Confessional.

Modern Family is my new favorite thing. (Sorry Glee.) I'm halfway through the first season, and I can't get enough!!

So. Confession time.

I, too, dress up for firefighters.

Go ahead. Judge me.

Pics from November/December and Christmas.

Tiny Man vs. Bow

Some nakey-butts, some snow, some presents and some pickles.

R to the Ou to the Tine.

The past four mornings I've maintained a set routine: wake up, pop Jillian in the player, succumb to her punishments for 25 excruciating minutes, wallow in my own sweat until feeling returns to my limbs, dress the kids, take them to school then shower. Shower! Every day! I've even been wearing makeup and...earrings. I know. The madness cannot possibly continue...sweatpants and dirty hair are surely on the horizon.

But for now, there is something so calming about this routine, even though it begins early and painfully. Keeps the rhythm of the day set at "cool", and keeps me happy. Keeps the kids happy. Keeps us all happy, which is nice if we're going to stay a family through the duration of [the Shred] grad school.

Now I'm sipping my caramel americano with my organized little binder ready to learn. It's only day 4, so this "routine" will change over the next couple weeks, but for now...couldn't be more perfect.

The Shred.

So I buckled. This out-of-shape thing? Doesn't look good on me. Most importantly I am tired all the time and can't chase Wilson down the street without nearly asphyxiating. Mommy needs to get her act together, and fast!

But when? Where? My life is crazy, I rarely sleep, how can I fit training into this life I lead?

I found my answer in Jillian Michaels. She promises to take me from this:

Before Jillian

to this:

After Jillian

in just 30 days. That's a big promise, folks, but since she's a celebrity, I trust her.

I will probably blog (read: whine) about this now and again. Sorry. But when I'm all lithe and not-sleepy at 3pm and able to chase my Tiny Man halfway across the city, it'll totally be worth it. I'll try to keep it pithy. And clean. Try.

Goin' to the Chapel.

A close friend recently asked me to be in her wedding, and I enthusiastically agreed (through tears, of course). And in the days since that happy invitation I've been just-shy-of-obsessing about all things wedding and marriage. As is probably natural, this obsession led me to reminisce about my own nuptials and that special day 6.5 years ago. That day I swore before God and man that I'd mind my spouse forever-more. (If you were there you probably inferred that's what I said...I was incomprehensible through the relentless sobbing, sorry about that.) I felt that day, and still feel now, that my wedding day was impossibly perfect and I hope that my friend's experience will be the very same.

But it isn't just my wedding that was wonderful. The lead-up to it and then the long time since has been pretty great too. We've had our ups and downs as most couples do, and the trials of tragedy and graduate school have stretched us in ways neither of us expected nor for which we were prepared. But I think <*knock on wood*> despite these things and the inherent bias of our different ages, that we're going to make it.

I'm a spiritual person but sometimes...I'm superstitious too. And I think that good beginnings speak favorably for good endings. So I'm looking to do everything possible to make sure my pal has a perfect wedding day so that 6.5 years from now she feels about hers the way I feel about mine. But more importantly, I'm making an effort in this new year to be a better wife, so that when my spouse thinks back on that day, he feels affirmed in his choice of mate.

Circles Representing Eternity

As for me? I chose wisely.

Baby 4 Sale.

An oldie, but a goodie!

Violet May, 11 months

From the Mouths of Babes.

Y'all may not care one way or another, but yesterday Stinky informed me that I am a buttcheese.

Scandalous.