We just got home from our vacation a little while ago.  I have all sorts of things I need to get done- unpack, do a bazillion loads of laundry, go grocery shopping (we’ve been away from home for a week and a half, so we have nothing in our refrigerator) pick up our mail from the neighbors and sort through all of the bills- you know all of that fun stuff you get to do after a vacation.  But, I thought I would do a quick post to let you know I’m back and will be back to my usual posting and commenting soon.  We had a wonderful time on our trip and of course I have pictures and stories to tell.  So, I’m off to get all of my work done so I can relax and do some blogging a little later on.

I was able to meet Pam from Random Thoughts over the weekend. It still sounds a little funny to me to say that I got to meet someone that I found on the Internet. But, anyhoo, on to our meeting.

The plan was for Rich and I to meet Pam and her hubby for breakfast. Honestly I was a little nervous about meeting Pam. What if she thought my clothes were funny looking? What if she thought I was funny looking? What if I spilled my food all over myself? What if no one knew what to talk about and we all just sat there staring at each other? What if I started rambling on and on trying to fill the silence and ended up sounding like a complete idiot? What if I overslept and missed the meeting all together?

As soon as I saw Pam and we hugged hello my nervousness was gone. It felt like I was meeting with an old friend and I was completely comfortable. Pam is the same in person and she is on her blog. And her hubby Gary was wonderful too! I had a great time and there were no uncomfortable silences. We talked and we laughed. And then we talked and laughed some more. It really just felt like I was with friends I have known since forever.

But all too soon our breakfast meeting was over and we all had to be on our way. And of course being bloggers, we both had our cameras tucked in our purses and had to pose for a picture before we went our separate ways. I’m not sure why, but Rich and Gary didn’t want to pose for a picture together.

And now I’m ready to start planning our next meet up. Maybe next time we meet we’ll be able to convince Rich and Gary that they need a picture together too.

Now I think that a tomato is technically a fruit which would make ketchup a fruit, but that just doesn’t sound right. Vegetable sounds much better.

Anyhoo.

Hailey is such a picky eater that I am really hoping that ketchup counts as a vegetable since that’s about all she will eat. And she doesn’t like fruit either. About the only fruit she will eat is jelly. Is that even a fruit?

When I give her almost any food she will usually try it. Then take it out of her mouth, hand it to me and say, “Gucky!” (yucky) We go back and forth with this throughout every meal.

“Hailey, try your food.”

“Gucky!”

“If you try it you might like it. Just try it.”

Hailey puts her food in her mouth, takes it out and hands it to me and says “GUCKY!”

“It’s not yucky. You liked broccoli last week so I bought some more. Now please eat it.”

“GUCKY Mommy, GUCKY!”

“How about you eat some of your chicken then? You like chicken.”

“COOKIE! COOKIE!”

I do not give her a cookie and I have never given in and given her one no matter how much she demands and screams and cries for it. “We’re eating dinner. We don’t have cookies for dinner.”

“Yo-Ye-O. Peeaazzz! Yo-Ye-O.” (Oreo. Please! Oreo.)

“After you eat your dinner you can have an Oreo.”

“All done. Me yook ousssside. All done.”  (Me look outside)

And that is how most of our meals go.

I usually try to stay away from my computer on the weekends. And Saturday I did especially great avoiding my computer. When I got up in the morning I did have to check my email and my blogs just in case there was some sort of blog emergency. But then it was well into the afternoon before I actually sat down to use my computer. And it was wonderful.

I started out my morning trying to get Hailey ready for our daily walk (I’ve done it for 4 days in a row, so I think it now qualifies as a “daily” walk.) She loves to go for a walk so I don’t know why she fights me so much. She kicked and squirmed while I got her dressed, refused to open her mouth to have her teeth brushed and ran away as fast as she could when I tried to put her sunscreen on. The entire process probably took at least 45 minutes. Finally we were ready to go and enjoyed our morning walk.

After our walk Hailey and I played out front until I got tired of chasing her down every 15 seconds when she would take off running right towards the road. So we went to the safety of the fenced in back yard. Hailey had a blast with her sidewalk chalk, painting with water, going down her “whee,” and watching the ants on our patio.

Then we “helped” Rich wash the car. Hailey thought it was a blast, as long as she didn’t get wet and no one touched her bucket or sponge.

What a little helper.

After we finished washing the car it was time to come inside for lunch. Which of course caused much kicking and screaming (by Hailey). Since she had gotten up bright and early that morning (6am) she went right down for her nap after lunch.

At that point I decided that it could wait no more- I needed a hair cut. It has been over a year since I have had my hair cut, no trimming or anything. So, I’m sure you can imagine that I was very much in need of having my hair cut. And suddenly I felt the urge to have highlights as well. So, off I went to have my hair done.

So now about the title of this post, the one where I said there would be a picture of me? Here you go.

This is me modeling my hip-t a few ago- notice my hair. You can’t really tell but it is several inches past my shoulders. And it is also brown.

And now?

This is me on Sunday morning before church. I did my hair just for you (and also just in case I saw anyone while at church). See how short it is? And you can’t tell from the picture but it is really light. I think it is too light actually.

I know this picture is blurry, but have you ever tried to take a picture of the top of your head before? So in this picture you can kind of tell that it is much lighter but you can’t really tell how light it is. I mean I did tell the hairdresser I wanted the highlights to be noticeable, but I didn’t want them quite as noticeable as they are.

I was so sad with my hair that I thought that maybe I shouldn’t even go to church. Or that I should at the very least wear a paper bag over my head so that no one would notice my hair. Then the lady who sits behind me in church every week told me that she loved the new style and the new color about 3 or 4 times and I started to feel better.

So, tell me what you think- just remember that it is a lot lighter than you can tell from the picture.

When I was a little girl I knew just how my life would be when I grew up. I was going to be a stay at home mommy. I would spend my days playing with kids, taking them to the park, reading books, doing fun activities, etc. Do you know what wasn’t a part of my dream? Laundry, bills, making dinner, cleaning, sleepless nights, taking a toddler grocery shopping, and certainly not being sick and still having to do all of that. I really had no idea how hard it would be to be a mom.

I was recently watching a show where someone said that they had heard a little girl say that she wanted to be just like her mom when she grew up and “do nothing.” As kids we really had no idea the sacrifices our parents made for us and we couldn’t possibly comprehend all they did for us. Once you become a parent you suddenly realize “Wow! My parents did a lot for me!” (Thanks, Mom and Dad!!)

I think for most of us, even though life isn’t exactly how we dreamed it would be it is still pretty good. We have a lot to be thankful for even if it means being thankful for the piles of laundry and all of the extra cleaning we have to do. So, even though I have to cart a big old basket of clean laundry up my stairs every few days I am still living my dream. It’s a little bit different than what I had dreamed of when I was a child, but it’s still a great life.

I have a shirt from LTDChix with this graphic on the front of it and I love it! The two ladies who started these Living The Dream shirts are both moms who are living the same dream that you and I are living- carting kids around, trying to find a few minutes to exercise, and doing lots of laundry. And these fabulous ladies have agreed to give one of you one of their fabulous shirts.

Here is what you need to do if you want a chance to win:

• Click on over to LTDChix. Look at the choices they have for shirts and pick the one that reminds you of your life as a mom.
• Come back here and leave me a comment telling me which one is the most like you.

Want two chances to win?

• If you’d like a second entry into the giveaway you can post about this giveaway on your blog linking back to this entry. Then leave me a SECOND comment with the URL to your post.

This giveaway will end on June 27th at 11:59 pm EST. I will use the random number generator shortly after that to pick a winner.