Lip gloss #2

This morning Nielie had to do her normal lip gloss ritual. She got it on real thick this morning, actually she had reapplied some after about 15 min. She is real funny she just comes in our bathroom, pulls out my makeup drawer and says "I need lip gloss". She prefers the kind with a wand. On her bottom lip is a big thick drip just waiting to fall.

I like Flowers

Nielie has managed to pick lots of flowers around the yard lately. When I tell her not to, she says "I like flowers" and continues to pick them. The brown stuff by her mouth is some mulch she thought she might like. She is having so much fun outside these day. They are all so filthy at the end of the day. It stays light till about 8 so we have to remember to go inside at night. Evie is great at finding geckos. We see them daily. One she recognizes as the one whose tail she pulled off. She loves finding rolly pollies and geckos. Kite day at school was canceled so we came home and flew them in the front yard. It was great! I don't have a picture of it but Nielie was so cute running with her kite in the front yard. By the time I thought to go get the camera she was done. But she kept it up for quite awhile with some help from Allie. Chase and Jake really enjoyed it too. I loved the fact that we didn't have to go somewhere to fly a kite.
Last night I was watering the flowers and Nielie was helping me. As I was watering I would pull out a weed I would see every now and then. She was really watching me because right after I would pull a weed out she would bend down and pick up some mulch. I think she thought I was just picking up mulch. She did it about 5 times.
I had forgotten till we moved out here how much I like being outside and how good it is for me. I had also forgotten this lesson I had thought about weeds when I spent so many summer hours hoeing or spraying weeds. I was reminded of it again last night. This is the analogy- Weeds are so much like sin, they are bad,take over the good stuff, can make things really look ugly and they make me unhappy. But just like sin, even the small ones need to be taken care correctly or they get out of control, their seeds spread, and more keep poppy up. Last week I spent way too many hours outside working on our yard, getting weeds out, planting, fertilizing, all the stuff it needed. Well the weeds that I didn't take care of properly- get the whole root out are already back this week, even all the mulch I put on top them didn't cover them up for long. They are back and to make sure they stay gone I need to get the whole root out. But the wonderful thing is that they can be taken care of, we can get the whole root out even if it takes a hoe or a pick we can get the weed out of our gardens. I added to it this time also that it takes constant effort to keep them out because new ones pop up and it is much easier to take care of them when they are tiny and are easily pulled out. I love being outside and seeing things grow and get green.
( Just so you know the kite picture was taken about 3 weeks ago- the front yard looks much green now after lots of fertilizer and water.)

Dana Kay Barber/ Abydos Writing Project

This is Jake getting his award and sitting with his teacher Mrs. R. Jake and Allie both have her for Gate 10 and just love her. She reminds lots of Allie Kinder teacher Mrs. Smith so full of life and excitement.



One day back in Feburary I got a call from Jake's teacher and I was afraid of what she was going to tell me. But it was a good call, he got 2nd place in the Dana Kay Barber contest, the Abydos or New Jersery writing contest. There were entries throughout the state of Texas. He placed 2nd in the 2-3 grade prose category. His title was MUD. When I read it the first time I laughed so hard because it helped me understand how his mind works a little bit better. I shared with my family because it was just funny and we all could relate about the mud. He was very excited to go get the award. Luckily the conference was in Dallas this year so we didn't have to travel far.
Here is is entry just as he wrote it. Only students whose teachers are certified in Abydos can enter this competition. The teachers can make no corrections. He typed it also.


I walk out to my grandpa's field. My feet sink into the schematized mud. My cousins and I look farther down the stretch of mud. We plant our feet stiffly into the mud, then take off. The dark sky stilly zooms by us. It feels sticky against my face.I take one last step then jump. I flick my head back just in time to catch my cousins sink into the soft, cool and warm mud before my face hits the mud. I feel it begin to consume my entire body. I swing my head upward until I surface. My cousins are already standing and laughing they look so funny I can't help it I bulge out laughing. Then we lay down into the mud. I sink no lower than my nose. I rest a split second then we decide to get as muddy as we can. We thrash like freaks and make weird comments like we would pop out of the mud and say 'honey I'm home' or stand up and rub mud into our shirts and say 'don't come in I'm in the shower'. Then we find thick mud and cover a stick in it. Then we got big globs of sticky mud and spread it over our heads then I took the stick and told everybody we should scare drivers so we do that but it gets boring because nobody comes so we start to head home. I look up and see my aunt charging us with a metal bat saying,'you come here this instant'. We knew we had done it now. I look at my mom by the house with a hose pouring water in her hand. She signals us to come to her so we do. The water was so cold it felt like ice. I haven't touched mud since but that was a year ago and I am nine so I still have a lot of years to go so. But I can't take the consequences of freezing water.

I have to disagree a though, he has touched mud since many times. Jenni this picture and story are for you because you have lots of mud days ahead of you. Just know that it feels that so good on Cooper and Casons skin and that is why they do it. I think this picture is taken after Cooper saw what his older cousins did the day before.

Hello Duck Goodbye Duck

This is a picture of one of the famous ducks back in the creek. I wanted you all to see how big and beautiful it is. I also want my kids to never forget the lesson learned by the Duck!

Another Bathroom update

Again we were having problems with kids toilet. I got out the snake and got a wetwipe out. The next day the tub wouldn't drain either. Again Adam wanted to fix it. This is what he found.





He thought it was a t-shirt at first, actually just a bunch of wet wipes. Nielie was just practicing flushing the toilet I guess. I am glad she is the baby and we can all laugh. Yesterday I caught her "dipping" a book in the toilet. Tonight Allie caught her putting her little stuffed dog in the toilet. I think I am going to have to put one of those toilet lid locks on the toilet. I have never had a kid a do this. She has done more damage with marker than most of our kids put together. She is really funny though when you tell her not to do something she says in a monotone voice "Okay Mom" and goes on like nothing happened.

How can I get mad at a little girl that is always into stuff and just so cute. If you can tell in this picture she is in my heels with a screwdriver trying to change the batteries in her leapster.

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