huh?

my almost three year old just said, and I quote,

"Blunt trauma is a restaurant."

say what?

Day 6: Gratitude

I am thankful for my boys - even if last night they kept their parents from getting a good nights sleep.

I am thankful the week is over. Was it an extra long and painful one for you, or was it just me? Stupid daylight savings.

I am thankful for a weekend to regroup - and one in which I don't have to do any work - I can just spend time with my family.

I am thankful to be meeting a good friend for lunch this afternoon.

I am thankful for naps - for whomever takes them, and for the thought that one day, I might get one, too.

I am thankful for the warm weather this week. It's fleeting, but was great while it lasted.

Day 5: Squishy overload

I love my baby.

I love him so much it's not even funny.

He brightens my day, makes me smile, and helps me breathe.

He has one and a half teeth, is half the size of his brother, and loves to laugh.

Yesterday, the two of us had part of the morning to ourselves. We missed the monkey, but it was nice to have some quiet time with just me and the chicker. He was in such a good mood that I busted out the camera to document the happy, the personality and the teeth.

Yes, my little baby, one week shy of 6 months old, officially has one tooth that has broken through and another one that seems to be minutes away. The last two months getting to the teeth have had their rough spots, but he's doing so much better now. It's great.

Oh, how I love to kiss these cheeks.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Day 4: Overwhelmed

I encounter the question a lot these days.

"How do you take care of two kids and have a job?"

My answer is always this.

"I don't know. I just do it."

That's got me to thinking though, about just how I do it.

And yesterday provided me with the answer.

A brief detour first...
About three weeks ago when I was pulling into the driveway after book club I crashed my car into Ross' truck. There was some decent damage to my cute car but the truck came out okay.

A week after that, I got a speeding ticket. The third ticket in 16 years of driving. I don't know what's worse: A snarky police officer, finding out that the speed limit on a road you drive regularly changes three times, and there are almost no signs to deliniate the difference, or having your inquisitive two year old (who happens to think all snarky men in uniform are awesome) asking you a million questions about the cop, and why you won't just drive away.

Wasn't my best moment.

Ross paid my ticket this week. $115. Merry Christmas to South Jordan. When paying my ticket he realized that the snarky copy who pulled me over was the same snarky cop who pulled him over 2 months prior, for entering a left hand turn lane too early.

Can you say quota? Good Job.

Flash forward to Monday night. I was making chocolate mousse - I screwed up major in the egg department. In desperation I called a friend whom I now owe at least a dozen eggs.

Yesterday was the Young Women's program I made the mousse for. I was also in charge of a video - the video that was to be the primary form of entertainment for the entire program.

I was in a training yesterday (that whole, working mom thing) from 8:30 - 2:00. My mom was there, it was fun.

I got home at 2:30 and ran to my computer to put the finishing touches on my video.

Only to realize that I had created it in a program and saved it in a format that I couldn't get it off my laptop. If I'd had my wits about me, I could have figured something else out, but there were no wits to be found so I started to panic.

And redo. the. entire. thing. from. scratch.

Idiot!

Re-tard!

Spaz!

I'll save you the file conversion horror show, and the dying a slow death home computer misery story.

In the end, I got the video finished...at 6:30. the program was at 7:00. I had one chance to make it work, and thank heavens for all those prayers that it did work. Just in the literally nick of time.

Now, back to the question of "How do I do it?" and how I found my answer.

The answer came yesterday.

My very kind husband who is also a helluva a dad took the morning off yesterday while I was working. While he was home, he had to go to work for a quick presentation so his parents covered for him for an hour or so. Then, my sweet wonderful cousin came to Ross' rescue and had the boys for the early afternoon. She takes such good care of them.

When my children were back under my care again, and a little grumpy too boot, things started to go haywire. Stress is not my friend. Or even my "frienemy".

The more I began to panic about my project and about my failure to do things in a timely manner (I'd had my dumb movie done for 2 weeks, but failed to realize my tech. issues until the last minute), the more my husband came to my rescue. He called me to check on my status and mental health. He helped me try to come up with a back up plan and reassure me that things would work out. He came home from work early, took the boys and ordered dinner so I could stare at my blasted computer and try not to cry.

I guess that's why opposites attract. He was capable of calming my inner spaz while I was on the verge of a mental collapse.

That was just yesterday. I cannot tell you all the days that I have help, and am rescued - sometimes when I NEED it and sometimes when I WANT it. Those of you who are moms, know the difference, right?

The next time I get asked the, "How do you do it all?" question I know my answer.

I do it "all" with lots and lots of help.

Day 3: Miniature food is so cute!

For my Mormon readers (that's all of you, right?) you probably remember the story of me, running into Sister Elaine Dalton at the hair salon and not having a clue who she was.

The day after I was called to be the Young Women Organization's secretary in my ward.

Well, tonight is our "Young Women in Excellence" program and among many things that I was responsible for, one of them was making chocolate mousse as part of the refreshment ensemble.

The presidency and myself decided to go for the miniature route with all our treats.

Because miniatures are cute.

And time consuming to make.

I decided to do chocolate mousse - in little chocolate cups.

The final product turned out well. Not as good as Bakerella would do it, but about as good as Annie-in-a-hurry can do anything these days.

I gave it my best.

It takes a lot of dishes to throw together a chocolate mousse.

See...


It also takes one very large diet coke with lemon from a fast food joint on the way home from the grocery store.





But, once the bowl had been licked clean (not literally of course, these treats are for people other than my family), I ended up with some pretty cute, completely edible and tasty treats on my hands.