Happy Spring and Welcome Back!

Hi all!

Remember me?


Shelly. The one who gives stories from her shell??


Did you know that being a turtle has its disadvantages?


Oh yes, it's true!


Sure we seem to live a relaxed lifestyle, taking our time getting wherever it is that we are headed and our tough exterior leads people to believe that nothing can bother us. BUT, if someone or something comes along and rocks our world, tipping us onto our backs, we have a heck of a time figuring out how to get back on our feet again.


Work has been the windstorm that has me tipped over onto my back for these past few months. I finally recovered, but all that fast motion has given me a fright - it's still cold and scary out there - so I've burrowed down until the warmth of Spring beckons me, making me feel safe enough to come back out of my hole.


Meanwhile, plenty has been going on in my little corner of the world. Unfortunately, when things are stressful at work my creative juices get zapped.


Last weekend I took a little mini-vacation (I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter break!!)


On Friday we took Spice to get her shots for school - did you know that they have to have 5 shots now before they can get into kindergarten?? [GULP!]


Having only gone through this once before - six years ago, with Sugar, the world renown Drama Queen - I wasn't sure how well this 5 shots thing would go over with Spice, so we decided to give her two on this visit and we'll go back in a couple of months for the remaining three.


Well, let me just tell you....She was SUCH a trooper! She sat there and watched them give her the shots; she didn't move - not even a flinch - and she didn't cry.


I was SO VERY proud of her!


And Sugar....well, she was absolutely amazed! She didn't think it was even possible for someone to get a shot without crying at least ten minutes before they give it to you. ;)


With it being Good Friday, we had to get an early morning appointment because the offices were closing early.


Sugar wasn't very excited about getting up that early in the morning when she didn't have school... And after Sugar expressed her displeasure with a sticky note, Spice had to have one too...

I tell ya... Never a dull moment. :)

What Will Become of Stenography

Do any of you remember the forgotten language of shorthand?

There is actually more than one 'type' of shorthand; for example, there's Pitman or Teeline.
And The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography.

I'll bet you've heard of that word...

Usually we think of a stenographer as the person who sits in front of the judge's bench during a trial, quickly depressing the keys on a that funny looking typewriter of hers. Her fingers seem to fly as she transcribes every spoken word. And then, when a defendant answers a question that the lawyer objected, and the judge sustained their objection, he will look at her and tell the stenographer to 'strike that from the record'.

People go to classes to learn this stuff!!

Did you know that a stenographer can write/type at speeds of up to 300 words a minute?? Fascinating!

What do you think will come of shorthand as this next generation grows into adulthood??

Do you think the stenograph will become a thing of the past, like the dinosaurs, as the upcoming language of texting takes over the world?

If you are the parent of a teen, or even a pre-teen, you know what I'm talking about.

I have a friend who doesn't allow her children to use txt, when they are texting. Her logic is that it creates problems in their schoolwork. They get so used taking txt shortcuts, that they make errors by writing the way they txt, or they forget the proper spelling of words.

Not to mention, as parents we reserve the right to view any and all of our children's text messages. And it wouldn't do us any good to review them, if we can't understand the lingo. Right??

Note to self: Next time you spell something wrong, use txting as your excuse. Yeah, that'll work!
I've not always been a horrible speller, it just happened when this texting thing came along. Y'all believe me don't you??

Okay, sorry; back to the story...

Anyway, since spelling has never been my strong suit this logic made perfect since and I Incorporated that same rule to Sugar when she got her cell phone.

The other day she texted me from the library. Our conversation was as follows:

Her: Hey moma
Me: Hey!

Her: Hey whats up i mean what you doing
Me: Working. What r u doing?

Her: Noting i am on my way to the library
Me: Okay, do ur homework and i'll let u know when i'm on my way.

Her: I dont have any homework
Me: Ok. u could get onto study island

Her: Ok love you
Me: Love u 2. ttyl :)

Her: What i am not allowed talk text talk i dont know what that means all i know iz lol
Me: Lol! I LOVE U!!!!

What??? I'm the mom, those same rules don't apply to me. ;)

Big Girl Benefits

For almost eight years she was an only child.

She begged for a little brother or sister.

When she found out that her life long wish was finally coming true, she was filled with excitement!

And then, the baby sister came along and she was no longer an only child; now, she was the "BIG SISTER."

Being a BIG SISTER is not as much fun as she thought it would be, back when she was an only child and begging for a sibling.

She fails to see the benefits of her position

Like the other night, she went to spend the night with one of her friends down the street.

After the squeals of delight settled, she made sure we were aware of her gratitude, "thank you, thank you, thank you." She repeated over and over again, as she ran upstairs and threw a bag together. Then she ran back in and kissed us once more, telling us how we are the "greatest parents on Earth", said her goodbye's and ran out the door - leaving the little sister behind.

The conversation that followed, went like this:

Spice: Where did Sugar go?

Me: She went to spend the night with Sarah

Spice: Okay, I'm gonna go pack my bags so I can go too.

Me: No baby, you can't go this time.

Spice, in her most disappointed 'but I want to go too' voice: Why not????

Me: Because, only the big girls are spending the night.

Spice: I'm a big girl

Me: Yes but your a little big girl. The big girls want to play without the little girls around.

Spice, as she grabs the phone: What's Bobby's number? (Sarah's mom)

Me: It's Ms. Bobby and why do you want to know her number?

Spice: I'm gonna tell her if she'll let me spend the night.

Me: No baby, you can't spend the night with them. You're not big enough.

Spice: But I have a stool.

Now I ask you...How do you argue with that logic??

The First Dance

They grow up so fast...

It seems like only a few short years ago that I was holding my tiny angle in my arms.

Swaying back and forth when she was fussy, humming a soft lullaby as she settled down and drifted back off to dream land.

Dancing with her in the daylight hours. Spinning her around quickly, faster and faster as she squealed with giggles of pure delight.

Then, one day my little girl - the first born, no longer a baby, not yet an adult - comes home and announces that her school is having a dance. "It's a Valentine's dance!" She exclaims.

"It's semi formal. We have to wear a dress. It can't be short. It can't be sleeveless or spaghetti straps. It has to be either Pink, White or Red." She says without even a single pause for air between sentences. "So can I go?"

"When is it?" I ask. "Does it cost anything? If so, how much?"

"It's on a Friday. I think it cost $5.00"

And then, the search was on...

The search for the perfect "First Dance" dress.

One that's not too young but also not too mature. Not too short, not too long. No sleeveless, no spaghetti straps.

Keeping all this criteria in mind and after about an hour of searching, I had narrowed it down to only two choices.

Making a call or two to the kiddo, together we decided to go with the pink one.

The dance was last Friday night.

She was very excited as I did her hair. Looking at the clock every few minutes, rushing me on, ready to get there - heaven forbid she not arrive right.at.6 o'clock.on.the.dot. *Sigh* Someone needs to teach this girl about being 'fashionably' late.



Here is the end results:




She had a great time at the dance! AND she says she actually danced. :)




Oh, and apparently, we also have a 'first crush' ;)



*Sigh* Slow down child, I'm not ready for this...

Watch out for the lightning!

They were eating their burgers at McDonald’s when the four year old suddenly announced to the table, out of the clear blue sky, that “that pin hurt my bottom!”

Of course, a comment like that elicited a few looks until dawning finally registered in her mother’s face, at which time she explained that she had a boil about a month back and that they had to use a pin to help drain it.

I have always heard that they – whoever ‘they’ are - don’t really know what causes those nasty things. Some say stress, other’s say ingrown hairs and apparently others say the cause is from low iron, as this was the statement her mother made upon hearing of this episode. “You know what causes those, don’t you?” she asked.

“No, I thought they could be caused from stress.” Her uninformed daughter replied.

“No, they’re caused from low iron.” She said, enlightening the daughter. “You need to start feeding that baby more iron.” She tells her, to which the twelve year old pipes in with: “But then she might get struck by lightning!”

Letting that thought sink in for a minute, she looked over at her oldest daughter and said, “Where in the heck did you hear that?” LOL!

Somewhat embarrassed and yet still completely clueless, she made up some story about hearing it on one of the TV shows that she watches; but, looking back on it today, I don’t think she really ‘heard’ this anywhere. I think she actually thought we were talking about feeding her sister iron – the metallic substance. ;)

And all this time I thought that the possibility of getting struck by lightning could happen to anyone; apparently though, this phenomenon only applies to those of you with a high intake of iron in your diet.

Watch out for the lightning!!

Arts and Crafts

In school they're learning about the Native Americans and how they believed that each animal had a spirit. They were given a chart with a list of animals that were used on totem poles because of their special talents and the stories they told.

The assignment was for them to create a totem pole using the list of animals to represent each of their family members.

Here is how Sugar's project turned out:

It's hard to tell in the photo just how well this turned out but I am so proud of her on this one! I think she did an excellent job.

Unfortunately, one of her classmate's accidentally knocked it down and the base of it broke. She brought it home so we could try to patch it up.

After the patch work, she decided to give it another coat of paint.

I sure hope she gets an A!

Today was craft day at the local library - what a fun idea!! The kids can do arts and crafts and the mom's don't have to clean up the mess. It doesn't get any better than that!

We found out the schedule and I plan on us being there each and every time.

Here is the craft that Spice made:

She is so proud of her little snowman and she made him all by herself!

Looks like that crafty gene that runs in my family was passed along to both of my girls :)

A Spelling Lesson

Did you know that the average four year old asks 437 questions a day??

That's just a little bit of trivia that the husband learned while sitting in his library, reading his bathroom reader, the other night.

We have a four year old.

Our four year old asks a LOT of questions every day. In fact, there are days when 437 seems like a low average to me - I'm just sayin' ;)

Along with the MANY questions that our four year old asks, she is also working on some of her other skills:

Our four year old is learning to write her name.

Our four year old wants to read.

Our four year old likes to pretend that she knows how to read.

And sometimes, our four year old thinks she can spell.

Take, for instance, the other day when our four year old was in the bathroom at the same time that her mother was stepping out of the shower.

I will spare you (and myself) the embarrassment of the majority of her queries on this particular day.

After all, if you've ever had children before, you understand that stepping out of the shower, in all of your glory, is NOT something that you want to do, unless you are prepared for the barrage of questions that will no doubt come flying at you.

After answering and/or evading many of her inquiries, she finally turned her attention to a mole...


"Mommy, what's that?"

"It's a mole."

"A hole?"

"No, a mole."

"A hole?"

"No baby, a mole not a hole."

"A hole."

"No, it's a Mole: M-O-L-E, Mole!"

"That's what I said, A Hole: A-Y-Z Hole!"

The Ham

Both of my girls are quite the ham, but one is easier to catch on film than the other. Can you guess which one that would be????





If you guessed Sugar you would be absolutely correct!!! Give yourself a cookie.

Don't get me wrong, I have have pictures of Spice acting silly too but Sugar is my little drama queen and she REALLY loves to ham it up for the camera, as is evident in the above photos.

Dictionary of a three year old

Those with children know that it sometimes takes a mother to understand. Below are some of the words in the dictionary of Spice:

1. Dolphin, as mentioned in a previous blog = Golfing
2. Baby Soup, also mentioned in a previous blog = Bathing Suit
3. Flute = Fruit
4. Ruv = Rub
5. Lellow = Yellow
6. Wipe = White
7. Deuce = Juice
8. She = he
9. Bleeving = Bleeding
10. Wadg = Garage

11.Gice = Ice

She sometimes likes to play with different sounds for example: Instead of mamma call me Mamoo, or Nana will become Nanoo.

Silly little girl!

Baby Soup

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone once again who helped to make Spice's party such a great success.

It seems that she had more fun than I originally thought. She has asked me every day since the party ended when she was going to get to slide again...

Last night she told me that she wants to put on her "baby soup" and go play in the water.

She said, "I like that slide!"

Looks like I'm going to have to look into purchasing one for the house.... If not a slide, then definitely a pool of some sort for her to splash around in.

What's your favorite color?

It's been a few days since my last post - to catch you up....

Thankfully Sugar's time with the virus only lasted two days and I ended up not having to take her to the doctor as we originally thought. However, as luck would have it, I did have to go to the doctor. You guessed it......they shared!! (wasn't that nice of them??) Anyway, I no longer want to dwell on all this illness. Everyone is doing well and I am now well on my way to recovery.

Something cute did come out of our sick time together and I thought it would be fun to share:

The youngest is a big fan of the popsicle; she requests them all the time. The other day, after seeing her daddy eating a Minute Maid Juice Bar, she told him she wanted a Popsicle. When he went to get one of her Popsicles she made it very clear that she wasn't referring to her Popsicles.... She wanted one of his, and she wasn't going to have it any other way!!

After struggling with the juice bar for a while she looked over at her father and said, "this is difficult". Not yet being three, the word difficult wasn't clear enough for everyone to understand and they weren't quite sure what it was she said that I found so funny. Once I helped them understand her statement we all had a good laugh together.

Speaking of Popsicles, we've all been eating a lot of them recently to help ease the pain of our sore throats. My favorite was red, can you guess which color the girls liked?

Letters to the President

Every since Sugar was a little girl she has been tearing up paper, "writing" on it, and leaving it strewn all over the house. I can not tell you how frustrating it is to find little pieces of paper, with scribble on them, scattered all over the place whenever you walk through the house. However, at times it can be funny - like today...When the hubby got home, he went to check the mail and in it he found three index cards. On the front of one of the cards was Sugar's name, address, and phone number with a "Presudant" stamp drawn on the top right corner. The return address listed: George W. Bush, White house.

When he entered the house he immediately fussed at her, telling her to stop writing her personal information on everything and leaving it around for anyone to find. After we explained our reason for concern he handed her the cards telling her, "tear up these letters to George Bush and throw them away"

Needless to say my curiosity was now peaked, upon learning that she had written letters to the president, so I asked her if I could see them. She had already torn them once but I, being the nosey detective that I am, was able to put them back together. They were a good source of laughter for me today, so I thought I would share (after all, couldn't we all use a little humor in our lives?!?!?). Please note I am typing these exactly as they were written, and they read as follows:

1. Dear Mr. George W Bush,

Please read this to everyone when you get on tv. I reelly hate people who litter. It's gust wrong.

Thank you,
Sugar Drama Queen Shell 8 (On the note card she had written out her full name. I believe the '8' was supposed to be &)
The full name of the boy next door

2. Dear People of America,

I wish you will stop littering. It is a crime and you are paluting the city and also it would be nice for the nature.

Thank you,
Sugar Shell
and The boy next door

3. Dear Mr. George W. Bush,

I want you to tell everyone what I said when you get this and the other card.

Thank you,
Sugar Shell and
The boy next door

P.S. We are big fan's