I promise to never leave my kids again, unless someone asks me to go somewhere for a week and it requires me to travel alone in sweet silence, in which case I’ll say yes immediately.

I left my kids (oh ya, and my husband! – that exclamation point was a Freudian slip) this week to help my friend Darci. She’s only staying in a city she doesn’t live in with two children ages two and 4 months and receiving treatments for cancer. So basically, she’s on vacation.

I tell ya, when I got to Nashville and realized what all this girl is doing without so much as a Xanax, I was shocked, and then right after that I was totally humbled, and then right after that I called my doctor and asked if she would call me in a couple of Xanax.

She wouldn’t.  I digress….

This little jaunt to the south resulted in my husband taking over all parenting duties for a week. It just so happened to be tech week for the musical Mia is currently cast in. Tech week is basically the week parents vow to never allow their child to audition for another show again. On normal rehearsal nights the little kids get to leave at ten – which is still insanely late for a mom who likes to be in bed by 9 PM sharp. But during tech week everyone stays until the director starts bawling or you see sunlight.

It’s fun times, I tell ya, fun times!

While Andy was dying a slow death in the lobby of the theater I was having me a grand old time exploring the south. It’s weird that every time I go anywhere I wonder why in heaven’s name I live in Oklahoma.

Nashville is awesome for lots of reasons but the main one is that across the street from every lunch hotspot is an adorable little dessert shop that smells like straight butter. I made a point to visit every single one of them.

Additionally, the south is full of children’s boutiques with little boys clothing that looks like something John-John Kennedy would have worn. It took all my strength to not buy Bode a sailor suit. You’re welcome, Andy.

Currently, I’m on a plane flying home. The pilot just came over the loud-speaker and asked if there was a doctor on board. As luck would have it, there is no doctor, nurse, or Xanax sales representative. I thought about telling the flight attendant that I took infant CPR nine-years ago but, honestly, it was during my post-partum stupor and I don’t think I actually passed the class.

In 2 hours I will see my kids and vow to never go anywhere without them again. In four hours I will secretly take back that promise, but what they don’t know won’t hurt them.

 These three ladies have my whole heart:

 And they make for a great workout!

Totes Adorbs

My third grader used this phrase the other day and the urban dictionary confirmed that it's an actual thing. OMG. YGTBKM.

But if anything is totally adorable (that took so long to type out I had to take a break and come back to it) it's this kid baking cupcakes and delivering them to the neighborhood.

He asked me to post these pictures to Facebook and to be sure and let everyone know that he delivered them to the neighbors in the freezing cold all by himself. 

His humility is inspiring.

More reading - most of which only I would find fascinating.

These latest two reads were required for a class but I really enjoyed them both. I don't know if you have ever heard about the bell curve controversy (of course you haven't, it's a nerd thing) but if you don't have a life and want to dig deeper into intelligence and nature vs. nurture this topic is for you. 

If intelligence is basically genetic (like The Bell Curve suggests) then, welp, you're kinda up a creek. And is the American Dream achievable? And what about the underprivileged? Say it ain't so! Why is life so unfair?!? I need coffee or chocolate or a cocktail....anything! (That's only a snippet of the reaction I had to this book.)

And this book just tried to debunk everything in the above title. It made me feel a little more hopeful about the world. But not much. (It still required a lot of comfort in the form of food and caffeine).

Thankfully, I was reading this wonderful little nugget at the same time. It didn't restore my faith in humanity at all, but rather restored my faith on our Maker and Creator. Once again I feel I must apologize for the artwork on the cover (come on, Jen, you can do better!) but this is basically a step-by-step guide to journaling through the bible. I love it. I am currently journaling my way through Matthew and it is changing my life, I tell ya, changing. My. Life!

Currently, I am forcing all of my friends and acquaintances to take a battery of intelligence tests. It's required for a class, but I am loving it. I tested Andy for brain damage last night. My hypothesis and the actual results didn't add up on that one. Tonight's test - autism spectrum disorder. I'll find something wrong with that man if it kills me....

Of Late

Bode is a Heat fan. Translation: He's a frontrunner. {Until I had a son I never knew what the word frontrunner meant or that there was an NBA team called The Heat. Sometimes your life goes in a direction you never could have imagined.}

Anyway, the day the Thunder played the Heat he carried this sign around everywhere he went. I have no idea why. And the next day (after the Heat lost - suckers) he added the score to it and carried it around like a scarlet letter. It was equally hilarious, pitiful and completely nonsensical.

Once again, Mia is living at the theater. Which means I am living at the theater. Her latest show, Ragtime, has been the most challenging show she has ever done. It's not a children's show and it's not rated G. However, she is basically getting to live out an important history lesson which has lead to lots of interesting discussions on the way home (Mom, what's a negr0? Why were girls not allowed to get a job? How come people wanted to come to America so bad if Americans were mean to them?) It's been challenging. And also good.

 Theater kids. They pretty much sing everything they say. It gets...loud.

Mia will always be cast as the "typical American child." 

 Thank goodness for rainbow looms. They help pass the hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of waiting to be called on stage. 

(If you have 4 minutes, here is a little sneak preview. It's only a rehearsal but it gives you an idea of how talented this cast is.)

If you need her, she will be in downtown OKC making rubberband bracelets and singing about societal injustices until March 14th.