Connor's 1st Love Letter

Today Connor came home from school with a letter...

handed to him from a girl...

supposedly written by another girl.

Although I would not categorize Connor as "girl crazy" by any means (that would be our Eli) I can tell he is flattered and a little excited about the idea of a secret admirer. Who wouldn't be?

And can you blame the girls for falling for this handsome devil?

These shoes are made for walkin!

I don't know about you...

but trying to get out the door with my kids

is like trying to run with an elephant on my back.

Impossible.

I always forget something

and have to make at least two trips

from the driveway

back to inside the house

and then again

sometimes half way down the road.

And still, I often forget one of the kids' most basic needs:

a sippy cup, soccer ball, shoes, piano books, baseball glove, snack, pants (yes that's happened!), coat, backpack, extra diapers, sack lunch.

But even more often I forget my needs:

wallet, cell phone, purse, sunglasses, Blockbuster DVD, receipt, i-pod, water bottle.

Not to mention we are rarely on time for anything.

It is what it is.

It's our life.

I'm not making excuses

and I don't see a sudden change in the near future.

So when I buckled Eli in his seat today and saw these shoes on his feet:

I was just grateful he had on two...

and that it did not mean a third trip back inside the house.

So yes, my son and I

walked all around Ace Hardware, the Dollar Store, Kohls and the public library...

with two different shoes

and two right feet.

And I actually LIKED that I was okay with it.

Maybe we will do it again tomorrow?

What happened to the Dog Lady?

(Disclaimer: These are the thoughts of a lady on a lot of pain medication!)

Once there was a little girl who loved all animals, especially dogs. You see, she had two herself and could not get enough of them.

One day her mother came home rather annoyed, after trying to pull into the driveway on her way home from work, only to find that her 7 year old daughter already had the space occupied.

A smile broke across her mother's face as she asked the girl, "What in the world are you doing?!?"

The girl, a bit confused replied, "What does it look like I am doing?? I am throwing the dogs a birthday party!"

Yes, I was that little girl. I remember it being a warm summer afternoon. I was hot just walking around in my swimsuit and bare feet and decided surely the next door neighbor's golden retriever was hot laying out in the heat with her thick coat of long hair. I suddenly had an idea! I was going to throw the dogs a pool party! I dragged out and brushed off my trusty green, plastic Mr. Turtle Pool and placed it smack dab in the middle of the driveway. I then filled it with hose water and put piles of dry dog food all around the pool. I went and got my two favorite dogs in the world from the backyard to join in on the fun. Turns out I was right, because it didn't take long for Shasta (the neighbor's dog) to make her way directly into my green wading pool. It was like I had a giant handful of hot greasey bacon in my hands, or something, because suddenly random dogs just started showing up out of the woodwork. I'm not kidding, a dog here, a dog there. Until, there I was with 5 or 6 dogs eating their carefully placed piles of dog food, and one dog swimming in the middle of it all. That was when my mom showed up.

My mom quickly made it clear that these other dogs were not to stay... and to clean up my mess when I was finished. But she let me be, as she walked away shaking her head. I then joined Shasta in the pool as we (okay, I) sang happy birthday and celebrated the birth of all these glorious dogs!

It was shortly after this incident that I started being referred to as the 'Dog Lady' around the house and neighborhood.

I simply loved dogs. When I grew up I wanted to have 150 dogs as pets and have someone pay me for it. It sounded like a great job to me!

Now, when I see dogs at the park... and I see their owner stopping to pick up their poop behind them... I want to vomit. Now, when I see dog hair all over some one's clothes or house... I think it is so NOT worth having a dog to have to clean up all that mess! Now, when friendly neighbor dogs jump up on me to give me a big kiss on my face... I am totally grossed out. Now, when I pet a dog... I can't think of anything until I wash my hands afterwards.

What happened to me? Where did the Dog Lady go? When did I become so cold hearted and non-animal friendly? I hate it! Sometimes I try to pretend that I still do love dogs (and sometimes I almost believe it myself) and then I see that a friend's dog vomited on their floor, or chewed up their shoes, or peed on their rug, or scratched up all their doors and tore up the couch, or that they have worms in their poop! And then I just can't think anything else but... "Why?!??". Sadly, my kids will probably never know the love of a dog.

Seriously though, what happened to that Dog Lady???