I'll Love you Forever

About a year ago, I was reading I'll Love You Forever to Avery before bed. Most parents, especially Moms, know this one - it tends to be a favorite of ours because it demonstrates how a mothers's love for her children is something that never grows old, even if THEY do! Well, have you ever really paid attention to the words of the book? On this particular night (a year ago), as I read the book to Avery, I did. Pardon me, while I recap the story...
Mommy sneaks her new baby out of bed, rocks him, and sings,
"I'll love you forever; I'll like you for always.
As long as I'm living my baby you'll be."
So sweet! A few years later, Mommy sneaks her toddler out of bed, rocks him, and sings the same song. So sentimental. Still a couple of years later, Mommy sneaks her little boy out of bed, rocks him, and sings the same song. I love this book! Several more years pass by, and Mommy sneaks her teenager out of bed, rocks him, and sings her song to him again. You get the idea! Well, it's all sweet until one day, when the little boy gets married, and Mommy gets in her car, drives across town to his house, climbs a ladder to his window, sneaks in his bedroom, crawls across the floor, gets her grown-up boy out of bed, rocks him, and sings, "I'll love you forever." For the first time ever, I looked at my favorite children's book and asked, "What kind of SICK Mama is this?" All of this to say that I may very well be on the road to becoming that sick Mama!! I love sneaking my kids out of bed at night and bringing them into my bed and just holding them and loving on them! I did it just last night with Asa, and I cherished every minute of it. His smell...last night, he smelled of lavender and maple syrup. His breathing...mouth closed into a pucker and nose breath rhythmically tickling my neck. The feelings of the warmth of his little body next to mine and the adorable twitch of his hand as he holds my thumb, assuring me that he is asleep and completely unaware that I am caught up in this moment. Yep, I'm definitely in trouble, but as long as I can get away with it, I think I'll keep it up! When my kids are older, I'll be the mama who is still sneaking them out of bed while they're asleep for these priceless moments. (But I may have to draw the line with the ladder!) Avery, Brynn, and Asa, rest assured, I'll love you forever!!

Bad Hair Day!

Well, today was one of those days that I'll always remember. Every mother of girls (and probably some boys too) has this deep rooted fear that one day their baby with the beautiful long tresses will give herself a new haircut. We keep the scissors out of reach; we try to instill in their minds that cutting your OWN hair is a REALLY BAD IDEA; we threaten them; basically, we try to put the fear of God in them! For me, it didn't work. Today was the fateful day when my baby cut her hair. Faithful readers of this blog are saying, "Oh no! Brynn strikes again, and Brynn's hair can't get any shorter," but you'll never believe it...the culprit wasn't Brynn, but Avery!! She decided she wanted short hair (like her best friend at school), and that was it. She took a big whack out of the front and ended up giving her self a ridiculous looking set of bangs and a really bad layered cut on the left side. I didn't end up crying (I was too mad to cry), but I didn't wait long before taking her to the "beauty shop" to get it fixed. She absolutely loves it and thinks she looks just like Carlie from school. I feel pretty fortunate that in the end she looks OK, just not like a little girl anymore. Boo - Hoo!!!

It's the Hard Knock Life For Us

Avery's newest musical obsession is "Annie." Today, we had my niece, Baylor, over to play for several hours. I nearly died when I saw what they were playing...they were pretending to be orphans and singing, "It's the Hard Knock Life" while they completely cleaned my house!!! They took squares of toilet paper and washed the floors, walls, furniture, and windows . They made my bed, cleaned Avery's room, and even picked up the mess in the house that they'd made. I couldn't believe my luck! Believe me, my house is "shinin' like the top of the Chrysler Building" right now, thanks to a couple of imaginative little girls! Think I'll have Baylor over more often!!

What IS it with my kids?

So, I'm at home the other day, and I can't find Brynn. It's about 4:30 (and we have dropped her afternoon nap, I should add), and the house is just too quiet, which always beckons the question, "Where's Brynn?" I am running around the house calling, "Brynn, where are you? Answer Mommy!!" I do this for what seems like eternity (really only about 10 seconds), but I am starting to get really panicky! I walk into Asa's room, and I just happen see 2 little feet sticking out from behind his crib. I go to look closer, thinking maybe she's playing hide and seek. But no, you guessed it, she's fast asleep behind the bed. What IS it with my kids??? (If you read my "Sound Asleep" post from September, you know what I mean!)

Fall Festival Fun!!

One of the highlights of the fall season is the Fall Festival at church. This year, Avery decided that she wanted to be Little Bo Peep, and she wanted Asa to be her sheep. I was pretty impressed with this cute idea, so I went with it. I had a friend of mine, Wanda Hulett, who is a fabulous seamstress, make the girls' Bo Peep dresses, and I ordered Asa's lamb costume from E-bay. Avery and Brynn loved wearing their matching dresses with the pantaloons and carrying around their staffs. (I ended up having to confiscate those because they ended up being used as weapons to hit each other over the head with!) Asa was adorable as the lamb, and he turned quite a few heads as he toddled around! We decided to go to the Fall Festivals at both Ingleside and Mabel White this year (one on Wednesday, and one on Friday) = double the fun!! Here are some of my favorite pictures - better late than never!

All dressed up and ready to go....


The cutest sheep EVER!!!

The girls loved playing together on the giant slides and moonwalks.

Avery and Brynn both rode the ponies (a first for Brynn).