Leftovers

Gosh, it's been so long since I blogged and since I took these pictures, I feel like I'm serving leftovers because none of this stuff happened today. What with my new past-time of yelling at old people and all, I just don't have time for my other stuff. I don't really yell at old people (much), it just seems like Uncle Ernie is testing my limits lately. I could use a prayer or two for that. Thanks!

I don't remember if I told y'all but we've moved him over to the nursing side of Arlington Villa. He and Aunt Betty are in the same room and she loves it. The last two or three times I've been over there, when I walk into the room I'm hearing her say to him "Ernie, I love you". It just makes me melt. Everyone over on that side says she looks better and that this is great for her.

OK, on to the picutres...

Sadie's new hobby is dressing anything that moves. Cats BEWARE!

This is Anna at Madeline's birthday party eating some cake.
There's a bridge I go over every morning and sometimes you can see the most beautiful sunrises from there. I finally remembered to take my camera and this is what I saw yesterday morning. This morning was a whole 'nother story. It started sleeting while we were doing traffic duty and then when I left Wal-Mart it was snowing! I had no idea this stuff was coming. I also have no time to watch the news.
And one day this week we had a visitor. I stress VISITOR! As cute as this cat is her brother is even cuter. Stockier and with more brown around the neck and maybe a tad fluffier. This one's name is "milkshake". Don't ask why, I don't know.

Madeline's Party

FINALLY! We had Madeline's birthday party. We originally invited 8 children, today, 2 showed up. However, it was rescheduled so I understand. I hold no (well, not much anyway) ill will towards those who do not think my daughter's party is important enough to rearrange their whole family's schedule just to accomodate my Madeline. Now, on the bright side, those who attended got to climb the awesome rock wall as many times as they wanted. And to the credit of the young people who were the hosts, they kept up with which order the kids went in and Madeline always got first dibs on going again.
Sadie climbed like a monkey. Just this morning we had to go to UTA for a piano theory test and we had to climb to the 3rd floor. You have to go outside to get to the third floor when using the stairs and she tells me that she's scared of heights. Whatever. The first time and second time she did not get to the top but then....
She wouldn't go any further than the ledge. She's scared of heights, you know.
Even Anna had fun. That floor is really cushioned and she had a blast running and playing on it.

Does anyone (beside Jon and Tylar and anyone else who was at the party) know what this is? Let me know your guesses. Cool pic, huh? I'll let y'all know if anyone guesses correctly. I'll give y'all a couple of days to figure it out.

This is Sadie climbing to the top.

This is Happy Birthday to Madeline

By the way, I wholeheartedly endorse parties at Elzie Odom Recreation Center in Arlington. They decorate, get the cake, fix goodie bags, have plates, drinks , forks, entertainment (in this case, rock climbing) they even clean up after you. I cannot say how stress-free this party was (except for the absence of guests). And, I needed some stress-free time today. Go check it out.

Self sufficient

First off, let me say "Happy Birthday" to my mother-in-law Peggy and her twin sister, Betty!
Do you see this child? This cute, quiet, food covered child? Let me just tell you she wasn't always this way. Well, she's always been cute but quiet was not her adjective this evening during dinner which led to the food covered part. She didn't care for the salisbury steaks I cooked (that my other two daughters think are flat delicious) or the green beans that I gave her so back to baby food for her. I'm not a short order cook, you know. So I sat down to feed this hungry child and she started wailing like I had beat her with a wooden spoon. She would close her eyes and cry and I'd stick a spoonful of chicken noodle and banana mixture (I know it sounds yucky but she liked it) in her mouth and she'd stop sometimes to swallow it. But cry, cry, cry she did. For probably 20 minutes I sat there just emulating Job with all my motherly patience (stop laughing, sometimes I DO have it) and would manage a spoonful in here and there. Finally, I gave up and put the bowl down to go do something and she picked up the spoon and started feeding herself. I wanted to do bodily harm to this precious child.

Of course, then she needed a bath. My heavens, she had half her dinner on the outside of her body.
But again, Mother doesn't do it well enough...

I really wanted to get her wailing on video and, oddly, I had the camera right there, but my hands were so covered in chicken noodle/banana that I didn't want to mess the camera up. But I did get her happily feeding herself.

Madeline turns 6

Today, Madeline turns 6. Man, in the last year, this child has grown by leaps and bounds.

She still has all her teeth, which surprises me. Sadie started losing hers in Oct. of her Kindergarten year. I hope that means she's got some strong ones and they just won't let go.

She now wants her hair to grow long. I haven't seen her chew on it in awhile either. She's given up her blankie for the most part. I gave her a soft blanket for the van on those cold mornings and she's been using it off and on (in the house). But if somehow the blankie went missing it wouldn't be the traumatic thing it once would have been. She truly wants to stop sucking her thumb but hasn't quite figured out how. I may have a lead on something to help with that, though. She wants to totally dress girly. If it doesn't sparkle or shine or isn't pink or otherwise girly, forget it, she wants no part of it.

She's a giver. She thinks of others before herself sometimes to my dismay but I've learned that it's something she wants to do and I need to let her be her. She wants to please, it makes her happy to do so. She is her own person and has a very distinct personality. You know those kids who, when they do something wrong, send themselves to their room? She's one of those. Especially with school discipline. If she changes a card she owns up to it and expects her consequences (which makes me not want to give them to her but I do anyway). And she'd never be able to get away with anything anyway, you can read her face like a book.

She's got the cutest laugh (giggle) I've ever heard and someday I hope to get it on video to share. You'll think so, too, if you ever hear it.

On Sunday mornings, when she goes with me to choir practice before church, she stands at the front with the cantor (person leading the psalm in song) and mimicks their gestures to bring in the congregation. She'll also sometimes help Michele lead us. (Thank you, Michele for never discouraging her.)

She's an adapter. Unlike some of my children who need things planned out and then stick to the plan or what's the point?, she can go with the flow. She'll put herself to bed if she's sleepy, she gets up when she's told (most of the time). She knows when she's sick and when she's feeling better (I know that sounds weird to say but since she's been sick for the last 3 days, it's fresh in my head the way she knew that she wasn't going to be able to have her birthday party and how she knew she had fever.) Right now, she's taking care of her sister who "hurt her leg" as if her leg was broken and those uncaring parents just won't do anything about it, dang them.

She's very good in math and learning to read. She will probably be happier than any of us when the reading finally clicks. She wants to be able to read like her big sister.

She loves to play soccer (although that may be a part of the pleasing thing since her Daddy played for years) and is pretty good (for a now 6 year old).



All in all, she's a keeper. I'm not giving up my snugglebunny so don't even ask.

Here she is in her birthday outfit (not "birthday suit"). You can't see it in the picture but her jeans sparkle.


And in case you can't read the ribbon.

Happy Birthday, Madeline Rose, I love you.

bouncin'

For those of you who can't access the video, I aplogize. I took NO, zero, nada, zippo pictures today. However, I did take this video. For those Saints fans (or ain'ts again this year- but with a better record and history making play-off win!) let's have a moment of silence, or cussing, or a stiff drink, or all three whichever you prefer. There's always next year.

By the way, before you see your cute video...if you need Girl Scout Cookies, let me know! Here's your video...

bouncin'

For those of you who can't access the video, I aplogize. I took NO, zero, nada, zippo pictures today. However, I did take this video. For those Saints fans (or ain'ts again this year- but with a better record and history making play-off win!) let's have a moment of silence, or cussing, whichever you prefer. There's always next year.

By the way, before you see your cute video...if you need Girl Scout Cookies, let me know! Here's your video...

rainy, yucky Saturday part deux

I told you Rosie could keep you warm. Here he is doing his job for Madeline who slept on and off in the "comfy chair" most of the day.
Sadie had a "flip-flop" birthday party to go to tonight. Everything was supposed to be backwards. Here's her backwards self. She even wore her coat backwards ( I think she was the only one who had the creativity to do that).
And, of course, her hat and hair had to be backwards.

Rainy, yucky Saturday

Yesterday, when I was making Anna's room ready for my mom to come spend the weekend, Anna decided she liked the big bed. My mom was coming so she could go to Madeline's birthday party. I love that she lives close enough to do that. Yea Mom!

Sadie dressed Anna in her dance tutu. I'm thinking Anna didn't care for it too much.
In this picture, she looks like she's been up since 2 am doesn't she? Oh yes, she thought 2 am was a good time to get up. I think she finally conked out again about 4 (Conrad stayed up with her). I didn't sleep much either, I kept hearing her and then Madeline would wake up every now and again...llllooooonnnnnngggggg night.
This is my lap when I'm sitting on the couch. Love that Rosie, he keeps me warm!
Anna looks drunk on power.

Oh, I'm sorry, did you think you would be seeing pictures of Madeline's birthday party and the fun and merriment therein? Oooohhhh, well, Madeline took a page from her big sister's book and woke up with a 102.5 fever this morning. So once again we are rescheduling a birthday party. I think next year we will have quiet celebrations at home.

The Queen's Princesses

Because I am a Queen who cares, I demand that my daughter, Princess Sadie, do her homework. Notice she has her Princess-ly hood/cloak on. It had to be put on so that she could put the hood up or take it down - depending on if she needed to be hidden or not. (See below)
Princess Madeline and her Daddy, the King, went out and got her birthday present last night (a new bike in case you can't see it). She got to pick it out herself. She's so proud.
Here she is, testing out the new royal bike. I understand she got to ride it through Wally World. How much fun would that be for a kid?

And here's your daily dose of Princess Anna, typically, getting into something. Pay no attention to the mess in the royal pots and pans cabinet (the royal servants haven't cleaned it out in some time - I shall have to speak to them about it).

Snow Day '07

So, this morning, Anna woke up at 5:55 am, Sadie did too and decided to take a shower. While she was in the shower I decided to turn on the TV and see what was shakin'. To my surprise, I see that ISDs are closing. I turned to Conrad and said "why in the world are they closing schools"? "Please don't let ACA be closed today." He says "why"? I told him that it doesn't affect his day at all when the kids are home but it completely messes mine up. I had things I needed to get done today. Having Anna with me was going to be a pain, having all three was really going to be a problem.

See, Uncle Ernie is moving from the assisted living side of Arlington Villa to the nursing side. The upside is that he and Aunt Betty can now live out their days together (well, I see that as an upside, anyway). The downside is that I had to go do "inventory" today. Have you ever been in a...oh say 20X20 room with 3 children with energy to spare and a relatively grumpy old man? It's not fun. It's not pretty. It's not something I did. I ended up getting the girl next door to babysit. I know my limits, I'm not stupid.

He should be moving tomorrow or Friday. He's actually more OK with this than I thought he would be. I'm proud of him.

OK, back to snow day...

Look at all the snow!
Madeline and Sadie "sledding" down Ruth's hill. I don't think they get that sledding is done without the aid of "propulsion". Is that a word? I mean to say someone pushing you down the hill. You should just be able to slide down with no help. There, get it now?
More propulsing...propelling?
Look at 'em. They look like they like each other. I have to say this is a set up shot. Now that I'm scrapbooking (new addiction) I'm looking for shots to scrapbook. Like I didn't take enough pictures before...please! See their footprints behind them? I had to look long and hard for a place that was footprint free to get that. I feel like a sell-out, I'm so ashamed.

This video is just the sledding downhill in action (for those of you without benefit of video).

Scrapbooking

I know this will be hard to believe, but, the girls were goofing around and I had my camera. Go figure. I thought this one was cute.
I got to go scrapbooking tonight. My first "crop" as they call it in the "biz". These are my attempts.

This halloween page was my first one. Let me tell you. It is OVERWHELMING. All that paper to choose from, all the colors, prints, stripes, dots...then the trims? Oh my goodness. I'm glad I had a small book (8x8 for those who may care) and a friend to shove me in the right direction. Thank you, Kati!



This is a photo album of the sisters. Really, the first two. I feel like there are plenty of pics of Anna and I wanted them to have some pics of the two of them. I'm not done by any stretch of the imagination and it's fun to do and I've allowed myself the luxury of not having to have these pages decorated to the max (mainly because I can't afford to do that, this is an expensive hobby) so that takes alot of the pressure off.

I will eventually make one for each of the girls by themselves and one of all 3 sisters. And I have some side projects I want to get done. So, this should keep me busy for a long time. When I say long, I mean LLLLLOOOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGGGG! They'll probably quit making paper before I get finished.

Busted

Anna has decided that cat food is a fun toy. Here I have caught her playing in the cat food and I am trying to encourage her to put the food back in the bowls.

Stuff from this week

This week is spirit week at ACA. Monday was "crazy hair" day and here is Madeline's crazy hair.

That would be a sicky Anna looking on and her she is below. She's got a big ol' cold and cough.

Yesterday was hat day and today was pajama day. I wore my pajamas to do traffic duty in. Then I got a call that Uncle Ernie needed something so I gathered up Anna, got in the van and away we went to the store. I got most of the way there and realized I still had on my pajamas. My friend Susan (with whom I was talking) said "just go in and ask them why they're not wearing their pajamas. Tell them it's National Pajama Day". I thought it was a great idea. Ends up, I wore the pajamas all day, even when I was out talking to the water guys and when I went to pick up the girls from school. Thank goodness I didn't have a flat or run out of gas. I must say, however, I don't think I would have really cared, it seems pajamas are fun to wear outside of the house. No - I don't think I'll make it a habit.

Sadie made a mess in the kitchen. This is her way of cleaning it up. Of course, she invited Madeline to join in the fun and she did and promptly fell and hit her head on the floor. She's got a huge goose-egg on her noggin'. I'm watching for signs of concussion. Seriously.

On the bright side, our floor hasn't looked this good in awhile.

And the topper to the day...we've had a slow leak in the front yard. It's been watering the front of the yard nicely. Nice little patch of clover growing. The water department decided today would be a good day to fix it. It was a georgous day. They were such delightful men, seriously.
I don't know if you can see it but the guy to the left is using the little flag that they put out to show where utilities are as a divining rod. I was astounded that they believed in this. They said it's a double edged sword. Most of the time it works but every now and then...

A letterboxin' day

First, we'll start off with yesterday's fun. Here's a video of Anna feeding herself. And for those of you who can't get the video, don't worry, it's not that cute.



Today, we went letterboxing. Actually, we went geocaching since we've found all but 3 letterboxes in Arlington. We'll go find those with Jessica and the girls, I'm sure.

This is a picture of a geocache we've looked for twice already, - an aside here- our washing machine just spat about 3 gallons of water all over the laundry room/kitchen. My floor never looked so clean! Just happened, so I thought I'd share. OK -

Anyway...We've looked for this geocache twice already and today we finally found it! I told Madeline where to look and lo and behold, there it was. I was VERY excited.

This is Madeline not too happy about showing off the find.

It is by a statue that is in plain sight. This is one of my favorite statues in Arlington. And this is Sadie taking a picture of Madeline with the "cache" and I guess Anna is giving directions.
Then we went huntin' in the woods for them. Aaaahhh, success.

Anna, all nice and clean for going to church tomorrow.

Ladies of Music

From left - Ann (our gifted accompanist), Karen, me, Sallie and Sandy.

Tonight I was honored to host the annual gathering of our little group. We are all in the adult choir and we've formed a bond and we enjoy each other's company. Michele, our fearless leader, was home "down in her back" (which is an understatement) so we really missed her. But somehow we managed to carry on without her and much laughter and yummy food was shared.

Thank you ladies for a wonderful, warm, enjoyable evening. I can't think of a better way to have spent it. And I can't wait until next year when I can "deck my halls" with all my Christmas treasures.

Wherefore art thou?

Where the tree once stood...
Can you believe it's not even epiphany and the tree is down and all Christmas related items are back up in the attic? This SO beats any record we've held before. Not that I was trying to beat a record but I am proud that we did get it done and completed!
This is the last of the pictures we had taken at Sears. Actually there may be a few you haven't seen but they are variations of the ones you have seen. This one we had printed in black and white and it turned out beautifully. Mumsey got a big one for Christmas and we have one to hang somewhere in the house, assuming I remember to get a frame for it.