Kelle, Author at Enjoying the Small Things

So Excited

May 6, 2010 By Kelle

I have that kiddish excitement right now. Like the night before my first day back to school when I was in second grade and all I could do was think about the awesome outfit I was going to wear the next day. An oversize yellow Benetton sweater that looked like something my friend Scott’s cool sister Dina would wear when she worked at The Merry-Go-Round. Except she had tattoos, a mohawk and a trillion rubber bracelets up her arm. And hoop earrings and yellow jelly shoes to match.

So many cool things I’m excited about right now, it’s even better than jelly shoes…and that’s really good.

* It started with this commercial I saw the other night that put me in a worm hole of happiness. Made me all excited for summer and I wished I was every single person in this commercial. Especially the white haired lady. WATCH IT….and smile.

*Then there’s Lainey’s fairy party that’s sneakin’ very close and in between hot-gluing the hundredth flower on a cone hat and brushing pink glitter off my counter today, I realized just how fabulous celebrating a little’s life is. And she is so excited.

Top that ice cream with the very ripe cherry of two much-loved friends who are coming to town just to celebrate…well, that’s two peanut buster parfaits in one week.

*The return to Hurricanes. My favorite place for wings and beer and girlfriends and it’s not a night unless they kick us out. So it was tonight. Heidi and I escaped alone to the familiar blue booths of our happy place and caught up…like went all the way back to that beautiful day of Nella’s birth and retold stories. And we cried. And laughed. And ended up in the parking lot after they shut down sitting on the curb talking. And maybe we did a cartwheel or two.

But we lived. And all who would have seen us would have said, they know how to have fun.

*Heidi did a photo shoot of me and my girls tonight for Mother’s Day and the love and beauty and emotion she captured of my little village had me in tears. More to come on that, but there was a field of love tonight I can’t seem to get over.

*But mostly, what I’m really excited about is that Brett asked me what I want for Mother’s Day, and I answered a full day at Isle of Capri. Like we’re talking morning ’til dark, and he’s making it happen. And all I can think about is how beautiful this Sunday will be. Celebrating the most amazing gift I’ve been given among the happiest of places with those I love. We will bury our feet in the sand and shout to blue skies above…this is living. Oh, us girls…we just wanna have fun.

This was last year…I watched it last night and got so excited…and I can’t wait to do it again. Click here to watch.

Yes, there’s much to be excited about. And jelly shoes ain’t got nothin’ on us.

When asked what she was doing, Lainey replied, “Sssshh. Her talkin’ to Poppa.”

Sleeping babies await.

I like evenings when…

May 5, 2010 By Kelle

…we spontaneously decide to head to the pool at sunset. We walk there barefoot and don’t bother to pack a bag but rather drag towels and clutch a balled up change of clothes on the way there and mark our path with wet footprints on the way back.

I like the two-almost-three-year-old that floats like a fish in the middle of the pool, clutching her swimmy, flashing confident smiles as she bobs in the sun-drenched waters.

We don’t do this a lot, so it’s special…and yet when we do come, we wonder why we don’t do it more often.

She is brave and adventurous, fearlessly launching off the cement edge, hands held high, mouth open, anticipating the splash…and it comes, loud and explosive, and yet up she bobs, proud and composed.

He loves the water. And it’s important to him for them to love it too. And so he swims, clutching them close at first…then slowly…gliding them into the welcoming ripples, guiding them all the way. Nella calmly takes it in, more entranced with her daddy than the water though.

And little fish…she drinks it all in…the water, the daddy, the exhileration of being lifted and tossed and caught in his arms.

Yes, we should do this more often.

Got my Popina swimsuit…thank you, Pamela! It is my favorite swimsuit I’ve ever owned! Super retro and very Esther Williams indeed.

I climbed quite a bit of distance up the work mountain today while Lainey stayed with Grandma. And, although I missed her, it was a calm and productive day where my workload was nicely softened with the added blessing of a breathy bundle on my lap through it all. She is so good and while tummy time and play time and entertaining herself is good and all, I find myself picking her up a trillion times and finding ways to snuggle her new length on my lap, in the crook of my arm, over my shoulder while I edit and type and answer e-mails. She’s a very good assistant.

Still though, it isn’t quite complete until they are together…my wispy one and my little Almond Joy.

Loving today…a man whose love for our girls rivals mine so equally, it’s like looking in a mirror.

And to balance out the whole chicken-soup-for-the-soul-ishness of this post, I’ll throw in the fact that I’m also loving a couple things without the sap factor.

Things like my insatiable thirst for cold iced tea with lime and the crazy gratification of sipping it after my drawn out process of making individual cups of it every afternoon.

Things like raiding the pink pile from Lainey’s garden party to score a bag of pink m&m’s and not feeling guilty when I stole them, ate them and didn’t care that there’s one less sugary thing for those kids to sink their teeth in. Mothers will surely thank me.

Deadliest Catch awaits as does my breathy bundles and fresh sheets.
I like evenings when…they end just like this one.

F.A.Q. up

May 4, 2010 By Kelle

Working on sprucin’ up the blog a bit, so pardon anything that looks a little funny. In the meantime, there’s some new tabs up top with some F.A.Q.’s and photography stuff. Also, the clip for the Rosie interview can be found now under the “Press” tab. That’s it for now!