Now sporting classy raccon eyes

It has rained 56 out of the last 40 days in Indiana. No joke.

OK, maybe that's exaggerating but it really has down-poured a lot during the last month. Enough that we haven't been able to walk to the park, swim at the pool or go on a picnic most days. And while I love cozy, rainy days, I especially like them in the winter when you're only missing out on slushy streets and cheek-freezing winds.

But in the last two days, I feel like summer has officially begun. In the last 36 hours, we have:

• signed up for two summer reading programs
• picnicked at our favorite spot with Daddy
• spent an afternoon at the pool with Madeline's best friend Blake after which Madeline napped hard and I nursed my sun-burnt shoulders
  
• ate Popsicles
• joyously spotted little green tomatoes and zucchini in our garden

I feel like summer has finally arrived.

And if you have a kid under 12, you NEED to sign up for Half Price Books summer reading program, Feed Your Brain. Thankfully, a friend told us how great it is so I signed Madeline up.

For reading just 15 minutes a day for five days, your child will earn a $3 shopping card.

Um, we read that much just during breakfast. Seriously.

Since a lot of kids books run $2 - 4, it makes for a pretty sweet deal. I already have my eye on some adorable hardback Madeline books but I'm guessing we'll be walking out with Pooh or Elmo in hand.

Either way, it's free books for something we're already doing. Love that.

I might mention "squating" in this one

Remember the potty-training post? From, like, four months ago when I thought for three seconds that my daughter was miraculously potty-trained?

Yeah, we haven't made much progress since then.

In our house, she gets a sticker for just siting on the potty and "Emmys" for actually going potty. Let's just say Madeline's sticker board is full and I ate the M&M's because I can only resist temptation for so long.

In other words, nothing has happened.

It's OK. I'm not pushing her. I'm not panicking. We're just waiting.

But yesterday, I finally heard those words I've been dying to hear: "Mommy! Pee in potty! Pee in potty!"

The bad news? We were in the middle of the nation's sixth largest city park which happens to house the most disgusting bathrooms in world history.

Which means when she finally told me she had to go potty, we were in the middle of something like this:

I cannot even begin to describe my gut-wrenching disappointment and heartbreak as I told her, "Baby, I'm so proud of you for telling me you have to go potty but I'm really sorry. We don't have a potty."

Because there's no way I'm putting my child in a nasty park outhouse.

I know, I know. One day will come when that's the only option.

But I'll be prepared by then. With toilet sheets and a daughter who knows how to squat.

Say what?

If you would like an in-depth look at what's coming out of your mouth, just have a 2 year old follow you around for a day. He or she will pick up your most frequent sayings, intonations and hand movements.

By the end of the day, you will have a Mini-Me. Hopefully, sans bad words.

Madeline never says "yes." And I mean never. She'll say "right right," "ok ok ok" or nod her head fervently with her mouth hanging wide open in a wide, excited smile but she'll never say "yes."

I've been trying to get her to say it by making a big deal of answering her questions with a "yes." But then I realized I never say it either.

I taught her to say "right right" and "ok ok ok."

(I've also noticed I tend to say words multiple times. I got the patch and am giving myself daily injections to stop it.)

And yes, I've caught myself answering her questions by nodding excessively with a big, dorky smile and my mouth hanging wide open.

Then there was this response today:

Me: "Madeline, would you like to go play in the water?"
Madeline: "Right, right!"

Oh, honey, bless your heart. You're not even making sense.

It's also come to my attention I don't use normal verbs like "take a shower" or "get in the car."

Me: "Madeline, it's bath time!"
Madeline: "Mommy, jump in shower? Jump in shower?"

I have absolutely no idea where she's heard that before.

Then there's:

Me: "Let's go go!"
Madeline: "Hop in car! Hop in car!"

If you're around me for .2 seconds, you'll notice I say "hop." A lot. Like "hop down from the chair" or "hop up in the crib."

I must think I'm raising a bunny.

So basically, I share all this so next time you have a conversation with Madeline, you can know it's not the poor girl's fault.

She's with me, the person answering your question by nodding enthusiastically with her mouth hanging open.

I possibly had way too much cake this weekend

At the beginning of the weekend, this is how we felt:

After a wedding and three birthday parties, we were more like this:

Faithful readers will understand just how busy we were when I say we didn't even have time to watch one stinkin' movie all weekend. Drastic, I know.

One of the birthday parties was at a super nice restaurant and I'm pretty sure it was my vision of heaven because the food and wine just kept on coming. We enjoyed:

• four appetizers
• salad and bread
• three entrees
• two more entrees
• dessert

Clearly, I have no excuse to eat until August. Madeline managed to eat a ton and still had room for three biscotti after dessert and coffee. At that point in the evening, eating meant she wasn't causing a raucous so I let her.

I wish I had video of her because after all that food (and since this was after the wedding and another birthday party) she was incredibly slap-happy around 10 p.m. Madeline's version of slap-happy means screaming and laughing when someone so much as blinks in her direction.

I think the waitstaff didn't know what to do with a sugar-crazed 2-year-old but they finally gave in and laughed with her. They also kept supplying her with the biscotti.

In other totally unrelated but just as important news, Madeline finally donned the dinosaur suit at the Children's Museum. She had no interest in wearing it for the past 14 months but Friday was finally the day.

I closed my mind to the looming 3 trazillion germs inside the gloves and focused on how cute she would be. It's not every day you get to see your daughter with a tail.

But you better believe I sanitized her the second those gloves were off.

P.S. I think one's week has room for improvement when my highlight is Thursday night because it will include honey chicken kabobs and SYTYCD.

P.S.S. Jen, Wal-Mart has six different ice trays.

Then it was summer. Warm, glorious summer.

This past weekend, Joe and I had nothing planned.We had absolutely nothing planned and it was glorious.

We wanted to keep it that way which is why we said we wouldn't plan anything for ourselves. Just wake up and decide what to do then.

We watched six movies (I feel no shame). We took a 3-hour nap. We went to the Woodruff Place flea market (which I highly recommend for you locals). We sat on the front porch. I read. We played Candyland. We drank sweet tea. We pushed Madeline on the swing for hours. We ate well. (And by "well," I mean we ate according to our taste buds, not nutritional value.)

Mac and cheese.

Junk popcorn.

Beer burgers.

Coffee malts.

Can you do something for me? Brew a pot of coffee. Put it in the fridge. Go to the store and buy vanilla ice cream and Ovaltine. Now make a coffee malt. You're welcome.

Back to the weekend. More than anything else, we spent time together. Just the three of us. Which we haven't done in a long time. It was wonderful.

We needed it because this weekend, we're diving back into the crazy schedule. In two days, we'll pack in three birthday parties and a wedding.

I've already planned to somehow squeeze in one or two (or 15) coffee malts.

Crayons gone wild

Currently, crayons are banned in the Heart Gone Walking household.

In the last few weeks, I have been reading books and turned the page only to discover this:

Apparently, Madeline really enjoyed reading my Bible. Specifically, the Book of Habakkuk.

And then there was the time I opened her bedroom door to get her up from a nap and discovered this:


I know these pictures are shoddy but I can't find the camera so I had to take it with my phone. If you can enlarge them, you will see brown crayon all over her light yellow walls.

Those light yellow walls that her daddy spent hours and hours painting 2 kazillion coats of light yellow paint to cover the previous dark red paint.

No, I wasn't terribly angry when I saw it. And no, it didn't make me want to run to Borders and buy "She's Gonna Blow: Real Help for Moms Dealing with Anger" right then and there.

Don't go thinking I'm crazy enough to give her crayons in her crib. I'm pretty sure my little 007 stuffed the crayon down her shirt or in her sock right before naptime.

Sneaky, sneaky.

However, there was that one time that I was so desperate to entertain Madeline that I stupidly gave her a tiny pad of paper and red Sharpie. While in her carseat. (Give me a little grace. I think it was on Hour 78 when we were traveling back from Tulsa.)

This was .2 seconds later.

What you can't see are her ruined jeans which had red markings all over. And I mean, ALL. OVER.

That one was my fault. For sure. Clearly, she was too dazed and confused to realize what she was doing.

So if you stop by for a visit, now you know why we own two Etch-A-Sketches and why crayons are hidden in my desk drawer.

Good-bye, May; bring it on, summer

June 1, I love you. Thank you for arriving.

We've had a busy spring. I'm sure you moms with five kids who regularly drive laps in a mini-van and juggle life are laughing at me right now but truly, we've had a busy spring.

In case you missed it, I had two twin brother-in-laws marry two best friends during the last two months in two different states. (That's a lot of "twos.")

It's been a blast to be a part of all of it. I had so much fun helping with planning, trips to David's Bridal, throwing showers, roadtrippin' to Dallas and Tulsa, etc.

In the midst of all that, we also had baby showers, reunions, birthdays, holidays, graduations, open houses, and something else. Hmmm... what was it?

Oh, yeah, life.

That everyday stuff that can fall to the wayside when everything else gets busy.

Like laundry. Cleaning. Meal-planning. Grocery shopping.

Or the more important stuff. Like taking walks. Going on hikes. Trips to the park. Cook-outs.

I know I've been really behind in blogging and there are lots of stories and pictures to share.

But for now, I just want to say that I'm so looking forward to summertime with a certain pigtailed little girl and my husband.

I hope you find us swinging on the porch swing, fishing at the river or strolling the neighborhood at dusk.

Or, at the very least, sitting around doing nothing with each other.

I think it all sounds perfect.