Eyes Wide Open.

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This morning it looked like a scene right out of COPS here on our little, quiet, neighborhood street. There was an attempted burglary. There was a lockdown at our school. There was every cop in the city on our street. And there was a suspect handcuffed on the curb in front of our house. And that was all before 9am in the morning. It was quite an eye-opening experience, that is for sure. All of the suspects were apprehended and our quiet little town has since returned to normal, or as close to normal as we get here in barely controlled chaos-ville.

We might live near LA…but it certainly isn’t the ghetto. Things like this don’t happen here, do they?

Earlier this week we started out at the “Happiest Place on Earth” where I was treated to another eye-opening experience. Since we had the day off of school I promised the girls I would take them to Disney and we invited our friend Audrey. It was a pretty popular destination since a few of Em & Audrey’s friends showed up as well. (They also happen to be some of my Brownie girls, too…they are the best girls ever!)

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Girl Power. My little 2nd grade Brownies took on Darth Vader in the Jedi Training Program.

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It is a thing of beauty to watch these girls grow literally right in front of my very eyes. It is also a little bit heartbreaking. I can’t think of them growing up without getting that tightening in my chest and a little bit weepy. But look at them! Even last year, there would have been no way that Em and Audrey would even think of getting up in front of hundreds of people on stage to learn how to use a lightsaber. But there they were…

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Tell me she doesn’t look like a focused, well…at least twelve-year-old!

Yeah, it has been a trying week on many fronts.
But it is nice to have my eyes opened every once in awhile. I certainly don’t want to miss any of this crazy thing called life.

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Crafty Tuesday

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I apologize for skipping out on you last Tuesday, and today is a thrown together mish-mash of random bits we have been slamming together the past few weeks. Instead of staying home on our “day off” yesterday and getting caught up, I took the girls and we met friends at Disney. It was so very fun and now I’m so very far behind on our “start” of the week.  But it was well worth it and so you get a condensed version of what has been crafting around here lately.

Some more burp rags…

And a taggie blanket. (Thanks to Stacy who warned of the apparent taggie-nazis that will NOT let you list the taggies on etsy. Good FYI…)

I found this fabric awhile ago and have been racking my brain for something to make for my girl scouts. We are preparing for an overnight at the end of the month and found out that they all need bandanas when they cook or are around campfires. Bingo. Easy peasy – 18  little bandanas made quickly with the ‘ol serger. So.In.Love.With.That.Machine.

And Addie and I ripped off this idea from someone (Christina? Was it you??) from last Valentine’s Day. This is her valentine card to her classmates. I can’t tell you how painful the three hours were that it took to write her classmates’ names and sign these. There are only 27 kids…three HOURS! So thankful that one is over.

And Em’s to her classmates. Apologize for the horrible photo – it was literally as we were running out the door. She is holding a conversation heart that says, “You Rock!” and we just attached a little bag of hearts. Not nearly as painful, but she has had two more years of practice, too.

Okay, lay it on me. I’m working like mad to get my “real” work projects done so I can finally finish the girls’ quilts this week. Inspiration??

Firefighter Addie.

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This photo is for Uncle Ken. Our little firefighter-in-training.

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And this photo is for me.

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I want something to point to when Addie is a famous fashion designer and I can say…”would you just look at the style she was rockin’ when she was a mere five?!”  Oh, and also…kudos to me for letting her dress herself and allow her personality to shine through.

It mostly all kinda, sort of “goes” together. And well, most days…that is just good enough for me.

Newest fishy in the sea.

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Her month of hard work has paid off. Her coach told her last night she is ready to move onto the swim team.

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She literally “lit up” when they told her. She is clearly very proud of making the team and I am so very proud of her, too.

And I am very impressed with her desire to get into the freezing pool every single night to practice. And also that she has a seriously wicked butterfly stroke. So much better than her mama’s…by far. Her Coach walked her through it for the first time last night and I think surprised everyone with how quickly she got it.

Now whenever Coach T. says they are going to do a race, Em asks “can we do the butterfly stroke?” (Cue the rest of the class groaning and complaining.) I just pray she continues to be so in love with swimming when she is required to swim an hour every night of the week.

(Tonight’s photo credit goes to Addie. She is not going to be impressed with spending that much more time at the pool, I can tell you that much.)

New fun in the house.

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You gotta love getting a voicemail that goes like this:

From J: Hi there. So I was calling so that you could talk me out of doing a potentially stupid thing, but since you are not answering, I guess I’m just going to go ahead and do it anyway.

Oh yes. And you better believe that I called him back the minute I got that call. And I got his voicemail and left a message something to this effect:

From C: Um…seriously? If you think it might be a potentially stupid thing…why are you still going ahead with it?  Call me back. Now!

Thankfully it wasn’t actually something stupid. At work on Friday they had a bunch of tech-y stuff they were playing with and he decided that we really needed an Xbox 360 with the Kinect thing.

Eh. Whatever. I am so very blase about all of that tech-y stuff, but I know better than to talk him out of his electronics – that would be like him trying to talk me out of something crafty. So needless to say, he came home with it on Friday night.

And now I give you further proof that Daddy is by far the more fun parent. The girls think he is a hero and are obsessed with the games. But Mommy does loves how crazy active the games are. Emma was actually sore on Sunday morning from all of the jumping and movement she did on Saturday. Daddy and I still disagree on the “screen time” debate – but it will give me lots of practice trying to get action shots in low light. (Which I clearly need!)

We transformed the playroom into a gaming room for the SuperBowl for the kids who didn’t really care about the actual game.

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And yes, I know Em has a Favre jersey on and he is no longer with the Packers (and also a creepy old man who doesn’t understand how camera phones work), but she doesn’t know any of that and it is the only GB jersey Daddy has. Plus, she only watched the halftime show, so I think that little detail can be overlooked and no harm done.

Dipy Week #53 ~ Behind

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How very appropriate that Kimberly and I played along with BEHIND as the theme for this week since we are both clearly behind on life right now. I love that we both picked two of our favorite behinds to feature…and neither of us were brave enough to do our own.

Mine is the view I’ve had of Em since she started piano lessons this week. She is nothing if not persistent. When she puts her mind to something she is determined to finish it. Ad is also taking lessons and told me that “we need two pianos so Emma and I can practice together.”  Hmmm…dueling pianos. THAT wouldn’t push me over the edge.

Join in on more behinds over at –

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Hosted by Megan and Hip Momma

Coming Clean.

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I fear that I have given you all the wrong idea about life here at Chaos. I am feeling a little bit guilty and really need to come clean.

It isn’t that I have been lying, but maybe I have  not been entirely truthful. As I was catching up on my email and blog reading this weekend I saw that my friend Christina, who is always telling me I lead such a “charmed life,” wrote, “I’m a much better mom when someone is watching.” Hmm…that really struck a chord with me. And then my friend Kimberly did an entire post about how much she chooses to put on her blog and what she leaves out. That kind of hit home, too.

When I started this blog it was for my family to follow along with our adventures while getting fed a steady stream of photos of the girls. It has since evolved into a baby book-like milestone documentation, a little jumble of craftiness,  and a whole lot of photos. But I still mostly think of it as a vehicle for when I will need a trip down memory lane after my birdies have left the nest. And I think that is why I subconsciously self-edit a lot of my posts. I want to remember all of the sweet, take-my-breath away moments. But when I look back through the archives, I realize it so isn’t the whole picture.

In fact, I’m probably giving you maybe 25% of the picture. So let me tell you the “rest of the story.”

The girls are not the angels they are usually depicted to be. They fight like all siblings do. They do not instinctively pick up after themselves. They throw fits when I suggest “why don’t you just wear the sweater that is right here.” They contradict me and have been called out on being “sassy” more times than I’d like to admit. Emma whines or does this baby talk thing and Addie “talks” in cat meows, both of which drive me to the brink of insanity.

Through it all, I try to be a patient. loving mom, that mom I want to be (or am when others are watching), but more often than not, I fail with a big, fat F. By the end of the day I just don’t have another ounce of patience. I yell. I am easily frustrated when I have to repeat myself and I’ve been known to just pretty much…give up. I get to the point where I “just-don’t-care-how-or-what-you-do-just-get-INTO-bed-NOW-before-I-get-up-to-your-room!” That old saying “when Momma’s unhappy, nobody’s happy” really rings true in our house most days in our house.

So why am I telling you all of this? I don’t know – I guess I don’t want you to think it is always rainbows and sunshine over here. I want to be able to vent occasionally and I do it best through writing, so I don’t want you to be totally surprised when I sit down and write an out-of-left-field rant. And I also want you to know the behind the scenes, I am like every other ordinary mom trying to raise kids that will be kids. I don’t have it all figured out, I’m just a pretty good actor.

In the end, it all comes down to – when I look back, I don’t want to remember the days that I am not the mom I want to be. I want to remember the amazing moments and feel like I really did enjoy the little things. So I won’t apologize anymore, but there will always be more “good day” posts than “bad day” ones. And lots of photos, too.

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