Was this a good idea?

We are all really excited because Mimi and Poppy and May are visiting. They came because we are about to have a birthday party and Halloween. We are so happy that they can be here to share in all these special times. Really, we are thrilled.

May and Mimi always bring surprises when they visit. They have spoiled these children ROTTEN. Seriously. Momma had to label all the bags in the trunk - "surprises" and "birthday" and "unbirthday" (for Spencer) and "Halloween." Oh. My.

So after their arrival there is always lots of opening of gifts and fun times. Spencer got some cool dinosaurs that make noise. Jessa got a Hello Kitty purse. They each got a couple outfits and shoes. Jessa got a Hello Kitty game. Spencer got some plastic dinosaurs. All of these were cool surprises. They were all fun and exciting. Then my dear sweet grandmother, Mimi brought one more treat for her great grand babies. And I have to ask, was it a good idea? You be the judge.

In the spirit of Halloween, she brought this awesome face painting make up stuff. Awesome.

Jessa wanted to open it and test it out almost immediately. It being a school night, we looked to see what would be needed to remove it. Cold Cream. May asked, "Does anyone have any Cold Cream?" No one did. Mimi, bless her heart said, "Oh, we'll get it off." Really? You sure? Then Bay asked, "Wait, do you have sour cream?" Yes! I did. And I also had cream cheese. And May pointed out that they were both "cold" since they were in the fridge. So we turned her loose. And I began writing the note to her teacher in my head: "Please forgive Jessa's appearance at school today, but sour cream is not a good make-up remover."

Yep.
On a school night. With no cold cream,

Thanks Mimi.

You shouldn't have.

Really.

P.S. Jess may have ruined a hand towel, but it mostly all came off. And we still love Mimi!

Soft Pants

I may have mentioned this before. Honestly, I cannot remember what I ate for breakfast or even IF I ate breakfast, so bear with me. Please. If I have mentioned it before, this will be a new take on it, I hope. If it is not, well, I already mentioned that you should bear with me. So just do it, OK? Mentioned.

My sweet and precious son will only wear soft pants. Have you ever heard of "soft pants?" Well, it is basically knit pants. He will even wear thick, almost sweatshirt material pants in the summer. Just do not make the mistake of trying to put hard pants on him. What are "hard pants," you may ask? Well, hard pants are every other kind of pants. He does not enjoy khakis or courds or jeans or any other kind of pants. And when I say "does not enjoy" that is a nice way of saying "refuses to wear."

As with every fashion phase they go through, I always try to just go with it. It usually works itself out, and they move on to another way to torment me. One summer, Jessa announced that we new favorite color was purple and that she would not wear anything else. This was easy enough to solve, we all started buying her all purple. She was not naked and happy, so we were happy. The theme of her fourth birthday was "purple." The only problem we had was that her arm was broken at the time, and she decided she was an all purple sort of girl AFTER the pink cast was on her arm. And yes, the child did ask the doctor to remove the pink one and give her a purple one. And the dear doctor said, "Next time you can have a purple one." She was pleased with this, but I told them both to hold their horses because we were not going to make plans for a "next broken bone!" Sheesh!

So, Spencer. He always preferred knit pants. And when you are small, they are way easy to find. I mean Carter's is like a knit mecca. Once he started going to school a day or so a week, I tried to dress him a little nicer. OK, to some jeans are not nicer, but the kids was wearing all sweatpants! I was golden because I always dress them while they are still asleep. Clever, huh? I get to be in charge of their wardrobe AND they get some extra minutes of sleep. Seriously, sometimes we would be in the car on the way to school before they even noticed what they were wearing. Think I can do that when they are in high school and wanting to wear what everyone else is wearing? I am willing to try. Carrying them to the car may be more difficult. . .

Well, Spencer still sleeps through getting dressed most mornings before preschool. BUT now, he pays attention. Yep, in his sleep, he can pay attention. I am gently trying to pull on some precious carpenter jeans, and he WITH EYES STILL CLOSED will run his hand across the pants and say, "These are not soft. MOMMY! THESE ARE NOT SOFT PANTS!" So I relent. It is not worth the fight, really. And I want him to be comfortable and confident at school, so he wears soft pants. Again.

This is only a problem when we go to church. I must draw the line at sweatpants at church. Call me mean, if you want, but the child can suck it up and wear a pair of khaki pants once a week for 2 hours. 2 hours! That is all I ask. But EVERY Sunday morning, we argue about this. I give in every other day, but I want him to be cute and properly attired on Sunday mornings. So he usually grumbles the whole way there. And he is always changed back into soft pants within about 12 seconds of being home every week.

Oh, and remember how I said that I wanted him to be comfortable? Well, he may be taking that too far. Last weekend, I let him skip a bath on Friday night, and he climbed into bed with his clothes STILL ON. I asked him didn't he want to put on his jommies? He said, "Nah." Do you think his clothes are TOO comfortable if he wants to sleep in them????

FUN find

Hello, all!
I recently found a FUN blog. The blogger is celebrating her 2 year Blogoversary with a contest. Click on the picture below to check it out and enter. Lots of cool prizes AND you can read tons of funny stories and "Mom moments" in all the links that folks have attached.
Have fun!

Ode to Bay

My Daddy rocks. Don't be jealous. He is just the best. He just is. Period.

Living here, near him, near a family member is something that we have never had the chance to do before. Most military families never get the opportunity to be close to "kin." We are so spoiled now, though. He is a part of our daily lives, and it. is. so. awesome.

He has always been a particularly patient man. I never remember him getting really mad at me or Lucas, unless we really messed up. And that was never until we were unruly teenagers. He is very laid back and easy going. And I am a Daddy's girl from the word GO. Momma and I are the best of friends, but there is something about a little girl and her Daddy, right?

Now, if Lucas were here and able to type his 2 cents worth, he was start saying that I was so spoiled and I whined to get my way. But he is not here. And this is my blog, so I can say what I want to, so I was not spoiled! (Who am I kidding, anyway?)

My Daddy is the man who once flew to Germany for 36 hours because I did not want to fly to Atlanta alone. He even fed me my supper on the plane because I was hiding a sweet little Westie under my blanket. One time, we were leaving a restaurant, and I wanted a pink gumball. The man spent tons of money trying to get me a pink one. We finally left in defeat. But the next day when he came home from work, he had a small blue jewelry box in his hand. I opened it, and there it was - a pink gumball. When I was 4, he was going to have to miss my ballet recital. So he came to the dress rehearsal instead. And even though it was not the real thing, he still brought me roses. And I may have mentioned this before, but he was also out of town on my 16th birthday. But I will never forget sitting in my English class and having a telegram delivered to me wishing me a happy birthday. That is the one and only time I ever got a telegram. I am sure that Lucas has many memories, too. His would be a little different and focus on fishing trips or Daddy's being the Boy Scout Leader until Lucas got Eagle or trips to the gun range, but I am certain he has lots of memories of his patient and very involved father, too.

Now his patience and sweetness is being showered on another generation. When I am ready to scream and call the gypsies to take my children away, he is still smiling and still trying to appease them.

One time we were at an ice cream place.

Jessa wanted a cone.

He got her a cone.

She then wanted a cup.

He went and got her a cup.

She changed her mind and wanted a cone.

He scooped it back into the cone.

He got more spoons.
He got more napkins.
He never stopped grinning.

He is Jessa's best customer at her diner:

He sits on the porch and blows bubbles with little Spencer:

He sat at the kids table at the mall for lunch:

He rode the train to St. Louis with me, my children, my friends, and my friends' children to deliver us to the Cardinals Game, only to turn around and ride the train right back home for work:

If David is out of town, he picks Jessa up from ballet and drives her to church for Awana every week. Seriously, we could not do it all without his help! He even painted a cool sign for me to use at Awana:

And last week, when we were short-handed at Awana, he stuck around after dropping Jessa off. And he was out puppeteer. Yep, my Daddy, a general in the army, crouched down on the floor and made cute little voices for the Cubbies Puppet Show.

I was all choked up because he does not even question. He just does what we want or need him to do. The man has booster seats in his van. And several ladies at the church were in awe of him, too. They all told me, "You are so blessed." And believe me, I know it. We are all blessed to have such a patient Daddy/Bay in the family!

See, I told you. He is the best.

Y'all never let me do anything fun.

I am deeply saddened to say that I forgot my camera. I felt pain when I was not capturing these moments - this is not an exaggeration, physical pain. This post will have to stand alone without pictures. Please do not be disappointed in me. I promise to do better.

We all get up and get dressed on a Saturday. Bay comes to pick up Jessa, Spencer, and me. We all drive to St. Louis to a mall where there is a Cabela's. All the men in our family are obsessed with Cabela's. The kids think it is way fun, too. Jessa was calling all the preserved animals and the fish in the aquariums "exhibits." She roamed the store at will. Spencer and I just followed her lead. She lingered at the fish tanks and named every fish. And with a birthday fast approaching I had enacted a moratorium on buying anything for them for the whole month. Yet, I still allowed them to pick out 1 surprise each. This caused many discussions with Jessa trying to negotiate for more and different treats. I stood my ground, and all was quiet.

We left Cabela's and went to the food court at the mall. Jessa led us all around looking at every choice. She was hoping for Chick-fil-A (OK, we all were), but there was not one. So she finally settled on Burger King. We have one 1/4 of a mile from our house. Heaven forbid we mix it up and try something new! We all sat at the table of Jessa's choice and ate lunch. Then we all proceeded to the indoor mall play area where Jessa and Spencer played for a good 20 minutes. Then Bay forked over $2.25 per ticket for the two of them to ride on a train for 3 minutes in a small circle.

On our way back to the car, Bay bought them fudge. Bay likes nuts in his fudge, but Jessa did not want nuts. So we left with nut-free fudge.

Once in the car, they chowed down on their fudge while Bay drove us to a park. We walked around to look at the Missouri River, and then spent another 20 minutes playing on the outdoor playground, at Jessa's insistence.

Then we went to an outdoor event, the Life is Good Festival. It was way fun with TONS to do. And it was mostly all free. Seriously, a kid's dream come true - a beautiful day with sunshine and kid-centered activities. There were like 5 different cool bean bag tosses, there were hula hoop areas, bouncy ball corrals, sack races, parachute play, ball tosses, soccer shoot-outs, obstacle courses, face painting, musical instruments, juggling, live music, tons of food - you name it. They were so crazy, trying to do it all. We let them try everything they wanted to try. We let them choose what they wanted to do. There was even a lollipop tree where you could just walk over to the tree and choose a lollipop! Spencer had 2. Jessa got her face painted, they both tossed bean bags and balls, they kicked soccer balls, they ran the length of the park and back. They got big beach balls. They got balloons. Bay bought them hot chocolate. They did some things more than once. We followed their lead.

It was a long and fun day. I enjoyed watching them play and have a great time. (I ached for the camera) But let's face it, most of the day was not about me - it was about them, right? I walked along, beside Jessa who was still sipping her hot chocolate, with my arms loaded down with her coat and her beach ball. And after this long and fun day, I said to Jessa, "We need to think about heading home soon." Jessa looked over at me and with a straight face said to me, "But Mah-uhm! Y'all never let me do anything fun!"

MY HERO

I am all about the kids having good examples. It is amazing how much you can teach them without realizing it. I do so many things in my daily life the same way I watched Momma do them all my life.

I am also all about people doing kind things for other people when possible. Helping people out is a wonderful thing to do. And if you can help someone out while your children are watching, even better.

I was raised watching good examples of people helping other people. Momma and Daddy were always willing to help other people. Even Lucas is a big helper. On our way to his college orientation, we came up on an accident before the ambulance. Lucas hopped out of the car and headed to see what he could do. He used his own belt to tie a tourniquet and stopped a man from bleeding out waiting on help.

Well, during our Daddy packed weekend, we were driving home and we passed a young girl pulled over on the side of the road. I saw her retrieving things from her trunk, so it was pretty obvious that her tire was flat. I was driving because David forgot his wallet (we are the kind of people that the man drives always, unless he forgot his wallet, or drank beers). We thought there was a truck that was going to help her. But in the rear view mirror, I saw that the truck kept going. So we swung the car around to help

I always wonder if people are too afraid to let strangers help them. I think the fact that he is a handsome, clean-cut military looking man helps, plus, he was in a mini van with a lovely lady, 2 precious children, and 2 adorable dogs.

He hopped out and made quick work of changing the tire. I was so impressed. The kids unhooked their seats and climbed into the passenger seat so they could see Daddy better.

No, it was not former Falcon Lineman Keith Brooking, and yes, Tara, I always have my camera.

As I sat there in the car, watching my amazing husband effortlessly change that tire, tears streamed down my face. It made me so proud that my husband was the type of man who would stop and help a sweet teen aged girl with a flat tire. I mean, I would hope someone would help me or someday Jessa, you know? It makes me happy that there are people in the world who still want to help other people out. And it makes me even happier that my children got to have a front row seat to witness their Daddy doing an awesome good deed.

Gun Control

Lucas and I were from the generation that it was OK to play with guns. It was all part of imaginary play. Pretending to be a cook or a mommy or a princess or a policeman or a doctor or a soldier - it was all fun. We lived in a world before children killed other children with guns on purpose.

HOLD ON!
Did you click the wrong link?
Is this political?
No, I am not trying to do a serious, heavy post, just stating the facts to preface my thoughts. OK?
Don't panic.
Just stay with me.
Are you still there?

Many parents these days are firmly against playing with guns, toy guns, etc. Frankly, I think that they are simply terrified that if their children play cops and robbers that they may draw a picture of it at school and be sent to juvie. You know it happens, right? We've all heard the stories like the 1st grader suspended for coloring a picture of a water gun fight with his best buddy. I am paranoid that my kids are going to talk about Daddy shooting bad guys at school. But that is how they are not afraid when he is deployed, they decide that he will get the bad guys before they get him. Anyway, I have heard that even if you do not allow your child to play with guns, they will eat their toast into the shape of a gun. They will find a way.

Uh, I see that now. With Jessa, this was not an issue. Little girls can turn any item into a magic wand, right? Well, with boys, it is apparently, well, guns. My sweet precious 3 year old baby boy is all about shooting things. And he does not even have a gun - toy or otherwise!

He shoots things with pieces of train track.
He shoots things with a plastic shovel.
He shoots things with a plastic rolling pin.
He shoots things with a wooden rolling pin.

He shoots things with the handle of the Dyson vacuum.

There are also sound effects. I vividly remember the sounds that Lucas used to create when he was playing. The sounds of cars, trains, sirens, and of course, guns. Spencer does this, too. You know all the sound effects I am talking about, right? I do not remember making tons of noises or sounds. And Jessa certainly didn't and doesn't. I think this must be a "boy"thing.

Anyway. I have to watch my back around here these days. I never know when Spencer might jump out and take me out with a piece of toast and a nasty sound effect, plus I have to wait for the call from juvie.