Latest Reads

I've been in a reading funk lately. In fact, I read about five books in a row that were so forgettable that I couldn't even conjure up the titles to tell you not to read them. I gave them all to my mother or I would go look in my "books-I-am-completely-indifferent-about-and-want-to-give-away-to-the-first-person-I-see-because-they-are-junking-up-my-house" pile (Sorry, Mom.)

I've had a bad run with fiction, but have enjoyed some great nonfiction recently.

This is the second time I have read this book. I am speaking about spiritual disciplines at an event this fall so I thought I better get myself disciplined real fast. This book is helping.

This was a really easy read and a great book if you ever plan to work with people on any level. It's written like a novel, but it's really a team building book.

This book was given to me by a friend and is no longer in print so I feel kind of special having it. It has all kinds of great ideas and advice about hiring the right people. But for goodness sake, if you ever plan to go to an interview, read this book (you can still download it)! You will have an edge on the nine billion other people that want the same exact job as you.

I only read this book to satisfy my strange curiosity with eccentric, dysfunctional, insanely wealthy families. Twisted lives fascinate me.

I am currently doing this bible study at church. The tagline is "Making wise decisions in the midst of raw emotions." That is code for "how not to act like a crazy b." My husband is the one that signed me up for it. (kidding.....maybe).

I just finished reading this to Bode and it's such great fiction that I felt it deserved to be included on my reading list. My children are required to read every book Roald Dahl ever wrote. Period.

And finally, I am sure I am the last person on the planet to read this little gem. This book is worth neglecting your children, taking a sick day, faking a migraine - whatever it takes to get a couple of uninterrupted hours. I read it in one sitting because I just couldn't stop. It's precious in a good way. I'm not even sure I can watch the movie because I don't want to risk messing up my mental pictures of these sweet people and their love story. 

That's all for now, folks.

Not our best week

Bode begged to go to baseball camp this year. The kid couldn't wait to show the world what he was made of.  

Then he went.

It took about two seconds for him to realize that he wasn't top dog. And it took that long for me to realize that the baseball community is a foreign culture of which I am clueless.

Here is Bode before his first day of camp:

Here is Bode on the way to his last day of camp:

Let's just say he doesn't love it.

Sometimes our kids have to do hard things, like spend a week doing something that they aren't that great at and they don't happen to love. And that's ok. 

And sometimes you kind of want to die inside when your kid is the only one without a real baseball uniform. Also ok.

If Bode learns nothing else this entire week, I want him to know that he can survive a hard week.

That's life, kid.

I happen to be learning that dragging a crying kid into a baseball practice makes me sweaty and flustered. Also embarrassed.

And that, too, is just life.

My personal favorite

Last week, my family had an estate sale at Ahmo's place. Basically, I watched my childhood disappear in about 3 hours. It was so weird. 

The fun part about getting things ready for the sale was coming across all kinds of treasures. My grandmother, Ahmo, saved a splinter that she took out of my uncle's foot when he was a kid. She literally taped it to a piece of paper and put the date on it. 

Kind of awesome and kind of weird. Ok, mostly weird.

I found every picture, letter, or card I ever sent the woman. And I also found this little piece of prose I wrote when I was eight years old:

"Halfly" is my new favorite word. My only regret is that I haven't used it since I was eight. That's about to change.

School's out for summer!

This is the picture of new beginnings - freshly washed faces, hair accessories, and well-balanced lunches.

 This is the picture of a mother who is so over it. You don't even want to know what's in that lunch box.

Mia may be dressed for "field day" but she is armed with  her sketch pad and pencil. There will be no participation in outdoor athletic events for this girl. She'll be on the sidelines turning the other kids into cartoon characters.

These 6 women gave life to 18 humans.

There is nothing more powerful than that.

Spring has sprung

Literally.

In our house, The Bodester's breathing treatments and steroid regimen are a sure sign that spring is here.

This picture is the definition of family to me. We take care of each other - and sometimes that means your cousin ties your shoe so that you can continue to shoot people.

There is more than one way to do your homework. And all of those ways are perfectly acceptable to me. For the sake of full disclosure, by the time May rolls around the dog really might eat the kids' homework (accidentlyonpurpose). If my kids are as burned out on their school as I am, I can assume that not much learning is going on anyway.

However, they can write adorable notes like this to me anytime. I kind of want to make this into a t-shirt.

Ladies, when you're so sick of the whole Mom thing and you just want to crawl into your closet with a picked over box of Russell Stover's chocolates that's leftover from Valentines and only has the coconut truffles left in it, and you don't even like coconut but you're so desperate for a some short-term gratification that all of the sudden it looks delicious to you, just remember that they really do love you soooooo much. And the rest of the family? Well, they are kind of just an afterthought.

Lots of stuff

Things are happening at rapid speed lately. Gone are the lazy days of drinking coffee and watching the kids destroy the house. And I thought I was actually busy back then. The joke is on me.

We spent Easter in Dallas at LTC. Mia signed a song. 

She got a gold, duh.

This LTC thing is a whole new world for me. I was secretly dreading it because in my small little mind it was going to be a giant homeschool convention (not that there's anything wrong with that). 

And I know absolutely nothing about homeschool conventions except that it's where the Duggars go to meet their future spouses. 

 We actually had a blast and I am already looking forward to next year.

If homeschool conventions are anything like this then count me in! 

 This sums up Mia's and Bode's experiences at LTC. Can you guess which one is the introvert and which one is the extrovert?

Bode wore Vans on cowboy day at school. This, and the fact that my kids have their own Starbucks drink, confirms my worst fears - I'm raising Edmondites. There's no turning back now...

I ran a half marathon the other day. 

I have been known to be a bit of an intense running partner at times. 

Thankfully, I found someone that gets it (translation: He doesn't think creating training spreadsheets is annoying.) 

 My freakishly long arm and I had a blast.

I don't know how I will do life without this woman.

And just like that, the awkward years began.

Mia received part if her inheritance in the form of braces over spring break. And I tell ya, you could feel the tween angst just bubbling up out of this child the moment she walked out of the orthodontist's office.

She now communicates with her brother in eye rolls and exaggerated sighs. It's so wonderful.

She instantly looked older.  But not too old for me to drag her into my lap and squeeze the life out of her. I promise she will never be too old for that.

Less than a year ago she was a baby! A sweet, innocent, crooked toothed baby.

And now? She is staring at herself in the mirror from multiple angles.

I'm kind of dying inside.

This post will not be going in the kids' scrapbook.

Or maybe it will. Who knows?

If you're a dude, this post is not for you. Go check your fantasy baseball scores or something.

I want to talk about boobs for a moment.

And, guys, if you're still reading this I know how much you love them but this isn't going to interest you, I promise. You know millions of ways to waste time, go do one of those. Now.

I came across this article the other day and lemmetellya, I was blown away. Blown away because in all my boob years I never knew that I was wearing the wrong sized bra. I'm built like a 12-year-old boy so I wear a bra mostly for social reasons. In fact, the brand I used to buy was called "Sweet Nothings." I kid you not.

So, after reading the article, I went here to learn how to properly measure myself, and then used this handy, dandy bra fit calculator to find my actual size.

Now, I have used all kinds of calculators from the internet. I've calculated how tall my kids are going to be, which New Girl character I am most like (Jess, duh), how much a certain house will cost, and which royal I would most likely marry if I, too, were royal. But in all my life I have never come across one to tell me what size of bra to wear. Where have I been? (Confession: I've been calculating which Wizard of Oz character I am, that's where I've been).

When I found out that I was an actual, respectable size I went all kinds of crazy. I was dancing around the house, turning cartwheels, high-fiving the mailman, and eating cookie dough like it was going to go straight to my boobs. (I secretly believe that it might.)

I was googling my new fancy bra size and was planning to buy all kinds of cute undergarments until my husband kindly reminded me that my google searches were flagging his p0rn-accountability tracker thingy which meant that every time I looked at a new bra, it sent the image directly to his best friend's inbox. Ooops.

Sorrynotsorry.

Best day ever!

All you need to know about Great Wolf Lodge

Just got back from our annual Great Wolf Lodge trip. All three of my children love it. I tolerate it, for the sake of my children (all three of them).

Thankfully there is a Starbucks in the lobby and if you get super lucky your kid will win you a 3 foot long twizzler in the arcade. It's big enough to eat for breakfast or hang yourself with, whichever you prefer. 

There is no reason you need to enlarge this picture and analyze my make-up less face, chlorine hair, and horrid posture. So stop it. Now.

I also found out that there is a Torchy's Tacos exactly four miles down the road. If you don't care for expletives on your cups and painted on the walls, you might want to skip Torchy's. But then you wouldn't get to eat the best #@&* tacos on the planet and that would be a shame. If your kid reads the cups and sounds out the expletives, just act like its another language and you don't have a clue what it means. Or blindfold them. Either way, just go there.

Highlight of the trip, I stepped on a wet, used bandaid in the pool area. Then I cried and used the expletives that I learned at Torchy's.

Overall, great trip. Crowds were pretty low and the kids slept like babies. 

I am a church widow.

I take the kids to church by myself (consequently, I also get them ready by myself). I sit alone in bible classes, weddings, all funerals and most church services. Andy works about 12 hours most Sundays, so that's awesome. Many of our vacations are church related. People call my house at all hours of the day and night. One time Andy missed a family Christmas because he was at the church building and couldn't get away.  

But it's really not as bad as it sounds, once you get used to it. In fact, most of the blessings of the job far outweigh the challenges. And having the camaraderie and support of fellow ministry widows makes all the difference for me.  

I had the blessing and privilege of spending three days at a ministry wives conference with these lovely ladies.  We worshipped together, laughed together, and ate our weight in DQ Blizzards. 

We also came across this beauty. You can wear the butt of your jeans on your back for the amazing price of $95. 

 Sadly, being poor ministry widows, there was no way we could afford such a luxury.

 I am so thankful to my church for sending us away together for a couple of days.

 I tell ya, you can get through just about anything with a little help from your friends.

All things Mia

Mia's life can be summed up in one word: theater.

That's it. That's all she cares about. She doesn't care if she is the lead, the ensemble, or the toilet cleaner. The kid loves it. This show, in particular, has had a lasting impact on her. The story was very emotional and she spent her entire winter with these wonderful, interesting, exciting people. It makes coming back home to boring ole' Locust Lane all the more devastating. She hasn't stopped crying since Sunday.

I'm not sure what it says about my fashion sense when the costume designer tells me that Mia will need a "poor immigrant coat" and then looks at the coat she wore to rehearsal and says, "Actually, that one is perfect."

The backstage culture is so fascinating. Somehow these kids can knit, make jewelry, eat, do homework, watch movies, and make duct tape wallets while simultaneously singing every song and quoting every line that is happening on stage. All this and they never miss their cue. It's incredible.

Mia also learned to text. 

 She's currently at home learning to not text.

This picture sums up Mia very well. Most of the time she is perfectly content to observe the action from the sidelines. Here all the backstage kids are engrossed in a game of Uno and Mia is happily engrossed in a book.

I prayed that Mia would find her passion. 

And now I just pray that she doesn't major in it in college.

All things Bode

Bode's life can be summed up in three words: basketball, food, and teeth.

Currently, the only things Bode gives a rip about are playing basketball, watching basketball, accumulating basketball themed clothing, eating, talking about eating, planning and preparing for the next time he will eat, wiggling teeth, pulling teeth, and collecting cash from the tooth fairy (AKA Mia).

Before his Yaya bought him some "real basketball socks" he was wearing Andy's dress socks and pulling them up to his thighs. The heels of Andy's socks were dangling off of his calves. I totally let him go to school like this every day. It was not worth the battle.

Bode is now insulted by kids meals. Not only can he tear up an adult-sized meal, but he usually orders an extra something and eats my food. I don't know how I will afford him when he's a teenager.

And last but certainly not the least mortifying, Bode's mouth could be used for a Billy-Bob teeth mold.

Thankfully, a slip and fall took care of the latest tooth, and Supercuts did an amazing job with the haircut. It looks like a blind Edward Scissorhands got a hold of him.

Sunday, while waving a Bible in the air, his teacher asked what the greatest book in the world was. Bode emphatically yelled, "The Dictionary!"

This is the happiest, funniest, hungriest, sweetest kid you'll ever meet. He makes his toddler years so worth it.