Un-frustrated

A little while ago, I was having a bit of a frustrating afternoon. It's a gloomy rainy day, which only adds to the frustration and glum that I was feeling. Mikayla decided to cheer me up and crawled into my lap. After a few rounds of Find the Body Part, she decided to start with animal sounds.

Mikayla: Me what a kitty say? (her way of asking me to ask her)

Mommy: What does a kitty say?

Mikayla: Moooooooo

Mommy: If a kitty says moo, then what does a cow say?

Mikayla: Um...meow?

She then burst into a fit of giggles, which was followed by a big sigh, a kiss and an "I love you, Mommy." How can someone stay frustrated after that?

Tuesdays Unwrapped

This is what my family room looked like this morning when I woke up. I shudder just seeing it. The mess is gone now, with only a few small toys here and there. But I hate that the toys didn't get picked up last night. I hate that the evening got away from us without cleaning it up. I hate that the kids can make a mess like this in less than 26 seconds.


But you know what? This mess signifies something more. It shows that we had a night of enjoying being a family. It means that instead of picking up the toys, we were playing outside. Instead of stacking blocks neatly into their box, we were eating dinner together as a family. Instead of carefully arranging the toys in their proper place, we were snuggling together on the couch, all 5 of us, watching the Brewers play on tv. And it means that instead of enjoying my nice, clean, tidy family room, I was enjoying my family.


Emily at Chatting at the Sky is encouraging people to take a moment and see some good in their everyday lives, even in the things that don't look good at all from the first glance.

Daddy-Lions

We found the first "Daddy-lion" in the yard the other day. It was so cute to hear Lilly explaing to Mikayla that even though they were pretty and looked like a flower, they were really weeds. Mikayla nodded solemnly, then looked at me with a big smile and said, "Look! A Daddy-lion!" She then ran around the yard looking for more. When she found a little one near the fence, she exclaimed "A baby-lion!"



We also found some other spring wildflowers that we thought were pretty...

Mikayla

*I posted again, so look below.

What a great afternoon!

Yesterday was Alayna's spring program at school. My friend Karla volunteered to watch the extras for me, so away we went to watch the magic that is elementary school programs. The girls love to watch them and spot Alayna in the crowd of kids!

This year, the program was about physical activity, so it was held in the gymnasium. The kids sang their songs while various students did selected activities like jump rope, hopscotch, pogo sticks and bouncing balls. Alayna was supposed to do the Skippo (a ball on a stick that loops over your foot and you twirl it, jumping over the ball when it comes backaround) but she forot to put her gym shoes on and it wouldn't stay on her foot with her sandals. It was pretty funny and gave us all a good laugh.



After the program, we continued our tradition to stopping at the Dairy Queen. The girls all enjoyed their ice cream, especially Mikayla. When I tried to help her with her by licking the ice cream dripping onto the cone, she yanked it away (almost getting Lilly in the eye) and yelled "Ice cream is all MINE!" Good times.

Mikayla waiting for the program to start

Alayna about to Skippo

Lilly volunteered for a special part!

The crowd was invited to join the chicken dance.

Andy's in the middle in green along with my parents, sister and the girls

Dairy Queen!

Yummy Big Bite

So good!

All clean!

Signs of Spring

The girls and I were talking about the weather and seasons the other day. Lilly was very proud that she knew it was Spring-time, so we started talking about signs of spring. And thankfully, we've seen all of these signs the past few days and weeks. I think it's safe to say spring is here (but that doesn't mean we won't see more snow...)

*the grass is starting to green up
*the trees have tiny buds on them
*we found an itty, bitty wild flower in the backyard
*the lakes are finally free of ice
*at night, we can hear the frogs, which means the ground is now thawed
*robins are all over the yard
*the theme this month at storytime is Spring
*animals are out of hibernation

3 of last year's bear cubs in a field about 4 miles from our house.

Momma Bear was in the woods watching them play

A to Z

I am SO proud of Alayna! She's always been a great student and part of that is not only her talent and smarts, but that she's also excited to learn and expand her knowledge. She loves reading and learning, and is interested in so many things.

I just got a phone call, and I almost didn't answer it because the caller id read-out said "unknown number." Well, that usually means a tele-marketer or someone like that. But for some reason, I decided to answer on the 3rd ring. It was Alayna's teacher, telling me that Alayna had something to tell me. Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. I was worried something had happened or she was in trouble, though that would be completely unlike her.

"Mom? I just passed Z on my fast facts! I'm all done with addition!"

This is a big deal. Since earlier this year, she and her classmates have been doing addition fast facts, which are sheets with addition problems that get increasingly harder. As you progress through the alphabet, not only do the problems get harder, but you are also expected to get more problems correct in a minute (15 at level H, 20 at level P, etc) These sheets are in addition to their normal math work. Not only is Alayna the first in her class to finish the sheets, it's the general goal of 2nd grade to get to Z by the end of the year, which is still almost 2 months away! Now it's onto subtraction...

We're so proud of you Alayna! Great job! (I'm done with the Mommy brag now)

Seriously?

Okay, I'm giving you all fair warning that the rant to follow is about as political as I will get on this blog. I have my beliefs and they're pretty strong, but I don't usually shove them down other peoples' throats. If I'm asked, I'll offer them up willingly and openly, but otherwise I keep them mainly to myself. Not because I'm ashamed or whatever, just because it's a personal thing. Anyway, that's your warning...

I could care less about Miss USA or Miss America or any other beauty pageant in the world. The girls are pretty and they are judged mainly on their looks, regardless of what people say. But these past few days, I have stood up and paid attention a little more. Why? I'm sure you all know why. Miss California. Need I say more?

When asked by judge Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip blogger, whether she believed in gay marriage, Miss California, Carrie Prejean, said "We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised." -FoxNews.com

So last time I checked, an opinion is "a belief or conclusion held with confidence but not substantiated by proof." (Last time I checked was about 2 seconds ago, right in my handy American Heritage Dictionary) An opinion is what is asked for when someone says "do you believe X?" It's like asking "Do you like pink or green better?" Everyone has a different opinion and while they believe it to be truth for them, it can't be proven that pink is better than green, or vice versa.

This uproar is driving me nuts. It's all over the news and people are crying foul, saying she shouldn't be first runner-up, that her comment cost her the crown of Miss USA, etc. Well, she was being honest, people. I'd much rather have her be honest than stand up there and lie, saying the latest piece of politically correct BS that everyone expects of her. It reminds me of the movie Miss Congeniality, when Sandra Bullock's character is asked what she thinks is the most important thing our nation needs and she says "Harsher punishment for parole violators...(stunned silence by the crowd)...and world peace. (enthusiastic applause)"

Where I'm really going with this is this: A gay man asked the question. The woman who answered it gave her honest opinion and beliefs, which went against Mr. Question-asker's beliefs. All of the people who believe the same as Mr. Question-asker are crazy mad. But if she had said "Everyone should be able to marry," it would be over. There would be no media uproar in the opposite direction, Miss CA probably would have won, and that's that. Veteran pageant people are saying she should have given a non-committal answer. But she didn't. She said what she truly believed and didn't say what would have appeased the crowd. She spoke honestly. And you know what? Good For Her! Too many people are bending over to the so-called "masses" (which have been proven by elections all over the nation to not be the masses, after all). Political correctness is a crock. She said what she believed. Period, end of sentence. For that, I think she deserves another crown.

Rain

Yesterday, we finally got some rain. It's been about 3 weeks since we got rain (or snow) and it was pretty awful around here. It was dry. It was ugly brown. Everything was covered in dust. Yuck.

And then it rained. Overnight we have green grass, clean vehicles and property, trees with buds, worms on the driveway...

Yeah for rain! (and the dusting of snow we got overnight was okay, I guess)

I am so upset...

...that it took John Madden this long to retire!

If you know me, you know I love me some football. Well, the one thing I can't stand about the game is when John Madden is in the booth. Ugh, he drives me nuts. He is knowledgeable and has a real passion for the game, I'll give him that, but seriously? Must he really tell us that in order to complete a pass, someone must catch the ball?! Wow, didn't know! I guess I will miss one thing about John--I'll miss bitching about his obvious comments. But then I can focus on the game more instead of blocking out his annoying voice.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/John-Madden-retires-from-NBC-after-29-seasons-in?urn=nfl,156802

Enjoy your retirement, John! I know I will!

Earth

We can't wait to see this in theaters! Just over a week to go...

He's Awake!

Yesterday was Easter, in case you didn't know. And in the words of Lilly, Easter is the day that "Jesus wakes up!" Easter is my favorite church service of the year. I love all the songs, the joyous feeling, the beautiful dresses and outfits on everyone!

Our church is at 9:15 am, so doing the non-church Easter stuff beforehand is hard. We don't have a lot of time for egg and basket hunts amongst breakfast, showers, hair, clothes, getting to church...So this year, we left a note for the Easter Bunny to see if he would mind coming back during the day when we're at church and the various family gatherings. It worked great because EB was happy to have one less house to do in the middle of the night and it gave us plenty of time in the morning! Win-win!

Saturday night we colored our eggs and made them the most beautiful eggs we had ever seen...until next year, anyway.

After church on Sunday morning, we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house for a yummy dinner and outdoor egg hunt.

After dinner and egg hunting, we went to Andy's aunt's for the afternoon and played games while catching up with everyone. When we got home, the Easter Bunny had been here and the girls searched for their eggs and baskets!

Like the new artwork?!

Lilly drew our new header picture on Sunday during church. See the resemblance to each member of the family? The order: Mikayla, Daddy, Mommy, Alayna, Lilly! Didn't she do a great job?

Honesty and Innocence

I love the stage where kids can talk but haven't figured out how to lie or fib, yet. I also love their reasoning for things. I just had this conversation with Mikayla:

Me: Mikayla, what are you doing?

Mikayla: Um, going upstairs.

Me: Why are you going upstairs?

Mikayla: My get M&M!

Me: Are you supposed to have an M&M right now?

Mikayla: Um, no...

Me: You don't need a snack, it's almost time to eat. (few seconds of silence, then I hear chair being pushed up to the counter and the rustling of plastic)

Me: Mikayla, what are you doing?

Mikayla: My get licorice! No my get M&M! My eat time!

I (heart) Irony!

I always laugh when I go to the gym. Every. Single. Time. Why? Because without a doubt, if there are other vehicles there, they are all crowded into the parking spaces nearest the door. Yup, that's right. Apparently they are there for a workout, but only once they are inside. They still cannot walk more than 10' to get to said workout. It's ironic. It's funny, really. Sad, but funny.

Books and Reading

I love to read. I do not feel like a day is complete if I haven't read at least part of a book, be it a page or two, a chapter, or a whole book. It doesn't matter if it's a novel or a children's book. I just love to read. And you know what, I know a lot of you are the same way.

So...I've added a new list on the right side of the page that will be the last handful of books that I've read. I'll update the list each time I finish a book, putting the new one on top. I love Jodie Picoult and Nicholas Sparks, so you'll see a lot of those on there right now. But, I also read other books and try to mix them in. Anyway, just letting you know that it's there if anyone is looking for new books to read!

Mother Nature is Sooo Funny

I usually have a very good sense of humor. I can take and give a joke with the best of them. But this? This is not funny. Mother Nature could have come up with a much better April Fool's Joke than this.