Just In Case You Forgot What She Looks Like...

Our little beauty.

Valentine's Day Eve

Lesson learned: don't go to the grocery store the night before Valentine's Day without your wedding rings.

Yup. After bathing the kiddos and tucking them into bed, I headed out to Kroger, sans jewelry.

I know, I know, in my last post I claimed there would be no more late-night grocery runs. But I needed something to finish my son's Valentines for preschool tomorrow. I digress...

So I'm actually IN THE VALENTINES display aisle (a place I typically pride myself on avoiding) and a guy who had casually talked to me in the vitamin aisle pauses nearby. I'm starting to get suspicious, grab what I need and move on. The guy follows me, trying to be subtle but really not being subtle at all. And so it goes, culminating in an awkward conversation by the peanut butter on the other side of the store.

Guy (wearing a Cornell baseball hat): Hey, do you work for IUSB?
Me: No.
Guy: Did you used to go there?
Me: (Cringing inside) Nope.
Guy: Oh, well, what do you do?
Me: (Hoping this not-so-subtle hint clues him in) I'm a stay-at-home mom.
Guy: Oh, wow! My sister does that. So, do you home-school your kids? How many kids do you have? I'm so-and-so by the way... Etc., etc.

Me: (Why is he continuing the conversation?! How do I get out of this?) Then I realize I'm not wearing a wedding ring. Sigh. Proceed to end conversation as quickly and painlessly as possible. Finish shopping.

Unfortunately, the only open check-out lane was, you guessed it—right behind Mr. Cornell himself.

In other news, my son colored a very nice picture at preschool yesterday. I found it tucked away today (somehow separated from his other crafts he brought home).

Me: Jack! Great job coloring, bug! Do you know what this is?
Jack: It's a...it's a...ground-father-bear!

Yup.

He also peed on the potty for the very first time tonight. Happy, proud mommy.

And we're waking up to strawberry-lemon pancakes with strawberry syrup tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day y'all!

Grocery Badge

I was a Brownie in elementary school. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the younger form of Girl Scouts. In Jamaica (where I lived at the time), under the British system of Girl Scouts, girls were Brownies until high school (7th grade in the US).

If I were still a Brownie, today I would have earned my grocery badge. Why you ask? Well, I took both kiddos to the grocery store for the first time! Major milestone here. I do realize two things. First, most of you take 15 kids (ok, maybe three or four!) to the grocery store successfully every week. Second, some of you (Hollie!!) fly around the world solo with your toddlers (and believe me, THAT deserves whatever the highest honor the Brownies doles out!). But for me, this marked a new era in our lives—no more late-night grocery runs!! {Except for coconut milk ice-cream cravings that is...}

I will admit I did pack a few snacks for the Jack monster and Little Creature (Chloe) was a perfect angel. Jack helped load and unload the groceries. And we sang and talked and counted all sorts of things. And suddenly, two kids at a grocery store didn't seem so bad.

We might even do it again next week.