Clowning Around

Last night, I asked Josie who loved her, and she said (without hestitating), "JESUS loves me.... This I KNOW!!!" It was the cutest thing ever!

Today, Sadie tried on my new red shoes (which are obviously WAY too big for her). She just happened to be undressed since we were getting ready for bed. Wearing nothing but big red shoes and a smile, she did a little dance and sang, "I'm a clown - I'm a clown - I'm a clown! I'm a NAKED CLOWN!"

Let's Go Fly a Chicken

Returning from our second trip to NC of the summer:

When we first got there, as usual, the kids both had to have a bowl of Great Grandma's pinto beans. The next day, Sadie ate beets for supper. Jesse asked me, "What is wrong with this kid? How many little girls love PINTO BEANS and BEETS?!" They were very happy to see Great Grandma, and she was "plumb tickled" to see all of us. :)

We went to lunch with Amanda and Grandma on Friday, and had some good BBQ... the kids liked the hushpuppies, too (you don't see many of those around here!). The girls and I also went shopping with Great Grandma and she found some good deals on shoes for them. That night, we went to a restaurant built like a "Chicken House," an old timey Italian place with Mamaw and Papaw. Unfortunately, the power was out. It was HOT in there, but we perservered and had some great lasagna. Sadie's favorite part of the whole night was when she had to go potty and we had to take an oil lamp into the bathroom with us so we could see - she thought that was so cool!

On Saturday, Josie started calling Great Grandma "Gen-Vee! Gen-Vee!" They also reiterated, over and over, how Cameron, Caleb, and especially Scotty are "Funny! He's funny! Oh, he's funny!!!" We rode the golf cart, of course, played on Cameron and Caleb's new swingset/slide combo, and had a generally fun time up at Angela and Scotty's house. Then we had lunch with Uncle Garry and Aunt Sharon down at Great Grandma's. I love just hanging out like this with my family. The kids all piled into the pack-n-play and pretended to be bears in a cave, and then Cameron told them all stories.

Then, we went to Louis and Brenda's for a pool party for my birthday (and Chasity's - we haven't had a "joint" birthday party in 15 years!!). It was so much fun... we got in the pool, sat around and talked, played with the kids, and they even got us a cake! The best part was getting a bunch of beans that they canned just for me! Sadie accidentally mashed Hailey's finger in the screen door, and with much ado, FINALLY apologized to her. Sheesh... it's hard to get kids to feel like saying they're sorry, even if they really are sorry! Sadie talked to me about it later, and said how she felt bad for doing it, but at the moment, she just couldn't seem to bring herself to apologize.

Saturday night, Papaw and Sadie built a kite one night (from scratch) and she got to measure AND hammer in the nails. They did all the work outside the garage on the cattle trailer (note the picture of both girls pretending to be cows). What a great time! Papaw put a red tail on the kite and found some string, but alas, there was NO wind at all. Sadie can't wait to fly it, so we're hoping for "some breeze," as she likes to say. After they finished with the kite and we were back inside, Sadie wanted to play with this glass angel figurine of Mamaw's and Papaw told her that she couldn't because the wings might break off. She said, "Well, that's okay." He said, "No it's not! Have you ever seen an angel without wings?" She said, "Yes.... YOU!" He laughed... and said that he was pretty far from being an angel. It was sweet, though.

We went to Uncle Thomas and Aunt Elizabeth's house for a cookout on Sunday after church, and we were all ready to get in the pool when it came the first (and hardest) rain of the entire summer. It was a real "gullywasher," as my Daddy would put it. It rained SO hard that we ran inside the screened porch and ate our hamburgers, dumplings, and Oreos with Britt and Natasha. The kids were somehow left unattended by the candy bowl in the living room, and helped themselves... by the time I found them, Josie's "tummy hurt!" and there were candy papers all over the floor.

Josie was a crazed kamikaze at the playground on Monday before we left... she ran up the slides, tried to come down upside down an backwards, and when Papaw pushed her on the "chicken" swing, she just yelled, "Higher! Higher!" She is a nut. We had a really good time, and they were great on the way home... they just talked... and talked... and talked.... According to Jesse, they get this trait from me, not him.

Hot Dogs and Jesus

Someone please tell me what it is about dishtowels and potholders that make them IRRESISTIBLE to my children. I have totally given up on folding these things after I wash them... now they are just thrown - well, stuffed, really - into two drawers in the kitchen. They would fit in ONE drawer if they were folded. I think. They've never been folded long enough for me to determine the truth of that statement. BOTH of the girls love to get these things out, throw them all over the entire house like giant confetti, OR (my favorite) pretend like they are stepping stones or hopscotch squares. If they fall off, they get eaten by invisible alligators - or something like that. It's the strangest thing... Hey, wait a minute. A lightbulb just went off, and I seem to recall that Angela and I used to do almost the exact same thing, except it was with couch cushions. Hmm. Now that I think about it, maybe my kids aren't that strange, after all!

The other day Sadie was sitting on my bed with me, pretending to be in a boat. We rocked one way, then the other, then the "wind" started blowing. Apparently, it started "raining," too. Sadie looked at me and said, "You're a storm, Mommy!" So, I blew and shook and pretended to rain for a while. Suddenly, Sadie jumped up, held her hand up in my face and said, "Hey! Stop it, you, you BAD OLD STORM! BE STILL! Do what I say! I'm JESUS!" :)

Last night, Mama and I took the girls shopping. When we left the shopping center, we got lost. I'm serious. We went a back way, and I REALLY thought I knew where we were going. Alas, I was wrong. You heard it here first, folks! I was wrong! We drove around aimlessly somewhere along the tune of 25 minutes, and Sadie and Josie were in the back sing-songing, "We're Lost! We're LO--OST!" "Where are we, Mommy? Where are we when we're lost?" This did not help matters. I gave up and called my father-in-law, who said in his sweet, understanding way, "What a moron!" hehee! When we finally made it back to the highway, it was past bedtime, and we had to think fast to avoid breakdowns in the backseat. Mama and I broke out singing the timeless classic: "I Know a Weenie-Man." This was an instant favorite of both girls, who tried really hard to sing along, but they mainly ended up saying the last words in a phrase:

Man!
Stand!
HOT DOG!
DOWN!
LIFE!
Wife!
MAN!!!

The actual song goes like this - in case you ever want to use it to avoid a breakdown of your own:

I know a weenie-man
He owns a weenie-stand
He sells most anything from hot dogs on down
Someday, I'll share his life
I'll be his weenie-wife
Hot dog! I love that weenie-man!!!

Don't ask. :)

Like You

"I love you, my mommy. I love you so much." These are the words from my 2 year old's mouth as we were eating our supper tonight. Later, after both girls were in bed, I hear Sadie yelling down the hall, "MOM-MEE! I forgot to tell you something VERY IMPORTANT!" I went across the house to her room and she said, "You're the best mommy, Mommy. In the whole wide world."

If they think I'm so great, why do I feel so inferior and unworthy of being their mom most of the time? Have you heard that country song that says, "I've been watching you, hey ain't that cool... I wanna be like you, your little buckaroo, and eat all my food, and grow as tall as you are...." It's all about this little boy who says a bad word and when his dad asks him where he learned to talk like that, the little boy tells him that he learned it by listening to his dad! So the dad feels like crap and goes out to the barn and prays to God to help him help his stupid self, and later he hears his son talking to God just like a friend... then the little boy tells him that he learned to pray like that from listening to his dad, too. Sheesh. It's amazing that a country song on the radio can convict my heart and make me want to try to be a better mom. I guess God knew exactly what station I was listening to.

I definitely don't want my girls to grow up to be like me. Well, maybe in SOME ways, but I really am somewhat self-centered, and pessimistic, and opinionated, and ungrateful. I guess it's good that I admit that kind of thing now... I used to think I was pretty darn near perfect. HA! Now I see that between marriage, kids, and turning 30, you kind of grow up and see things from a different perspective. My prayer, too, is that God will help ME help MY stupid self.

Final Thought

Today, as Sadie and Josie were waving goodbye to Grammie from the bedroom window, Sadie yelled, "BYE! See ya! Be safe! And don't step in any bird poop!"

Josie-Bean's Birthday

We finally got to have Josie's 2nd birthday party last Sunday. She only had to wait 2 weeks after her REAL birthday. I felt sorry for her... luckily, I don't think she knew the difference. We had strawberry cake (made by Grammy, of course), hamburgers and hotdogs (grilled by Daddy), and other yummy food made by various members of the family. We had quite a turnout! I think everyone who was invited got to come (except Deanna, who was sick). The kids had fun with their little party blower thingys, and they ran around like crazy throughout the festivities. Josie had to try a few times, but she finally got her candles blown out and when she ate her cake (much less messily this year than last, I might add) she said, "Mmmm... YUMMY!" Present opening time was a blast... with every present she got she'd say, "ME! Mine! I do it!" Then she'd open it up and suck in her breath like she was so excited and get this big smile on her little face. It was so cute! She got lots of cool stuff, like foamie swords from Grammy (which they all used to chase Uncle Darryl with outside), a new Goodnight Moon book from Aunt Sue, a bubble blower from Aunt Becky, a Magna Doodle from Aunt Cindy, Colorforms from Aunt Sarah (Josie loves these), cute clothes from Laura, an Aqua Doodle from Aunt Lyd and Darryl, and all kinds of books and puzzles from Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Jackie. She spent the rest of the evening with Blankie hanging out in her new pink butterfly chair that Mommy and Daddy gave her. All in all, this was one fun party!

Zooed Out, by Jim

On Wednesday, we went to the beach with Deanna. This was a big ordeal... I mean, we had our umbrella, our wagon, our cooler, our snacks and popsicles, our swimsuits and towels, our extra clothes, flip-flops, beach blanket, and a million other things. It was HOT. The beach was crowded, but we made our way to a deserted spot and set up camp. In less than 5 minutes, the kids were COVERED in sand. COVERED. Then they buried Deanna in the sand (she's such a good sport) and built a sand fort. We were there for almost 4 hours, and we had a really good time. I did have to clean sand out of every orifice of their bodies for the next two days, but I think it was worth it.

This weekend, my friend Amanda came to visit. I was SO excited, since it was the first time anyone from home had seen my house or anything (except Mama, of course). We had a GREAT time. She said that from the way I'd talked about it, she was surprised that our town had electricity. Hehee... I never realized that I came across that way, but she was pleasantly surprised. We hung out and spent a couple of hours in the bookstore on Friday night, and saw the following interesting books:

Today I Made Brownies and They Were Pretty Good by Jim

I Went to College and It Was Okay by Jim

I Got a Job and It Wasn't That Bad, also by Jim

After cracking up for a while over these literay masterpieces, we spent too much money, went to dinner, and had a great time reminiscing. Saturday we took the girls to the zoo and Sadie rode a camel... the sucker was TALL. Amanda, poised with her camera on the other side of the fence, called to Sadie: "Look at me, Sadie! Wave!" I yelled, "NOOOooo!!! Don't wave!!!" I was so scared she'd fall of the 11 foot high beast. She got some cute pictures, though. Amanda and Josie tracked a wild (coughing) tortoise, both the kids got hyped up on blue cotton candy and Icees, and we stayed there until we were completely zooed out. Our motto for the day? "We Came. We Saw. We Peed. We Left." Let's just say that Sadie had a little "incident" in the Rain Forest.