HAPPY DAY!!!!

Happy Birthday to Joey and Pam!!!!!!!

Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad!!!!!!

Love to you all from The Ater Patch

One exhausted Tooth Fairy

Guess who came two nights in a row? Yep, I think Z set a record: Two teeth in two nights! As she said, "I bet the tooth fairy is tired of coming to our house." And guess what...I think there's another loose one in there!

Enjoying a blah view

View from my kitchen window. Today's forecast: Cloudy...again!

I think I would just shrivel up and waste away if I lived in someplace like the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State (where it rains most of the year) or Alaska (where you have long spells of darkness). I love the sun. Not the hot, mind you, but the sun absolutely. Yesterday was perfect! It was windy (I love the wind too) and slightly warm, in the upper 60s, with hardly a cloud in the big blue Texas sky. I LOVED it! On those kind-of days, I feel like accomplishing something big or at the very least, laying in the hammock on the back porch soaking in the day....especially after a winter like this one. While the rest of the United States is blanketed in snow, we seem to stay in a cloudy wet (and cold to me) upper 40s to a super humid 70 (like today) state. A wet blah winter. No sun but no snow....just wet enough so that it's all soggy outside and never enough sun to dry it up. Cold but not cold enough to kill the mosquitoes (that we still have). Too many cloudy days affects my mood and not in a good way.

But I am reminded that in everything we are to give thanks, so here it goes: I am thankful to God that I don't have to deal with snow, digging out of snow, snow clothing, melted snow puddles, etc. I am thankful we have warm days periodically. I am thankful we had the drainage system redone so I don't have to worry about flooding with all this rain. I am thankful to have my kitchen window to look out of to check the weather and a warm house to live in (even though someone I love likes to keep it refrigerator cold). I am thankful for a sweet family that puts up with my weather related moods (I'm trying to get control over that).  I am thankful that all this rain means lots of beautiful wildflowers come spring and I could keep on going, filling up a few pages with thanks....guess I should just stop griping and just deal with it. Lesson of the Day: Give thanks...It will improve your disposition.

Guess who's coming to my house tonight?

One down, 19 more to go.... :)

Perfection only by 4 year old standands

Last night, Z walked up to me and said, "Mommy, you are the most beautifulest mommy in the entire world." I said, "Well, thank you. That's very sweet. Mommies always like to hear things like that." She then proceeded to call me "Pretty Mommy" for the rest of the evening instead of just Mommy. When I was telling Alan, he said Z had told him he was the most handsome Daddy in the entire world and she had called him "Handsome Daddy."

I have to admit, I LOVE this age, while we're still the king and queen of the world. In her eyes, we are perfect and wonderful and everything we say is golden. With it comes a lot of responsibility in the caring and nurturing of our sweet girl but I still love it. All too soon, the veil over her eyes will disappear and she'll see us for what we really are....flawed. J is old enough to know but even with him we still wear our crowns periodically. I guess in a way, we may always wear them, at least I hope so. I know I still think my parents are smart and beautiful and what they say is important, even though I know they are not perfect. But for now, I'm just going to relish in this stage, pray a LOT for guidance, and wear my crown proudly. Lesson of the Day: Psalm 127:3 "Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him." Not a responsibility to be taken lightly.

The Cat that Wasn't

Gross story...beware!!!
Okay, I was going to post this picture and introduce you to the newest member of our family, Cali-Cat. She was a mistreated stray that we temporarily adopted for the kids. Cali was a very sweet cat, skiddy but very loving, good with the kids. We got her yesterday afternoon from a friend and enjoyed just over 24 hours of new kitty-cat fun. Well, this morning she left a nasty surprise on a little rug in Z's room. Yuck but I gave her the benefit of the doubt, since I HAD heard her crying very early in the morning, knew she liked to go outside, but just rolled over and went back to sleep. After my discovery an hour later, I did what any knowledgeable cat owner would do...I put her nose in it, told her, "No! No!" and then took her down to the litter box and tried to make her scratch her paws in it. Well, this is the first cat I've ever been around that 1. is apparently deathly afraid of a cat box and 2. this procedure didn't work on (but we didn't know this at the time). We went all day playing with her, letting her go outside to do her business (or so we thought), and letting her have free roam of the house...until this evening. Right before I put Z to bed, I caught the cat trying to go again in Z's floor. I yelled, "NO, CALI!" which did nothing but scare the crap (quite literally) out of her all over my house...all the way downstairs....all the way into the kitchen. Needless to say, after a few more unpleasant discoveries that should have been left in a box throughout the day...Cali-Cat has gone back to the "friend" who gave her to us. Lesson of the Day: When someone casually says, in passing, as they are walking out of your door, "I hope she doesn't poop in your house, " just take the hint and hand the pet back to them. Save yourself the trouble and elbow grease. Stinkin' cat!!! At least the kids aren't too sad. I just hate we got their hopes up. They've wanted another pet for soooooo long.

Renew, Reuse, Recycle...Quick Saturday Project

one "Good Will" find (a well loved little girl's storage bench)

+ Z's old valance and the extra foam we cut off our too big mattress topper

= one doll bed complete with mattress, pillow, and blanket

+ a cute flower pillow for the little mommy's bed

Easy breezy Saturday morning.

That's my Boy!

New Hair Do and The Dread of the Shred

I have a new favorite website www.cutegirlshairstyles.com (Thank you, Marsha, for the link). Little Miss Z had this triple twists into twisty buns do today for ballet. Apparently it is suppose to hold really well all day. We'll see. Looks really cute in person. It also looks cute just to do the twists and pull them back into pigtails (yesterday's do). I'll try another tomorrow, if I can lift my arms high enough. I'm on Day 2 of attempt #2 of Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. Right now Jillian is just not my friend!!! It hurts to sneeze. I may love her after 30 days but we'll see on that too. Lesson of the Day and Mommy Tip (that's worked for me): Fixing hair is part of the fun of having a girl. Start them out while they are babies (don't let them out of it just because they squawk) and they'll sit nice for you when they are older.

Royalty in our Midst

Z attended a "Princess Fashion Show" birthday party today. Let me just tell ya'...that was right up her alley. You would be hard pressed to find something more appealing to this little 4 year old and her group of girlfriends. The birthday girl's mom is a hair stylist so she fixed their hair, added a tiara, and sprayed their hair with glitter spray. They then took turns strutting down a makeshift runway showing off their princess attire and their spinning dance moves. All the little girls just so happen to have on different princess dresses, so each was very cute and unique. Here's my favorite princess showing me a very princessy ballet curtsy. Lesson of the Day: The days when fairytales are real and little girls truly believe they will grow up to be fairy princesses don't last forever...but they are precious and priceless. Enjoy every minute of them!!!

To Infinity and Beyond

"Look, Mommy, I made you a cheesecake."

Woweee! Everyone should get one of these!!!

Okay, so growing up 1/2 my growing up years without a lot of money, I learned to be frugal as a teenager. It has served me well as an adult, going from poor college student, to early marriage, to financial low points. We've always been able to make due. Even when Alan and I got married, I didn't register for any expensive gifts because I didn't want people to feel like they needed spend a lot on us. I've always been content with inexpensive things and I'm always on a look out for a good bargain on something I need or will need.

Well, I am very fortunate to have a husband that completely spoils me periodically. After watching me spend 7+ minutes holding my little inexpensive hand mixer trying to make Royal Icing that still didn't turn out while I was trying to cook dinner at the same time. My sweet husband (that was instructed to not spend hardly any money on me for Christmas) surprised me with a Kitchen Aid mixer. Wow! I was very surprised but still a little skeptical. Although very nice, I still thought it quite a splurge for something that I could easily do with a little time and elbow grease (or course I didn't show him this side...he just saw the thrilled to pieces side).

Well, I just used my mixer for the first time and "Woka Woka Wow Wee!!!" that is an awesome piece of kitchen equipment! Here it is in all of it's glory with the easiest batch of oatmeal cookies I've ever made. Even the paddle is easy to get the batter off. So my husband is a genius and the greatest husband ever. I think I'll be baking or at least mixing a lot more. As he put it when I opened it...it's the gift that keeps on giving. Lesson of the Day: Kitchen Aid mixer=totally worth it; Alan=Awesome Husband

Yoda's School of Language Aquisition

Brothers.......do they ever grow up?

First they squish me (see previous post)...Then they throw me on the ground.

Note me on the ground and Mom coming to the rescue.

Punks!

Playing nice for mom.