Saturday is the day after Friday.

Kickin' it at the Dallas Arboretum today. Just me and the girls. I won't name any names, but a certain other member of our family is spending the day at a PGA something or an other. I eased my sense of abandonment by treating us girls to lunch out on the town.

Ella was kind enough to dress herself today.

I think we might need to work on the order in which she puts on her clothes. Yes. That is her underwear over her pants.

Although, for the record. I personally think that she rocks this look. 

(For some reason the text didn't show up the first time I published this post.  And it only took me two days to sit down at the computer to fix it.)

UPDATE: The worst part about that day was that I completely intended to take pictures and then change her clothes, placing her underwear in the customary position.  But life got busy, and I kept forgetting, until we got to the library and realized that yes, I let my daughter walk around all day with her underwear outside her pants.  

I didn't brush her hair either.

There's nothing like a good story to make others feel better about their own parenting.

Baby Daddy.

I like these two.

A lot.

It's been a nice week here.  I got curtains up finally and banished our mini-blinds to the storage closet.  I hate mini-blinds.

I made a nightgown for Ella out of Paul's old work shirt.  I was originally going to be a skirt for me, but I cut the waist too small.  I was in a hurry, and assumed I could eyeball it.  Eyeballing it often works out well for me.  But not this time.  I sew like I do everything else.  Is there a word to describe how I do everything else?  Ummm, by the seat of my pants?  That might work.  Recipes are for suckers.

So is hygiene, incidentally.

I also came up with a new goal tracking system, so we'll see how that goes.  As it turns out, I am a lot more productive when I structure my time.  Which is kind of difficult for my loosey-goosey self.  But I'm working on it.  

It's been a good week.

Sudie and Grandpa Jeff.

Luckily the parents of the bride had time to spend with their sweet grandbabies.  A good time was had by all at the little "destination" wedding.

Weekending in Houston.

We are in town for my sister's birthday party. Although this is the first time since Carolyn's (Paul's sister) wedding that I've made time to sit down and upload pictures on to the computer. I'll get those pictures posted someday. But for now, we're just living the quiet life, Ella, Mom, and Charlotte going on rides, eating lots of yummy food, checking out wedding venues for Laurel (my sister), and basically just sitting around visiting. It's a good life.

Two words.

So, Paul came home from work yesterday, and Charlotte starts toddling over to him and says, "Hi, Dad!"  (Well, she actually said "Da", but we knew what she meant.)  And he looks at me with these big wide eyes, and then looks back at Charlotte and says, "Hi, Char!"  And then she does it again.  "Hi, Dad!"  It was crazy.

She said "Hi, Ma!" to me this morning.  So we're even.  Not that I'm keeping score :)

Pictured above is Charlotte's favorite place in the whole world.  It is the stool Ella stands on to help me cook.  And if I even leave it out for one minute after it's been in use, she hurries over to it and stands there, surveying the world at such a great height.  Until we hurry over and take her down and put the stool away.

Writer's Block.

I think I am just out of practice.  But it is rare that I sit in front of this computer screen and can think of nothing to write.

I am still waiting for inspiration.  It's hard to see the time lapse when you're just reading the post.  But trust me, it is bad.

Part of the problem is that we have been taking life a little slow this week.  So there's not much news.  It is a nice change, and it's good to get back to the basics, and establish my balance again.  I'm not there yet.  Is balance this hard for everyone?  Or am I just untalented?

One day.

I am considering scrapping this entire post.  This is kind of ridiculous.

Or maybe I'll just keep the post and call it a night.  Maybe everyone will be distracted by the very sweet  baby at the top, and fail to notice my miserable attempt at prose.

Questionable Parenting Alert.

Well, Monday brought with it some random ailment.  I still don't know what it was, but I was not feeling good.  So I did what any good mother would do, I put on Blue's Clues and tried to take a nap.  For those of you who have had the opportunity to waste away your child's life on this delightful show, you are already familiar with the host (and only human character) of the show, Steve.  For those of you who are not, just imagine the nicest, most sincere and slightly nerdy guy you will ever meet, and that is Steve.  Kind of the Fred Child of children's television.  And Ella loves him.  Well, a little while after laying down I heard a hauntingly familiar song drifting in from the other room.  The tune was "Follow the Prophet"... but Ella changed the words to "Follow the Steve, follow the Steve..."

Cute?

Or Scary?

We are enjoying a glorious afternoon at the park today....  There's something about water and wind and sunshine that makes life feel so complete.

If there were an audio track...

You would hear me screaming in the background.  "TOO FAST!  Paul!!  That's too fast!  Paul!  Paul!!"