New Post (I don't feel inspired with a title.)

***ALERT. ALERT** We now have a two-year old in the house. Updates will be added as necessary. All necessary precautions are being taken.


(This is how I found her listeing to kid songs on Pandora when I came out of the bathroom.)





Cassie loves Buddy-Boy. (Not to be confused with Boy (Micah), whom she also loves very much. I didn't realize how often I call Micah "boy" when I'm talking to him, as in"Boy, you'd better be careful when you're doing flips!" or "Hey, come here, boy." I guess it's because we have only one boy, so it's fun to get to call him that. Cassie apparently thinks that's his name. It's especially cute when she's upset about him taking something she wants and saying through wails, "Boy took my toy!" She's brainwashed us enough now that when we're talking to her about him we often call him by his new name.)
She feeds Buddy his dogfood one piece at the time, and as a thank-you he lets her pet him while she sucks her thumb. This time she was even using a paper plate. Spoiled little doggie.

Cassie's big day, turning 2. We had a cake at Mam's and shared it with the cousins, Michael and Caroline. The night before, I'd told her she would be having a birthday tomorrow. Her response? "Cake?"
She wasn't real bold in blowing out those candles, but after a few tries she managed to project enough airflow to extinguish them. As we were eating the cake she looked up at the video camera and said, "Happy Birtday to oooo." I was charmed. :)

Camie made her a purse out of some soft cloth that feels like the robe Cassie uses as a blankey. They all helped me make her a pillow out of the same material and we used the belt from the robe to make a big bow on it, like a wrapped present. She was upset at first that a piece of robe was sewn down on this present and she couldn't get it off, but now it's as loved as Robe itself.

Easter 2011, before church. We stopped at Mam's on the way to Sunday School to show her the outfits. Mom used to do this on our way home from church at Easter for Grandma when we were young (and even as teens, I think) because grandmas like to see their darlings all dolled up. I knew nobody's hair or clothes would look as nice after church, so we let her see them nice neat. Micah has been wanting a tie for months, and I finally got him this. He loved it and looked so grown up. My niece, who is married and I think of more like a sister or cousin, came over the night before to show me how to fix the girls' hair. You can see that Camie's was in ringlets. Lissy's was in a ponytail which was curled in little ringlets. Mine was like hers; bad choice for pictures I realized later. When will I learn this? Cassie's was just brushed and in a bow.

Today the three older kids were on the trampoline playing and didn't see me watching from the porch, so I was able to see them playing without hearing, "Mamma, watch me!" every 15 seconds. Camie and Lissy were dancing to a Christian song on the radio in sort of sweeping, arm-waving motions they must've seen some drama team do. They were watching their shadows on the trampoline while they moved. At one point Camie had her behind stuck way out to the side (don't remember that move in any Christian dance), watching her shadow. Micah was lying down nearby and I saw the glint in his eye. He stood up like he was going to bounce with them and then hauled back and laid a big whack on her hiney. She whirled around and couldn't decide if it was Micah or Lissy who'd done it. Lissy pointed at Micah, who grinned and said it was Lissy. And this is what boys do while girls do interpretive dance. ;)

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Micah was bringing apple juice from the pantry to the kitchen for me the other day and dropped the plastic jug. Lissy was worried and asked, "Is that going to bruise all the apples in it?"

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Cassie is talking A LOT lately and saying very adorable things, none of which I can think of right now. She calls Camie "Cahm", Felicity "She-she" and Micah "Boy". She is very goofy and likes to talk in odd voices. Robie (the robe she loves) is a constant companion around the house, and she ahs other soft blankies and toys (and a winter hat) that she keeps around for times Robie needs a bath or can't go with us somewhere. Today we were all outside except Cassie. I stuck my head inside to look for her and called out, "Cassie, are you in the house?" I heard her little voice in the living room, "No."

Gentlemen and Ignorance

Tonight Micah was trying on a new church shirt I'd bought him. Camie said, "Ooo, Micah! You look like a gentleman."
Sure that it was meant as a taunt, he quickly said, "No I don't!"
I asked if he knew what a gentleman is and he said he did.
"It's a surfer guy . . . who helps carry fish."
I told him, no, that it was a man who was well-behaved and usually well-dressed. He tried repeating it back to me, but after saying, "A man that is well-dressed," asked, "And what was that other one?"
Ummm, nevermind.

Lissy went with me to town last night and we had a good time chatting in the car. I told her something, I don't remember what, but it was something she knew nothing about, to which she immediately replied, "No it's not." I laughed and told her 1)Don't argue with a grown-up, it's disrespectful, and 2)Don't argue about something you don't even understand. It just shows your ignorance.
"What iggerance?" she asked.
Case in point.

A Mississippi December Day

My niece Courtney and her husband Ryan came over one Sunday last month for lunch and she brought her camera. Her dad, my brother, is a self-taught photographer and she inherited his artistic gift. She took the following pictures while we were outside playing Hide-n-Seek, and raking leaves to jump in. The kids love Courtney and Ryan and were all smiles that day to have such fun grown-ups come play with them.

(Aren't these great DECEMBER pictures? I love our weather.) :)


This makes my Mommy-heart get all mushy, the way they have their arms wrapped tight around each other and are laughing. I think Ryan must have been trying to tag Micah and he was making sure he was at base.

This boy loves to climb the woodpile. All the kids do actually.

Shooting Ryan with his pistol. Or Maybe it's his sniper rifle. Then again it could be his DBS gun (we're not sure what that means, but he thinks it's the name of a real gun.) I was laying in bed the other morning while he and Cassie were peering through the glass of the gun cabinet. I heard him ask, "Can you say 'shot'?" When she did, he asked, "Can you say gun?" After "shotgun" I heard him teaching her rifle and .22. He was so excited that she named all the guns.

Cassie did a lot of watching that day, not really sure about running around with silly grownups. :)

Hide and Peek. She was supposed to be counting. When she saw this photo, she said, "I peek when I count that way I know where everybody hides."

This is Cassie's everyday expression. Sometimes it's a bigger grin, but still a closed-mouth one.

Watch out, she's about to shower leaves on the photographer. :)

I'm not sure what was going on here, but they obviously thought it was funny.

This is one of my favorites from that day. So glad we have a good photographer to capture the moments they are getting along, however brief they may be. :)

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The other day I was changing Cassie's dirty diaper. Lissy wandered by and said, "Ooo that stinks. I'm never going to change a dirty diaper."

I asked what about when she was a Mommy and her kids needed a diaper change.

"My Daddy will do it."

"Your Daddy won't be at your house. Do you mean your husband?"

"Yes. My husband will do it."

"He will be at work."

"Then my big kids will do it for me."

"What if all you have is a lot of babies?

She paused only a moment, then decided, "They'll figure it out."

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Now we just need to get Courtney back over here to do family pictures. Thanks, Court. These are beautiful.

Rose

From the Land of Lissy

Lissy and Camie were showing me something they'd built out of blocks and train tracks the other day. Camie explained about one of the toy cars in the setu-up: "This is like something out of the 70's, and this is like one from the 60's" (as if she even knows what that means.)
Lissy, eager to have her input heard squeaked out, "And this is from the 2's ees." I was holding Cassie at the time and had to put her down to catch my breath, I was laughing so hard.

This and That, and a Few More Pictures

It feels as if Fall might finally be here. We've had to wear long sleeves a few mornings, the leaves are sort of changing colors and the sky is that intense blue that you see only this time of year. It was about 55 degrees tonight as the kids and I were walking across Walmart parking lot and they were shivering, even with their long sleeves on. Camie said, "I'm freezing! Why does it have to be so cold?!" I just laughed and said, "Because you're a little warm-blooded Mississippi girl. This isn't very cold." But we were all happy to get into the store and peel layers off till we were back down to short sleeves.

While we were on the canned vegetable aisle, Felicity saw some canned green beans and excitedly (and loudly) said, "Hey! Here's the Golly Green Monster!" (In our world, that would be the Jolly Green Giant.)

~~The three big kids outside playing with some golly green giant weeds.~~

Right before that Camie pointed out that Micah had put something in the cart. I checked and saw a can of corn nestled in with our other groceries. I gave it back to him and told him to put it where he found it, that he couldn't be putting things in the cart on his own. His response? Just a grin and "I'm pretty sneaky." as he returned it to the shelf. Gotta watch those little rascals always trying to sneak vegetables in amongst the cookies and potato chips.
~~Our sneaky little monkey, being cool with Cassie's new toy.~~

Felicity is always on the lookout for coins in parking lots and on the floor in stores and almost always finds a penny or a dime. One day she netted 21 cents .....and that was in just one store. Tonight she found a penny and a Canadian dime, Micah found a Mexican coin, a dime, and two pennies, and Camie found one penny, which she later gave to me, and I put it in Matt's coin jar on his dresser. The family that scavenges together, saves together. ;)


Last night Micah got in bed with us for a while and after he fell out I took him back to his own bed. Sometime later he migrated back and kept us in a light sleep. After we were up and around I asked him why he came back to our bed a second time. He'd had a bad dream, he said, about a big duck. It was yellow, and bigger than Daddy. It was chasing them because their friend Coleman had messed with its footprint [okay?] But Micah hid behind a stove outside and shot it with his bow and arrow. I don't know why something with that triumphant an ending sent him back to our room to keep me from sleeping well.

Our church had its Fall Festival Saturday night and that was a lot of fun. Matt took his tractor up there and did hayrides all evening. I fed our kids and tried to keep an eye on the older three while also keeping track of Cassie. I don't know how much candy Micah ate before I caught up with him. He'd been playing games and winning candy, and eating it as fast as he got it. I gave him a hotdog and bag of chips at one point, and one of the ladies at the food table later told Matt she didn't know if Micah had eaten them all, but she'd helped him get little bags of chips at least five times. Those were some worn-out, stuffed kids when we got home. :)



~~Cassie with her monkey that Aunt La gave her the other day. The hands velcro together and Cassie loves walking around with the monkey hanging around her neck.~~



When I was recounting mine and Matt's anniversary trip, I forgot to tell about his surprise to me. I had planned all the details of the trip, and knew he wanted to eat at Wintzell's Oyster house for lunch on the way through Alabama. As we were eating breakfast I commented that I didn't want to get too full because I knew we were going to be eating a good lunch soon. He said, "We've got several stops to make before we get to Wintzell's." I love his surprises, and he loves how I try to guess, and fail. As we were driving out of town he pulled in at a little place that sells porch swings and pottery. We looked around and chatted with the saleslady, then walked around outside. While we were inside the store Matt kept asking if I wanted some of the pretty flower pots they had for sale, but I'm not a faithful plant-tender and felt bad about buying something so pretty that I wouldn't use well. He told me I needed to pick out some pottery. I said okay and he added, "It's for your ninth anniversary. The ninth year is pottery." Ohhhh. I'd never even thought to find out what any of the years' gifts traditionally are.

We drove on to the shopping center where Wintzell's is and pulled up to Pottery Barn. Neither of us had ever been in it. We had fun looking around and being silly, seeing how people with more money than we have might like to spend it on decorations and furnishings. We left without a purchase, but with the funny realization that Potter Barn had maybe 5 pieces of pottery in it, all of which were big urns or lamps.

While in DeFuniak Springs where we stayed, we went to a festival on Saturday. There were a lot of vendors set up, and quite a few of those were people selling handmade jewelry. I picked out two pretty necklaces, and even though they are glass, am calling them pottery. :) Thanks for the gifts, Sweety.

~~I edited the pictures to brighten the exposure, but of course Blogger ignores things like that. The red one is a teardrop shape with a spiral of red and black in it. And the blue is a pretty flower.~~



It's late, a dirty kitchen is waiting for me to clean it, and tomorrow we are planning to go on a field trip with the homeschool group. So goodnight.

Rose

A Few Laughs For Your Day

My sister Lauren was telling Micah that they were going to have a new baby in March and he told her, "My Mamma's going to have a baby. It's a boy." {News to me}
Camie leaned over and quietly told her, "You can't believe everything Micah says about babies."
(And just for the record, I have to agree with Camie on that.)


At Mam's the other night I asked the kids if they wanted graham crackers. Lissy said, "Mamma! Grand-crackers, just like grandchildren!" Micah corrected her and said, "They're crayon crackers." He's the one who used to call fig newton cookies "fan noodles", so I wouldn't believe everything he says about that either, Lissy.

Lissy found an old marble in the gravel outside and was playing with it in the kitchen yesterday. It slipped out of her hand and Cassie grabbed for it. Lissy said, "Oh no! I dropped my pimple!" That word is giving her trouble lately. :)
~~Rose