My Perfectly Perfect Weird Kids

My kids are weird. And I love them and all their weirdness.

I also must say, that after getting these 3 texted pictures (while leaving them in the car for 5 minutes) to run into the store the other day, I'm certain they must get their weirdness from their dad. Certain of it. ;) I promised them I wouldn't put the actual pictures on instagram nor facebook.  They didn't mention my blog so I thought about putting them here, but I'm still trying to keep on my 12 year old's good side, so here's all I can post: 

They make me smile. Always. I love sharing life with these totally awesome people.  But let me just share their 'weirdness'.

MORGAN: For two weeks now she's been trying to figure out how she can get out of going to school tomorrow.  This morning, she acknowledged that she is waking up tomorrow for school, so I'm hopeful she will actually go to school. However, I'm still not convinced I won't get a call from the nurse at the beginning of 6th period tomorrow informing me my daughter has a stomach ulcer and I need to take her to the ER immediately!   

So why does she not want to go to school, you ask? It's the SCHOOL PEP RALLY!

And apparently at some pep rallies they call students up to compete in some silly games (sounds horrible, I know!) and she is SCARED TO DEATH they are going to call her and she will embarrass herself (by fainting, she says) in front of the whole school! On a serious note, I do feel bad that she has so many anxieties.  But I think I may have the only kid in the entire school who is begging not to go to school because of a pep rally! (And so okay, maybe I had similar fears in MS! Did I ever beg my mom to stay home?)

SARAH: About three weeks ago she informed me she wanted to be a COW for Halloween. Yes, a cow. No, we don't live on a farm. No, she has never mentioned having a love of cows before.  In fact, I don't even remember cows even being the topic of any conversation in the past year.  But in the last 3 weeks, she has NOT changed her mind.  She's determined she's being a COW and that we are making the costume, from scratch. Ummm,yay!

I ate lunch at school with her last week and brought up the topic of Halloween at the lunch table, and even when her friends looked at her weird that she wanted to be a COW, she was still happy with her choice!!   Then when I searched for cute 'tween costumes online to try and give her some other ideas, she was steadfast in her decision to be a cow!

I am certain she will be the cutest 10-year-old to ever dress up like a cow! Okay, maybe she will be the only 10-year-old ever to dress up like a cow, but she will be so cute, I'm certain next year her friends will be dressing up like cows too -- she'll probably convince them to be an entire herd! :) Now if you excuse me, I do have to go order a headband with cow ears (because I'm not going to try and make that part!).

I know I'm a day late, but linking up with Cyrstal Stine: Behind the Scenes!

A Real Hillbilly

FYI: Maybe you had to be there, but the funny part is below the photos!

Yesterday, we did something spontaneous. We normally aren't like that. But we had money in our 'fun envelope' still, and with tickets being only $5/each this weekend, we bought tickets to the Baldknobber's Show - The first show that started it all in Branson!

And we had a great time. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. And let me tell you, that laughter felt good.   Really good. My heart is still smiling this morning, and I still find a few chuckles slipping out this morning. 

I couldn't get real good pics of the stage with my camera phone, but here's the girls exposure to some culture... hillbilly style. Notice the guy playing the washboard on the end.

Here's my darling daughters hanging out at the Baldknobber's during intermission...

and my absolutely favorite picture....

But despite the great show...full of entertainment and laughter, I have a confession. I missed at least a third of the show. You see, this real hillbilly gal came and sat down in front of me.  Her skin too wrinkly and too dark, from waaay too much tanning, and her hair full of a can of hairspray to support her 80s style curling-iron look.  And let me tell you, she was obnoxious. Completely, totally, obnoxious. 

At her first stand up and whoop, I just looked at Mike and we burst into laughter. And it continued, on and on. I looked at my girls - and they look on their faces (priceless!) -- wide eyes looking at the lady, then looking at me with pure bewilderment, shaking their heads, and Morgan whispering to me "really?!" Yes, really, my daughter. Welcome to another culture. Welcome. Glad I could expose you to others. I told them they could join her (wink), to which they responded with even wider eyes and a firm NO! 

Then the missing-half-his-teeth guy she was sitting next too (it was a large group that came together) kept turning around to convince us that he did not come with her. Several in the group tried to encourage her to settle down, to which she'd respond with more inappropriate hollers.  FINALLY, the staff came and had a little talk with her, so she calmed down slightly. Her behavior was rude and disrespectful to others around her, but some reason, it just gave me the giggles. And I could not stop laughing at her.  

THEN, I was horrified when she jumped up and started whooping again when they asked military to stand up and be honored when they heard their anthem play. So there she was with all these honorable veterans,  whooping!!  I think my eyes were wider than my girls.  THEN, the missing-half-his-teeth guy turns around and says to us "She said she's 'done' a vet, so that's close enough!" Oh good grief, and while completely inappropriate, I totally lost it in a fit of giggles! 

I'm glad we live in such a colorful world, with so many colorful people! It sure keeps life interesting! And I'm sure because of her, my girls will never forget THIS Baldknobber's show! 

Oh, and I have to brag, after the show, when we stood up to leave, a nice lady behind us stopped me and complimented how well mannered our girls were during the show! Awe. Proud momma moment there.  So, when they asked for ice cream at 10:30 at night, and Mike said, no, it's too late.  I responded nonchalantly with, "well the lady did compliment them on being so well mannered tonight." And he said, "What, you think we should reward that kind of behavior?" To which I responded with a 'yup!' as he was turning into McDonalds for a couple of sundaes!

Rewind: April Fool's Day

Yes, I'm catching up on blogging today. At least a little bit.

Here are the 3 jokes I played on my girls this year for April Fool's Day.

1. They had the day off, so I gave them these lists on top and told them they had to complete these things before they could play today.  Morgan took off to her room to begin cleaning. Sarah looked at me and said, "Really, mom?!" And then I said, wait, Morgan come back, that's only page one, here's page two of your list. They both looked at me a bit crazy at this point.  And then they smiled big when they read, "April Fool's!"

2. I put a raisin in their toothpaste.  And I heard them talking about it some, but they never came to me about it. Until this morning, Sarah says, "Mom, we need new toothpaste." I ask why.  She says, 'because a mouse pooped in our toothpaste!' To which I said, I was waiting for you to tell me about that, April Fools - it was only a raisin.  Sarah replied with, I knew it was a raisin, but Morgan said no, it was mouse poop! Maybe I should have let them think mouse poop to encourage them actually putting the lid back on the toothpaste perhaps. I blew that one! 

So Mike asks, what have they been using to brush their teeth the past 4 days?!

Their travel sized toothpaste. Phew.

3. I made some special brownies for dessert. Get it, Brown-E's.  They didn't get it at first, but after a minute it soaked in and I got a, "ha,ha, mom!" Then they made up a real batch for dessert, since they love baking so much.

Oh, and I love that Morgan got in on it too this year, she put a rubberband on the hose nozzle of the kitchen sink.  I'm so glad I asked Mike to fill up the dog's water, good timing on my part! :) 

Overheard in the Sequoia

So, we are cruising along in the Sequoia tonight (BTW - I still LOVE this vehicle!) listening to the local radio station play "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere", when Mike asks Morgan "So Morgan, what is the one thing wrong with this song?!" To which she responds, totally serious, "It's Country!"  It was hilarious. So after we stop laughing,  Mike responds, "Well yay, but the real answer, which your mom had noticed, is that the song says it's 'only half past twelve' where he is, so it's impossible for it to be 'five o'clock somewhere' else, it either has to be 4:30 or 5:30"  So, has anyone else ever noticed this? And no, I won't stop listening to country even if my daughter doesn't like it! (And besides, she's a big Taylor Swift fan...so she likes a bit of country herself.)

Wishy Washy Words

There are some words in my vocabulary that I am trying to change. There's one of them: "try". I find myself saying  this a lot "I will try to do this or that..." When really how much better would it be if I just decide that yes I am going to do this or no I will not be doing that?!

The other word is maybe. Maybe I'll check into that. Maybe I won't.  The only time I like this word is when I'm trying to be a bit mysterious..."Maybe...you'll just have to wait and see." Otherwise, I just need to decide and do!

Then there is "kinda". I kinda like that. Well do I or don't I? Why am I so wishy washy? So uncommitted as to if I like something or don't. I really need to be more decisive.

The other word I use waaay too often is "just" as in, Just a minute, I was just wondering, I just want to be sure. It's just an odd little word, that often isn't really necessary...and yet I use it all the time.  I am sure you will find it in most of my blog posts if you just take a minute and look. ;)

There has got to be better words for me to use! To be true to myself and not live life so wishy-washy. Just don't ask me to give up my most profound, "ummm" that I use more than all of the other words combined! Goodness!

Humor at the Baker House

So there are all these little things that have really been bugging me lately...like the girls not putting the milk away or their breakfast dishes, like leaving their dirty clothes on the bathroom floor, like leaving spit in the sink after brushing teeth, like dropping their backpacks and coats whereever and never hanging them up, like not taking care of their things.

So I've tried reminders, and talks, and nagging, and even yelling.  Yeah, nothing is working.  And while I am certain my newest idea won't work either, at least there's going to be a little bit of fun around our house for the next couple of weeks.  I've decided to add a bit of humor to my tactics.  Here's my game plan:

- Can't wait for them to get home from school and see their new room decorations...their dirty laundry (off the bathroom floor) hanging from their ceiling fans!
- There is a new sign on our bathroom mirror (used Dry Erase Maker) that says "Look Everybody!! at the gorgeous SPIT artwork in our sink! Isn't it breathtakingly beautiful?!"
- And I was nice and put some of their things away, like shoes, kneepads...they just have to go on a treasure hunt (without a map) to find where I decided to put them away!
- Next week I'm going to start making them wear/carry their coat and backpack all evening when they don't hang it up where it belongs when they get home.

Oh, this is so much fun!!

Moving, Moments and Sparkles

So with moving and all coming up this summer, I just thought this would be a fun way to keep in touch with friends. We'll see how it works out! :) Hopefully I'll even reconnect with some friends I haven't been in touch with in awhile, but whom I think of still often.

While moving is a big event, that changes the course of your life, I really feel that it is the small moments in life that give life value, richness, meaning. After all, we really only have this moment, and then this moment is gone. What a gift.

So, here's a moment. I love being a mom of two girls...they add sparkles to my life. Literally. So, I'm finishing up folding the laundry the other day...and I notice that my shirt is sparkling. So I begin to look...and I find all the clothes are sparkling...yes, even Mike's work clothes! Then I find it...a tube of pink sparkle lipstick that Sarah's friend gave her at school the other day. Obviously, I forgot to check her pockets first! So all my nicely folded clothes went back in the washing machine...and I called Mike to let him know he might be a bit more sparkly the next time he gets dressed! :) And while I was a bit discouraged about doing the laundry again, I still had to smile about the extra sparkles in my day!