- Mommin' REAL hard... -

...'cause Mommin' IS hard! 

I'm not sure if I have a foggy memory or if my mom just always had her sh*t together [likely the latter], but one of my earliest childhood memories is going to all these laid back "coffees" at her friends' houses.  All the moms would be sitting in the dining room by a coffee cake with perfectly drizzled frosting and sipping their steaming coffees, and the kids would dart off into the living room or basement and play the day away.  We would go home when it was time for lunch and naps.  Then, every night, my mom would prepare a home-cooked dinner that was piping hot when my dad walked through the door at 5:15pm.  He would give her a kiss on the lips and a couple butt squeezes juuuuust to get a rise out of my brother and me, and then we would all sit down and have dinner together.

ANYWAY...where was I going with this?! Oh, yes.  So I was thinking back on all of these picture-perfect childhood memories the other day and realizing:  my current life state of chaos is not mirroring this at all!!!  I love our sweet babies more than life itself, but!  Where are all the cool moms that host those "coffees?!"  I realize my fluctuating states of sanity have a lot to do with Brian building the house and usually being gone and all, but some days are soooo long and the battles are soooo many and my patience wears soooo thin; and then I walk into a situation like this, and ohhhhhhhhhh, my Lawd...  SOMEONE, SEND HELP!!!  #icanteven

^^ There just isn't enough coffee or margaritas [make that coffee AND margaritas] to diffuse this!  I mean, I honestly have no idea how this could all get accomplished in a not-that-long amount of time, but I suppose 'tis life with a three-year-old threenager packrat and I'll just shrug my shoulders and leave it at that.  ...MEANWHILE, as Harper and I were furiously cleaning and putting toys back in their bins, Scarlett disappeared for juuuust enough seconds to dump the basket of toys in the living room AND dismember an entire box of tissues. 

The next day looked like this:
...and the next day like this:

...and holyyyyy schmoly, messes here, messes there, MESSES MESSES EVERYWHEREEE, and my mind is more or less just minutes from exploding!  How again is it possible that two mini humans can make such a massive MESS?!??

Then! You think I'd know by now that >30 seconds of silence is never a good thing, but nope! That same day, while changing Thing 2's poop diaper, I heard the proud voice of Thing 1 yelling, "BOOOOTY-ful!!!" from the master bathroom:

^^ L to the O to the L.  ...Not too bad, actually!  Only problem was that she used my concealer brush to apply the eyeshadow and it was coated up in thurr reallllll thick and dark and so! Black circles under the eyes be forever mine.  Following the DIY makeup counter event, I donned the most appropriate shirt I owned and packed us up to GET OUTTA DA' HOUSE. 

And *ding ding ding!* -- that was the key! Getting out of the house day after day and leaving the dishes and laundry and messy ole' house behind to suffer was definitely the answer.  Woot! We recently got a membership to the children's museum in town...

...and signed up for more classes at the YMCA.

We always enjoy Tuesday morning preschool lab at the library...

...and sometimes we even stoop to the level of visiting the pet store juuuuust for a little extra bit of sanity! Scarlett loves watching the mice run around and the fish swim, and Harper loves showing Emma all around the store, too. 

...Would it be bad if I maybe just left them there -- snuggled in these super cozy dog beds -- for just 30 minutes more so I could sprint home and tidy up the house?! ;) :)

Jay to the kay, of course.

We are now looking forward to the imminent springtime so we can start playing at all the parks in town! 

OY, VEY! The days are long, but the years are so very short... I wish it wasn't so, because pretty sure shorter days and longer years would be more up my alley, but alas!  I've learned the hard way that I can't have it all [in the form of clean dishes/fresh laundry/tidy house AND happy kids] while I have tiny humans under my roof, so I'm lifting it up and learning to find joy in the small things.  I know I should be treasuring the chaos, because it most certainly won't last forever. 

And so! Cheers to these two for keeping me on my toes [amidst the messes, of course] and showing me an unconditional love that I do not deserve!!!  I love being yo' mama!

Now.......back to the original question: where are all those laid back, "I have it all together" moms who can invite the kids and me over for an old-fashioned "coffee?" Feel free to dial up this hot-mess-express anytime! ;) :)

- Garage Storing/Sailing -

Last weekend was our subdivision-wide garage sale -- AKA a subdivision-sized chocolate brownie with three juicy cherries on top for the 3-year-old packrat that lives under my roof. 

Brian generously topped off Harper's [already coin-filled] purse with three $1 bills to spend on "anything you want!" before he dashed off to work out at our new property...

...leaving me as the solo fun-sucking parent to answer to her continuous and exhilarated requests of, "MOMMYYYY! Ohhhh, come wook! Wet's get 'dis!"

When it was all said and done, she came home with a junky doll house [complete with a full family of dolls, furniture, and accessories], a gaudy Halloween/jack-o-lantern frame, and a collection of crap from the garage of a retired teacher [you know, stickers and paper pads and dice and dry-erase boards from one of those "4 items/$1 type of tubs].

Annnnnnd in light of saving my marriage, I managed to talk her down from a $10 ceramic lawn ornament, a $1 used sock monkey for Scarlett [previous property of the neighbor's dog], and a $5 candle-holding/singing Mrs. Claus [?] juuuuust to name a few. #packratforeverandever #idigress

She was so thrilled to show Brian her loot the next morning and immediately asked him if he/we could take her shopping at "some more garage stores sometime soon!" :)