Friday Four or Five

It's been a while since I did this, so let's give it a shot this week!

1. Baby Girl LOVES green smoothies. Whenever I have one, she runs up with her sippy cup and says, "pease? pease?" and if I don't immediately help her get some, she starts crying, and sometimes even resorts to banging me with her cup. That girl really loves her food. And drinks. Even the healthy stuff.

2. SonA stayed up reading Julie Berry's SPLURCH ACADEMY: Rat Brain Fiasco under his covers with a flashlight a couple weeks ago (he shares a room with his brother so he was trying not to wake him up). He read the whole book in one night! If you knew my seven-year-old son, you'd know how awesome this was. He's suddenly turned into an avid reader--staying up every night reading under his covers. I love it!

3. When I was his age, I would read until eleven or midnight almost every night, and sometimes until one or two in the morning. I've always been an avid reader, so it makes me that much happier to see him enjoying it so much now.

4. I finally bit the bullet and created an "author page" on FB. Right now I feel like a poseur. "Hey, come like my author page because hopefully I'll have a book published soon!" But, you never know. Maybe I'll have good news to share sooner than later. I certainly hope so!

5. SonA is obsessed with River Monsters. He's home sick from school with strep throat (probably going to have to get those tonsils out over the Christmas break, if the surgeon can fit him in...) and he's watching it right now. He also loves Swamp Wars and World's Deadliest. Despite all of that, he still really wants a pet snake. It's scary how much he reminds me of myself as a child. (Yes, I loved nature shows, and yes, I wanted a snake.)

So those are my random thoughts for the day right now. What's on your mind today? Spill it in the comments! And happy weekend everyone!

Phwew! That was heavy...

Do you remember that phrase from Back to the Future? It was supposed to be all cool and futuristic. And now that movie is so old, most of my target audience for my books (YA) probably have never even seen it.

Anyway, the point is.... wow, that post yesterday was heavy. And yet you guys completely and totally lifted me up. THANK YOU so much for every comment and email. I can't begin to tell you how much it meant to me. Hugs for everyone! Unless you don't like hugs. Or if you're shorter than me and then that awkward moment happens when your face is in an inopportune location and I have to kind of shlump down and it's just totally lame. Let's just throw out cupcakes instead. CAKE FOR EVERYONE!

And you know what? I was sick to my stomach about posting that yesterday morning, but by the afternoon, I was so much happier. And then last night, as I was driving my three amazing kids home from SonA's baseball tournament (the last sporting event for two months until soccer starts up again!! YAY!!), we had the windows rolled down, Muse (Best. Music. EVER.) was blasting, and we were all rocking out. It was a perfect moment. We were laughing, dancing, singing. The wind was blowing through the car, the sun was setting, it was amazing.

So you know what? Yes, sometimes life is hard. Sometimes things don't go how we hope. Sometimes I'm not as kind as I want to be, and sometimes others are not kind to me. BUT. Life is beautiful. There is joy to be found in the journey every day.

I am grateful for how sad I was when I wrote that post yesterday morning, because it made the joy of driving home with my family that much sweeter last night.

Friday Four or Five

1. Cancer sucks. I really hate it. My heart is breaking for sweet Brodi Ashton who just lost her incredible dad to cancer last night. Their family was so sweet and supportive and positive when we lost Josh, and I wish I could do something for them now. Please keep them in your prayers.

2. My son made me breakfast this morning! He's only six, but he heard me talking to his dad about how late I was up finishing my latest revisions, and then how Baby Girl kept waking up the rest of the night, and decided to surprise me. He made me toast and cereal. He said, "I know you were up with 'Baby Girl' a lot last night and I could tell you were exhausted, so I made you breakfast so you didn't have to worry about it." Moments like that truly make everything worth it.

3. I love downloading new music, whether it's to work out to or to write to, it doesn't matter. I get so excited to write again, or for my next workout with my new tunes. I just LOVE music. Any good songs I should know about right now that you're loving? Please share!

4. It's amazing how many things can be similar--running, writing, parenting, you name it. Anything that is worthwhile is usually a mixture of being extremely hard and extremely rewarding. Often the hard times are much more common and longer lasting than the rewarding moments, too. So why do we do these hard things? Because the rewards outweigh the difficulty of the tasks. The high of finishing a new manuscript, or (hopefully) nailing a revision... the sense of accomplishment in making yourself get up at 4 am, get to the race and finishing strong with a dead sprint... the joy of having your six-year-old surprise you with breakfast, or getting a surprise hug and an "I love you Mommy" from my three-year-old, or the big open mouth kisses from Baby Girl (often complete with an affectionate bite on the shoulder [yes she bites me when she's being super affectionate, I think she's part vampire. Good thing I didn't name her Renesmee])... Those rewards are worth any pain or struggle or frustration along the way. But you have to push through the hard times to get the rewards, right? That's the trick to life. Endure the trials to be able to enjoy the blessings.

I feel very blessed today.

How about you?

She's here!

Wanna know why my belly got this huge?

(38 weeks, whoa BABY!)

Well, here she is!

Our beautiful daughter!

9 lbs 7 oz

22 inches

We spent a lot of time in the nursery with her because she had some complications. Luckily she was doing well enough to come home with us on time.

Curly hair like her Mama ;)

SonA and SonB both adore her.

My beautiful little firecracker.

So that's why I'll be MIA for a while. :-) Hope you are all doing great. Keep me posted on the rest of the world...

Friday Five

1. It was 70 degrees today. 70! There was much rejoicing throughout the land. I spent the afternoon weeding and planting flowers for my mom (to surprise her for Mother's Day) with my boys and my sisters. It was fabulous. I adore my mom, she is just completely made of awesome. She's always been one of my best friends. Love ya! Happy Mother's Day Mom!

2. Speaking of my boys, SonA's birthday is this weekend. He was actually born on Mother's Day (my first real Mother's Day!), and his birthday landed on it again this year. We will be celebrating on Saturday since Sunday will be so packed, and he can't wait! I can't believe how old he's getting. Time just seems to fly when it comes to how quickly my kids are growing up. Except when my two-year-old is throwing tantrums. Then, it could stand to go by just a tad faster. Okay, not really. But sheesh! ;)

3. Melanoma sucks. Why can't our society still think pale is pretty? No, we have to all wish we were tan (me included), even though I've already had a cancer scare on my back. I still long for golden skin. Lame, right? Ugh.

4. Also, why can't plump still be in vogue? Then we could all slather on the sunscreen, not get skin cancer, eat all the cake and ice cream and cookies we want, and die of diabetes instead.

5. Hmmm, I haven't seemed to come up with any thoughts on writing this week. So, here you go. I wish my laptop screen worked better outside. Because it's hard to see what I'm typing when I'm sitting out, enjoying the sun (with my sunscreen on of course), letting my boys play. It's a true dilemma.

So, wow, there's some random thoughts for you to round out this week. What are your thoughts today? Any fun plans for Mother's Day?

Monday Madness

Guess what I typed on Friday night?

THE END.

WOOHOO! I've already begun the first revision, just going through it for major mistakes and stuff like that. Then it will be time for feedback and a little break to get some perspective.

So, you would think my week should be starting off great, right? I mean, I finished my goal almost an entire week early, and will have time to *hopefully* finish this run through before the end of the month and get it sent off. But...

"A two-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it." - Jerry Seinfeld

That is the morning I've been having already. I went to the bathroom and came out to find my two-year-old on the counter, dumping all the fish food down the drain. At least he wasn't trying to get the fish out of his bowl, or dumping the food in the bowl, (both things he's done before), but yeah. I love that kid, but holy smokes is he ever, um, precocious. Anyone who knows him knows what I mean. I'm not sure I've ever met a more independent toddler in my life. He has to do EVERYTHING himself. And I mean absolutely, postively everything. How do you explain to a two-year-old that he can't make himself toast? Or cook his own eggs? Or that he doesn't need to flush the toilet for me when I go to the bathroom? Or change his own diaper? Or take the fish out of the bowl? Or run his own bath? This list could go on and on and on. The point is.... he is too fun but what a handful! Good thing he is so dang cute.

My little monster showing me his green milk on St. Patty's day.

Son A and Son B playing on the swings the one nice day we've had since October.

I'm really hoping warm weather decides to come around soon. I'm thinking these boys need some more outside play time. (And so does their mom!)

How's your Monday going?

p.s. I just made my bed, and heard him start to cry... (two seconds ago when I came in to make my bed, he was sitting on the couch, eating a bag of crackers, watching Dinosaur Train). I go out and he's in the fridge, somehow has gotten a package of crescent rolls open (how does a two-year-old do that? I can barely get those stupid things open!), and sliced his finger on it. He wants me to make orange rolls. He's crying now because he doesn't understand why the crescent rolls aren't orange rolls. Oh that kid. You just have to laugh sometimes.

Friday Five: short and sweet

1. My brain is quite literally on the verge of reaching fried status, so that is a big reason why this is going to be short and sweet. But the great news is that I'm definitely going to meet my goal of finishing the first draft of my WIP by the end of the month! Possibly this weekend. Yay! *tosses confetti at myself* *sneezes and wonders why I just did that*

2. I'm almost to 300 followers (just one away!) and I'm wondering if I should do a giveaway to celebrate. Or maybe I should wait (since I did a 200 followers one not too long ago), until I hit a bigger number, like 500... hmm... what do you think? And if I did get convinced to do a giveaway, what would you prefer this time: books or critiques?

3. The weather is driving me nuts. I want it to be WARM. No more blizzards. NO MORE.

4. You know what is not fun? Asking someone when they're due (because they're obviously pregnant), and thinking "she's totally due after me because she's way smaller than I am" and then they tell you they're due a month before you. BEFORE. Did I mention her baby belly was smaller than mine? AND I was taller than her. Isn't there supposed to be some rule that tall people get to have smaller baby bumps because there's more space for the baby? So not true for me. Ah, well. What can you do?

5. I love listening to SonA read. To see him putting concepts together, and pointing out "silent 'e' words" to me, and finding joy in understanding the world around him on a new level. I hope I can help instill a true love of reading in him.

Bonus thought: I have to give a shout out to my wonderful friend Carolina Valdez Miller who signed with an agent last week. (If you aren't already, make sure and go follow her. She seriously rocks you guys.)

WOOHOO!!! *throws confetti at her* *hopes she doesn't sneeze too*

She is the one of the kindest, most caring, hard working people I've "met" (not in person yet unfortunately, though I hope sometime soon to change that!), and I couldn't be more thrilled for her. Her book sounds amazing, and I'm beyond excited to see what happens next. Congrats again Carol, you deserve it! :)

Maybe I also should have titled this post "random." Whatevs, remember how I said my brain is nearly fried? Yeah. It is.

So, what's on your mind this week?