The Gift That Keeps On Giving

So Chloe went on a regular field trip to the Farmer's Market with the "rents" and she brought back this sweet bouquet just for me. How can one mommy be so lucky?

image courtesy of me

You Say It's Your Birthday!

Nothing like your baby's birthday making YOU feel another year older. I must say though, 11 years ago today at precisely 12:07 p.m., Chloe-Bell came into the world simply screaming and made my heart melt and it certainly has been a sloppy mess o'love ever since.

When I look at her nothing else matters and everything is put into perspective - the world slows down just a little and before I know it, I'm usually rolling with laughter because she's the funniest person I know. I couldn't be more proud nor have I ever accomplished anything else in my life so great {tear ducts starting to work, gotta go now...}

Here's to you Coco, my cup runneth over...

image courtesy of me

The Funniest Girl I Know

So Chloe and I were out running around this afternoon, first stop was to pick up some new headphones for her...well I guess they are for me too since silence is bliss right? Anyway, all of the sudden Chloe says, "mommy, you are the bus to my stop". She's always coming up with these great one liners out of nowhere, but apparently she caught sight of a city bus stop sign and there you have it. So, her one liner made my day and indeed, she too, is the bus to my stop.

image courtesy of clker.com

Full Circle

Yep, it's been quite awhile since my last post. A lot can happen in a month. The sale of my house FINALLY closed...a lot of wine was consumed during that painful process and I'm still experiencing night terrors and blackouts over it but that's another story for another time.

So Coco and I are back at the "rents" until I find my needle-in-the-haystack 50's ranch. Yea yea I know there are tons of 50's ranches but you know from previous posts that I want a very specific mod 50's ranch. I have hope, tons of hope.

Anyway, coming back to the house that my mother grew up in, the house that I essentially grew up in visiting my grandparents, really brings back the old childhood memories. It is a house right smack dab in the middle of Winston Salem, around Wake Forest, and my mother has pictures where all you could see were fields. Looking out of the window now, there are apartments in the distance, houses across the street, continuous traffic, etc. I found the pic above online from this very area from 1965. Very few houses and buildings really - drastically different from today.

I remember going down to the dug out basement sitting on a wooden stool eating homemade sauerkraut out of a huge enamel pot that my grandmother made. I sat in the backyard with my grandaddy and shot cardboard boxes with the pellet gun and climbed apple and peach trees until I couldn't climb another branch. I would go into my grandaddy's shop in the backyard and "tinker" and somehow the days lasted forever.

I hope to give Coco a slice of this life I experienced even though life is very different now. She's been going outside lassoing branches and playing with her horses while sitting in the dirt of the garden - maybe she's on the right path.

image courtesy of flickr.com