oh mother...

we all know that this mothering stuff is...what is it exactly? the hardest, most heart-wrenching, conflicting and loveliest thing i've ever done in my entire life? 

thank heavens i have all of you to look to...

so to all the mothers out there---

-the ones who have it all together
-and the ones who show me it's sometimes more fun not to

-the ones who inspire me to do better
-and the ones who let me know i'm doing ok

-the ones who remind me to be in the moment
-and the ones who remind me that sometimes for sanity-sake, you have to check out

-the ones who call themselves mommy and mama and grammie and nana and act the mother to so many
-and to the ones who made me mimi

-and of course to my mom, who always reminded me that i was her favorite youngest child---

found here

to all of you, because without you i would be utterly lost.
thank you!  happy mothers day!

oozing with sappy happy

today is making memories with mom day at my kids school.  they asked me to pretty please take off the morning and go.  how could i say no?  i love making memories.  i love that they wanted me there. 

but it is also msp testing for nadia, so there were snacks to make (which tony did and i added the note) and a special brain-food breakfast to nosh. 

and it is also field trip day for aidan, which means a super-packed lunch and an unsucessful scramble to find a camera (besides mine, because i am not that nice) that actually works in our house.   i decided i would swing through the walmarche' and get a cheapo one.  we made it to mmwm in the nick of time.

and all was great.  aidan's teacher had questions scrolling on the projector about how well you know your mom.  he pays attention to my likes and dislikes which i think has him on the path to making a very attentive husband someday.  he wrote me a poem, but instead of mom, mommy or mama he used mimi.  it included things like i am 'immune to evil'.  he knows how to make me go all mushy.  that kid.

and onto nadia's class.  she drew a sweet picture of me complete with her favorite tank top of mine.  she wrote the 10 best things about me.  who wouldn't love to hear that the best thing about them is they snuggle and make bueno brownies!?!  she showed me the plant she is growing and some of her work and i got to write her a good luck note for her msp.  i loved that her teacher encourages that.  especially since nadia is my little note keeper. 

all of this was great.  better than great.  i felt special and all squishy mushy loved.
but the happiest, sappiest part of all came when we realized the camera needed an sd card.  i told aidan i would try to get home and back before his bus left and bring him one, but i wasn't sure if i would make it.  i went fast like a bunny and made it back as the kids were lining up to go into class. 

no less than 20 kids said "HI AIDAN'S MOM!!!!" as i was trying to find his line. 

i'm aidan's mom.  that's my name.  i honestly have never felt more important in all my life.

have you heard?

this is going to be just about the most fun you will ever have raising money for cancer research!
i would say that if you are in a 300 mile radius you should probably click HERE to register.


you can camp out in my back yard.  i'll make bacon in the morning.  seriously.

it is going to be awesome!!

here is the link again, you know, in case you missed it... 
REGISTER BY CLICKING HERE

checkity check check out this lady if you want to see more cool people who are involved in this.

weekend lovin'

even though it is crashing to it's end, i just have to say- i love you weekend!

it hasn't been perfect:
   my immune system is in overdrive thanks to whatever is blooming,
   we have had a number of meltdowns over videogames and cleaning bedrooms,
   and temperatures have been quite the little tease,

but i still love you weekend. 

make the week go by lickity split and come back again soon.

really, it's me...

come (a little) rain, or shine, or (very light) wind...
or stop-every-10-feet-with-your-blacked-out-windows creeper van hot on my heels-

i'm there.


running.

ok, it's more of a jog-run. 
and it's not a pretty jog-run.
and i hold my left hand weird the entire time.
and it's not every day.
but, it is a lot more regular than ever before in my life. 
and i will run with my nani-b any time she likes.  or tony.  or aidan (which he doesn't). 
or you, if you ask.

baking cookies and running?!? 
it's still me.  just me plus.

life is full of surprises.

go!

we here at the home of the bacharts talk about going. 
like all of the time. 
every other week we are talking and plotting and wishing about a new adventure.  but we are a planning bunch that likes to have our ducks all neat and tidy in little debt-free and labeled rows.  so again, there is a whole lotta talking.  aidan struck up the convo tonight with a rousing round of "if you could go to three places, where would they be?" and since this is the place where i keep all of the stuff i know i would never remember on my own, here were their responses.

Aidan
#1- Tokyo, Japan: for the video gaming, pokemon and geckos
#2- Australia: for the herps (that means reptiles and amphibians to the rest of us) and he heard they have some good video gaming stores there too.
#3- Paris, France: he has just always wanted to see Paris including Disney Paris

Nadia
#1- Paris, France: to go up the Eiffel Tower, eat French pastries and French chocolate, and Disney Paris
#2- Hawaii: for the beaches and surfing of course
#3- Disneyworld to see all of the things we didn't see last time and all the new parts of Disneyland

but for now we are here...

 

here is a lovely place, but if you could...

where would you go?

a little bit of borrowed time

i left work a bit early today for an appointment and found myself home early enough to do a some household chores and, wait for it....bake cookies! 

um, me...baking cookies?  sure enough!

that is a job usually left to tony, unless the cookies come from a box mix because i fiddle with things too much for cookies to turn out.  but turn out they did!  and with, like, real ingredients.  eggs, and butter, and whole wheat flour!  and oh did i make myself sick on cookie dough...mmmmmmmm.

in the hustle and bustle of life, i don't find myself with time like this. 
i loved it! 
i loved switching out the cookies and wrapping them up individually.
i loved sweeping the floor...seriously! 
i loved running up the stairs time and time again for laundry. 
ok, so i didn't love scooping the cat box and scrubbing the toilets and so what that i burned dinner...

but i did love (most of all) the look on aidan and nadia's faces when they saw their special treat.