the best of both worlds

Beautiful day outside, it is.

Ryenne and I walked home from church, discussing lessons learned and the overall state of the union. Upon arriving, she ran across the lawn to play beneath the trees. I was standing in our driveway talking to my parents when she tromped over proclaiming that a bird had. . . .
ummm, relieved itself upon her dear little head.

She squirmed. I laughed. And then my mom announced that it must run in the genes. The attraction of birds and their subsequent droppings, that is. It's happened to my mom at least a half dozen times.

This made me laugh again.

While Ryenne washed her hair, Courtney and I lay on our bed, exhausted from the morning at church. 8:30 in the morning! I tell you, Sunday mornings will exhaust the best of saints. (And we're not among that group). Especially the slightly unprepared ones who are on the roster to teach sharing time, arrive extra early to set up the chairs in the primary room, plus manage the beautification of self and four gals. If we make it one piece, it's nothing short of a miracle.

No wonder we flop onto our bed at the completion of our worship each Sunday.

Our effort at recuperation was interrupted by three little girls bouncing around on the bed asking for a bit of lunch. The nerve! Emmy was most especially energetic. Loud, louder, loudest. Her dad kindly reminded her that she either tone it down or be "uninvited" to the gathering. Following this declaration, he rolled over. I'm thinking it was one of those if I can't see you then you'll go away kind of efforts.

Emmy watched for him to close his eyes, and then promptly announced, "All right! The old man is asleep!"

I laughed so hard I cried.







That's how life is, I've decided.

Some days make you laugh. Others will bring you to tears.

I like it best when I get to do both.

apparently i love this girl

One fun thing about Kate is her super vocabulary. For as long as I can remember, this girl can use her words! Combine this with the deep way she processes everything, and it makes for some pretty astute observations. She is one of those rare people who thinks everything through backward, forward, and upside down, before she decides to say anything on the subject. I, on the other hand, talk my way into deciding what I think about something-and not always successfully. I've often wished I were more like Kate in this manner. I'll just say that Kate makes for many a great conversation. Her teacher at school often comments that she loves it when Kate raises her hand. She can't wait to hear what my girl has to say.

One example of Kate's fun vocabulary is her latest usage of "apparently". This word is a current favorite, and pops up in most sentences. If you hang around Kate for a minute or two, you may hear things such as:

"Apparently I'm going to need your help."

"Apparently no one shut the door."

"Can you get me a snack, because apparently I'm still hungry".

Every time I hear the word, I smile. I'm pretty sure that she'll soon pick up a new word, and 'apparently' will drop back into occasional usage. For now I'm content to hear her throw it into nearly every sentence.

Because, apparently, this girl is one of a kind. And I like it that way.

ryenne's pixie dust party

This year for Ryenne's birthday, I finally joined the ranks. We gave her first real birthday party! She decided on a fairy party, and we staged the whole affair in the play house. The girls were darling and Ryenne had such a fun night.

We decided to start off with a little tea party. The girls loved eating off their tiny little plates and fancy teacups. One of the girls said, "Everything is pink!"

After the tea party, the girls opened presents and then embarked upon building fairy houses. The story goes that if you build a house for the fairies they will come and visit. Once completed, you set your house outside, and you can tell when the fairies have come each time something is removed or changed in the house. The girls used moss, flowers, chestnuts, pinecones, rocks, twigs, tiny birds and butterflies. Each house was different and so fun. A few of them even left little bits of food for the fairies to snack on.

When the night was over and we had finished taking everyone home, Courtney asked Ryenne if the party was a 'smashing success'. She grinned and replied, "It was a triple smashing success!"

Come back anytime, you cute girls!

"Life itself is the greatest fairy tale. . .

all you need is faith, trust,

and a little bit of pixie dust."

-Hans Christian Anderson and Tinkerbell

too many stuff. . .easter 2010

Another fun Easter was had by all!

The girls were excited to see that the Easter Bunny decided to show up, leaving his trademark trails of candy throughout the house. This year, the girls decided to join in an old Croney tradition of leaving out three colored eggs for him to hide. This is how it works: Each girl dyes her 3 eggs in whichever color she chooses. The night before Easter, we leave out the baskets and a list of which basket and eggs belong to each girl. On Easter morning, before gathering the treats, each of the girls has to first find their basket, and then all three eggs. When I was growing up, the baskets were sometimes hidden in pretty tricky places. Once a few of us had to shimmy up to the roof to collect ours. I also had three brothers who thought it was really funny to find someone else's eggs and rehide them in an even trickier spot. For a small fee (paid in Easter loot), however, they would generously offer to help you. Ahhh. . .the things my girls will miss out on by not having a brother.Once all eggs and baskets are found, the girls gather into a circle, facing outward until they hear the magic words. "On your mark, get set, HAPPY EASTER!!!!"

. . .And they're off!

It was so funny to see Claire's face in the morning when we got her out her crib. She kept looking around with a silly grin on her face, looking at all of the candy everywhere and rubbing her eyes. You could see her wondering, "Is this a dream?"

Life is good!

After the hunt, Courtney and I had to laugh when we heard Emmy say, "I have too many stuff."

To this Kate replied, "No Emmy! On Easter you can't ever have too much stuff!"

Isn't that the truth! Happy Easter!

another year. . .

Happy Anniversary babe.

You are my happy place.

madhouse

On the last evening in March, Courtney climbed in bed laughing.

"So Ryenne had a good April Fool's trick planned," he told me. "She asked me if she could put saran wrap on all the toilet seats. She thought it would be really funny." Turns out, her teacher gave her the idea. Thanks Mrs. Wilkey.

Luckily for me (for although she insisted she'd clean it all up, I know better), he talked her out of it. But the whole conversation with Ryenne gave him a few ideas of his own.

After waiting a while to make sure everyone was sound asleep, the two of us did a little switcheroo to our sleeping girls.

Ryenne was moved to a mattress in the entry way.

Emmy landed under the computer desk. (The next morning, she questioned our judgement. "Those blinking lights kept me awake all night!" she said with disgust. I was sure to tell her it was all her Dad's idea.)

And Kate? Being our deepest sleeper, we chose the best spot for her. We all laughed the next morning when she sat up in the tub with a confused grin.

Turns out, she liked it so much she's hoping to be permanently reassigned to the bathtub.

All of this silliness really got the girls into the spirit of things. Ryenne wrapped a bandage around her arm to wear to school, hoping to fool everyone into thinking her arm was broken. Not one to do something halfway, she even had us sign her "cast". Kate was all giggles when she borrowed Ryenne's 'fashion glasses' to wear. She had everyone believing she got new glasses.

Emmy was a little bit confused about the whole concept of April Fool's Day. When she saw the girls plotting, she kept asking us things like, "I know! I can be a witch!" or "Maybe I should be a chef!" It was a little bit April Fools mixed with a touch of Halloween.

For dinner, we had mashed potatoes and gravy (vanilla ice cream and caramel), chicken nuggets (sugared donut holes), and mixed corn, peas, and carrots (green, orange, and corn sixlets). And for dessert? Vegetable pizza.

It's funny. At the end of the day I was thinking how April Fools provides an opportunity, once a year, to create a little chaos.

At our house? We embrace chaos. Go ahead- turn our lives upside down for a day.

We'll feel right at home.

cute

Little Miss Claire is into looking "cute" these days.

So we had to laugh the other day when she came out the other day with Emmy's panties on her head and her tights wrapped around her neck for a scarf.

"Hat?. . . Cute?" she asked.


We think she has a real future in fashion merchandising.

beauty sleep

way to go kate!

After many months of hard work, Kate did it!

Last night, she completed her first back hand spring!!!!

GO KATE!

(See? You can do hard things!)

a hot date

I like my Friday night dates. (Now that Buddy is certifiably graduated from his little obedience class, we are back on schedule. Hallelujah!)

Even though our dates aren't too fancy (usually dinner and some errands), I look forward to these nights away, and actually take the opportunity to spruce up a bit. In fact, I may go the extra mile- apply a little makeup and attire myself in something other than faded exercise pants.

Hey, it's the least I can do.

When we head out the door, I don't feel the least bit guilty. After all, a happy mom and dad make happy children. Right?

So I had to laugh when I overheard this little exchange between Emmy and Claire yesterday:

Claire was carrying around a little baby doll, not really sure what to do with it. Emmy decided to help out. Using her best grown-up voice, she sweetly bent down to Claire and asked,

"That's a cute baby! Do you want me to watch your baby while you and your husband go on a hot date?"

Just training them young.