She's Fine

I was talking to my sister the other day about this little season of life we are in with Ellie. This stage is a lot of fun. She is funny and smart and surprising and is learning everything so quickly. She soaks things up like a sponge. She's learning about social interactions and her version of them is pretty hilarious. Two teenage girls were near us in the park yesterday, so Ellie walked up to them and said "Hi! This is Ellie! This my Moxie, my Daddy, my Mommy, and THIS IS ELLIE! HI!" 

I wish she wasn't so shy.

Anyways, I also shared with my sister that there is an element of this stage of life that is a little bit exhausting. And when I say "a little bit" I mean "I've thought about seeking out the services of a child psychologist" or "Maybe I should also seek out the services of an adult psychologist." 

Here's what it is: THE GIRL IS STUCK ON ME. LIKE WHITE ON RICE, Y'ALL.

Mommy, come sit with me.

Mommy, come snuggle me.

No, Mommy, sit down. 

Sit right there.

Where are you going, Mommy?

Y'all. I walk to the pantry and she walks there too. I go to hang up a shirt in the closet and she accompanies me for that little adventure. I need to pee and she has to come in there with me and "help" and applaud for me when I finish. It's all just a lot of togetherness.

She isn't playing well by herself right now. She won't even watch a show by herself. I set out toys for her, she wants me to be right there with her. It's not that she necessarily wants me to join her in playing (most of the time she'd rather I keep my hands in my lap) but she just wants me in her presence, giving her my full and undivided attention. Sometimes we will sit together at the kitchen table and color. I have my coloring book, she has hers, we don't speak or interact as we color for 20 minutes, but heaven forbid if I decide to stand up to switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer. HEAVEN FORBID.

And don't you dare think that she's okay with me folding clothes while we watch a movie together. Oh, no ma'am. She would like for me to not fold clothes during movie watching time. Full attention must be on snuggling and Curious George. 

Last week, Jen Hatmaker wrote an amazing piece for the Today Show about how we are perhaps putting too much weight on the preciousness of parenting and are unintentionally raising kids that can't do anything for themselves. While I understand that Ellie is not yet three years old and still needs my love and attention more than the average 4th grader, I also realize that I may be giving her too much credit as far as what her needs are, if you know what I mean. 

I have seriously thought to myself "Oh, she needs me right now. Clearly she's craving some Mommy time."

But the thing is, y'all, she has my full and undivided attention every minute of the day. It's not like she's begging for me to pull myself away from my computer screen or a book or my phone. It's me and her. All day. Every day. 

I am with her 100% of her waking hours. I can take 10% of that to get my stuff done.

I had to tell myself the other day that it is okay for me to peel her off of me and firmly tell her to go. play.

GO. PLAY.

GO.

NOW.

I mean seriously, I'm sending her to play with Duplo blocks.

She will be okay.

She will not be emotionally scarred if she sees me taking care of my household and folding clothes. 

I'm sending her to the other side of the room, not to an orphanage.  

YOU CAN COLOR WITHOUT ME IN THE CHAIR NEXT TO YOU. 

For the love.

There's a munchkin hollering for me in this very moment, as I type this. I just hollered back and asked her what she needs.

She says she needs a really big hug. 

Favorite Things: March Edition

This morning I woke up ridiculously late. I apparently turned off my alarm subconsciously, and my other alarm whose name is Ellie Paige chose to sleep in as well and we were frantic trying to get out of here.

I left the house with no makeup on, no shower, greasy hair in a messy bun (but not the cute kind of messy bun. It was more of a "oh, bless her heart" kind of messy bun) and old jeans that are too short with tennis shoes. 

I'm nailing it around here. 

Anyways, I thought today would be a good day to share a few things I'm loving right now. 

1. This Blog by Jen Hatmaker. I might have sobbed. 

2. And also this other blog by Jen Hatmaker because TRUTH, SISTER. We all just need to calm it down. 

3. Lavender Mrs. Meyer's Handsoap 

I love the way this smells. It also is a great lather and it is "cruelty-free" which is wonderful because I hate it when my soaps are mean. 

4. This video of Ariana Grande doing a Celine Dion impression on The Tonight Show that is PERFECTION:

5. The Song "Shut Up and Dance With Me" by Walk the Moon:

This song is totally my jam right now. I sing it all the live long day. It reminds me of a something... like a band or another song from the late 80's or early 90's and I can't think of what it is. If you want know what/who it reminds me of, please help me. Thank you. It's driving me crazy. 

Happy Thursday to you!

My Kid Ate a Vegetable

Well, folks, it was a day to document in the baby books. 

Ellie ate a vegetable. 

I haven't talked about Ellie's eating issues in awhile because, well, I get sick of talking about it. But, for those of you who are new here, I'll just sum it up by saying that Ellie eats like 4 things and that's all. She ate veggies as a baby when they were pureed. But now that she's older and full of all of the opinions, she won't touch them. I can get her to eat veggie chips and sweet potato fries but that's as far as it has gone. 

There have been days that I give up and just let her eat the things she will eat because I get really tired of having a fight over every meal time, fights filled with sobbing and timeouts and a little girl going to bed hungry. It's not my favorite part of parenting. 

Last night, Ellie had a trifecta going:

1. She was in a good mood

2. She was very, very hungry and kept asking for more food

3. She wanted ice cream

We knew this was an opportunity. She had already eaten a great dinner and as we all sat at the table, she politely asked us for ice cream. I had green beans on my plate. I put one on her plate and said she could have ice cream if she ate a green bean.

She picked it up, looked at it, rolled it between her fingers a few times and then sat it down and said "No. No thanks. I'm fine. I can't want it."

"Okay, that's fine baby. You don't have to eat it. But then you don't get ice cream, okay?"

"Okay."

A few minutes later she asked for a cookie. 

Grant chimed in. "Ellie girl, I will get you whatever you want. You can have chocolate ice cream. You can have vanilla ice cream. You can have a cookie. You can have a popsicle. Whatever you want. All you have to do is eat that green bean."

And then she did it. 

Like, we watched her chew it and swallow it.

(Because that is a trick she has done before. She puts food in her mouth but then when we present the reward she promptly spits all of it back out, which causes me to bang my head on the table.)

So she chewed it, swallowed it, took a huge gulp of water, and then said "BALILLA ICE CREAM, PLEASE!"

We gave each other a high five and then all 3 of us got 2 scoops. 

Look, I know it's bribery but I feel like a champion. I made this last night to document the occasion.

If you need parenting advice, I'm here to impart all my wisdom. 

SHE ATE A GREEN BEAN, Y'ALL. 

Basketball Does Not Interest Me

Okay. This is the week that I get back into my regular blogging routine. I'm certain of it. I've got my head in the game and I have some thoughts to share. COMMENCE WRITING!

1. Confession: I don't love March Madness. I haven't watched a basketball game since the Rockets won their second national championship sometime in the early 90's. I don't love the sport and I certainly don't love several weeks of it. And this is all just going on way too long. It's the brackets and the seeds and the anger and the smack talk that I just get tired of hearing about. But, I hope all of you are having fun. I'm going to continue hanging out under a rock over here.

2. Friday night we went to a party with some friends. About halfway through the party, I started to feel not so great. And it continued to get worse. We left early and I kept telling Grant in the car "I think I'm going down." Sure enough, we got home and I took my temperature and I had a low grade fever. Straight to bed! 

Saturday I stayed in my pajamas the WHOLE DAY. We stayed home and Grant took over Ellie duties and I just rested and took Tylenol and Zyrtec because HI ALLERGIES WELCOME TO MY LIFE THANKS FOR TAKING OVER EVERYTHING AND BRINGING ALL YOUR MISERY WITH YOU and then Grant ordered Chinese food for dinner and I have never loved him more. 

I ate Beef Lo Mein and it was delicious (as usual) and I washed it down with a Diet Coke so pretty much it was just all kinds of awesome.

Sunday I woke up feeling much better (still drowning in kleenex due to the aforementioned allergies) but no fevers and not feeling nearly as bad. A day of rest was just what I needed. With all the activity of the last few weeks, it's like my body was finally just saying NOPE. NO MORE FOR YOU. 

3. Our old house is officially on the market. In the first 24 hours we had 12 showings. Yesterday there was an open house and our realtor texted us yesterday and said that THIRTY-EIGHT FAMILIES attended the open house. We are hoping and praying that we get some action this week. I mean goodness. Thirty-eight families? There was probably 100 people in that house! It kind of gives me anxiety, but I'm thankful!

4. Our friends, Justin and Tiffany, came over yesterday and spent the day with us. It's always such a treat to have them over because no one makes us laugh more. Tiff and I watched "The Little Mermaid" with Ellie as we try our best to educate her in the ways of Disney. She got distracted at one point and wasn't really paying attention. However, "Kiss the Girl" was about to come on and I made her sit and watch. "Ellie, you need to watch this part. This is one of the best songs in Disney movie history. You need to take this in." 

5. As we said goodbye to Justin & Tiff late last night in the driveway, I happened to look up and see a very clear sky full of very bright stars. We all had a ridiculous discussion about which one was the North Star and which way North was. We pointed out the constellations that we knew and I couldn't remember the last time I could see that much of the sky so clearly. After they left, I walked into the backyard and decided to lay down on one of the pool chairs for a few minutes and just look at the sky.

I can't remember the last time I stargazed. I had no idea this house had this kind of view - no trees, no houses in the way, just a big, giant Texas sky. I had no idea. But it's worth every penny we spent on this house. It's my new favorite spot. Grant came and joined me and we just laid there and looked up and I felt very, very small and God felt very, very big. It was so comforting. Laying there, I felt very much in His presence in a very tangible way and I think I'm going to go out there and do that more often. 

Maybe at the end of some long mama days, after a little curly headed girl is asleep and not needing all of the things from me, I'll head outside and lay on that pool chair and recharge. It's nothing short of spectacular. 

I might even bring a blanket. 

Be Kind, Please Rewind

Going to Blockbuster video used to be a weekly occurrence in our lives, sometimes even twice a weekend. If we didn't go to Blockbuster there was a video rental section in our little grocery store. My sister, Jaclyn, and I liked to rent the same videos over and over again, namely Cricket's Clubhouse. My best friend Lindsee and I would get either Troop Beverly Hills or Girls Just Wanna Have Fun every time. We knew what we liked and we would just get it each time. My dad would start to get frustrated. "Why are we renting this movie again? Why haven't we bought it yet? We've paid for it probably four times at this point."

The worst was in middle school when someone's mom would take our whole little gang of friends to Blockbuster to rent a movie. We would probably spend an hour in there because the guys and the girls could never agree on a movie. Oh, it was so infuriating. And I feel like the girls choice never won, ever. EVER. 

I thought of all this because yesterday I watched this video and I found it fascinating:

"It's called the record button on the remote."

Adorable.

They will never know about late fees.

They will never know the satisfaction of dropping that clunky video down into the drop box. 

They will never know that feeling of trying to remember if you hit rewind before putting it back in the box. 

They will never know the frustration of going to the New Release wall and the video you came to rent being gone already. 

Don't get me wrong, I like the new way of doing things so much better. But it makes me kind of sad that these kids will never know the experience!

What I don't miss is walking through a Blockbuster and trying to convince someone to select the movie you want to watch and that person trying to convince you to watch another movie and you basically having a fight in the middle of Blockbuster. Don't miss that. 

Was there a movie you rented repeatedly?

My First Hospital Stay

I was a pretty sick kid. I had (and continue to have) pretty bad allergy issues and I always had puffy, watery eyes. Every Fall, my school pictures were horrible because my eyes were so awful. Aside from the allergy problems, I also was a frequent visitor to the Strep Throat Club.

And when I say frequent, I mean like once or twice a month.

Finally, my pediatrician decided it was time to get my tonsils out.

I think I was about 7 years old. I remember in the weeks beforehand I had to go to a different doctor's office and watch a video about the whole thing and how they will put you under anesthesia and that your throat will hurt and you can get a popsicle and all that jazz. I was pretty pumped.

(Side note, did you know that redheads require more anesthesia than the average person? True story!)

(Also, the man who administered my epidural when having Ellie did not know this fun fact.)

(Actually, he did know it, he just didn't know that I was a natural redhead.)

(I'm pale and freckled, what other hair color could I possibly naturally have?)

(Moving on.)

The day of the surgery was St. Patrick's Day. They gave me a green gown so no one would pinch me. My mom sat with me in the pre-op area and held my hand. She told me that when this was over I wouldn't have to go to the doctor so much anymore. I was totally on board with that. I remember she sang:

All night, all day
Angels watching over me, my Lord
All night, all day
Angels watching over me

And then they wheeled me back. For some reason, the last thing I thought of as they put the mask on my face was Snow White getting a poisoned apple. And then I fell asleep.

It was over pretty quick. I woke up and cried and immediately asked for my mom and for a popsicle. I immediately threw up that popsicle so that was a major letdown. My grandparents came and brought me a yellow bunny wearing a yellow dress. After a few hours, they took me home, my Daddy carried me into the house and I was very glad that all of that was over.

A few weeks later, my dad came upstairs on a Sunday morning to wake me up for church. I remember it was weird because he suddenly picked me up and carried me downstairs, which was odd since I was 7. He got down to my parents' bathroom where my mom was doing her hair. He said "What's the doctor's number?"

"Why do you need the doctors number?"

(Lots of whispering)

(I start to get mad cause I was told there would be no more doctor visits.)

And off to the ER we went.

Apparently, when Dad got upstairs to wake me up, my pillow was covered in blood. One of the incisions wasn't healing properly and I was bleeding all night. Because they had no idea how much blood I had lost/swallowed, they decided I needed to be admitted.

For 2 days.

Problem: I felt fine.

Like, as in, I felt totally normal. Like a normal, hyper, healthy, 7 year old girl.

Yet they continued to come in and treat me like a hospital patient.

And they continued to come draw blood what seemed like every 10 minutes.

Pastors from my church came to visit and pray over me, and Mom had to tell me to sit in the bed and act sick. Not that she wanted me to be sick, but maybe it would be weird if pastors were coming to pray over  a child that was jumping on the beds.

My best friend Lindsee and her mom came to visit me in the hospital. Lindsee was so freaked out, she didn't speak. No, seriously. She literally didn't speak in that hospital room. Just sat there next to her mom, panicked. No speaking.

"Lindsee, do you want to say goodbye to Jenny and tell her that you hope she feels better soon?"

Silence.

That's okay. I wasn't feeling all that sick anyways.

Anyhoo, they eventually cut me loose and I had to miss a lot of school, including a field trip and I was ROYALLY ticked off about that whole thing, but clearly I'm fine and I didn't have Strep throat for 23 years after that.

So now, every St. Patrick's Day, I think about that silly green gown.

And my sweet parents.

And how very obnoxious I must have been in that hospital room for 48 hours.

A Lesson Learned About Ikea Furniture

We had such a great weekend. I am ever so tired but very thankful. Grant's parents came in from New Orleans to see our new digs and help us with a few projects, and I am SO glad they did. And Ellie was, of course, over the moon. She loves when Baba and Papa come to town.

They arrived late Friday night and the first thing they did was help us put our second couch together. While I still need drapes and an accent table and a lamp and eventually some chairs, I do have the beginnings of a living room! Furniture, hooray! Here's the progress we made this weekend:

The bottom rug is from Overstock, the layered rug is from Pottery Barn, as well as the coffee table. The couches are from Ikea, and all the pillows are from Homegoods, Pier 1, and TJ Maxx. The dog is from the land of dumb-dumbs. 

Saturday morning, Ellie and I left for awhile to go attend her cousin Dean's 6th birthday party. It was at a park with lots of slides and swings and Ellie pretty much thought this was the most fun she's ever had in her whole life. She never stopped running and playing, while also keeping tabs on where Dean was at all times. "DEAN!!! WHERE ARE YOU!?! DEAN!! I'M OVER HERE!" 

At one point we had a panic attack because she announced that she needed to go potty. Unfortunately, this park does not have bathroom facilities. I was a little panicked. Thankfully, another mom at the party announced that she had a potty chair in what seemed to be her magic van. She brought it out and we put Ellie behind a bush and she peed and then ran off to play some more. Moms never cease to amaze me. I will also carry a potty chair in my car from this point forward. 

There was a pinata and cupcakes and lots of Skylanders things. There was even a face painter who was painting the kids faces. Dean, of course, was a Skylander, and even requested that when we sang Happy Birthday that we please not sing "Happy Birthday to Dean." We were instructed to sing "Happy Birthday to Chaos."

Well, okay then.

I love that Deanie Monster. Always have. Always will.

Ellie and I came home and Daddy and Papa went to play golf. We visited with Baba and played with new toys. For Christmas, Baba and Papa got Ellie her own little 4-wheeler. However, we didn't have room with us in our car to take it home, so they brought it with them this weekend. Ellie had forgotten all about it and was overjoyed.

We went and fed the ducks and got the mail and she just had a ball. 

Speaking of the mail, I had a nice surprise in my mailbox. If there's ever been a shirt that totally speaks my language, this is it:

I mean if that ain't the truth.

The one thing from the weekend that I did not document was my sweet husband and father-in-law putting together the mountains of Ikea furniture. Since we needed to buy so much new furniture, I was trying to keep it cost efficient and decided to do Ikea because it is quality but also well priced since you have to assemble everything yourself. Well. Grant and his dad had to assemble 1 couch, 2 desks, 2 cabinets and 3 bookshelves. After all was completed, Grant came to me and said

NEVER AGAIN.

Lesson learned.

Completely Unnecessary Things We Brought to the New House

1. Medicine for our dog from 2010.

2. Shoes I have not worn since 2008.

3. Instruction manuals for appliances we no longer own.

4. Clothes that no longer fit me.

5. Purses I wouldn't carry if you paid me.

6. Shoes that do not have a mate.

7. Socks that do not have a mate.

8. A car charger that does not work in any car and hasn't worked in any car for years. But why would we throw something like that away? That's just silliness. Let's just put it in a box in the utility room and take it with us from home to home.

9. A pitcher that is cracked into 2 pieces and no longer functions.

10. Tupperware lids that don't fit on any tupperware.

WHAT IS OUR PROBLEM

Target Popcorn Judgment

Admittedly, this has not been my best blogging week. I use every spare moment I have working on the house, and then when I think about sitting down to write, all I can think of to say is "I unpacked some boxes today" and then hitting publish. Riveting stuff here, folks.

With that being said, I am going to try to share some interesting things that have happened over the course of the last few days. Or weeks. Or maybe it was just yesterday, who knows. Everything is running together.

1. I will use almost anything to open a taped box if a knife or scissors are not nearby. Nail clippers. My hands. The buckle of a belt. A credit card. Really, anything. Men carry pocket knives with them and I am beginning to think they are on to something.

2. Speaking of credit cards, yesterday Ellie and I went up to Target to pick up a few things and I had a little embarrassing moment. When we got there, Ellie wanted popcorn. Of course, I obliged. We got popcorn and a drink and went about our business. I got some shams and a soap dispenser and a welcome mat because I think a new house needs a new welcome mat. When we got up to the front to pay, my card was declined. I was confused, but a little embarrassed, so I just quickly gave her a different card and went on my way. A few minutes later, the fraud protection team from my bank called and asked me if I had just tried to make a purchase at Target. I said yes, and they apologized for the inconvenience and explained that they had blocked the purchase because they were afraid it wasn't actually me. I shop at Target often, so I asked them to explain what was so unusual about this purchase. "Well, ma'am, many times, we see a small, $2 charge followed by a larger, $200 charge. And that's what happened here. You made a very small purchase followed by a very big purchase." Apparently my popcorn got them all worried. Don't be judging my popcorn. It. Is. Necessary.

3. This new house has approximately 1000 light switches in it and I can't keep up with what any of them do. Light switches everywhere. I spend way too much time walking around playing a game of trial and error. Our neighbors must think we are WEIRD.

4. I decided to go check the mail the other day for the first time. I got to the mailbox, with the key, and realized that there were 30 or so mailboxes and I had no idea which one was ours. I decided to just stand there and try my key in all of them. Ours was number 29. So basically, I looked super cool.

5. We still have no living room furniture. It will arrive tomorrow, which is wonderful because I am getting really tired of sitting at a kitchen table to relax. Cause you know what's not relaxing? Sitting at a kitchen table.

6. Ellie likes to wander and this week has made it worse. She loves to just check everything out and take her time doing anything. She's a little explorer. Yesterday it took me forever to get her to the car because she kept saying "I need to look at da water for a minute."

7. I bought this rug at Homegoods yesterday. It will go in my office. I'm obsessed.

8. I cooked our first meal in this house. I mean, it was taco night, so it was about as basic as it can be, but still... it wasn't to go food from a restaurant! Yay me!

9. Ellie has pony rides at school tomorrow. I was told to dress her in Western wear. WHY AM I JUST NOW LEARNING ABOUT THIS?! I don't know where anything in my life is. Time to find a cute western shirt and a hat, pronto.

10. Lastly, I just feel the need to share that I went to bed at 9pm last night. This whole moving thing is just a little too wild and exciting for me.

Happy Wednesday, my friends....

The First Blog from the New House!

Well.... WE MADE IT. All day today I've been wanting to write a blog, and here at 8:30 I've finally found the time! It's been chaos and lots of work and I'm tired and my husband is a freaking rock star but we've made it. 

Friday was mega packing day. Saturday was moving day. And today was unpacking day. So many of you have sent sweet texts or messages through the blog Facebook page asking how things are going. Thank y'all for your sweet encouragement! And I'm so sorry I haven't responded to each of you. In a nutshell, here's how things are going: 

My parents have been a major help (plus a big shout out to my BFF Lindsee who saved the day by helping us get all packed up all day Friday) and we've just been putting one foot in front of the other. The movers showed up  yesterday morning around 8:30 and didn't leave till late afternoon. 

Seriously, y'all, how do two people and one toddler acquire so much junk? I mean.... there is just stuff everywhere. Some of it is useful (like shower curtains and such) and some of it is junk (like wire shoe racks that haven't been used in a sweet forever but we feel the need to keep for some strange reason) but there is stuff everywhere and I am quite overwhelmed. Every once in awhile I sit down and look around and imagine a room where things are where they are supposed to be and it brings me to a happy place for a few sweet moments. 

Thankfully, as of a few hours ago, I have a functioning kitchen. I had to focus really hard on how to start the new dishwasher but it's going. Grant is currently hooking up the washer and dryer. He has been a work horse. Major round of applause and a standing ovation for my Grantley!

Ellie's room is pretty much done, except for some decorative items I need to hang on the walls. She has so much more space in there. She literally ran in circles. 

We have soooo many rubbermaid tubs that need to go in the attic, but the movers would only take them as far as the second floor. So, our gameroom upstairs is just filled to the brim with tubs that need to go into the attic. Neither of us has the energy right now to get them up that ladder. Hopefully we don't put that off too long, otherwise our future houseguests will have to climb over the tubs to get to guest rooms. That could kind of be a fun adventure though, right?

The funniest thing happening right now is the lack of furniture downstairs. We sold some of our furniture and we are planning on getting new furniture for this house, but we haven't gotten it yet. The only furniture on the lower level of our home is the breakfast table and chairs, and our mattress on the floor of our master bedroom. No rugs. No couches. No desks. No bed. No lamps. It's just bare bones down here and it's making me laugh. Hopefully this week all of that will begin to come together more! I've got most of it picked out, I just need to go purchase it. My dining room furniture is being refinished so that's not here either. Just empty rooms everywhere you look! 

As for Ellie, she's been so great. Confused, absolutely. But so great. Last night around 8pm she told me "I have to go back to Ellie's house." Bless that girl. She went to bed in her room just fine and then woke up this morning, totally not phased at all, hollering that she needed to go potty. Sweet munchkin girl. We do have cable and internet so she has been able to sit and watch some shows or play the iPad if I need to get some work done. She's slowly finding her toys. 

She's enjoyed the new house though, and yesterday when we first got here she was running around, looking out the windows and twirling on the stairs singing "For the First Time in Forever" from Frozen. She was pretty much doing all of Anna's movements and such, looking over the balcony... it was all very dramatic and hilarious. 

I really need to start working on our master closet tomorrow since our clothes are still in boxes. Things will continue to come together, slowly but surely. Honestly, though, I am just so, so thankful. Thankful for this house, thankful for my husband, thankful for such helpful friends and family, thankful for God blessing us with this place to raise our family for years and years to come. 

Now, it just needs furniture. 

Oh, and also, the cable guy came and all my scheduled shows for the DVR have been deleted so clearly this is a major task I need to accomplish. I need to sit down and think through every show I love to watch and schedule it to record. This is of the utmost importance. 

Anyways, here's my new kitchen!

I'll show y'all more as things come together. 

Goodnight from the new casa. I'm excited for all the things I will write from within these walls!

Just a Few More Days!

Hi, it's me! Checking in from the sea of boxes!

This is my dining room right now:

Isn't it beautiful!?!

We move the day after tomorrow.

THE DAY.

AFTER.

TOMORROW.

I am SO excited. I'm really just ready for this weekend to have come and gone. We are tired and IT IS FREEZING HERE IN HOUSTON (I know you Northerners would like for me to shut up) so we are just hunkering down and getting 'er done.

Today while Ellie is at school I plan to do some laundry so I am not bringing dirty clothes into the new house because that will just throw off the whole vibe of the happiness that I am ready to feel there.

Laundry does not bring happiness.

We still need to finish our closet and the garage. I also need to pack up Ellie's toys as that is the last thing I can do since she is pretty adamant that I leave her belongings alone. I also need to go through the pantry. Maybe I don't need that can of chicken broth that expired in 2009.

Anyways, I am alive and I am here and I can't wait to get back into my regular blogging routine. I'm ready to get back into my regular LIFE routine!

Can't wait to show y'all new pics of our new digs!

And These Are All the Reasons I Haven't Blogged

I've been a little absent. Let's discuss why:

1. We closed on our new house on Friday. It was pretty painless and Ellie played on the iPad and we signed our lives away pretty much but we are thankful.

Due to the whole buying a house thing, we spent the rest of the weekend like crazy people trying to hurry and get our house packed up. We aren't moving until Saturday but we have this crazy thing called life and a toddler and Grant still has, oh you know, A JOB, so we can't pack all day every day. But nights and weekend are when we get down to business. Which brings me to the next reason I haven't blogged:

2. All the packing. Y'all, I'm pretty sure we will never be done packing. All of a sudden these closets have become very deep and our garage very large because there is somehow an endless amount of junk in them. We are essentially touching every item in this house, one by one, because I refuse to bring our disorganization and nonsense into the new house. We are touching everything and sorting and trashing and wrapping and boxing and labeling and I am so dang tired. The stack of boxes is piling high.

We also sold our bed and nightstands. We are now sleeping on our mattress on the floor.

Ellie thinks this is hilarious and wonderful and wonders why we haven't done this all along.

Speaking of Ellie, she is just so very helpful with all of the packing. Except, the opposite of that. She is full of opinions and all the questions. I understand that this must be very confusing to her. But oh, my mercy, SHE IS QUITE THE MICRO MANAGER.

"Why you do that, Mommy?"

"Stop that, Mommy!"

"No, Daddy, don't put dat in da box. Dat's ELLIE'S!"

"OH NO!! MY SLEEPIN BAG!"

"OH NO!! MY SUITCASE!"

"OH NO! MY BOOKS!"

"Mommy! YOU STOP WORKIN RIGHT NOW"

For the first time ever, she suddenly doesn't want to watch movies or play on the iPad. She just wants to hover and fuss at me and unpack the things I have packed. IT IS A VERY SPECIAL TIME.

Also, do you need to go back and forth from a room while packing it? Ellie would like to close the door every time you walk through the doorway. Her #1 job in life is closing doors. No, scratch that. Closing doors is her #2 job. Her #1 job is refusing to try new foods.

And then of course is her #3 job which is asking questions she already knows the answer to.

"Mommy, is that a banana?"

Yes.

3. Another reason I haven't blogged is because we choose to eat out on the weekends at fancy restaurants that are sure to be written up in some kind of culinary magazine because of their hip vibes and high end customer base.

I am of course referring to Luby's and Red Lobster.

Yep, that's right. We ate at Luby's AND Red Lobster in ONE weekend.

I know you're jealous.

(Cheddar Biscuits.)

(That's all I'm saying.)

4. Lastly, I was going to blog last night but I didn't because it was the TWO HOUR SEASON FINALE of Downton Abbey so I stopped everything to watch that because I needed a break. And Downton is the best break.

And also:

I AM THRILLED. THRILLED I TELL YOU.


And then I fell asleep on the couch because of all the excitement and fun around here.

I'll try to pop in to blog over the next few days if I can pull my ahead above the boxes. Just pray that I don't get buried alive.