“Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for that Ellis could wear his socks today.

Amen”

The socks are pretty swell. You can see how they would inspire devotion.

Can I hear an, “Amen”?

(P.S. and thanks to Annie for lovingly gifting them to our little man.)

While we are on the topic of shoes (or socks that look like shoes) Millie and Clara are on a little bit of a shoe fetish. Only not with their shoes, with MINE.

I took these photos this morning. Yesterday afternoon they had on another pair of my shoes AND my shirts.

Good times.

Remember when you used to bang around in your mom’s shoes?

It must be some sort of rite of passage for little girls the world over.

While we are talking shoes would you allow me to show you the darling shoes that I bought for Clara and Millie last week at Crew Cuts? I got them for a smoking deal.

$11.99

I’m sure they were 100 million dollars originally. WHY does Crew Cuts have to cost so much?

That is a question for the universe.

For now, you and I can part knowing that Clara, Millie and Ellis are well shod.

the end.

(but especially for Aunt Sam)

The other day as I was dressing your nephew I thought of you two.

Can you guess why?

Look very closely!

I almost didn’t put this on Ellis because I felt that your future offspring should wear this EXCLUSIVELY. But Millie had picked this out for Ellis before he was born and she really wanted to see him in it. So this will just have to be a hand-me-down.  The beauty of this romper is that a hip little girl OR a manly little boy could wear it. So no matter what you are covered. You get me? (I saw that the rockstar diary duo put this on their baby girl, so we know it’s cool, yo! & yes, I do read that blog sometimes. “I am ashamed.”)

Then, later in the day I went to Gap Kids (where this romper was purchased) and found a special something for your future child. I will be bringing it with me to UT so that I can hand it to you in person.

It’s cute!

You will like.

(I hope.)

What do you make of this?

It doesn’t look like much, does it.

Looks can be deceiving.

It is a foundation.

A

foundation

for

something

quite

delightful.

A foundation for what I hope will be a place where magic happens!

*

*

*

On Friday evening a much anticipated bundle was delivered.

The girls had been looking forward to its arrival for YONKS!

The following day said bundle was transformed into…

The little burrow they could call their own!

Just look at these faces!

We let them eat their dinner in here they were so excited.

Of course this is just the beginning….

Stay tuned to see how the interior evolves.

The walls were barely up and I was already scheming!

Wall paper, anyone?

Jan is thrilled that I have this little house to work on now! She types sheepishly.

I don’t usually show my political leanings on this blog – I try not to tick people off.  So if you do not share my political convictions I hope you won’t mind me reveling in something I feel is “too tremendous” and must be shared.

Did you know that John Lennon was a CLOSET REPUBLICAN?!!

&

it gets better, friends:

he was a HUGE Reagan fan!

(so he wasn’t a citizen and he couldn’t vote in this country, but IF he had been a US voter and if he’d been a “card carrier” that card would have read “republican”)

Also,

Tess and Bette will be pleased to hear

this dude (the man behind TOMS shoes)  is a conservative

Jan read an article in which some are saying that this news might hurt his ability to sell shoes. Can you believe that!? That would be so sad if it were true.

But his crimes are even worse than being a conservative fellow,

AND he supports “Focus on the Family”

(Hillary won’t be smiling for long)

Read the shoes, people!

And when”Mr. Tom” steps inside that voting booth he votes REPUBLICAN!

Crazy.

Something like this had to happen because since my grand-dad died (the man who was so conservative he watched the entire Republican convention, whistling, hooting, and saying “marvelous” through out the entire broadcast) my Nan, his wife, has become

A LIBERAL!

I’m pretty sure she voted for Obama.

The universe had to answer for this.

Hence, the news that Lennon was conservative had to come to light.

It does make you wonder though,

doesn’t it?

Who else out there is a secret conservative?

…Ellis now weighs in at 14 lbs, suckaz!

That’s MY boy!!

And REAL men dig sleeping under pink covers!

You stink.

You don’t make me feel happy.

But we will not be beaten down by you.

Oh, no!

We have our ways of “dealing” with you and your obnoxious ways. Normally we just stay in-doors. But when we do go choose to go out side…

BEHOLD, we are victorious!

Exhibit A:

And may I add, that I love this kid!

Dear Month of June,

Good-bye.

If truth be told, I shall not miss you.

You have given us a celebration of bodily fluids.

In four short weeks we have endured: Ellis’ first cold (lots of snot), potty training Clara (peeps and poops), projectile vomit, a surgery, and now sleep training our 8 week old (lots of salty wet tears).

Today, on the last day of you, the 30th, I was foolish enough to take all three of my children to Trader Joe’s, and you were kind enough to remind me why I am so glad to see the back of you.

While I was pushing our small cart – Ellis was strapped to me on the baby bjorn, Clara was in the cart (occasionally poking Ellis in the eye) and Millie danced around beside me —all was relatively calm until… Ellis decided to poop up a storm. The poop was like a waterfall cascading down my shirt, skirt, and shoes. And Ellis was covered in the stuff too.

It is like a bad dream I’d like to forget.

So, here is to a new month.

A drier month.

Bring on JULY, says I!

Kind Regards,

E. Dawson

Because I am an awesome mom – I brought home some SWEET medical supplies from Ellis’ hospital stay to add to our eclectic collection of “toys”.

Before you judge me, let me clarify- the nurses told us they were going to throw away whatever we didn’t take….it seemed such a shame to see this stuff go to waste.

It’s cool.

You gotta snag some plastic gloves whenever you get the chance, says I.

And this mask!

Holy smokes! I would have killed for this when I was a little girl. It would have been the perfect prop in the soap opera that we Kelly kids made together. I wish I could insert the clip right here – it was a fine piece of work. Since I cannot,  imagine if you will 3 1/2 year old Chas in the hospital bed – wrapped head to toe in toilet paper “bandages” as 10 year old Cameron sits at his bedside and urges him to get well so that, and I quote, “We can go bowling together.”whilst a laser tag thinger beeped in the back ground.

Pure genius!

Truly, it was a moving scene.

And I am NOT making this stuff up, just ask the Peterson kids – they are my witnesses. They actually ENJOYED watching our home movies and they have seen the soap opera more than once, it was called “The Young and the Restful.” Actually, it just struck me that perhaps they really didn’t like it and they were just humoring us.

I digress!

Please note that the cat, from the previous photo, is wearing Clara’s baby bracelet from her hospital stay. Only Clara put it on the cat’s ear.

We are so OFFICIAL when it comes to playing hospital around here. None of that Fisher Price plastic nonsense for us. Oh, no! We take this VERY seriously!

Clara wasn’t willing to be the patient (shocker!) – and so they REALLY had to twist my arm to get me to play along.

You can also play “telephone” with masks like this, just in case you were wondering why Millie had put the tube up to her ear. I also imagine one could whisper some serious “sweet nothings” using this thing. It would be like sweet nothings in stereo!

I couldn’t stop laughing when Millie was giving me oxygen.

It seemed like an unorthodox procedure to me.

But here I am,

fit as a fiddle!

And now able to breathe on my own.

Sometimes you’ve just got to trust your doctor.

Even if their plastic gloves are five sizes too big.

(Wink, wink!)

It’s official!

This little lady is a kindergarten graduate!

And she has to the CERTIFICATE to prove it, suckaz!

My dear friend, and favorite Catholic, Margie– has a new blog.

I love this woman. She is as good as she is beautiful, and she is very pretty, as you will see if you visit her new blog.

She is also taking portraits of people FOR FREE while she builds up her portfolio and her confidence. (If you live in the area I bet she’d snap a few of you and yours — I am going to get her to snap me and mine). She and I were talking about self-confidence and how it can be hard to have at times.

I just wanted her to know that I BELIEVE in her!

She is a natural behind the camera. And she is one of my favorite people – she doesn’t just have great fashion sense, she has a lot of common sense too. I also dig her kids — they are as good as they are cute. And they are CUTE.

As you will see if you visit her blog.

I suggest you do.

(maybe even put it on your google reader — plug, plug!)

You wont be disappointed.