This was me on Mother’s Day. Oh, and Saturday morning. What got into me?!? I NEVER sleep late or take naps. I woke up from my unintended nap on Sunday afternoon feeling guilty and confused. How could I fall asleep on Mother’s Day? I didn’t have to do anything! And why? I haven’t taken a nap quite some time – why all of a sudden?

Late last night, it finally hit me! Duh! I have been running like a crazy person! The past 3 weeks have been insane.

1. My mother’s helper had been ill and has just moved back to her hometown for the summer. I have no help, y’all! None.
2. My husband was out of town for a solid 7 days.
3. I am organizing 2 events – 1 for the church middle school kids, and 1 that is a little bigger (a fundraiser for a health organization).
4. I am planning for next school year’s curriculum. I will be home schooling BOTH my kids and am trying to get it all organized now.
5. I am house hunting. I hate it. But it has to be done, and it is so dang time consuming.
6. More of the same …

All this amongst the daily duties of life – cleaning, cooking, Bible study, etc. The other day, the family and I took the afternoon off from our life and helped plant a garden in memory of our late pastor. It was hard labor, but lots of fun being outside, doing something good (the food will go to local needy families), and having great fellowship. While there, a friend said to me: “Honey, you can’t be Superwoman every day!” To which I responded: “You can’t?”

Yeah, you can’t.

We bought a juicer several months ago, but up until recently it was really only used for apple and orange juice. I had not really experimented with much. I am not actually a big fan of juice – I stick to water, green tea, coffee (sometimes), and (of course) wine. But the kids, they love juice and I don’t really allow it. I will occasionally pick up an Odwalla or Kombucha, and those bottles are awesome for keeping your own juice in! I decided to experiment last night with some things I had excess of in the fridge, and it turned out fantastic! The kids loved both the juices, and I even liked them! So, without further ado …

SUPER OJ

• 1/2 apple
• 3 carrots
• 1 handful pineapple chunk
• 1 large naval orange

STRAWBERRY DELIGHT

• 1/2 apple
• 1 handful pineapple chunks
• 8 strawberries
• 2 carrots

For best results, use fresh organic produce! These are stored in our old Odwalla containers.

I love staying home with my kids. I really do. But … stick with me here … and please tell me I’m not the only one …

WHERE THE HELL DID MY BRAIN GO?

I mean, it is bad enough that I have to (gasp!) AGE. But now I have to go and get all half-witted too? I mean, where are the witty retorts? the grown-up words? And what happened to the ability to create an entire sentence without (a) saying “um” because my memory was clearly delivered along with that second baby; and (b) without being interrupted by phrases like “Sweetie, Mommy doesn’t want to tell you not to do that again” or “Sweetie, if I have to ask you to stop texting and set the table again …” or “Sweetie, go wash your hands – that was nasty!” or “Sweetie …” (I think you get the idea!)

My IQ has always lurked fairly up there, but now? I’m not so certain. And yes, I realize that this is not a ringing endorsement for the fact that I home school. But I’m not talking about book smart. I have always been that. Probably always will be. I am talking about that loss of the super-smart, educated sounding, eloquence in daily conversation. Maybe that is because I mostly speak to children?

I was chatting with a girlfriend the other day (she works full-time and is an awesome mommy, too) and I got off the phone and thought: “Damn she’s smart! I feel so dumb right now. Seriously, dumb. Was I that smart when I worked, too? Maybe I should go back to work. Oh heck no. I’d rather be dumb.”

I have not always been good about thank-you notes. In the past few years, however, I have tried my best to be better about sending a kind thank-you for gifts and loving gestures. I want my kids to know the importance of gratitude, so I am doing my best to write thank-you’s with them. This past Christmas, things were a bit hectic around here so I decided to try another method. I took pics of the kids with all their gifts. I uploaded the photos to Snapfish and made postcards. Then, I sat my girls down (one at a time) and asked them to help me write their thank-you’s. Since they’re kids, their thank-you’s were short and sweet – perfect for a postcard – and each recipient got a new photo of my girls! I have received so many compliments on our postcards, so I thought I would share it with you!

Killing time between school and ballet class the other day, I decided to take the girls to the mall for a little girl time. I really don’t enjoy the mall, per se, but I never mind browsing the Free People section of any given department store. And my 3yo? She shops like she’s been handing over a black AmEx since birth. But, I digress …

There we were, walking through the store to the kids section and they just HAD to put Free People right there, on the way. And so I stopped. I browsed. It lasted all of 2 minutes. The little one thought it would be funny to hide behind a maxi dress. The oldest decided to sneak up on her. Upon being found, the little one shrieked in both shock and excitement.

That’s when it happened. I got “the look” from an older lady browsing nearby. You know “the look”? The one that says “you should be so ashamed of that child”. And it wasn’t just “the look”. NO! She did the head shake too. Oh, the horror on her face!

I was tempted to say something to her. Very tempted. But then I realized that she was likely a woman who had never had children. Because anyone who has ever had a child, and taken that child in public, would never give that look. Because anyone who has ever had a child, and taken that child in public more than once, has like had their child do something loud, or obnoxious, or rude, or inappropriate. And anyone who has ever had a child would’ve likely given me that knowing mom glance.

It wasn’t all bad. While I chose not to say anything to the dragon lady, the sales lady and another shopper said plenty … by laughing hysterically.