E Edition Friday

I've decided, since my E gives me so much material to write, that I'm just going to start posting her unique outlooks on life on this blog, hopefully every Friday. It probably won't thrill many of you, but, hey, this blog's for her and her sisters anyway, so maybe they'll enjoy reading them one day. I'll have to think of other things/days to post O and M.

E: "Look, mama, I caught a moth!!! Can I have a container for it?"
Me: "Sure, E, here you go."
E: "Hey, Mama, we need to feed him. Do you have any fabric?"

The Hundred Dresses

This week was Book Fair at O's school. She won 2nd place! Here's proof she did most of it on her on....
I'm so proud of you, O!

Fun in the c-c-c-cold!

We've had freezing weather here lately. We're all getting a little weary of movies, colors, and board games, so I've tried to force the girls to bundle up and go outside. They haven't seemed to mind!

Ice cream is great, even when it's 20 degrees outside!

My niece Riley turned 9 a couple of weeks ago. She had a photo scavenger hunt party and the girls had a blast, although it was freezing! I think they stayed warm, though, from running around so much. By the way...I STILL think the game was rigged.....

On God's Team

Today, as I was driving E and M to school, I turned the radio up and a song by Taylor Swift came on. Let me preface and say, I love listening to her. It's fun music, and my kids like it too. But there's one song I hadn't considered in it's appropriateness. And it came on today. It's the one that says, "I hate that stupid ole pick-up truck you never let me drive..." Did you catch it? The S word. The one word my kids say is a VERY BAD WORD. Don't EVER say that word.
So the chorus begins. And I'm truckin along, humming along. And here my conversation with E:

E: "oooooooh, she said the S word!"
Me: "yeah, she sure did." I am ashamed to say I DID NOT change the station. Mistake, mistake mistake. I know.
E: "Mom, are you on God's team?"
Me: "Uhhh...yeah, E, I'm on God's team, sure!"
E: "Well, if you're on God's team, why haven't you changed the station?"
Me: "Oh, sorry, E, I'm changing it now! That was so wrong of me. I'm so sorry!"
E: "That's okay, but Mom, remember, God's team, right? Say it with me...are you on God's team?!
Me:"Yeah!"
E: "God's team!"
Me: "Yeah!"

At this point, I'm considering rededicating my life, getting re-baptized, and surrendering to foreign missions.
But I don't. I just consider myself waaaay blessed to know that just as God speaks to me and teaches me things daily, He does the same for my child! And THIS time, He spoke to ME through my precious daughter.

Todd's Big Star and Little Snippets

You know those bright, clean, fancy-schmancy grocery stores we all go to? The ones with their own sushi bar, Starbucks, and extensive gourmet grocery selections? Do you ever miss the small-town grocery stores we grew up with? Today, I went to Todd's Big Star. The very first time I visited there, my snobby self declared it, "not the nicest grocery I've been to." I've heard this from newcomers many times since then. But as time's gone on, it's grown on me. And today, I'm it's biggest fan. The 3 girls and I are in shopping there today, and E begins complaining. "My tummy hurts, I'm tired..." if you know her well, you know she's said THAT before. So I told her to "chill out," that we'd be out of there in no time. So, as I'm back in the meat section, I'm discussing the merits of babyback ribs compared to pork spareribs with the female butcher. I picked up a rack of ribs and some chicken wings(Hey, Drew's watching the game tonight..game food, okay?) and E grabbed me tightly and said emphatically, "My tummy's REALLY hurting." I said, "Do you think you need to throw up?" she says, "Yes!" I quickly yell to the butcher, "Where's the bathroom?" and I turn E's face AWAY from the fresh meat case and start running. Meanwhile the sweet butcher lady's saying, "It's okay, honey, go on," as E begins throwing up all over me, and the floor. She threw up once more in the entry of the bathroom, and was done. After cleaning up the floor of the bathroom, we walk out, and a guy with a mop walks by. I say, "Oh, I'm so sorry, you just had to clean that up, didn't you?" He replies, SOOOOO kindly "Don't worry about it, she's just a little kid. She can't help it."
Sweet. He even let me leave my cart in the middle of the aisle and bolt out of the store as quickly as possible!
Guess where M's favorite place to sit is? We have about a 25% rate of success currently.

Doesn't my 7 year old look 12 here? Is it me, or is she growing at a warp speed? Maybe it's the black!

And finally, the E quote of the week: "Hey Mom, there's the cross that Jesus died on! And there's that little hat-thingy he wore! It's right there! (after spotting the cross at the car place by Danver's)

The Message Remix Pause

Last year in January, a friend of mine recommended this daily Bible reading to me. I have to say, it intimidated me. I am ashamed to say that I had never read the entire Bible, EVER, in my life!..until now. And I don't say that to brag. I say that because YOU can do it too! This Bible is written in today's language, and Eugene Peterson divides the readings up so you are reading an Old-Testament reading, and a New Testament reading, daily. He writes it in an order so that it reads like a story.
I have been blown away by it. As the scriptures say, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. " Hebrews 4:12.
I can honestly say, I have been pierced, just like it says! I cannot recommend this enough. If I can do this, you can too.

And one more Christmas 2008...whew!

Pop-Pop and the grandkids, real ones, and American girl ones!

Christmas 2008.....again

Sprinkling reindeer food.

With our dolls and purses before Christmas Eve service at church.

Little M, who got a pony from Mimi that gallops, whinnies, and snorts. Seriously. The cutest gift ever. And she loved it!

A Holly, Jolly Christmas, continued again...

Drew and O reading the Christmas story, Christmas Eve.

Note to Santa.

My cutie-patooties, Christmas Eve before bedtime.

Holly Jolly Christmas continued...

We celebrated Christmas with Drew's family on Christmas night. These are all of the cutie cousins! Being at Nana's is like being at Santa's!

I realize my oldest daughter looks like a hoochie-mama in this, but she got new dress-up clothes and this is what she was wearing when she got her NEW PUPPY! After all of the presents were opened Christmas morning, little Buddy walked in wearing reindeer antlers and surprised the heck out of the girls. They were beyond ecstatic.

This year, I hung my Christmas cards on garland around the doorway. It turned out really cute, so I thought I'd show you. Every card was super cute this year.

Christmas Eve, making cookies for Santa.

A Holly, (well, mostly) Jolly, Christmas

Well, how do you post a span of almost a month on 1 post? It's a daunting task, and one I've tried to avoid. Obviously. So, I'm just dumping it all out here, condensed, and going backwards in time. It's just easy that way. Don't hate.

If I didn't have this blog for my kids to see one day that they HAD a Christmas in 2008, I probably wouldn't even go to this trouble! So, here it goes, BACKWARDS.

Little Buddy Love, our new terrier mutt, fresh from the humane society, passed away Sunday night. After days of obvious symptoms of canine distemper, we came home from Dallas to an extremely sick puppy. Drew took him the vet and had him put to sleep. As E put it so well, "He's in heaven, now. He's not sick anymore, and he's running and playing again! And he doesn't even have boo-boo's now!"
So thankful to God the girls could learn the lesson of loss through this. Although it was hard, God is refining them through this to prepare them for the life/death experience. We had great conversations through this experience, and I wouldn't change it for a thing. The vet gave us permission to get a new dog in 6 months(b/c the virus can last in our house) so stay tuned for a new summer dog!

Woo-hoo!GOOOOOO REBELLLLLSSS!!!! While Drew's parents so sweetly kept our kids, my sister, brother in law, Drew and I headed to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl. It was one of the most fun games I've ever attended, and besides waving my pom-pom and singing Dixie more times than I can count (or would admit!), I laughed until my stomach hurt.