I have issues...

Not one to shy away from my own psychotic neurosis (is this the right word? I'm suddenly unsure that what I'm saying in my head is not this actual word. Ugh, now I'm off on a whole other psychotic linguistic tangent before I even get to the one I'm blogging out...) I have some confessions to make.

I have issues.

Having suffered from a bout of "stranger danger" while in junior high school I have a thing about locking doors. It drives Mr. Pope CRAZY. I will literally lock him out of the house when he goes to check the mail. And not even realize that I'm doing it. I lay in bed at night wondering if I've checked every door and window in the house enough times. I CANNOT sit in front of the windows at night without the shades drawn. I have issues. And this is just how I deal with my particular kind of crazy on a normal, daily basis. I'm okay when Mr. P travels. I'm home all the time with the kiddos and function as a fairly capable grown-up/parent/moderately mature adult figure.

But I can not venture out of this comfort zone for any reason without significant ramifications. Ramifications mostly affecting Mr. Pope...but ramifications nonetheless. Waiting for our delayed flight back home from the beautiful oasis of Roswell, NM (complete with aliens) we watched "Law Abiding Citizen" on Pope's iPhone. And I'm pretty sure I had an aneurysm.

I remember watching a movie with my mom when I was youngish. Maybe in high school. I think it was called "Eye for an Eye" with Sally Fields. She freaked out at this terrible scene and while it was terrible and it scared me I couldn't relate to the mother/daughter aspect because obviously I was just the "daughter" part of the equation at the time. But oh gosh. I freaked out seeing it from the "mother" perspective and now I can't answer the door. Ever. At all. That poor lawn-mowing kid will just have to stand on my doorstep in the rain cuz I'm not opening that door for anything, little dude. And Mr. Pope, you're sleeping with the light on for a month and getting up to check each and every little sound I hear at night. And I don't sleep much, so good luck.

It's rough, thinking about the bad stuff. Anyone hurting your kids. Being a grown-up. Sometimes I'm not a fan.

Quotes of the Day:

"I'm Batman. You're a cheese-ball." ~ Park

"There's no way in God's underwhelmingly brown earth that we're gonna make this flight." Mr. Pope as I drove 100 mph through New Mexico from Roswell to Albuquerque. And made the flight.

Pirate Paaargh-ty!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet 4-year-old Eliana and my 2-year-old Parker.

We celebrated with all of those in our lives that make us happy and make us laugh. And make sure we always have a good time. Our best friends and ALL of our family joined us for delicious Baargh-B-Q, Grandma Judy's amazing Pirate Birthday Cakes!!, a pretty cool jumpy castle and a general good time. We are so blessed by the wonderful people in our lives.

We had about 15 little ones take turns in the jumpy castle. And then an adult jump where someone who shall remain nameless almost toppled the whole thing over. Great action shots provided by Uncle Chris and his awesome new camera.

We were so excited to have all of the uncles here for the big day. Uncle Chris was just back from India and Uncle Dan and Rylee got in from Florida the morning of the party. I was so excited to see the big guys that I apparently couldn't keep my eyes open for the pictures. This happens to me.

Mr. Pope did a great job managing the events. I'm the planner. He's the doer. I love it.

Ellie and Parker did a great job on the Pirate Pinata! They both took a few great swings before Big Micheal busted the poor thing to piece in one swoop and broke the hearts of Cole and Dylan, who had yet to take a turn, wide open as well. It was soooo funny.

Uncle Grabe (not a real uncle as we already discussed uncles. But he probably should be as he is entirely dedicated to the job) came dressed as a PIRATE. The jumpy house actually went still and silent when he walked up. It was the best entrance probably in the history of the world. And Pirate Gabe taught Parker is first joke: Q: "What does a pirate say eating beans?" A: "Arrgh! Pttttt (fart noise.) Parker will say the punch line. And laugh his little pirate face off.

And I got a little snuggle time with my niece, Rylee. She is about the cutest thing ever. And I stole these last two pictures from Wendy's blog. I should really download all the pictures we took of the party that are still stuck on our camera......

Oh, and I turned 31. I had sushi and waited with great people for a Rockies game to get officially snowed out and then ended up drinking some terrible whiskey and grenadine drink. Thanks, Nurni. Thanks. And Aunt Wendy celebrated her birthday yesterday. We missed her dinner as we've been cursed with the plague in our house this week, but we hope she had a great day.

Oh, Birthday Week!! (Or Month) I sense this whole thing will start to become more and more exhausting.

Happy Birthday Love Bugs.

Quotes of the Day:

"Dada, I wanna cheese ball." Parker (his first full sentence)

Doctor: "So, Eliana, you have a cough and a fever and runny nose. What is bugging you the most?" Eliana: "Ummmm....Parker!!"