

Big T ready for preschool! The first day went great! We celebrated with a hike around Silver Lake.

Good luck Miss Erickson!

Good Morning Sunshine!

Seriously...could I ask for a happier face to wake up to?