Yesterday after school, the girls and I got a little ice cream. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon and Piper had just put her last bite of ice cream in her mouth.

"Ummm...Mama?"

"Yes, Piper."

"This ice cream is my... ... ... lunch dessert...."
(raises eyebrows up and down twice)
"...Can I have a snack now?"

A picture is worth 1,000 words...

I'll shut up now.

Today I learned

I am still learning. Perhaps my upcoming birthday is making me aware of how much more I have to learn in life. Perhaps some things just slap you in the face and say "How do you live 36 years 11 months and 3 weeks and NOT know this???"

Today I learned you really shouldn't leave hot rollers in your hair for 30-45 minutes. Even if you have really straight, heavy, thick hair.

Huh- imagine that!

Here are the save face options I have come up with in my moment of crisis
A. Call it my Dolly Parton hair.
B. Say I am paying homage to Irish Dancing on this festive St. Patty's Day.
C. Say I totally miss the 80's and am doing my part to bring it back.
D. Do my best it shove it all up under a hat and sneak in the back door at work until it loosens up a bit.
E. Kill some time at home entering a blog update at home before implementing plan D.

I'm going with E!

Happy

Mandy's Friday contest is 'happy'. This is one happy girl! How can this face not make you happy?

Just an average morning at our house

Now, I recognize that not everyone will enjoy these videos. It is 5 minutes of your life that you will NEVER get back. So, don't feel obligated to watch the whole way through.

But for the 4 or 5 individuals I can think of that will eat this up, I think you will be entertained up until the last second. And you may even be left wanting more!

The soundtrack for this is provided by They Might Be Giants, specifically "The Blood Mobile" and "The Electric Car". She is still working up her routines to "Science is Real" and "I'm a Paleontologist"

Happy Birthday, Dr. Suess

March 2nd is Dr. Suess's birthday. Both girls celebrated at school.

Brenna's outfit is inspired by The Cat in the Hat.Pipers' outfit is inspired by Piper. Her skirt is red (Sam's favorite color) and her shirt is hot pink.
She ditched the hat pretty quickly this morning. Long before we left the house.

Parenting Triumph

Somedays parenting is hard!! The fighting, sassiness and disrespect our girls show each other is challenging and I can only pray we are doing the right things to help them grow up to be sisters who love each other. Monday felt like a success!

I packed their lunches and as I started to write the notes for their lunches, Brenna asked if she could write Piper's note. Then Piper asked to write Brenna's note.

These are the notes they had in their lunches as a surprise.

Piper wrote Brenna's name and then drew a picture of Brenna when she was a "bald baby".

That feels like a parenting success!

Oh Dear

So, here are a couple of her latest statements.

Notice a theme? She certainly has already established her style.

And I will personally want to crush the first person who tries to diminish her sense of self. As crazy and color blind as it is.

What this picture doesn't show are the terrible stains on the knees. She wore these leggings once ruined them in the Oklahoma mud. Since they are new, she wants to wear them.
I wonder, just how good is the Old Navy return policy?

Today, I am digging the clippies.

Ghosts in our House

Monday I was in my bedroom getting ready for the day and I hear the girls come giggling down the hallway. As they turn into my room I hear:
"Ooooooo, OOOOOOooo, ooooooooooooOOOOO,
giggle, giggle, giggle,
Ooooooo, OOOOOOooo, ooooooooooooOOOOO"

Then I see this.Maybe powdered sugar donuts for breakfast wasn't my greatest idea.

Relay For Life

My Reason to Relay

I Relay for my mom.

I Relay for my sister.
I Relay for my Grandma Berry.
I Relay for my Grandfather.
I Relay for my family that has heard this diagnosis too many times.
I Relay because I want to see an end to cancer during my lifetime.
I Relay because I want my grandchildren to talk about cancer the way my generation talks about small pox or polio...a thing of the past.

If you want to help find a cure click here to make a donation of any size.

I charged my daughter a dollar to find her shoe today.

Thoughts?

Politically Incorrect!

Thursday night, Josh's parents stopped by on their way home from a trip. It was a quick trip that really only involved dinner out because the fog was setting in and the skies up north were threatening more snow.

Grammy and Granddaddy allowed the girls to choose where we ate and, for some unknown reason, they chose China Palace Super Buffet (and, yes, you have to say the whole name every time). We called cousin Micah and invited him to join us and headed that way. It was really an uneventful dinner. As long as I didn't think about just how long that food was sitting under those heat lamps, I was okay. Most of what I tried, I enjoyed. The girls got done first, as usual, and were getting restless. They read books and looked at the fish briefly and then needed some new entertainment. And Piper provided it.

I have no idea what prompted this, but Piper pulled the corners of her eyes back towards her ears as far as they would go and yelled for Brenna to look at her. I, of course, was MORTIFIED (remember, we were at China Palace Super Buffet), but didn't want to draw anymore attention to my politically insensitive child than she is drawing to herself. I got her to stop, only to discover that her older sister had jumped on the band wagon. Ack! They were both bursting with giggles and I felt every Asian eye boring holes through me. Thankfully, Brenna started pulling her eyelids up and making her pupils disappear, which got a bigger reaction from Piper, so that became the new game. This was just the motivation we needed to get James and Marsha on the road and us out of that restaurant!!

As we were leaving, B&P starting looking at those annoying little machines that are filled with tattoos and bouncy balls and gum. Of course, they wanted one and cousin Micah was all too happy to oblige. Except these machines weren't the typical vending machines...

(click on picture to fully enjoy.)

Suddenly, I didn't feel so bad about the girls and their antics.
By the way, we got Commano Carl and Billy Boy, but Piper is holding out for the whole set.

NEW Valentine's Day Pops

We call them Conversation Pops.
Still better than a box of chocolates.Order here.
Can't you just see the anticipation!!

Killing Time

We were killing some time at Party Galaxy and ended up entertaining ourselves quite nicely.

Valentine's Day Cake Pops

Better than a box of chocolates....


Perfect for class parties...

Order here

Photo Contest

Since this is one of my favorite shots from the summer, I thought I would take advantage of Mandy's contest to show the photo again.



This is Josh, the girls and my dad.

Over the years...

Here is where we were four years ago this month.

Things have certainly changed...and keeps getting better!

Piper's birthday pics

Once again it was so hard to choose, so we got too many.

I love how expressive every picture is; each one captures a different emotion or mood. Oh, and the cascading hair!!! Love it!
We ended up buying a package of the last one. So, family members, be checking your mail in the next few weeks. (If anyone else wants one, let me know. We have plenty.)

By the way, my scanner is filthy. Who knew you could get dust under the lid!?!?!?

I don't understand

There are lots of things in this world I don't understand.

• I don't understand why "we" are fascinated by the lives of "famous" people like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, that woman who had 8 kids, or the other woman who had 14 of them.
• I don't understand why women continue to lie in tanning booths when the evidence is so clear what it will do to them.
• I don't understand why Walmart never has enough cashiers, even at 11pm.
• I don't understand why my girls get so angry at each other they cry and minutes later are playing in the bathroom sink together.
• I don't understand why anyone would ever find it acceptable to start a conversation with someone in a bathroom stall. If ever a person wanted some quiet time, that would be it!
  

I don't expect these have logical explanations, but I do hope there are other mysteries to me that you can help me comprehend. Here is one...

Today I was doing a Bible study about God's name of Elohim, which mean Creator. After reading Genesis account of God creating the world from nothing and recognizing His majesty in the world He built around us, I don't understand why global warming is a political issue. Shouldn't it be a human issue?

Perhaps you don't like Al Gore (I'm okay with that) or you don't believe that mankind is directly affecting the earth we have (I'm okay with that, too), but I guess I have trouble with this is understanding why everyone wouldn't be on board with treating our world, God's creation, with the respect it deserves. But since it is political hot topic, why is it that the Republican party (for the most part) are the naysayers? There must be more to it than I see because it seems like a natural fit that the party that professes aligning with Christ (and some boasting one can't be on the Left and a Christian) would also profess caring for the planet God created.

I am looking for other's opinions on this. I'm not trying to push buttons or start an argument, I want to know what you think and why you think it.

Feel free to share, but please sign your name. :)

Notes to Jesus

Piper was drawing at my desk this morning before Sonshine School. When I told her it was time to go she handed me a piece of paper and said it was for Jesus. I wasn't sure I understood her so I asked her to repeat herself. She said "You know, in church, when they pass crackers and juice and then after we put our money in? I want to put this in with my money. It is for Jesus."I asked if I could be her adult writer (a term we picked up at Pre-K last year) and she said I could write on the back. Then she translated the note to Jesus.



If this doesn't warm a Mama's heart, I don't know what does.
And I needed this today.
I believe the little lollipop drawings were intended to be Jesus, but they weren't perfect so she started over. Twice.