Over the Thanksgiving holiday, along with being thankful for the many blessing in my life, I have also learned things that I am not.

First, I learned that I am not a Latina. I have absolutely no latin blood in me, zip, zero, zilch. The reason that I learned this is because I decided to borrow my mom's Zumba exercise DVD's. If you're not familiar with Zumba, it's an exercise/dance craze. It is mostly latin dances with some hip hop thrown in. I do not know how to move my hips, and latin dancing is all about moving your hips. Several years of ballet lessons, along with my parents teaching me not to be trampy, gave me a few inhibitions as far as shaking my hips. The DVD was a ton of fun, once I realized that nobody was watching me I just decided to do my best and have fun--and shake what my momma gave me (I'm guessing to an outsider it looked more painful than anything and I think I scared the cats).

Secondly, I learned that I am not a fashionista. On Saturday I decided to brave Target. I wandered through the women's clothing department looking to see if I could find any good bargains. What I found was that I didn't know what half of the clothes were. I wasn't sure if they were tops, dresses, or needed a second shirt under them. A lot of them looked like they came from the '80's. Half of them were see-through, and from the previous lesson, you all know that I am not about to go out with my goodies and bits showing. I did, however, contemplate whether I was hip enough to pull off leggings and a sweater dress. The jury is still out on that one, but I think the rest of the styles are going to have to stay on the rack.

Lastly, I learned that I am not too old to enjoy decorating the Christmas tree. This weekend we put up our tree and Rori was desperate to decorate it. It was a lot of fun--and it was so precious to see her get excited about the Little People nativity set that we have. She remembered who everyone was. I am looking forward to her really beginning to understand the celebration of Jesus' birth. Liam was mostly interested in the ball ornaments. He kept yelling, "ball, ball" and wants to play with them. We're trying to teach him which ornaments he's allowed to touch. We're limiting it to three to try to make it easy for him. Any suggestions you all might have, I'd appreciate :)

Haircuts and sleepovers

This weekend was a big one for "firsts" for Rori Rose. Friday afternoon we drove up to my parents house for her to spend the night at their house for the first time. She was so excited. I on the otherhand was relatively wiped from the week. Rori was excited to have her favorite dinner--pizza, then she wanted to take a bath in Baba Hoo Hoo's bathtub. It was very exciting for her, but she did want to know why Baba Hoo Hoo didn't have any toys for the bath. Rori ended up washing the walls for her and had a good time doing it. When bedtime came, she slept in "the Princess Room" which is the spare bedroom decorated for princesses (I kind of hope they find a different place for Liam to sleep when he spends the night...). I slept on the sofa bed downstairs (as much as I love to cuddle with Rori, sleeping with her is like sleeping with a violent octopus). Unbeknowst to me, she got up and watched some tv with grandma and grandpa before going back to bed. One of the best parts of spending the night there was when she came and woke me up--I think around 6 or 6:30, I sent her to wake up Baba Hoo Hoo, whom I knew would be much happier to get up.

That morning, I took Rori for her first haircut, and met Bill and Liam there for our cuts too. Rori sat so still while Patrice trimmed her hair. I could just tell that she felt so important and was loving it. She was so proud to be big enough for a haircut, because she pointed out to me that Liam was still too little. She is ridiculously smart, because she pointed out that the cape I usually wear would be too big for her. Fortunately, Patrice had one for kids ;)

The end result with Patrice, and of course Liam :)

After haircuts, we went back to my parents house to take our Christmas pictures. Doesn't Rori look lovely in her dress? After the pictures, Rori was so tired that as we were packing up to go home, she fell asleep on grandma's bed. We decided to let her sleep for 30 min or so. Bill and Liam went downstairs to watch Mickey Mouse and they promptly fell asleep. At this point I was ready to just go home by myself for some solitary time, since we had two cars there, but thought better of it. I'm sure Bill wouldn't have appreciated waking up to two kids and me at home relaxing with my feet up :) Although, I think he had been looking forward to us leaving a bit too much. Liam does go to bed around 7 after all, so Bill had the whole Friday evening to himself.

All in all it was a great weekend. Rori loved it, and cried when we had to go home. She wanted to sleep at Baba Hoo Hoo's forever. Lucky for her, Bill and I are going out of town next weekend, so she'll get to stay there with her brother--for two nights (at least I'm hoping they will be able to last that long).

Blog Sale

Danielle, the fabulous designer that designed my blog is having a great sale through this Tuesday. You can order a standard blog makeover for $55! That's $25 off the regular price! It's a great deal, and on top of that, she is giving $5 from each makeover to 50,000 shoes in 50 days. That $5 buys two pairs of shoes! So, for all of you that I've encouraged to start a blog--do it now for a great price and feel warm and fuzzy that you did something charitable! I'll have another post later about our great weekend (don't worry mom ;) )but I wanted to get this up before the sale was over.

Random Finds

Today I was going through my Ulta ad and normally I detest the perfume cards. They fall out, they smell and give me a headache, and are generally a nuisance. Today, however, I kept sniffing one and couldn't get enough. It very much reminded me of my Grandma Jane. It smelled so soft and pretty. Then I looked at the label, it was "Juicy Couture." I chuckled, imagining my very dignified grandmother wearing a pink velour jogging suit with "Juicy" on the tush. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that isn't the brand of perfume she wears, but it smells shockingly good.

The other random find may be helpful to you readers with small children. I frequently receive Oriental Trading Company catalogs at my work and they promptly go in to the trash. Tonight, we had small group, and one of the other mom's had a craft for the kids to do. It was super cute and super easy. I went to their website and they have a ton of crafts for little kids for really reasonable prices. It looks really good for the non-creative mom's like myself.

Anyway, sorry for the super dull post, but I am exhausted--I'm pretty sure that there is room for spare change in the bags under my eyes. I haven't caught up on my sleep from when Rori was sick and up all night earlier this week. Thanks for loving me even when I have nothing clever to say :) I will leave you with a picture of our adorable lumber-jacks so that the post isn't a total loss :)

Happy Birthday Mom

I wanted to wish a Happy Birthday to the woman who brought me into the world and raised me to be the woman I am today. Mom, thank you for being such a wonderful mom. You stayed home and raised Jenna and me and never made us feel that you were regretful of that. You have been there for all of my good times and my bad times--whether in person or by phone. You have been at the birth of all of my children, including Faith. Because of how wonderful you were during that difficult time, we decided to name our Rori after you--Victoria. I know that it was difficult to watch everything during that time and not be able to fix it, but you didn't turn away once or leave my side. You are a wonderful grandma to all your grandchildren, and have even embraced Rori's name for you--Baba Hoo Hoo :) You know what's important in life--it's not money or career, it's raising a family to love Jesus above all else.

I love you! Happy Birthday Mom!

ps just because I'm vain, I have to say that the thing in between my eyes in that picture is not some weird growth--it's a stick on jewel that we wore to the princess party :)

My Calling

I went to see this fabulous movie this weekend with my fabulous hubby. I dragged him without any kicking and screaming. Even though this is not one of the things he secretly likes--like the Hills. He would never admit it, but deep down he really enjoys the drama of Spencer and Heidi and LC. Sorry Bill, you need to just embrace it. Anyway, the movie was excellent. The music and dance numbers got me bopping in my seat. I was a little nostalgic for the days when my body would move and bend the way the actors did. I felt a bit like I missed my calling. I should have been a Disney Star...I imagined myself dancing and singing for a living. I think I'd want to play Sharpay. She is the not as nice one (there is truly no "bad" person in a Disney movie). But she gets all the best dance numbers. It looked like so much fun.

Then I got home. Liam climbed in my lap and snuggled me. It was precious--he rarely sits in my lap, unless he's watching Mickey Mouse or VeggieTales. He just sweetly rested his head on my shoulder and started to rub my hair between his fingers. I started to sing, "You are my Sunshine" to him. Then he picked his head up and shook it, "no." I stopped singing and he put his head back on my shoulder. Then I started to sing again, and he shook his head again. I took it as a cue that he just wanted to snuggle :) Later that evening, Rori started playing with her new Barbie that sings songs from Barbie, The Island Princess. A favorite movie in our house. I sang along with Barbie, and pretty quickly Rori put her hand over my mouth. It didn't do a whole lot for my ego, but at least I learned that I didn't miss my calling afterall. I wouldn't change a thing.

My Entry

*****Update*****
I won, I won, I won!!! I never win! I'm so excited and can't wait to read this book! Thanks so much Lynette! You must all check out her blog. Her strength and faith are amazing--The Lord gives and takes away--and she still says, "Blessed be Your Name."
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A blog that I've been following is giving away a book that I'd love to have. The requirements for the drawing are to post this on my blog:
I‘m joining in a book drawing on Writing Canvas for In Faithfulness, He Afflicted Meby Lynnette Kraft. I’d like to receive this book for because I am awed by Lynette's strength and faith. Join me in this book drawing here.

I have Lynette's button on my blog--Dancing Barefoot on Weathered Ground. This post most recently brought me to tears. We often forget about the husbands and fathers of babies that are lost. Bill was my rock when we lost Faith, and I know he would have walked through fire to spare me the pain we experienced. I am thankful to have a husband every bit as wonderful as Lynette's.

My Walking Heart

Last week we babysat a little girl that is two years older than Rori. Let's call her Lisa. Rori and Lisa played together quite a bit this summer, and Rori really loves spending time with Lisa. I understand that Lisa was having a rough day because she hadn't seen her mom in two days, so she was relatively crabby. Still, I have learned, as my mom has told me, that having children means that your heart is walking outside of your body.

She ignored Rori and when Rori wanted to play dollhouse with her, Lisa boxed her out. Then Lisa went and laid on the couch and sweet Rori took Lisa's face in her hands and said, "can I lay on the couch too?" Lisa pushed her arms away and said, "Leave me alone!" My heart broke a bit for my baby girl, because she had been looking forward to Lisa's visit and said, "I love Lisa so much!" Then, after dinner Lisa took a bag of cereal that she had brought with her and started to eat it. Rori asked if she could please have some. Lisa said, "no." I told Lisa that if she didn't share she would have to put it away. So, she obliged Rori with one piece and then shoved a handful in her own mouth. After Rori finished her piece, she asked if she could please have another. My heart melted each time she asked, because she asked so sweetly and always said please. She was thrilled when Lisa would give her one. Each time Lisa gave her one, she would shove a handful in her own mouth and I could tell she was trying to finish the bag having to give Rori a minimal amount. The whole evening was so hard to watch, so I complained to my superhero--Bill and he reminded me that Lisa was missing her mom. Then he engaged them in a game of hide and seek until Lisa's dad came to get her. There were still moments of brattiness from her after Bill started playing with them, but it did get better.

I know that my children can be stinkers too, but it is so hard to watch someone your child adores be mean to her. It gets the mama bear in me all riled up. I can handle someone picking on me, but pick on my kids and watch out! One time, I even yelled at a bunch of adolescent boys. Rori was about 20 months old and had adopted two of my old barbies. She brought them with in her stroller when we went for walks. She dropped her favorite one in front of some kids who smiled and said hi. We didn't notice until we turned the corner. When we went back to get it the boys had already be-headed and dismembered her and thrown her in the street. We found all her parts except her head. Well, mama bear in me came out when they told us they had used it as a baseball and weren't sure where it landed. I yelled at them, I may have even sworn--it's all kind of a blur. I think I even seriously considered calling the police--obviously I wasn't in my right mind. Well, I must have been scary, because they tracked down Barbie's head and gave her back to us. I seethed about it for quite a while. Part of me knows they're boys and that's what they do, but they also could have run up to us and given it back because they clearly knew it belonged to Rori.

Anyway, I shudder to think how I'm going to feel once Rori starts school and learns about the "mean girls." I pray that she's not one of them, but I also pray that her sweet spirit doesn't get broken by them either. This parenting stuff is hard.

Princess Party

It's been a busy week, so I'm sorry that I haven't posted in several days. I'll do better this week :)

So, Saturday, my mom, Rori, and me went to a Princess Party at the Community center. Rori dressed in her sleeping beauty dress, my mom wore the dress she wore to my wedding, and I got as dressed up as I could manage. My mom went all out--I'm pretty sure she's a princess at heart. She bought sparkles for us to wear in our hair, and jewel stickers to put on our faces. Rori thought my mom looked so beautiful. (and she did).

Ariel, Snow White, Belle, Cinderella, and Tinkerbell were all there. It was amazing to see Rori in awe of the princesses. She was very serious as they learned their princess dance. She didn't crack a smile. She desperately wanted to dance with Ariel, but she ended up with Belle, so Baba Hoo Hoo, who will do anything for her grandchildren, asked Ariel if she would dance with Rori. The whole time that Rori was dancing with Ariel, she was beaming and in awe. Unfortunately my stupid camera was acting up so I didn't get any pictures of that, but I did get some of her earlier. I can't wait for her to go to Disney and see the awe and wonder of meeting the princesses there.

We made such a great memory there. Even if Rori doesn't remember it, my mom and I will always remember watching her joy and wonderment as she got to meet her favorite princesses. Sometimes I think that the memories we make with our children, really should be more for us. At least in the early years. I don't want to wait until she is at an age that she will remember things before we do exciting things, if that makes sense. Earlier this fall when I took her to the farm, I told Bill that we had a great day. I doubt she will remember it 5 years from now, but I will. I will remember how much fun she had, and the joy at seeing and doing things for the first time. If we took her to the princess party when she was older, I know she would remember it, but I don't think she would have the same sense of awe and wonder at the princesses. She would know that they were just girls dressed up. Anyway, this was my subtle hint that we should go to Disney World before she's too old to find it magical :)

Rori and Ariel

Rori's in the back with Belle

Who knew?

It has been suggested that I submit to my husband about the dog issue. So, this weekend we got a dog. We were told that she was great with kids, other dogs, and they didn't think our cats would be an issue because she lived with a guinea pig. We have come to learn that cats and guinea pigs are not the same. We learned this pretty quickly. When she first saw the cats, she barked and chased them. This was to be expected. But then she got all four paws on our upright piano, lifted our couch with her head, and knocked over a recliner, all trying to get one of the cats. Then the next day, she busted threw the baby gate to the laundry room where a cat was sitting; and chased him into the wall. When I went to pick him up and see if he was okay, he was covered in slobber because the dog had gotten him in her mouth. The dog went back to her foster home. We're pretty sure she wanted to eat the cats.

We have called about a few other dogs, but they either don't get along with kids, cats, or other dogs. (since we have dogs in the family, this is important to us). Seriously, all we want to do is rescue a dog but it's getting ridiculous. Not to mention my darling husband is starting to be wishy washy on picking one. You all know how ridiculously wonderful my hubby is, but frankly he's getting a bit whiny and I'm not sure if he really wants a dog. I am starting to think that he is enjoying this rollercoaster he's putting me on. I think we're just going to let Liam pick one out for us.