PSA: Something Every Child Should Know

The front of your underwear is NOT an appropriate make-shift pocket.

Great Escape

So last week I hit the road for a girl's weekend in Washington DC with a good friend from my college days, Pittsburgh Sara. This was a totally unprecedented trip. Usually if I'm spending a night away from my children I come home with another child. On the whole, I'd say this was 8ooo times better than staying in a hospital for four nights.

I don't have pictures (I left the camera here so Chase could capture every moment of my absence). I'll just tell you that it was a lovely experience. My parents came down to see me (I grew up mainly in central PA, about 2.5 hours away from DC) and we visited the International Spy Museum and ate in Chinatown. That first day I kept feeling this weird sense of disconnect whenever I would look into my purse and not find wipes, diapers and action figures. Or when we got back to PSara's house at 7 and I didn't have to immediately start dashing around putting people in tubbies and getting jammies out. It was an odd sensation to say the least. But I soaked it in and just enjoyed it.

During my trip we also did Georgetown (complete with Georgetown Cupcakes which is the kind of place where people stand in line out the door and down the street IN THE RAIN. It's that good.), sushi, my lil sis Bird came down, we vegged in front of the TV, shared new favorite music, girl talked until the wee hours, and rolled over and went back to sleep every morning after waking up excruciatingly early just because that's what my body is trained to do. It. Was. Great.

I DID come home to find five staples in Miles' head. The story is that Cameron and Miles were fighting on Great Grandma's trampoline (after spending the night on it) and Cameron swung a backpack at Miles' head not thinking about the filled-to-the-brim metal water bottle in it. So he split Miles' head wide open (I do have pictures of that below...don't scroll down if you don't like gore). Chase managed to pack them all up and rush to Urgent Care. And AFTER that he managed to get them all home, tubbied and off to Church on time for him to speak. And apparently it was a great, not-to-be-missed talk...

Anyway, I just happened to have a friend, Michelle, who ALSO had a girl's weekend right before mine. Her husband, Jedd, had this to say about the business of Daddy Daycare. It made me laugh so I figured I should share. I did change their son's name for privacy purposes. But I kept it natural so you shouldn't be able to tell.

"As both Michelle and Anna skipped town recently to visit girlfriends/sisters and "recharge their batteries," I thought I'd make a few observations.

First, I'm all for some "me" time like that, as taught in the Book of Mormon and by Oprah.  You need some time away from your loving families, especially your loving children (the nightly cries of "where's my mommy?" and "why won't mommy come home?" were no trouble -- really.  They didn't last long at our home, as I kept forgetting to feed the kids so their energy levels were low and they quickly fell asleep.)

Anna, you missed a great talk by Chase.  I think I even heard our ward's resident general authority emeritus say he learned something new from the talk, which is really saying something for a GA.  (Too bad for you it was one of those singular, "too special to repeat" talks).  Also, I understand the well-stapled gash in Miles' head was caused by innocent roughhousing and will NOT result in any visit from CPS.  Chase said the Police Dept. assured him of this.  Oh, and Miles' adorable venture up to the podium during Chase's talk was handled expertly by Chase--he didn't miss a beat.  Everything was totally under control at all times.

Silly things happen while moms are away -- like My Child With XY Chromosomes almost lighting the house on fire, the kids "accidentally" watching Curious George 15 times in a row, Cheerios becoming a new food group, screaming about lunches that are "not how mommy makes them!", playing outside during lightning storms -- it's all very quaint, kind of how Tarzan might have experienced life in his early years.  I worry that thoughts of things like this going on while you're away will weigh on your minds, perhaps cause you to feel a tinge of guilt.  Don't let that happen!

My point?  You need to take MORE trips and worry less about what is going on at home.  Put that cell phone away, relax, watch "Pride & Prejudice" 67 times ("Jedd, see how he looks at her!?").  Because Chase and I already prepaid for a weeks' worth of babysitting at Going Bonkers for the next time this happens (that's the place with padded walls, right?).

But please come back.  On the earlier flight if possible."

Thanks for that, Jedd.

  Camping on the trampoline

 

Staples in the head below...Don't scroll if you can't handle it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahhhh sucka!

Leaving on a jet plane...

Today I embark on a girly weekend with my friend Pittsburgh Sara. Who doesn't live in Pittsburgh. So anyone trying to stalk me in either Pittsburgh or Chi-town this weekend is straight outta luck. THAT"S why I kept the CHI-TOWN reference in my blog. Confuse the stalkers!

Anywho, I'm looking forward to my little vacay but have to admit I'm kinda sad. This morning Chase went in to grab Sophers out of bed and she only wanted mommy. Like, I had to go in there and get her. She wasn't budging for anyone but the REAL THING. So that made me sad right away because I don't want to think of her starting off each day for the next couple of days sad at the world because I had to go off and be selfish.

But, really, it's going to be great for all of us, right? Because come Monday night guess who is going to get the Daddy Treatment (ie. children screaming like you're the beatles when you walk through the door - Chase gets this every. day. must be nice to have your own personal fan club. i wouldn't know.). Yeah, that's right. ME! I'm already picturing the frantic screaming when they pick me up curbside at the airport that shall not be named.

Ooh, goody.

Anna's Advice For Making Every Day a Great Day

Doesn't matter who you are, this advice is for you! I would add my testimony that when we dedicate our time, efforts, thoughts and all our strength to the Lord something miraculous happens; we are blessed with abilities beyond our own. It's something that must be experienced to fully understand. When we turn our will over to the Lord - giving back that tiny part that is truly ours to give, for all other blessings are His already - He blesses us beyond our capacity to receive. For this, and so many other reasons, I love the Lord.

Can a werewolf imprint on a cougar?

I stole that line from a clip I saw online. Some chick in her 30's was interviewing Chaske Spencer(? that's his name, right?), who plays Sam The Werewolf in New Moon...I thought it was humorous.

Anyway, here's a cool rundown with clips from each song on the New Moon soundtrack. Also too, I've included Entertainment Weekly's review of the soundtrack. Oct. 20 will be a good day for me.

"After the success of the first installment, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy) gets her pick of the alt litter here, with each contributing original, previously unreleased material: From the opening chords of Death Cab for Cutie’s dusky guitar rapture ”Meet Me on the Equinox” to the spooky robot-ennui of Thom Yorke’s ”Hearing Damage” and Grizzly Bear’s gorgeous folk-pop pastoral ”Slow Life,” New Moon rarely falters. A peacocking remix of Muse’s shamelessly operatic ”I Belong to You” becomes a Bowie-esque glam-rock stomper. In its wake, Bon Iver and St. Vincent quietly unfurl ”Rosyln,” a duet of hushed, almost church-like beauty.

Moon (due in stores Oct. 20) yields several happy revelations from its lower-marquee names: Nordic songstress Lykke Li’s nearly a cappella ”Possibility” is a lovely little Swedish snowflake, and jokey rockers OK Go achieve an impressive sort of Flaming Lips-y quirk-gravitas on the sprawling, cinematic ”Shooting the Moon.” Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s acoustic campfire lament ”Done All Wrong” segues seamlessly into the jaunty, Strokes-ian guitar fuzz of Hurricane Bells’ ”Monsters.” Think of New Moon as a sort of survey course in new-now-next rock: a mixtape with teeth. A"

Tylenol Recall

If you haven't heard there was a massive children's and infants Tylenol recall. Check it out here and clear out your medicine cabinet!!

Eye candy

Even with a dirty post-cookie-consumption face she's crazy cute. How's this for an outfit? I kinda feel like she's channeling Mary J. Blige here.

What do you think?

She just...you know...GETS me.

So I have this friend. She's basically awesome. So one day this friend (let's call her Stephanie Bean) shows up to my house with a little pink bag and says, "I don't care if you like it. I just had to make it for you."

When I opened the bag I found this:

Yes, that WOULD be an Edward fan shirt with blood dripping from the heart. I literally almost fell over when I opened it and then starting laughing really loudly. Like, make-the-kids-stare-in-panic loud. This shirt is fanfreakingtastic. Will I wear it to the mall? Probably not. But that's beside the point. The point is she gets me. She loves me and she gets me. It's like I said, "Hey Steph. How much do you love me?" And she said, "This shirt much." I mean, she cut out the little letters and blood drops and sewed them individually. That's love, folks.

The best part of this shirt was Steph's explanation of how the shirt came to be. She said she was just laying in bed one night and it came to her, in detail, exactly how she should make this shirt. I mean, it's not quite the same as hitting your head on the toilet and coming up with a flux capacitor, but considering it's a Meyer-based shirt it probably makes sense.