Backpack!

Charlie has pushed me beyond my limits as a mother this week. He's lucky to still have a job at this point. But he's sleeping right now and I'm left with my memories of him and I ran across this picture I took of him when I was downloading photos...

And then, I saw this one...

Then this one popped up...

And suddenly, all was right in the world again.

Ok Charlie, you can stay.

JOOTD

Fact: I enjoy the blog stalking. I think that this is an established point by now.

Fact: My favorite blogs are the ones where the girls take photos of their outfits every day and then post them and tell you where all their clothes came from.

I'm SO not joking.

The fascination I have with the OOTD posts is definitely a sick and cynical one. I love them as much as I hate them. I am jealous of them and annoyed with them and confused by them. They pose so many questions in my mind.

Where do you get your money for your clothes?

When do you find time to shower on a regular basis?

Do you do your hair every single day?

Do you wash your face every single day?

Do you NOT feel uncomfortable taking pictures of yourself?

When you you find time to go shopping and do your kids put up with it?

Why do I wear t-shirts and pants with mustard stains on them most days?

When did I let myself go?

Should I be taking photos of my clothes?

No, I shouldn't be taking pictures of my clothes. I pulled them out of the dirty laundry basket and they have mustard stains on them, remember? But for some reason, even though I have no intentions of posting any OOTD photos for myself any time in the near or distant future, I feel compelled to post JOOTD photos.

That's right.

Jane outfit of the day photos.

She's turning into quite the ridiculous fashionista and while I find her seriousness about clothes to be somewhat troubling, I also find it to be amusing. Amusing enough to be a series of posts? Let's all find out together, shall we?

And that said, let's get on with the show!

This is what Jane wore to school today.

I want to make it perfectly clear to people that I don't spend actual money on my children's clothes. Are we all clear? Good.

Just to be on the safe side, I'll let you know that her shirt came from DownEast and was under $10, which is pushing it for me on a kid's shirt, but she wears it like 3 times a week, so I guess it's ok.

Her skirt was on clea-rance at Forever 21 and I think I paid about $6 for it. It required a little modification (a safety pin in the back), but now it works and it'll fit her for the next couple years as well.

Her boots are from K-mart. I bought them on a BOGO sale wherein that little Tasmanian devil in the background also got a new pair of shoes.

And speaking of which, I'd like to throw out there that Charlie is now available to be rented out to people who would like to remind themselves why they DON'T want a two year old boy hanging around the house. He'd be happy to climb onto your counters looking for candy and dump bowls on popcorn on your floor so that he can stomp them into your rug.

If I do draw satisfaction from the JOOTD posts, I might try to throw in some LOOTD photos too, although Lizzy's outfits will probably look more like this...

Ok, ya. It has now been decided that I will also be posting LOOTD photos. It's going to be fantastic. I can feel it.

There's a first time for everything

Today was a big day in our house.

A ginormous day.

A monumental day.

A day for the record books.

Today was the first day of school.

It was the first day of first grade for my first born and the first day of preschool for her younger sister.

It was marvelous. MARVELOUS, I tell you!

I'm still riding the high from it, but this morning, I had my doubts about whether we'd even make it. Lizzy spent most of her morning about like this:

Only in various rooms and wearing various items of clothing. Sometimes none at all. I was trying my hardest to make her as adorable as she should be on her first day of preschool, but she seemed determined to scream her voice into oblivion, cry until her eyes swelled shut and rub as much snot in her hair as possible.

I actually started laughing out loud when I went to wake her up and she looked at me, said

"no. i sick. i not going to preschool." and rolled over.

But with a little help from her supportive sister, she slowly started to come around.

Very slowly.

And in her own unique Lizzy sort of way.

She DID loosen up though.

And she made out the car door and into preschool with her little uniform and her little socks and her little bag and she was so nervous and she waited for the teacher to show her where to walk and she was absolutely adorable and I'm crying a little right now just thinking about it.

Jane, on the other hand, had NO problems getting dressed and going to school. After being home all summer, she was more than ready to blow this joint and move on to bigger and better ways to spend her days.

She also didn't mind putting on her favorite new outfit (complete with a scarf that caused a major tantrum in the Cedar City WalMart) and posing for photos.

Charlie wanted in on it too.

My happy family.

The girls have to be at school at the same time in different locations, which will pose a potential challenge this year, so Brent took Jane and headed one direction and Lizzy and I went another. The girls kissed goodbye and off they went.

I'm always more emotional than I plan on being in these kinds of situations, so the morning was actually a bit hard on me, but when my beloved sister and I had a chance to go run errands with only 2 small, controllable little boys instead of 5 unruly children, I got over it. I have a feeling that I'm going to like this year. How about you?

Do the shuffle!

Soooooo, have you seen Charlie run? It's pretty amusing. We have people comment to us about how funny it is all the time, probably because it's really actually funny. His run has demanded so much attention that it has its own name... The Charlie Shuffle.

For a while now, we've tried to capture The Charlie Shuffle on film (so to speak)...

But you really don't get of the magnitude of the arm swing in a still shot.

Brent finally took the time to capture a little video of the The Shuffle, which I will now share with you.

Now I just need to get a video of him walking because, as you may have guessed, Chas doesn't just 'walk' anywhere. He struts. And it's awesome.

So many questions...

Friday, my mom and I made a trip into town to hit up my favorite home decor store, the one, the only... Home Goods. Seriously, I wish someone would just build one out here by my house. It would make it a lot easier to spend money that I probably don't have on awesomeness. But the reason Home Goods is so fabulous is that amongst the awesomeness, there's also a lot of not so awesomeness and a bunch of freaking weird random crap that you can't believe anyone ever thought would be a good idea. It makes for an entertaining shopping trip.

While we were there, I happened upon, a thing. It was noteworthy. I picked it up and took it to show my mom even though I was a little scared to hold it in my hands. Literally, I was scared of it, like a little kid would be to touch a dog or something. It might have had something to do with the fingers. I wanted to be able to share it with the world, but I didn't know how. I certainly wasn't willing to pay the $40 clearance price just to bring it home and terrify my small children.

Then I remembered that my husband is high maintenance and demanded a new iphone, which meant that I got his old iphone, which meant that I had a camera, which worked out well for me. And now, world, I would like to share the thing with you...

What the crap is that?

Why is it wearing shoes?

And a robe?

And a waistcoat?

Why are its fingers so long?

Why does it look like it's going to dive at me and start gnawing at my face?

Why is it haunting my dreams?

Too cool for school

Both of my girls are starting school in about a week and a half, and I'm actually finding myself a little concerned about having the alone time. I acknowledge that I need the alone time. My sanity is needing the alone time, but when I'm used to having three wild children to keep me busy, I'm not entirely sure I'll know what to do with myself when they aren't around.

I'm not always comfortable with my own thoughts. They can get a little weird.

At least I'll have Charlie to keep me company for the next couple of years.

He's funny and cute and likes to play with toys.

Come to think of it, his toys are usually everywhere. And when one isn't readily available, he'll go ahead and use a box of cereal or remote control or a hammer. You know, whatever's lying around. Sometimes hammers are lying around. We're slow learners.

The more I dwell on this, I'm realizing that I spend most of my days chasing him around, trying to prevent him from emptying laundry baskets so that he can climb in them, sweeping up Lucky Charms that he dumped out and mopping up juice or popsicles from our newly refinished hardwoods.

And when I'm not doing that, I'm generally listening to him scream for one reason or another and trying to placate him with fruit snacks or popsicles that I will then have to mop up off those hardwoods I was telling you about.

As it turns out, even though two thirds of my posterity will be occupied with their educational pursuits this year, I don't think I'll have any extra free time at all.

Problem solved.

That was easier than I thought it would be.

I've got good news and bad news

I'll give you the good news first... it's raining.

This is good news for several reasons.

It's good news because our sprinklers are completely useless and our lawn is desperately trying to give up the ghost. It's hard to beautify our little piece of earth without the necessary life sustaining water.

It's also good news because it's been far too hot and the cool air feels fabulous on my parched skin.

But mostly, it's good news because there's hardly a thing in the world that's more fun to a small herd of children than playing in a summer thunderstorm.

And it's even better news because I had the foresight to buy my kids adorable umbrellas last time Target had the good sense to sell them in their dollar spot.

Ok, now for the bad news... it's raining.

This is bad news for several reasons.

It's bad news because my electricity keeps flickering and I'm worried that it will go out completely and prevent Brent from finishing his homework and ME from finishing this episode of Masterpiece Mystery.

It's also bad news because my kids are terrified of the thunder and it's just a matter of time before they are all crying. Or in my bed. Or both.

But mostly, this is bad new because my house is very damp and very sticky.

And I chose tonight to make BLTs.

Damp, sticky house + bacon stink = not a good combo.

I have now decided that if we ever move to a damp climate, my family is completely giving up bacon.

And that's final.