Toilet Water

I ate with Ella at school today. She gets a treat every Thursday when I'm at school if she has gotten stickers for the week for her behavior. Today she chose Cheetos.

After lunch she and her friend went to the bathroom so Ella could wash her hands. Ella came up to me afterwards and in a very indignant tone declared, "MOM! My friend took toilet paper and dipped it in the toilet water and then WIPED MY MOUTH with it to get the Cheetos off my mouth!"

I think my eyes bugged straight out of my head! I said, "WHY didn't you run away? Ohmygosh! Come with me right now." I took her into the bathroom and lathered my hands up really good and scrubbed her face clean. Then we went and found her friend and had a chat about how gross it was to a) stick her hands in the toilet and b) clean someone's face with toilet water. I sent her to wash her hands.

It just bamboozles me why the perfectly good (and surely more sanitary) sink wouldn't have worked as a source of water. Kids are just gross! It took a lot of will power to kiss the poor kid on the mouth today.

Election Overload

You know you have listened to too much election coverage when your two-year-old says, "That Obama on the radio. What that Obama do now?"

Puppets and Smashmallows

I just love the creativity of a two-year-old. This morning it was in the 40's when we walked Ella to school, so I put mittens on Brenna's hands. She stuck her hands in and said, "Mommy, are these my puppets?" She then proceeded to have her hands "talk" to one another. When we got home she asked me to take her puppets off her hands.

Another Brennaism is to eat smashmallows--known to the rest of the world as marshmallows. She does, in fact, love to smash them before she eats them, so the name is fitting.

Ella the Little Mommy

I was taking a shower this afternoon while the girls were outside playing. Ella came in while I was in the shower and got Brenna's 'ket out of my bed. A few minutes later she came back into the bathroom and said, "OK. Brenna is down for her nap."

Wha'aat?

Brenna was acting tired, so Ella got her out of her swing and brought her inside the house. Ella took Brenna to her bed, found Brenna a doll and her 'ket, and tucked her in for her nap. Brenna got out of bed once and Ella said to her, "Brenna, get back into bed. It's your naptime." Astonishingly, Brenna went back to bed. By the time I got out of the shower, Brenna was snoozing peacefully.

I don't know if I should be worried that Ella was so easily in charge or proud that she was sweet to Brenna and responsible towards her at the same time. Honestly, I am most astonished that Brenna did what Ella said. She must have been REALLY TIRED!

Brenna is a Big Girl!

Brenna was in a diaper all day on Saturday while we were out and about, and she only had one accident all day long. She asked to go the bathroom every other time she needed to go. She has been in panties every day since then! It was such an easy transition for her. I am so proud! She's still in diapers at nap and nighttime, but when she's awake she is in panties full time. Big Girl!!!!

The Beginning of Potty Training?

I tried to potty train Brenna few months ago, but she would not go in the potty. She could complete every step of the process with no assistance whatsoever, but she wouldn't actually GO. I put it on hold figuring we would try again at Christmas when she was out of school for several weeks.

She loves to wear this specific diaper that has Blue (from Blue's Clues) holding a toy airplane. Yesterday, Brenna's eyes suddenly got really big and she said, "UH-OH! I goin' in my airpane!" Then she proceeded to pull down her pants, rip of her diaper and declare, "See! It's all wet."

The closest thing was a pull-up, so I put her in a dry pull-up. There was absolutely no thought process to this action at all. It was most convenient.

About an hour later Brenna screamed, "I have to go tee-tee in the potty." She ran to the bathroom, climbed up on the stool, pulled down her pants and what do you know? She did it! WOO-HOO!!! Potty dance! I gave her a sucker for a reward. We sang the "You went tee-tee on the potty," celebration song.

About 45 minutes later, she did it all again. I put her in panties at that point just to see how she would do. Lo and behold, she stayed dry all morning. I put her in a pull-up for nap, but she did not want to sleep in it. When she woke up, I put her back in her panties. She didn't do quite so well. She had two accidents, but each time she stopped herself and finished in the potty.

This morning Scott tried to put her in panties for school, but she flat-out refused. She did however, go in the potty three times at school today. She had two accidents, and finished in the potty.

She's in panties at home again this afternoon. I'm cautiously optimistic. We might be saying good-bye, adios, ta-ta to diapers. That will mean that sippie cups are the last vestige of babyhood in my house. YEE HAW!

Every. Single. Saturday.

Monday through Friday, Ella's alarm clock wakes the girls up at 6:30 AM. Monday through Friday, Brenna comes into my room and says in a mildly irritated tone, "That awarm cah-lock woke up dis morning." Every Friday night I go to sleep with the blissful notion that tomorrow is Saturday and the girls (and by default Scott and I) are going to be able to sleep late. But, every single Saturday Brenna wakes up at 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning! She came into my room this morning bawling at the top of her lungs. What is that? The one morning that nothing beeps to wake her up she wakes up earlier and crankier than any other morning of the week. It always takes several minutes to get her settled back into her bed with the notion of going back to sleep. The strangest part is, I go to bed every Friday night with that same blissful notion of uninterrupted sleep.

Play Room Reorganization

Our playroom has been a disaster pretty much since the day we had mobile children. Having moved to a neighborhood where there are regularly anywhere between two to five visiting children, it has gone from disaster to state of emergency! As you can see from the pictures, it was time for a drastic reorganization.







Thanks to a bunch of different sized storage bins and a new policy of playing with the contents of one bin at a time the toy room is much improved. Ella has gotten so good at cleaning up after herself, that it took me less than two minutes to clean up a few random items that missed a bin before taking the "after" pictures.

Consumer Debt? Already?

Brenna just got a toy credit card out of a toy purse and said, "Wook, Mommy. Here's your money!"

I think we need to cut up her "cards" now! Think it's too early for a two-year-old to understand the Dave Ramsey "FREEDOM!!!!" scream?

A Splash in Reality

I took a dip in a stream today. It was totally unplanned, and I was totally unprepared. Scott and I took the kids to Dinosaur Valley State Park today. I packed extra clothes for the kids. Ella insisted that she wanted to take her rain boots instead of her crocs. Then she begged and begged and begged to get in the stream. Being practical minded adults, we kept telling her no because the water would come over the top of her boots. Finally, I relented and said I would help her across a shallow part. Well, it got deeper than her boots. I picked her up to help her across the deep part and as you can imagine DOWN we went! I was very irritated. I was irritated with myself for not having clothes for me. I was irritated with Ella for insisting she needed to wear her boots. Then I was again irritated with myself for not insisting she bring her crocs. I was irritated at Scott that he had gone ahead with Brenna, and he wasn't there to help. We got to the car and reality came crashing down on my heart.

I was so busy being a practical minded adult, that I forgot to let my kids simply be kids. I forgot to laugh at the fact that we were soaking wet in a stream in front of an entire cub scout troop. I forgot that since we were already wet, it was the perfect chance to splash around and get even wetter.

I burst into tears when I got to the car at how badly I had handled such a simple situation. After a heartfelt talk, Scott and I have decided that we are going to take outings and focus on FUN. We started out our day with the wrong focus. The focus was simply to fill our day--not to have fun. We are going to try to do a better job of embracing the childhood that our children should have. We are going to join our children in their fun. We are going to be parents that they remember fondly because we have fun with them. Sometimes, I guess it takes a splash of reality to point out the weaknesses in your life.

Handwriting, Reading, Dinner and Dessert

Ella has been complaining that she doesn't want to go to school because it is boring. The teacher and I met this afternoon to have a conference and try to figure out how to help Ella develop a positive attitude about school. By talking to Ella and talking with each other we've learned three things.

1. Ella loves to read, and she loves anything to do with reading.
2. Ella is a little overwhelmed by her choices with math stations.
3. Ella hates handwriting practice because it is "boring and too hard."

Handwriting usually occurs first thing in the morning, so Ella is reluctant to go to school because she knows she has to start her day with the task she finds least enjoyable. After school, I was talking to her about it and I said, "You know, the good thing about handwriting being in the morning is that you know that as soon as it's over, the rest of your day is filled with stuff that you like to do more."

Ella said, "Kind of like dinner and dessert. I don't always like to eat dinner, but I have to eat a good dinner to eat dessert. So handwriting is like dinner, and reading is like dessert."

I Fick It Myself

This morning Brenna came into Scott, proudly held up her waffle and announced, "Look Daddy! I fick it myself." She ate some more of it and then said, "It's cold." Scott took it from her and sure enough, it was freezing cold.

S: Where did you get this from?
B: I fick it myself. Come on, Daddy, I show you.

She walked into the kitchen, pulled open the freezer drawer, pulled out the wrapper and said, "Wight here." She did, in fact, fix it herself. It was just completely frozen. I guess she didn't like the toasted version that was sitting on her plate ready to be eaten.

The Naked Swinger

Earlier today I found the back door like this:


When I went into the backyard Brenna was swinging without her shirt on:


Or maybe with no clothes on at all!!!!


She's so proud of herself.


You know, they used to call Uncle Lane the Naked Avenger when he was in college (yes, it is a hilarious story). I think we can blame this one on him!

Swinging in the Rain

Swinging in the rain,
Just swinging in the rain,
What a glorious feeling,
I'm happy again!



Brenna cuddling with Daddy after the rain:


Gotta love kiddo giggles:

Kindy Sickies Strike

Apparently, Kindergarten sickies can strike anyone even if they have been in Mother's Day Out for the past four years. Poor little Ella is sick. She has croup. She has an ear infection. She has a throat infection. They didn't even bother to run a strep culture because she had to have an antibiotic for her ear infection anyway. She's on three different medications and can't return to school until Wednesday at the earliest.

At least she's been peaceful to deal with:

Riding the Bus

Ella sprang it on me this morning that she wants to ride the bus home from school. YIKES! I'm so not ready for this independence. However, I found her bus number and sent her to school with a note to let the teacher know she'd be riding the bus.

Here comes the bus!



Here she is this afternoon getting off.



She loved riding the bus, but I really missed picking her up after school. She told me that she's going to ride the bus every day and the mornings too. I vetoed the morning idea. She has to be ready quite a bit earlier, and I wouldn't get to walk her to school. I'm going to let her ride in the afternoons if she wants, but I hope the novelty wears off soon. I really missed picking her up from school today.

Herding Cats

I volunteered at school yesterday, and I was able to help Ella's teacher get some materials prepared for future lessons. I was in and out of the classroom all day. It is like herding cats to direct a classroom full of 19 kindergartners all day. Mrs. Webster has the patience of a saint and a song about every activity. They have songs about how to sit in circle time, songs about how to walk in the hall, songs about listening.

Even the simple act of walking down the hall is excruciating. Those little children can't walk a strait line to save their lives. They giggle and talk. They twirl in circles. They get out of line to run their hands along the wall. They simply stop, turn around and talk to the person behind them. And all the while, Mrs. Webster is as calm as can be trying to get them to walk down the hall in a simple line. I watched a group of first graders today. At some point the lessons do actually sink in because those kids actually understood the principle of walking quietly down the hall in a line.

Now for an Ella brag, Mrs. Webster told me that she is doing tremendously well with her reading. She said she could tell that I had obviously worked at teaching her to read. I'd love to take credit for that, but the things Ella knows about reading she has pretty much figured out on her own! I was very pleased to hear that she is doing well in that area though. Now, if we can just keep her talking under control. I told her that if she came home with good behaviour reports all week that she could pay for a special dessert treat in the cafeteria each Friday. Apparently, I can even put a restriction of no desserts except on Friday on her account.

Social Drama

I already have a social butterfly on my hands. It's only the 6th day of school and the 2nd day of getting behavior reports, and Ella already has a sad face for talking too much. Ohmygoodness she is just like me. She talked so much that her teacher had to move her seating assignment. According to Ella, "It is SOO boring. Now I have to sit with all boys. I'm the ONLY GIRL!" She lost her friend priviledges at home today too because she wasn't listening when the teacher was speaking.

There's social drama too. One of the little girls in Ella's class said that Ella was being mean to her. Ella's side of the story is that this little girl is jealous because Ella is making other friends. The other little girl is telling Ella that she's not allowed to be friends with anyone else. I spoke to the teacher at length this afternoon after getting all the details (there were quite a few). Tomorrow they are going to have a lesson for the whole class on being a family and being nice to everyone. Who knew that there could be so much drama in the life of a kindergartener?

Sleeping In

Morning after morning the girls have complained about how tired they were. They have complained about how dark it was outside. They have complained about having to get out of their warm beds at 6:30 in the morning.

YAY! It's Saturday. We can all sleep in late. We can all stay in our warm beds. We can sleep until the sun has risen. So how late did the girls sleep you ask? Until the beautiful hour of 5:30 in the morning. It's such a shame they have to get up so early for school (please note that the sarcastic tone).

We Have a P-R-O-B-L-E-M

The learning has begun! I asked Scott, "What we were going to do about B-E-D?" Ella promptly said, "Bed. What do you mean what are we going to do about bed?"

My way of life is already changing drastically.

We Should Try These Rules at Home

Ella and I had to review her classroom rules in class today. She thought they were absolutely brilliant. I swear it was like she had never heard them before in her life!

1. We obey instructions the first time.

E: Mom, we should really try this at home!
J: Yeah Ella, that would be a great idea.

(Thinking to myself, "How have you missed this lesson for the past FIVE AND A HALF YEARS? I've been trying to get you to obey the first time for years now.")

I guess the silver lining is that maybe the brilliance of these rules will actually work at home too.

2. We use the appropriate voice at the appropriate times.

E: Yeah, this is a good one too. You can be loud on the playground at recess, but you need to be really quiet inside the school.
J: Right, because people all around you are trying to learn and they need quiet.
E: Exactly. So we should be quiet at home too.
J: Yes, because Daddy is trying to work and he would love it if we could be a little quieter while he is working.
E: I have NEVER thought of that.

(Again. Really? Never thought of that? He's worked at home since before you were born! We tell you over and over and over, ad nauseam, that you need to be quieter.)

3. We control our bodies.

J: So no hitting or kicking or pushing.
E: Yes, that's another good one. Then I wouldn't be pushing Brenna any more. I'd just ask her nicely to move.

4. We are kind to others.

E: I really want to try this at home. Then I could be nice to you and Daddy and Brenna. Wouldn't that be nice, Mommy?

(Yes, that would be nice. I really wish I had thought of that myself. sigh)

A Successful First Day

Ella had a wonderful first day at school. She got into the car and squealed, "It was GREAT! I LOVED IT! I made a new friend named Presley, and she is soooooooo nice."

I e-mailed her teacher to remind her that I was wanting to help out in the classroom, and to thank her for helping to ease Ella's anxiety this morning. Mrs. Webster had this to say about Ella:

Oh I am so happy to hear that...the first day is so hard...for everyone, but I do believe ours was very successful this year. Ella did wonderful! She is so sweet and really came alive after about an hour of being here.

I am so thrilled that she had such a good day. I'm going to start helping out in her classroom next week. YAY!

I Trust You'll Treat Her Well

I think this expresses it pretty well.



World, I bequeath to you today one little girl in a crispy dress.. with two blue eyes...and a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs. I Trust You'll Treat Her Well.

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning and skipping off down the street to her first day at school.

And never again will she be completely mine...

Prim and proud, she'll wave a young and independent hand this morning, and say goodbye and walk with little-lady steps to the nearby schoolhouse...

Gone will be the chattering little hoyden who lived only for play, and gone will be the delightful little gamin who roamed the yard like a proud princess with nary a care in her little world.

Now, she will learn to stand in lines...and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called...

She will learn to tune her little-girl ears for the sound of school bells, and for deadlines...

She will learn to giggle and gossip... and to look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy across the aisle sticks out his tongue.

Now she will learn to be jealous...and now she will learn how it is to feel hurt inside...and now she will learn how not to cry. No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch while an ant scurries across a crack in the sidewalk...

Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn to kiss lilac blossoms in the morning dew. Now she will worry about important things...like grades...and what dresses to wear...and whose best friend is whose. Now she will worry about the little boy who pulls her hair at recess time... and staying after school...and which little girls like which little boys...And the magic of books and knowledge will soon take the place of the magic of her blocks and dolls.

And she'll find her new heroes. For five full years I've been her sage and Santa Claus...her pal and playmate...her parent and friend. Now, alas, she'll learn to share her worship and adoration with her teachers (which is only right).

No longer will her parents be the smartest, and greatest in the world. Today, when the first school bell rings, she'll learn how it is to be a member of the group...with all its privileges, and, of course, its disadvantages, too.

She'll learn in time that proper young ladies don't laugh out loud...or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms...or watch ants scurry across the cracks in a summer sidewalk...

Today, she'll begin to learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. That "the group" can be a demanding mistress... and I'll stand on the porch and watch her start out on the long, long journey to becoming a woman.

So WORLD, I BEQUEATH TO YOU TODAY ONE LITTLE GIRL in a crispy dress, with two blue eyes, a happy laugh that ripples all day long, and a batch of light brown hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

I TRUST YOU'LL TREAT HER WELL.

The First Day of School

It's here! The first day of Kindergarten is here! Ella has been so anxious about starting school that I was really worried about how this morning was going to go. Everything went so much more smoothly than I anticipated.

Ella and Brenna both hopped right out of bed when the alarm went off and came into our room. Ella was a bit upset because Scott had told her the sun would be up and it was still dark outside. Brenna said, "There's no sun in the 'ky! It still dark ou'side."

I gave Ella one of my necklaces before breakfast this morning. I told her it was mine and I was giving it to her so she could wear it all day and know that I was rooting for her and that I would see her this afternoon. Ella ate breakfast, got dressed, and brushed her hair all with no drama. She was even really happy to pose for pictures at home.



And excited enough to dance a little:



We even had 10 minutes to spare for her to play on the computer. Then we left to walk to school. Here's a picture of her walking away into her big-girl world:





She was happy all the way to school. We met one of her friends on the walk up there and they chattered the whole way. Once we got into her classroom she was a little upset. We tried to get a picture in the classroom, but she wasn't enthused at all.



However, we weren't in tears yet, so I was feeling pretty good. When I left she did start crying. It broke my heart to walk out of the room. She was screaming and crying, "MOMMY!!!!!!!!! MOMMY!!!!!!!" I cried a little bit once I was in the hall. Her teacher went to her immediately when she started crying though. Before we were around the corner she calmed down enough that I couldn't hear her any more.

All in all, the stress level was much lower than I anticipated. By the time I had walked home again I even felt lighter from having survived the drop off. It's only 10:00, but I can't wait to pick her up and hear how her first day went. LOL

Here's a bonus picture of Brenna on her first day of school:

Fashion Show

Our friends from Boston are in town for a visit. Jo's oldest son James is graduating from Basic Training in Ft. Sill so they came for visit with us while they are here to see his graduation ceremony. In trying to get Ella excited for the first day of school, Jo suggested that we have a fashion show for her to show off her first day of school outfit. So without further ado, the fashion show!

Ella's first day of school outfit:


Katie's fashion attire:


Ella and Katie posing together:


Brenna gets in on the action:




Kenzie also got in on the action, but I never managed to get a picture of her. The fashion show did its job becuase Ella was very excited to lay out her clothes for the first day of school.

Meet the Teacher

Ella is going to a brand new school next year. She is going to be a Longhorn--a green and gold Longhorn NOT a burnt orange Longhorn. LOL! Since this is the inaugural year for the school the principal rode into meet the teacher night on a longhorn. It was really neat! Brenna LOVED it.



Ella had her meet the teacher night last Friday. It was an unqualified disaster. Ella has been very anxious about starting school, so meet the teacher was not a fun, exciting event for our family. She was pretty good in her teacher's classroom. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Webster. I keep hearing from everyone that she is a wonderful teacher, so I am so excited that we have her. Her first impression was certainly positive! When we met her she hugged Ella and said, "I've been writing your name on so many things, and every time I write your name I wonder, 'What kind of person is Ella going to be?'"

I tried to get Ella's picture in her desk, but she would not sit down in her chair. She kept insisting, "I do NOT want my picture taken." She didn't really interact with anyone. I tried to introduce her to the girl that was going to share her desk space, but Ella played shy. There desks are arranged in fours with two boys and two girls in each configuration.



Mrs. Webster gave us a bunch of papers to take home. One was to write a letter to the kids on their first day.

Each classroom has a sister classroom. There is a big open space that they classrooms share, but that can also be closed off by big glass doors so that the noise of the other classroom doesn't disturb the kids.



Brenna was more than happy to pose for pictures.



Ella was just standing around at one point so I snapped her picture.



She screamed at me, "I DID NOT WANT MY PICTURE TAKEN!" The evening went down hill from there! She and I had a nice discussion about being rude, but it apparently didn't sink into her head. We went to the art room, the music room, the library and the gym. Ella had several loud versions of "This is boring," or, "I'm NOT going to school," or "I want to go HOME," that she continuously repeated to the various teachers she met throughout the night. It was humilating. We ended up leaving, and Ella spent the entire evening in her room coming out only to eat her dinner and then promptly being sent to bed at 7:00 PM.

Meet the teacher made our entire house very anxious about the first day of school. Scott and I really want her to feel excited about starting school. Her resistance makes for a high level of stress to say the least.

Brenna! Such Language!

"Bastard, no-no!"
"Bastard, don't chew dat!"
"Don't wick me, Bastard!"
"Nigh-nigh, Bastard. I say, 'Nigh-nigh, Bastard.'"

Grandma and Granddad have a new dog named Baxter. "Bastard" and Brenna created lots of laughs all week as they played together. Oh the innocence of childhood.

Competitive Nature? Me? NO!!!

Ella played t-ball this year for the first time. I have to say that she has not been that thrilled with the game. She has fun once she's playing, but it has been a struggle at times to get her to want to play.

We have had wonderful coaches. They are just the right balance between pushing them to do their best and still remembering that these are 5 and 6 year olds. It's now the end of the season and I am OVER IT! We finished our last game, and had play-offs left. I will (shamefully) admit that I was thrilled yesterday when our game was canceled due to rain. No argument from the Griffin camp. WOO HOO! A night of freedom. The game was rescheduled for tonight.

Grumble, grumble, complain under my breath. I told Ella she had to play her very best because this was the play-offs. So I put on my best cheerful face, but admitted to more than one person that I really hoped we would lose so the season would be over.

Cue the crack of the bat. Cue the competitive nature lying in wait inside of me. Next thing I know, I am the crazy mom cheering and whooping and hollering at every good play our team made. The beast inside me is screaming RIP EM! TEAR EM! BEAT EM BAD! :)

We had an amazing game tonight. You never would have guessed those were the small fries out there playing! Our third baseman, Annabelle, completely figured out her job tonight. She tagged out FIVE runners during the game. One inning she had all 3 outs to her individual credit.

As the final runner came up to bat the foe's coach said, "OK. Here is the situation. We already have two outs against us, and we HAVE to get a run to stay in this." The batter lined up the bat. He took a practice swing and then hit the ball for all he was worth. Our team caught the ball at third, threw it all the way across the field to first, where our first baseman caught the ball in a catch worthy of the pros, tagged the base and got the runner out! THREE OUTS! WE WIN!!!!!! The entire bleachers rose as one screaming with joy. The coach jumped at least three feet into the air, ran onto the field and picked up the kid who made the throw in celebration. The third baseman was awarded the game ball, and Ella was ecstatic...until she realized it meant the season wasn't over.

I am very proud of Ella. She has played every single game this season. She kept her committment to her team. She played with a good attitude almost all the time, and she improved tremendously this season. She's even a bit excited about the next game.

At the end of the week when I am once again completely over t-ball, please remind me that the competitive beast simply lies dormant for the time being but will break free as soon as she hears the crack of the bat.

Feeding the Ducks

We went to feed the ducks this weekend. The girls loved it! Brenna kept screaming "HI DUCK!" and Ella kept trying to feed the mama ducks. Ella didn't like it that the drakes would steal all the bread from the hens.

Brenna's New Pasttime

So much for doing a better job of posting on my blog. Well, here we go again...yet another commitment. Seriously, I will try.

Brenna has a favorite new activity.



She's very proud of herself. :)


I find myself wondering what on earth could be so fascinating about tearing the paper from a crayon? I have a friend who's toddler can remove the paper all in one piece. Now that is a fascinating habit. Brenna, on the other hand, simply rips the paper off in minute pieces that I have to rely on the incredible power of the Dyson to extract from the carpet. However, it keeps her quiet and busy for long stretches of time so I'm not complaining...much.

Older and Wiser?

Not so much...

At the age of five, I thought there was no way she would do it. I thought for sure we had escaped this particular "rite of passage" at least with Ella. I thought she wanted long hair enough to NOT cut it herself. Oh how wrong a parent can be about things.

It doesn't look too bad from the front:


It is much more obvious from the sides:




Ella was down the street playing with our neighbors, and they all got into the scissors. I've been sick all week, and I was laying down for a nap while Ella was down there. She came home to wake me up and ask, "Does my hair look different?" I was quite irritated that she woke me up to ask about her hair that looked exactly the same. I was quite a bit more irritated when I realized that it did indeed look quite different! Scott has taken her to the hair salon to get it fixed. I'll post her new haircut as soon as I have the pictures.

The silver lining is that I've been wanting to get her hair cut for months. She wanted it long. I wanted it short. I was letting her grow it out since it is her hair. Natural consequences being what they are, I'm getting my way now.

Here's the new do:


And a side view of the side that was the worst:

Holy Snowflakes, Batman!

Who would have thought that on March 6, we would have a blizzard in Texas, especially when yesterday we were outside playing in beautiful sunshine without jackets? We certainly were surprised to see the amount of snow we got today. We got around 6 inches of snow! Driving was rather treacherous even though we got home before it was too bad.

Here's some pictures of it all...

Here's the backyard about halfway through the snow.


Ella and Bailey after it had stopped snowing.


Brenna was thoroughly unimpressed with the snow...


...unless she was being held.


Ella making snow angels.

Baseball Ready

Ella had her first t-ball practice this evening. She is the only girl on a team with 11 boys. That threw her for a loop in the beginning. She was pretty timid starting off. She has never played ball AT ALL before, but luckily several of the boys have never played either. The coaches asked if everyone knew where first base was, and all the boys scream YES! She just sat there like a deer in the headlights. I finally spoke up and said, "She isn't going to say it, but no she doesn't know." It turns out that about half the boys didn't know either they just screamed yes because the other boys screamed yes. They had a really good first practice. The dads tossed balls for them to try to catch and throw back. Only one little boy can do it--it's his third year. He is really good. Then they practiced stopping grounders. This was when Ella started showing a lot of insecurity. At one point she looked over at me and Scott and looked really upset. I started going out to her to see what was wrong, but the coach saw too. He also started out to her, so I stopped. I figure it's better to let the coach have a chance to work with her than for Mommy to come to her rescue. I have no idea what he said to her, but it worked. She perked right up and started really hustling. Then they all ran the bases. Ella volunteered to try first. By the end of practice, she had learned that she had to touch the bases with her foot before going to the next one. Several of the boys didn't catch on, so I was quite proud of her. I will admit that I am a bit worried how it is going to be for her to be the only girl on the team. Tonight I felt like the coaches did a really good job of treating her the same, so things are off to a good start. She also learned how to stand "baseball ready."

Tonight when we got home she gets into position. The conversation went like this:
Ella: What is this called?
Mom: Baseball ready.
Ella: Yeah, baseball ready, but sometimes it's just called bending over.

ohmygosh! I laughed so hard I cried...literally had to wipe the tears off my cheeks...cried. I love that kid!