Question?

We all know the saying about a bear pooping in the woods.

But, does a wooden bear

poop

WOOD?

1st Day of School Pics, Finally....

August 24th

3rd Grader!

1st Grader!

They both picked out SpongeBob lunch boxes this year since I wouldn't let them have the iCarly or Hannah Montana ones they really wanted. I said "no" to real people's faces on backpacks, shoes and clothes as well. Sayer argued a real person is the voice for SpongeBob. Sometimes the only answer really is "because I'm the mom, that's why!" Sayer has also never seen a Spiderman cartoon but still thinks it's cool and doesn't care what the other girls think about it. I hope that notion sticks around for a long, long, time. School kinda snuck up on me, so they were a little shaggy without their usual back-to-school haircuts.

September 4th

Baylen went in wanting just a trim, but decided in the chair to cut off a few inches. Makes it that much easier for me to blow dry in the morning!!

Sayer really just got a trim but I can now see her big blue eyes!

Dravyn always wants his picture taken too. The only problem is that he is either in his p.j.s or half naked and I'm trying to get the girls off to school on time. So I have a about a million pics of him like this, with a big ol' head and itty bitty body.

I don't know if he will blame me more for this someday, riding a pink motorcycle with his ears sticking out. To be fair, he put the hat on himself!!

Summer Vacation

We finally took our family vacation a week and a half before starting school. Talk about cutting it close! Initially, we were going to San Antonio because we still haven't been to Sea World in all the times we've been, but the thought of chasing Dravyn around in all that heat made us rethink that decision. We hadn't been to Ruidoso since Bon and Grandad John left, so off to the mountains we went.

Tiny's Burger Barn in Tatum, New Mexico

Dravyn spilled Baylen's Dr. Pepper

all over himself and needed the first of

many changes of clothes!

Refreshments at the cabin.

Like I said earlier, this was the first time we actually had to pick and pay for a place to stay since my grandparents no longer have an available b&b at the ready for us. It was hard to narrow it down at first, but this place had an indoor pool which we ended up having all to ourselves and the river was right across the street, so it ended up being perfect. It never got over 83 degrees and we even got to witness a couple of mountain rain showers. We packed almost everything in to these 3 days that we could think of: bumper boats, putt-putt, Monjou Lookout, a Misty Mountain candy store binge, buying junk trinkets at Thunderbird Curio, a hike around a lake, playing at the wooden castle playground, keeping an eye out for bears, both wooden and real, pointing out what's new and what wasn't there when we were little, for example the mountain my cousins, my brother, and I explored all over and rode horses on, is now a Wal-Mart parking lot!!!!!!, and finally taking their pictures in front of an indian!

I'm just so glad they fell in love with Ruidoso. The putt-putt down by the river is gone, but the one with the bumper boats is pretty good and Sayer even made a couple of holes-in-one. Baylen started planning the next trip and we hadn't even made it to the cabin yet. Dravyn asked me the day after we got home, "where did the mountains go, momma? I miss the rocks." I was afraid it wouldn't be the same, and while some things were sorely missing, (Bon's pancakes for one!) the spirit of adventure and the smell of the cool pine air remains.

Mud Pies Anyone?

I was once a master mud pie maker. I loved when it rained solely for the purpose of splashing in the puddles. One time out at Bon and Grandad's farm, I covered myself and a couple of my cousins in mud from neck to toes and I thought it was the best spa treatment in the world. Never once did I give a single thought at the poor person who had to clean up the mud spackled mess. I'm sorry, sorry, sorry!!!! Somewhere along the way of my parenting career, a switch flipped and dirt became the enemy. Something to be constantly washed off my hands, off of faces, out of clothes, avoided at all costs. Puddles became big no-no's and digging in my back yard was strictly forbidden. Then one day as we were taking out the trash after a nice rain, I got a glimpse of this perfect, oozing, squishy, squashy mud puddle and all those memories came rushing back to me. It made me sad to think that I was not the kind of mother* who would let her kids make messes and never ever yell about how dirty the clothes were or lecture about how hard she was going to have to work to clean it all up. So I did the only thing I could do, I told them to squish their toes through that glorious puddle and make me proud.

Notice I said "toes." By the time I got back with my camera Sayer had on mud gloves and had painted her brother. Like mother, like daughter, I suppose!!

*Thanks, mom for being that kind of mother!

It's Potty Time!

I thought these Elmo underwear might help the potty training process. So far all we've had are messes though! But he sure is cute in them...

Tracy's 35th Birthday!

July 11th, 2009

LaLa and Papa T surprised Tracy with a pirates of the Caribbean birthday cake. Still the baby boy after all these years!!

Before....

And After!!!!!

Sayer and her Ross Buddy!

Happy Independence Day!

4th of July at the Lake