Follow Through!

Can you believe it?  I went to Disney World with a specific goal in mind, and I followed through on it!!!  Check it out:

A little bit of Disney in each of us. 8:)

I found several things in Disney shops that I took photos of as inspiration for my 2010 Disney scrapbook, and my favorite was a poster full of mickeys in color blocks.  I bought myself a print to work off of, and I'm happy with my first project.  Now to sift through all 3,020 photos and get down to work!  I could use a little Disney magic over here to get it all done...

Can Opener

Oh, dear readers, I just did something.  Today I opened a big ol' can of worms.  But in my effort to be THAT mom who encourages her children express themselves as the beautiful creations God made them to be, I was happy to wield a can opener today.  Today was a day Fancy has been waiting for.  Today she had her first hair appointment at a REAL salon.  We headed over to Blo, where she was served a glass of ice water (I nixed the Diet Coke that she asked for) and was given a full consult by my stylist, Heather.  We settled on a style, and then she got her hair washed and head massaged (while sitting on a big black make-up trunk, because they don't really have boosters for kids there!).  She got a cute, perky haircut (that actually looks a lot like mine, sans bangs), and I got a little instruction on how to proceed with the additional plans we had for her hair at home... And this is where it all got interesting.

the lab in my bathroom

I decided to let her add a little oomph to her hair.  She's been asking since kindergarden.  I figure why not?  This girl is so sweet, so loving, so giving, so generally agreeable and obedient.  So fancy.  It was my pleasure to help her get just a little fancier (and if the foil looks odd, it's because I have ZERO experience with coloring hair and was winging it).

While we were waiting I painted her toes in anticipation of our upcoming trip.

Moments away from fanciness!  Are you dying to know the color???

TA-DA!!!!

At last, she has her color-streaked hair.  She had been asking for a big pink streak,

but at the beauty store she decided on more of a raspberry color.

and I decided to go for a little more "natural looking" raspberry high-lights rather than one large streak.

And we are both berry tickled with the results!

wouldn't you?

If you

had to

take a tired

and cranky

little girl

to Target

to purchase

envelopes and 

allergy medication

and you

found

a little something

that just

made her day,

would you

get it for her?

I thought you would.

Houston, we have a problem...

I'm going to try to make this post brief (check back and see if that makes you laugh once you get to the end of the post...), for the sake of my 8 faithful readers.  But I just need to vent for a minute.  I have been mothering for about 8 years, give or take a few months depending on whether or not you consider being pregnant part of mothering.  I've experienced it all - all the first milestones, all the fun activities, all the trials and sleepless nights, all the potty training.  Oh, the potty training.  My youngest child is 3, and I thought for sure that I would be done with dealing with all child bathroom issues by now.  I'm not.  One child, despite cutting off all liquids by 5:30 pm still wets the bed like a champ, up to three times a night!  Another child, fearful of seeing anything unpleasant while potty training, has gotten so backed up that it has required x-rays and a daily regimen of measured laxative to keep things flowing.  Flow, they do.  All day.  And not in the potty.  Sorry to have grossed you out, but this is what I live with every day.  Ugh - I've had it!  Neither I nor my washing machine can take much more of this.

Well, today I was looking through some summer pictures, I ran across a picture that is changing my whole perspective.  There is a very simple solution to this if we just work at it.  From now on we are going to be focusing on intensive math and science instruction around here in addtion to their regular schoolwork.  We will replace trips to Disney with weeks at Space Camp.  We will aim for perfect math SAT scores and science fair state champions.  We will petition the government to keep funding NASA and build bigger and better rockets to replace the Shuttle program.  Why?

THIS IS WHY:

If I can raise me some astronauts, my kids will enter a profession in which wearing a diaper is a-ok!  Perfect!

Decorated for Bravery

What follows is a story written by Hi-Hat, worthy of posting because it resulted from much bravery, courage and self-motivation.  I am thrilled to be able to share it with you!

[unedited]
My faverite ride is the Lochness Monster.  I rode it two days ago.  It had looptiloops and drops.  There was also a cave and it was very dark and there was nothing in it.  You went down a spiroll track.  It took eleven seconds to get out of it. On one of the looptiloops it takkes your picture.  I went on the roller coaster three times in a row.  Two times with mom and one time with dad.  It was very fun!  THE END.

This is the pitiful face of a kid who is next in line for the coaster.  I tried to keep him talking about fun things like Nerf guns (which he would earn by riding the ride), school friends, etc. As long as I could keep him talking, the nerves stayed at bay.  But as we got closer he got more and more nervous and upset and I actually felt I needed to tell several other passengers that I was NOT forcing him on the ride - he really wanted to do it, but he was really scared.  He was in the conflicted state of sheer terror and powering through.  He can be so self aware sometimes - he stated several times that he knew if he could just get on the ride he would love it when it was all over.  He's been in this situation enough times now that he knows that tends to be true.  What an awesome kid!

He knows himself!  Here's a much happier face after the last loop as we were pulling back into the station.  He loved it!

And here's the same kid, next in line for the coaster the second time around.  He couldn't wait to get on the ride!  Woo-hoo!

I should also note that he powered through the Busch Gardens fireworks display that night.  This is another tough situation for Hi-Hat, but he did it, and after it was all over I overheard him talking with Rella about how beautiful the fireworks were.  A day full of giant leaps for my cautious kid.  When it was time for bed, Hi-Hat declined to read (something he has been known to do for 2-3 hours a night in bed), saying that he had enough excitement in his head after the coaster and the fireworks.  He went right to sleep, I assume with visions of a new Nerf Long Strike dancing in his head. :)

catch a wave and you're sittin' on top of the world

Thanks to Water Country USA, I've got some Beach Boys songs stuck in my head these days.  But perhaps I should have titled this post Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Diggity-Dog at the suggestion of my friend Beth, because I'm ready to do the Hot Dog Dance around here.  "Why," do you ask?  Because I finally finished my 2009 Disney scrapbook!  It's a project I started three times (yes, I have a folder on the computer named Disney 09 Pages with the subfolders "Pages," "Pages Take 2" and "Pages Take 3").  I finally landed on a style I can live with that was fairly streamlined and straightforward, and I plowed through and got it done.  All 80 or so pages of it.  Three weeks before our next trip.  And then it will be time to start all over again.  But in the meantime, I thought I would try to catch up on catching up on the old blog.  I may jump around a bit, but I'll start with the most recent stuff. 

Last weekend we took a quick overnight trip to Williamsburg to go to Busch Gardens and Water Country.  We have these passes and don't use them nearly as often as we should!  We had a great time at Water Country this year - 2 capable swimmers and a water-loving 3 year old made for a very different experience than we have known before.  All 5 of us rode just about every ride together - even the 700-ft. slides!  Rella was pretty much up for anything, Fancy is a born thrill-seeker, and thanks to his new-found bravery at Busch the day before (stay tuned for another post), Hi-Hat barely thougth twice about the big water slides.  We had so much fun that we're thinking of skipping Sea World in Orlando and spending the day at Sea World's Aquatica water park instead.  The light at the end of the preschooler tunnel is SO bright!  I'm basking in it. :)  Here's my layout for our day at WC.  My little camera battery konked out halfway through the day, but considering that I wasn't even planning to bring the camera, I'm pretty happy with the results.

We've Got Some Work to Do...

Wanted to pass along the conversation that just transpired in my house.

Little Rella wanted to play "moonin' sandin'" (Moon Sand).  She asked if she could play with it on the deck.  I looked out there and saw that the deck was still wet from the overnight rainstorm (lots of thunder and lightning, and we think there was a power surge that caused the main fire alarms to go off for a few frightful, panic-inducing minutes, causing me to resort to sleeping in the basement where there is a separate alarm system that doesn't tend to go off when you look cross-eyed at it. I'm pretty sure there is some clinical diagnosis for my reaction to our hateful fire alarms.  Remember that).  I told her no, it was too wet outside and we'd have to play at the kitchen table.  She took off running into the living room, looking back over her shoulder saying, "Come on!"  So I followed her to the window and she proceeded to tell me that when she first woke up this morning she looked out the window at her playground and saw that "it was raining . . . or the hose was left on."  I told her everything was wet from the rain and then I described the big storm with all the flashing lightning and booming thunder.  "It sounded like God was playing Hi-Hat's bass drum."  She then asked, "Does God live in the sky?"  Brief explanation for a 3-year-old on how God is everywhere with us, and how we can have Jesus live in our hearts."  She got a very serious look on her face and said, "Yeah, He has to live in our hearts se-cause we don't have room for him in our house."  Hmmm...I was about to address this, and then she piped up again, "Maybe He can sleep in your bed."  I gave her a funny look and she said, "Yeah, there's room there now because you sleep in the basement.  Se-cause of the beeps."