Because She is My Child

November 2, 2011 By 2 Comments

If you follow me on twitter or instagrm you may have seen my hashtag #poorchicken.

About ten minutes after this photo was taken at a Youth Event we attended this past weekend….

And because of some crazed teenager wanting to high five the lead singer of Hawk Nelson when he jumped off the stage, she will be needing these…..

for the next 4-6 weeks.

I don’t blame Jason (although I keep wanting to call him Jimmie or Johnnie) (and yes with an ‘ie’).

I don’t even blame the crazed teenagers who rushed the stage and knocked her knee in such a way to tear the ligament.

I blame this squarely on myself. I mean when you have a mother who is scolding the dog and goes to go back up the stairs and whacks her temple of the wall that has been there for the last six years so hard that she saw stars and this isn’t the first time she has done this…..

Clearly you can see my point.

So today while I nurse my wounded child and my lump on my temple check out the other places you can find me around the interwebs.

Where I tell you where you can find the mythical lipstick that stays on all day.

Where you see that I am up to something with a bunch of other lovely ladies.

Where you can get ideas for your next year’s couple’s costume, because it’s never too early to start planning.

Filed Under: a day in my life, life with The Chicken, only my child

Thirteen

January 26, 2011 By 1 Comment

Dear Chicken,

Do you know how much the mommy guilt is consuming me because I wasn’t there this morning to push the hair out of your face and just stare at your sleeping eyes for a few moments before I started to rub your back to wake you up.

In those moments in the morning when the light from the hallway is streaming through the slats on the top bunk I see glimpses of the small child you once were and the woman that you are rapidly becoming.

You would grumble and roll over and I would remind you that it was your thirteenth birthday. You may have asked for a few more minutes or you may have shot right up excited to start your day.

I will never know.

I can’t believe that you are thirteen.

13.

I just can’t wrap my head around it.

I can’t wait for next week when we can start planning your birthday bash. I remember the excitement on your face when you figured out what theme you wanted to do.

I think it will be sweet.

And soon I will be home & I will let your rifle through my bag of stuff. You will show me what new things your puppy can do and tell me all about your concert and your game and all the fun things that you did with your dad to make your day oh so special.

Thank you for understanding. Thank you for letting me follow my dreams. Thank you for just being you.

I love you my Chicken.

Mom
Laughing

Filed Under: birthdays, blissdom rocks but it is keeping me away from my girl on her special day, life with The Chicken

Wordless Wednesday-Shots Through A Chainlink Fence Edition

June 23, 2010 By 1 Comment
She's on First
Going For Second
She's nearly safe!
She Scores!

More Wordless Wedneday can be found at 5 Minutes for Mom

Filed Under: a day in my life, fast pitch softball, life with The Chicken

Looking into those eyes

April 6, 2010 By 13 Comments

I always think of The Chicken as my baby. She got that nickname because of her long chicken legs when she was an infant.

I know that I probably baby her more than I should. There is just something about knowing something is your last that makes you savor it all that much more.

And then I see a photo like this and I get a glimpse of the woman that she is rapidly becoming and it takes my breath away and makes me want to curl up in a corner rocking back & forth in denial, all at the same time.

365-94

Dearest Chicken, I love you and love to see the woman that you are becoming, but you really don’t need to change into her too quickly.

Filed Under: a day in my life, growing up right before my eyes, life with The Chicken

Her Acoustic Christmas

January 2, 2010 By 5 Comments

Ariel has wanted a guitar for what seems like years now.

She bought one a couple years back for $7 on clearance at Wally World.

She then let it become buried in her room under heaps and mounds of clothes.

Let’s just say the ending for that particular guitar wasn’t pretty.

So about two months ago she really starts talking up getting a guitar. She’s got it all figured out.

She will get the guitar for Christmas and one of her friends who already owns a guitar and takes guitar lessons will teach her how to play. Because in her mind her friend is further along than she is so why wouldn’t he be able to teach her.

Her grandfather (Jeremy’s step dad) gives her a gift card to the Guitar Center and some cash for Christmas.

She was so excited but told her grandpa that she saw an excellent purple electric guitar at Big Lots for only $75. He convinces her to at least look around Guitar Center and if she still wants the Big Lots guitar he will buy back her gift card.

The day after Christmas she is begging me to take her out to get her guitar, but I know that Jeremy’s Navy buddy is coming to visit for the night and next day and he actually gets paid to play guitar. I convince her to wait.

I enjoyed watching Tim & Ariel wander around in the Acoustic Room trying out different guitars and finally settling on the one that was ‘Tim approved’

acoustic christmas

Not bad for 149

Giving it a Test Strum

And finally watching them ‘jam’ together before he had to hit the road again.
Acoustic Instruction

Filed Under: 2009, life with The Chicken, thankful for friends that love my kids

Because a 50% off sale makes everyone smile….well mostly everyone

November 24, 2009 By 5 Comments

Yesterday we went to the mall with my mother.

We also went on Sunday-with my mother.
Two days at the mall in a row-not something I like to do often, especially with the girls. They see sale signs and they go all bezurk trying to get me to get them this or that. They suddenly have NOTHING to wear at all.
You would think that I sent them to school in a potato sack the way they carry on when I don’t buy them something at the mall. Which is why it was my mom’s idea to bring them.

She wanted to buy show her love to her grand daughters and buy them each a coat for their birthdays.

The Chicken got her coat on Sunday when we went shopping, but it had a tear so we had to take it back to exchange it. Giggles still hadn’t gotten her coat, so Mother insisted we meet her there so Giggles could get her coat too.

We walk into the store and the sales lady announces that everything is 50% off. EVERYTHING.

My mother helps Giggles pick out a coat while I am exchanging the Chicken’s. I no sooner had got Chicken’s new coat in the bag when my mother tells the girls to go and pick out an outfit each, while turning to me telling me that we can’t pass up this great sale.

Giggles questions whether Grandma is legit by asking me if the whole outfit also includes jeans.

I refer her to her grandmother.

The Chicken asks if this whole outfit comes with a scarf.

This time I just point in her grandmother’s direction as Mother had taken a seat on her walker bench to watch the girls shop.

Once they realized that Grandma meant a WHOLE outfit they were busting a move.

When they started looking at the Clearance rack-Mother poo-poo’d at them and told them to shop the store.

What happens you ask when you set your children loose in their favorite store and decide to take photos of them?

I am so glad you asked.

You get The Chicken trying not to look at or smile for the camera
Ignoring the camera for the pretty pretty jewelry

You get Giggles giving you the best WTF look of all time
aero-1

And you get to see this
aero-2

and realize that it wasn’t about the money she spent or the clothes they got.
It was about her spoiling them a bit and enjoying every minute of it.
And for that I am thankful.
Filed Under: Life with Giggles, life with The Chicken, NaBloPoMo, why shopping at the mall can lead to priceless memories

Happiness at Grandma’s

November 7, 2009 By 5 Comments

Happiness at Grandma's

I have no idea what The Chicken is telling The Niece to make her face light up so.
She could simply be saying her name, that is how much The Niece loves her.

I love how there are nearly 9 years between them, yet they are so close. I think the only reason that
The Niece accepted me, she’s very leary of women as her daddy takes care of her at home, is because of The Chicken.

I love when she sees me she always says in her sweet little voice “Aunt Heather where is my Ariel?”

Well sweetness, wherever she may be….I am sure she will always be in your heart.

Filed Under: fun times involving family, life with The Chicken, NaBloPoMo, The Niece

Learning about life from dead leaves

October 31, 2009 By 5 Comments

I love Autumn.

I love the crispness in the air. I love the abundance of apple cider. I love all the colors.
But it takes a child, who is growing into a beautiful young woman to make me truly step back and see the joy in this season. To see the beauty in a bunch of dead leaves that are destined for the compost pile.
Instead of worrying about dirt, bugs, or anything else…she just was enjoying the breeze and tossing some leaves around in the warm autumn sun.
Thank you Ariel, thank you for helping me to slow down yesterday and just appreciate all those scattered leaves with you.

leaves-1

Filed Under: dead leaves, enjoying life, life with The Chicken

You Capture-Motion

August 13, 2009 By 9 Comments

This week’s theme over at Beth’s place for You Capture this week is Motion. While I admit that I didn’t take these photos with motion in mind, I was just trying to get a decent shot of Giggles at Michelle’s house while swimming on Friday.

But. Have you ever tried to take a photo of a teenager, especially a teenager who doesn’t want her photo taken? She was in motion. I was in motion dodging the water she was splashing in my direction. It was crazy.
Observe.

hiding from the camera
moving quicker than the camera
not just a floatation device
I finally got her!
popping out
The Chicken being chased by Miss Monkey and a very wet ball.
Running away
Filed Under: Friends, Giggles, life with The Chicken, motion, summerfun, swimming, you capture

There really is a place called Pocahontas, IL or Why Chicken should never be given tasks first thing in the morning

July 31, 2009 By 5 Comments
Our journey to the center of the earth Crap, wrong book. Let’s try this again.
Our first Family vacation to St. Loius started L.A.T.E. on a Saturday night.
Okay, technically it was a Sunday morning, but who’s telling this tale?
I may have waited until about 30 minutes prior to our departure to
pack my stuff. I mean, I was stressed. I was shoving two vacations into
one and not sure what I needed to bring. How I wanted to look.
But that is a story for another time. Today, we talk
of Pocahontas, IL, one of the last places in IL before you get to MO.
Food on the Road
I know, I know it doesn’t say Pocahontas Restaurant. I was just as
baffled as you are. Hubs actually argued with me
that it was called that. But since he had been up for nearly 27 hours
straight at this point I wasn’t going to argue with him.
We went inside the restaurant, only to discover they didn’t take VISA
and I had neglected to get money out of the bank before
we left Ohio. Of course, for our convience, there was an ATM
located inside the restaurant that we could use, at the tune
of $3.50 per transaction PLUS whatever our bank charged us.
(incase you were wondering its $1.25) Why yes I did use that ATM
because conviently the one located across the street that
only charged $2.00 per transaction was Out of Order.
But this post isn’t about the overpriced ATMs or the insane
amount of pecans that they put in Giggle’s pancakes.
(Seriously folks, I think they actually lost money with all the pecans in
there.) It isn’t even about how there were whole carrots and large
chunks of broccoli in my vegetable omelet. (Note to self-ask for
veggies bite size next time) It is about how the lovely Chicken,
who is bubbly and smiley most of the time is N.O.T. a morning person.
We go into the restaurant and she orders a glass of water,
a cup of hot cocoa and a slice of bacon. Yes, you read that right
A FREAKIN SLICE OF BACON. Of course, you can’t order a
slice, she got a side of bacon, in which she ate A SLICE.
Also she is very quiet. If you have met The Chicken you know that
this is not the norm for her. She usually will talk
your ear off. Then she will pick it up off the floor, put it back on
and talk it off again. Seriously folks. This is only true
after she has been up for about an hour. (I have no idea what time
we are going to have to get her up when school starts
being that she has to be there at 7:23 AM and I don’t want her to
murder any of her teachers) She has always been an
anti morning person. When she was a toddler I would just give
her her juice cup and stay the heck out of her way. She took
TWO naps a day until she was five. The girl loves her sleep. For realz.
After we finish breakfast hubs tells the girls that if they need to use the bathroom
to do it now because we were about 3 hours out from our friends’ house and
didn’t want to stop if we didn’t have to. The Chicken claims she is fine
and Giggles went to use the facilities.
At the car hubs gives The Chicken some drink containers to
throw in the garbage. She starts in with the moaning, and
the groaning about how she has to do everything. She doesn’t
know where the trash cans are and really, why can’t
we just do it ourselves-we should really be responsible for the
stuff we bring into the van.
Now at this point I have to give credit to hubs, he normally doesn’t
have the patience for morning Chicken, as he isn’t
all roses & sunshine himself. But he looks at her and says
very calmly “Look around there is a trash can around here
somewhere. Take your time and just DO IT. Don’t make me ask again.”
At this point The Chicken loses her shit. She starts bawling and
crying that there isn’t a trash can all around and why are we being so
mean and hurtful towards her. This is the WORST vacation
ever and she wants to go home.
Note, she has not moved, nor looked around to find a trash can.
Hubby tells her to look for the trash, there is a restaurant, a hotel,
AND a gas station all in the same parking lot. There IS a trash can and she
needs to find it. He may or may not have mentioned that she could walk the rest

of the way to St.Louis if she didn’t bother to find it.

She walks around the car that is parked in front of us
and starts flailling her arms up and down.
“I CAN’T FIND IT! WHY ARE YOU DOING
THIS TO ME? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?”
I am so tired, I really want to just take the damn trash from her
and throw it away in the trash can I plainly see at
this point, but I don’t want the hubs ticked at me for the rest of
the journey so I just laugh. And Laugh A.LOT.

I may have been concerned with wetting my pants I was laughing so hard

Her sister finally rolls out of the bathroom and asks what is wrong
with The Chicken. I think it was at that point
The Chicken found the trash can and climbed back into
the van as if nothing had happened.
I am still laughing-I think it is the tiredness that kept me laughing,
because I am still not sure it was THAT funny.
After the laughter dies down and the Chicken isn’t all peeved
with us, she mentions that she should get a
reward for her trash hauling duties. An American Girl Doll.
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Filed Under: I can't make this crap up, life, life with The Chicken, Our crazy adventures, vacation 2009ation
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