The Birthday

Valentine's Trip

I packed up all 4 kids and headed to the cabin for Valentine's Day.  It was a few days of chess, cookie decorating, snuggling, and relaxing (as much as you can solo with 4 kids).  Even solo, it's far more relaxing here solo than it is at home.  This was good.

Anna (in frozen): " ♫ A chance to change my lonely world. A chance to find true love."

Olive: "I think she means 'A chance to get engaged'."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Anti-Warning Label Club

 "We're the anti-warning label club, and we're constantly looking for new members."

-Addison

It's Just Hair

 I was raised to ignore the stuff that doesn't really matter... "It's just hair." "It's just paint." My mom bit her lip when I had fustian hair or wore skeleton tights to take Roland's mom on her birthday dinner. My grandmother didn't bat an eye if any of us had Mohawks or bald heads or were dressed in black head to toe. I have been blessed with unconditional love and eyes that see the heart and mind instead of focusing on things that don't matter.

Down deep, I love that I was blessed with a daughter who, even at 6, challenges me and makes me constantly ask myself "what really matters?"

She wants short hair. Again. We settled for a short bob last time (she saw pictures and liked it), but she wants to go shorter. I showed her pictures so she could be sure (thinking she'd like

the short bob again), but nope. Pixie. She is sick of "hair in my ears".

Playing devil's advocate, I asked, "Are you okay if people say 'Are you a girl?'"

And without batting a big blue eye, she said, "Yes. Cause I AM a girl."

Who knows, she may change her mind (or her Daddy may cry), but good grief, I am proud to be her mom.

(Ivey, showing Gram the treasures she keeps in her boots.)

Sometimes I dis not be nice

 

Bill

 

Me: "We have to run to the feed store."

Ivey: "Do you think Bill will be there?"

Me: "Bill who? Bill who leaves near us?"

Ivey: "I don't know. I don't know what I'm talking about."

Random Stuff

 Olive: "There's someone in a Disney movie who is way too smiley."

Me: "Which movie?" 

Olive: "The one where it is part cartoon and part real. She is way too smiley when she's real."

Me: "Oh. That's called Enchanted."

Olive: "Yeah. Too smiley. I'm not too smiley. I'm not even all that nice."

______________________

Me: "Do you want a cup of icecream, a cookie, or an ice cream cone?"

Olive, with hands on both sides of her head in distress: "Will there be icecream on the cone?"

Me: "Yes. Sorry, I didn't specify."

...and the woman in line behind us laughed.

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We're meeting the scout troop at the middle school that I went to (Whitewater MS). Asa says, I've never been in a school before."

Me: "You wanna go in this one and look around?"

Asa: "Nope. I wanna go my whole life saying I've never been in a school."

________________________

Olive: "Sometimes I just think a lot about how my hands and legs can move."

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Yesterday morning, Olive wanted to play games on the computer, but I was on it. So, she stared at me. Intently. Then, she said, "I'm going to stare at you till you go up to Heavens."

I conceded to the obvious winner.

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Asa says when it's done it "will shoot 11 rubber bands per second."

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Often, Olive's questions throw me off.

(Riding in the car tonight...)

Olive: "If you get trapped by the police, do they trap your kids, too?"

Me: "Um..... No?"

Olive: "What do they do with your kids?"

Me: "Well.... call your grandparents or someone to come get you?"

Olive: "Yeah. I guess they'd want them to live. I mean, they aren't grown up yet."

(An hour later....)

Olive: "Do you have your phone?"

Me: "Yes."

Olive: "You should always have your phone with you. So we can use it to call someone if the police get you."

What the HECK?!