Rocking chair moments

On Tuesday night I watched the very last episode of my most-favorite-in-the-whole-wide-world TV show... Gilmore Girls. It was bittersweet, to say the least. A really great ending to the story. But now a big hole in my Tuesday nights. Whatever will I do? (I mean, besides the ironing and the floor cleaning and the checkbook balancing that I usually avoid on Tuesday nights.)

I can say with certainty that Lorelai Gilmore is my favorite-of-all-time TV mom. Followed closely by Claire Huxtable and Caroline Ingalls, two other all-time greats. She made me laugh, that's for sure. And during this last episode I cried and cried as I watched her try to say good-bye to her baby girl who was leaving the nest for good.

So on Wednesday morning when Janie woke up extra early and then promptly fell back asleep on my lap in the rocking chair, I didn't mind one bit. I could have laid her back down and crawled back into bed for a couple of extra zzz's. But I held her in my arms for awhile and thought about all the moments - big and small, good and bad, amazing and ordinary - that are yet to happen in her precious life. It was happy and sad all at the same time, and I had to try really hard not to cry so that my sniffling would not wake her up.

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Grab bag

I'm in a bit of a blogging drought. So I'm totally plagiarizing, umm I mean finding inspiration from, some of my favorite blogs. I saw this meme floating around and thought I would give it a try...

The goal: bare your soul, in the form of your purse contents, for all the world (that means the two of you who read this) to see.

So this is my new red purse. Until this point in my life, the only color purse I've ever owned has been black. Because, really, black is easy when it comes to purses. 95% of the time it will match my shoes. And I'm not the kind of girl who moves her stuff from purse to purse each morning. (And seriously, what would be the point of that when all your purses are black?) But I must have been feeling bold, or sassy, or something when I was shopping, because now I am the proud owner of a cherry red purse.



Maybe my inspiration came from this cool wallet my sister sent from Italy.


Apparently, I love my lips. (TM Larry the Cucumber)


And I love to write stuff.


And I find fresh breath to be important.


I know y'all have found this to be the height of blog entertainment. I mean, really, who isn't fascinated by my favorite brand of breath mint.

So in the interest of keeping the party going, I tag Deanne. With three kiddos, she's got to have some interesting stuff in her purse!

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My middle name is Betty Crocker

I tried a new recipe tonight.

I'll pause for a minute in case you need to take a moment to recover from your shock at reading that last sentence.

It was yummy and I'll probably make it again. In case you're feeling adventurous, here it is...

Stuff you need:

• 1 crock pot
• 4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• 1 package (8oz) low-fat cream cheese
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 envelope dry italian dressing seasoning

Steps to take:

1. Put the chicken in the bottom of the crock pot.
2. Mix all the other stuff together.
3. Smear it on the top of the chicken.
4. Cook it on low for about 8 hours.

You'll end up with moist, falling-apart chicken with a yummy gravy to put on rice or noodles or something.

As you can see, it's my kind of recipe - easy. And, double-bonus points, it totally reminds me of something my mom would make.

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A healthy snack

I recently discovered these little bits of yummy deliciousness at my local Wal-Mart.



And I have to say, if you see them in a store near you, do not hesitate to buy them for your self and your loved ones. Chocolate and strawberry, all smushed yummily together. It's like manna from heaven.

Plus, the strawberry filling counts as a serving of fruit (right?), so you can't go wrong.

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Clarity

All morning Janie has been playing with her purses. She has two: one with a big pink flower, and one that looks like a fluffy Pooh-bear face.

First, she stands in front of her bedroom mirror looking at her cute self with a purse hanging on each arm. Then she runs to stand in front of my bedroom mirror to look at her cute self with a purse hanging on each arm. Then she runs to the living room to do a little dance with a purse hanging on each arm. And repeat. And repeat.

Then she walked up to me, with a very expectant look on her face, and did the sign for 'mouse'.

I said, "Oh, honey, that's not a mouse. You have a big pink flower and a Pooh-bear."

Again the sign for 'mouse'.

"Baby, did you see a mouse? If there is a mouse in this house I will totally freak. Why are you signing 'mouse'?"

Furiously signing 'mouse'.

"Yes, sweetheart, I see that you are signing 'mouse'. I mean, I know that I'm a natural blonde. But really, I'm not getting this."

And then, I'm not sure, but I think she rolled her eyes. Then, a very slow and deliberate sign for 'mouse'.

"Janie, honey, mama is so sorry. I can tell that you are really trying to tell me something. But I'm just not understanding. Gosh, that must be really frustrating."

She looked at me with an exasperated look, put down her purses and walked into her room. I stood in the hallway feeling a little bit like the worst mother ever. I prayed for understanding. I prayed for her voice to miraculously begin working right now. I prayed that she wouldn't remember this moment.

Then Janie returned, carrying her current most-favorite-book-in-the-whole-world, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. She pointed at Lilly on the cover of the book.

Lilly is a mouse. Carrying a purse.

Ooohhhh.

So we sat on the floor in the hallway and read all about Lilly and her purple plastic purse. And we laughed about silly mommy who wasn't able to see the dancing, purse-holding Lilly standing right in front of her.

Thank you Janie for not giving up!

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Bunny hop

Today we went to the Easter egg hunt at the park. It was the cutest thing.

Last year, Janie picked up two eggs. And that was it. I mean, once you have one egg for each hand, what's the point of continuing?

This year, she more than doubled her egg count at five! (Plus, she got to wear the little bunny ears that we found in the $1 section at Target.)

Way to go, my little bunny!

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Rice-a-roni

From Rob's blog:
______________________________________

so janie and i were having some solo dinner time tonight at her favorite place: baja fresh.
she eats their rice like cookie monster eats cookies:
like a savage.



she grabs it by the handfuls and jams it into her mouth-
and of course- it gets on her cheeks, in her hair and tonight-
one grain of rice went half way into her nostril.

so- being the shameless dad-
i tried to pick it out-
which made her laugh- loud and hard.
unfortunately, my efforts didn’t help much-
it only drove that little kernel of rice further up her nose.
i got desperate.
i pulled out the little plastic baby fork from her baby-bag
and shamelessly started to dig for that grain of rice!

that made her wiggle and laugh even more-
it was at that moment that i realized:
i’m in a public restaurant, digging a piece of rice out of my daughter’s nose-
and she is making a loud laughing sound.
“janie sit still!” i said “dad is trying to dig rice out of your nose!”
i couldn't help but laugh myself as i was digging.

well, when jane is laughing, and then i start laughing,
she starts laughing uncontrollably- squealing
and she does what a lot of people do when they laugh uncontrollably:
she snorts.
and at the table tonight, while she was laughing, she did a loud laughing snort.
“oh no!” i thought-
then i looked up her nose- no rice!
“janie! YOU SNORTED THE RICE!” i said loudly-
the scene that we had made only got bigger-
and her laughter got wilder and louder-
she does it to embarrass me- i know it.
needless to say- we left soon after that- laughing all the way.

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