Freedom ROCKS!!!!!

So, we had a fabulous Fourth - how was yours?

Here is how ours went down:
We spent the day at John's house (Hubby's bro). He lives right off of the lake and it was beautiful! Hattie got to show off her new "big girl" swim suit! Now that she has successfully potty trained, she does not need the swim diapers anymore. May I just say that she ROCKED that suit! She completely enjoyed the Slip-N-Slide.





She would run up to it and screech to a stop at the beginning. She tried the sliding part once and landed on her back. After that it was run, run, run, STOP and walk gingerly to the other end. Much to the amusement of her cousins!

Sophie enjoyed being spoiled by her cousins and her grandma, and then she took herself a nap.





We all enjoyed some yummy BBQ - thank you John!!! And then we went back to the fun! Hattie divided her time between the slip-N-slide and the kiddie pool.




While Sophie got to know Bella the dog.





Uncle Harry worked at Holding Sophie without her crying (which, thankfully, is working!!!).




And then the girls, the puppy and the daddy got in some quality time.






We came home before it got dark - had to avoid the mosquitoes. Didn't want a rematch from last weekend!! But the folks in our sub must've gone into debt at the fireworks stands, because we got QUITE a show right in our own front yard. We played with sparklers and then watched the rest of the fun from our living room window. It was great ... aside from the fact that Hattie has yet to learn the S.L.O.W. wave method of sparkler fun and had her sparkler going so fast it burned daddy's shirt AND some of her hair off. NOBODY was hurt in the process, her hair just aint smelling so hot!!!

We forgot the camera for sparkler fun, so we will try again tonight!

I hope you all had a great day as well. I am so very thankful to live in the freedom this country offers. I know that there is a LOT wrong with things right now. (I do not talk politics, so that is all I am gonna say about that) However, we have the freedom to make our own choices, go where ever and do what ever we like, and worship the way we choose. This is something I will NEVER take for granted. Thank you to the men and women who have given of themselves to attain and protect these freedoms. And thank you to the Father for all of the Blessings He bestows upon this nation. May we strive to Bless Him right back.

Sleep ... Not So Much

OK, I must warn you now. I am likely to ramble. I do that when I am tired. And, golly bob howdy, am I tired now! Ya see, Hattie decided at 3AM that the whole sleep thing is highly overrated. And she decided, further, that if she was gonna be up then so was everyone else! And, being the efficient girl that she is, she promptly got everyone else in the house up with her.

At 3 AM!

That is three o'clock. In the MORNING!

Still dark. Still s'posed to be sleeping.

But, oh no. Not in our house.

Hubby and I actually argued over which one of us would go up to get her to quiet down. It was something like this:

"You better go, I can't guarantee that I won't harm her sweet little self"

"Oh no, YOU better go, 'cause I can pretty much guarantee I WILL!!!"

Before you call the authorities, please know that she suffered no harm whatsoever. Which, in and of itself, is a miracle. Ya know, considering the fact that she woke us up and all.

Did I mention that it was THREE IN THE MORNING!!!!

It was!

So, now here we are at 11:32 AM and we are all still awake. Sophie is the only one who got any sleep at all. Hattie is going strong. I am fading fast and Hubby is hooked up to a caffiene IV at work. Bed time is coming early tonight!!!

So, other than that, I have some heart wrenching news to share. And, it could be the LACK OF SLEEP, but my heart is simply broken. Crushed.

Sophie is afraid of muppets. I KNOW!! This from the child of the girl who LIVED for the muppets. Who has every single muppet movie in the video collection - some still on VHS even! Who could not wait for the day that her children were old enough to justify watching Sesame Street on a daily basis.

It started yesterday when we were at the Christian's house for a playdate. They have a Hokey Pokey Elmo. And the thing scared the tarnation out of my girl.

Now, frankly, the dancing Elmo's are not my favorite either. So I didn't think much of it. But then today we were watching Sesame Street and she cried each and every time a muppet came on the screen. Cookie Monster. Grover. Rosita. Zoe. Elmo. And, the most heart wrenching of all ... Ernie.



And, I tell you, I almost cried. I loved Ernie when I was a child. And I mean LOVED him. I thought he was real and just KNEW that I would marry Ernie someday. At one point I embarrassed my entire family with my unbridled affection for Ernie.

See, my sister had just gotten married and I was her flower girl. I was four years old with an up-do to end all up-do's. I was looking good y'all! After the wedding mom and dad packed us all into the car for a road trip to Grandma's house. The dress had come up over the hair. A turtle neck sweater had gone down over the hair and I had slept - for hours in a car - on the hair when we pulled into a truck stop to eat. I still - mistakenly - thought I was lookin' good. I am told that I - in actuality - looked like a crazed orphan. Anyway, there we are, sitting in a booth on the other side of the restaurant when in walks a tall dude in a striped sweater with crazy black hair stickin' up all over the place.

I went NUTS! I started screaming at the top of my lungs "ERNIE!!! ERNIE, IT'S MEEEEEE!!!!" And with that I jumped from my seat and ran across the place to get to him. Still screaming and still calling the poor guy Ernie.

Waitresses were on the floor laughing. My siblings were under the table hiding. And my parents were having an argument that went something like this:

"You better go, I can't guarantee that I won't harm her sweet little self"

"Oh no, YOU better go, 'cause I can pretty much guarantee I WILL!!!"

Hattie and I are both alive. We HAVe to live. We have a LOT to teach sweet Miss Sophie!!!!!!

Repeat after me - "muppets are our FRIENDS!!!"

Picture Perfect Monday - Shower Fun

Hattie has discovered the joy that is in a shower (although she still overwhelmingly prefers a bath), as well as the even greater joy of shower CLEANING!!!




PS - I am pretty sure that there are child labor laws against this kinda thing. Please be aware that she did this BY CHOICE!!!

PPS - this was before the grea mosquito tragedy of '08 which left her looking like this:

PPPS - How cute is this?

OK - I am done now!

Fish Flys and Swollen Eyes

Here in our little corner of the world we get a little visitor every June. Behold, I give you the FishFly:


They come in swarms



And then they die



And they leave the town smelling like dead fish for about two to three weeks!

Isn't that fun? Yeah, we think so too. So we like to throw a little party in their honor. A little thing we like to call the FishFly Festival!!

Now, I am gonna show you pictures of us at said festival, but before I do I gotta warn ya. Hattie had herself a little run in with a few mosquitoes on Friday night. And, sad to say, but I think she lost. Ya see, it seems our girl is allergic to mosquito bites. This is why we don't go out much when they are out in force. We like to play outside when it is dry and breezy. 'Cause wet and still brings 'em out in mass quantities.

Little bump and kinda itchy you say? Oh no, it is much bigger than that...




She still had fun, even though she was hopped up on Benadryl. It may not look like it in theses photos, but she did enjoy herself!!






Yeah we had fun.

Our girlie just woke up and now cannot even open her eye. We are off to the Urgent Care.

Have I mentioned her inordinate fear of all things medical.

This is gonna be even more fun than the Festival!!!
(pray for us please!)