Summer time and the livin' is easy . . .

When we weren't looking, summer crept up on us!  And nothing says summer like a sprinkler under the trampoline!  June and Winnie now spend their days lapping up the hose water spewing forth from the dirty trampoline!  Oh well, they're kids, dirty hose water is the least of my worries with these two!  I think June might be ready for a career in swimsuit modeling, though!  She knows how to strike a pose!  Now if only she washed that red popsicle off of her face!

Winnie has decided that clothing is optional these days!  A bathing cap, however, is a must have for the season!  Her head is so abnormally large, it's all I can do to stretch this spandex beauty over her noggin!  Yes, summer holds many wondrous things for us, but the best thing -  Kolby finished up his first year of med school!  We've gotten so used to being just the three amigos, we're not sure what to do now that we have Daddy home and not just hermit Daddy studying in his office!  So bring on the sunscreen, the bug spray and the sno shack! Our summer is going to be filled with family trips to the zoo, the pool, afternoon movies, camping excursions, and even a big trip home to Utah!  Let the fun begin!

A major loss!!!

On Sunday, the unthinkable happened!  Our computer's hard drive crashed.  I know it's not the end of the world, but we, being the idiots that we are, hadn't backed up anything and we lost everything!  We bought this computer in the fall and had planned on getting an external hard drive, but just never got around to it.  I'm not sure why, but the videos we have posted on our blog are no longer on it.  It is a little confusing, since I posted them online and expected them to be here when I pulled up my blog, but they have vanished.  So, I guess all we can do is pick ourselves up, dry our eyes from the loss of such wonderful imagery, and move on.  Kolby has promised to force the girls to re-enact every cute thing they did this past year and capture it once again, but I'm not very optimistic about it.  Please heed this advice - BACK UP EVERYTHING!!!  DON'T LEARN THIS LESSON THE HARD WAY!!!

The Boys are Back in Town!!!

Ladies, this is not a drill!  Commence side-pony tail, dig out your miss-matched fluorescent foot attire, your hyper-color tees, those stretchy stirrup pants you've hidden deep in some crevasse of your garage - you know you've been looking for the perfect opportunity to bust them out and, although your adult butt may lead to the demise of the ancient and already fraying spandex, you're secretly hoping that your daughters' mini-buns will bring them to life once again!  Finally, bring forth the cherished pin!  You know exactly what I'm talking about.  It's time to pay homage to the only kids who could have ever inspired you to waste your hard-earned allowance money on a picture pendant the size of Rhode Island and proudly display it on your stone-washed denim jacket!  Yes, the New Kids on the Block are back!  If you were lucky enough to turn on the T.V. this morning and catch the comeback on the Today Show, then you also realized that you haven't lost that lovin' feeling!  Not only do they leave you as teary-eyed and twitter-pated as they did when you were pre-pubescent, but now their crush-inspiring crooning can work it's magic on a new generation of girls!  They had Winnie at "Hangin' tough!"

  

Hallmark Moments . . .

When I was twelve years old, I spent a good deal of time creating lucrative businesses with my sister Audra and my cousin Catherine.  Our aim was to sell as much homemade junk as possible for a hefty profit - our market extended as far as our family members, poor saps!  We sold our own chocolate nibblets, secret recipe herbal body wash, and the odd woven pot holder or clay bowl.  My favorite business, however, was our homemade greeting cards!  Well, it has since become my favorite because Catherine, the elegant weaver of words, came up with a doosie!  On the front of the printer-paper card was a cut out flower from an old and very ugly wallpaper sample, but on the inside, sheer poetry.  It read, "April showers bring May flowers, like mothers bring you closer to God."  Not bad from the mind of a twelve year old, ey?  We didn't really understand why our moms laughed instead of tearing up when they read these tender words that sprang from the depths of our souls!  

Needless to say, I entered the world of motherhood with my heart warmed by Catherine's sugar-coated, simplistic and somewhat delusional hallmark one-liner!  And it's a good thing, too!  If anyone could have summed up real motherhood in a greeting card and I read it before the point of no return, I may not have jumped in so eagerly!  But here I am, a relatively new mother to two girls, and although I still think Catherine's message to mothers is a lofty goal, my own personal greeting cards would read very differently:  "Mom, thanks for always being there for me - especially when I thought it was a good idea to take off my diaper and use my own feces as a facial!" Or, "Mom, I have learned so much from you - like how to use the word sh$% as a noun, verb and adjective in a sentence!" Or even, "Mom, you know me so well - just by looking into my glossy eyes, you can tell that I am in the process of soiling my undies before I even feel it!"  Even the heart-warming messages would be a bit more real, like, "Mom I really love you, now can I have a treat?" or, "Mom, happy mother's day, you're my favorite and my best because you get games down out of the closet for me!"

I don't really know where I'm going with this mother's day post, other than to say that I have realized that real motherhood can't be captured in a card.  Card's can't put into words every triumph you achieve, every failure you endure,  every second you worry, every laugh you enjoy, and every tear you shed.  And moms don't really need cards with sappy messages to know that they have the best job in the world.  Our own genuine hallmark moments are simply written on our hearts!  Happy belated mothers day to all the mothers and future mothers I know and love!    

  

A week in Review

Bun in the oven???

Yes, the rumors are true, Winnie is expecting her first "Sponge Bob ball" baby!  Isn't she glowing?  She wore this ball around under her shirt for the better part of a day, rubbing it gently and sticking it out proudly!

  
She learned the hard way pregnancy is no cake walk!  Ohhhhh her back!  She had to take a load off in her marshmallow Dora chair and kick her feet up!  She even let sister give her belly a rub for good luck!  June's such a good sport!  She played along and excitedly told Winn, "I think I felt it kick me!"   

On Wednesday we had a whopper of a storm!  This photo hardly captures the torrential rains and 100 mile-an-hour winds that uprooted trees.  Sorry we were unable to catch the tornadoes that touched down in our town on video!  I'm told this is just another spring day in Oklahoma.  I'm trying to adjust and not poop my pants when the tornado sirens go off!  

 
Here we our in our safe room!  Okay, it's just the bathroom,but we took the proper precautions - shoes on? check, flashlight? check, protective mattress? check, snacks for Winnie? double check!

Today Kolby captured some lovely photos of the girls in the midst of our intense band workout!  Winnie gets so excited, she starts counting and says, "up, down!"  I used to use the fact that the girls were up as an excuse to delay my workout but I never could find any free time.  So I just started including them and we have actually become a pretty good team!  We motivate each other, you know?  Might as well let them help me loose poundage, they're the ones who put all this weight on me!

June is actually getting pretty good at these workouts!  She is way more flexible than I am and always goes for the burn!  

Tea Time!!!

( Attention:  The following post must be read with a British accent.)

Anyone for tea?  Lady Louise (aka June) hosted a lovely tea party in the garden yesterday afternoon.  Lady Sassafras (aka Winnie) and Lady Tottington (aka mom) attended as her honored party guests.  Each lady dressed up in her finest tea party ensembles and a delightful time was had by all!  

Lady Sassafras got on quite splendidly!  Finger sandwiches, orange slices, tiny vegetables, a delectable cheese platter, chocolate-chip cookies, and, of course raspberry "gerbil" tea (as June called it) with cream and sugar!  I dare say Lady Sassafras had a jolly good time enjoying a bit of fresh spring air and the lovely party platter!

   

I do say, Lady Sassafras, you are certainly looking dashing today.  One lump or two?

And Lady Louise, my compliments on these delicious morsels!  And your china is exquisite!  Who would have guessed it to be imported directly from Toys-R-Us?  Cheerio!

Grease lightning!

Okay, so here's my dilemma.  Tonight I was digging a thorn out of June's foot as she screamed and gnashed her teeth!  I took my eye off of mischievous Winnie for a total of 2 minutes when she came rolling into the bathroom covered in Eucerin cream - if you haven't used it, let me just say it is the thickest, oiliest cream ever - I use it on Winnie for her Eczema.  I would have taken a picture but I was too busy yelling my butt off at June for getting the cream down in the first place.  We scrubbed Winnie in the tub for about a half an hour and the only thing that would break through the grease was shampoo - I think she is sufficiently clean, not to mention thoroughly moisturized.  Now I'm trying to get this lovely lotion out of my carpet.  Yes, I should have seen it coming when I didn't hear a peep from the girls' room.  She decided to moisturize herself, her rug, the carpet, her dresser, her laundry basket and all of her doll house toys.  I have been able to scrub it out of everything except the carpet.  So, anybody got any good greasy carpet-cleaning tips?