February Summary - Part 1

This post will be a random round up of what we have been up to this month.  Good thing for you, there will be lots of pictures.

I got my red hair worked on a bit.  My blond was growing back in and I had sort of a skunk stripe down the middle of my head.  I have figured out that I am not made for the upkeep of coloring my hair, nor is my wallet.  So, we added some blond highlights to help me transition back to my normal color.  My kids think I look just like my sister, Karen.

My selfie skills are questionable, aren't they?  I look scared of myself here, don't I?

D-man got rid of his college hair that had to be stuffed under a hat and now looks like a young man.  Well, actually a young scientist with those glasses.  Love him.

All seven of us went to the salon for the afternoon.  Four of us were getting stuff done to our hair and the other three just came along because we LOVE the little restaurant next door and we were going to eat.  The stylist was running behind and all our services took forever.  My younger girls had never really witnessed everything that happens in a salon before and were intrigued by how relaxed we all looked when we were getting our hair washed.  They asked Kelly, the stylist, how much it would be just to get their hair shampooed by her.  She took me aside and asked if she could do it for free, because they were being so good, even though the day was sort of spiraling out of control.  I said she could.  But, then everything with us took longer than any of us planned, Kelly was exhausted, and we were all getting hungry, so we didn't do it.

But, sweet A-girl, remembered how I used to wash her and L-girl's hair on the counter when they were younger.  (My mom used to go my hair like that for years - until I barely could fit on the counter)

It was so cute.  Lots of giggling.

I got a few sweet Valentines, took the kids for our annual trip to the local coffee shop during the day (I LOVE homeschooling!) and S-girl made and decorated a cake for us.

A-man turned 13 and is now officially on Facebook.  He is also almost as tall as me.  Crazy.

I am back to watching my little extras now that their mom is done with maternity leave.  I am happy and any mouth injuries I may sustain are totally worth it. 

Looking through my pictures, I have a few more things from February, but I will tell you about them later because otherwise this post will get way too long.

Changes That Didn't Happen

I alluded to some possible upcoming changes in one of my last posts.  One of them was the hopeful move to a new house, which I touched on in my last post about my life being paused.

I think the words I used were something like "potentially awesome and exciting, but nothing I could talk about yet."

But, I can talk about them now.

I am sure most of you know that Rainman and I have always been open to more kids, either biologically or by adoption.  The biological pathway seems to have expired with my advanced age.  LOL (although sometimes it doesn't seem so funny!)  Anyway, we have always said we were open to adoption possibilities, but wouldn't seek them out because of the expense involved in most adoptions. (seriously, it can cost between $20,000 and $50,000)

We have often joked about being totally okay if someone would drop a baby off on our doorstep, you know?

Over the years, we have had discreet inquiries from some of our friends about our willingness to adopt a baby from their young acquaintances.  We have always said an emphatic, "Absolutely!"  But, in the end, none of them have ever actually needed us.

The day we put our house on the market, I got another one of those calls from a friend asking if we would be at all interested in adopting twin little boys.  This time, I did not say my usual, "Absolutely!"  I asked if I could call her back after we talked as a family.  Twins are a bigger commitment from the whole family and would involve buy-in, and sacrifices, from everyone, not just Rainman and I.

The discussions between Rainman and I involved the difficulty of taking on twins in our "older" age and the financial burden of adding two more mouths to feed.

We have been taking care of twins for 2 days a week for friends of ours for the last 2 years or so. It is not like having our own set of twins 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but it gave us a taste of some of the blessings and challenges of dealing with two little people, and two sets of stuff, instead of just one at a time.

Ultimately,  Rainman and I decided that we would say yes, because we couldn't just be pro-life when it was easy, convenient and not scary.  We had a meeting with the kids and explained the phone call I had gotten.  There were various levels of excitement about the possibility of adding twin babies to our family.

Even those that weren't completely 100% excited about the possibility understood our reasons for wanting to say yes.

I called my friend back and said that our answer was, in fact, "Absolutely!"  Then, we waited....and waited.....and waited.

Nothing.

Somehow, this time had felt like it was going to be different.  I thought that the timing of getting the phone call the exact day our house was put on the market couldn't possibly be considered a coincidence.

When we were looking at the new house, we started planning for nursery space and how to baby proof the living areas.  The timing felt like it was meant to be.

I told my friend, that my "mommy switch" had gotten turned on and I couldn't stop thinking about those baby boys.  I knew that they were premature and in the hospital and if was going to be their mommy,  I wanted to be there holding them.  But, she hadn't heard anything more after she had passed along our information and told the family a little about our family.

Still nothing.

As time has passed, it has become clear that we were not needed to be the family of those little boys.  I will admit that even though it sounds crazy, I have grieved and cried that I wasn't going to get to be their mom.

My three youngest have been disappointed alongside me.  They love taking care of our little extras during the week, but were really looking forward to having babies around full time again.  V-girl REALLY wants to be a big sister.

Even though the thought of interrupted sleep and rear facing car seats made me pause a bit, I really wanted to love on those baby boys.

I had pictured our new family starting fresh in the new house on the lake.  But, then the second phone call about the babies never came and the phone call came from the realtor telling us that we had lost the lake house.  I was sad.  Deep down....sad.

Some of my "people" that I had shared the possibility of the adoption with understood, but some thought I should feel relieved that we hadn't adopted those babies.  I understood what they were saying and understood their hearts looking out for me, but, I will still admit to being sad.....whether it made sense or not.

It has been a hard winter/spring for me....mental health-wise.  Again though, I know a LOT of people have had it worse than me, but, it has been a tough one  with regard to maintaining my joy.  If that makes sense?

While all my sadness has been looming (under the surface most of the time) A-man, S-girl and V-girl have become obsessed with a song that plays on Christian radio here in Georgia.  It is a very catchy song and I would sing along to the chorus because I just couldn't help myself.  But, I didn't really listen to the words, if you know what I mean.  But, when I say the kids are obsessed, I mean, they listen to it all the time.  When they are having computer time and playing their various games or taking Sporcle quizzes, I would walk by and hear this song coming out of the speakers...or just hear them singing along to it.  They have figured out how to get the song to play on Spotify and they play it over and over.

So, one day I decided to find the official lyric video and see what exactly we were all singing along to.

I sat there amazed and feeling like God had once again used my kids to bring me blessings and speak to my heart.  I needed to hear this message this winter/spring...and maybe even summer.  I thought maybe you would too....

Thinking About Me

I have been thinking about myself quite a bit lately.

Want a little glimpse into what happens in this brain of mine?!?

If your answer was yes, read on!  If your answer was no, check back soon because I have graduation pictures and other stuff like that I will be sharing soon.  So, go ahead and scroll down for some pictures and ignore all the rambling thoughts I am about to share.

There is a constant mental conversation  (about me) happening inside of my head, but it gets shut down because of....life stuff.

Which leads me to these kinds of questions:

At what point in life or motherhood is it bad to think about yourself?

At what point in motherhood is it bad to think about your own goals?

Your wants?

Your wishes and dreams?

Even though I think about "me" all the time, it is still sort of hard for me to think about me.

Hahahaha....did you follow that train of thought with me?  Did I lose you?

But, like I said, I have been thinking about myself and my wants more and more lately.

Part of my thought process is that I am starting to feel my age.  Realizing that I am officially a middle aged person.  That I am not necessarily the "young mom" anywhere I turn.  I am the veteran now.

When did that happen?

I have wrinkles.  Rainman and I both just recently looked at a picture of us and said, "Wow....we look old!  When did that happen?"  We were both sort of shocked and sad.  (Me more than him, FYI)

I get that because of my age, I am not expected to be fashionable or to look like a Hollywood mom.  But, a little part (sometimes a big part) of me wants to be fashionable and praised for my style and looks.  I don't want to wear the "mom jeans", elastic waisted slacks (uggg) or those patterned shirts with the big prints.

Yes.  I am shallow.

I am also thinking about myself more lately because of a conversation I recently had with a friend. We were talking about the doctors telling me that part of the management of the pseudotumor cerebri thingie that I have,  is getting my weight down and keeping it down.

We were commiserating about how hard that is and she said something that really stuck with me.

She said, the problem with someone telling us that we have to lose weight is that the act of losing weight and everything that surrounds it....cooking differently.....exercising, etc., requires a certain level of selfishness and self focus - something we moms are horrible at.

Now, I am not one of those completely selfless moms that bends over backwards to do everything for my kids and make things easy for them.  I pride myself on helping create fairly independent, self sufficient children.  That being said, I am still a mom to 6 children (with 3 extras a few days of the week).  I love them all....dearly, whether they are my biologically connected people or not.

But, that love makes it hard to focus on me.  Just me.  There is just too much constantly swirling around me (diapers needing to be changed, somebody needing to be dropped off or picked up somewhere, meals to be made, cleaning to be done, boo-boos to be kissed, disagreements to be refereed) to really just focus on me.

And, to be shallow again for a moment, if you think for a second, that even in my late 40s that I do not want to turn heads and have strangers check me out, you would be wrong.  Completely, wrong.

No, I don't want to be harrassed, or objectified, but, I want that slight hesitation when I enter a room, a quick appreciative gaze and the sense of power that accompanies that feeling.

I remember that feeling.  It is a heady feeling.

(Apparently, I liked that moody/smirky look into the camera without smiling look back then!)

Have I just taken the advances of womankind back to the 50s?

The start of the whole pseudotumor cerebri thing started with a trip to the eye doctor to try and get fitted for contact lenses.  Why?

Vanity, that is why.

It started with a girls trip to Minnesota with my sisters and my mom.  My sister took my picture and we were getting a weird glare from my glasses, so she suggested I just take them off for the photo. When we looked at them later, I thought, wow....I look pretty.

I haven't seen myself as pretty for a very long time.

Which got me to thinking.....yes....about me....again.

I started wearing glasses exclusively when we moved to Georgia.  I started getting more and more creative with my frame choices too.  I saw it as a way to show creativity, quirkiness and some personality.

But, I think my glasses also became a way for me to hide when I started gaining weight. (As crazy as that sounds since I do not pick boring frames).  Maybe it was a a way to distract people.....like "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain", Wizard of Oz kind of thing....in a way that said...."pay no attention to the girth you see down below....eyes up here, everyone!"

My best friend just recently told me that she has never liked my blue/aqua glasses because she felt like they took over my face and hid me.

I think subconsciously, that is exactly what I was going for.  Giving people a way to describe me "The lady with all the kids and the aqua glasses." Instead of, "The big lady with all the kids".

There is this little sermonette floating around on FB about the devil and who he chooses to try to work against......and why.  This clip is a might long, but she is pretty funny, so it is worth it, if you have the time to watch it (especially if you happen to have sons....).

I sort of love her tough, no nonsense approach, don't you?

Anyway, that got me to thinking.....about my kids and who they will be....but, about me....and who I am supposed to be.  Or, who I was supposed to be.  Know what I mean?  Am I Sarah Connor?

Am I her?  Or, have I let myself be distracted and derailed away from who I was supposed to be, by doing something stupid like getting fat?!?

Am I supposed to be the fit, fabulous lady with a bunch of kids that can go to a waterpark with them and actually put on my suit and join them and not just hold all the purses and towels?  Am I supposed to be the fit mom that can share clothes with my teenage girls.  (that thought just made me laugh - because my girls would be horrified!)  But, you know what I mean.  We have seen those moms out there that can pull it off.

Or, is it time for me to let go and just be about my kids?  Is my purpose here to raise amazing and awesome little people that will grow up and do spectacular things?

I don't know.

I just know that I want to be, if not skinny, then.....skinnier.  Normal sized, not super sized.  I want to feel pretty.  I want to feel powerful. I want to take moody/smirky pictures staring into the camera and like what I see when I load them on my computer.

So, yeah, welcome to the inside of my head.

Fun place, right?!?!

So, do you want more glimpses into my head or do you want D-man's graduation pictures next?

Lest L-Girl Be Forgotten

L-girl also had an April birthday, amidst all my doctor's appointments last month.

We have the no cell phones until you are 16 (and can pay for it yourself rule) and we also have the no devices like iPods until you are 14 rule.  Here is A-girl showing L-girl all the ins and outs of her new to her iPod in the wee, small hours of the morning.

L-girl was also stuck me me for her birthday lunch this year.

I have to put this one in here because it makes me laugh.  We took pictures across from each other at the restaurant where L-girl likes to order fried green tomatoes (Yup...we live in the south now)  Anyway, she took this picture and said to me, "Umm.....maybe you should put your arms down and behind you, or something."

Don't my arms and hands look huge?  I am sure it is partly a perspective thing....and partly real life.  Reminds me of "man hands" from Seinfeld.

Anyway, I complied and put my arms down and it looked much better.

These pretty flowers were along the street by the restaurant.

We stopped and surprised a friend from church who is L-girl's birthday twin.

We opened gifts.

J-girl works at a local monogram store, so my girls have been in heaven with their gifts!

Rainman and I got her a new tennis skirt and a beauty box, since she loves to experiment with make-up and watches countless make-up tutorials.

L-girl has been my biggest challenge in finding a traditional birthday "cake" that she gets excited about and loves.  We have tried and rejected many cakes (she just doesn't have much of a sweet tooth).  She have tried a few fruit type pies.  They were okay.

This year, I think I may have hit on a winner though.  She loves Jell-o.  Her favorites are orange and raspberry, so I tried to do a fancy layered Jell-o pie.  My layers didn't really stay separate the way they should have, but it was a hit anyway.  I think I know what I did wrong, so next year, hopefully my layers will be separate and pretty.

Happy Birthday, my beautiful 14 year old.

How Social Media Can Be A Big Fat Liar

Remember A-girl's birthday post?

Remember this picture?

A-girl posted this on-line and she got all kinds of comments from people we both know about how great we looked.  Lots of comments were about how great I looked.  Comments about me being a "hot mama", for instance.

But, let's look a little closer.

Notice my sweat pants....the little bit of blue you see behind my arm is actually my pajamas....notice the strategically placed hair and birthday presents.....meant to hide the fact that I am not wearing a bra.  And, if you look closely at my face, you will notice my slightly red nose that would tell you that I had been crying a large portion of the afternoon.

A-girl and I had both gone to the eye doctor for contacts.

I ended up being called back first.  I told the doctor and his staff that I knew my prescription had changed because more often than not, I just take my glasses off when I am trying to see something and that I have been getting headaches - probably because I was making my eyes work so hard...either by wearing the wrong prescription, or not wearing any glasses at all.

I noticed a few whispered conversations after they took the initial look at my eyes and printed out the little paper thingie that tells my basic prescription.

The doctor turned down the lights and had me do the annoying thing they do where they ask you if 1 or 2 is better.  I always feel like I am somehow failing a big exam at this portion of the eye exam.  Always.

Then he turned on the lights and asked me if I had ever been diagnosed as having diabetes.  I told him I had not.  He then explained that my eyesight had changed so significantly, so quickly, (basically from near sighted to far sighted) that he was somewhat alarmed.  He said that is usually a sign of diabetes and that I should see my doctor and have blood work done right away.....like drive over to his office right now.  I told him that I have my blood work done a lot because of the problems they have had with the thyroid medications.  I had my blood work done about a week before and everything was fine.

He decided to just see if he could get pictures of the back of my eyeballs without the dilation (since A-girl doesn't have her license yet) and see what would happen from there.

They successfully got pictures....and more whispered, slightly frantic conversations ensued.  He said he was going to call a retina specialist friend of his and see what he said.  I asked them to get A-girl taken care of because I didn't want to ruin her birthday.

They took her into the office by a different door and had me wait in the waiting room.( First I had a good little silent sob session in the bathroom.) A little while later, I was sitting in the waiting room (without my glasses) and out waltzed A-girl in her new trial pair of contacts.  She was practically glowing.  She was so happy.  She looked so good.

She blinked at me a few times.  I am sure she was thinking that I was also sitting there with my trial lenses too.  Then, she looked a little closer and asked me what was wrong.  I tried valiantly to assure her that all was well.

It was like she literally matured over night and wasn't just a teenaged girl getting rid of her glasses. She looked right at me and said, "Mom....what is it?  What is wrong?"

I told her that they thought something was wrong with my eyes  and were waiting to hear back from a specialist.

They called me back and asked questions about whether I had been getting headaches.

I had.  Almost daily since before Easter.  At first, I had thought that I was reacting to the pollen.  It is seriously crazy down here with everything covered in a thick coating of green pollen.  I said that many days I woke up with a headache.

Then he asked other questions like was I ever seeing flashes  of lights or vision changes.  I was sometimes seeing "sparkles"....if I stood up too fast or changed from light to dark or vice versa too quickly.

He asked if I ever had ringing in my ears.  I told him that I did sometimes hear whooshing, like I was hearing my own heartbeat.

He let us leave and promised to call when he heard back from his friend.  He reminded me to head to the hospital if my headaches or vision got worse.

I left super scared and was trying desperately not to ruin A-girl's 16th birthday.

They got me in with the retinal specialist on Monday morning.  Rainman came with me for this one.  Lots of eye drops and tests later.  He declared my retina healthy, but said there was swelling at the back of my eyes at my optic nerve.  I even had a hemorrhage in the back of my left eye.  It was serious.  Very serious.

He took out his cell phone, took a picture of the picture of my eyeballs and texted it to a friend of his who was a neuro-opthalmologist.....while he typed out his message, he said, "I don't flipping care about HIPA right now".

Then he looked at me and said, I don't even know you, but I am taking this seriously, so you had better take this really seriously.  He asked what I did for work.  I said I was mostly a mom and took care of a few extra kids during the week.  He told Rainman to dust off his child care skills because I needed to make this my only priority until it was taken care of.

He got me in to see the neuro-opthalmologist the next day.

You know when doctors can see you too quickly how you sort of panic?

Yeah, me too.

Everyone was getting me in right away.

Rainman luckily had the day off, so he took me to this appointment too. This doctor gave us pretty much the same information as the one did on Monday, but he had a much different delivery.

As we were leaving, Rainman turned to me and said, "Somehow I feel like we just got the best diagnosis ever."

I had to laugh, but it was true.  He told us the same slightly scary stuff, but his delivery was more matter of fact and assured us that it would be treatable, but I would have to remain vigilant for the rest of my life.  I will have to take medicine and lose weight.

In order to accurately diagnose me, they ha to eliminate other possibilities, including a brain tumor.  So, I was scheduled for a brain MRI late last week.  Rainman couldn't come with me and  my friends were busy.  So, I went by myself.

Huge, huge mistake.

Let me just say that I didn't really think I was claustrophobic.  I mean, I have never really liked bunk beds and I really didn't like those elevator pods that take you to the top of the St. Louis Arch, but I really didn't think I was claustrophobic.

After I took like 5 nervous pee trips to the bathroom, I was called back.  I was told to take off my bra and my glasses, but could keep the rest of my clothing on.

She got an I.V. port ready on my arm for when they would inject the dye during the second portion of the MRI.  She explained a few things, had me lay down, gave me a little panic button to squeeze if I needed anything and in I went.

It was awful.

Really.

Awful.

Now, granted, I am a big lady, so I had to sort of squeeze my arms in while I went into the tube.  She assured me that I could relax and rest my arms against the sides when I got into place.  But, really, I felt like I was being squeezed by the tube.

Also, I should have kept my eyes closed like my friend, Sherri, told me to.  I am just naturally curious and I like to learn things.  I thought I would just glance around a little in there and see what it looked like.

Holy cow!

It was just mere inches above my face.  Like, at the most, 2 inches from my nose.

I panicked.

Like, total meltdown kind of panic.

The nice tech asked if I needed to be taken out of the tube.

YES!

I can sort of laugh about it now...but....I cried like a baby....like a crazy person.  I also kept apologizing.  I kept saying stuff like, I am sorry I am messing up your schedule.  I asked if I could just be put to sleep (and figure out a way for somebody to come pick me and my van up somehow).

This facility didn't have a doctor there to administer medications.  She said I could call my doctor, have him prescribe a Valium, drive over to the pharmacy, get the medication, take it, and wait in the waiting room for it to kick in and they would try again.

Well, that sounded awful too.  So, I said that I wanted to try again.  She suggested covering my eyes with a washcloth, so I couldn't look even if I wanted to.  She gave me earphones (because the machine is really loud while it is is doing its thing).  I asked for a Pandora station that played massage music. (Remember, I am/was a massage therapist)

I breathed deep.

I prayed...and prayed some more.

I was able to survive my MRI because I gave myself a virtual massage, stroke by stroke, while she did the tests.  I was in the machine for a total of about 45 minutes.

Honestly, I was shaky and weepy the rest of the day.

Rainman called me afterwards to check on me and I started crying in the parking lot.  It was awful.  Really.  But, if you have never been inside one of those machines, I don't think you can really explain it in a way they will understand.

If I ever have to do another one, I will make sure I am adequately medicated ahead of time.  I will also make sure that Rainman is there waiting for me to give me a big hug. Sometimes it stinks to have to act like a big, tough, grown up.

Long story short, I have something called Pseudotumor Cerebri.

I am waiting to be scheduled for a spinal tap/lumbar puncture sometime in the next week or so.  That should help with my headaches.  I will start medications after they make sure that the spinal fluid doesn't show any other weird infection or something.

Then, I will try to lose weight.

Most of the people diagnosed with Pseudotumor Cerebri are apparently middle aged, over weight women.  They don't know why.  Obviously, not every overweight, middle aged women have it, but statistically it is me.  Losing weight helps and they don't exactly know why.

That is fine.

I wanted to lose weight anyway.

But, well, you know.....it takes a lot of thinking....and food is my.....thing.  My - go to thing - when I am happy, sad, tired, depressed, scared.  You name it.

I have already started trying to be extra smart about my food choices, but it totally bums me out to have to think so much, instead of just feeding myself and my family.  But, as annoying/depressing as that is, it would be way more depressing to actually lose my eye sight.

So......there you have it........social media can lie....big time....and mislead you about the fabulous things happening in other people's lives.

Because on this day, I was just trying to keep my head above water and not ruin my daughter's memories of her 16th birthday.

A-Girl Turns 16

Bright and early for her birthday pancakes!  (Oh, by the way....look what I have started on my cabinets!!!)

She also chose me for her birthday meal (Rainman was working, so she would have had to wait...and she isn't really a patient girl)

We went out for burgers at her favorite place down here.  Honestly, she has eaten there for everyone of her birthday meals since we moved!  (They were out of fried green beans though....a yearly tradition...we were both equally bummed.)

From there, we went for eye doctor appointments.

Woo Hoo!  Right?!?!?

See, part of A-girl's Christmas present was that Rainman and I would pay for a contact lens eye exam.  She would be on her own for buying contacts, but we would pay the money for the exam.  We don't have eye insurance, so it can get pretty expensive.

I have been having trouble with my prescription and ever since my girl's trip last year to Minnesota when my sister had me take off my glasses for pictures, I have been mulling over the idea of getting contacts again too....so....off we went.

We left the eye doctor successfully with contacts for A-girl!  She looked so beautiful and so grown up.  I think she looks awesome in glasses too, but I know sometimes you just want to be able to see the world without frames (plus prom was coming up).

We did gifts after Rainman got home from work (and I just realized that A-girl's contacts were bothering her by now, so she had changed back into her glasses for these pictures!)

I didn't have time to make her actual cake on her birthday, plus we were still eating S-girl's birthday pie.  A-girl didn't care, she got a few of the gifts she really wanted....a phone (we make them wait until they're 16 and they have to pay for it themselves) and contacts.  So, she was happy.

They played a crazy amount of loud, raucous games of Jenga! Seriously.  They are loud.

We finally did her cake a few days later.  Usually, I do a Peeps cake for her.  But, this year, I found a 9 pack (like 9 of the 4 per pack) of the different Peep flavors at an after Easter sale for like $5 and decided to show her and see if she would rather just have them to eat without being on the cake.  She thought that was a good idea.  So, this was her boring cake.....

 I promise she really did get contact lenses.  It just took her a few days to get used to wearing them.  I have some great prom pictures coming soon of her without her glasses!

Whew! It Has Been a Long Time....

Luckily, I don't think my blog falls into the "I must read this before I can start my day" kind of blogs for anyone, so, while you may have noticed that it has been a while since I posted, I am pretty sure nobody has been devastated.

It has been a crazy, busy spring and I have been trying to keep my head above water....and really just try to enjoy the moments that I am getting with the kids.  D-man is a senior in high school, so I am starting to have those little epiphanies about that fact that he won't be here next year for all those little things we take for granted.

I honestly have a ton to update you guys on.  Some good stuff.  Some bad stuff.  Some scary stuff.  Some funny stuff.

I will start with some birthday updates:

S-girl turned 9!

Sorry about that picture.  One of my other things that happened is that Rainman and I both upgraded to smart phones!  Gasp!  I  LOVE two things about mine.....I can Facetime with my mom (well and other people, but she is the only one I have so far) and I can take really nice pictures.  The problem was that I didn't know I was taking those "live" picture thingies....which is what happened with S-girls'.  Oh well....

S-girl is at that interesting phase where she is very much little girl, but is getting more and more like a little lady everyday.  She  takes time and plans outfits, including her shoe and accessory choice.

L-girl even straightened her hair for her.

She chose  me for her birthday meal companion. We went to Subway.  Her choice.  Then she asked if we could go to the playground my our house.  See?  Still a little girl.

The funny thing about S-girl is that if you were to line up my kids in front of strangers, everyone would say she is the most shy.  But, get that girl alone and she talks non-stop.  Like, really, non-stop.  It is like she is storing up all her ideas and plans until she gets a captive audience.  LOL

We talked and talked and talked over our sandwiches, while we drove and while we walked back into the house.  She told me about her tree house plans, her desire for a real tea set, what her friends have done and said lately.  Her plans for her sleepover that she was finally getting to have with a friend from church.  Seriously.....non stop..

We went to the playground, but it was spring break, so there were a ton of kids there.  Other people may love that, but.....

We are spoiled homeschoolers.  When we go places during the day, usually there is nobody around....restaurants, grocery stores, libraries and even play grounds.

So, she and I wandered over to the old buildings in the park and took some pictures.

We came home and spent the afternoon with babies, where she got to be my main helper.  Special treat/privilege. (because usually they are all fighting over who gets to feed them lunch, hold them, etc.  Although somehow it is all me when a diaper needs to be changed.....)

We opened presents at night when Rainman got home from work.

I made her a french silk pie for her cake.  It was super yummy, if I do say so myself.

I think S-girl had an awesome birthday this year.