Random, saturday night thoughts with guilty, chocolate colored feelings.

I'm obsessed with these: :) and these: !!! I never considered myself a person for which an exclamation point or a visual cue would be necessary communication devices! :) See??? I am extremely concerned with what this says about me! Why, oh, why do I feel that I need these two? :) Perhaps my vocabulary isn't as stellar as it once was? Maybe I need to proclaim to the world that I feel happy? :) Maybe as my mother once said, (at least I think it was her...oh, that should be a post of it's own. All the things my mother used to say. Okay, sorry back to my point. :)) "You can say anything with a smile." It's true that I have precious little in the way of an edit button when it comes to the words that come out of my mouth or frankly from my typing fingers! :) This madness must stop! It must! :)

Jackson's Leapster (think educational, electronic babysitter) has been MIA for the last couple of weeks. Today he decided he was on a search and rescue mission. He would not stop until it was found! (Or at least until his attention was diverted elsewhere: lunch, more interesting toy, snack, underwear, book, ball, why does____?,---you get the idea.) Okay, okay, he was fairly diligent about looking for it. He spent about an hour tearing the toy closet apart to find it. (I spent two trying to put it back together, in case you were wondering.) Amazingly, it was found tonight underneath the couch or as I call it the black hole abyss. (I'm just glad it wasn't one of Max's curdled milk sippy cups like I found last time I looked under there. Seriously, EW!) The discovery of the Leapster affected Jackson so greatly that he took time tonight in his prayers to thank Heavenly Father: "Thank you for helping me find my Leapster. That was very nice of you." I smiled to myself at his colloquial way of speaking to God, you know, as if he were a nice uncle or the neighbor down the street. Then I realized how differently we must think of God. You see, I've prayed and prayed for something for years. I am not exaggerating, literally years and not "found" it. I'm not sure if I ever will "find" it. But Jackson made me think. Perhaps, I am approaching Him in the wrong way. I am so caught up in what I want, what I need, what my family/friends need, I am praying but not thinking of Him. I am not thinking of His all encompassing perfect love and goodness. Maybe if I was better at my end of this relationship, I would be more inclined to say, "Thank you, that was very nice of you."

Word to the wise: While trying to lose weight, do not eat milk chocolate brownies...especially 5 of them. Also, do not have fat rolls bigger than your boobs.

Sorry, about the self indulgent post Mom and Dad. I'll have Katie's Kidshine pics/video up tomorrow. Promise.

Ella Kidshine

I took some video but for some reason it runs like it is in fast forward mode and there is no sound. Not very useful for trying to record a solo. I'm trying to figure it out.

A better picture of Max's shiner.

Max's shiner :

Okay, so those of you who know me will look at these pictures and think, "Wow, poor child he inherited his mother's horrendous under-eye circles." or "Well, Max really must be getting up early. Learning to climb out of his crib is not agreeing with him." Seriously, the pictures don't do the bruising justice. He looks bad. I was at Pottery Barn Kids today letting Max create havoc with their displays when I made a non-thinking, side comment to Max, something like, "Oh, your poor face." One of the sales ladies over-heard and walked up to me and said, "Yeah, what happened to him?" I explained about how our family has bad luck with slides and parks, etc. Max bonked his nose trying to climb the slide last night at the Ward Picnic. He howled up a storm and then decided to try and climb a tree. After my explanation, we quickly left the store. I didn't want to be there when the CPS agents arrived if the clerk didn't believe my story. I'm just glad she couldn't see the bruises on his back from where he fell climbing down from his high chair yesterday. Whew.

Mom strikes back...

What is Max so unhappy about, you ask?

What does that pouty face mean?

It means that Max will not be able to exit the house anytime he feels like it. He will no longer force his mother to chase him down the street.

He will no longer play with the garage door opener. Open, shut, open, shut, open, shut, open, shut. It never gets old.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with m'self.

Make A Wish...

Ella's friend had the best idea for her birthday party. She had a fundraiser 1K race and then donated all the proceeds to Make A Wish Foundation. What a fabulous idea! I wish I would have thought of that before I threw two big birthday parties. Maybe next year, we'll do something similar. The kids all really loved the race and Ella came in second in the girls division! Go Ella!

Surprise!

Robert surprised me this week with a night at the new Wynn Hotel on the strip. We ate fabulous sushi at Yellow Tail in the Belagio Hotel with a famous lead singer and his wife. She wore a fabulous designer dress and I carried my Target purse and wore my H&M jacket. (I scrubbed the Max food smears off prior to dinner.) Nevertheless, it was a wonderful night even if I felt a bit out of place. I posted some pics of our view and the fabulous mirror in our hotel room. It took up the whole wall. I want one.