WHAT? I'm in THAT category?

So yesterday I received a survey in the mail.  You know the kind, where they ask you every question from what toothpaste you use to how many times you eat out in a week.  They say it only takes a few minutes but you know it will probably take about 15min or more and in the end you'll probably get tons of junk mail!  Yeah, one of those!  Well, my momma always filled them out and actually got money from filling them out.  Yes, I said money!!! This one didn't promise any money except entering you into a sweepstakes.  Yeah, like that will actually happen, HAH!  Since I've been married I have filled them out.  Not sure if I'm "doing my part" but I worked for the census one year and I KNOW how hard it is to get surveys filled out so I kinda feel guilty if I don't fill them out.  I digress.  I started filling out the form, don't smoke, don't drink, yes use toothpaste at least 1x a week and my choice for cereal was "do I buy 1 or more times a week" or "less then 1x in 6 months" WHAT???? Who comes up with these things? Or how about clean your bathroom more then 1x a week or 1x in 3 months.   It MUST be a man writing this!    Like I said before ...it took me about 30min to fill it out between dealing with the dog and cat fighting and Elaina getting into stuff she shouldn't have been into.  At the end of the form was a box to fill out information about yourself.  Female: Check, Married: Check, Children: Check, Pets: Check, Home Owner: Check, Work: Homemaker is at the bottom of 20 choices before OTHER, Car Owner: Check.  Then it asked what AGE category I was in.  I've never paid much attention on other forms and just checked what box that held my age.  I checked the box and realized it was the 2nd to last box.  Right before 50+.  The age categories were 0-18 (I wanted very badly at this time to have NOT filled the form out but let my 18 month old use the survey as a coloring book.  As if anyone in this age category could or WOULD fill out this survey)  The next group of age was 20-24.  I'm not joking.  Apparently age 19 doesn't exist or they feel that a 1yr old or 16 yr old would have much more insight into what kind of car oil we use or should use.  Regardless, I found this rather a bit peculiar.....to say nothing of the poor 19yr old who just filled out the survey and then discovered they were considered non-existent.  Thankfully, no one else was left out.  I can sleep better at night after I saw that.  After the 20-24 we had  25-30, and then 30-35.  Then we got to my category 35-50.  The biggest spread except for the 51+.  I'm one box away from the final box....WHAT??  Granted these are all just numbers but to think that they clump my choice of cereal in with a 50 year old choice was slightly eye opening.  I am 100% in my middle age.....at least, according to this survey.  Except I realized something when I checked that little box.  I realized I'm okay with it.  I really am.  I don't feel like I missed out on something.  I had an amazing 20's with tons of travel, college graduation, finding my best friend and building a house.  My early 30's had heartache with the lose of my mom, the sweetness of welcoming my brother's son, and the unexplainable joy of giving birth to my amazing daughter.  If the rest of my life is a little bit more quiet....that is okay with me. So, here is to hoping I'm in that same state of acceptance and peace when I hit 40.  Okay...who are we kidding?  I'll probably be locked in the bathroom for a week when I turn 40, but here is to hoping and praying!

So this middle aged mom finally got to take Elaina sledding for the first time.  We've had a SUPER mild winter but we finally had about 4" one day and was able to take her out and try out her new sled.  Thanks Uncle Bruce, Aunt Greta and Cousin Caleb.  She LOVED it! 



Elaina has been growing in leaps and bounds.  She surprises me everyday of what new thing she does.

Recently I am seeing a mischievous side.  It can be cute but somewhat annoying.  It's hard to decipher between letting her personality shine through or correcting something that may be, down the road, a heart issue.  She has recently started to give amazing hugs and JUST the other day started giving kisses (well, her idea of a kiss lolWell, I've been at this a little to long and Elaina needs to eat.  So I'll end this a little abruptly.  Hey...I just realized it's been less then a month since I last posted! YEAH!!!   Here is one last picture I took today.  They always want to grow up so fast and we want them to stay small.