It's Going Down Hill. FAST.

I had a lot of "I'll nevers" before I had children. Like ... I'll never let my kids go out in public with leftover bits of lunch stuck to their faces ... and I'll never give the thumbs up to outfits containing obvious clashes of color ... and I'll never bribe my child in a grocery store with the promise of a yummy just to get what I need, get out the door and maintain my sanity. I was going to be different.

But year one passed ... and I saw myself with a kid, in Walmart, with GOO on their face ... smells coming from their clothing and an opened container of YUMMIES. I had reached a new low.

Or maybe ... just a new normal.

I think I lke the word normal better.

Because this is what comes as a "good outfit" choice for Sir Eli. He's picky ... he's particular and he doesn't much enjoy meshing with the crowd. He likes to stand out a bit. Take a fashion risk. After all ... who doesn't like to grocery shopping with a good Nascar hat, a dinosaur shirt, a tiger backpack and a pony to boot?
And then there's this one ... who has some bizarre love for socks of all shapes and sizes. He declared he was going to Costco like this ...
And convinced the already stylish younger one to grab a pair of my socks ...
And put blue chalk on his face ...
And it doesn't just stop with fashion. Nope. My downward spiral has included such things as M & Ms ... at 8:57 in the morning. Because that's TOTALLY normal ... right?
So ... with my parenting skills clearly showing their weaknesses, I had to regain my upper edge somewhere. And the only thing I could think was doing a project. Or two.

So I found a place for my new polka dot pillow.
And my new green side table ...
And finished my bird "sculpture" ... three months in the making.
So don't worry if you see my kids in mismatched clothes with evidence of early morning candy consumption ... because I'm probably just sipping some tea ... leaning up against my new pillow and gazing at the birds ... wondering why I was ever crazy enough to come up with that list of "I'll nevers" in the first place. This normal stuff is way more fun!