Just Your Typical Saturday

Saturday usually begins with me doing some type of house cleaning.  This Saturday I got some help cleaning from my biggest mess maker.

Next, I chased Scout around the house, while she played dress up.

Then we had quite a few trips to time-out.  In fact, we had so many trips to time-out, Scout decided she needed to add a chair to the time-out corner. No Joke!

As our evening was winding down,  Scout and Wade shared a giggle or too.

And now that Scout is off to bed, it is time to clean up yet again!

"Nobody puts Baby in the corner"

Within the past few weeks, Scout has grown increasingly interested in her baby dolls.  At first she was only interested in stripping off her baby doll's clothes.  No matter how many times I put an outfit on Baby, she always ended up naked (much like Scout).  My mother would ask me, "Why is Scout's doll naked?  Doesn't she have any clothes?"  This comment kind of hurt my feelings.  Like, somehow I was responsible for mistreating Baby.  Then Scout's day care provider gave Scout an outfit for Baby.  Now, I felt like people outside of my family thought that I was mistreating Baby.  


Well, Baby is still naked, but she...

has time-outs

"fake" sleeps with Scout on the sofa

and, she has unfortunate shopping cart accidents.

So, I think that I can guess what you are thinking.  If children "act"out what they see and experience, what the heck is happening at Scout's house?

"I'm not a bad girl!"

It's hard to believe that someone as cute as this can be sooo naughty!  

     But, it is true!  On Sunday, Scout hit her brother with a book.  He very appropriately told her that she was a bad girl.  Scout let out a fake cry, walked over to me, with her hand on her hip, and said, "I'm not a bad girl!"  And, she meant it...she actually sounded indignant that someone would call her bad.  Imagine that.  Indignant at age two.  Since Sunday, that has been her favorite saying at home and at daycare.  Where did I go wrong?


    When I first found out that I was pregnant with a girl, I thought about how I was going to raise her to be a strong, independent, determined and self-assured  human being.  Well, apparently my job is done, and I need to start "rethinking" my plan.  


    PS While I was writing this post, my husband accused me of being strong-willed.  Imagine that.  Strong-willed, humpf!

While I was out...

When I leave Wade at home with the kids, it is always a "surprise" as to what I will find (or what will be missing) when I return home.   However, today's "surprise" was truly a surprise.  When I pulled into the driveway, Scout opened the door and met me on the steps.  The first thing that I noticed was that she had pen on her legs.

Yep, that's pen on her legs.

Our conversation went a little something like this:
Me: "Oh, Wade?"
Wade: "Yep." (while looking at his ipad)
Me: "Scout has pen on her legs.  How did that happen?"
Wade: "I dunno.  There must have been a pen in the toy bucket."


But, wait.  There's more...  When Scout lifted up her shirt, to try on the new dress I bought for her, this is what I saw...

Yep, that's more pen on her Buddha belly!

So, I cleaned all the pen off of Scout. 

But, wait.  There is STILL more.  A few hours later my mother called me, and she needed me to go to Best Buy for her, so like the GOOD daughter I went.  When I came home this is what I found...

No, Joke!  Are you "f....king" kidding me.

GOOD morning

My original idea for this post had too many words.  The message is simple...I adore Scout in the morning.  She is so happy, vibrant and full of LOVE.   I thought that you might like to see what I see in the morning.

Scout's hair... every morning is a surprise.  Most days we have some type of bird's nest.  Today we had a bird's nest in the back and a Mohawk in the front.

Scout's "hand me down" boots from her brother. She has no idea they are not new.  She just LOVES them.  Scout wore them to her bedroom last night, and they were the first thing she put on this morning.

If only these morning could last forever!  I am quite sure that when she is a teenager trying to sneak out of the house, in the morning, with a Mohawk and hooker boots, I will not adore her.

Sick?

Technically, Scout is sick.  She has a fever of 101+, chills (her teeth are chattering) and a booger that nearly made me puke.  This morning Scout was lethargic; she sat on the couch cuddled up in her blanket and cried for Mommy to sit with her.  I rearranged my schedule and plans to stay at home with her.  


At this moment, I believe her "illness" was a trick!  For the past three hours, I have chased this "sick" child around the house.  She played a "Minute to Win-it" game with an entire box of tissues ( I couldn't take a picture of this because I was near tears),  stripped naked a few times, and danced around in a pair of heels that I can barely walk in.  

Scout's tiny feet in five inch heels!

Tomorrow, no matter how "sick" she looks, Scout WILL be going to daycare.

Bunnies vs. Piggies

In the spirit of Easter, I have the house (overly) decorated with bunnies. Who doesn't love bunnies? They are cute, cuddly, and in Scout's case dangerous.  You may remember Scout's cute little polished, purple piggies from a few weeks back. 

Bunnies

VS

Piggies

Well, they are no longer cute or polished.  Last night at dinner, Scout dropped a cast iron bunny on her piggies.  Her piggies are so small, and there was so much blood, we really couldn't figure out the extend of the damage.  This morning after her bath, we were able to get a better look at her piggies, and luckily, she only scraped the skin off of two toes.  Although I am very happy the damage to her piggies was minor, I am even happier that she did not use her favorite quote, "Oh, shit" after the bunny fell on her toes.

Final Score: Bunnies-2, Piggies-0

Hair

On the car ride home yesterday, I was talking with my sister-in-law, Jen, about hair.  I am in desperate need of a  hair cut and color, and as important as this is to me, I can NEVER find the time to do it.  This simple conversation got me thinking about how...
much time we spend discussing our hair,
hair styles can be an extension of our personality,
hair (good or bad) can impact our day,
hair styles change with decades (My pictures from the 80's are not pretty),
genetics determines our hair


With this in mind, I thought I would share some family hair photos.

Wade-His hair is rapidly disappearing.  Going, going....gone?

Wade & I- Please excuse my hair-YUCK!

Jackson (age 2)- His hair was unbelievably gorgeous.

Wade & Jackson- Jackson is currently sporting the "Beiber." I wonder if his hair will disappear like Wade's.

Scout- You have seen her picture before.  At age 2, she doesn't have very much hair.  I was so hoping it would be like Jackson's hair at age 2.

Now, my plan was to end this post by showing you what Scout's hair looks like in morning.  The back of her head looks surprisingly similar to a bird's nest when she wakes up, but, as typical in my life with Scout, she amazed me, ruined the end of this blog post and woke up with"normal" hair. Go figure!

This is not Scout, but it is a close as I could get to the real deal.

LOVE

I am so happy to be at home with my family (and Starbucks).

Travel & Challenge Complete!

Traveling with Scout is extremely difficult.  In her two short years, she has been on an airplane twice.  Both trips have included many tears (hers and mine), other passengers rolling their eyes (and cursing their fortune for being on our plane) and numerous trips to the bathroom (to hide).  This weekend I am traveling without Scout, and I can't believe how much I miss her!

Clean Foof Challenge: The finish
I must confess that I thought the challenge would have ended for me yesterday.  I had convinced myself by the time I hit the Portland JetPort with my mother and brother, I would be RUNNING to Starbucks (I still LOVE you); however, I did not, and the challenge continued.  I strongly encourage others to try this challenge.  I no longer crave sugar every hour, and when I was overly stressed this week, I did not eat everything that was not nailed down.

Day 6:
Breakfast: Larabar & banana
Snack: Figs & dates
Lunch: Salad
Snack: Apple & pistachios
Dinner: Salmon & steamed veggies
Water: 100 + oz ( I lost count after 100)

Snow Day & Clean Food Update

 I'm pretty sure that Scout's whole life is a snow day; however, here is a quick recap of "our" snow day together.

First, there were many, many, many (did I mention many?) trips to time out.

Second, who needs clothes on a snow day; boots are just fine.

Third, Scout reenacted an unfortunate car mishap.

Fourth, of course, there was a little time in the snow...

Clean Food Challenge Update:
Day 4-
Yikes!  I seemed to be really hungry, again, yesterday.  This is a little bit embarrassing, but I actually ate two Larabars on the way to work... 
Breakfast: Larabar X2 (I know, I know) & banana
Snack: Raw almonds
Lunch: Indonesian Rice Salad & a "clean" granola bar
Snack: More almonds and chia energy bites
Dinner: Black bean chili
Water: 70+oz (better, but not great)


Day 5-
After my run this morning, I had a bit of tummy trouble, which impacted my eating today.   If I had felt better, I'm pretty confident that I would have eaten more.
Breakfast: Larabar
Snack: Almond carrot bodyrock ball
Lunch: Lettuce wraps (see below for all of the yummy details)
Snack: Banana & raw cashews
Dinner: Large bowl of assorted veggies
Water: 100 oz

Prepping the lettuce wraps

Ingredients:
Large leaf lettuce (I used Boston)
1 avocado (thinly sliced)
1 small tomato
1 "scoop" of cauliflower spread*


Directions:
Clean and dry one large leaf.  Spread one or two scoops of cauliflower spread on the leaf.  Add avocado and tomato slices as desired and roll.  Easy and yummy!


*Cauliflower Spread:
Half of a head of cauliflower
1/2 cup of raw cashews
 1 Tablespoon olive oil
 Sea salt


Chop cashews in a food processor, and then add in cauliflower, oil and salt (if desired).  Process until smooth.