a tale of four pools and other happenings

You know how sometimes you have those weeks that get away from you and you think, hmmmm, WHAT THE HELL have I been doing all week? And it feels like you have been doing absolutely NOTHING but, in reality, there has been quite a bit going on.

Like so...

(See how I did that?)

Like Monday, when Nate and I were reunited from my Girl's Trip Weekend, and I discovered the JOY of painting the house with a paintbrush and a bowl of water. It kept him occupied for nearly an hour which is A LONG TIME in toddler time.
Or Tuesday when we had our girls INAUGURAL Supper Club, complete with place cards and basil martinis and corn bread and farmer's market yum yums.
After Supper Club, we wished our friend Blake many happy goodbyes. He is leaving for his 30 month Peace Corps assignment in Namibia (wikipedia link).
Additionally on Tuesday, Karl accepted a NEW JOB as a Developer for a new company. We're both semi-pumped about it.
This picture of Karl has nothing to do with his new job but I thought you might have forgotten what he looks like. HOORAY KARL! In typical Karl fashion, a couple weeks ago, he decided to look for a job, opened the computer to MONSTER of all places (who actually finds a job through Monster.com?), applied and had four subsequent interviews in the next four/five days. THINGS ALWAYS WORK OUT LIKE THAT FOR HIM. (Jealous. Plus, well, he is super employable). Truly, we are thankful and grateful for this new opportunity and interested to see what happens next! Additionally, he will still be involved with 84boxes on the side.

(Tuesday was a big day!)

Wednesday we went shopping for one of these:
which is SCARY. (Frame only is what I'm interested in from this shot.) I see some sleepless nights in my future.

Also I had lunch with a few of my favorite Little Rock blogger ladies. We spent two hours sharing, eating, laughing and being rowdy at the fancypants Capital Bar Hotel & Grill. It was divine. I ate this:which was, in fact, worth every calorie.

Between Thursday and Sunday (today) we have visited NO LESS THAN FOUR POOLS. We also had one trip to the Zoo which bordered on CRAZY due to the heat. Don't you hate those people that look totally unsweaty and put together despite the temperature? Yea, ME TO BECAUSE I LOOK LIKE THIS:which, to say the least, is ROUGH. And maybe like I just ran a marathon instead of spending three hours at the Zoo.


Heat index today was banoodles - like 115. I love the heat and I can't help but admire my sunkissed arms and back every time I pass a mirror...though, unfortunately, that is the only part of me that is tan b/c most of our pool trips look something like this: (insert interchangeable parent where Karl is standing). More gratuitous Nate pictures to follow! Hopefully, this week will be just as full of LOVE & LIGHT! (Oh, why yes that is a RHONJ reference to wrap up the post!)

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT IS AUGUST!!

there was SO MUCH laughter.

You know that part in the movie The Breakfast Club when they make Brian Johnson (the Weird Science kid) write the detention essay for all of them and he's all "Dear Mr. Vernon... blah blah blah you see us as you want to see us... a brain, and an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal" and you're supposed to be all they're so DIFFERENT BUT YET ALL THE SAME!?!

Yes. Our college group is a bit like that. Only no one taped anyone's 'buns' together or got burned by their old man with a cigarette for spilling paint in the garage. (That I am aware.)

(Edited to add: In reviewing this, I think this analogy makes ZERO sense but I'm so happy with the 'taping the buns' reference that I'm not deleting it!)

Anyway THE POINT IS: Mike, the owner of the adorable bed and breakfast we stayed in made a comment in passing about how it was so wonderful that we all stayed friends even though our career paths couldn't be more different! And that, my friends, is true! Among the eight women there, I believe we had a doctor, a lawyer, sales person, elementary teacher, artist and administrator, production manager, internet geek, and a CFO! I find our different paths quite fun.

And you know what else? THESE GIRLS ARE FUN. And I loved having the weekend with them. And I love my husband for taking care of things (Nate) at home so I could do this.

And you know what else? BRANSON. is. ridiculous.

Hello. Welcome to Branson.

They have ENORMOUS ship museums. AND MIGHT I ADD THAT THE EXHIBIT here was called "Dogs of the Titanic." Oh, yes, it was.
We stayed on Table Rock Lake, about 20 minutes outside of Branson. We had girls from Tulsa, Little Rock, Kansas City and Dexter, MO so it was a good meeting spot!

Here was the view from our back decks:
We rented out all four rooms of the bed and breakfast which was amazing b/c we had free range to roam and laugh as loud as possible... though, um, the owners did live downstairs and they SAID we weren't too loud but at one point I remember the conversations were more like screaming than speaking.

It might have been the wine. Though I think most of us are LOUD in nature without the help of alcohol.
Saturday we did some damage at the outlet mall:
And then some damage to our livers:
Which lead to some damage to, um, our dignity? OH YES WE DID!! Jealous?

YOU WANT TO GO TO BRANSON TOO NOW DON'T YOU!?!?!

Photos courtesy of my iPhone and Jackie, whose post about our trip is WAY better than mine.

a rainbow of awesome?

I am working on a big post from my super amazing girls weekend. You shall read it SOON. (8 women. One b&b in Branson. Much wine. It's gonna be a fun read. Promise.)

In the meantime, I've been mulling over this idea in my head for awhile now and thought I'd post an image of a sketch I created this evening. I've been wanting to do some organizing of the mass quantity of books and toys in Nate's room. (Honestly, he doesn't have that much but there is no receptacle or bin to place said playthings.) I started looking online for toy boxes and was discouraged. So, I drew up my own plans. My rough sketch - please excuse - shows bookcases that would be painted in various colors with that color family of books and toys placed upon the shelves. I can't decide if I should take the time to do it for Nate's room or wait for the next nursery (whenever that may be) plans - pretty sure we'd have to bolt them to the wall either way, yes? I feel like maybe the idea is cuter in my head than it is on this sketch!

anxiety threat level ORANGE

ANXIETY THREAT LEVEL ORANGE.

Trying to pack again.

Leave in AM.

Incident with a paring knife and Nate this AM (everyone is fine; my heart is still palpitating).

My old age is preventing me from remembering all the details of our trip to St. Louis.

Erm.

There was a trip to Grant's Farm, and a wedding, and some drinks with two of my favorite people (my sister and my husband), and, uh, some playgrounding, some Ted Drewes, a mini-bday party for Nate, friend visiting, grandparent playing and movie watching. What am I forgetting here?

Let's just look at the pictures. That will be fun.

See? Mi hermana y yo with our two free and fresh Budweiser products at Grants Farm. Though we do look a leeeetle shiny, this photo does not allow you to FEEL THE HEAT. Summertime in the Midwest = swimming through the air at all times.

But look he (she) likes the heat!? Or maybe the free milks Nate is about to feed him/her. Freakish little animals.
The playgrounding. That is me and Karl speaking to each other. Ridiculous.
The Ted Drewes crack cocaine frozen custard. All the lines went back this far at all the windows. Right out into the street where the police people yelled at you.
Apparently it was too noisy for Nate? No idea what he's doing here. We can clean up for weddings. See?
An attempt at the ever-elusive Family Pic. Good thing Nate is looking at the camera.
I am leaving Nate and Karl in Little Rock this weekend for a trip with some college friends. Crossing my fingers for ZERO paring knife incidents here or there over the weekend! Or, really, EVER AGAIN.

print: it smells so good!

We have safely returned to Little Rock from our St. Louis adventures. I will be posting about the trip soon but wanted to share with you this delicious-smelling packet of paper that was waiting on my doorstep!

Please excuse my appearance. We had spent seven RAINY hours in the car today with a 2 year old. The last hour was something like this: "Mommy hold you. Daddy hold you. Sit lap Mommy. Take buckle off Mommy. Go playgrownd. Go libwawy. CHOCOLATE!!! Mommy hold you. MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLKKKKKKKK." When we finally got home and got out, we were exhausted. He, however, was just getting started.

Anyway, the point of this post is: I had part of my blog printed in book form for (no other reason but) my own personal enjoyment. I started with the year 2009. It is my intention to print every year, but I haven't gotten that far yet. I printed through blurb.com and it wound up being around $50. I'm pretty happy with the whole thing - though it took me FOREVER to get it the way I wanted it. The blurb software imports all the blog posts and images you specify and then you edit it to the layouts of your liking. The importing? Easy peasy. Creating layouts I was happy with/editing it to make sense/changing the type on every single post? Not as easy. TIME CONSUMING. But, I think, worth it to for this fine addition to my bookshelf. (Modest!)

all star break

Does anyone even watch the All-Star Game anymore? (Oh, right, does anyone watch baseball anymore?!) No? Well, then, let's all admire Nate in uniform.

I'm prepping for some serious out of town-ness (read: packing suitcases, the BANE of my existence) (and by packing suitcases I mean THINKING about packing suitcase because I haven't actually packed anything and won't until about, oh, 10 minutes prior to leaving!) and obsessively drinking coffee and doing laundry and cleaning (I know...WHAT has gotten into me?). REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ARKANSAS, ya'll. Watchout!

slip and tarp

I didn't put a post up about the 4th of July but we did make the annual slip and slide HAPPEN. Well, I should say that Karl made it happen whilst I sat around bitching about how redneck an adult slip and slide is in your front yard and why do you insist on doing this every year and on and on and on until the tarp is all soppy and covered in dishsoap and the next thing I know I am diving headfirst down it like a 12 year old.

(Warning: Your closet will in fact smell like french fries for up to two years if you use vegetable or canola oil. I know... FROM EXPERIENCE.)
Eventually, everyone will participate and there will be brackets! Winners and Losers....er Consolation Brackets!
Eventually the sound of fireworks will freak these people out and you will have a party in your bed whilst the sky explodes out of doors:

nate turns 2: part duex (the FREAKING OUT part)

So, everyone was all "Isn't it crazy that Nate is TWO?" and "I can't believe it! He's so old!" and I was all "Yea. I know. Clearly." Turning two seemed solid. No big deal. All those things I thought we be done by two (potty training, bedtime paci removal), I thought psssshaw, no rush, he's just two. He's still my sweet little boy.

And then two things happened:

1. I picked up Nate's registration packet for 'school' this fall. (He's going on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I will most likely be working part time for a bit...more on that later.) I opened it this weekend and amongst the thousands of forms (Yes, you can put sunscreen on my kid. Yes, he can have juice.) there were two that made me pause.

First, A SUPPLY LIST! A supply list PEOPLE! And not one that says like: mobile, diapers, change of clothes, wipes, picture of mom and dad. Oh no, it was a request for A BOX OF KLEENEX AND A TWO-PACK OF PAPER TOWEL ROLLS. If that doesn't scream big kid SCHOOL, I don't know what does. (Parents everywhere can attest to the toilet paper/paper towel purchases for classrooms across the country, yes?)

Right behind that, tucked in the back all innocent-like was a big paper with a number on it. For my car window. FOR THE CARPOOL LINE. (I know, I started breathing into a brown paper bag when I read it too.) I remember when I started taking Nate to school and how super envious of the carpool line I was. How nice, I thought... they don't even have to get out of their cars. And now? Well, now I think ARE YOU KIDDING ME? He's way too young, I need to walk him in myself and kiss him bye and, dear God, he's going to SCREAM BLOODY MURDER!
Ahhhhh my first time parenting worries OUT IN FULL EFFECT!!

And the second thing:

2. We had Nate's two year doctor appointment on Friday. The appointment was great (Well, great if you think Nate screaming through the whole thing like an infant is as amazing as I do. He hates the stupid thermometer under the armpit and it's all downhill from there. Not frustrating AT ALL, I swear. Additionally, I think he might remember the poking and prodding and chest x-rays from last visit, because he started in with the "go home mommy" the minute we got off the elevator. Sigh.) Well, hopefully he'll lose that fear because he doesn't have to go back UNTIL HE IS THREE. (If you haven't gotten it already, this is the fact that freaked me out.) THREE YEARS OLD. A WHOLE YEAR AWAY. A whole year of crazy development I might add. I mean, they're supposed to go every few months for a progress check, right?! I mean how am I supposed to know what percentile he's in for god's sake?!?!

And. One final note for this post. It doesn't really fit with the whole THEME of this post (you know the whole me FREAKING OUT about ridiculous things theme? What? You didn't get that?) but it was too funny not to share. At all of Nate's well visits, the patients get a book (It's part of a program to encourage reading to your babes. Hooray!) He's gotten some cute ones, and, after crying through his whole appointment yesterday THIS is the book the nurse hands me.
Bitch.

the locks to the love

On Wednesday, I cut off 12.5 inches of my long, hippy dippy hair and donated it to locks of love.
The motivation behind the drastic cut was as follows:

The pool.
The chlorine.
The still wet 2 hours later ponytail.
The tangles. (I was even breaking my poo-lessness pledge b/c of the tangles.)
The 45 minute blow dryer/straightening time.
The breaking. The splitting. Sigh.
The "your hair is so long" comments. (WHAT DOES THAT MEAN PEOPLE?)

Here it is after.
Sigh. I hate it. MAKE IT COME BACK! Nah, I'm teasing. I don't LOVE it, but it's fine. (I do love washing it and not finding twenty foot hairs on my pillow in the AM.) Plus, with the way my hair grows, I'm sure it will be back in no time.

nate is now 2.

Dude, I know I've said this before, but (in true first time mother form) THIS IS MY FAVORITE AGE.

We had a small gathering for Nate's 2nd Birthday at the house. Well, in the backyard. Where there were fans. And small pools for the swimming. And beer. And cookies. And the most delicious cheddar bacon dip on triscuts that you have ever put in your mouth. (No, seriously.)

I am not sure what to say about Nate on his birthday post because there is so much to tell that I know I won't get it all. I shall try and share a few glimpses.

He doesn't walk, he runs. Not gracefully. It occasionally makes my heart flutter as he careens narrowly by table edges and, um, walls. (Yes walls.)

He speaks in complete sentences (they don't always make sense but there is ALWAYS more than one word). Though I will admit that he speaks much more clearly than I thought he would at this age. His wordcount is WAAAAAY over the 200 words they "should be" saying by 2. (For the record, I wouldn't mind if he was only saying 2 or 20 words at this point... I try not to put too much stock into the "shoulds" but IT IS AMAZING the words he says. Like EXCAVATOR. And BACKWARDS... when he is actually going backwards... how can I not talk about that?) When he wants juice, he says "juice please mommy," when its milk, 'milk please.' ITS CRAZY HOW THIS COMMUNICATION THING WORKS! Occasionally, it's COOKIE PLEASE all day and night. Additionally, he still says the F word to describe the T word (truck). (I do hope that goes away soon.) He can identify every letter of the alphabet, most colors correctly and has memorized many lines from his favorite books. He's not so into numbers or counting.

He watches one movie - Cars and only occasionally. We've found that when we turn the TV on in the morning, Nate is whinier that day than when we leave it off. He had gotten to the point where he could identify specific episodes of Word World (PBS show) and would request them but we wouldn't always get it. (Like he would say "sand shark" and we were supposed to understand that meant the episode titled "Castle in the Sea." CLEARLY. And, when we put on the wrong episode, well, cue toddler MELTDOWN. So, now if he melts down we just turn it off. Or, better yet, we just don't turn it on at all. He does love Cars and I can assure you he knows all the characters names. (Mater Fuck is my favorite.)

He is becoming pickier in his old age regarding food. We eat a lot of waffles and fruit and the staple favs - mac n cheese, chicken fingers, etc. I can still con him into edamame, but most other green things are snubbed.

Sleep? Well, he still only sleeps 10 hours a night with a 1 to 2 hour nap... which is about what he did when he was one year of age... so, erm, not much to say about that. I'm thankful that he takes a nap at all. I wish it was more and I JUST KNOW my next child will be a marathon sleeper. HAHAHA.

He went through a brief phase were he would tell me to "go away mommy" when he and Karl were playing in the morning. (I look a fright in the AM.) It hurt my heart a little, but it has passed for the moment and now when I walk in he gives me a big hug and says "hi buddy" as he snuggles my shoulder.

Despite some meltdowns, he seems happier than he has ever been. He laughs a lot so I do too.

He has his 2 year check up next week, so I'll be sure to share any interesting details. (like the # of bowel movements he has that day. STAY TUNED!)

Here are some of the cutie pies at the par-tay:

Here are Nash and Nate sharing cake. Well, Nate decided that he wanted a cracker instead.

family featured yo

Photo courtesy of Michael Baxley for Little Rock Family

A few weekends ago I had the honor of participating in a photo shoot with the lovely folks (most that I had already met in real life through our relationships started via - gasp - the internet) pictured above for a local parenting/family magazine. (Aptly called Little Rock Family!) The full spread is titled "Meet the Bloggers: 13 Central Arkansas Bloggers You Should Be Reading" and, hey, look... squint in there...down left... it's me! See me? The one in purple? With the mis-matchy matchy turquoise shoes and the long, slightly tangled hippie hair? That's me!

I'm a blogger. You should read me.

If you already read me then, you, my friend, are clearly SUPER TRENDY and know quality when you see it. If this is your first time here, well, welcome. I blog about life. I try to include both the happy and the sad equally in this space. Feel free to stick around and 'do life' with me via the internets. And look: here is a picture of me looking really super-geeky and reading the article about myself and taking a picture of myself. Because THAT, my friends, is the kind of thing bloggers do.

(Oh and we also steal 5 (er...or so) copies of the print edition from the local bakery and put them in the post to send to our moms and dads and grandmothers and various other out of town friends and family members that just HAVE to have them.) (What?! I realize I'm almost 30 years old but it's still okay to get excited about the little things, right?! RIGHT.)

the things i learned about hosting a virtual 5K (oh and THE RESULTS)

OHMMMMGEEEE, ya'll. I have so much stuff to blog about that I'm about to burst. I'm like a child. It's sad. I shouldn't be this excited about blogging. Seriously. This is why people make fun of me.

First, I MUST SHARE the results of the Run Like Robot Virtual 5K.

I learned a few things about hosting a virtual race:

1. It's super hot for a 5K mid-June. Pick cooler temperatures.

2. Um... making iron-on tshirts - not so successful. Will have someone, um, professional do the printing for us next time.

3. Planning to put up results in a fun, creative way the week of family vacation and Nate's birthday... not so smart!

4. Like Kate said, explaining a Virtual 5K to anyone outside internet land = BLANK STARES. (Occasionally accompanied by 'she's loco' looks.)

5. Some of us, without prompting, will actually pose like robots! These were my favorite photos of the bunch, I can't lie.

Without further ado, here are the results! I have to say it was quite the thrill sending out the shirts and getting everyone's pics and stories. We have lots of different tales and I hope you will enjoy looking at them all. There are a few more that will be added as I receive them.

Oh, yea, and you know it had to have it's own robot website!


Feeling like sending you all big, sweaty post-running virtual hugs and kisses. And taking us all out for beer and burgers. (Hmmm... a virtual meal?!? HAHAHA. TOO FAR, TOO FAR. I don't need to see pictures of anyone eating. Let's stick with the running.)

internet slooooooooooooooooooow

We are HERE:

With some of these cuties:

In this cabin: (which is literally just up the hill from the river pictured above. I may or may not have made Karl put a cooler in front of our inside and locked door last night b/c I was having anxiety attacks about Nate climbing out of his pack n play, unlocking the door, and going for a moonlight swim.) (For the record he has neither climbed out of his pack n play nor opened a locked door but I.was.positive it was going to happen last night.) (I know. I have issues.)

For this:

It took me exactly 48 minutes to upload these four tiny images on the stellar internet connection in our cabin (ethernet cord included!), so, yea, all those robot pics are coming! PROMISE! (Plus I'm still waiting on two racers to email me their pics.)

In the meantime, 12 adults, 11 children aged ten and under. Nate's already bloodied his lip on a butterfly net and bruised his knee on the lawn games. It's a hard life.

well hell

I really try not to post about holidays I don't particularly care to celebrate (mothers day, fathers day, um, VALENTINES DAY) but I took this picture today at our family lunch (at the Purple Cow - the familiest of family establishments... complete with purple milkshakes) and, well, HELL, it's just so cute that I couldn't resist sharing. This boy loves his daddy.

I'm not going to vomit mushy gushey-ness all up in this space, but I have been a little mush gush as of late and feeling lucky to have a baby and a baby daddy and I have to say: Karl takes fatherhood quite seriously and is an excellent example to Nate. (I mean I only remember him standing over a crying infant once in the middle of the night lamenting "WHY ARE YOU CRYING?!?!" The rest of the time he was rocking and shushing and loving. That man could win a shushing contest.). No really, Karl did (and does) late night feedings, early mornings, bathtimes, mealtimes, diaper changes, scraped knees and relatively frequent overnights.

To this day, he is the one who gets up with Nate every single morning. (He = morning happy. Me = not so much.). He is the ONLY one who can brush Nate's teeth properly (but I can do a mean sticker dance as I help him with his teeth sticker chart) and Nate asks "where daddy" often during our days. They vacuum together (my husband is OCD about vacuuming; remind me to tell you about it sometime) and do yardwork together even though it would be much faster for Karl to do it without Nate tagging along.

You can stop vomiting now!

Karl and I have been working on a special presentation for our Run Like Robot participants and I really think ya'll (see how I did that? YA'LL.) are going to like it!

run like robot TODAY

Today is the day to run like a robot if you are participating!

I've already received a few images! Here are Meredith and Shannon! I will add some details about their races (and all the races) as soon as I get all the deets. (Don't you hate when people say DEETS for details?)



AND IN BAD ROBOT NEWS, Karl washed his shirt and this happened (I did wash all the shirts before creating them so they are good to wear straight out of the envelope):

(I swear I tell him NOT to do laundry. He washed it on Max Extract (which is a fun name for a laundry setting) and didn't turn it inside out. I washed mine (which is like Shannon's above; transparent background) and it came out fine. I am partial to the shirts with the white background myself so I am HOPING they don't all do that or I will cry. I used the exact same materials that I made the Linda and Libby 10K shirts with and I've washed that shirt thousands of times with no ill effect, but apparently maybe not true for the robot shirts? Sad and apologies if it happens to yours! Next time, we'll have shirts printed. Like at a printer.

Get out there and RUN! It's 101 degrees here - what are you complaining about!?!