The "I'm overwhelmed" holiday breakdown came a little early this year. 


Expectations of the morning pulverized.  Kids hadn't practiced the piano before school.  Again.  Scriptures not read over breakfast.  Again.  Lunches not made for kids.  Again.  Gym clothes sidelined.

Again.

(For an outfit perhaps better suited for the school Book Fair).

Seven pounds gained. 

A smattering of various other shortcomings magnified.  Forgetting to pick up Ellison at piano lessons was a particular lowlight of the week.  "Mom, are you ever coming to pick me up?" was the exact phraseology.  

I was a puddle of tears sitting on the stepstool in my closet by 8:30am.


The tears were cathartic.  The self-flogging over in five minutes.
[Twenty, tops].   

The thought bubble over my head might have read:  "Maybe I will attempt to sausage myself into Caroline's spandex mermaid tail and go swimming.  Then surely things would look up..."  (?)

Moving on.

Post edit:  After deeming the morning utterly unsalvageable, I mumbled something under my breath in the general theme of "I quit" and went back to bed until noon.   Thankfully there was a Bubble Guppies marathon on for Charlotte. 

I'm back.

you know you want one

My girls' lifelong dreams of becoming mermaids have officially been realized!! 

That, and some genius little grandma feverishly whipping these up on her sewing machine in Idaho is gonna be rich!

Even cousin Bridgette got in on the Mermaid Fever, as the girls pretended to "swim" around all day.

 More like little slugs slugging around on the filthy floor.

Helps with the girls' butterfly kick too!
 
(Because that's all they can manage in these constricting getups).

And don't even try to run...running with your knees glued together hasn't played out so well for the girls.

We can't seem to get enough of these.

What the darn are we supposed to do when it's 95 degrees in AZ at the end of October?

Impersonate mermaids, that's what.

I will be getting one for myself.

{not kidding}.

For my own dreams of mermadia.

You know you want one.

fall break 2011

Marc and I walked into our house tonight (at 11:19pm Texas time), looked at eachother, and muttered: "We pulled it off." 

Then we did that fist-bump thing.


Now we are going to bed.


I will state that our trip with all four kids involved the following:


1700 miles (one way) in a rented mini-van across three states,


Five different hotel rooms, (only one gross enough to necessitate the wearing of Hartz 2-In-1 Flea and Tick Collars to bed),


and a fabulous time in the Lone Star State.

strictly for the sake of cuteness

<--------------------------My Charlotte sure doesn't look like this anymore.
Need to change sidebar photos.

{more photos by Vicki Lynn Photography}

it's a good day when:

1)  It's a good day when you discover a housekeeping twofer.

When transferring towels to the dryer, I found a few plastic dishes in the washing machine amongst some towels that I'd just scooped up off the floor and thrown into the washer. 

The dishes sure were clean [enough]. 

How, I ask you, HOW, have I overlooked the dishes/laundry chore combo?

(And who on earth wouldn't love to come over, plop right down, and have a little snack served on dishes that had just been washed with my kids' chonies?)


2)  It's a good day when you learn how to make a new healthy dessert for the kids on Paula Deen {with that SNL Delta Delta Delta sorority twit}:

I was helping my friend, Kim, at The Tomkat Studio, find a new personal assistant (she hired one of our old babysitters), as her business is skyrocketing.  She happened to mention that she needed four-year olds for an upcoming photoshoot that will be appearing on HGTV.com.  Would my Charlotte be interested in decorating some cupcakes for the shoot?

Gee, I don't know...YES.  We will be there, I told her, just so long as it's not before 9:00am.  (The last photoshoot we did with Kim was at 5:00am.)

{{I am allergic to early mornings}}.

Luckily it happened to be at 9:00am.  Charlotte was shy around the other girls at first but then buddied right up.

I'm so happy for Kim's exploding business--but not as nearly as happy as I was to get to keep Charlotte's apron and black/white flower, plus half a dozen cupcakes plus three new punches so I can actually punch out some cupcake toppers from Kim's website!  

Which should indeed advance my craftiness.

I did happen to mention that if someone actually marketed most of the things involved in this party (black/white polka dot favor boxes, cupcake liners, toppers, a basic pennant banner, maybe some aprons, and some cute cupcake decorating supplies) in one single package, I would be A LOT more likely to host a party like this for my kiddos.  Kim said she's working on it... 

Although, [should I say this?]:   Kids really don't care about the fluff and stuff, it's mostly for the moms. 

{yes, I was just struck by lightning}.

OH, and don't forget to enter to win the giveaway on Kim's blog--it ends Thursday...

{all photos by Vicki Lynn Photography}

lovely pinetop

I spent many summer days in my youth at my Grandma and Grandpa Hoopes' cabin. 
 How I miss them.
I feel blessed that my children get to spend time here with their beloved grandparents as well.

Charlotte's best dith.guth.ted look

breaking the law



Barreling out of the truck.



dad building a swing

Gavin pretending that he's any help whatsoever.

Ellison testing the swing.  It worked.



It doesn't look like they are having any fun here.



Deven, Anne Marie, and Sis Megan

Sister Sus and baby Noelle

Walking to the clubhouse.  Five times a day.
Ellison did not let baby Noelle out of her sight (or arms).

The last time my dad, Susan and I hiked to the Mogollon Rim (around 1993)  we got utterly lost.  Dad prayed for help to find our way home, as it was getting dark. 

I'll never forget how my dad opened that prayer in 1993:  "Heavenly Father, it looks like we are going to need some help here..."

Shortly thereafter we stumbled upon a house on the reservation and they let us use their phone.

Grandma Hoopes and my mom (who were very worried) picked us up on the Indian reservation near Hondah. 

This time dad brought a compass on our hike.

OH the drama that ensued after this "injury".
My nephew Sam 

My mom and dad overlooking the Mogollon Rim.
You can see the smoky haze from remnants of the devastating Wallow Wildfires, which were only a few miles away. 

The neighbor's dog would come over and get into our food.  She ate an entire flat of strawberries that were in a cooler that was left open, plus a Costco-sized bag of snap peas.  And then went back to the neighbor's house and yakked it all up on someone's bed. 

We didn't see the dog off the leash too much after that.

Sis Megan and nephew Jeffrey

Deven and Raquel engaged in the mysterious plots of Nancy Drew.

An impromptu golf lesson from my dad.
 Who doesn't golf.

Gavin grilled food for all 25 of us almost every night.

SIL Ashley and niece Shelby

Charlotte and Grandpa