out of the mouth of BumbleBee

"I cannot get my foot to stop taking a rest." When his foot had fallen asleep.

"My eyes won't let me keep them open." When riding in the truck. I told him it was okay to close them and within seconds he was asleep.

"Because I am four and a half!" When asked "How did you get so strong/fast/smart/whatever?"

"I have really bad news!" When he had gotten a papercut and was going to let us know.

"You are the best mom in the whole world."

Partyin' Bahamian Style

Oh! What a night this was. None of these pictures represent our most photogenic faces but really, none of us cared too much! I think this night even included a wardrobe change for some of us.

Husband #1 appreciating the "nose" and "bouquet" of his bahamian beer, Kalik.

teaching my dad drinking games from college. Anyone remember "one up, one down?" or "I'm going camping?"

R, lovin' his wine

T & T - not really sure how we even managed this one!

T and I did not recall we even drank pineapple juice and coconut rum this night until we saw the pics later!

I am not sure what was happening here!

There are more that involve the inside of my nostrils, tons of fingers in front of the lens, different funny faces, different drinks being consumed, etc. You get the idea.

Bahamas photos

A sampling of photos from the Bahamas trip last week. There were many good ones so there will be more later.

The kids and the daddies watching a princess movie in the salon of the boat. They all seem to really be enjoying it!

My youngest niece preparing to be seasick. She did not actually get sick this day but both her and her sister were sick the first day unfortunately for them (and my sister in law who got puked on twice)

Bumblebee took this photo of us on the top deck of the boat while we were underway. Not too shabby!

Bumblebee being buried in the sand at Treasure Cay. The sand was wonderful...the texture of cornstarch.

Double A taking a self portrait with mommy's glasses and daddy's hat. There were several more with different facial expressions. She is the queen of the self portrait.

All four kids (mine and my two nieces) eating lunch on the back deck of the boat

The four of us on the beach at Green Turtle Cay

My mom and dad's boat we all stayed on while touring the Bahamas. All TEN of us!! The McBreak.

Bumblebee and mommy. Love this photo.

Double A suited up for the pool at West End, Grand Bahamas. She is a swimming fool this year. SOOO glad we did swim lessons.

Not a lot of time right now between vacations and WAY too many things I SHOULD be doing so not much narrative with this one...just a bunch of photos. The Bahamas were great and tons of fun! More later :)

PIERCED!

Husband #1 and I have always agreed that when Double A asks to get her ears pierced, we will go ahead. She has been asking for about two months or so and we finally found the time to get over there. Husband #1 got some numbing gel from the hospital and we put that on her earlobes before we left the house. Our hope was it would not hurt nearly as much if the ear lobes were numb first.

I love this picture because you can see the grimace on Double A's face but even better is the matching grimace on her daddy's face! I guess he was feeling her pain.

She did a great job! She held her Daddy's hand and a stuffed animal they have there. She grimaced with each ear but no sounds or crying. She even had a small audience of two other little girls observing to see if it was something they wanted to do. I did explain to their mother that her ears were numb so it may not be the best example of how it would really happen. I have heard that you can get the gel at the drugstore for numbing. She is being very responsible with cleaning them, and turning them and so far so good. She selected her own earrings and went with her birth stone...the peridot.

She seems so grown up sometimes and the earrings don't help. She finishes Kindergarten next week and has informed me in 5 school days she will be a first grader!

Mad at me

So, the other day Double A was very mad at me. She has a habit of speaking in a very nasty tone of voice to her brother and she got in trouble for it. When I explained this was unacceptable and blah blah (which is likely what she heard) I asked if she understood. She then said "yes" in the same nasty tone to me. Obviously she did not understand so she had to go to her room. She was mad and stomped and banged around in there. I ignored it. Then the "hate notes" started to appear in the hall outside her door.

There were a few more similar to this one where I was drawn with a big X through me, usually with an angry face. She was always drawn with a big smile and heart around her. (I blurred out where she wrote BumbleBee's name. I am not sure why he was really even included except maybe he was not in trouble??)

Sometimes we are truly frightened by her attitude, behavior, tone and eye rolling. She is only 6 and a half and already she often acts like a young teen. It scares us mightily.

Mockingbird

Double A had her dance recital Friday night. It was about as I expected. The teacher is big into getting them to understand "creative concepts" when I think they are a bit young for that aspect of dance just yet. As one would expect, the actual dance steps instruction part was not as high on the list with this other emphasis. Now, Double A has taken dance before from a completely opposite dance instructor...all precision and emphasis on learning the routine, no silliness tolerated while dancing. Apparently Double A remembered this previous instruction, or she was just one of the oldest kids, but she was all about doing the right steps (as right as she could get them) and not goofing around and being silly. She had fun and enjoyed herself. She insisted she have her hair "in a bun" so that is how we did it. She was very cute and has no stage fright.

This picture shows Double A with two of her Kindergarten classmates. She is concentrating so hard!After the performance while taking a bow on stage. She was also one of the tallest kids in her dance class...even taller than the ones her own age.BumbleBee was very excited to see his sister dance on stage and kept clapping for her. Of course, he wanted me to take his picture, also.

Questions

So, a few questions today with a couple of side notes.

First: what color are her eyes??? They were always very blue like her daddy but now they seem to be changing. She claims they are green and to be honest, they do look a little more like mine in this picture.

Sidenote: This was her "West Virginia" look - one scraggly loose tooth right in the middle of her mouth. Lovely. She refused to pull it even with the bribe of getting her ears pierced. Finally I had to hold her down while her daddy grabbed it and it popped right out. Crazy girl. This is her afterwards...so much lovelier! Hee hee!:

Second: What is this thing??!!: We found it on the back porch dried up and dead. The picture did not come out too clearly but it is about as long as my finger. It really looked like a fish as far as the scales and such but there were no fins or anything and really, where would a fish come from to get on our back porch? It didn't really seem to be a baby snake based on the weird body shape and lack of snake like head. We still don't know...anyone??

Third: Why was it snowing in April and when will it be warm again? I couldn't bring myself to take pictures and admit it was pretty. But Monday had LOTS of snow...big pretty flakes which turned into ice pellets by afternoon. None of it stuck, thank goodness. Still...it was April 6th!! However, as my mom likes to tell me, the year we lived in Chicago there was a blizzard on April 5th (her birthday). I guess some unsticky snow is better than a blizzard. I need warm weather because my kids are outgrowing their pants and I don't want to buy more now!!

Okay, so anyone with answers, let me know!!