Now I understand why my parents put me in the garage

I had the sugary sweetest post planned for today.  

All about smoothies and matching clothes and kitty-cats and rainbows.  

Well, some of that anyway. 

Maybe another day.  

If you're good.

(I just realized I typed god instead of good.  Do you think God reads blogs?)

So maybe it was because I've been playing nurse to 2 sick kids for the past 6 days.  

Or maybe the fact that my baby isn't yet 5 months old, and hasn't started solids but I still started my period this morning.  

Or maybe the gravitational pull of the moon in line with jupiter.....whatever.  

I woke up from my 7 solid hours of sleep feeling like there was no way I could function without 7 more.

But I yanked myself out of bed and Netflix and I did our best to raise these children.

(Megan likes to watch Carter while he watches TV.)

I remember wishing that Li had a sick day so that he could come home and I could have a sick day.
In retrospect, that should've been a red flag.

Megan finally fell asleep so I stuck Carter in his bed and fell asleep.  

Carter did not go to sleep and got into...well, I don't want to get arrested....so, something he shouldn't have.   

I was still desperate for sleep so I locked him in his room and he started yelling.  

Of course. 

Then my tender little Megan started crying in her sleep because Carter was crying.  

Ugh.  

As if I hadn't already blown the competition for world's worst mother out of the water.  

But yelling and door slamming and stomping around were soon to follow.  

Putting him in the garage to keep him quiet would've been much kinder.

(How could I get mad at a face like that?)

How much would I love a phone call like, "Please take my kids for an hour I'm desperate for a nap."?  So much. 

I know for a fact that if I had posted something similar on facebook I would have had multiple offers of help in minutes.

I watched Carter yank on a hose tonight for several minutes crying his brains out because he couldn't move it any further.  (I really am a mean mom, huh?)  When I finally convinced him he needed help it took me all of 30 seconds to fix his problem.

"I wanna do it myself."

Well I can't. 

And neither can you.

Or maybe you can.

But you don't have to.

And speaking of food, which we aren't, but my original post idea was going to... everything I wanted to make for dinner this week was soup.  So we ate nothing but soup all week.  And next week I'm going to post a recipe a day.  It should be yummy.

Ride with Sophie

This is how I feel since getting my new wheels.





Did you watch?
Tell me you don't want to hop on a bicycle and get some ice cream.

My daughter's a dummy

I spent the whole entire day flipping Megan from her tummy to her back.  She's a back to front expert.  She's back on her tummy as soon as I let go.  And then she screams.  It's like a compulsion.  I wanted to shout, "Hey dummy! Quit doing that."  But I didn't.  Because she's a baby.

I got home from Zumba last night with a rather large list of things I wanted to do.  Some how I found myself going from facebook to some blog I hardly understood and eventually wound up on an article about why barefoot is best.  (Which I already knew.)

Why do we do things that don't make us happy?!

I have a little bit of a crush on James Altucher these days.  It's okay, I think Li does too.  I recently read a post that mentioned we should wish people well.  Not really a novel concept I guess, but it smacked me on the face.  I don't do that.  More often I see people and I think I'm better than they are for some ridiculous reason, or I hate them because I can't come up with a ridiculous reason why I'm better than they are.

But I've been extra conscious of what makes me happy and what doesn't.   A few nights ago I went to bed early and then got up early enough to ride my bike to zumba.  I got there and found myself thinking things like... She has the best smile.  Her butt looks great in those pants.  Her personality seems so fun! (Are you recognizing yourself here fellow Zumbis?)  She is so adorable pregnant.  (Yeah, that's you Melis.)

I did it.  And I think it was because I was happy myself and so I wasn't threatened by the happiness of others.

I'm being proactive about happiness.  I'm having a book party.  Here's a link to the info on facebook.  I probably sent you an invite.  But for those of you who avoid facebook here's the details....

I'm reading this.

On Thursday October 20th at 7 I'm having a party to talk about it.
Please come.

If you can't come, you can still read it and talk to me about it.  I'd love that.

And while writing this post I checked facebook again.
And another blog.
Dummy!

Bone Tired

And tonight I'm the kind of tired, frustrated, annoyed blah blah blah where all I want to do is cry.  

But I'm too tired.

(Just wanted to keep it real.)

Li is talking to Megan while she sleeps.

(This is when Li proposed to me on a mountain.  I had no idea I was picking such a yummy life by saying yes.)

I am so happy and so lucky tonight. 

My kids are great and adorable.  (And sleeping.)  

I love my husband. 

I am stoked that I get to bike around town instead of walking or even driving. 

I finally have the means to be committed to a regular yoga practice with an inspiring and helpful teacher.   

Li is starting school and happy.

Is this sounding a little "Seriously-So-Blessed-esque?"

I don't know what to say about that.

(Really I don't.  I've written and erased multiple explanations.)

Bottom lines is I'm really happy and I felt like saying thanks.

I started blogging in the first place with this picture and the hope of being more grateful.

And tonight I just want to shout, "Yippee Skippee!"

Hello happiness!

My weekend was filled with loads of my favorite things.

There was

and

plus friends and family 

and my new favorite thing....

my bucket bike!!!!!!!

(I know it's unprofessional to use too many exclamation marks.

Believe me, I toned it down.

I could've used about a million more.)

Zucchini babies

 I'm not eating treats this week and while I know that zucchini "bread" is really more like zucchini cake, I ate it anyway.  

I make the rules around here anyway.

I used this recipe, which I'm pretty sure I've shared before, but it's basically my favorite thing.

In my defense I didn't frost it and I used applesauce for most of the oil, some wheat flour and less sugar.  So I'm totally justified right?  Whatever.

But let's get down to the nitty-gritty.  My neighbor gave me these.

As you can see, they are huge.  

I do love zucchini cakebread, but I can only eat so much.

Suggestions?  Recipes?  Pancakes?

She didn't give me the fiesta cheese soup, I put that there for perspective, but one thousand bonus points if you've got a recipe that uses both.

 (Actually that sounds super gross, but who knows?)

And here's another shot for perspective....

They are as big as a small child.

But my small children are much, much cuter.

Megan got a new toy.  Carter loves it.

Again.

I've been reading and learning and trying a lot lately.  

I've been reading about unschooling.

I've been reading James Altucher and Leo Babauta and Brene Brown.

And I want to share some of it.  

And since I'm trying to overcome my all-or-nothing mentality I'm blogging again.  

We will see what that turns out to mean.