Mom in training

So you would think after 16 years I would be getting better at this.  I think in some ways I am, I have definitely become a better baker, better at planning quick dinners, better at accepting I am a soccer mom and free cab service.  At this point in my life I have fixed hundreds of boo-boos, planned dozens of birthday celebrations, made countless sugar-free valentines, attended countless soccer games, snapped thousands of candid shots and made more meals in one day than should be necessary.  So what have I learned? Well here are a few of my mommy lessons so far:

1.  Don't ever start any project with the kids you aren't prepared to finish and clean up yourself
2.  Don't ever adopt any pet that you don't want to be your own
3.  Never stop saying I love you
4.  Don't forget to stop and really listen to your kids
5.  Don't get your feelings hurt when you try new recipes
6.  Counting to 10, 50 or 100 doesn't always work, when in doubt move to wine
7.  Always bring a change of clothes... for everyone
8.  Pack snacks, no matter how short your trip is, seat belts always cause hunger pains
9.  When things are too quiet something is usually wrong
10.  Make time for yourself

I am certain that child rearing is the most exhausting and rewarding experience in human existence.  It surprises me that there really is no formal training for this task.  You have to practice and test for so many things in life: driver's license, school, degree, work, CPR.  You need a license to own a pet, get married, practice medicine, law, accounting even sell real estate.  Yet you don't need more than functioning ovaries to become a mom.  There is no test, no training, no instructions and no follow ups.  You are basically winging it from the day they place that baby in your arms at the hospital to the day... you take your last breath?  Sometimes I laugh at the way we raised the first one, so far so good, but seriously the first one is like a guinea pig.  Lucky enough to be surrounded by other humans who would say, "I don't think she should eat that yet" or "that looks a lot like chicken pox".  If it weren't for these albeit sometimes annoying words of wisdom who knows if the first one would have even made it to age 5.  But she thrived and lucky for me is now old enough to help me with the other two.  Such a protective big sister, I jokingly tell her I know she will never let me keep her future children because I am just too much of a laid back mom.  I am comfortable letting my kids explore, sometimes they get dirty, sometimes they get bug bites, sometimes they fall down.  And sometimes they discover a killdeer nest in their very own backyard, sometimes they fall down and learn how to get up, sometimes they learn to swing all by themselves and every time they share their new experience with excitement and smiles.  Ah yes, these are the little wonders that make it all worth the stretch marks, wrinkles, sleepless nights, grown out hair color and hang nails.  The big hugs from tiny people, the "I missed you" and "I love you
", the best for me of course is the "that is really cool" and "you need to make that again".  These moments beat out all the likes on FB, Instagram & twitter; being cool to your kids is so much better than being cool to your social media friends.  Even knowing that in a few short moments your next "No" will turn you immediately into the worst villain from any Disney movie.  10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Chardonnay.

T-Shirts

Friday night the girls and I decided to play around with contact paper stencils.  Bailey helped Audrey come up with an idea, this one is Love, Peace & Happiness.  Bailey drew and I cut out the stencil for Audrey and she got to painting, she had the idea to add a bow to the smiley and polka dots to the peace sign. It turned out really cute, Audrey has since decided that she would prefer her shirt be short sleeves so today I will be cutting the arms off her artwork!

An Owl named Pinky

Audrey saw a picture of an owl decoration in a catalog a few weeks ago.  She has asked everyday if I would make her an owl like the one she saw.  This last Tuesday we finally 'made' time to make her little pillow.  Audrey helped pick out the colors and she even stuffed the little gal.  After the project was complete Audrey picked out a name, "Pinky Owl"  The little gal has been a hoot, riding in the car back an for to school all week.  She served as a pillow for Bailey coming home from Rick's late soccer game last Wednesday night.  Audrey hasn't spent a night without her, I love age 5.  Audrey appreciates everything I make no matter how good it actually turns out!

Soccer Day is Finally Here!

Bailey finally had her first soccer game last Saturday.  After several rainouts, countless practices and a little bit of nervous jitters.  It finally happened.  Bailey played almost the whole game and was really starting to get the hang of the game action.  Lucky for her she has thick skin, she had her two coaches on the side lines shouting directions, in addition to both her dads giving her direction!  The team won by a landslide, I lost count after 6 goals, but the other team never scored any.  It was a great game!

More Valentine's Fun

Last week we took a trip to OK to visit with the family. We all had a lot of fun spending time together. Saturday was Mariah's babyshower, it is hard to believe her little girl will be here in less than a month! Saturday night Bailey stayed up with Karon, Chris and Mariah until almost 3am playing cards. The Kastner special, "Hand and Foot Canasta" Sunday all the ladies spent a lot of time in Mimi's craft room. Bailey made some really cute hairclips for her friends for Valentine's Day. Mimi spiced it up a bit by helping her with the Cricut and make cute cards to attach the clips to. We didn't leave Cordell until after 5PM, but it was well worth the stay!

Getting ready for Valentine's Day

Audrey and I spent the weekend, making her valentines for her friends at school and the neighboorhood. We started by making recycled crayons into hearts. We found a great Hello Kitty card on line and added a few decorative touches. Audrey signed all her cards and we attached the hearts with double-sided foam tape. Super cute and the crayons color great!

Photos at TWU

The weather was about 40degrees outside and it was

pretty breezy, but we all toughed it out for about half

an hour to get a few cute photos. Audrey cooperated for

about 12 minutes and then gave up on any effort to smile

or pose in any picture. Of course the joke was on her

because she was already captured in several good ones!

Bailey complained all the way there and then when on site

immediately decided to become photographer extrodinaire!

All in all we had a good time, as you can see from the pics!

Audrey says...

So we thought it was a good time to write down the things Audrey says that are funny, before she doesn't say them anymore. I guess true to form being my youngest I rarely correct her mostly because it is cute and I secretly never want her to grow up! On the left her word, on the right is the Engjish translation:

Kickcited : Excited

Tennis Shoe: Tissue

Brekstas: breakfast

Eyetacts: Contacts

Candy Cotton: Cotten Candy

Usuallyana: Louisiana

Tweens

Cosmetic rolls filled with goodies for birthday gifts

Bailey and Audrey 'working' on B's new table Bailey and Micah going for a ride on the 4wheeler

The person who came up with that term was genious, because by the time you fully understand them they have moved to the next stage-full blown teenager. I am amazed each day how much Bailey is growing, not only in size but in maturity.

Her sense of style has changed from simple to simple stated. She has begun to pick her friends based on similiar values and less on popularity. She is learning to speak up for herself at home and at school. Her logic has improved and she is mastering the art of negotiation. Aside from all the technical stuff, she is still spending her free time enjoying all the fun young girl stuff. Learning to ride her ripstick, learning to apply makeup and redecorating her room to match her style not mine. This weekend she had two birthdays for friends, we tried to come up with a 'tween' appropriate gift. Thanks to our new Sam Moon store at Heritage Trace the gifts were a success. Last weekend we took a trip to IKEA to pick up some items for Bailey's room. I think that Bailey and I could have filled up the truck, but we did get Bailey a great 6'long desk and some fun accessories. Next project, paint the room.

We are going to trade hot pink for bright orange and earthy greens and blues. I can't wait to get my paint brush out. Bailey wants to incorperate owls into her theme so the end results should be tween-tastic!

Back to School

artist: Bailey Blue August 2009

We all survived the first week of the girls school! Back to early mornings and rushing through the routinue of get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, brush hair, brush teeth, get bags and GO! Luckily the girls didn't start on the same day so we had a chance to ramp up! Audrey is back to uniforms, while Bailey made a fashion statement incorperating shiny yellow flats and rolled up skinny jeans. Audrey's big news was that over the summer her friend, Grace, got her hair cut really short, which according to Audrey was, "SO CUTE" Bailey was blessed with a top locker and a schedule of 8 classes each day. Oh and how could I forget, the middle school cafeteria serves ICEEs and Funnel Cakes. It was a good week and went by fast!

Summer past

Here are some of the photos from our photo session in Bear Creek Park late last summer, I finally got my hands on a copy of the CD images.

Adventures of a Preschooler

So if your finger fits in something, the four year old mentality tells you that it makes sense to stick you finger in it, right? Of course Audrey had to learn this lesson the hard way, that sometimes things that go in easily don't come out so easy. In her ever so dramatic way, Audrey comes in our room screaming that her finger is stuck in a little plastic kalidescope. After trying to ice her swollen finger down and the soap and water trick, I could not calm her nerves. I think she thought I was going to break her little finger off! Luckily it was daddy to the rescue, he quickly and carefully cut away the little toy and her finger was free! Thank goodness for Daddies, because this Mommy would have been headed for the hospital if she was home alone! Audrey was quickly at ease again and all that was left was a red ring on her finger and the broken bits of pink plastic all over the bathroom!

Sugar and Spice

Is that what little girls are made of? Audrey is quite the little communicator. Today we stopped behind our house for Audrey to check out the horses at the neighbor farm. This is here out the sunroof. She likes to tell really long stories, they all begin with, "Mom, Listen". They all seem to take a really long version of some crazy tale, usually involving Santa and a crazy lion!

Sisters

Poor Bailey had to have some booster shots today, luckily while we were waiting Audrey and Bailey had some quality time to discuss the terror of needles. These two are an awesome pair, Bailey is great at including her little sister and always takes time to stop and acknowlege her concerns. Audrey adores her older sister and only challenges her when she feels like she is not part of the fun. I love that they talk all the time, Audrey true to a four year old seems to get way off track, but Bailey just cracks her cute smile and plays along. In these photos they wanted to show their reactions to Bailey's upcoming shots. Unfortunately Bailey felt pretty crummy in the days that followed her shots, even running of fever of 102'. Audrey was quick to tell everyone exactly why her 'sissy' felt so bad! What a cute pair!

Sewing 101

I need a lot of practice when it comes to sewing. I wanted to make Audrey some PJ bottoms and it took several attempts but we finally got the job done. I ended up with a drawstring top and she was happy to wear the finished product. Here are the things I learned this time. 1. It is much easier to sew for Bailey than for Audrey, Bailey doesn't mind trying on the project 10 times durnig the process where as Audrey refused after the 3rd fitting. 2. Straight pins really are helpful when sewing, a lot easier to use than having to rip out your entire seam and start over. 3. Spray starch wasn't just for your Dad's work shirts, it can work actually help you iron straight lines. 4. Don't start a project with your 4 year old at 8 at night unless you both plan to be up until midnight.

FASHION CAMP

Amazing that in one week's time an 11 year old girl can transform from a tomboy to a 'fashionista'. Bailey spent the week at TWU finishing on Friday with a fashion show modeling all the designs that she had made. She left fashion camp with a contact list full of friends, a swimsuit cover, a new hat, skirt, redesigned t-shirt and denim shorts. On Thursday night she asked for make up to use for the fashion show and I almost fainted! The show was a huge success and we had lots of B fans in attendance for the show. She is ready to attend again next year and I am afraid her sewing skills will probably surpase mine!

A Day in the Life of Audrey

self portrait "Audrey" age 4

They say that every child is different and that couldn't be more true than with my girls. Audrey at the age of four and 1/2 definitely has a mind of her own. On an average day Audrey probably changes her clothes about 15-20 times during the day. Nothing is required to match in color or in season. Flip flops can be worn with sweaters and boots with tank tops. One item of clothing must be pink. All outfits require accessories, hair clips and/or headbands, a purse, bracelet and probably a necklace preferably made of plastic. Next she will need to apply lip gloss or chap stick but probably both. It is important that the application process takes at least two minutes of circling the lips until they are properly coated. After lip gloss is applied she may ask, "Momma do I look pretty" and then "I need some gum" The gum chewing activity is usually the systematic chewing of several pieces until the flavor is gone and spitting them in the trash. Audrey never ask for meals, just 'snacks' if we walk near the kitchen she needs a 'snack' If it is bedtime that 'snack' is inevitably going to be an apple. Other daily activities usually include going to visit Brandi and family and at least one painting, coloring or paper cutting project. All projects are choreographed to music provided by Audrey. (currently singing "Sha lah lah lah lah lah, kissed a girl...) Our newest form of entertainment is taking a shower. Once in the shower it is important that she come out at least twice, once to ask which bottle is shampoo and once to ask which bottle is conditioner. The entire event involves singing. After said shower, she will brush her hair and pick out her pajamas either to look like mine or Bailey's current attire. Next she will decide it is time to 'snuggle' with the puppy Delilah, whether Delilah likes it or not. If the moon is in the right position she will decide to clean her own room without prompting which is only dirty because of the day's previous 14 outfits are strewn about her floor. When she is tired she will want me to hold her and if I rub her back just long enough or as she says "scratch my owies" she will probably fall asleep. I love you Audrey!

Bailey's new haircut

old hair new do

Last Saturday Bailey went to Avatar with me to get a new do. She brought a picture of an avatar off the internet to show Tiffany the look she wanted. It turned out pretty cute and so far is pretty easy to style too! Here are the before and after pics...