This is Not Okay...

So, you saw this picture from yesterday...

Well, she was like this when I left the room...

..and I came back and she was like this...

..and this...

I yelled at her and told her that it was illegal in 5 states and 11 countries and I would bring her proof if she needed it. 4 month olds have no business doing this rolling over stuff. It is overrated. Her older siblings NEVER rolled over and proudly just licked the carpets until they were at least 9 months old.

I am so screwed. and sad.
xoxo,t

Amazon Winner!!!

From Random.org's True Random Number Generator Result: 7

Congrats to Amanda!! You have won the amazon.com gift certificate. Please contact me at tracymorrison@comcast.net to claim your prize!

Amanda has a beautiful new baby at home and I am sure would love to do most her shopping on-line this season.

" Amanda said...

hey tracy, two weeks out from having little ella, and in the "eye of the storm" of breastfeeding, i am thankful for a few things: my mom being here to cook and clean our house, my hubby for sitting up with ella after i've fed her and can stand up no longer, and red wine for just getting me through this very difficult, and yet very sweet phase. happy thanksgiving! ;)"

Thank you everyone for the sweet comments and I hope you all had a great weekend with family.

Love you, xoxo, t

On our Day of Thanksgiving...

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

I had this great plan that I would take pictures all day of our lovely, and quiet Thanksgiving.

....but life took over and my camera sat collecting dust on the hutch.

I had a very cranky baby, a very sick big girl, I was cooking the meal(which I love doing), and thus a very bored 4 year old. I would like to announce that our TV was on for 13 hours straight and I was okay letting that go.


But we did a little baking to keep Esther occupied.

My hands were full. That is also why we did not have homemade whipped cream.
But my heart was full too.

I did catch a few kisses.

..and a break from laying on the couch for a project with Papa.

It was a perfect day even without all of the pictures, and it is fully captured in pictures in my heart.

xoxo, t

P.S. My blog giveaway for an amazon.com gift card is still going on until Sunday. Click here and comment to enter.

Thank YOU!!!..and a contest...

Thank you, all of my 12 readers for reading my blog..being my friend and putting up with my serious issues. Thank you for laughing with me and for not taking me too seriously...

..and thank you for commenting from time to time. It strokes my ego, and isn't that what blogging is really all about at times. ;)

So, as a special THANK YOU!!! I have a $25 amazon.com gift certificate for ONE OF YOU!!!!

Just make a comment on this post about what you are thankful for, what you ate for Thanksgiving or what color your hair is today. Or just say "hey, I am a lurker and you are insane but I want $25." Anything goes - just comment to enter.

You have until 6pm central time this Sunday night 11/29. Winner will be announced on Monday.

xoxo,t

Tuesday Macarena...

Esther came home dancing the Macarena.

I guess that is what they learn in preschool these days.

Score! I love that place.

She was shocked that I jumped in and started doing it with her.

"Mom - you know it too"

"Yes, I learned it a long time ago."

"When you were a little girl?"

"No, I was in my late 20's I guess."

"You mean back in the Pioneer Days, Mom?"

"Yes sweetie, I danced the Macarena in my bonnet while plowing the fields with my oxen."

xoxo, t

PW take deux...

So I have now had 2 days to digest my PW meeting.

I still cannot remember a dang thing I said to her.

So, since I cannot pick apart the words I said - let's take a look at a few more pictures and pick apart those...

First the good - I did wear my dark wash skinny jeans with they tucked nicely into my red Lucchese's. Ree liked that. She tucked in her jeans that day too. See, we are like "this".

Astrid is a very serious baby. She is upset she slept through her whole time on stage though and missed out on her 5 minutes of fame.

Kristi was very surprised about something. I have no idea what. I will let her explain after she kills me for posting this picture.

I know I have a wide face, but it just dawned on me that my eyes are too close together and perhaps if they were spaced normally, my face would not look so wide?

I am still shocked that Kristi was not tackled, mobbed and ejected from the Mall after this stunt. See how she is talking to Astrid in the stroller like she is so innocent?

What I love about Marlboro Man is that he can multi-task..see he handles large equipment, takes pictures and controls the punks all at the same time. Other men take notes - see 2 hands, you CAN do at least 2 things at once.

Just to clarify, yes Astrid is alive here...just sound asleep - shocking, and no I am not nursing.

Also - look at PW's make-up. It rocks. Perhaps she can help us with make-up tips sometime? Seriously, I need help. ..and her hair, what products does she use? These were the important things I was thinking while I was sitting with her.


...and to just embarrass myself a bit more - we ran into Edward on our way out of the mall.

For legal purposes, I must make the following statement: For the record - Charlie(Kristi's 12 year old son) would like you to know that he was REALLY REALLY embarrased by his mom and her friend taking this picture. He had NOTHING to do with it and will not be seen with us EVER again.

..and I am holding Edwards hand - get your mind out of the gutter.
xoxo,t

Confessions of a Minnesota Woman Who Stood in Line for 3.5 Hours...

So I stood in line yesterday for 3.5 hours to get a cookbook signed. That is what we told the curious onlookers at MOA yesterday. People would come by and be like "hey, who is coming, and what are all you beautiful women(okay, I made that up, they didn't say that - but did you see the beautiful women there???) doing in line?"

We said calmly "to get our cookbooks signed"..and then with typical Minnesota exuberance, we put our hands sheepishly over our months as we screamed "AND TO MEET REE DRUMMOND THE PIONEER WOMAN!!!!!" And then we made loud, obnoxious giggling sounds.

Okay, I did that, but I know there must have been others.

I have to say that in my almost 41 years on this earth, I have never stood in line for 3.5 hours for anything.

Not even for the Wii when it came out 3 years ago. Or for the EGGO waffle shortage currently happening. My kids have to settle for toast and board games.

Kristi, Astrid and I arrived at 10am and were 30th in line. Ree came out promptly at 1pm and we were sitting with Ree by 1:40.

I went up to the 3rd floor to snap a shot of the growing crowd.

Kristi yelled out "hey there is REE" and pointed to me and the ladies turned around and started screaming.

Mean Kristi.

It was a delightful 3.5 hours. We chatted with our line neighbors, I excused myself to Nordstrom's well appointed lounge twice to nurse. We drank coffee. Astrid napped. We waited. We sweated(well I did) with anticipation of the meeting, the enormous crowd, and the warm baby attached to my body.

Do you see the sweat?

Astrid hung out on the dirty floor, because yes I am that good of a mom. I love germs and dirty floors, and so do my kids.

Ree is lovely. Just lovely and warm. Soft spoken, warm smile, beautiful and well, just lovely. She patiently signed my many books that I purchased for the girls teachers this year and she even signed my red Lucchese boots.

I asked her if she could sign my "boots" and I was so nervous that I think I might have said "boobs" - I hope not as that would have been very embarrassing.

I slept with them last night and dreamed of the country.

I need counseling.

I also found that when I am THAT nervous, I say NOTHING. I just sat and nodded my head with a cheesy smile on my face. It was bad, really bad. Good thing that Kristi receives the gift of gab when she is nervous, because she eloquently had a conversation with Ree while I just sat there holding my cute baby.

Cheesy smile - exhibit A.

..and we got to meet Marlboro Man and the boy punks too. Can I just say her boys are beautiful. The best part - SHE DRESSES THEM ALIKE. I got the vapors a bit when I saw that. Now that is a woman after my own heart.

Thanks so much for coming to the North Country, Ree. Safe travels. See you next time.

xoxo,t

TGIF..

For most of us anyway...

Have a great weekend - I'll be back to report on my Pioneer Woman encounter. Wish us luck tomorrow. Have red cowgirl boots, will travel.
xoxo,t

So here is something you don't hear me say very often...

I took the girls to church on Sunday.


..hello...hello...Bueller...anybody still out there...it's me Tracy, really...

Mass actually...

...hello...anybody?

This is coming from the disgruntled ex-Catholic, former Methodist, ex-boyfriend is now a Baptist minister, wannabe Jew, stalker of Mormon mommy blogs, eternally agnostic lady.

I had a good excuse - one of my besties up and got her baby boy baptised.

Fashion pause here.

Do you see my friend T looking fine in her DvF wrap dress? Let's just take a moment here to admire and sigh in all of it's glory.

ahhhhh...looking fine....

Anyway, He was there too. It was good to see Him, it had been awhile. The church was beautiful.

Have you ever noticed that His eyes follow you everywhere. When I was little, our Hispanic neighbors had a huge portrait of Jesus in their living room. His eyes followed me everywhere I went. I used to peek out from their kitchen to see if I could catch Him looking away...but nope, there He was staring me down again. I even used to hide behind their couch and pop up real quick like to throw Him off. It never worked. It used to FREAK ME OUT. I always behaved at their house.

xoxo,t

I have Butterflies in my Belly...

..and it is almost as exciting as going to my first high school dance.

Except I do not plan on wearing blue taffeta, blue eyeshadow, aqua net, or white tights.

Guess who is coming to Minnesota this Saturday?

My blog idol is coming(well actually my 2nd blog idol, after Michelle)...I would totally wear taffeta if Michelle was coming to Minnesota.

The Pioneer Woman is coming for a book signing. I am so there. This is seriously even better than trying to meet Gwen Stefani.

I have been fretting for 2 weeks about what I will wear, what I will say and will I sweat profusely enough to need a change of outfits before it is my turn to meet her.

Will she notice me, will she notice my baby, will she notice my red Lucchese boots? Will Astrid scream at her if she tries to hold her. If Astrid cries, will I?

Should I camp out, should I camp out with my baby, what time should I get in line? Should I bring coffee? Wine? Presents? Breath spray? How many books? Hair up or down? Skinny jeans or bootcut?

It's hard to be almost 41 and so insecure. But hot damn...2 1/2 days til PW is HERE. I even bought new mascara.

xoxo,t

Great Expectations...

I think I forgot to tell you all that Eloise moved schools for first grade? Did I mention it?

We were very scared to send our shy, quiet and easy to frighten 5 year old into the big-big world for kindergarten, so we chose a small parochial school for her. It was just what she needed to gain a year of confidence and love under her belt. Sister Sara was the perfect teacher and Eloise had the perfect year.

We left our small, safe, Catholic school this year and entered the big, scary, big city public school system. We made this change for several reasons - money, we aren't Catholic, and we felt that Eloise could benefit from a more challenging and diverse environment. (i.e. not hanging out with just a bunch of white kids, and to be at a school with some amazing educational resources).

Eloise tested into the city's Gifted and Talented Magnet school. Because she is perfect, brilliant and our daughter. amen.

After crying for the first two weeks of school - me, not her...we have now settled into an amazing rhythm and school is good. Eloise is happy, having fun, learning amazing things and is challenged daily. She is taking theatre classes, violin, art, social studies, and science...besides the 3 "R's". First grade is amazing and on steroids.

We had our first conference last week though, and I have to say I am amazed by what we expect of our first graders. I still have my 1st grade report card where I received all "E's". Eloise's report came home with many E's but many P's too.(excelling vs. proficient.) I was horrified by this less than perfect report about my baby.

Yes, I am turning into one of those parents.

Turns out at this school you can only earn an E if you are working at least 2 grade levels ahead on that subject. Really?

So here is my baby working on 2nd grade math and only earning a P.

But she is also my 6 year old baby reading at a 5-6th grade level and earning an E. I love her.

At the end of the conference, her teacher gave us the mandatory sentence on "what she needs to work on."

For Eloise - really, this is what her teacher said..."Eloise needs to work on her presentation skills." Yes, really. In first grade. I remember working on that in 7th grade. Now you have to give eloquent presentations in 1st grade.

At this rate, I am assuming she will be going to college when she is 12.
xoxo,t

Hand-me-downs...

Now that we have 3 girls, everyone always says "oh you are so lucky to have all girls so you can hand down their clothing."

This is usually followed by a loud snort by Jed and an obnoxious coughing fit.

Oh sure, I hand them down alright - just not to my own kids.

I prefer new.

I am a snob.

I am okay with that.

I have only kept each girls' coming home outfits, and 2 sets of the Oilily Matroushka Doll dress and tights set...and have bought 2 more USED sets of the same off eBay. That is all I have saved.

I put this used Oilily set Astrid yesterday and fell in love all over again. Somethings are worth saving...but not much.

Do you save your kids clothing. Do you hand-me-down to your own kids? Or are you a new clothing only snob like myself?

xoxo, t.

...and Friday Came...

I am assuming that Astrid read my blog when she woke up at 3am and felt bad.

So she took a 2 1/2 hour nap today. (Yes, all at one time.)

When she woke up.

We dressed her up like an old lady and made fun of her. It's fun to laugh at and make fun of babies because they have no clue and just smile back at you. (hint, don't make fun of your 6 year old - they cry and don't get my humor at all...)

The doorbell rang and one of my blog readers, who started off as a customer and has ended up as a dear friend stopped by with empathy, wine, chocolate and coffee, and a hug and NO advice. I love her.

We posed Astrid with the goodies and made fun of her some more.(She likes the wine...)

The best part of the day - reading all of your sweet and funny comments to let me know that motherhood ain't for cowards or wimps, that it DOES SUCK some days and that is totally okay to admit. I hate perfect moms and I think I will make a bumper sticker saying so. We have all been there and it's okay. There is always tomorrow.

Today I read to my kids, I played games, I finished my work, I did 4 loads of laundry, made dinner, and I laughed a lot and felt warm and fuzzy by your comments as they really were a sweet, warm embrace to me.

..and here I sit in my quiet house with my wine. Life IS good.

xoxo and an extra xo today. Have a great weekend. t.