Sonshine School Program

Tonight was our end of the year program at the girl's SonShine School. We have done this several times now and enjoy it every year. The kids and teachers do a great job.

I was reminded this morning of when Brenna was 3 she did every embarrassing thing a child could do during her performance, including (but not limited to) nose picking, pulling dress up over head and getting arms stuck in dress. She loved hearing about it today and vowed not to repeat it tonight. I was concerned about Piper still.

For several weeks the girls have singing their secret songs (at the top of their lungs while I am in the other room and can't hear them - wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and practicing their memory verse. While tonight was a special night, it wasn't monumental in any way. We hoped to get some cute pictures and oohh and aahh over our kids and their friends and compare them to last year and anticipate next year.

At 1:30, that plan changed for the Bailey family. Thanks to my good friend, we found out our school district changed their plans for the 2009-2010 school year. (She encouraged me to go read B's take home folder right away - her mom is a teacher in the district)

My baby is going to all day Kindergarten.

I am thrilled about this for her. She will love it and thrive in the environment. Initially, I was nothing but happy. But now I find myself thinking about what that means for our day to day routine. No more peanut butter and jelly sandwich lunches talking about our mornings. Less time at the park. Some other woman will spend more time with my child than I will most days a week. And this is how it is to be for 12 years. I don't love that.

Back to the program for tonight. Since B will not be returning to SSS next year for another fantastic year with Ms. Kari, she graduated tonight.

SHE GRADUATED TONIGHT!!

I'm good with this, I'm excited for her, it's "just" sonshine school. It's not like she leaving home...but... she wore a cap and gown...
and got a diploma...
and took pictures with her other graduating friends...
and shared her mortar board with her little sister. ...and so it begins.


I suppose it was nice to not be overly emotional about it all. I didn't have time to be. We rolled with the punches. and we had a great time oohhhing and aahhhing over our kids and their friends, comparing them to last year, and anticipating next year - with B sitting beside us instead of performing. ...and so it begins.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Happy Mother's Day

For me, Mother's Day is still about my Mom. My family honored me with breakfast in bed, many drawings, a book mark, a handprint tile, a coin purse and a lovely necklace. It was a great celebration of Mother's Day for me, and it took place about 24 hours early. Brenna had the whole thing planned and we couldn't convince her that Sunday was a better day to celebrate. She woke Josh up before 7:00am to fix me breakfast. :)



I appreciated that because today I could focus on my mom. It isn't like she knew it, but all day I thought of and prayed for her. I am thankful for the influence she has had in my life and that she was the mom she was and is. She wasn't my best friend until I was in college. She was always my biggest advocate and cheerleader, but I knew that she was my mom first. I couldn't pull anything over on her and she didn't let me get away with stuff just so I wouldn't be mad at her. I'm sure it annoyed me at the time, but now I see what integrity and strength that took.

But now, she IS my best friend. I miss her. We talk often, but it is never often enough. I wish we could go for walks together, shop together, work on projects and share quiet moments with a cup of coffee.

If you don't know my Mom, you are missing out on an incredible woman. I thank God everyday that He allowed her to defeat her cancer and is allowing her to continue to be a blessing to the world around her.

I love you, Mama!!!

Isn't she beautiful???!!!!

This was probably on Mother's Day in the early 80's.

Swanki Hats GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Swanki Hats GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

The latest creation

So...Josh has been at it again. He was commissioned to make some Graduate Pops for the end of the month. Before he committed, he needed to experiment (which I love because there are always scraps. :)), so here is the latest.

I have it here at work and feel a little guilty that I don't have any to share, so I just took a picture and showed all my co-workers. They don't need to know it is hiding behind my monitor as we speak.

As a side note, I'm embarrassed at how messy my desk looks, but in my defense, I have very little work space and it gets cleared off every night. There I feel better.

My family

First, I need to show you the girls Spring Sonshine School pictures. They really speak for themselves. My only question is .... Where are my babies??????



And now, I have to brag on my husband again. I"m sorry all you other husbands out there who are made to look bad by the amazingness of my husband. I do realize he sets the bar high for all husbands/fathers. (Remember, this is the man who got up with me every time our babies woke for a mid-night feeding.) Kind of makes you want to do better, huh, guys?!?!?!

Example one: The latest round of cake pops.

Example two: My craft area.

I love to scrapbook. Josh has always encouraged this hobby for me and I very appreciative. I have wanted a place that I can leave a project out while I am working on it, but that is very difficult to do with two little girls. I started thinking about consolidating my closet and using that space for a while. I downsized my clothing collection and put the clothes all on one side of the closet. Then I talked with Josh about what I wanted to accomplish. He didn't say much, which led me to believe he was quietly supportive of ME doing this project. (Key word: me).
Well, while I was in Kansas at a women's conference for the weekend, Josh completed my craft area. He did everything I thought I wanted and even more. He thought through the working space and added appropriate shelves and storage.

I have loved this man for thirteen years and have no anticipation of that fading!

5 is the new Jr. High

Josh and I decided not to find out what gender of child we were having with our first pregnancy. (Really, I decided but that isn't very relevant to the topic at hand.) While never actually asking God specifically for a boy (it seemed too greedy since I had been harping at Him for 3 years to just have a baby.), I wanted a boy. I had several reasons for wanting a boy and they all really came back to one thing:
Junior High.
Junior High and High School is an awful time to be a less than beautiful, talented, wealthy girl. I know it is hard on boys, too, please don’t miss my point by getting bogged down on who has it worse. The thing is, boys get over it for the most part. They hit a wall (or the offender) and move on with their group of friends. But girls are so vicious and manipulative, even to their friends. The heartache I experienced as a teenager was usually at the hand of someone who claimed to be my friend. The teasing, the ignoring, the clichés, the rejection were all awful and I didn’t want to watch my daughter experience that.

And as I began to come to terms with raising girls, I knew they would one day either be teased or be the teaser. I thought that day would come around 5^th or 6^th grade.
Not Pre-K.

As Bren sadly tells me about being rejected by her school friends because at that moment she wasn’t pretty enough, wasn’t wearing the right colors, a cooler friend has come along, etc, a rage boils up inside of me that I don’t quite know how to deal with.

I want to tell her those girls are stupid.
I want to go tell those girls that I don’t think they are very pretty either.
I want to devise a way for them to feel that same rejection.
I want to hunt down their Mama’s and tell them how hurtful their daughters are.
I want to…I want to…I want to take my baby in my arms and cry because MY heart is broken because HER heart is broken.

Instead, I tell her something very difficult for an almost 6 year old to understand.

I tell her that there will be people like that her entire life, even when she is as old as me. That for whatever reason some girls can’t be friends with more than one person at a time or don’t know how to inclusive with all their friends. And those same girls will most likely be that way when they are almost 36, as well. The best thing she can do is to not let it hurt her and choose someone else to play with. She doesn’t understand, but how could she, I don’t understand either.

I tell her not be like them. I tell her to be a good friend. Always. To everyone.

I tell not be like me either. I encourage her to not let those girls affect how she thinks of herself, to not believe their hurtful words and to not change who she is in an effort to be their friend.

And after she casually tells me she will just be their friend when they want to be her friend, I go to my room and cry because I think maybe, just maybe, Bren might be smarter and stronger than me. And that is a good thing.

Garage Band

This was a little bit like observing wild life. I dared not get to close or make much noise, I wanted to see her in her "natural environment".

The garage is so bad because we were preparing for our 7 family garage sale. The path Piper is in, was the only walking space left in the garage.

Turn the volume up loud enough to hear her, it recorded quiet and will not get louder in the video.

Warheads

Someone put a piece of Warheads candy in one of my girls Easter basket - from the SSS egg hunt. (I have to wonder who would do that to a 5 or 3 year old????!!!!)

I had put all the other candy away and failed to toss that into the trash can before Bren saw it. She asked if she could eat it and I told her it was really sour and she wouldn't like it. She moved on. Piper, however, did not... "I yike it, Mama, I weally do." I tried a couple of times to help her understand that it wouldn't taste good. Then I decided sometimes you just need to figure things out for yourself.

In case you are not familiar with War Headz, they are sweet for about 1.3 seconds before the absolute jaw-clenching, eye-twitching, foot-stomping sour kicks in.

For whatever reason, Brenna decided that Piper was a wimp and felt the need to show her the candy wasn't so bad. Just for the record, Piper lasted longer than Bren.

Ma & Pa, do you remember when I gave you this candy as we pulled away from the airport when you picked me up from my trip to Japan? Mom sucked on it first and subtly passed it to over to Dad. I'm not sure the candy ever really landed on Dad's tastebuds before he spit it out with vigor into his hand. I laughed so hard I thought I would wet my pants.
I guess that wasn't the best souvenir for me to bring back from my travels abroad! :)

Do I have these and am I one of these?

7 Friends Every Woman Needs

They’re there when times are bad (with a dirty martini or a carton of B&J in hand) and they’re there when times are good (with a dirty martini or a carton of B&J in hand). They’re our sisters, our secret-keepers, our sage advisers. Read these odes to some of the world’s greatest friends, then pick up the phone and call yours.

• The kooky friend
• The new friend
• The friend you'll keep for life
• The couple friends
• The 9-to-5 friend
• The friends who show up
• The friend who's been there

Read the the article here.

This seems like a good list. I hope you all have your own list of good friends!

Cake Pops.

Don't I have a talented husband





Don't I have a talented husband?

Weekend Recap #1 (of 4)

We had a wonderful and busy Easter weekend. It started on Thursday at Sonshine School with parties and egg hunts. As usual, I got lots of pics of Piper and one of Bren. It is difficult to catch her class doing their thing because it starts so much later in the day. I know, excuses, excuses!

The Easter Bunny stole the Pre-K classes eggs from their baskets and they had to go on a scavenger hunt to find them. I was a clue! Brenna was very proud to lead her friends to my desk to find out to go next.
Silly boys.

Weekend Recap #2

On Friday and Saturday we had a multi family garage sale. (It was a huge success!) Since we knew the weather was going to be bad on Sunday, Catherine put together several outdoor activities for the 14 or so kiddos running around (bless you, Catherine!), including an egg hunt. Here are the best of those pictures.

Weekend recap #3

Damma got the girls beautiful Easter dresses again this year. They both looked lovely.

These pictures are self posed. I don't know where they get it!

We let Brenna take a picture of the three of us.

So Piper wanted to take a picture, too.

Weekend recap #4, final one!

We were invited to Easter lunch at Karyn and Damon's house with their parents and friends of the family. We all had a great time. Karyn, as usual, put on a great spread and planned a great egg hunt for the girls. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, so we moved it in the house.

We made the eggs quite difficult to find.

Silly girls!

"Look what I can do!"

My crafty cousin-in-law/friend and I made these. I'm pleased with our her craftiness!!
We made a couple different kinds and are still experimenting.



What do you think?

There are some great things on this website....http://www.mom4life.com

But seriously???

This looks like some alien Boohbah giving birth Halloween costume.

I think my children might actually think this is how babies get out of their mommies tummy!

Caught?

I hope this is not indicative of things to come!!