Colorado Crockers

The other day I went to my favorite store, Goodwill. They had out all there costumes for Halloween so I picked up a bunch for Elie and Addie including a monkey, puppy, penguin, bee and monster. I threw in a few dresses for when friends come over. Eliana was thrilled, her sister was completely unimpressed. Later that day it was time to go over to a friends house for a bbq. I told Elie to go upstairs and get ready to go. She came down wearing a monkey costume with a dress over the top and her pink cowboy boots. Not exactly what I had in mind. This was a pride check. Every mother wants her children to be well received. My child looked...ridiculous. We left for the bbq, Eliana in the outfit she had chosen. I could have made her change, but I wouldn't have been doing it for any reason that benefited my child. It would have been to avoid being "that" mother, the one who lets her kid wear her shoes on the wrong feet and cowboy boots with her Easter dress. Eliana and Addilyn are ...

I am getting to the point in my pregnancy where I am questioning the wisdom of my gym membership. I am too uncoordinated for the elliptical (which is actually the case when I am NOT pregnant too, but that is a whole ' nother post) I look a little silly doing Zoomba . In an effort to not waste the money, to escape my children and to not hit beached whale size, i am exploring other options, the most recent being water aerobics . I have a friend who refers to that class as the "water Buffalo's " and lets just say I don't feel to bad in a swimming suit next to most of the people in the class. I also drop the age mean by at least 30 years. Over all the class is great, I like the water and can work up a "sweat". The people are nice and I learned you can get a pretty decent work out. It has also been enlightening in other ways. Mainly in regards to old women and nudity. I am not really all that modest. I don't get uncomfortable nursing in front of people...

Last Thursday night I got a call that my cousin Shelley had passed away. She was 36. We don't know many details yet and may never really understand what happened. Tonight our family got together to celebrate her life. We laughed a lot, which might seem strange to those who didn't know Shelley or the members of my family. As the kids all played at the park, the family sat around a table of food, remembering. I grew up with Shelley and there was never a dull moment. She had a unique spark, a love of the written word and opinion's about everything. In fact, my last conversation with her was about baby names. Her view of the world was one of a kind, and so was she. She was smart and fearless to a fault, but broken too. Shelley's story didn't end how I think it should have. She has been struggling for the last several years with illness and I never had the pleasure of watching her become everything I think she could have been. Sometimes it feels a little unfair that God ...

I am sure I will get around to posting a more comprehensive list of what we have done and seen while enjoying New York City, but until then...