Blessed Beyond Measure

The other night I was telling N how proud I was of her potty-training efforts lately. I said, "I am so proud of you. You are such a good little girl." My little deep thinker responded, "Mommy, I am just one little girl in this big, big world."

A couple of nights ago, N and I went on a "mommy-daughter date." We get to go on those very often with daddy's work schedule. We invited my friend Kim and her two sweet kiddos. At dinner, N was in what her teachers like to call "rare form". Kim's babies were so good and so sweet as N danced around and around the table. I finally managed to talk her into her chair and the next thing I know she has picked up the tortilla holder from the table, opened it up and is holding one piece to each ear. Here she sits with these huge red circles coming out of each side of her head. As I try to force her to put them down she stands up in her chair and begins singing the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse song. At that point, I was laughing so hard I couldn't even punish her. I had to give her some credit for being so clever.

Now that spring break is over, we are working our way back into our routine of daily life. None of us were too happy to be up so early this morning. N was so excited to go back to school and get to see her best friend Brenton (a.k.a. Shrek ). We had lots of conversation in the car on the way to school, and in the midst of our ramblings N says, "Mommy, I miss football season." I had to keep myself from calling her a bit crazy and wondering why in the world she misses football season where she only sees daddy a handful of hours each week. But then I remembered how much fun she has running on the field with B and jumping on the panther. She cleared things up when she suggested, "But this year let's do it our house. So daddy can live with us." Sounds like a plan to me!

As we drove around during our visit at Mamaw and Papaw's, N was pushing her daddy to the limit and on the verge of getting in BIG trouble. He was forced to administer what was probably her tenth spanking of the day. (She was in rare form this day!) After he finished spanking her, just as serious as she can be she said, "You're gonna have to spank me harder than that." Whew! We're in trouble!

We had a great time at the Easter egg hunt at church last night. We always try to make the first one since they expect over 10,000 children to hunt there. N was after quality, not quantity and stopped to open each egg and determine the prize inside before moving on. Considering the 100's of kids there hunting, she didn't score too many taking her time. She did get plenty though! She even informed us that she looked so pretty in her dress that a boy in her Sunday school class fell in love with her! Boy are we in trouble.

B decided to take me back to the past a little in celebration of our anniversary. He started the week before our anniversary by sending me the most beautiful vase with an orchid in it. Then he sent a stem of orchids each day that week to add to the vase. He had done this once while we were dating and it was the greatest thing ever. The kids at school LOVED it both times. The ladies in the office thought it was pretty great too! By the end of the week, I had a beautiful vase full of flowers. He booked us a hotel room at Baylor hospital in Dallas- which to most people sounds a little strange. But, Baylor became a home away from home for us when N was born as she stayed in the NICU for weeks after her birth. We were able to remember the times we spent there watching our precious preemie grow stronger each day. It was such a special time of growth and celebration when N was born and it was great to go back again. When we pulled in to the driveway, it was almost like no time had passed at ...

I have to say we are so lucky as parents that N comes home very day and tells us everything about her day. Even the stuff she has done wrong. Often, the teacher will say she had a great day and on the way to the car she will say something like, "I really wasn't that good. I hit Jacob twice." I try to encourage her honesty in hopes that she will always feel that she can talk to us this way. Yesterday, on the way home from school I asked the usual "How was your day?" Here is what followed: "Good. I hit Max." "Oh no. You hit Max? Why did you hit Max?" "I did. I hit Max." "Yes, but why did you hit him?" "I did." "Did he hit your first?" "Yes, he did. So, I hit him." "Did you get in trouble?" "Yes I did. I cried." "You cried because you got in trouble?" "No." "Did you cry because you were sorry?" "I wasn't sorry. But, they tried...

We are in the car on the way to school this morning and N is complaining about the video choices. Yes, I allow her to watch television in the car. And, yes, we were the parents who swore our children wouldn't watch TV until they were at least five because we didn't want to slow down brain development . (Funny how you have things all figured out when you don't actually have children.) Well, that all went out the window when I was staying home with her alone for hours and hours on end. Baby Einstein became a common sound in our home and soon in our car when Nana and Papa blessed us with the greatest invention EVER- a DVD player for the car. (And for the record, I don't think it has effected her brain development at all.) So, we are riding along and she has a complaint for everything I have to offer. So I make a statement about turning it off- intending this to be some sort of threat to her. She responds, "Turn off the TV mom. And no more talking. And no music eithe...

This may just be the new Butterfly Dress. At least I hope so, since the BD has holes in it!

The timeline of events: 7:00 pm: "Oh look, cute little Bob has come over to play. Isn't he adorable! N, let's go out and say hello to our little friend. Maybe he will spend the night! We just love having him over." 7:03 pm: "Wow! He is vocal tonight. I bet he is hungry. Oh, there he goes chasing another little kid down the street. What a funny dog!" 7:30 pm: "Hmm. Wonder what he is barking about? Oh, another kid. The street sure is busy this time of night on a beautiful day." 8:00 pm: "Is that Bob still barking? What could his problem be? Do you think he is tired of being outside on this "cold" night?" 8:30 pm: "Ok, is he seriously still barking? It is starting to irritate me a little. What should we do?" 9:00 pm (and being old, we are already in bed): "Ok, I can't handle this much longer. I'm going to go let him out of the yard. Oh yeah, he can jump through the slats in the fence, he would just come right...