Wordless Wednesday #6

First Corn....
Becca Won!
For more Wordless Wednesday, go here.

Sooooo Tired!

Becca Sue was falling asleep at lunch the other day. Being the awesome mom that I am...instead of laying her in her bed, I grabbed the camera! She's too sweet.

Critical Mamas

Why are moms so critical of other moms?

I was shopping at a consignment sale on Saturday. It was the early consignor's shopping time and this particular sale has a rule that no kids under 10 are allowed at the pre-sales. So I was digging through the clothes in Mara's size. The next aisle over was a baby just wailing. I couldn't see the baby over the rack but could definitely tell from the cry that is was a tiny one. I felt so sorry for the mom...I know how stressful it is to hear your little one not happy. I had no further gotten this thought through my head when I hear two ladies shopping beside me comment very rudely and loudly to each other, "So much for the no kids under 10 rule." "Guess she can't read." And I saw several other moms looking totally annoyed that this tiny baby was bothering them so much.

I don't know but can only speculate the circumstances for this mom having to bring her baby to the sale. Maybe she's a single mom and didn't have any family close to watch the baby. Maybe she's nursing and couldn't leave that baby for very long. Maybe her husband is in the military on a deployment to protect those ladies' right to sit in judgement of his wife.

I totally understand the rule of no children under 10 because there were hundreds of ladies in a pretty small space trying to sort through tons of stuff. It would be an absolute mad house if there were kids there running around, playing with the toys, or even sitting in strollers that clog the already cramped space. But a newborn baby in a sling is not going to change any one's shopping experience.

So back to my original question...why are moms so critical of other moms? I've caught myself several times thinking...."I can't believe she's feeding her baby that."...or "Why in the world did she dress her baby that way."...or "I can't believe that she's nursing her baby right there."....or even "That child is acting like a total animal, doesn't she have any control."

The same time I'm thinking these things my girls are eating cake for breakfast, wearing rain boots with their dresses (and it's not raining), and sometimes acting like total hoodlums in public. Oh ya, and I've nursed babies just about everywhere.

I think we can all agree that being a mom is not easy, no in fact it's down right hard and that's without any criticism. Add criticism and it can be nearly impossible.

I'm not sure why moms are so critical of each other, but this mom is definitely going to make a conscious effort to exchange my critical attitude for an understanding, merciful, and encouraging heart.

Addiction!

I used to think coffee was nasty. That was back when I didn't have a walking, talking, breathing alarm clock that goes off at 6am EVERY morning. (Do ya'll remember sleeping in on Saturdays?) But apparently I'm now addicted to it! Only 77% though.

I am 77% Addicted to Coffee

I don't really have a personality that lends itself to addiction (i.e. I'm a control freak!), but after taking that little coffee addiction quiz, I found a blogging addiction quiz. 77% addicted to that too! Wonder if there are any 12 step programs out there for coffee and blogging addiction?

77%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

So Far Away

Ya'll pray for this sweet boy (and his mama) in this picture with Becca. Trish (his mom and my cousin) is in Iraq right now. My heart hurts for her just trying to imagine the ache in her arms and heart without him right now. How sweet that homecoming will be!

Movie Day

The girls eating their weight in popcorn...oh ya, and there was a movie playing on the big screen too!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Ok, so maybe I'll finish talking about our trip today.

Grandma's birthday was on Thursday and we talked her into going out to eat. She doesn't leave her house much so it was a big deal to get her out on Tuesday for dinner at my uncle's house, then the picnic on the 4th, and on her birthday. Three days in a row, I think she'll be recovering until next month some time.

The service was pretty bad at the restaurant, but the food was pretty good. And they made up for it and made Grandma's day by bringing dessert. Here's Mom standing beside her. They were trying to get her and all of her kids over there to take a picture but she didn't want to put down her ice cream!And here's the final product....Grandma sans ice cream and no one picking their noses or bottoms. The girls did great at the restaurant considering that we didn't get our food until 8pm and they are usually in bed by then. This was the scene in the car just a few minutes after leaving.

Beaver Park

I better get busy with these trip updates for we'll be in the middle of the next trip while I'm still trying to tell stories from this one!

One morning we went to Beaver Park. Here are some pictures from the Old McDonald's Farm. Emily didn't think these pigs were real until Nana showed her their noses moving. They were napping hard.
The prairie dogs were really active so we watched them for a while. If you ask Mara what animals we saw that day, she'll say, "monkeys, giraffes, elephants, and bears." Of course we saw pigs, cows, ducks, chickens, prairie dogs, and sheep....but what's the difference?!
The park had a really cool playground and this 'sprinkler'. Mom and Dad actually used to play at this park when they were growing up and this used to be a big wading pool.
The pictures in the previous post are from this day too. Emily was very upset because Mara was splashing her with water. Never mind the fact that she was soaking wet and running through the sprinkler herself! In the last picture she was screaming "Momma" and reaching for me. I felt so bad for her that I reached for the camera instead of running to get her. I also remember seeing several pictures from about thirty years ago of a certain someone I know very well looking very much like Emily and screaming her head off as well. At least she gets it honestly!

Only one or two more trip updates to go and a couple on the road funny stories too.

Wordless Wednesday #5

Can't you just hear her wail?!?
For more Wordless Wednesday, go here.

Happy Anniversary, Nana and Poppa!

Thirty-six years ago today my mom and dad promised for better or worse. Thanks Mom and Dad for being such a great example of what a Godly marriage should look like. And thanks for being the best Nana and Poppa in the whole world! I love you.

4th of July

I thought the 4th of July was a good place to go next in the story of our road trip. We went to my uncle's house for a lunch cook out. The girls had fun playing with all of the 'new' toys and playing in the sand (they used to have a volleyball pit but now it's just a gigantic sand box).

We also set off smoke bombs and those fire cracker things that you throw. We did a few at a time so we literally did it all day. Oh, and sparklers too. Here's some pictures of the girls setting off their 'fireworks'. This first one is them watching the smoke bombs. They would clap and cheer for the different colors.
Here's Emily jumping on the snap things that you're supposed to throw. She thought it was way more fun to put them on the ground and jump on them.

And finally, this is how Mara spent most of the day. She really liked all of the fireworks last year but this year she said they were too loud. Notice she's smiling though!
Oh, and we also watched the 'big fireworks' that night. We had a great view from my cousin's screened in porch. The girls danced and cheered for all of the colors and decided that the red ones were their favorites. Becca liked watching her silly big sisters better than watching the fireworks!

We had a great 4th of July which could only have been better if Daddy were there with us! More to come....

Becca's SO big!

Ok, so here's the first update on our trip last week. Becca Sue left home last week as an immobile baby. Our world has now changed! The girls can no longer keep toys, snacks, or anything away from her. And I am frantically trying to baby proof the house again. While in Iowa she learned to crawl and to get herself back to a sitting position. Then this morning, she pulled up for the first time. She's getting so big....where did my baby go?

Monday Morning Denial

When I went to get Emily out of bed this morning it sounded something like this...

Me: (walking in the room) Good morning, Sissy!
Emily: I don't want you; I want Daddy.
Me: Daddy's at work baby.
Emily: I want Daddy.
Me: It's Monday baby girl, Daddy is at work.
Emily: (throwing herself in the floor with her hands over her face) NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I think she's in denial. More pictures and stories from the trip to come, I promise.

The twitching is slowing down!

It's so good to be home. The girls missed Daddy so much, and I missed my bed. I've got lots of pictures and on the road stories to share, but I've got to catch up reading a few blogs to make the twitching stop. I can't believe that I survived eight days without email, blogs, or random google searches. It was painful but I survived! More later....