Fun with Thirty-One (and Mustaches)

 The girls decided to do a Thirty-One party for themselves (with drawn on mustaches.)    It was hilarious.  :)

I "Mustache" You to Look at This Post

Check out her shirt: 

 :)  HAHAHA And both of their faces...

Sense a theme?

Toothy Drama

Cinderella is entering one of the many "awkward" stages of growing up.  Being almost six and a half years old she is all arms, legs and knees.  She is also hitting the Tooth Fairy Stage.  Or she should be entering the stage of losing her baby teeth for her adult teeth...


That is, if she'd just let us pull that sucker.  It's been about two weeks since we noticed that her bottom right tooth was flapping in the breeze.  It really is hanging on by a thread.   It is beyond my comprehension how it is even still in her mouth.  It defies all rules and theories.  Her baby tooth is out of alignment, more so by the day.  She complains of pain.  Well, yeah, you have two teeth that want the same spot.  


Tonight the drama began.  Or continued, rather.  We are sick of it.  She is complaining that her tooth is hurting because the new tooth has nowhere to go.  Yet, she won't pull it out or let us pull it out.  She won't even let us talk about pulling it out.  She runs screaming into the night.  I wish this was one of those times I was being dramatic, but I am not.  This is straight up how it is here in the Crazy Household and dare I say I want out right now.


I promise you this is the last thing one thinks about when expecting a baby.  I thought about who she'd look like, her personality traits, what she may like or dislike.  I even thought about her future husband and prayed for him and his parents and other odds and ends but losing baby teeth never really entered my mind.  I think I dread all of this as much as she does.  May the force be with us...


Any takers on how long this tooth will remain in my princess Cinderella's head?  :)  Any helpful hints or techniques from parents who have been there and done that?  Please?  

For Ladies Only

As females, we go through so very much.  A couple of those things are PMS and cramps.  And if you say you do not get cramps I may just cut you.


PMS is a nightmare.  No matter how beautiful we are, we feel fat, ugly, bloated and depressed.  And sometimes homicidal, but I digress.  It's no fun and just around the corner the real fun begins.  


More bloating.


Cramping.


Headaches or even worse, migraines.


Nothing fits.


We want to eat everything in sight.


Cranky and irritable.


All we want is chocolate or potato chips.  Sometimes, we want both.  


Heaven help the man who has to live with us.


And we want to cut everyone we see.


And then there is the obvious, which bears no mentioning.  As if it couldn't get worse from here and yet it does...


But we deal.  We have no choice in the matter really and the reward, one day, we are told will be GRAND.  Wonderful.  Beautiful.  We have the chance to make miracles!  We have the ability to have a baby when the time is right.


Only sometimes that time doesn't come when we want it to. 


Sometimes it is delayed.  And for some, that time never comes.  Ever.


It is so awful that we are raised to believe (by society) we can reproduce when we want to and have the results we want when we want them but the truth is, it doesn't work that way.  At all.


Being infertile is almost taboo.  No one talks about it.  And it is getting better.  More people are coming forward and sharing their struggles every day.  When I was going through it, it took me talking about it and sharing about it to get others to tell me they went through it too.  And it is more common than we are led to believe...


What are your thoughts on this?  Did you believe when the time was right you could have a baby when you wanted?  How did your journey to getting pregnant go?  ANYONE can reply, you don't have to have struggled for your children.


We know how mine went.  It took a while and I had to fight to keep my own body parts in my twenties.  I endured heartbreak, depression, loss, pain and anger to just name a few.  Every woman's journey to motherhood is different.  But I now have two beautiful girls and I want to help other women not give up hope.  It is so easy to feel helpless, like everyone else is pregnant and like nothing will ever go your way.


I never could have realized when I was trying to get pregnant with Cinderella that I wasn't ready to be a mom yet.  In hindsight I can see that now.  (I am not speaking for everyone this is just my story.)  When the time truly was right I did get pregnant but it was in God's time, not mine.


They were worth the wait.

Now my life is full of love and laughter.  ANd cRaZiNeSs.  I mean, where else can you see a six year old in an infant bouncy seat?  Later the three year old Sleeping Beauty had her turn.  We had this out for my nephew when he came to dinner and the girls were alllll over it!


Never, ever, ever give up hope.  Sometimes it is all we really have.  If I can help you in any way please email me - my email address is in my profile.  I am praying for those of you who are struggling and especially for the women who have reached out to me recently.  I know how it feels and I will never forget it.


James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning."


1 Samuel 1:27 "For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition which I asked of Him."

"The Chart"

In Cinderella's class they have "The Chart."  She made us one for our home.  She, her sister and the dog all have clothes pins to go on the chart.

Essentially, it is a behavior chart.  In her words:  "Green means caution.  Yellow means slow down.  Red means you're done (no treat at the end of the day), chalkboard means you lose everything (recess and center time).  Here, we have it on the wall in the living room.  So the ledge is the chalkboard.   The chart starts over each day and everyone starts off on "home" again which is the black area on the bottom right corner.

The chart itself isn't all that funny aside from the fact that she made it and hung it up herself the other day.  What is funny is the fact that yesterday, Cinderella tattled on her little sister (which we do not like) and wanted to move Sleeping Beauty's clothes pin.  I said, "Cinderella..."

She stopped and then she said, "And I'll move mine too for tattling!"  HAHAHA

We might be on to something here...

Cinderella has started trying not to tattle by starting off the sentence, "Well, the thing is...."  And makes us drag it out of her.  She has been known to tattle on herself too!!

Today the poor dog "barked herself all the way to the top of the ledge" in a matter of minutes.  Cinderella's words, not mine.

I will keep you posted on the chart.  :)

ThAnKsGiViNg 2010

We spent Thanksgiving 2010 at my mom and dad's house with them, my maternal grandma (AKA Mamaw) and my dad's sister Beth.  My brother had to work and came later and my sister and her husband had to go up North for a funeral.  We missed them.  :(

The table all set.  I think the sippy cup really adds something to the atmosphere.  ;)

 My pilgrim Cinderella (she made this at school) and my aunt.

 The King of the Crazies and all the mashed potatoes...

 Lil Sweetie.  King of the Crazies got up for a minute and she was fast in his place!

 At the dinner table he unbuttoned his shirt a bit.  It was so funny because Mamaw did a double take!

 Sleeping Beauty was sick a couple weeks ago and got sick AGAIN last Sunday.  She was put on medicines again and seemed to be doing better.  Then yesterday, after we were there for about an hour, she went downhill and she started feeling warm.  She didn't eat at all during the "feast."  (And didn't start really again eating until tonight.)  Poor little pie. We knew she wasn't feeling right when she refused food.  The child is usually all about eating!

Here she is with a thermometer:

 My gorgeous mom (AKA the best cook ever) and me.  :)

If you haven't tasted her cooking I am sorry for you.  Sooooo good!  We all loved it.  Well, those of us that felt like eating.  :o/

Poor lil nugget didn't want to eat so she stayed on the couch with her "Tappy."  She had it because she was feeling so awful.  :(

 Starting at the right is Cinderella, my aunt Beth, Mamaw, King of Crazies, me and my dad:  

 When my mom first took the bird out of the oven we were afraid it may be "Griswold-ish" but it really was the best ever!  And she's never messed up a turkey for as long as I can remember.

You remember the Griswold turkey, right?!

Then after we ate and my brother got off of work and came to eat, some raking, piling and jumping in the leaves took place.  The two girls and my brother dove in!

Lil Pie getting in on the fun!

My dad took this one. 

A new do?!

One of my favorites from the day:

She tried all three pies.  He has never been more proud:

We did get Sleeping Beauty to eat a few bites of pie and "chicken" later that night before we left:

Today she only ate Nerds (candy) and then tonight Cheez-Its, turkey and green beans.  Her fever broke and she was talking a mile a minute tonight.  I pray this mess is over and gone SOON!

SiLLy CiNDeReLLa

From this afternoon:

Cinderella may be 5 1/2 and half years old, twice the weight and height of the three year old Sleeping Beauty, but Sleeping Beauty can still do this to her big sis:

And then, when Cinderella cannot get out herself she has to send Sleeping Beauty to get her daddy to save her big sis from the tangled mess she created.  Cinderella says it is fun to be twisted up on the glider, but then when she can't get out she feels trapped.  Also, she lets her baby sister do this to her.  For fun.

Silly girls!

A Cinderella Flashback

It looks like Sleeping Beauty learned her makeup techniques from her big sis.  (If you missed yesterday's post, please see below for a laugh.)  Below is Cinderella at age two.

A Cherry Chapstick Incident:

And then there was a makeup incident:

 This was from some play makeup, I think.  Cinderella was two in both of those photos.

And another picture:

Today I am thankful for my ability to find a good bargain.  Also, because I forgot to add one thing I am thankful for at the end of my last post:  I am thankful for my mom and dad, who go above and beyond for me and my own little family.