Salt Yourself

Tonight I glanced over and saw Loren standing in the kitchen. She had taken her shirt off. I tell ya…...it’s getting harder and harder to keep clothes on that child. She’d rather be naked if given the option. Anyway, she’s standing there with the salt shaker in her hand, leaning backwards, sprinkling salt on her tummy. Don’t ask me why. I guess she figures everything is a little better with salt on it, huh? Maybe she'd have a "tasty tummy???"

Banana Imposters & Other Fake Foods

Sarah has all kinds of accessories for her toy kitchen, including “fake food.” Loren has been fooled by these food “imposters” quite a few times. She has tried fake hot dogs, cucumbers, and ice cream. It’s so funny to watch the expression on her face when she bites into something, and then realizes it ain’t the “real deal.“ But this next story takes the cake…….or should I say bananas in this case?

Loren LOVES bananas. She likes just about any kind of fruit, or any kind of FOOD for that matter….but bananas are her favorite fruit. She would eat 3 or 4 a day if I let her. If it were possible to turn into to a monkey from eating too many bananas?????? Well, Loren would be a little monkey by now. This child is ALWAYS hungry. I’m thankful that she eats healthy…..lots of veggies and fruits. I have no problem getting her to eat a balanced meal.

She was up at 7:30 Saturday morning, and hungry….like usual. Sometimes she will swipe a banana from the basket and bring it to me so I can peel it for her. Well, this morning she got fooled. Before I was even out of bed, Loren scurried to the kitchen and brought back what she THOUGHT was a banana. She likes to feed me sometimes, and she’s good about sharing her snacks. She’s so sweet. So she’s trying to give me a bite of her “banana,” so I pretend to eat and say “Mmmmm….good! Yummy for my tummy!” like I usually do, but I’m giggling the whole time because I know something Loren doesn’t……..this “banana” is NOT a fruit…….it’s a VEGETABLE. She swiped a couple of yellow banana peppers off the kitchen counter, thinking they were bananas. TOO funny. You should have seen the look on her face when she bit the tip off that pepper! HILARIOUS!! She immediately realized this was NOT a banana. She spit it out before she even chewed it any. Then I had to get up and get her a REAL banana. That night before bed I realized she laid that tiny piece of pepper on the nightstand, and I had to laugh all over again when I saw it. Bon appetite, ya’ll!!

Reindeer Sighting

As some of you know, I live in the South. No, it’s not winter here, and even when it is, we don’t usually see reindeer down here in South Carolina. But I spotted a reindeer today…..came running right through my LIVING ROOM! This was an AMAZING reindeer, people. First off, I know for sure it was a female, yet I saw the antlers plain as day. Yes, I know only the males grow horns. And these were special horns, mind you……they were red and had flashing lights! No, I did NOT start hitting the egg nog early. And I have NOT recently been abducted by aliens….at least not that I recall. And no, I do NOT spoke those “funny cigarettes.“ Anyway, I digress.

People, this reindeer was about 3 feet tall and could stand upright on her hind legs….must’ve been about 40 pounds. She also had dark, curly hair and blue eyes. Yes, her name is Loren. Snicker. Somewhere in all the chaos in this house, Little Loren found the flashing reindeer antlers, put them on her head, and proceeded to run all through the house. TOO CUTE!! Sorry I couldn’t get a picture folks….this reindeer was just moving TOOOOO fast!

First Day of First Grade

Today was the first day of school. Sarah is in first grade with Ms. Daley, whom I am pleased to say I’ve heard good things about. Sarah went sporting her new polka-dot book back (filled with all her school supplies), her new outfit that “Nana Jo-Jo” (her great aunt and adopted 2nd grandma) bought her, and her new hairstyle. We just cut it in a little “bob“ and it really looks cute on her. We started the year off right by praying on the way to school. Lord, please help us to have a good year. Below are a few pictures.

"The Outfit"


"The 'Do"


" "The Rockin' Backpack"

Febreeze

I love Febreeze. It’s good stuff, man. I use it on everything………well, almost everything……everything EXCEPT the dog. That’s where my darling Sarah comes in. Yes, Sarah has found yet another use for this fabulous product. I caught her this morning chasing the dog around the house trying to “Febreeze” her. Of course the dog was not at all happy about that…but Sarah thought it was a good idea. I guess she figured it was easier and faster than giving the dog a bath. You gotta give her credit for creativity here. She has a knack for learning about something new and then taking the information and applying it to something else. I guess the poor doggie turned out to be Sarah’s guinea pig this time.

Shopping Online

My little Loren, who is almost 3, thinks she is a computer whiz. Course, they do start early these days. She gets up there and pecks and clicks like nobody’s business. She hops in the computer chair every time the PC is booted up and I’m not at the keyboard……and often even if I am. The other day Sarah, my 6-year old, walked into the living room and saw Loren flipping up all kinds of screens on the computer. Sarah said, with an authoritative tone, “Loren, you BETTER not be shopping online!!!” Too cute!

God Brings a Storm

We had a storm last night, and my 6-year old, Sarah, nearly had a cow. We had lots of wind and rain……..over 4 inches. At one point when the rain slacked off we decided to take a look at the damage in our yard. I commented on how I hadn’t seen water sit in our yard like that since Hurricane Hugo in ‘88. Sarah said, in a panic, “But God promised He wouldn’t ever flood the earth again!“ I had to laugh. I explained how we were not having a flood, it was just a bad storm, yada, yada, yada. My mother interjected her 2 cents, explaining that "the Good Lord was doing His work."

Then we looked at the limbs in the yard, the shingles down off the house, the plants blown off the porch, the rocking chair blown over, and toys strewn about the back yard. Sarah's bike, which was under the shed before the storm, was now about 6 ft. from the shed.......still standing, thanks to the training wheels I suppose. The girls' kiddie picnic table was blown from under the carport. I don't know where it would have ended up if Mama's truck hadn't stopped it. There were limbs and debris in the yard far from the trees.

With a hand on her hip, and an authoritative tone in her voice, Sarah looked around and said, “How dare God mess up our yard like that!” I cracked up over that one. She said it almost like she thought that since HE made the mess, HE ought to have to clean it up!!! We had to have a little pow-wow about how God can do whatever He pleases, cause He’s in charge….plus the good that came from the storm was that we REALLY needed the rain. We live in the country and there are lots of farmers in our area. Plus we may get a new roof out of the deal. Yeah, there was that much damage. Fortunately, there was only one room in the house where there was visible water damage on the ceiling. We're very blessed that we didn't have any damage to our vehicles. There were limbs all around my car, some pretty large. I told Mama there must have been an angel with large wings sheltering my car from the storm. I’m trying to teach Sarah to look for the good things that come out of life’s “storms.” I don’t want her to grow up with a “victim” mentality, like so many people these days seem to have. Romans 8:28 (“all things work together for good”) is one of my favorite verses in the Bible.

Well, folks, I'll stop now. I'm starting to have flashbacks of those videos you see on TV where the most ignorant Redneck amongst us manages to get on the news to tell all about the big hurricane we had. grin!

Blogging Reborn

Well, bloggers, I’m back!……..after an extremely long hiatus. After being without Internet for a very long time, I am once again online. In trying to decide whether to begin blogging again, I reminded myself of the reasons I wanted to do this in the first place:

• It’s a place to document the neat things in my day to day life that I want to remember, especially with my kids. (Some days I need to be reminded why it was that I wanted to do this “stay at home Mom“ thing.)
• It will force me to sit down and make a conscious effort to think about the GOOD things in my life (not just the negatives.) Hopefully that will help me to have a more positive attitude. (I’m going through a divorce, so I need all the help I can get there. Can I get an “amen?“ Grin.)
• It’s a place to vent. It may be a platform for my soap box when I need it.
• It allows me to demonstrate my sense of humor, which just helps get me in a better mood.
• Last, but not least…….cause my home girl “Hope from the Edge,” a faithful fellow blogger, swears by it. It’s gives me a way to stay connected, especially since she now lives in another state. It’s an easy way for me to keep up with what’s happening in her life.

Plus now blogger has some new features that weren’t available when I blogged before. I’m kind of excited to be blogging again!