Erica the Modern June Cleaver

So there are rare moments on rare days where I feel like I am doing pretty decent as a wife and mother. This afternoon was one of those prized moments. The kids were at the dining table happily rolling out their Play-Doh while I was in the kitchen rolling out my homemade egg noodles for tonights chicken noodle soup and checking on my rising loaves of bread. There are few things sweeter in life than having all the dinner food prep done before 4 pm. My world does not get any more picturesque than this. Oh, except for the fact that the cops came by this morning to check on our household as someone had dialed 9-1-1 and hung up from our location. Which still seems strange to me since little Linley and I were playing in her room and Ryder was watching a movie and the phones hadn't been touched. Still, that will make for some great neighborhood stories I am sure. "Did you see that police car parked outside of the Zimmerman's this morning......" Fabulous!

My rustic egg noodles

Erica the A-lister

Do any of you recognize this boy? His name is Ben Gourley and he is a movie star. Okay, so he's no Brad Pitt, but he wrote, starred in and produced Moving McAllister. He was also in Pride and Prejudice and Saints and Soldiers to name a few. Movie starrish.

I know this boy. Sort of. Met him at the Omni, played at the Nicklecade, then kissed him. Well, he kissed me. I don't kiss boys. Freshman year. Hello, I have kissed a movie star. This totally ups my status in life. Too bad Moving McAllister looks fully retarded and I don't think Allen will ever rent it fearing that I would be reliving his tonsils for two hours. Which I wouldn't. I barely remembered the kid. But who can forget a boy with the last name of Gourley???

Fabulous Father's

Just a quick Happy Father's Day to the two most amazing dads I know before I get started on the man's dinner.

First to my dreamy husband: you are such an awesome daddy. Your kids worship you and never want to leave your sight, which is pretty swell for me as well. You do such a fantastic job at daddyness....wrestling with them, teaching them, directing them, playing with them, loving them, making them feel so special, the list goes on. I love you and the kids and I are both so lucky to have you.

And next, to the man who not only aided in giving me life, but showed me the meaning of life. You are the best daddy in the world. Thank you for always "eating the back of the chicken."

I love these two men. Hope you both have a fabulous father's day (okay, so I know Allen will since I am in charge, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for you Billy boy).

Potty-Brained

I'm Done. Finished. In a good way. She's got it. She tells me when she needs to pee. If two hours have passed without her telling me, I throw her on the potty, she goes and we move on to the next 2 hours of the day. Throughout the week of training, we had only one poopy accident on day 2. Since then it has simply been, "Mommy, go ewww." And away we go. Fabulous!! I am actually going to be able to spend at least (emphasis on at least here folks) the next nine months without having to change a stinky diaper. I am so in love with my life. Not to mention the additional sixty bucks a month I am now saving. Perhaps that money should go into my shoe fund....what do you say sweet hubster of mine?? I love this girl! She never fails to impress me!!

Holy Old!!

I love you old man! Hope it is fabulous!!

Linley Linley Bo Binley

Miss Linley Brooke is officially terrific, I mean terrible, I mean, adorably almost two and all that comes with it. She is a screamer. And dramatic. And fully hormonal. Except minus the hormones. "No" is her favorite high-pitched-loud-enough-to-scare-the-neighbors word, and is used often. Like at 5:45 this morning when she thought she should begin her day and I thought otherwise. She is a biter, and a slapper. I am generally the recipient. She spends more time in time-out than her monkey brother. And her latest and greatest is her refusal to wear a diaper. Which can only mean one thing:

A crappy (I mean this literally) next week, or two weeks, or month (I will be suicidal if it takes that long). I can no longer deny her desire to be potty-trained. We started this afternoon. So far, 4 pees in the potty, two little splatters on the floor. I'll take those numbers. For now. We'll see what happens when poopy time rolls around. I do have to admit I think it is cute seeing her naked bum running all over the place (I am a huge proponent of naked bums during the potty-training process, should you be at all interested).

Continuing with the "Linley is adding a bit of difficulty to my life" theme, the kids and I headed to Costco for the big first-of-the-month grocery shopping trip. I got the kids loaded up in the cart, gave them their snacks, and began my mad dash to grab everthing as quickly as possible to avoid meltdown. Ten minutes into the trip, I bend down to grab the vanilla, then look up to see sweet Linley puking her guts out. This continues, for 20 minutes. I clean her up, she pukes. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Fully nightmarish things going on right there in the baking aisle. Have you ever cleaned puke off of a grocery cart? Not my shiniest moment. As a consolation prize for the Costco trip that ended up taking two hours instead of 30 minutes, I bought the kids churros. Because what is better for a kid that just finished puking her guts out than fried grease covered in sugar? She didn't puke again, but I almost did

Still, this girl is the cutest thing in the world and manages to keep a smile glued on my face almost all of the time (I'm her mother, I have to say that).

Here she is vocalizing what she thought of me filming her during the urination process.

Privacy Please

I am hopping on the privacy bandwagon, which I really thought I would never really do. However, our good friends just had an incident that nearly cost him his job due to a friends blog. I really don't want to be involved in anything of that nature (and would really, really hate to be the cause of Allen losing his job), so we are going private....it will be official June 9th. So, good friends and lurkers alike, leave me a comment with your email addresses so you can keep tabs of our ever exciting-fine, our boring but rarely normal-lives (and if you don't want people to know your email, email me with your email address: erica.zimmerman@gmail.com).

Sorry people that use Reader or Bloglines, or other similar stuff. I know privacy is annoying. But Megan, as my sister you are required to continue reading my blog.

Cuddly Carson in Gorgeous Georgia

I just got back from an incredibly relaxing week in Georgia, where the weather was phenomenal. It feels like winter here. Depressing. Back to Georgia. I spent the week being fed by my mother while sitting on the couch reading books and snuggling with 5-week old baby Carson as my children were being entertained by Uncle Elliot and Grandpa Wallace. Can we say perfection?? I even managed to spend a day getting burnt by the pool. Poor pasty skin. It was a wonderful week. Thank you everyone for making it so perfect and relaxing and fun. Thank you mostly to Megan for indulging me and my children with that beautiful little baby. Oh, and thank you to Elliot for teaching me how to play "Iraqi" Trains so that I could kick all your butts. Fabulous!!

Sneak Peak

The past two months we have been working out butts off trying to finish the downstairs. Ripping down walls, building walls (with the help of my father), installing lighting, painting, jack-hammering out flooring, etc. It is still far from finished, but I am ready to show you a sneak peak at the fruits of our labors.

The room in its "natural" form.

Mid Project

Near Completion

Baseboards still need to be done, a little more ceiling work, new doors installed, and touch-ups everywhere (oh, and new furniture but that one will not be happening anytime soon), but we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and loving it. The room is truly beautiful and so functional. Further proof of the hubsters total awesomeness.

Mother's Day Motherload

So I am a day late. Yesterday was my day. No time for blogging.

First- thank you to my most fabulous husband for making my Mother's Day perfect. Saturday night he took Ryder to the store with him to get prepped for the big day. I told him I only wanted him to buy me a pastry. I really wanted to wake up to something from the bakery.

Then Sunday morning rolls around and I hear Allen getting up before the kids, which I think strange, because who wakes up before they have to on a Sunday morning? Not willing to lose sleep over this, I rolled over and resumed dreaming. I am then awaken by kisses at 8am and told to walk downstairs, which I do, only to find Allen has handmade me an almond danish puff pastry. Seriously. It was so delicious. Plus, the kitchen was spotless!! I can't wait to make him do it again. Who knew the boy had it in him?? Maybe next time I should request cinnamon rolls. When I am finished eating, Ryder brings me flowers from him, and Allen showers me with gifts: a trip to GA (I am leaving on Wed), cash to get my hair done in GA by my favorite stylist, running shoes, a heart rate monitor and stop watch thingie (way more high-tech than I care to explain), and Wii Fit (ok, so he preordered it since it doesn't come out until the end of the month). What a studly man (and yes, there is a theme in my gifts...I am desperately trying to lose some poundage before I have to stuff myself into a bikini). He went so far above and beyond this year. I love you Allen!! You made my day completely perfect. I think we should try this once a month...what do you say??

And now the ode to my own mother: I will keep it short because this will get real cheesy real fast. I just want to tell you how much I love you and how much I appreciate you, and mostly how much I treasure the relationship I have with you. The older I get, the more I realize how truly special you are and how lucky I am to have a person like you in my life. It is my biggest hope that I can foster the same relationship with Linley that I have with you. I want her to know how good and fun and fulfilling a mom can be in her life. You bring me such complete happiness, and have set such a high bar for me to try to reach. I love you Debbie dearest!!