One sec.....

Just,

Let me finish these dishes.
Let me quick send this e-mail.
Let me throw this load of laundry in the dryer.
Let me sweep the kitchen floor really fast.
Let me go pop this in the mailbox.
Let me bring these upstairs.
Let me make my bed.
Let me get dinner started.
Let me grab a fast shower.
Let me give daddy a call a minute.
Let me have a conversation with the neighbor.
Let me write these last two checks.
Let me read this article.
Let me watch this news-story.
Let me dust the dresser.
Let me empty the dishwasher.

Ugh.

I hate that.  I hate that little phrase, "One sec.....let me_______________."
I hate it. Not because kids don't need to learn to wait; there are legitimate things to be done and kids need to see us doing them, and even help.  I hate it because when I hear it come back at me out of my four year olds mouth I know it's because she might hear it just a little bit too much.  And she might hear it about things that don't need to get done right now or she might hear it too many times in row, breaking my promise of that word just--as if one thing is all I'm going to do before I watch her do a pirouette, help her dress her baby, button her dress up dress, straighten her socks, read her a book, draw with her, dance to Fresh Beat Band, give her doll a bath, or build a fort.

So on that note...........
I'm going on a little blogging vacation until April 8th or so.  I'm hoping to say a lot of things like,

Let me take a walk with you.
Let me do a craft with you.
Let me paint your toe-nails.
Let me play chase with you.
Let me eat ice-cream with you.
Let me watch that show with you.
Let me join your tea party.
Let me show you how to use that cookie cutter.
Let me paint a picture at your table with you.
Let me tell you a story from when I was a little girl.

Let me.......just be with you.

Thirty Six Things I Love About This Guy.

Chris turns thirty six today.  Thirty six!  I've known him since he was nineteen, started dating him when he was twenty, married him when he was twenty three, and have been thankful for him and in love with him all the days in between.  Sometimes I really can't believe I get to call him my husband and that he gave the girl that dumped him a second chance.  That's right.  I dumped him.  On Valentine's Day.  After he gave me a present.

I'm a jerk.

Happy Birthday Babe.  Here's thirty-six things I love about you.  There's about a bajillion more.

1.  He makes me laugh.  Harder than anyone else.  Almost everyday.  I could list all of our inside jokes--but that'd just be obnoxious.

2.  He works so hard for our family. And he loves his job.  I love that.

3.  He sets the table for me every night.

4.  He loves our daughter like crazy.  The feeling is mutual.  And to see the two of them together is magic.

5.  He's smart and amazing with words.

6.  He folds laundry for me.

7.  He's so friendly.....to everyone.

8.  He lets me buy him stuff like white jeans and suede shoes and he'll wear them and look pretty amazing in them.

9.  He's disciplined.

10.  He loves Jesus.

11.  He reads books.

12.  He hates going to movies--but he'll do it for me.

13.  He doesn't complain. Ever.

14.  When he laughs hard, really hard, it's so awesome.

15.  He's athletic.

16.  He reads every one of my posts on Pink Shoes.

17.  He makes me feel safe.

18.  He laughs at my clothes, tells me some of them are crazy, and then tells me I'm beautiful in them.

19.  He's honest with me when I'm being ridiculous.

20.  He takes Georgia on dates like going out for donuts every single Saturday morning.

21.  He is literally the worlds best pancake maker.

22.  After our first date, our sophomore year of college, he told his brother he'd met the girl he was going to marry.  I dumped him the next month.  When I came to my senses a year and half later (and he'd grown his hair long and gotten an earring) he took me back......after some groveling on my part.

23.  He can fly airplanes and I think that's pretty hot.

24.  He brings me flowers--sometimes......just because.

25.  He's objective and really tries to see both sides before making a decision.

26.  He always tells me thank-you for making dinner, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, and going grocery shopping.

27.  If I want to do something, he wants me to try and supports me through it.

28.  He works hard at our marriage and wants it to be better everyday.

29.  He shows Georgia everyday how a man should treat her.

30.  He has the best hands.  I pretty much wouldn't date a guy if he had girl hands--his passed the test and still do.

31.  He knows, he just knows, when I need a break.

32.  When he found out Georgia was a girl he was thrilled.  He was made to be a daddy to a little girl.

Georgia....one day old. 

33.  When I'm impatient, he's patient.  When I'm frustrated, he's calm.  When I'm freaking out, he's not. We balance each other out.

34.  Politics.  He loves them and can talk about them forever.  I love that.

35.  He gets up with Georgia every Saturday morning so I can sleep in.  Seriously.  That's amazing.  How did I not put that as number one?

36.  He's mine.

Just think....in thirty six more years we'll be 72.  Yikes.  We need to start looking for that condo in Puerto Vallarta.  STAT.

Four! Seriously....Four Years Old!

Georgia asked to see a picture of herself when she was "just a little bitty baby born in the hospital" today.  We flipped through a few pages of our first picture book that she's a part of and it is just mind-blowing to me to look at those pictures of four extremely short years ago and know that the girl I am in those pictures and the baby that she was in those pictures would become the people we are today; so completely transformed, and me.......so much better because of Georgia.

I interviewed Georgia today and asked her a few questions about being four and what we should remember about her as she says good-bye to three.

And the video was really cute.  And I've been trying for the last hour to get Vimeo and Flickr and even You Tube to upload it and neither one will cooperate.  I've spoken nicely to the computer screen and not so nicely.  It's not responding to either.  I've done the same thing I always do to upload videos to Vimeo.....to no avail. So, I'm giving up on the video.

I knew vlogging wasn't in the cards for me.

We celebrated the big four on Saturday with a Peter Pan birthday party.  I gotta be honest....I ignored my camera for most of the afternoon and just talked and laughed and watched Georgia without a Canon in my face.  Sometimes that's kind of a relief to give yourself permission to just........be.  I took enough pictures to fill up the birthday page in the photo album for 2013...but that's it.  Here's a few......

One of my favorite Pinterest ideas ever....Buy one of those Little Golden books that cost about $4 (the cardboard covered ones).  They come in just about every little kid birthday theme under the rainbow.  Make a banner out of the pages!  So incredibly easy and tells a great story!

I made the cake.  From a box.  And added some almond extract to rock it out.  Oh, and I burned one of the layers.  Thankfully, in retrospect, a four layer cake would have been crazy and I'm going to say it burned itself (even though I put it on the bottom rack and I guess that's a no-no).  The alligator cookies; a woman I work with made them. So cute!

The three of us with Tarah & her mom Sharon. 

Georgia really was having a good time. I think she was all, "Mom....I thought we were going to cut back on the camera this time."

Thankfully, my camera snapped this keeper.  Georgia & Tarah.

And just a few we grabbed with phones.........

And today........a new year......the first picture of myself with my brand new big four year old.  Gulp.

"On my bobom."

I found this video buried on my desktop last week.  Georgia was about one and half at the time and just like today.....back then she had extremely strong opinions on very important things like what we used on her bottom, ahem, bobom, for diaper rash.  I remember after we taped this little conversation Chris and I watched it over and over and laughed and laughed.  It was just so quintessentially her.  And when I found it last week we had the same reaction.  Because it's still so her in a nutshell.  

But at the same that finding it is just so awesome, like finding a $20 bill in your spring coat from last year, it's so sad because it was so long ago.  And so much has happened since.  Some of it, a lot of it, that I can't remember and while I can't expect to remember three years of details like what kind of diaper rash cream Georgia preferred, it's one of those mom things that you just feel like you should remember.  She's my kid.  Mine.  Nothing is more important to me on this planet than her and her daddy.  

It's just another one of those reminders to make the most of every moment when you're in them because chances are....you're not going to remember that many little moments.....that ones that truly end up defining who you are as an individual and as a family.  Of course you'll remember some, maybe more than some.  But you can't remember them all--and as sad as that may be, it's just the truth.  So all we can do as mamas is make the most of them when they're happening and hope that a few of those fleeting bits of sand stick in the palms of our hands forever.  

And speaking of sand.......(let's hear it for bad segues), 

We went to the beach this weekend.  I've never, in over a decade of living in West Michigan, gone to the beach in the winter.  Which is crazy--it's like a college rite of passage here in Grand Rapids to spend some precarious moments out on the frozen white caps--but I'd never done it and I really wanted to.  It was a little late in the season to fully appreciate it--things had started to melt, the snow was a little dirty, and we couldn't tell exactly what was frozen and what wasn't so we had to be extra careful--especially with an almost four year old.  But we did it.  And it was hilarious.  We laughed, Georgia begged to be carried, Chris warned us about being careful, frequently, I told him to relax more than I should have, and we breathed in Lake Michigan fresh air.  

Before we left the house I thought, "Is this really going to be fun?  Should we just stay home?  It's starting to drizzle.  A movie and a nap would be fun awesome."  But the thing is--it's a moment.  A moment that was going to pass and that day--I was in the mood to capture it.  I'm not everyday--no one is and that's okay, but when we feel a flutter of it, we should snatch it.  Because if we don't snatch them when they come, those feelings might not come as frequently.  

Who knew....my husband can juggle. 

My daughter can't however. 

This is Chris's poster for a movie called, "The Last Man on Earth." 

So snatch those feelings when you can.  They usually won't let you down. 

Triangle & Arrow Stuff

Quenching my need to shop online but not actually buy anything, I bring you another round of nine things.  I consider these montages a goodwill initiative as well--I mean...if anyone is ever wondering what to buy me as a present.....hello?

Arrows and triangles are pretty much everywhere right now and I love their simplicity and modern feel.  I bring you my nine favorite arrow and triangle things..........
at least right now.

1.  Little Boogaweezin leggings for kiddos!  Love these, love these, love these and I wish they came in adult sizes.

2.  Candy Kirby......I found this amazing lady on Instagram and have been dreaming of cuddling up in her blankets ever since. 

3.  Chicwish never disappoints.  Pretty sure I could make this sweater a staple for the next few months. Pretty sure. 

4.  Not shocking--but Target carries this triangle awesomeness.  And it matches my living room. 

5.  I own the turquoise version of this garland.....and it's pretty adorable.  The yellow one might not be far behind. 

6. Have you registered for Brickyard Buffalo yet?  It's like Groop Dealz, but with good stuff, that doesn't break, and isn't 100x smaller than it looked in the picture.  And right now, they have these pillow covers.  And I like them a lot.
7. This beauty is about to kick a stretched out Otterbox to the curb.
8. I was thankful for the invite to a Stella and Dot jewelry party last week in the new hood.  Usually I feel like I have to force myself into picking out the cheapest, most acceptable thing in those home party catalogs--but this little bracelet--I knew it was there and I was happy to bring it home.
9. Sometimes, actually a lot of times, JC Penney, really delivers.  My sister and I were actually talking a few weeks ago about how they might just be one of the best kept secrets.  I believe this pendant light possibly proves this theory.