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An Extra Hour

Today, we gained an extra hour. I had visions of sleeping in with a quiet house.

It didn't happen.

Because, I am a morning person. And no matter how hard I try, I will always be a morning person.

Which means my body wakes up when it is early.

No matter what.

It seems Bboo may be inheriting that trait a little. I say a little, because she can sleep in if she's really tired.

So, we decided to get up and make breakfast. The girl had bacon on her mind and just had to have it! We went to work in the kitchen cooking bacon and grits and remarking how the Smart One could sleep through a tornado!

And we put on music. Lots of it!

It started off with Cyndi Laupers's, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" (Dad said said, "Girls Just Want to Have Bacon") and it kept going from there.

Music from my childhood…teen years…etc.

And finally, the Smart One woke up.

And joined in.

And we sang.

And danced.

And laughed.

And ate bacon.

I'm sure in the spring, we won't be so happy with the time change.

But this morning, I gained an extra hour with my children.

What did you do with yours?

Bad Mom Award

Today was one of those days. It's one of those days where I am realizing how much adjusting I have to do as a full-time working mom.

The Drama Queen has very busy Wednesdays, so I try to remember to have her have everything ready on Tuesday night before she goes to bed. Early. Well, at least I try to get her to bed early.

It doesn't always happen.

So on Wednesdays, we rush out the door with everything she'll need for the rest of the day.

After work, we go straight to dance.

Dance bag; check.

Get to dance.

Dance pants in dance bag; check? Nope. Ok, so I remind her why it's important to make sure she's ready the night before and now she'll have to wear jeans to dance. I don't have time to get her home and back. She's not thrilled, but she realizes it's also lack of preparation on her part. And we walk inside.

To a room full of girls all dressed up.

Because today was dress up day. They're in cute costumes of bumble bees, angels, and princesses.

And she's in jeans.

And she doesn't even complain.

We forgot. I feel terrible. And she's a trooper.

After dance, she realizes she's forgotten her AWANA book. Too late, Dad can't go back and get it.

See, after dance, she goes straight to AWANA at church. It works because she has some special daddy time that they enjoy each week.

Again, she realizes she needs to prepare better and have her book in her bag.

Here's where we switch gears for a moment. I'm headed home with the Smart One (Dad picks up the Drama Queen from me at dance and gives me the Smart One to take home after he's just finished bowling.) Anywho, it's Bboo calling. Who's taking her to the game tonight, because she has to dance at half-time?

Yeah, I forgot. She doesn't usually do this on Wednesdays. I let her know I'm on my way home and hear her lose it. Because now the dog is sick and went on my carpet and what is she to do?

I get home, clean it up as best as I can, call dad to get the carpet shampooer from his sister, realize we're not having dinner anytime soon and get her to the game and the Smart One to karate. (Now you can understand why Wednesdays are so hard!)

Hubby helps get dinner going; we both end up missing Bboo dancing at the game; I get the carpet shampooed while hubby deals with yet another issue…and finally, we ask a friend to bring home the Drama Queen. She does.

And the Drama Queen walks in to let me know the her car one two races tonight and came in 3rd in another race. And nobody voted for her car in the design category and that made her sad. And she was a little sad that Daddy and I didn't make it to watch her race, but that's ok, because she knows we love her.

*Sigh*

We missed the AWANA Grand Prix races tonight.

Yeah, I forgot about that one, too.

I'm pretty sure I could win the Bad Mom Award tonight.

Or maybe not. Because despite it all, I have great children who tell me they understand and love me and don't hold it against me that I messed up.

And that brings me joy.

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Unexpected Moments

More and more lately, I try to grasp those unexpected fun moments. It's still doesn't happen near as much as I'd like, but this week gave me, not one, but TWO opportunities!

The first was Thursday evening. Punky called with two extra tickets to the PBR Rodeo. The Good Looking One happened to be having dinner with us, and knowing how much he'd love it, I asked him to come along. Thursday he picked me up and away we went. And I had so much fun! It was great watching the bull rides; hollering at them to hold on and grimacing when one fell off! After the bull riding, Riding High  Ministries put on a show for us. It was awesome to watch.

Then, last night we had to run to the mall to pick up a couple of things. The Drama Queen had some birthday money and wanted to go to Build-a-Bear, so Bboo and I took her along with us. On the way in, we discovered a carnival. Of course, the Drama Queen was begging to go, so I told her if we were finished in enough time, I'd take her on the Ferris Wheel. We had fun picking out the newest frog (not bear), a few cami's for Bboo and then called hubby.

…Who happened to be on his way to drop of the Talented One at the Twin's house. And he had the Smart One with him. So, I thought it'd be terribly romantic to have him join us and the two of US could go on the Ferris Wheel together!

With beautiful weather and a beautiful night, we had fun watching the Smart One and Bboo go on the Fire Ball. Then we headed to the Ferris Wheel.

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Oh…and did you notice the "Be Kind" shirts? You can read more about them on the Josh Stevens Foundation site!

I'm so glad we took a moment to have some unexpected family time! It was great!

10 Years

Would you like to see what has brought me joy over the past ten years?

Isabella--01--2001

Celebrating her 1st Birthday!

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Celebrating her 3rd Birthday with the Homecoming Boys!

 Ruben's Prom copy

And then there was the costume birthday party! What fun we had!

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And the year she got the dress she wanted…her twirling made me smile!

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The older she gets, the sillier she gets!

Isa's 8th birthday copy

One of my favorite photos of all time! The girls all in the air together.

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And now she is 10! More beautiful then ever and growing up way to fast!

Isa's 10th Birthday copy
Isa's 10th Birthday copy

 

Click below for more "Just for the Joy of It!"
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Poptarts

This weekend was the drama queen's birthday, so we had a sleepover. She got to choose breakfast; so opted for poptarts. We don't have them that often, so I went for it. I thought, "Hey, at least I won't be making pancakes after a sleepless night of noisy girls!"

Early Saturday morning I got up and had the girls happily eating poptarts and finishing up their crafts from the night before. Realizing I had a moment, I grabbed a cup of coffee and some toasted blueberry poptarts and went to relax for a moment.

And remember my childhood. You see, I remember blueberry poptarts.

My grandparents had a house by a lake in Indiana. We lived pretty far away, but we'd visit them during the summer. We'd drive for what seemed like forever, and I knew we were getting close when we started passing Amish horse and buggies. I remember arriving and Grandpa walking us to the pantry and opening the door…to a pantry full of poptarts. As a child, it seemed like the pantry went as high as a mountain…a mountain of blueberry (and other flavors) of poptarts!

I honestly can't remember ever eating poptarts as a child any place else. We may have, but I don't remember it. You see, mom was awesome; she'd cook us a hot breakfast every morning before school. We also had dinner at the table together every night. We didn't eat cereal much until we were older. As a matter of fact, I used to love going camping because I knew my parents would get the little boxes of cereal and we'd get to have a different flavor each morning and eat it right out of the box!

Now that I'm an adult, I'm really not a big fan of poptarts, (I'd rather have a hot breakfast); but I do so enjoy a toasted blueberry poptart. I'll smile as I eat one, remembering our summer visits to the lake house. We'd get up early and fish off of the pontoon. Or stay up late and catch fireflies.

Tomorrow marks ten years since my grandfather passed away; he left us shortly after the Drama Queen made her entrance. My grandmother followed along a year later. I'm glad my daughter chose to have blueberry poptarts to celebrate her 10th birthday. It was nice to take a walk down memory lane.