this morning resulted in tears as we walked into school with brody's jacket. he was begging me to leave his jacket in the car giving me every explanation possible. none of which i bought.

finally, in the hallway, he sat down and cried. "my friends will make fun of me because thomas the train is on my jacket...i need a jacket with a football on it."

after taking a big gulp and holding back my own tears as we stumble into a new world of being made fun of...i told him what any other mom would...

it's simple honey...when your friends make fun of you then you just gently knock them down and then kindly beat the hell out of them.

...so... what i really said was what my friend jodi taught me...you see she's a really, really, really good mom and she doesn't beat people up. except for that one time in college...

is thomas the train in your heart, brody?

yes

are footballs in your heart?

no

then it's ok to wear a jacket with thomas and you don't need the same jacket as your friends. you wear what is in your heart, ok? and your friends can wear what is in their hearts.

ok, mom. but i think thomas will be in my heart at home and footballs will be in my heart at school.

(sigh). ok, buddy. we'll get you a new jacket this weekend.

thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.
-Yehuda Bauer

k-a-y....

no, mom, there isn't a y in kaylen.
cuh-cuh-cuh-aayyyyy-llll-ennnn
it's spelled k--l--n
cuh-cuh-cuh-aaaaaaa-luh-luh-luh-ennnnnnnnnnnnn
see, mom? no Y.
it's k--l--n

brody, you can't throw trash out the window! it's bad for our earth and the police will give us a ticket.

(we drive a few blocks. complete silence as he processes what just happened.)

mom, i won't do that again.

ok, buddy. i know you won't.

(pause. we drive a few blocks more.)

mom, can the police men hear everything we say?

no, only God can hear everything we say.

so the police can't hear me?

nope.

(pause. more thinking)

mom, can you tell God that i am sorry i did that and i won't do it ever again?

yes, i can tell him.

...and can you ask him to tell the police men that i am sorry and to not give me a ticket?

ok. i'll tell him.

mom, i mean right now, ok?

ohhh...like for real right now...ok.

"dear God. brody is really sorry that he littered. he did not know it is illegal and he will never do it again. please let the police men know so that they do not give him a ticket. amen."

thanks, mom.

source: http://www.lifemadelovely-blog.com/

spanx

that is not my body. and even if it were i would never wear those shoes. but it isn't. in case you didn't realize how short i am and thought for a moment that one of them might be me.

but i did wear spanx to work today for the first time. ever. it seems like everyone wears them. so i should too. right?

by mid-morning i could no longer breathe.
by noon they had broken one of my ribs.
by mid-afternoon the high waisted spanx had scrolled their way down to my lower waist creating what looked like a fat roll. but it was a fat spanx roll. pretty sure they are supposed to cover up fat rolls, right? not create them.

i don't have a conclusion to this. or advice. or even a point, really. i am just confused by it all.

bugs

there are bugs everywhere.

as we prepare for a very important day.

the day we have a 5 year old in the house.

a celebration of 5 years worth of boo boo kisses. 5 years of singing hush little baby. 5 years of of hearing mommymommymommymommymommymommy strung together as if it is one very long word. 5 years of goodnight squeezes. 5 years worth of a love we never knew before.

and my little helper watching over all these bugs.

mom and bro fridays



i get to stay home with my boy on fridays now.




we do what any other mom and boy would do.




we get dirty.




and live life.



an introduction to our home



this little guy watches over our worms all summer. we thank him by burying him alive in the snow in the winter.




a print in our bedroom. simple.




year #1 memory jar. not only do i love having these memories to look back on, i also love that we do not buy stuff or souvenirs. unless i absolutely love it or it is functional, then it is not in this home.




this may be my favorite item in our home. only i would love a seashell owl this much. but i just do for many reasons.




we bought 6 of these chairs for $20. six! the seats were in bad shape but for another $20 we made them pretty again.




this mirror belongs on a desk (below) but i split the two so it could happy up our mantle.





this chalkboard changes daily. today it is a to-do list for james, a green lantern drawing from brody and a note to bubba reminding him where to go potty. this little corner of our home is my favorite.
*i should also point out that if you look closely at the chalkboard door, james had erased some of his to-dos. he didn't actually do them, he just didn't expect me to take a photo of the door to then realize later that some of the to dos had been erased. busted. *

 


we bought this adirondack bench for $10. it was green, blah. james replaced a couple of the boards and i gave it a new coat of paint. it's perfect now. we also got 2 matching chairs for another $15 but they are hidden in the backyard bc i haven't painted them yet.




the other 1/2 of the mirror. this guy sits in our kitchen for no other reason than to be awesome.




where we were married. a reminder on our photo wall. not that we would forget. but it makes us smile.