Warning:  Picture overload!!
Today was Daniley's first day of Kindergarten.  It was a FABULOUS day.  I had breakfast with her in the cafeteria and then dropped her off in her room and got out promptly.  As I kissed her goodbye I could feel my eyes starting to well up but I did NOT want her to see my crying so I did my best to get myself under control.  I left the room and headed to work.

Daniley looked precious in her bookbag and lunchbox and I have never seen a cuter school kid in my whole life!!!  The glasses just make her look especially studios, which is exactly why I like to wear mine.  :-)

 

At work ALL DAY I could do not much more than think about Daniley.  I did not attempt any dangerous maneuvers and barely attempted anything requiring concentration at all.  I planned to get off early to meet her at the bus (this will be Daddy's duty starting tomorrow).  We waited and waited and waited.  The bus was 15 minutes late.  Then finally, it peeped over the hill top!!!  FINALLY.  DID I SAY FINALLY???!!!

 

And we waited, and waited, and waited.  The other girl got off, and walked all the way past me (and I was a good distance back) and still Daniley did not get off the bus.  Then FINALLY, she appeared!!  DID I SAY FINALLY???!!! FINALLY SHE JUMPED OFF THE BUS!!!

 

AND TOOK OFF RUNNING TOWARDS US!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

And after we got home I asked her what her FAVORITE part of the whole day was.

"NAPTIME."

What was your second FAVORITE PART?

"The BUS RIDE!"

And about 30 minutes later, yes it happened.  I got a call on my cell phone from Daniley's teacher.  Yes that's right, a phone call on her very first day. 

"Hi, This is Mrs. Howanitz.  We had a great day.  Daniley is so sweet and funny.  

She's hilarious.  I just love having her in my class."

Yes Mrs. Howanitz, you are blessed indeed.  Blessed indeed!

 Well the time has finally arrived.  My sweet little precious Sugar Booger is going into Kindergarten.  She and I are both excited about it.  We're ready for a new adventure.  Thursday we had orientation.  I got sad when we first went in together but it didn't take long for Daniley to have me cracking up.  Dan and I warned the teacher Tuesday at parent night that Mrs. Howanitz was going to have a little adventure on her hands.  It didn't take but just about 20 minutes for Daniley to prove me right.

 

We entered the classroom and the teacher had a little worksheet with some things on it for Daniley to do.  (Locate your birthday on the calendar, find your table color, located your bookbag storage, etc).  The last thing on the list was to let Mrs. Howanitz take your picture.  So here we are.  Everything went down with no problems.

 

And then afterwards Daniley (60+ lbs) tackles her with a hug.  She didn't fall.  Phew!

 

Daniley then goes back to her seat and wastes a few more minutes.  Then after some time I told her it was time to go.  This, this is where it all changes.  Right here.

Daniley calls Mrs. Howanitz over for one last hug and a picture.  I snap the picture (and unfortanately turn off my camera and store it on my side).  Then suddenly Daniley takes both of her hands and grabs Mrs. Howanitz's face to give her a big smoocheroo.  Mrs Howanitz, who naturally wouldn't want to be kissed in the face by 20 strange children, turns her head and leans back to avoid what she knows is coming.  Daniley tightens her grip, and repositions her face back to the center.  Mrs. Howanitz turns the other way to again avoid as eloquently as she can, but it's no use.  Daniley further tightens her grip and by this time has pulled her skin and cheeks all out of position and

 LAYS ONE ON HER,

thankfully on the cheek on not square on the lips.  

I simply told Mrs. Howanitz, "I warned you."  

LOL.

Then I giggled all the way home.

  

Thank you Sugar Booger for making my day a little easier!

I love you and I know Mrs. Howanitz is going to too!!

I just got back from one of the best weekends of recent memory!  We went to Buffalo NY, partly on business, partly on pleasure.  We saw a Great Lake, Niagara falls, and hundreds of houses built in the 1800s.  I was so relaxed it must have been the closest thing possible to drugs!!!  Dan and I had no one to entertain but ourselves.  Wow I never realized just how HUGE that is. We had SUCH a good time, and I didn't realize just how bad I needed a break.  We had not a day but a WEEKEND to ourselves.  WOW.  I'm totally refreshed!!  I absolutely LOVED this trip. I love it up north.  This side of New York, the people are actually friendly.  :-)

One of these pictures shows me contemplating a trip into Canada, stamping my passport for the first time ever.  I've never really wanted to travel abroad.  I got a lump in my throat and nearly started crying when I thought about leaving the USA.  Not sure why but I know I am blessed to live here.  So, I just stayed on my side of the border.  I'll get a stamp another day.

I LOVED Niagara Falls, and not just the falls but the entire park.  I just kept imagining myself on an innertube drifting along....then BOOM DOWN I GO!  I loved the surrounding areas too.  All the houses were old.   I picked out 100 that I liked.  I would love to renovate an old house but I don't have time right now.  

Maybe another decade.

It's been a little while and I've never been busier.  Some time ago I got this idea that I wanted to do a craft show.  I want to "repurpose" little children's outfits.  So I gather gently used clothing items, and monogram them for their new home.  I sell the clothes cheaper than new clothes, and comparable or very slightly higher than consignment prices, and the monograms are free.  I make a few bucks per outfit, parents save money, and have great clothes.  Well about a month ago I thought I should quit dreaming about this one-day-craft-show and actually DO IT.  So I have applied for one, and it's not juried so I'm hoping I'll make it in.  Announcement later.  In the meantime, I decided I'd test the waters by dabbling in online sales, so I opened a free facebook page about a month ago.  I haven't rested since.  WHOAH!  www.facebook.com/impressedclothing if you dare to look.  So this is the reason for my lack of blogging.  Well this and the rest of "life" that is happening daily.

This past week was VBS in Shelby.  We went to the closing festivities Friday night and the leader called Daniley up to the front to pray.  He said he had been touched by her prayer earlier in the week.  So I'm absolutely sweating bullets as he hands a microphone to my 4 year old who is famous for saying all kinds of random (often hilarious but true) things.  Yes, the same 4 year old who told me going in to church the other day that "My daddy has a penis."  (Please send Thank You cards to the grandparents for the new terminology.)  So anyway, she stands there for a second, but she's not shy, so I KNOW she is going to say SOMETHING.....and then it comes out:  "Lord, thank you for everything you have given us.  Please forgive us for the things we do wrong.  Help us to grow into what you have for us.  Amen."  And I couldn't have said that any better myself.  I have never been more proud.

While we were there Danslen took the stage.  She didn't even go to VBS, hates going to church, and always says "I want go home."  She is not overly adventurous unless it involves getting into something.  So I was FLOORED when she hopped up on the stage and started dancing.  She had the cutest look on her face the whole time.  I suspect the whole church was smiling at her because you just couldn't help but notice her cuteness!!! 

Happy Independence Day

This weekend was Liberty Day, our favorite summer holiday.  It's always a busy day and this year was no exception.  At the parade, Danslen walked down the street like she owned it!  She had a bubble gun and I'll admit she pointed her gun at every person possible.  I'm not sure if she has ever had a toy she loved more.  The girls had crazy fun at the fireworks.  My brother was sitting in his chair and it all-of-a-sudden collapsed.  He hit the ground.  So hilaroius! I love hanging out with my sis and bro!! They are hilarious.  They love my kids like their own.  My, how life has changed for us!!

One snap, and we all were looking.  Never before.  Never again.

Happy Independence Day!!

Happy Fathers Day to the Jack of All Trades (two being great FATHER and HUSBAND!!)  :-)  

I really could not ask for a better father for my girls.  

Dan made the girls a tire swing out of my motorcycle tire (see previous blog posts for broke-down information).  haha.

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And just look who is big enough to ride the tubes!!!!  Brooke watched Lil' Darlin' for me so I could go down with her on her first ever ride (Thanks Brookie!!  I'll pay you back!!) First together, and then she rode it by herself.  It's dark in these slides so I imagine this was pretty scary for her.

Then Brooke, Daniley, and Brayden went on the wipeout course.  I didn't realize how much supervision would be needed on this, so I thank Brooke sincerely for her help.  I would have put Daniley up there and stood at the gate (because I had the baby with me) and that would have been a disaster because she couldn't pull her connector ring around (at the top). They should make being 8 years old mandatory for this!

Then on the way home:  "I need pee-pee."  Have you ever seen a mini with indoor plumbing?  My mini has been customized (aftermarket parts).  We have flexibility to stop on the side of the road, which is exactly what we did.  

And 15 minutes later...."I need poo-poo."  So we stopped again.  I much prefer this to germy public restrooms.

Another "regular" day.

I call this a regular day because it's not so out-of-the-ordinary.  This is the way of my life right now.  I've been told plenty of times how "together" I am but I want everyone to rest assured things do not go perfect for me, or anyone, who has small (ok, any age) kids!
Today both girls had Dr. appointments, and I used my time off to get my eyes checked and get some new safety glasses as well.  We were only 10 minutes late for the girls Dr. appointments, so we were doing good.  Daniley did great on her hearing test (and the Dr. said he'd write a prescription for more spankings when she gets too loud) :-D and Danslen got one shot AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN CRY.  Ok, that one was a new one on me.  Never before, and probably never again.
We had approximately 90 minutes to burn between their appointments and mine so we went into Chick-fil-A for a drink and some air-conditioned play time.  I mostly played on my phone while the girls ran around.  I had on my sunglasses (forgot my regular glasses in the car) so I couldn't see more than 2 feet in front of my face, so there was no use in trying to watch what was going on.  However, I could hear...and suddenly I hear Daniley asking some kid loudly in the top of the play area:  "Do you have any SENSE?"  I just minded my own business but wondered what on earth was going on up there.  LOL.
Then this young lady came in with pretty brown hair.  She was a total stranger, TO ME.  Daniley, however, doesn't meet strangers, or know any strangers...or understand that there is a such thing as a stranger so she just grabs her hair and says "Let's play Salon."  (Now you have to understand her grandmother and Aunt are both Barbers so she might get some of this hair-fixin' honest.)  I just sat on the bench and pretended I didn't know Daniley as I watched her con this lady into letting her play with her hair.  She proceeded to pretend to put makeup on her, but the the lady did not like Daniley touching her face, so I had to intervene a little bit.

Ok, times up.  We go to the eye dr. and because I don't have great eye coverage, I go to Walmart.  (I've had great experiences there if you care to know.)  Today Daniley wore a vintage pillowcase dress.  When I say vintage, it is the kind of pillow case that was hand embroidered probably in 1983.  If any of you have ever kept a pillowcase until the threads literally come apart, you know that it's a pretty easy tear.  Well, back while we were at Chick-Fil-A, she ripped her dress slightly.  But it was in a good place and looked like a natural slit, so no problem.  However, now we are in Walmart and we have to run from the Dr. office to the bathroom because Danslen has decided she needed to pee.  We had 3 glasses of tea between the 3 of us at CFA, so I take this request pretty seriously.  Danslen just turned 2 so generally she doesn't give a lot of notice for a potty break.  So we proceed to the bathroom, all is good, until Daniley says "Uh Oh."  I look down and her dress has ripped way up above her panties.  We're in the middle of Wal-mart, I have no spare clothes for her, and you know I'm too cheap to go to the back and buy her an outfit just to wear home.  So I tell her, "Just hold your dress together as we walk."  She did, so on with the show.
I get back to the Dr. office and I'm looking at glasses and please let me take this opportunity to tell you the kids like to grab every pair within reach.  So I grab a buggy and put Danslen in it.  She cries saying "Buggies are for babies!!" over and over.  No problem, her crying doesn't stress me out (and to you shoppers that it does you have either been the parent of that scene or been the kid screaming in the buggy so I really don't care to hear your complaints, as I'm doing the absolute best I can.)
So we complete our business and head out.  I grab the buggy to push it and suddenly my hand is in a big pile of buffalo wing sauce from the buggy bar.  Oh my Lord some people are disgusting.  Luckily, I'm by the door and I spot a huge tub of sanitizer wipes.  I wipe myself off and clean the buggy, and Daniley grabs her a couple of wipes too.  I'm on with my business, heading out the door, and I turn around and Daniley is basically giving herself a bath with the wipes.  She's got her arms up in the air wiping her underarms with her dress slit up to her boobs.  Yes her panties are exposed, but you don't thing she CARES do you?  I'm calling her to COME ON! but she proceeds to clean her other underarm, her neck, face, arms, and anything else that is exposed (luckily she forgot about the part of her body exposed by the slit).  The times get stressful but I'm gonna tell you when stuff like this happens I absolutely lose control of myself in laughter.  I'm not the get-mad-and-cry type (although I did cry once when Daniley threw up in the middle of Belk) so when things get more than I care to tolerate I usually end up laughing as if it weren't happening to ME.  I know some of you who have no idea what kind of day I have had walk through the Wal-mart door and this is probably what you think:  "Here is a 4 year old standing here with a Hoochie-Momma dress on slit up to the breast, standing here washing her underarms.  Where is her mother?!?!  This is what is wrong with society."  Well guess what people, you have no idea what kind of day we've had!  Be careful passing judgement.  No parent has ever said anything rude to me but one day Danslen, in the car, peed in her pants.  We went into CFA with a dress on, cammando.  She got in the floor and threw down because she wanted to play.  In doing so, she completely FLASHED everyone in CFA and one older lady saw it and I saw her say to her table "That kid isn't wearing panties..." along with some other choice words.  I kindly walked to their table to apologize and tell her WHY she was half naked, if for nothing else to acknowledge I heard her little snide comment that was none of her business.  My response to people being critical of the way I raise my children:  "Don't be jealous!" :-D

This post is what my life is about.  This is Ali's house, our favorite place to play.

 Thank you God for two blessings and thank you Dan for two girls!

Here's a preview of what they might look like when they get put in jail.  

If they have to go, I hope they had a good time getting there.