some family fun from a fun family...

for real? could these two be any cuter? ahhh...what a lucky mom.
never leave a two year old alone in the kitchen with an open jar of peanut butter. he was elbow deep in jif when i found him...stinker.
ellee's clone...we're pretty sure.
more proof...but pretty cute, eh?
it was soooo rainy for days and days this last week...so finally i let the animals out of the cage and into the rain...they had so much fun!
more rain...i LOVE casey's face in this...

such the explorer...i adore him...

a smirk is all she'll give the camera...

i love having girls to dress up...

just a cute baby...and one hot momma, eh? bahhaahhaa.

uncle brain and auntie ramey came for a visit...and to show our love, we made a kickin' birthday cake. for real. AWE. SOME.
i can't remember the last picture i had with my bro...love love love him.

the first day in the jumper...a little shaky...but by the time they get to 31/2 months, i start to feel a little guilty about having them in the swing and bouncy seat so much...i'm starting the search for alternatives.

cute cute cute.

and that's it. june is keeping us on our toes...someday i would like to see what it feels like to stand on my whole foot....

congratualtions to all the crazies out there!

when my alarm blared in my ear at 6am this morning, my first thought was about how tired i was. that thought prompted me to count up the number of hours before i would find myself back in this warm and cozy place that i was being hurled out of...the number was 18. puke. i then lay there in my 5 minute snooze and thought quickly about what would be required of me throughout the 18 hours that faced me.

as the list grew, i thought to myself 'only crazy people live like me.' as i began to seriously consider the possibility that i am a real live crazy person, my snooze went off and it was time to get up...for real this time.

a cup of coffee and my morning 'shannon-time' dulled the drama, but even now i am shocked i would participate in such a masochistic (that's only a fancy word for crazy-like, can i get an amen?) act. as a mother, i find it overwhelming to think about all the tasks that fill up any one day. it's too much. the good news...busy days are like folding laundry...the pile looks HUGE in the basket, but once you find your groove, it goes pretty fast. (and just like laundry, i am good at getting about half of my day's tasks done before i run out of time and begin piling things in baskets and shoving them into corners.)

my point though, is that in my thinking through the tasks i was to accomplish today, i realized that millions of moms around the world were waking up to face the same reality...with that, i felt connected to a larger community of moms...a sisterhood if you will.

i am a mom who is overworked, over-tired, and over-extended. but what mom isn't? (ok ok, i know a mom or two who seem to have it all together, but i think one of two things is true. 1) they are liars or 2) they are liars.) once again i realize i am not alone in my reality. my story has been told a million times over and that is awesome.

soooo...here are my kudos to all the moms out there. to the ones who came before me, to the ones who battle with me, and to the ones who still don't know how to get baby vomit out of wool - congratulations! you are awesome!

congrats to all you laundry doers, you breast-feeders, you meal makers. take a bow all of you time-out givers, job working, hug granting great ones. i admire you and i appreciate you. we are in this together...and our work is wicked hard. (and also wicked awesome, but that's not really what this post is about now, is it?)

in a day when you know that the span of things you must accomplish range from sitting in a business meeting to wiping the rear end of a small person, i say to you, YOU ARE AMAZING. no one can compare to you. you are a mother and your life is full. full and crazy. but in my book, crazy goes a long way.

they say it goes fast...and they're right.

sophie is officially a preschool graduate! here she is with her teacher, miss angie, as she gets her diploma. miss angie asked each student what they wanted to do for the world...sophie wants to teach the world ballet.




sophie and her classmates sang some super cute songs...





she even broke away from her friends long enough to take a picture with mom...








here she is on her last day of preschool...











and here she is on her first...i don't even have words.

laugh it up.

i love it when something is REALLY funny.  nothings is more therapeutic than laughter for me and when i find something REALLY funny, i am inclined to pass it on (as any good friend would).

so while the thought of an average 'list-of-funny-things-that-aren't-really-related-to-me-and-so-i-don't-really think-they're-funny, but-thanks-anyway' list makes me want to gouge my eyes out, this one has stood the test of time for me...because, have i mentioned, it's REALLY funny. 

i hope you enjoy it as much as i have!

34 thoughts...all of which have crossed my mind more than once.


1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. Was learning cursive really necessary?

6. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

7. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

8. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

9. Bad decisions make good stories.

10. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

11. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

12. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

13. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

14. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

15. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

16. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

17. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

18. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

19. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

20. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

21. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

22. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

23. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

24. Shirts get dirty. Underwear get dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

25. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

26. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'll bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

27. My check engine light has been on for three months now and nothings happened. I'm starting to think that my car is just an attention getter.

28. I don't understand the purpose of the line, "I don't need to drink to have fun." Great, no one does. But why start a fire with flint and sticks when they've invented the lighter?

29. Sometimes I pretend not to remember details about people because having a good memory apparently equates to creepiness.

30. My GPS says "Estimated Arrival Time." I see "Time to Beat."

31. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is "I'm not real smart, but I'm imaginary smart".

32. My keyboard needs a removable crumb tray like my toaster.

33. I wish it were appropriate to say to a complete stranger, "Excuse me, would you like me to show you how to discipline your child?"

34. Double-Stuffed Oreos should just be called Oreos, and regular Oreos should be called Diet Oreos.

now that was funny, right?