A Start to a Very Strange Week

I'm well aware that it is only Tuesday, but this has officially been the strangest week ever.

It got off on the wrong foot when I decided to cut off Grace's mullet using the only sharp cutting device I could locate, the kitchen shears. (Don't worry, her hair looks fine)

And the fact that the weather has been gorgeous and now its freezing and rainy.

Coupled with the fact that, I went to Chick-Fil-A twice on Monday.

This morning was a real treat when I woke and immediately got together plans for lunch group, set up a time for a friend to watch Grace, and made chicken salad for 10 people. I Packed Grace's "To Go" bag, and called the host of the lunch group to see what time I should come to set up. Only to realize mid-call that I was a week early and lunch group was NEXT Tuesday.

While I'm slapping my forehead and kicking myself for wasting so much food and being so forgetful, I got a call from Grace's doctor's office stating that I had missed her well baby appointment this morning and I needed to reschedule. Insert another forehead slap.

With all of the weirdness and forgetfulness, the cherry on top has to be "the situation" that happened right outside my window yesterday. Let me lay it out for you. Grace was napping and I was eating lunch. I can see out of my window and notice that there are all these cars showing up, about 5 or 6, and piling out of the cars are high school aged kids. They all showed up at the same time and were hovering around the same spot. I eagerly wanted to figure out what was going on, but I didn't want them to notice that I was watching. I snuck over to the window by the couch and barely opened the blinds when I saw two girls beating the crap out of each other while the rest of the kids circled around to watch. As the girls were going at it, one of my neighbors comes out to break up the fight. She sends the girls to opposite sides of the grassy knoll they were fighting on and I'm pretty sure I saw one of the girls say "Oh no, she didn't!"The management showed up and told the kids to leave, all while taking pictures of their license plates. The mere fact that these kids chose to come to our apartment complex to have a "B" fight (and I don't mean the letter, or the insect), just goes to show how ghetto sauce this place is and proves why we are moving.

Speaking of moving, and another reason this week is strange, there is a rumor that we are moving to Utah. For the record, that isn't true, we are just moving down the street, to a safe "No B Fight" zone.

I am seriously craving normalcy.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Yeah, we like it.

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

The question is asked many times, and amongst lame answers like "to get the the other side," and "Because there was a super hot girl chicken over there," I've come to the conclusion that there is only one answer to the question "Why did the chicken cross the road?" Because its head got cut off. There is no earthly reason why a tiny chicken would cross a road full of cars and trucks. No chicken with its head attached that is. Because chickens still run around when they are headless, and honestly that is the only reason it would cross the road. 

Sometimes I feel like a chicken with its head cut off. Like I'm running around aimlessly trying to get things done, or go places, and when I finally sit down and relax, it feels like I've been in a whirlwind. Vacations, or stay-cations, always do that to me.

My wonderful Mother flew in town for Spring Break, and despite my sister getting strep and Grace having a double ear infection, we managed to squeeze in some seriously fun activities, while balancing everything else that comes with life.

We took pictures of about an eighth of what we did, because headless chickens don't remember to take pictures either.

We took a vintage train ride to the Forth Worth stockyards

 With strep throat medication in tow

 I've decided that if you want the most "Texas" experience of your life, you come here.

 Outsider food was not allowed on the train, so the first thing on our To Do list, Lunch. Diet Cherry Pepsi was involved, so Mema was happy.

We headed to the "Not-So-Much-Petting-Zoo" Where they had about 12 goats and one mangy sheep.

 I don't think it counts as a petting zoo if your child can't actually reach the animals, that might just be me though.

Carly and Grace made sure to go horse back riding while we were there.

And the older kids got balloon hats made by the Cowboy Clown.

 After some window shopping we decided to stake out some spots for the long awaited "Cattle Drive." I had lofty thoughts that this Cattle Drive would be like taking a scene out of the movie Australia. Wrangling hundreds of cows down the street to the delight and wonderment of the crowd. We were urged not to move from the curb and I got my camera ready.

Twelve longhorns, hefted themselves down the street, barely keeping their heads up from the weight of their horns, and acting as if walking down the street was the last thing they wanted to be doing.

 And then they were gone. If one of the cows hadn't stopped right in front of us to make awkward cow to human eye contact, we might have missed the whole "cattle drive." Oh well. So much for lofty hopes and pretending to be Nicole Kidman for the day.

 At least our ride was cool.

 Grace was riding first class: Pacifier, blanket, Mema.

Later in the week we headed to the Arboretum. It had a fairy tale village throughout. So Mema and the kiddos sat on King Triton's Throne (Ariel's Dad in the Little Mermaid).

Carly and Taylor were under strict orders not to touch Grace, because she would scream. Can you tell?

The girls sought shade from the hot sun under the trees.

While Taylor stripped down and took matters into his own hands.

We didn't have any pictures of the three of us together. So we decided to chance the double chins and have Carly take a picture for us.

Sadly on Monday, we sent my Mom back home. Our stay-cation was over. I wrongfully assumed that things would settle down, and before I knew it I was driving to Austin on Friday morning.

One of my closest friends, Grace, was visiting her sister in Austin, and its been almost a year since we were in the same state. Needless to say, there was no question about what had to be done. Gracie and I woke up and headed down.

We thoroughly confused Grace's nieces as we tried to explain that their Aunt and my baby had the same name. We tried Big Grace and little Grace, which didn't stick, and toward the end of our visit Savannah just started calling my Grace "Little girl."

I love getting The Graces together. And yes, little Grace is "smiling"

It was so fun to visit and stay up til the wee hours of the night having girl talk.

But, today I am tired, and I'm trying to get caught up because I don't like being a headless chicken.

A Huge Thank You

I wanted to send out a thank you too all of you who voted. Seriously, who are you people? You are awesome. I felt so loved, and so proud that I knew so many incredible people. People who cared enough to take time out of their day to vote on a competition that had nothing to do with them. With every comment that I saw, I beamed with pride. I looked at every name of who voted and was so grateful. In the grand scheme of things I know it wasn't a huge competition but you all made me feel pretty freakin' special. Please know that if you ever need a vote for something, I'm your girl, you can count on me.

Team Kara did not come out victorious. Tricia from Colorado (with the husband in the military who is deployed) won. I'm convinced that its impossible to compete with a military wife, it doesn't seem right to want to beat her.

But you want to know something pretty cool? All of your votes, all of the efforts that you made, they didn't go unnoticed. Team Kara won second place. Very nice.

I'm thinking with our awesome voting skills we should all get together and enter in every competition we can, because with our powers combined we can pretty much do anything, or become Captain Planet. I'm down with either really.

Thanks again everyone.

"By your powers combined, I am Captian Planet!"

"GO PLANET!"

I Need Your Help

My beautiful friend Shannon referred my to the blog of an incredible photographer who was hosting a contest. This professional photographer was/is offering to fly to your location, take your pictures, and give you a $200 print credit all for FREE. I entered the contest and was randomly selected as one of the finalists (as was Shannon!). And now I need your help.

To win the contest as a finalist you need the most votes. So I am basically begging you, and shamelessly plugging this,  because I want to win. Really really truly want to win.

All you have to do is follow this link and put my name in the comments section. Voting ends on March 15th at 11:59pm PST. There is one vote per email address. So maybe get your husband to vote too :)

Perhaps we could put pictures like the ones above, to a stop.

Please help.

Julia Wade Photography Blog

What a Character

 Grace is a character.

She has personality oozing out of her eyeballs

And with that overflowing personality comes a strong will to do what she wants when she wants. Even if it's looking at me, holding her food over the edge, listening to me say "Grace don't throw that!", and then dropping it over the side with a smile. Or me saying "Gracie smile with Momma." And instead she sticks her fingers in my mouth.

And while I assumed that she'd be into playing with toys, she prefers getting into things and exploring. Insisting that when I'm putting on my make up, or doing my hair, that she should be doing the same things too. (It makes getting ready very interesting...thus all the second and third day hair).

Climbing is on the top of her To Do list everyday. My sister calls her Grace Monkey (that funky monkey). And Grace is convinced that smiling means making this face, and there are really no words to describe it.

So we try to get out a lot. Places where she can satisfy her curiosity and get her energy out.

 The car wash is always a win win. A show for Grace and a clean car for Mom.

Going to the park has become therapeutic. It's Grace's mecca. I'm pretty convinced that Grace's idea of heaven is one big playground in the sky. And she's got some serious guts, because she slides down all the slides without any help. Sometimes face first. And sometimes without anyone waiting at the bottom.

It's taken me some time to really get to know Grace and learn how she sees the world, how she operates, and what makes her tick. And although we butt heads a lot and don't see eye to eye, she melts my heart. With every banana thrown on the floor and every page torn out of a book, she has kisses, hugs, and moments that make me laugh flowing right in.

And I didn't see if before but now I know that I'm lucky that I have a baby that pushes me to do things outside of my comfort zone. She is helping me see the world in a way that I would never have seen it before. We're a good mix, and a good balance for each other. I'm proud to say that she is mine.

I want her to know when she is older that she pushed my buttons sometimes, but it helped me for the better. It forced me to learn and grow and I love her for that. She is Ying and I am Yang and shockingly we're a perfect fit.