a little half

Oh boy! Little Buddy is already six months old ... it seems like three months ago at most. I forgot to photograph him today ... so I ran upstairs and snapped one of him in dreamland.

a little decorating

One of Foofie's favorite things to do is to tape little stuff all over the place ... or (as pictured here) ... stick post-it notes around. Some days it just feels like more CLUTTER ... but she is good about not putting tape on furniture ... so I try to enjoy her creativity. Also, she doesn't seem bothered by my continually taking it all down. It gives her reason to make more, I guess :) Sometimes she makes words or numbers ... other times pictures. Here is a SMALL sample ...

a little towel

Many Wednesday nights we dine at Panera and then make a mad dash to church. Last Wednesday was no exception. I was washing my hands in the bathroom there ... and when I was finished pumping my paper towel, I pumped out another section for a lady who was still at the sink. "Thanks," she said. "You don't want to touch anything these days, ya know?"

I returned to the table and relayed this exchange to my waiting family.
"Were there public restrooms when you were a kid?" Halo asked.

P.S. Sorry to break this to you ... but the buttons on the hand dryers (or the levers on the towel dispensers) in public bathrooms are really not clean ... not at all. I used to think they were okay until I noticed lots of gals turn them on with their elbows. Once, I even saw a tween use her foot (which would be her shoe) to start the dryer. This was after she had asked her mother to turn it on and the mother refused ... because ... she was afraid to?

a little Applebee's

FREE advertisement for Applebee's! We dined there tonight with Grandpa and Grandma. We didn't know beforehand ... but Tuesday night is KIDS NIGHT :) Kids meals ... including a beverage ... are just 99 cents! Plus ... there's free CHIPS & SALSA, FACE PAINTING and TREASURES (also called "trinket trash" by Daddy)!

Having fun!!!

She could've been a hippie ...

Check out these cheeks!!! Baby's that is ;)

Digging for jewels ...

Some young fellow sporting an orange vest found a handful of POLICE badges in the treasure box ... I wonder who that could be!

a little dating

On Wednesday evenings, I help with an AWANA program at our church called Truth and Training. It is for children in grades three through six. A couple weeks ago, I was talking with a young boy ...

"How's school?" I asked.
"Stupid," he blurted out.
"Why is it stupid?" I questioned.
"Because kids date," he answered.
"Yeah," I agreed ... "That is pretty stupid."

He is only two years older than my Halo ... I thought sadly. He is in sixth grade and happens to go to a government school ... but the same could happen at private schools or in church groups. Dating also seems unwise for high school kids ... unless, I suppose, you were in the upper grades and ready to get married at eighteen or nineteen. Dating that doesn't lead to marriage generally produces some type of "baggage". What good could possibly come from dating if marriage isn't in the near future??? I can't think of anything ... can you???

This leads me to another thought ... why do some parents tell their small preschool-age children that they have a boyfriend or girlfriend??? I guess I don't know why ... but it seems that a little girl who gets used to the idea that she has a boyfriend ... will be more comfortable having real boyfriends at a young age (and vice-versa).

a little greeting

Foofie's morning greeting to Baby ... quite a joyful start to the day :)
"Hi, Baby!!! Yes, you like me! You like me! You like YOU! You like MAMA! You like MAMA'S LEG! YOU LIKE EVERYTHING!!!"

a little hallujah

This afternoon, Foofie and Little Dude and I were heading to Grandma & Grandpa's house for lunch (or dinner ... since it is Sunday). It is a route we travel often because it is also the way to church and many shopping destinations. Foofie was practicing her rights and lefts. "Dairy Queen is on the right!" She called up to me. "And that church is on the left!" She continued. When she pointed out this particular church ... it reminded me of something that I hadn't remembered in a quite a while ... a time when Foofie would exclaim and point at this certain church building each and every time we passed by.

When Foofie was about 15 months until about age 2 1/2 ... every time she saw a cross ~ which was usually spotted on a church ~ she would shout out, "Hallujah!" (Hall-oo-yah) She always called out several hallujahs for each cross she spotted! I also remember when we drove to the Outer Banks, we passed a huge hill that had three large crosses erected on it and Foofie got really excited about that. "Hallujah! Hallujah! Hallujah!" We don't know how she came to link crosses with shouting hallujah ... but it was soooo darling. Now though, it's just a fun memory. I didn't want to forget it forever ... so I thought I'd share it here :)

Foofie is growing older ... as we all are ... and she's finished with the hallujahs ... but she still says "lello" for yellow. I can't bring myself to correct her because she says lello so cutely! I might be a bit sad when she starts saying yellow ...

a little bubblehead

I got another winning haircut! It's nearly the worst one I've ever had ... at Aveda no less ... would you believe it??? I look like someone else ... I'm not sure who ... but I don't look like myself. I think chopping off 2 or 3 more inches might solve the oddness of it ... but it would be much shorter than I want. I had told the twenty-something very hep (or "hip" if you prefer) stylist that I needed to be able to wear it tied back for those mornings when I get peed on or some other unforeseen issue arises. I told her I'm not cool ... I'm a mother ... so I don't want anything too dramatic.

After telling her what I was hoping for ... she said, "Okay. Yes ... it will be a real classic look." What is that anyway? Then, when she was finished snipping and was well into the styling of my hair, she commented ... "We don't want you looking like a bubblehead." Or a lamp or a mushroom ... I thought. Not too classic!!! So ... she tweaked it a tiny bit more with the scissors ... but not much!

Anyway, I'm disliking it more and MoRe and MORE as the day goes on ... and just wanted to "vent"! So ... I'm venting! (By the way ... I don't really like the words vent and venting.) Just so you know ... I probably will not show you what it really looks like if you ask :) Also, I'm going to try to scrape it back into an itty bitty bun for the next four months or else wear a bandana! Scrape ... because it BARELY works now ... lots of hunks (or honks as I've also called them) insist on falling out. My ever-witty husband said I was onto something ... that Honks Hair might be a good name for a beauty salon (a barber shop is more like it). And yes ... my kids all think its weird! But it's only hair ... such a minor, trivial thing ... and thankfully, it grows! Toodle-loo :)

a little catch-up

Here's nearly all the photos I snapped during October ...
Not many ... as I noted in another post ...

Here's Little Buddy posing at the "Harvest Fest" ... I think he's going to keep his blue eyes!

Foofie went as Snow White (three years running now) ... here she is at the end of the event ... tired and hungry for supper ... and being a bit of what we call a "crabby crank".

Buddy was a policeman :)

And Halo was a fairy!

One of my new favorite snacks ... pistachios!!! Why hasn't anyone ever RAVED about them to me??? I've been missing out for far too long! They are soooo good ... definitely rave-worthy!

I also discovered a few pictures worth sharing on Halo's camera ...

Our neighbor let Buddy try out his vest and baton one day ...

A cute shot of Baby smiling :)

I was sorting through stuff in our insane basement ... an ongoing activity ... and came across some of my husband's things. I tossed a few shirts and an old pair of overalls at him. He was quite excited about one shirt in particular that he hadn't seen for years.

"This is my favorite shirt that I never wear!" He exclaimed. (He thought he had lost it a few years ago when he went to Vegas for some training.)

a little Indian

Yesterday, my in-laws took us to a relatively new Indian restaurant for their Sunday lunch buffet. Doesn't this look goood??? The kids loved it too!
Afterwards, we had to stop for ice cream ... even though we were probably a bit on the full side. I took about a half-dozen pictures of these three together and one of them was always looking at their cone ... or eating it :)Cookies~n~Cream ... Cotton Candy ...

and Birthday Cake! Foofie tried to keep her candy on top as long as possible :)

a little quotable ~ October

"You need good ears. Twenty-twenty ears ..."
to hear the garage open.
"Does Halo have five hundred-five hundred ears?"

"I call you LOVE MOMMY."

"Do bad guys ever shoot through wooden doors?"

I got one of my first "love notes" from Foofie :)
ILU ("That means I love you ...)
Mommy (and Mommy)
Jesus (and Jesus" she said.)

"Halo's acting like she's the boss of America ... but MOMMY'S the boss of America!"