The Udder Zaccheus

Jesse was discussing the Zaccheus story with Sadie while we were at supper the other night (that was her Sunday School lesson for the week) and he said, "What would you say to Zaccheus if you were Jesus?" She thought a minute, then said, "Well, I would tell him to get down from there because it's suppertime. AND, I will let you go to sleep in the green grass and I will take you to the still waters." I thought that was so smart!!! She was putting herself in Jesus' place!

"Don't take dem all, my Mommy!" Josie admonished me today as I was trying to "share" her strawberries with Sadie. "I still eatin' dem!" Her vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few months, and she has this adorable little low voice... kind of like a guttural voice... I can't explain it, but she tends to pooch out her lips and frown when she talks, like she's TRYING to talk like a cowboy or something.

Later, Sadie brought a ziploc bag with a cheese sandwich in it into the kitchen and slung it up on the counter. "Mommy, Grammy left this for me in my room. She's always doing stuff like that... stuff she's not supposed to. I don't know why. I think it's because she's old."

My favorite thing that Josie and I do now is our bedtime ritual. I tell her she's the best Josie in the whole wide world, and then I say I want a smooch. She kisses me, then says, "Kiss your nose." She kisses my nose. "Kiss your eyes." She kisses my eyes. "Kiss my head." I kiss her head. "Kiss my cheek." I kiss her cheek. "Now de udder one." I kiss the other cheek. "I kiss your lips." She kisses my lips. "You kiss my ears." I kiss her ears. It's the best bedtime game ever!

Finished...I Need a Napkin

Today, when she was supposed to be sleeping, Josie was talking, talking, talking in her room. I finally went in and she said, "Hello dere! I reading my book. (The Grouchy Ladybug) I almost finished." True to her word, when she "finished" reading, she closed it and went to sleep!

Yesterday while I was brushing Sadie's hair before church, she - shall we say - "tooted." While I hesitate to share this unladylike bodily function with you, I'm going to record it for posterity anyway. I said, "Yikes! That was a big one!" She turned around to look at me and said, "Mommy, I need a napkin." It was totally unrelated to what had just transpired, because she had oatmeal on her chin that she wanted me to wipe off for her, but when she said it at that moment, I thought I would CRACK UP.

Numbly Bumbley

What a day. Just when things started to feel like they were going to get back to "normal," (normal for me is probably NOT normal for most people), everything goes haywire. Jesse gets a cold. Josie (who for all intents and purposes is THE most "regular" person alive - ask anyone at church... come 10:30am on Sunday morning, she stinks everyone out of the nursery, every week) has been having, shall we say, issues, since Saturday, and to top it all off, I woke up this morning with my left elbow roughly the size of a grapefruit. Don't ask me why. I go to bed, it's normal. I wake up, it's giant. And it HURTS. I go to work, it hurts, I work, it hurts, I go to lunch, it hurts, I call the doctor. I go to the doctor. Something exploded in there, possibly because I whacked my funny bone yesterday. They numb it, by sticking me with a needle about 12 times (a whole OTHER thing... If they're trying to NUMB you to not feel PAIN, why do they have to STICK you repeatedly with a stinking sharp NEEDLE?!), then slice it with some kind of a razorblade. I have some mysterious elbow infection/exploded fluid something. I don't understand it. Honestly, I think I would have rather just gritted my teeth and felt the razorblade for a second than having the so-called "numbing" put in there. I mean, it's not like I've never cut myself with a razor before (if you've ever seen the backs of my knees, you know what I mean). Anyway, they gave me antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, and anti-venom or something. What I need is some anti-WEIRD AILMENTS HAPPENING ONLY TO ME pills. But I digress. After that weird little visit to the doctor, I gave up and took Josie to HER doctor, too, because she was breaking my heart by holding her little tummy, crying, and yelling "Tummy hurt! I poop! TUMMY HURT! POOOOOOOP!!!" every ten minutes. I won't go into the details, but she feels better now, bless her little heart.

Funny things: Sadie had on her "grandma shirt," as she calls it - one that looks like a peasant shirt with big sleeves - her Grandma Beth has one like it, I think. Or at least Sadie thinks she does...Anyway, this shirt turned out to be a bit on the small side. When Sadie reached up for something, she said, "Hey! My belly is cold! This shirt is too small! I think we need to give it to our friend Josie."

Last night, the kids watched Rudolph for the 867th time. I know, I know, it's September. I live in a timeless void. Anyway, the Abominable Snowman came on the screen and Sadie says, "Hey! Look! It's my Grandpa!" Josie echoes, "Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandpa!" Yeah, old Roy is a mighty humble bumble, all right. :)

X-nay on the Ing-Kay

I think I'm going to have to boycott "The Lion King."

Yesterday, Sadie burst into the song, "I've got a love-a-lee bunch of coconuts, twiddle-e-dee, tweedle-e-dee," at a most inopportune moment, THEN, tonight, I walked in to find Josie on her little knees, hands raised in the air, yelling, "Fa-der! FA-DER! Don't WEAVE ME!"

"I'll Have the Bees...Gracias."

After taking a walk (while Sadie rode her bike and Josie pulled the wagon) and watching the clouds up in the sky, we came home and made supper while we listened to Josie's latest favorite song, "Thank you, God, for who I am... I don't need to be a superman!" She usually starts singing it right after she says thank you for anything... for example, I give her some chocolate milk and she says, "THANK YOU, GOD!" It's pretty stinking funny, if I just remember to tell her that I am NOT God, and it IS good to thank Him for everything.

That said, I just killed the seventh bee of the day. SEVENTH!!!! We apparently have an infestation of some sort, and they are all ending up in the kitchen. Melanie, you do NOT want to come here today. The kids find it all very fascinating... I guess it is pretty entertaining to watch me stalk the bee, line up the bee under my instrument of death (usually an envelope of some sort), smack the bee, squash the bee, and then go, "Oooh-ewww-ooh-eww" while jumping up and down. I hate that crunchy squooshing sound. Anyway, I don't know what the deal is, but Jesse's going to be spraying tomorrow, whether he likes it or not!! :)


Last night we went out to eat at the kids' favorite place... Mexican. Once there, Josie, who is two years old (as you probably know), said that she wanted (and I quote), "A Quesadilla, rice and beans, and cheese dip." Sadie added, "And nachos AND salsa. Gracias." Ay de mi. Josie flirted shamelessly with the waiters, and Sadie had a good old time climbing all over Grammy and wiping beans on her shirt.

Today, Deanna came over to play, and I thought both of them were going to burst from excitement when she got here. I was in the middle of changing Josie's diaper when I hear Sadie yelling from the kitchen, "She's here! Oh boy! Oh boy! Podie-odie okey-dokey! She's here! She's coming around the mountain!" Well, you couldn't fool Josie.... SHE knew who was here, and she started this low grumbly squeal deep in her throat... building as her whole body quivered with excitement, until she finally cut loose with this bloodcurdling scream of "DEANNA! I IN HERE! DEANNA! WHERE ARE YOU?" Then she takes off running as fast as her chubby legs could go. I didn't see them again for almost 2 hours... most of this time was spent hiding in my closet. All I heard were giggles, thumps, and muffled, "I hear the monster!" whispers from the other side of the door. I'm so glad they have Aunt Deanna! :)

The girls have been feasting on pinto beans for the past 3 days now. Great Grandma Genevieve sent them home with Grammy when she came back on Sunday. Sadie got up from bed a while ago and said, "Mommy, I could sure use a little bit of beans." She ate a whole bowlful, then asked for more. Then she sat back, rubbed her tummy, and said, "Ahhh. Great Grandma Genevieve sure does make the BEST beans." I don't know that I've mentioned this before, but she thinks HER middle name is Great Grandma Genevieve. hehee



Well, I must retire for the evening... 5 o'clock comes early, as my Daddy always says. I will be on the lookout (hear-out?) for telltale buzzing all night, needless to say.

I Tink

While we were gone, the kids went to the fair with Grandma, Deanna, and Aunt Becky. They got to meet a robot and ride ponies! From what I hear, Sadie is turning into her father - she had on a shirt that said "Daddy's Little Sweetie," and when Grandma Beth asked her what it said, she answered, "Well, it sure doesn't say GRANDMA's little sweetie!" Sheesh.

We saw a dead mouse outside today, and you would've thought it was a major tourist attraction. They stared at it, pointed, stared some more, and just could not pull themselves away. Josie kept saying, as I dragged her off, "Mousie! Dead! EWW! A dead one, Mommy! Mousie! Yucky!"

Tonight, after baths, Josie was having some naked time in Sadie's room. Or as she likes to call it, she was a "nudie-butt." She sat down on a pillow, pulled a blanket on top of her head like a shepherd, and just sat there, like she was meditating. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Shh... Mommy. I tinking." Then she tapped her head with her finger and said, "Tink, tink, tink."

Sadie ran into my room tonight and put her hands on her hips, got this serious look on her face and said, "Mommy! Josie kicked me RIGHT in the FACE. Right in my NOSE. With her FOOT. AND she did NOT say she was sorry. I did not do ANYTHING. I just was trying to PLAY with her, and Mommy, she KICKED me. RIGHT IN MY FACE!" All this while gesturing wildly with her hands... I couldn't help it... I cracked up. Sadie kind of grinned, but I don't think she appreciated my lack of concern. Josie did end up saying she was sorry and giving Sadie a kiss, to which she replied, "Thank you, Josie. I feel better now."

Thing One and Thing Two

Jesse and I just got back from our first "real trip" without the girls. We went to Orlando (he won a trip on the radio) and stayed for 4 days and 3 nights. His friend from work and his wife went with us. The trip started off really well - Sarah dropped us off at the airport so we didn't have to park, and we went straight through to the gate... no waiting AT ALL! The flight was uneventful, which was a good thing, since I was a semi-nervous wreck (the last time I flew was before Sadie was born when my head exploded, you know).

The resort was really nice, and we were happy to be in the land of palm trees (although they little nuts on the trees were NOT coconuts. Jesse said they were "palm-olives," which is what they make dish soap out of. :) The first night we waited around too long to get supper and we were all starving and irritable by the time we finally found somewhere - some place called Houlihan's. From now on, when we're all so hungry we're sick and crazy, we're coining the phrase "I'm HOULIHAN'S hungry!"

Sunday, we went to Universal Studios. After standing in line for a good 45 minutes in the burning hot Florida sun, we finally got into the park, which was really cool. It's just like being in a city all its own - there are movie sets everywhere, and you can't tell if they are real buildings or just false fronts. We saw the T2 3D movie, rode The Mummy Returns, Twister, Earthquake, MIB Alien Attack, stood in line for Jaws (they had to shut it down because of lightning), and just goofed off and had a good time. It was really interesting to see how movies are made and to see actual props and stuff from movies that you've watched for years. After all this excitement, we were exhausted, so we went back to the condo and made pizzas and watched TV. My mom tried to get the kids to talk to me on the phone but they weren't interested. Then when she asked if they wanted to talk to Daddy, they both did and Sadie got on the phone and said in this sweet little voice, "Hey, Daddy!!!" Thhpt. All I did was give birth to them and love them and care for them every day of their lives, the little goobs.

Monday we went to the outlets (or I should say we TRIED to go to the outlets). I have never seen more cars jammed into one parking lot... cars EVERYWHERE. All over the curbs, parked behind eachother, parked on the sidewalk... it was ridiculous. We ended up dropping off Jesse's friend and his wife at the door and going to some little gift shops further up the road. I knew it was time to give up the outlet idea when Jesse got that look in his eye that said "I am going to run SOMEBODY down!" He doesn't do well in crowds. Luckily for him, I am not the typical shop til you drop woman. I didn't mind leaving the psycho parking lot at all. The afternoon was spent hanging around the pool, and that night we went out to dinner at another place called Key W Kool's which was pretty stinking expensive BUT delicious. After stuffing ourselves, we forced ourselves to pack up all our stuff and go to bed since we had to drop off Jesse's friends at the airport at 7:00am!!

On Tuesday, our flight didn't leave until 5:30pm, so we had pretty much all day to do what we wanted (which was mainly to go home and see our kids. We were getting fairly desperate... I asked one lady if I could hold her baby and she looked at me like I was nuts. I promised her I wasn't a weirdo... just deprived of my own children for 4 days. :) We went out to breakfast, walked on Cocoa Beach (the Space Coast) where we saw a woman playing a shofar out in the ocean, went to RonJon's Surf Shop, and THEN we went to Kennedy Space Center! I was SO EXCITED, I felt like a little kid! The rocket garden was amazing to me, and we rode in a space shuttle simulator, saw all kinds of cool NASA stuff, and got our picture taken with a real astronaut. I loved it! Jesse just liked it because I liked it so much, I think.

When we finally got home Tuesday night, we woke the kids up (which I'm sure Aunt Lydia and Uncle Darryl did NOT appreciate, since they had so graciously just put them to bed for us :) but we HAD to see them and give them their Thing 1 and Thing 2 t-shirts, Space Shuttle Suckers, Pooh Bear stampers, seashells, Tinkerbell shirts, and new shoes from the Nike outlet (not to be confused with the other nutso outlets we tried earlier). It's a good thing we weren't gone longer... they wouldn't have any space left in their rooms! :)

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.

Quill and a Song

So I'm getting ready to go outside and pull weeds when I hear a little voice, through the monitor, singing a little something like this:


"I want my grand-pa
I want my grand-pa
I want my grand-ma
I want my grand-ma
I want my mom-my
I want my mom-my
I want my dad-dy
I want my dad-dy
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I do, I do, I want my grand-pa!"


Jesse showed Sadie a feather from a bluejay on the porch this afternoon, and she brought it inside and asked for some ink. Then she proceeded to paint a fancy picture with her "quill" and some red fingerpaint. I asked her where she learned to use a quill, and she said, "It's like they used to do in the old days. A long time ago... you know, like Belle in Beauty and the Beast."

Taint tu for MUSTARD!

Last night Sadie informed Josie that, "The Muffin Man told me that I have to put you in the oven and bake you." Jesse laughed. However, I found this to be a little creepy! This was along the same time that the girls were playing hot dog, ie: Josie sprawls out on the floor and Sadie squashes her and yells, "You are da hot dog! I am MUSTARD!"

Josie and Sadie both like to sing our prayer before we eat... Josie's goes like this:

"God, Fa-der
God, Fa-der
Taint tu, we taint tu
For-or bess-ins
For-or bess-ins
A-la-mein, A-la-mein!"

Hair or There

Well, I am once again facing that age-old dilemma: cut the hair, don't cut the hair. The hair is pretty when it's long, I'll give it that. It's curly, and dark, and well, feminine. The question is, when I wear it in a ponytail virtually ALL the time, what exactly is the point in having it long? The saga continues.



The deer ate EVERYTHING in the garden. We got about 10 pieces of broccoli, some lettuce, 4 strawberries, and some collard greens out of it, and that's just about it. Here is a picture of the girls watching one of the varmints!

Other than that, there is not much drama going on in my life at the moment. A friend of mine from home is coming to visit this weekend, and I'm super excited about that! Other than my mom, no one has seen my house yet!

The kids are doing well... Josie went for her 2 year checkup and the doctor couldn't get over how cute she is - I wasn't surprised. :) Sadie has to go to the dentist soon, so that should be fun. I told her that he needed to count her teeth. She's all about counting, so maybe it will be okay. We'll see.

I'm the Best

The kids have been running on all cylinders for the past few days... they have SO much energy that I wish I could harness it to run the air conditioner or something else horrendously expensive. Josie, now two, makes it a point to tell me at least 20 times a day: "I do it! I do it! NOOOOO!!! ME!!! I DO IT!" concerning all things dangerous or with a mess-making propensity. She's also started asking Jesse to "Hold me up there, Daddy! Hold me up there!"

Today, Sadie yelled from her room, "Mommy! I love you so much and I want to marry you!" Later, after we went to the park, fed the ducks, and slid down the poles holding up the swingset (fireman style), she informed me, "You're the best, Mom!" Josie, not to be outdone, nodded in agreement and said, "Yesh. You, Mom!"

Summertime in His hands

This week was Bible School at church, and I was the coordinator. This took up our mornings and then I worked in the afternoons, so it's been a crazy, busy, tiring week. But all in all, it was rewarding. I think the kids had a good time, and I think they learned a lot. On the way to church Wednesday morning, we were singing Josie's favorite song, "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." After a few rousing verses of "He's got Mommy and Daddy in 'He' hands," "Brothers and Sisters in 'He' hands," "The itty bitty baby in 'He' hands, "Sadie and Josie in 'He' hands," I threw in that "He's got Snoopy and Blankie in His hands...." Sadie was sitting in the back with Snoopy (who also has a rattle in his tummy). As I sang, I heard Snoopy rattle. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw Sadie throw Snoopy over her head as hard as she could and into the cargo part of the van. Then she said, "Well, He doesn't have SNOOPY in His hands, because I threw him in the back!"

Tomorrow is Josie's birthday. I cannot believe that she's going to be two already. It seems like it was just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital. Now she's turned into such a little character. Her new thing is kissing. She LOVES kissing, and when she puckers up, it's hilarious. She sucks her bottom lip totally behind her teeth and makes a giant sucking sound before she gets you. And then she wants to kiss "Eyes, Mom." "Nose, Mom." "Cheek, Mom." "Other one, Mom." She is also the world's greatest hugger. I feel SO important when she throws her chubby little arms around me and squeezes for all she's worth.

Tonight, to celebrate the end of our crazy week, we went to dinner with Aunt Sarah, threw rocks into the marina (simultaneously scaring the heck out of me and Sarah, because there was no railing and the water was 15 feet deep and very sinister, alligator-looking), then got ice cream cones at "Old Donald's." When we got home, I decided to completely blow their minds and let them stay up until 10:00! The best part? We sat outside on a blanket and watched the stars come out. We made wishes, too. Sadie's was, "I wish Mommy and Daddy would not pop me all the time." I laughed when she said that, and then she did, too. Then she looked at me and said, "Well! I really do wish it!" You'd think that the child gets a daily spanking or something!! Good grief. My grandma used to spank my uncle every day whether he needed it or not. Heehee... my guess is that usually, he needed it. Anyway, I digress. We made wishes, looked for falling stars, Josie spotted the moon, then ran around our blanket in crazy circles, we caught lightning bugs (and let them go), group hugged, and had a GREAT summery time.

When Big Bird Attacks

Yesterday, we went to a big water park for the day. Sadie and Josie helped me pack a picnic, Daddy loaded up the wagon in the van, we picked up Aunt Lydia, and away we went! The girls both looked so cute in their little swimsuits and their pint-sized life jackets. Josie's kept creeping up on her neck until all you could see was her head and her squooshed little cheeks poking out the top, but boy, did we have fun! They both loved the wave pool and the water slides (Sadie would go down the huge tall scary ones if they'd let her). Then we had our picnic and Josie was attacked by a mean Canadian goose - it actually BIT her hand when it tried to snatch a chip from her. She was a little upset, as you can probably imagine... I mean, have you ever been bitten by a bird the same size as you? Anyway, after that, Sadie and Lydia took turns chasing the geese away, and Josie hid under the table with her chips. Sadie rode some of the rides all by herself, and Josie rode the spinning teacups with us... later we stopped for slushies and popcorn, and a good time was had by all!

Keep It.

Tonight after bathtime, I caught a baby mermaid (Sadie) who squeaked and said that she "sure could use a toy." I asked Josie if she thought I should keep her or throw her back. Josie pointed her little index finger at me and said in a low voice with all seriousness, "Keep it."

In His Hands

Josie now says, "Yesh." Ask her a question, and you'll get either an emphatic "NO!" or a sweet little "Yesh," accented by a nod of her head, crazy hair waving in the breeze. I was holding her during evening assembly the other night (we're at our Bible School convention thing this week) and I looked down at her and realized... My baby is growing up! Since Sadie is older, I always think of Josie as a little baby, I guess. It suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks (nevermind the tears that welled up in my eyes suddenly and without warning) that she is NOT a baby. She is rapidly becoming a little girl. Sigh. She's talking all the time, and I'm beginning to actually be able to understand her, too. Today she said, "Hey! Look, Mom! A ball! Got it at the zoo!" (which she didn't, but still... that's a pretty good sentence).

They have been having a great time this week, for the most part. I mean, sure, there have been moments of whining and crying and "accidents of the pant-nature," but they've run around, gone to class, sung, danced, played, done crafts, eaten ice cream, and made lots of new friends. Deanna braided Sadie's hair - Jamaican style - with tons of little beads on the ends and Sadie loves it. She's had it in since Sunday and loves to shake her head and point out her "beautiful beadies" to everyone. Josie likes to pull on them, but Sadie does not appreciate that, as you can imagine. I think Josie's favorite part of the whole week has been Deanna's "helicopter rides" in the lawn outside the cafeteria. Deanna picks her up, whirls her around and around and around in a circle, then puts her down in the grass. Josie sticks both her arms out for balance, staggers around, laughing, then inevitably collapses backwards into the grass in a dizzy, giggling heap. Fun! Her new favorite song is, "He's got the whole woi-old - His hands... whole wide woi-old... hand! Little little baby... HANDS!" She also liked playing with Daddy in the nursery - he took care of her there almost every day, after taking both kids to their Musical Praise class - and climbing in the tent and the tunnel (the child LOVES tunnels... I think she may end up as a spelunker).

Yesterday, I heard a giant ka-thunk and then a scream - oh wait, that was my OWN scream when I realized that Sadie had fallen from the top bunk bed into the floor!!! What is it about bunk beds that silently whisper to children... "Climb to the top! I am a wonderful mountain! There is nothing but joy at my summit! Climb, uncoordinated ones! Climb!" Sadie, at last, gave in and did it (unsupervised) and then decided to get down in the quickest - and most painful - way. It scared the heck out of me, but she landed on her butt and Aunt Becky (nurse's room next door, thank goodness) said that her tailbone wasn't broken. Jesse says that now at least we can be sure that she got HIS bone structure and not MINE. Thank goodness. She's had fun balancing on all the cement walkways and benches around the campus and playing hide and seek with her cousins. For 45 minutes the other day, they ALL hid in the closet, closed the doors, and snickered away while I counted to 10 and tried to find them OVER and OVER again. Apparently, this was hilarious to anyone 4 and under.

I'm sure I'll have more to report later, but now I must get to "Field Day" and practice my song for tomorrow... I think Sadie's going to get on stage in front of everyone and say the 23rd Psalm, but we'll see.

Sowwy, Mom

Last night I went into Sadie's room after I had washed my hair... it was down and clean and curly, and I realized just how much I've been keeping it up in a ponytail when she said, "Oh, Mommy! I like your hair! It's so long and beautiful!" I don't think I've ever felt prettier. :)

Today, I was working in the garden - and might I add that WEEDS are the only thing that I am good at growing at this point - and Sadie came outside with me. At one point I looked over to check on her and she had just sprawled out on the grass on her back with her hands behind her head... "just looking at the clouds, and at that airplane stream," she said. I thought it was so funny because her Great Grandpa used to do exactly that same thing... just lie down whenever the mood struck him. We used to think he had passed out or something - he was always scaring us, but he was also always "just resting."

Josie has started calling me "Mom" instead of Mommy. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It makes her sound so much more grown up! But I must admit that it's cute to hear her little elfish voice saying, "Okay, Mom. Sowwy, Mom. I do it, Mom. Pease, Mom?"

Tonight when I was putting on her PJ's, she threw a bit of a temper tantrum. Okay, a BIG temper tantrum.... I think it was a precursor for the terrible twos, and Oh My Goodness. She trembled. She screamed NOOOooooo in a fit of rage. She shook her head back and forth so hard that I thought her little neck would snap. Worst of all? She BALLED UP HER TINY FISTS and TRIED TO PUNCH ME!!! It took me so much by surprise that I found it hard not to laugh. Holy cow. What are we in for?

Summertime in the South

Today I am in a horrible mood. It just seems like one thing after another is going wrong, wrong, wrong. Anyway, I thought I would recount our travel journal here to try to get un-irritated. This is super long, and is really just for our benefit in later years, so don't feel the need to read it all! Unless you just have nothing better to do! :) Here we go:

Wednesday, 6/6

We travel home... me in the front seat of Grandpa Roy's car, kids in the backseat. They don't fall asleep until around 10:00pm, when Sadie informs me that she's hungry and that she "Wants dumplins!" Surprise! When we get to Great Grandma's house, she HAS "dumplins" and the kids wolf some down at 11:30pm.

Thursday, 6/7

The kids eat a big breakfast with Great Grandma, then have a "birthday party" with all of her stuffed teddy bears. This is staged in the floor in front of the bed with the bears in a big circle around a cake that Sadie made out of little boxes, complete with pretend candles. Next, we went to Angela's house and played pirates with Cameron and Caleb - Caleb yells, "Argh Mate-ee!" over and over. Then all four of them jumped on Angela's bed and hid from all the lions - they run wild in NC, you know. When we went outside, Josie yelled, "Wook! Wook! Goats!" and toddled on over to feed them all kinds of weeds, rocks, whatever she could find. Cameron "chewed on Sadie like a dog," when they were playing in the big tunnel - which she did NOT enjoy - then Angela let Sadie drive the golf cart, which she DID enjoy. We all rode down to Great Grandma's house for a big lunch of pinto beans and cornbread. Later, we went swimming at Papaw and Mamaw's house... Sadie liked it except when she gulped down a big mouthful of water and Josie's favorite part was eating popsicles in the pool next to Papaw. He also let them jump in the water so he could catch them and they couldn't get enough of that. That night Natasha and Britt and Sadie built a human pyramid and Josie combed everyone's hair.

Friday, 6/8

We went back to Angela's and the kids all rode around on all the toys in the basement, played the drums, and had lunch. Caleb said, and I quote, "I do not want that on my plate. I do not want THAT on my plate." In other words, whatever I gave him to eat, he didn't want it. Until we got to the cherries... Caleb and Josie must've eaten 50 cherries between them. We all napped at Great Grandma's, went to see Papaw and Mamaw for a few minutes, then we went to Amanda's house for a cookout with all my girlfriends and their kids. Sadie saw Amanda's husband's "target deer" out in the yard and she said, "Why didn't he shoot him in the face?" because all of the arrow marks were in the deer's body. I said, "You can ask him," (meaning Amanda's husband, who was in the house)... Sadie looked at me, looked the deer, then leaned over and said to the deer, "Why didn't he shoot you in the face?!" We had LOTS of fun running, jumping, staring at Amanda's dogs, playing pool downstairs, drinking CapriSun, and watching Happy Feet.

Saturday, 6/9

Sadie got up early and went outside to feed the birds with Great Grandma. Then both of the girls rode the tricycle and played hiding in Grandma's closet and yelling, "NO NO NO!" at each other as loud as they could when the other one tried to get in. We went to eat breakfast at "Jack's" with Derek and Theda, and Josie had a great time playing with her ice, eating all of her livermush PLUS all of mine, and Sadie had gravy biscuits. Derek bought them candy as we were leaving and so Josie finally let him hold her... she can be easily bribed. At Grandma's, Sadie sat on a stool and pretended to be Josh's teacher. She kept telling him to "Pay attention! I'm your teacher!" Josie kept saying, "Lub you!" to Thomas. Then we went with Natasha to her church for their youth rally. The kids had a GREAT time playing basketball, eating snow cones, jumping in the bouncy house (Sadie had to be dragged out of here... her little face was bright red and she was having so much fun I thought she would pass out), and eating candy as their "prizes." Sadie "bagged her first deer" at the "Deerhunter" booth, where she got to hold a little pretend bow and shoot little suction cup darts at a deer (only in the South! :) and she won! I think she was the only little kid who actually got it to stick to the target... she was so proud! I think the best part was the face painting... Sadie got two hearts on her face and Josie got one heart. Natasha took her back over to the booth later and when I walked up, Natasha was laughing. I said, "What is that on her face?" Josie was sitting really still while the lady painted something bright yellow on her cheek. Natasha snickered, "A chicken." When they asked Josie what she wanted on her other cheek, she said a chicken!" After they finished painting this tiny cute little chicken on her face, Natasha held up a mirror so Josie could see it. She looked in the mirror and said, "OH.... MY CHICKEN! I LUB IT!" Sadie said to me, "I like this church! I want to come back here tomorrow!" When we got home, Josie collapsed into bed but Sadie stayed up late to eat pintos and cornbread with Grandma "over yonder at the table" (Sadie's words).

Sunday, 6/10

We went to church on the mountain with Great Grandma. Josie wore the little seersucker dress Grandma gave her for her birthday and Sadie wore the white one that Mamaw got for her on our last trip home. They liked the drive to church... up the mountain, past the cows, goats, and chickens, and up the bumpity-bumpity dirt road. They like to go "AHHhhhhhh" while the car is hitting the gravel. At church, they ate M&M's that the preacher handed out to all the kids, went to Sunday School - Josie liked it, but Sadie didn't - played with their little cousins, running up and down the wheelchair ramp just like I did when I was little - Sat with Great Grandma and Josh and talked to Great-Great Aunt Odessa. When we came home, we had corn on the cob and spaghetti, and then Josh brought over Herbie, his fancy-schmancy souped up golf cart. We had BIG fun riding through the woods, beeping the horn, riding around and around and around the garden.... Sadie said, "That was a GOOD FUN TIME!" Josie said, "Josh! He-elp!" when Uncle Thomas was doing the driving. Then we looked at scrapbooks with Aunt Sharon and went to Papaw's to play in the pool some more. Brian came over, too, and Sadie played the accordion and Josie threw sticks into the new ponds that Papaw built. We went out to get pizza, and they ate tons of food and took turns sneezing and echoing (making fun of Mamaw's sneeze) in the parking lot. Then we went to play at the park... sliding, looking at the ducks, trying to catch lightning bugs, and Josie ran as fast as she could to try to keep up when we walking along the trail. She yelled, "Fast! Fast! Mamaw! Me! He-elp!" They of course got filthy in the sandbox and Great Grandma and I had to give both "baby mermaid" (squeak squeak) a bath.

Monday, 6/11

Ate livermush and eggs with Great Grandma. She played "airplane" with Josie (Josie loved this and ate ALL of her food) and then fed the birds again with Sadie. They snuggled together in a "pallet" she made on the floor to watch Dragontales. Then we went to our favorite place up the mountain to eat with Mamaw and Papaw. We ate red eye gravy! watched ducks, and fed the baby trout in the pond... there were hundreds of them in there. Mamaw bought both the girls a cute little black and white leopard hat, and they laughed their heads off at Papaw on the way down the mountain because he was being a "silly bodey." I don't know what that means, but apparently, it is something hilarious. Later, we went over to Louis & Brenda's to play with Noah and Dalton... the kids ate hotdogs on the new screened-in porch, ran crazily up and down the driveway, jumped on the bed, and took turns kissing Dalton. At Grandma's again, they played stacking "pee-dohs" and ran up and down the porch steps with Uncle Thomas. We ate cajun chicken for supper with Grandma.

SHEESH... we were busy. I didn't realize until I started typing this. I must stop making complete sentences. Onward!

Tuesday, 6/12

Rode golf cart Angela & boys to pool at Sharon and Gary's. Had lunch under picnic shelter on their deck. Grandma packed food for an army. Kids did not care at this point if I was dead or alive. They only wanted Sharon, Angela, and Cameron. Josie kept calling Cameron "Tay-lub" (I guess she thinks both of them are named Caleb) and would not let anyone else hold her in the water, even though he's only 6! Sadie would jump, jump, jump into the water to Angela or Sharon, but not me. Josie squirted Sharon in the face with a watergun and laughed like crazy. They were all very brave swimmers. Then they all went for a walk in the woods with Buddy the dog and Uncle Garry... played on the swingset, Josie climbed up the huge ladder all by herself, amazing Great Grandma to no end. Went to Papaw's, ate supper from the Igloo (YUM) then played with Mamaw while Mommy talked to Papaw. Ate watermelon (Josie ate SIX pieces) and played with the porch swing... Sadie's new saying, "I can do it my-say-ulf!"

Wednesday, 6/13

New vocabulary:

My hay-ur

Over thay-ur

Yippee-ay-kay-aye - git along little dawgies

Went to lunch with Sherry, Teresa, and Denise. Went to see "Friend Becky," as opposed to "Aunt Becky," at work and we bought some cook tennis rackets and a ball. Josie wore Grandma's glasses and read her "bible." Went for ice cream with Mamaw & Papaw. Sadie got orange pineapple and Josie got blueberry... Mamaw & Papaw shared butter pecan. We sat out on the porch for about 2 hours and played and talked - got ice cream ALL OVER everything, sat in oil (Josie), "balanced" on the cement things in the parking lot, danced, sang, played peekaboo behind the porch columns, and generally just had a good old time. Went back to Great Grandma's for beans and stewed potatoes, Thomas, Elizabeth, and Josh came over and played, went for a walk, and Elizabeth gave them a bath and put them to bed.

Thursday, 6/14

Fed birds. Sadie ran to tell me about "A wonderful tur-prise! All the bird food is gone!" Cameron came and took their picture with his very own camera. They watched Sesame Street, jumped on Cameron and squashed him. Played "tennis" outside, came running back in when they heard a "snake" in the bushes. Went to Heather's and had happy meals for lunch. Played choo-choo with Carson and Sydney, jumped on chairs, and listened to Heather tell us about snakes, coyotes, mountain lions, and bobcats! Right in her own yard! And I thought MY yard was bad! We went back to Papaw's and sat on the carport while we watched the rain... the kids ran and hid from the thunder and lightning, ate popsicles, and stayed with Mamaw to watch The Incredible Journey. Josie's diaper was so wet that it fell off at the wasteband... we all cracked up. She cried when we left. So I stopped for Bo-Berry biscuits on the way back to Grandma's.

Friday, 6/15

Papaw took the day off work so we went for a special treat... the cook on the table Japapese restaurant! Sadie said, "I LOVE THIS PLACE! Oh boy!!" They had a great time, and Josie yelled, "FIRE! FIRE!" during the cooking show. They ate lots of rice and carrots, and Sadie even liked the salad. Then we had milkshakes afterward, and spent as much time as we could together before we left that night, much to Grandma's dismay. We went over to Louis and Brenda's again to have a cookout with Chasity, Kimmie, and the boys, and then Thomas and Elizabeth and Josh came over to see us off. Though I tried, I couldn't fend Grandma off - she loaded the car down with enough food that you'd think we were driving to Alaska!

Bible Land

Sadie went to her very first Karate class last week. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. They kicked, jumped, punched, and yelled, "Hi-yah!" Sadie did really well, and she loved it... the cutest part was when they all stood in a line with their little fists clenched and yelled, "Yes, sensei!"

On the way home from Karate, Josie swiped Sadie's Snoopy when she wasn't looking and dropped him down beside the carseat where Sadie couldn't get him. When Sadie accused her, "Hey! You took my Snoop, JO-SAY!" Josie just grinned, rolled her eyes, and said, "Nope!" "Oh yes you did! You took my Snoop!" "Noooooope!" I have witnessed my child's first lie! Unfortunately, it was cute!

Tonight when we were reading a Bible story before bed, Sadie was practicing her letters. On the "B is for Bethlehem" page, she read "B is for Bibleland!"

Sing it Again

I think I have two virtuosos on my hands. On the way home tonight, these are the two masterpieces I heard being sung from the back seat:

Sadie's:

"Twirly-whirly

Beary-darey

Chugga-bugga woo

Okey-dokey

Hokey-pokey

Wuffa-huffa doo!"

and Josie's:

"I can't get it

Can't reach it

I need it

Hee-lp

My blankie, OH! My blankie!"

S is for Shaky

Sadie has made a breakthrough in her letter-learning. Over the past week, she has put sounds and letters together... now she can figure out what letter a word begins with just by making the sound! I'm so excited about it... it's so cool to see the little wheels turning in her head when she says, "Dog... d-d-d- D!" "Zoo... z-z-z- Z!" I've been told by several people that she's probably "gifted," which may put a kink in my homeschooling aspirations. ME? Homeschool a gifted child? Honestly, I don't know that I have those kinds of qualifications.

Josie is now thoroughly entranced with her baby dolls. She rocks them, reads to them, puts them to bed, dresses them (mainly in hats) and snuggles them in next to her teddy bear. Oh, and she sings the "Shaky Egg" song to them: "I know a chicken... she laid an egg. I know a chicken... she laid an egg. Oh my goodness! It's a shaky egg!" I know, I know. Not the greatest educational or spiritual song ever, but hey - you should see her shaking her egg!

We put up the "Alligator Pool" outside this week. Lydia and Darryl got it for the kids for Christmas, and it's this big wading pool that has two slides on it - one on each side - that look like an alligator... the head is one slide and the tail is another. They had a blast in that thing, and they look so stinking cute in their little bathing suits! Oh, and Sadie, who is prety much completely potty-trained now (Yahoo!!!) has learned to, ahem... potty outside. That is, on the edge of our woods so we wouldn't have to run in the house dripping wet. She thought it was the neatest thing ever: "Hey! Just like a puppy!"

Pssst...

The gardening is frustrating, already. It hasn't been in a week yet, and already the little pests are eating everything! I should've known, since we live in a suburban wildlife refuge - raccoons, deer, rabbits, squirrels, ducks, every kind of vermin there is seems to thrive in our backyard. I never thought they would eat pepper plants! They're all gnawed down to a "nub!" We put up a fence today... I'm hoping that it will at least deter SOME of the varmints. Dang it.

The kids, who could care less about our critter issues, had fun helping me water (and soaking themselves with their own watering cans), finding imaginary worms, and throwing dirt at each other. Maybe I should say DUMPING dirt on each other... I think that would be more appropriate. So, after we emptied out our shoes and their pants and shirts and whacked each other on the head to get all the dirt out, the kids ended up eating a semi-nudie-butt supper because they had to go straight to the tub. There is something about eating while naked (neck-ed, as we say in the South) that they just love. I personally haven't tried it in over two decades. :)

So I do this thing with the kids, just about every night but at least 3 times a week, where I "tell them a secret." I lean over and whisper, "You are the very best Sadie in the world!" or "You are the best Josie in the whole wide world!" The other night, after having a particularly frustrating time consisting of multiple messes, poop explosions (them, not me:) and disobedience, I was rocking Josie for a couple of minutes before I put her in bed. I had not done the whisper thing and I was getting ready to plop her in the crib when she sat up, put her hands on my cheeks, then leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Psssst...pssst...psst... se-tret. Mommy... whole wide world!"

I cried.

Chicken, Pease!

Tonight, Sadie yanked my sunglasses off the top of my head (I'm forever putting them there and forgetting them... they're like a permanent hair accessory) and said, "Ha ha! I'm a glasses thief! I steal your glasses!" I asked her, "Well, Glasses Thief, what do you do with them when you steal them?" She thought for a second, then said, "Um... I give them back."

The other day during lunch, Jesse & Sadie got a huge kick out of Josie when she kept coming over to me and saying, "Chicken, pease!!! Pease, Mommy? Pease?" Then, when I handed her a piece, she'd shake her head (with the crazy hair) vehemently, run the other way, and yell "Don't want it! Don't LIKE it!" She did this over and over and over again, and Jesse and Sadie were on the other side of the kitchen, cracking up. Josie is a born comedian, I think.

This afternoon, Grandma Beth came over and we all planted our vegetable garden. We are so excited!!! The girls planted almost all the corn single-handedly, and then had a good old time throwing dirt - the dirt here is this gorgeous thick black rich stuff, not like our hard red clay in NC... a plus to Ohio! :) Sadie thought up a new game called "Yank Josie Backwards by her Jacket Hood and Throw Her to the Ground." This bothered me at first, until I realized that Josie was laughing her head off everytime Sadie did it. You just never know what's going to amuse your children, do you?

Physical therapy is going well, although they are kicking my butt... my arms are SO SORE! But I think it's helping (minutely). Home is good, work is good, kids are good... life is good. Busy, but good.

Lub It!

On Mother's Day, the girls both sang, "Happy Birt-day to you! Happy Birt-day dear, MOMMY!!! Hap Birt-day to YeWWWW!" Jesse (and his mom, who picked it out for me) got me this fabulous scrapbooking caddy thing where I can keep ALL my scrapbook supplies. I love it! AND he paid for me to get my nails done AND let me sleep in! It was a nice day. Mama cleaned my house for me (yay!) and Sadie and Josie picked flowers for me and put them on my nightstand in the morning. :)

Today, Sadie said that she wanted to go to church because (and I quote), "Church is so wonderful. It is YUMMY to be at church!" Josie chimed in, "Lub church! Lub it, Mommy!" So apparently, my kids love church. That makes me happy.

Tonight, Sadie took my measuring tape from my sewing box and proceeded to "measure" me. Her verdict? "Your butt is BIG, Mommy!" Tell me something I don't know! Hehee

This weekend Sadie made up for telling Jesse that he was a "funny looking baby." She told him that when she grew up she wanted to marry HIM because he is "a pretty good-looking guy."

We Have a Bleeder!

I'm afraid that Josie is going to be one of "those kids." You know, the ones that always need stitches and bleed everywhere? Today, I was in the kitchen and she screamed and came running down the hall toward me. I picked her up and she kept saying, "boo boo! boo boo!" I asked her where, but she wouldn't say. All the while, I felt her tears (or what I THOUGHT were tears) dripping onto my shirt, my leg, my foot... hey, wait a minute... since when do tears make it all the way down to my feet? I look down. A gush of blood ALL down my shirt, my shorts, my thigh, my knee, my calf, my foot, my toes, the floor... HOLY CRAP! I yell (which is not the best thing to say in front of your children, but not the worst thing you could say, either, I suppose). I grabbed a towel and held it to the bottom of her foot, which had a nice little cut about 1/2" long on it, right in the tender part in the middle between the ball of her foot and her heel. The last "incident" that Aunt Cindy had to come and save us from was a good learning experience though, since I didn't panic this time, and Sadie brought me the medical supplies and we got Josie all fixed up. The culprit? Sadie stuck 2 quarters down in her piggy bank at the same time... they got stuck, she tried to pry them loose, and whammo. Glass in the floor. This was funny in a way, because when I was little I broke my piggy bank too... but it was to try and get money OUT of it, not squeeze more IN.

Grandpa's Legacy

Today, Jesse and I were talking to the girls while they ate their lunch. Sadie has this habit of saying things like, "When YOU were a little baby and I was YOUR mommy..." and "When I used to be big and YOU were little..." and things like that. Today, she said to Jesse, "Daddy, when you were little... well, you were sort of a funny looking baby." I. Cracked. Up.

After this, we had lots of fun playing outside since it was so nice today. They took turns squirting each other with a spray bottle. Josie kept chasing me around and saying, "I squirt! I squirt!"

There is this commercial for JCPenney that's running for Mother's Day (and it keeps running over and over and over) and it makes me cry every time! It's only about 30 seconds long, but it shows this little girl holding her mom's hand and then suddenly she's school age, then suddenly she's a teenager, then suddenly she's married, then suddenly she has her own little girl, and it ends with the mom (now the grandma) holding her daughter's hand and her granddaughter's hand. Sheesh. I'm such an emotional dingbat.

And last but not least, I had to post these silly pictures...One of my favorite things that that my Grandpa Ralph ever did was "corn teeth." Whether it was candy corn or real corn, I didn't care... it always cracked me up. He was so funny, and used to do silly little things all the time just to get people to smile. Thought you would like to see these, because sometimes my kids are just like him!

Does He, or Doesn't He?

Today when I got home from work, the kids and I went outside to have lunch and play. This lasted for approximately 20 minutes, mainly because Josie is JUST LIKE ME. In the stubborn department, that is. It was very warm and sunny out, and if you've ever seen her, you know that her cheeks are already like two glowing balls of squishy fire. So, I put a sunhat on her. This seems like a perfectly logical direction to go in, but apparently Josie does not know that word yet. The hat-putting-on did not go well. She took it off, I put it on. She took it off, I put it back on. She yanked it off and yelled, "Don't LIKE it!" I put it on and said, "Wear it!" She threw a tantrum, yanked it off, threw it down, screamed, and jumped up and down (as well as a 21 month old can). I took her inside and put her down for a nap. When you try to reason with her, you realize the true meaning of the word "futile."

However, today really was a good day (barring the hat scene). When they got up from their naps, we went to the park and saw lots of little baby ducks and goslings, and we followed them around and fed crumbs to the mommies. We played on the slides and swings and ran back and forth over the "clippety clop" bridge, looking for mean old trolls. Then we grabbed supper at Boston Market and had a "car picnic" because unfortunately, Sadie was robbed of her pants. By me, because they were soaked. Yes, we are having some potty-training issues, but we're still trying. I keep telling myself, "She won't be in diapers when she's 12 years old!" But sometimes it feels like it. Anyway, after the pant-less (she is a pant-less wonder, after all :) car picnic, we went for a wagon ride (Josie graciously allowed Sadie to cover herself up with Josie's blankie) around the park and had a nice stroll.

They went to bed without much of a fuss, especially Josie...she was pooped from chasing ducks and saying, "Hey! What's that!?" and "Hey! Lookit this!" (pronounced ha-ay... look-eat dis). Sadie held out a little longer and surprised me with this addition to her Psalm repertoire:

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want to go to bed.
He does NOT make me lie down in my bed.
He does NOT lead me to bed."

I Like It!

Josie's Grandpa Roy impersonation

Friday night Darryl came over to watch the kids so Mama and I could leave on our trip. When he got there, Josie took off running, singing what I like to call "The Darryl Song." It goes a little something like this: "Da-wuhl, Da-wuhl, Da-wuhl! Yay!" As they ate supper, Sadie looked at him and said, "You need to go eat food at your own house." I told her that wasn't very nice, and she looked at him again and giggled this little nervous giggle... "Heh heh. I was just kidding. You can stay here and eat food here. Heh heh."

This weekend my mom and I went to a women's retreat with a huge group of women from our church and other churches like it. I never thought that we would have as much fun as we ended up having! We talked and laughed so much that my throat is still sore. I actually (yes, ME) felt carefree on the way home yesterday! I cannot remember the last time that happened. Through a couple of the seminars, I also learned some valuable lessons that I needed to learn... for instance, why do I complain when the grocery line is too long, or the traffic light is red? For Pete's sake, people. We all do it, you know we do! Most people in the world think that our grocery stores are like wonderlands! Something they dream about! And we have one on every corner and fuss because we are forced to stand in line in the air conditioning and read tabloid magazines. How ungrateful we are. Especially me. I vow to give it up! (Ungratefulness, that is).

I was so glad to see the girls when we got home (Jesse, too, but he didn't run to me and throw his arms around me and shower me with sloppy kisses the way they did). You would think I had been gone for 2 weeks instead of 2 days. Ahh... the love of a child is like nothing else! I feel so refreshed and ready to be a good mom again.

Today, I started physical therapy on my shoulder... this was very scary for me. Although I was only lightly moving it around, I kept hearing it grind and make weird noises, so I kept thinking it was going to pop out again at any minute! Thank goodness it didn't, and I lived through it. However, the guy doing the therapy actually said that he thinks I'll end up having to have surgery anyway! I'm wondering if it's worth a try, or if I should just go ahead and go under the knife! Or orthroscope, so to speak.

Josie is now keeping a running commentary on all food-related items. She tastes things, thinks for a second, then says either, "I like it!" or "Thppt. I don't like it!" Tonight when we were saying prayers, Sadie whispered to God, "Dear God, will you please help me to get more candy?" I tried not to laugh. I love that she really tells Him the desires of her heart. I should take a lesson from her!!! Tonight I will pray for Him to help ME lose 10 pounds.

Prayer and the Peapot

Josie has been introduced to that wonderful treat that we all know and love, "Mocklate milk." Now she runs around holding her empty sippy cup out to me saying, "Mocklate milk, PEASE!" Yesterday she was playing with the little teaset that Grandma Beth gave Sadie for her birthday, and she was pouring tea, stirring with the spoon, setting the table, etc. The funny thing was that she only refers to the teapot as the "peapot." As in, "I'm a little Peapot, short and stout." This cracked me up.

At supper yesterday Sadie said, "Oh no I do NOT have to eat my food!" And I said, "You do not sass Mommy." She said, "YOU do not sass Sadie!" I said, "Mommy is the one who tells YOU what to do, not the other way around." She said, "Sadie is the one who tells YOU what to do, Mommy!" with her sneaky little grin on her face... I had to turn my head away so she wouldn't see me laughing. She also asked if we could say a prayer for her cousin Cameron, who is sick. I said sure, you can talk to God anytime you want to, just like He's your friend." She said, "Um, God, will you please help Cameron to feel better? Thanks. Amen." I guess sometimes short and sweet and to the point is the very best way to pray.

Oops, we goofed

This is a public apology for being mean and nasty in my last post (the mean part has since been removed, because I came to my senses and realized that I had jumped to conclusions and written dumb things that were totally unfounded). I meant to delete it last night, but I am still on pain meds so the old memory is really coming and going these days. So, for anyone who may have read it and been annoyed by it, I really am sorry. Sheesh. I have to get it together!

Cold Turkey

I went to the doctor today, and I'm out of work until next week. I have to keep this silly sling on my arm for another week, too. I have "multi-directional instability" in my joints, and possibly another condition called Ehlers-Danlos disease. I'm going for a couple of other tests later this week - a bone density scan and things like that. The specialist said that I'm a good candidate for surgery, but I'm going to PT for the next 6 weeks to see if we can strengthen my joint that way first. Recovery time from surgery would be about 3 months. I can't imagine not being able to pick the girls up for that long, so hopefully the PT will work. If not, maybe I can control myself and not dislocate it for at least another couple of years when the kids will be a little bit older. For Pete's sake.

We are now trying the "cold turkey" approach to potty-training. This was the pediatrician's recommendation. It has been a VERY messy day. Josie went potty, though, which was surprising... and I think it's worrying Sadie that Josie may one-up her or something. We're going to try to get a little competition going. :) Hey, anything that works, right?

Donkey kicks and Shoulder pops

We've had a busy week... the kids went to a free introductory tumbling/gymnastics class and they both LOVED it. They were in separate classes, and Josie took right to the balance beam, letting go and not falling off... she looked so proud of herself! (almost as proud as me!). She wasn't overly impressed with the air-trampoline, though. The best part for her was when they brought in the bubble machine. That girl LOVES bubbles! Jesse went in Sadie's class with her, and looked so funny flapping his arms like the world's biggest butterfly. He played right along doing "donkey kicks" and "monkey jumps" and Sadie picked up on everything right away. Her favorite part? When they dumped out a huge bin full of all kinds of balls... she went around cleaning them up and putting them back where they belonged. That's my girl! We're seriously thinking about enrolling them if we can budget enough $ for it.

The past few days have not been so good. Saturday, we got rear-ended while driving... thank the Lord for car seats - the kids didn't seem to be bothered by it at all. Jesse and I have both been having headaches and back and neck issues, though. Then on Monday, I was raking up some leaves (yes, RAKING, and not doing crazy cartwheels or motorcross riding or anything like that) and dislocated my shoulder, yet AGAIN. We spent the evening in the hospital with me crying and Jesse holding up my elbow while my hand shook, swelled, and generally felt like someone was trying to tear my arm completely off my body. Great fun. Now I have to keep it immobilized for a week or it will just pop right out again. Joy. What topped it all off was when Jesse went out to get the car to pick me up from the ER - he tripped over a step, twisted his ankle, and sprained it. So between us we have 3 arms and 3 legs that are in working condition. We've been fighting over the ice packs. For Pete's sake. My cousin said that bad things come in threes, so hopefully we're done for now. The kids have been really cute about it, asking if my boo boo is all better, kissing it for me, and doctoring me with their doctor kits. Sadie also rubbed my back, and said, "There! Now you're all better. Let's go play outside." If only it were that easy!!! I'm going to see a specialist next week to find out what the deal is... this is the 5th time my shoulder has dislocated, so something must be done. Changing poopy diapers one-handed is not an easy task!