Flag Football

Ty is in the middle of his first season of flag football. He has a double header on Saturday. . . . Ohhh. . . I know, it sounds impressive. To quote Shane:

"A double header. Two chances to show what you're made of."

"Two chances to fall on your face." . . . . (speaking of the team in general, not Ty specifically.)

Wow, those are some hard-hitting words of encouragement. It was shortly after that I shot him a look.

Here they are. . . the Dominators. I'll keep you posted on that double header.

Happy Easter

Saturday started out with rain. Ty played football in the rain. Ty loved it. Shane loved it even more. . . in fact, all of the men loved it. You could see it in their eyes. The mud, the rain, the men on the sidelines, living vicariously through their sons.

I sat in the car with Mo and Paige and sang songs from the Little Mermaid.

The Easter egg hunt was cancelled because of the rain, so we collected our eggs and decided to wait until later in the afternoon when the rain had subsided. We grilled hotdogs and hamburgers at the park and the kids hunted bazillions of easter eggs.

They're VERY excited about their eggs. . . . . .obviously.


Mo even got in on the hunt.

I had way too much fun dressing them up for church on Sunday! We couldn't get out the door without "just one more picture!" As my friend put it. . . sewing is a labor of love.

I the tradition of MY fathers. . . or my mothers or whatever, I hid some clues for the treasure hunt that leads to their baskets. Their favorite clue was hidden in Mo's diaper. What can I say, I pull out all the stops on Easter, yeah, I'm wild and crazy.

Mo's just chillin' after church waiting for the ham to cook. . . with a clue in her diaper.

And, here's what too much Easter candy will do to you. Easter grass up your nose and in your toes.

That's all folks!

Good Friday

Good Friday it is. No school, no carpool, no schedule. Just them and me hanging out until noon in our pjs. Then finishing up a little sewing, then taking a little trip to Walmart to pick up necessities for the week . . . you know, toilet paper and green marshmallow bunnies. Essentials for dying Easter eggs.

Mr. Marshmallow Bunny, meet Morgan.

Now, say goodbye to your ears.

Check out that angelic face. Doesn't it just scream "just stop taking pictures and gimme more bunnies!"

Little Picassos at work.

Now, which one are you going to eat?

You mean, we can EAT these?

(can you believe they've never had a boiled egg before!)

The choosing process is grueling. Which little friend should I eat?

I think this guy is the one.

Poor fella

MMMM. . . it's good!

Tyler says that boiled eggs are kind of like dried up eggs . . . really makes you want to dig in.

Have a Happy Easter!

Dancing

Paige had her first little dance recital for her jazz/ballet class. It was through the community, and I thought they did a great job with the girls. . . especially for 20 bucks! 7 dance classes later, I'm not sure that she'll be a prima ballerina, but she sure had fun!

Relaxing after a hard day of pirouettes and plies. (Don't ask her if she knows what those words mean. . . I can guarantee that she doesn't.)

She earned that cookie!

She stuck her tongue out through the whole dance!

Swimsuit giveaway

Need a new swimsuit? The girls at on my perch are GIVING one away. . . it might be your lucky day!

Goodbye Old Friend

Sunday night, I decided to bribe Paige away from her blankie. Blankie is an old friend, one of the oldest. Been with her since the beginning, the crib days. She has hauled Blankie to the movies, on long car trips, on airplanes, to Disneyland, and even out of the country. A stalwart pal, but a negative influence, none the less. Blankie, you see, is the tempter of thumbsucking.

"I promise I won't suck my thumb if I can keep my Blankie," she said frequently with doe eyes. But time and time again I came to find her with her thumb hidden behind that Blankie.

"Paige, I'll trade you your Blankie for that new Ariel polly that you've had your eyes on," I said with intended excitement in my voice.

"OK!"

"Now, you know that once we make this trade, you won't get your Blankie back. I don't want to hear any whining about the Blankie, or I will take the Ariel away. "

"Then I won't have a Blankie or an Ariel?" . . . .Short pause. . . . "OK!"

The Blankie is in the bottom of the tub of baby boy clothes. We won't be getting that out any time soon. Shane let me know that this wouldn't be the end of this conversation come bedtime. Sure enough. 8:00 rolled around and we tucked her in.

"Please, Mom, I really want my Blankie."

"Nope, we made a deal."

First came the crying. Real crying, mind you. The kind that breaks your heart. The poor kid. After all, Blankie has been with her through thick and thin. A kid's best friend. A true comfort. Even when she cut Blankie with the scissors, or threw up all over Blankie, there was no question that Blankie would stand by her. (or lay in a pile by her. . . whatever.)

Then came the wailing and knashing of teeth.

"IEEEYEEE WAAAAAANTT MYYYYEEE BLAAAANKIEEEEEEEE!"

"Was this your idea?" Shane asked.
He warned me that she would put up a fight, after all, she's been fighting since day 1.

I arranged all of her animals around her in the bed, but 2 minutes later she was standing in the living room with those doe eyes on again.

I layed with her until she stopped crying and fell asleep. The first night since she was 5 months old that she slept without that Blankie. I felt so sad for her. It's the end of an era. . . the Blankie era. My little girl is growing up.

Paige and Blankie after a long night's sleep

Paige and Blankie with friend, Macey

Blankie and Paige at Ghiradelli Square

Paige and Blankie on the long flight from Memphis to Cali

Paigey, Blankie, and me at the Idaho Falls Temple on Marilyn and Ryan's wedding day.

Paigey and Blankie enjoying an episode of Elmo's World.