what do the roofs do on saturdays, you ask?

Happy Valentine's Day, peeps! I hate to burst anyone's bubble of hope for us, but we are NOT romantic people around here. Carson and I did go out for sushi last night, which was much-needed and simply delicious, but we don't do the whole dozen-roses, chocolate-covered-this-and-that, financed-jewelry thing. We've already got jewelry financed, I buy myself flowers when I want 'em, and chocolate . . . well, that's just another staple on my grocery list along with milk, garlic and wine.

This Valentine's Day is like any other ol' Saturday. I wake up about 16 times a night to pee, get water, tend to a kid, let a dog out, or flex in the mirror. Lately Ava has been getting into bed with me at exactly 6:16 a.m. - I'm not kidding. The past 3 or 4 nights at least, everytime I've come out into the kitchen to get her a drink, the clock reads 6:16. She whines in her annoying but cute voice that she "wants to cuuuuddddlllleeeeeeeeeee," which means I have to face a certain (uncomfortable) direction and chomp on mouthfuls of her hair.

Up and running, the cartoons begin, the coffee flows, the email/Facebook/Google Reader/People.com/MSN.com is checked, and soon enough I'm out the door with my oldest shortie to grab the week's groceries. Ahhhh. I'm driving. No one is fighting. No one is biting, pinching, or pushing. The only thing I hear is the sweet sound of Keith Urban, the only things I see are the beautiful farms, mountain ranges, and snow falling off in Paradise Valley.

The grocery store expedition is pretty standard at this point . . . everyone thinks Ava is just the cutest thing in the world, until I send her home with them for an hour while I finish shopping, then get the frantic phone calls. We bag our own groceries to save money, and the whole time she's whining that she has to go to the bathroom (read: I want to go use the potty here because it's just more fun to pee in public).

The rest of the day after this runs pretty smoothly. The girls have lunch, nap, and Carson and I have some much-needed time alone and together. I could bore the tears out of you with our agenda from 3:00 until midnight, when I usually turn myself in, but for now, I'm leaving you with a puzzle.

This little bumpkin, bruises and messy face and all . . .

has scored some extra points on the cuteness scale because today when Ava and I got home from the grocery store, Stella proceeded to transfer anything and everything that was in the grocery bags into the refrigerator. So I leave you with the simple question of, what doesn't belong here?


If you guess correctly, you win three of my completely deformed chocolate-chip cookies I attempted this afternoon with the girls :) You KNOW you want some!



Thanks for all the love to all of my amazing blog readers!