girlymama

yee-haw, cowgirls!

Ellie and Grace went to Hannah's birthday party today, which was held at Sandy Hill Farm. They learned to ride ponies and went on a 20 minute trail ride! I was convinced that Ellie was going to chicken out. Just like she does every time at the zoo when Grandma offers to shell out the $5 for a pony ride. She always gets up close to the pony, says, "No way!" and runs back to Mama. So all week, I have been building this up. We're going to be cowgirls! Wow! Ponies! Fun!
        
To say that the girls loved it does not begin to describe it. Can you just see the expression of absolute, total glee on Ellie's face? They were beyond excited and had an amazing time. They have talked about the ponies nonstop ever since and are already asking when they can go riding on their ponies again. (Luckily they are not asking us to buy them one yet.) No tee-ball for these two. They only like expensive hobbies, apparently ;-)

Grace technically wasn't supposed to ride, but another girl wimped out so she got to go. Little bugger went bonkers. She loved riding. Was not the least bit afraid of this creature that outweighed her by about 500 pounds. When the pony stepped on her foot, she just said, "Excuse me, Horsie. Please get off." I walked her pony for her, since she couldn't steer and she talked the entire. time. "Mommy, I love my horsie. And my horsie loves me. And she is so nice and she loves me and I love her and I love to ride horsies and my horsie loves it when I ride on her and she likes to eat snacks just like me, I think she likes apples, but I know that she loves me so much and I love her and I love to ride on her just like a cowgirl and she is so nice and I love her....." (The lady who owned the farm was walking a baby pony right behind us and she thought Grace was hysterical. Then she started telling me about the summer camps they offer, since she just loved to ride so much....)

So, fun day. We'll have to go again, since Husband wasn't able to make it. (Husband is off having a Man Day of golfing, NCAA Basketball, poker, watching 300, drinking beer, eating steak, etc). And I wasn't able to get any really good pictures because I was too busy keeping Grace's pony in line, who was a little rambunctious. She was the smallest horse, but the most energetic (Hey! Just like Gracie!) so she liked to try and leave the trail, randomly turn in a circle, etc.  I had to use my muscles to keep her on the trail. Grace thought it was hilarious and kept saying, "Faster, Horsie! Let's run away!"

epiphany

I have been trying to diet off and on this year. And I swear I have been gaining and losing the same 5 pounds all year.  So I started thinking about it. Its just 5 pounds, after all. And there have been days when I've gained or lost them in a single day. (Seriously. My scale is whack.) I also realized that how I feel (fat or skinny) was pretty unrelated to those 5 pounds. What does make me feel fat or skinny is whether or not I'm working out or slacking off. That's the difference for me. So that means:
Pro: I can stop obsessing about food. Within reason, naturally. This is good, since I'm a horrible dieter. I love to cook, I love to eat and when I try to eat less I don't feel very good. I think I'm hypoglycemic. Plus, I normally eat pretty healthy, if you don't count M&Ms.
Con: I have to exercise.*

So I'm going to try eating normally and just work out more and see what happens. Its worked so far. I'm at the bottom of my 5-pound-range, have worked out 4 times and I'm feeling pretty good about the ol' bod. Plus I'm enjoying eating without obsessing. (Much. I'm always obsessing slightly. But, hey - that's me.)

*I can hear DCRmom's shudder from here. No! Not exercise! Gah!

things i love

* spring. its coming! finally!

* when the laundry is all done, ironed, folded and put away. (this rarely happens...)

* when my kids ask, "can we go to disney someday? pleeeeze, mommy and daddy?" and they have no clue that they are going next week. they're. going. to. DIE!
* finding a pair of jeans on the clearance rack that not only fit, but make my butt look spectacular, if i do say so myself.

* flip flops. because it is finally SPRING!

i know i didn't just see that

I just caught Ellie using my silk drapes as a napkin. Silk drapes. As a Nap. Kin.

If this had happened yesterday, she'd probably be dead right now.

my man

At the dinner table tonight:
Husband: So, do I look buff?
Me: What?
Husband: Do I look buff? I added weights to my workouts this month.
Me: Oh. Yeah, now that you mention it. Your biceps look great.
Husband: Yeah. You'll have to take a baseball bat to the beach with you this summer.
Me: Why?
Husband: smugly To beat off all the other women.

what a grump!

Seriously, what is wrong with this girl? She is being such a grump and is driving me crazy! Everything annoys her and she is being such a brat! And by 'her' I mean me.
I am incredibly grumpy today and cannot for the life of me figure out why. Its not "that time of the month." I got fairly good sleep last night. I'm not sick. I'm just... grumpy.
My poor kids. They have faced my wrath all day - they keep being thrown in time-out because I needed them to get away from me so I can swear under my breath... grumble in peace... calm myself down. (Seriously, I NEVer swear, and I have caught myself twice this morning.)
To be fair, they have been arguing over everything all day. Including what color they are going to dye their Easter eggs: "I'm having pink eggs." "Well, I'm having blue eggs!" "Pink!" "Blue!" "MOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!" Me: "Why are you arguing about something so stupid? Go watch TV and, for pete's sake, be quiet for two minutes." (Stellar parenting tactic, right there. You may want to write that one down.)
Then I spent half an hour putting together the easel Ellie got for her birthday. And I clearly said, "Don't touch until Mommy comes back." I came back two minutes later to find Ellie drawing on the white board with non-white board markers while Gracie drew on the chalk board side with markers. That was such a big time-out. For me as well. It took a piece of chocolate to help me get over that one. Tequila might have done a better job, but it was 10am.
Anywho, I decided to lay down during the girls' naps and immediately fell sound asleep for over an hour, so maybe I'm just tired. Maybe I have cabin fever, since my van in getting its state inspection today, I am without wheels. Maybe it has to do with Husband's phone call at 9am telling me this little inspection was going to cost over $400. Cause its not like we're going to Disneyland next week or need money for anything. I hate cars.

Alright. I need to shake this off, snap out of it and walk worthy. The words of 1 Corinthians 13, which has been coming up in all sorts of sermons and Bible Studies lately, perhaps because God is trying to remind me of something. Let me just bold all the things that I am doing particularly poorly at today to remind myself how I should be loving my children.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV

Okay. Here goes.

Update: Doing better :-) Husband said to get take-out for dinner, kids are in bed and he just delivered me a large glass of red wine to drink while I blog and watch Friends.

a must read and my newest headache

 

You must read my brother's account of Monday morning when my car was dead and my manly husband and brother tried to jump it, which resulted in smoke, but luckily his perfectly feminine girlfriend stepped in and told them how to do it properly. Hilarious.
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Ellie's new thing is jumping down the stairs. She started jumping down one stair. Now she has progressed to two or three. It always sounds like this:
Ellie: And here I go! Two whole steps! One, Two Three, JUMP!
*CRASH*
Ellie: Yayy! I did it!
Stay tuned for the day she says "Five whole steps!" and the "crash" is followed by hilarious blog post about our adventures in the ER.
To top this new skill off, after spending some time with 6-year-old twin boys, my girls are now into wrestling. I'll come in the room and they are totally going at it, rolling all over the floor, kicking and screaming, yet somehow laughing at the same time. They think its hilarious. Its like, "Daddy's home!" Wrestle. "Give your sister a kiss good night!" Wrestle. "Belle!!" "No, Cinderella!" Wrestle. I thought I wasn't going to have to deal with this having girls. It should be tea parties, princesses and moodiness. None of this wrestling nonsense.
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And a funny quote from my little sister's blog for all you stay-at-home moms:
"So today I had my first Anthropology class, one that focuses mainly on the development of women in society. A lot of writing, but regardless, it seems like it will be an okay class.
That is except that everyone in my class is a hard-core feminist. Me on the other hand? I have no problem lounging around the house all day while the men work. Especially if there are bon-bons involved."
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Must run, as we're off to Target this morning to do some shopping for our vacation next week. Necessities only, I swear, since we need to save wads of cash to buy $7 ice cream cones in Disney. Only what we absolutely need.
Update: What? Carpis are necessary! And I could not resist buying Grace this and this. I'm only human!!!

manipulation, i mean, creativity in action

Today at Bible Study, the girls each got a bag of jelly beans from their teachers. They were so excited. (Until, of course, Ellie [right] saw how many more jelly beans Grace [left] had.) On the way home they were talking in the back seat while I was driving and after a bit, Ellie announced to me:
"Mommy, we love to share. We love to share so much. We're going to put our jelly beans together and share them with each other. Isn't that nice how we love to share?"

Yeah. Grace totally just got played.
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Then after cleaning up from lunch I came upstairs to find this:

Quote from the kids: "Look, Mama, we're farmers sowing our hay!" Clever. Who invented Easter grass? Because I am going to go their house and spread 286 pounds of it all over their floors and see how they like it. Or I'll just spread it all over my father's house, since he's the one who gave them these Easter baskets. It. Is. Everywhere.

(Notice the pants on the floor of that picture. Now that it is over 65 degrees outside, my kids are once again trying to be nudists. Seriously. What is wrong with these kids? These are the same girls who - in about 10 years - will be begging for $200 jeans and $50 t-shirts.)

rated M for 'mom'

Okay, Moms. Has this happened to you?

Now, I've never been in to horror movies, but I love movies. Pretty much all types. Our Netflix queue is almost 300 movies long. But ever since I've become a mom, I have become more sensitive to certain movies. Like last night, Husband was watching Blood Diamond, which focused on genocide and civil war in Sierra Leone. The opening scene is a violent attack on a village by 'soldiers.' After 2 minutes I had to leave. I couldn't take it - too much for me. This has happened with other movies that I've watched that I'm forgetting at the moment.... Like Cry Freedom, that ends with a massacre of schoolchildren. I remember being up all night after that one. I just can't take watching stuff like that!
Maybe its because I'm a mom? Maybe the thought of being in a situation like that with my children... I don't know. Has anyone else found themselves feeling this way since becoming a mom? Am I just nuts? Cause that's totally possible.

Sort of unrelated, but we Netflixed Casino Royale this weekend. Holy heck, that is a great movie. I just love James Bond, even if he is a chauvinistic man-slut. (See, that kind of violence doesn't bother me. I'm totally desensitized to stuff like that!)

its all about the bag

Stephanie at Adventures in Babywearing (via Musings of a Housewife) has a Monday Photo Tag.  It involves showing off our handbags.  She wants to know what we carry -- diaper bag or purse, big or little, fancy or frugal???

Okay, I don't normally play along with stuff like this, but I am a purse-a-holic. I love purses. I have... many. I even have started designing my own and making them in my 'free time' (snort). Now I don't buy fancy handbags, but that is not some sort of statement. I have nothing against expensive handbags. I love expensive handbags! My treasured old Coach bags would probably be grabbed along with my kids as I rush out of the burning house. But, since I have two kids and a budget, my new idea of 'really expensive' is Vera.

Anywho, I have two bags that I love. I use this one all the time. Everyone is always asking me where I got it. Answer? From my brother for Christmas. Seriously. Technically, I picked it out, but he still got it for me. What a guy. (Still single, Ladies!)
I love it because it comes from Target and, while it looks like leather, it is actually this plastic-y material that is highly washable so you can clean it and wear it when it rains. Room for everything, lots of pockets... I love it!!

This is my other one.

My "What?-I'm-too-young-to-be-a-mom" purse. I love this fabric. Actually, love doesn't describe it. I love this fabric. I big-ol'-fluffy-pink-heart this fabric.

While at the mall on Saturday, I passed the Coach store and saw this in the window. Drool....

If you want to play Photo Tag, stop over to Steph's place and add your link to her Mr. Linky on this post.