I'm Back!

This morning, Sadie asked me if I would help her learn her letters. A mother's delight! Then both girls ate ALL of their spinach for lunch!

Tonight, Sadie asked me if I would take a bath with her and Josie. I asked her why, and she said, "Because I love you!" Of course, I ended up in the tub after that :)

Josie threw her arms around me today and gave me a big fat slobbery kiss right on the mouth. She then grabbed her favorite book (Good Night Moon) and dragged me over to her "Cheer" to sit down and read all about the "Mou-tie! Mou-tie!" The "young mouse" is definitely her favorite part. I must've read that book 30 times in the past 4 days. But that's okay, because I'm feeling like a good mom again! Yay!

Ode to a Spa

*Warning - Content may be offensive to some readers!*

Today was the day that I went to the spa
Closed my eyes, relaxed, and said, "Ahhh!"
As the masseuse smeared both mud and seaweed
All over me - felt so good I almost peed!
I sighed as the Vichy shower rained down to the floor,
Exfoliated as I never have been before
My friends - behind my back - will probably mutter
Because my skin's now so soft that I feel like butter!
Still not done; Now onto the facial I go!
I still can't say "aromatherapy," though....
No more dark circles, no blackheads, no bags
No longer do I look like an ugly old hag!
The only thing better that could have possibly been
Would be that all of YOU had been with me, my friends!

(Except for when I was totally naked barring the tiny paper towel they gave me held together by two rubber bands and laughably called, "disposable one-size-fits-all panties." Let me stress to you that no... one size does NOT fit all).

I Hear a Peep

Sadie's version of a classic... no matter how many times we told her, "It's Little BO Peep!" she just couldn't bring herself to change it:

"Little Boy Peep has lost her sheep
And can't know where to find them...
Leave her alone and we'll go home
Dragging their tails behind them."

Today, I was asked if I would like some "tornado" on my sandwich along with my lettuce.

After Sunday School this week (Josie went in for the first time by herself - she did great, although we were told that she wasn't the most vocal student, her answers consisting of "No, No, No, No, and Taint Tu."), there was much discussion of how Jesus healed the Ten Leopards.

Josie was crying because she couldn't reach her crayons, then someone said the word "snack." She jerked her head around, hightailed it out of the room to find the source of the snack, and tottered across the floor saying, "Nack, nack, nack, nack, nack," with every step.

*Josie, Sadie, and their cousin James watching Daddy cut wood.

Blood is Thicker than Popsicles

I know it's been a while since my last post, but honestly, I've needed time to recover. We had an accident. I should say, JOSIE had an accident, and I've been suffering from "Mommy-guilt." We have had our first incident involving blood. I wouldn't mind a bit if it were the last. The other day, Josie wandered into my bathroom with Sadie close behind her. By the time I got there, I heard Sadie saying, "Danger! Danger, Little Stranger!" followed by wailing. Josie had climbed INTO the bathtub and found my razor (which, by the way, I have never - to my recollection - left out before. I'm very paranoid about things like that, you know. Of course, the ONE time I forget, she scales the wall and finds it). Sadie, being the good big sister she is, was trying to warn Josie about the razor's many dangers, but in her zealous attempt to shield her from said dangers... she YANKED the razor from Josie's chubby little hand, slicing off a good chunk from the pad on the end of Josie's left index finger. There was blood EVERYWHERE. I am not exaggerating. I took the razor, washed off her finger, grabbed a towel, and tried to stop the blood. By the time we made it into the kitchen, it looked like there had been an axe murder in our house. How the heck does one tiny finger bleed so much!? There was a trail all over the house, plus all over the bathtub, the sink, all our clothes, hands, faces... All the while, Josie is screaming like a wounded jackal, and Sadie is racing around bringing me bandaids and Josie's blankie, and the boo-boo bear from the freezer, and whatever else she can find to try and help. Finally, shirt soaked with blood (mine) and face drenched with tears (Josie's) and ears hurt from screaming (both of us), I broke down and called Aunt Cindy, who is a nurse. Might I just say that I LOVE HER. She noticed from my tone (apparently I am not that great at remaining calm during a crisis) that I was ready to freak completely out, and I asked her if there is a main artery in the tip of your finger.... she rushed right over and got here in less than 10 minutes. WITH her doctor kit. Josie immediately calmed down and let Cindy "doctor" her, and then we all had popsicles, crisis averted. Whew.

Now, for about 3 days, Josie has been walking around with her "boo-boo bandaid" finger pointed up in the air, making sure that everyone knows that she is injured. This girl knows how to milk something for all its worth, let me tell you. I was hosting a Bible Study in the living room afterward, and I hear screaming all of a sudden - Josie had been in bed for at least an hour - so I run to her room. She looks straight at me, points her "boo-boo finger" at me, moans a little, then rolls over and goes back to sleep.

Don't you forget this, Mom. Don't you forget it.

Table Licker!

Sadie has started getting out of bed 2 or 3 times a night. She comes into my room and says, "Can I come up and snuggle with you for a minute?" How am I supposed to say no to that? She looks so cute in her little footie pj's. Josie actually sat still and listened to 3 books in a row tonight... I was so excited! She's finally getting interested in reading... we read Noah's Ark, Ten Little Ladybugs, and Goodnight Moon. She says, "Moon! Moon!" She's also very fond of the "young mouse" and the "toy house" in the book. I love reading to her... you can almost see the little wheels turning in her head.

Yesterday we played in the snow! The kids just wanted to sit at their little table and eat it. It wasn't very good snowman-making snow, so I just let them sit there and lick the table. What a great mom I am! :)

Might I Have a Word?

Today at lunch, Josie said, "Oh boy!" when I told her she could have a cupcake. Then she said, "I'm a big girl!" when I tried to help her eat it without making a huge mess. Then, "Oh, Man! Ewww... dir-tee, Mommy!" AFTER she finished eating the said cupcake.

Sadie informed me that she wanted to play the xylophone after lunch, and then she proceeded to hand out "instramants" to everyone, along with a "mikerphone" for me. We then sang a rollicking version of "Yankee Dood-nell."

Time is on my side

Oh, gone are the good old days when I could just sit around and blog to my heart's content. I used to write every day... now it seems like I'm lucky to get to it once a week! I guess a lack of time comes with the territory when you have small children. The kids are being better today - after a few days of badness. I shouldn't say that. BUT, I really have had a rough few days recently. Normally, I feel like I have this really high calling... like being a Mommy is the most important, most wonderful, rewarding thing in the world. The past 3 days I've kind of wanted to run and hide. Yesterday I burst into tears and Jesse came home from work early to help me get the kids to bed. He also brought me a card and dinner (*sniff), since I didn't have time to eat anything between the whining, yelling, and pooping. It was very sweet, and now today is shaping up into a good day. I know I just have to remember that they can't be good all the time. It's tough being a kid, I know. Sadie and I have discussed how hard it is to obey, and she reminds me from time to time, "But Mommy, I don't WANT to obey. It's too hard to obey!" Boy, do I know it. Not only do I remember how hard it was sometimes to obey my own parents, but even now it's difficult (sometimes impossible) for me to obey God. So while I can share in Sadie's growing pains, I seriously need to keep working on my patience.

In good news, Jesse and I are both losing weight. Little by little. But we ARE eating much healthier now, and I have banned junk food from our house. (And he has promised not to eat it in the car when I am not supervising :) Also, Josie has learned to sing "Down By the Bay," which is completely entertaining. Sadie even tries to get her to sing it, which is unusual, since Sadie is usally the one who wants the limelight all to herself.

Other good news? (well, maybe... I'll keep you posted.) I'm doing a bridal fair in March to try and get some business going for the wedding shop, which I have pretty much decided that I'm going to do on the side again. We'll see how it goes, but hopefully I haven't lost my touch. See www.dctweddings.com if you want to see some samples and send some business my way :)

Calgon, take me away

Oh my gosh. Am I glad this day is over. Just when I think I've got the parenting thing down okay, a day like this comes along.

The good news is, Sadie is feeling better. And Josie is still fine, as of press time :) The bad news is, I feel like today was a complete and total failure on my part, as a mommy.

Let's just say there was much pushing down of a younger sibling by an older sibling, several refusals to eat, there were numerous "time outs," willful and premeditated disobedience by a 2 year old, whiny screaming tantrums by a one year old, unprecedented crying fits by 2 children (and one mommy), mean yelling (again, the mommy), and finally, bedtime prayers which consisted of, "please God, help us have a better day tomorrow. And help me stop being mean to my sister. Amen."

I thought it only fitting to display Sadie's "mean cowgirl face" at this point:

In A Pinch

Yesterday, we let the crabs, George and Sherry, out for an afternoon romp on the coffee table in the family room. Sadie and Josie were very entertained by their "crabby" antics: climbing on their little ladder, almost falling off the table, creeping around on top of their shell.... Josie was especially interested, and she was brave enough to hold them in her little chubby hand. Well, Sherry is not known for her friendliness - she's more of a hermit than most hermit crabs I know - but Josie picked her up and was being very gentle and careful. As I sat next to her in the floor, she held Sherry up to get a closer look at her beady little eyes. Then, quick as a flash, BAM! A little purple crab claw shot out of Sherry's shell and grabbed Josie's upper lip and hung on! You should've seen the look on Josie's face! She was so startled she just stood there, with this crab pincher attached to her little lip, dangling there from her face. I grabbed Sherry and somehow got her to let go, putting her back in her cage, and then I took the now-wailing Josie into the bathroom to wash her little pinched lip off. It took a while to calm her down, let me tell you. It was post-traumatic, apparently. Anyway, as I sat there snuggling her, I heard Sadie from the other room saying, "Bad, mean old crab! You pinched my sister! You are going in time out!" Then she dumped Sherry into her water bowl and came stomping into the bathroom to give Josie a kiss and a hug. Here are the girls modeling some "crab-proof" goggles :)

Clean up, Clean up

We were saying the Lord's prayer, and we got to the part where it says, "He anoints my head with oil, my cup runneth over." Sadie interrupts and says, "But it will drip all over my hair and that will be a BIG mess!"

Josie has been amazing me the past couple of days. While her fever seems to be subsiding, her "word fever" is making an explosion around here! She's picked up so many new words this week! Today, she took her "Big Bear" her daddy got her for Christmas, and "tickle, tickle, tickle"d his feet. Then, she informed me that she would like a "juice box, please" and a "snack." She also pointed out a duck, a "tweet tweet," a deer, a car, and lots of other things. She's also been a big helper... she's been helping to put toys away, "clean up, clean up" and she even helped me clean out the dishwasher!

All Done With Christmas

After a long trip, a lot of Christmas-ing, cleaning up, and unpacking, we are all settled in back at home.

Where to begin? The girls had a really good time playing with their cousins, aunts, and uncles, and Great Grandma Genevieve loved having them there to hold and stuff with food (all kinds, especially livermush and cookies). They also both got to ride the tractor with Papaw (several times, and Sadie decided that that was her all-time favorite thing to do... Josie also said, "Trat-tor! Yay!"). Mamaw Sylvia kept them entertained with the antics of the "creepy mousie" and Sadie said that she wanted to take the creepy mousie home with her in her new toybox that Papaw built her and Josie for Christmas.

Jesse and I had a good time too, and we got to see almost everyone we wanted to... it's always hard to pack everything in in just a week, but it was a nice vacation. By the time we were done, Sadie said, "Mommy, I'm all done with Christmas." The girls must've watched Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer 30 times in the past month, and last night, Sadie said, "Quick! Douse the light!" Just like Hermie the elf! I laughed so hard. They both like singing the song now, and while Josie hums along and bops back and forth, Sadie says, "Then one soggy Christmas Eve..."

I would like to write more and tell all about all the neat stuff they got for Christmas, along with funny stories that happened while we were there, but alas, I have come down with a cold... and I can hardly remember - much less type!