Watch out Mia Hamm

The stars aligned, mother nature smiled down on us and the sun shown through the clouds just in time for Alaina's first soccer game on Saturday.  As a mama, I couldn't wait to see my girl in her first organized sports game.  As a realistic human, I was pretty skeptical about how 8, 5-year-olds were going to play when the first practice was held 30 minutes before the game.  Which, by the way, was precisely why we like this league; we do not have time to be messing with another weeknight event.  My sweet girl has never really been super competitive so I was shocked to see how quickly she morphed into MY child and dove right into the game.

Look at this sweetness with the little teeth gap and pigtails.  Who could have guessed that ten seconds later the monster would be unleashed and she would look like this?

Leader of the pack...though the little girl to her left really is as tiny as she looks and is absolutely adorable.

It was alllll good until the collision.  Then came the waterworks.  But look at those pigtails flying in the air!

Stretching in between rotations.  Gotta make sure those muscles stay warm and limber!

And my favorite.....watching with glee as her team scored another goal!  I don't think that they keep score but if anyone was...we lost but played with great heart, if not great coordination.

I have to say that I officially felt like a "mom" sitting on the sidelines cheering from a camp chair.  It's a really different feeling from having a baby.  Knowing how fast the last (almost) 6 years have gone by and that in another 6 she's going to be almost a teenager.  Excuse me while I go have a mini stroke now.

Till next week...

Luck of the Irish

Is there anything more charming & adorable than the innocence of a child?

Last night before we went to bed, Alaina informed me that we HAD to make a leprechaun trap.  Seeing as I have an unnatural love for St. Patricks day, I was a thousand percent down for this adventure.  She used a Kleenex box with a tissue over the top of the hole and put a shiny coin on top to lure him up there.  Her logic was that he would walk on the tissue to get the coin, fall down inside and be trapped.  I'm not gonna lie to you, I was pretty impressed with my five year old for thinking the whole thing through.  And she didn't even use Pinterest like her mama would have.

This morning she was so excited to check and see if she caught a leprechaun (which she was planning to keep as a pet, by the way.  I'm not sure she truly grasps the concept of the Irish faerie but I wasn't about to spoil it for her).  The glee on her face when the coin was missing almost made me feel guilty for what was coming next.  She lifted the tissue and her jaw dropped when she saw the empty box.

"He's not in there!" She frantically picked the box up and turned it over to shake it out.  "Mom.  It's empty.  There's nothing in there.  But he took the coin...(wheels are turning)...maybe he's hiding somewhere else!"  For the next 10 minutes she proceeded to check every nook and cranny she could think of downstairs but he was no where to be seen.  She even checked her backpack on the way to school.

My explanation of faerie magic and that he probably didn't want to be someone's pet fell on deaf ears.  I shutter to think of how many traps we are going to need to set next year...

Wishing you all the luck of the Irish today.  And should you find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, feel free to send some back to me!

Has anyone seen my marbles?

These days my brain is just not functioning quite the way that it used to.  I feel like I need to be taking some sort of Ginko or St. Johns Wart or whatever it is that is supposed to help your memory.  Though at this point I'm in such a sorry state that I am fairly certain I am way beyond help.  It's really bad.

Alaina has been obsessed with marbles lately.  Had Santa realized that the $2 bag of marbles was going to be her favorite gift, he might have gone a different route with some of the other things he brought.  But isn't that just the way it goes with children?  I thought we had passed the phase where the big gifts were overlooked for the thrill of box hats and bubble wrap, but apparently I was wrong.  Mental note for next year I suppose.

I digress.

We have had a problem with keeping the marbles put up after they're done being played with.  Since none of the people under our roof are particularly graceful, a floor full of things to trip on is pretty dangerous.  Sunday, I had enough and cleaned up the marbles to a ziploc bag and hid them.  When she asked for them, I politely explained that if she had been the one to clean them up as asked, she would know where they were and could play with them.  Because I had to, we were going to take a break from the marbles for the afternoon.  Later in the day she asked for them back and I went to get them from where I hid them.  Or at least where I thought I hid them.  After an exhaustive search they were nowhere to be seen.

Guys.  I lost my marbles.  Literally.

I have been steadily looking for them in my free time over the last couple days and I still have no idea where they are.  It doesn't feel possible that in the span of a few hours, I would have completely forgotten where I put something so specific.  But if it can be done, I will find a way I suppose.  At this point I feel very strongly that it might be worth the $2 to buy some more marbles and chalk it up to a loss.  Sometimes you just have to know when to call it quits and throw in the towel.  I'm pretty sure losing your marbles is that point.

Hope you all have a thrilling Thursday!

Procrastination...or lies I tell myself

Ah procrastination.  You are a friend of mine.

You so sweetly remind me that there is no need to rush to the dishes when my toenails so clearly need to be painted.

It just makes no sense to do the laundry until the dresser drawers have been reorganized.  And the closet has been purged to make room for the clothes I'm going to buy  that will be clean and ready to put away.

I can't get up when the clock says 5:08 because I only get up on the quarter hour.  I'll just close my eyes until 5:15.  Whoops, now it's 5:17,  Guess I'll just have to wait until 5:30.

Friends really don't stay in touch enough these days.  You should definitely sit down to send some e-mails before you start dinner.  While the computer is out and fired up you might as well go ahead and order those new wedges for summer.  The sale might end if you wait too long and that's just not fiscally responsible.

Hop on Twitter.  You'll only be on for a second.

Walking to the mailbox totally counts as your exercise for today.  You don't have to break a sweat for it to be effective.

Taking a nap is absolutely necessary.  Don't the doctors keep saying how important sleep is for your health?  Better yet, have a glass of wine before you lay down.  Between that and the walk you're practically a new person.

Reading a new book is exactly the same as sitting down to work on yours.

As is writing a new blog post.  Especially if it's about procrastination.  Because everyone reading needs a reason to procrastinate themselves.

You're welcome fellow procrastinators.

Make It Happen

In honor of International Women's Day (which was yesterday), I thought I would share a couple of my favorite quotes about bad ass women.  I love being a woman.  Sometimes I wish it didn't come with childbirth but I still wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.  Being a woman is awesome so let us all set aside our differences and lift each other up.  Or at least shut up and don't be a judgmental asshole.

For most of history, Anonymous was a woman ~ Virginia Woolf


Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim. ~ Nora Ephron


I myself have never been able to find out precisely what a feminist is.  I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat ~ Rebecca West


She was free in her wildness.  She was a wanderess, a drop of free water.  She belonged to no man and to no city ~ Roman Payne


I want to be representative of my race - the human race.  I have a chance to show how kind we can be, how intelligent and generous we can be ~ Maya Angelou


Women are naturally secretive, and they like to do their own secreting. ~ Arthur Conan Doyle


There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women. ~ Madeleine Albright


And my personal favorite is...


No woman gets an orgasm from shining the kitchen floor - Betty Friedan

Don't mess with my schedule

Daylight Savings Time.

Need I say more?

I am very certain that whomever came up with the idea to mess with the time twice a year was a man with no children.  I suppose that it could have been a woman with no children but I like to believe that a fellow woman would have more common sense than that.  I have heard all the "reasons" that it is supposed to be "better" but it's nonsense.  The only thing it effectively and consistently does is throw off everyone in the house.  Sleep schedules are off, all the clocks are wrong, and we all seem to be a little more on edge than normal.

I'm sure you can't tell this by my wonderful, uplifting post here.  Ahem.

The rest of the afternoon is going to be spent in search of soccer cleats and shin guards for the tiny who starts practice this week.  Since everything in her wardrobe MUST be pink it should be fun since her uniforms are going be orange and white.  Surely there's a shade of pink out there that doesn't clash with orange, right?

On second thought, maybe I'll just order some online and let there be harmony in my house for another day.

Big & Boo

Big Mama and Boo Mama are two of my FAVORITE bloggers.  Day after day they bring humor to the absolute monotony that life often holds.  I have just recently started listening to the podcasts that they sometimes record together and can I just tell you, I've been missing out.  They're both fabulous writers but listening to them chat together takes it to a whole new level.  These women are hysterical.  HYSTERICAL.

Go listen to the latest one and I promise that you will laugh your head off.  And then you will laugh some more after that.  You might even get some really great fashion tips...which is entirely dependent on your ability to imagine what they're saying and your definition of 'really great'.  Nonetheless, I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Happy Friday!

Mind the gap

Yesterday was an eventful day in our house!  Actually I should say it was an eventful day at school.  Alaina has had a loose tooth for the better part of month now.  Up until the last few days she has been pretty content to just let it wiggle as it saw fit and left it alone.  Then she decided that enough was enough and it needed some encouragement.  By encouragement I mean constantly touching it and trying to get it out for every hour she's awake.

When I got to the school to pick her up, she came sprinting down the hallway and blurted out, "Mommy!  My tooth came out at lunch when I twisted and twisted and twisted and then I heard it pop and that was my tooth and then it bled A LOT like I had to use 3 WHOLE napkins before I could get it to stop but then I put it next to the sink in the classroom so that I could go sing and it went down the drain so I don't have it to leave for the tooth fairy will she still bring me money?"

All in one breath and as quickly as I have ever heard her talk.  Do you think she's excited?

I explained that we would leave the tooth fairy a note and that would be just fine.  We got home and she had to write her note on pink paper because she wanted the note to be beautiful.  I'm not sure where this child got her love of pink, but it sure wasn't me.

None the less, the tooth fairy did come and brought her $5 for her missing tooth.  I explained that she only brought that much because it was the first one and it would probably be less next time.  You know, because she has to deliver money to LOTS of kids and she doesn't want to run out of money, right?  Or the tooth fairy needs some new summer shoes.  You know, so she can look cute while she's flying around in the dark. Either way, the tooth fairy's not bring anything close to the $20 as I've heard a few say recently.  That's just crazy talk people.  

Is it just me or has the tooth fairy gone a little crazy with the amount of money she's leaving?  How much did she bring you/your kids?