weekend review

This weekend was AWESOME (said in a high pitch, off key, sing song soprano voice).

There was sleeping in, movie watching, dinner with friends, and cookies.
Oh, and (not enough) time spent with our absentee father/husband.

There was also Craig's List.  Which always makes for a good time, in my book.

I found an AWESOME (see notes above) dresser in Portland that was sleek, white, and modern.
Oh, and totally damaged. 
It was shipped upside down and arrived at it's destination with a chipped top, detached drawer hardware, and a broken bottom.
So naturally I was intrigued.

I drove the hour (past the ghetto, over the bridge, and through the homeless filled streets of downtown), loaded the 200 lb piece into my car (with some help), drove the hour home holding a drawer on my lap, unloaded the piece (with some help) and then moved it across the house alone because Dylan was occupied with the kids outside.
And I am impatient so I couldn't wait the 15 minutes for his help.
15 minutes feels like a lifetime when there is a project in the wings.

Anyway, after an evaluation and some pondering (and by pondering I actually mean forcing Dylan to look at it and obsessively discuss it throughout dinner and an episode of Law and Order he was trying to enjoy), we decided it needs a new bottom altogether. 
There was some screw tightening and placing of drawers which definitely helped the stability.

And now it's lovely.
Even more than it already was.

Seriously, I am obsessed.
Just ask our dinner guests...because it's all I talked about. 
Which is SUPER fun for everyone.
I'm pretty sure they never want to come over again.

Also, not that price is important, but when you get something for $75 (damaged or otherwise) and the retail value of the piece is more than your car cost (think $2k +) price suddenly is pretty important.
Because I'm high maintenance and like nice things.

Just being honest.

Moving on.
Although I'm sure I'll come back around to the dresser (turned buffet) since it's all I've been talking about for 4 days straight the length of this post.

Another exciting thing happened this weekend.
Want to hear a long story?
Oh, you just did? 
The one about the dresser? 

Okay, well the short and sweet version then:

I have been taking college courses in person, full-time, part-time, and online for 12 years now.  And I finally earned my Associate of Science degree.
At this rate I will earn my bachelors by 2025.
Holla.

this is the quality of pictures you get when
a 5 year old is playing photographer.

shameless self portrait.
my head looks ginormous.
and this was the best one.

And in other exciting news, Harper has starting writing cute little love notes to everyone in our family (including Penelope, our rat.  yes we have a rat...sick, I know. Dylan The kids adore her.) :

i love you dad.  you are the best dad.  i love you dad.
love
harper.

i love you dawson and beckham.  you are the best brothers.
love
harper.

So sweet.
I love all her little misspellings and irregularities.

And then there was my note:

i love you mom.  i earn allowance.  i hope you do not die.
love
harper.
(3 hearts that actually look like tiny bums.)

'not' is definitely scribbled out here.
 

Not sure how I feel about my note. 
Although she is apparently excited about the new allowance program that we have implemented.

Happy week to everyone!
Unless of course I die.

xo,
tracy

ps: I wore this hat all morning and then realized it makes me look like Amelia Earhart.  Not really the look I was going for.  

christmas 2012

Christmas came and went and I totally sucked at documenting it.
And not just on this forum, but in real life.

For the last few years I have taken a plethora of pictures, leaving nothing about our holiday happenings a mystery.
Oversharer. 
Guilty.

In fact, I have a family member who has accused me of using this blog as a place to share things that are 'inappropriate.' 
I think she is totally off base.

If you look back through my posts (which would be horribly boring) you will see that I only overshare about things like my struggles in motherhood, nudity of my children, groping, my husband in his underwear, and every single notable moment in my children's lives.
Awesome. 

Seriously don't know what she is talking about...inappropriate what???

Anyway...
Here are the 26 or so craptacular pictures I took this year at Christmas. 
Because I have gotten lazy and only snap pictures randomly if it is convenient for me, and if all my kids are cooperating.
Which they never are.
And then it is solely with my iphone, which I swore I would never convert to.

Christmas 2013 (in mid-January thanks to my stellar blogging/organizational skills):

with the hatfield cousins, opening jammies on Christmas eve.

harper finally got the beading set she has been
'wanting for like 3 years but no one EVER listened.'
Okkkkkay diva.

fake Christmas eve smiles, in hopes of something other than coal in their stockings.
also, creeper Dylan in the background.

preparing snacks for santa and his reindeer.



the snacks pre-beckham

someone had a sudden interest in the reindeer's carrots.

and snuck a few nibbles while backs were turned.

writing a note  to santa and the mrs.



this is important stuff.

and while others were writing notes,
some people kept stuffing their faces...

although i'm not naming any names.

post-beckham

i'm keeping this note forever. 
so cute.

we're all about fashion on Christmas eve.
inside out shirt and backwards underwear.
awesome.

the final snack.  -1 carrot + 1 nibble, -1 sip milk,
+ 1 adorable letter complete with drawing of tree.

every 24th we read the birth story in luke. 
this year dawson was able to follow along.
holy old.
him, not me.

and after bedtime we hit up walgreens when i realized that in my genuine
awesomeness i left all the stocking stuffers in oregon. 
holla.
ps: walgreens was full of men. 

christmas morning.  dawson had been nagging hounding
botheringmeincessantly hoping for a light saber.
santa delivered.

again with the backward shirt.
and he slept this way all night.
in a polo shirt.  backwards.
i love having a child who changes his clothes 98 times/day.
not.

excitement.  and fear apparently.

harper received a hello kitty cd player/karaoke machine. 
 

the tree.

despite the turtle dream light and squinkies he requested from santa,
the highlight of the morning was the $.98 ball water bottle.
naturally.

happy camper.

finally.

yah!

uncle jake spent christmas morning with us,
just like he did every year during my childhood.

the only picture with daddy.
and the worst picture ever of my entire family.
no offense.

and one with grandma conklin.

and the worst family shot.
ever.

dawson loves uncle jake.

the shirt harper picked out for jake.

modeling her new headband.

the pictures just keep getting better.
and so do the outfits.

the walking barking dog beckham insisted on having.
who he named honey. 
?!?

santa must have been hungry.

within minutes of opening gifts, harper had on a new outfit,
new doll in hand, and was working on a new coloring book.

and some people were fast asleep...

...all day.
in the same chair, same outfit, but different occasions.
not naming any names, of course.

everyone had a wonderful christmas...

...well, everyone who was awake for it.

xo,
tracy