Follow the Yellow Dirt Road...

Carly: ... follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow, dirt road!

Carly, after coming home from one of her dance practices:
The Scarecrow needed a brain. The Tin Man needed a heart, and the Lion...he needed a kidney.

Me: Really?

Carly: Yeah, that's what Miss Amber said.

Carly, a few days later: Actually, the Lion needed a nerve.


Macy, after the show: I wish if I could be Dorothy!


I love that the Ruby Shoes Studio lives up to its name; it keeps the magic alive and always feels like home.

Seeing the pics. of the girls together reminds me of the Wiz of Oz B-day party my mom had for me when I was little. She used yellow crepe paper on a hill. So, follow the yellow crepe road...

Rhino Noses for Sale!

My kids are really into selling things lately. They set up shop on our front porch with signs, cash register and all!

First they tried rhino noses (those propeller things from the trees). They were announcing their wares to passerbys. Most people completely ignored them, and I felt so sad for them. (They were only charging a penny for two)!

When Myles came home from work, I alerted him. They were so excited to finally have their first customer! Although, when Carly came in she said, "Dad, you were our only customer, and you are a relative!"

The next day, they decided to sell painted rocks. They actually got a few takers.

I remember loving to sell things as a kid, too. My best friend and I would make yarn bracelets, etc. One time, I gave her a bunch of my toys to sell at her garage sale. At the time, I was so excited about making money. When my mom found out, she wasn't too happy. I still miss that Snoopy Doll with all the cute outfits. Someone got a really good deal, I'm sure!

Carly's Hairdo

One of Carly's favorite booths at Robyn's school's carnival was getting her hair done. I watched carefully as the beauty school girl twisted away, and took pics. when we got home, so I could attempt to replicate it.

I Love Iris!

I think these flowers are so gorgeous, and they grow with such little water.

Myles' Granddad Ross used to grow thousands in his yard and take bucketloads into his house and to others to make arrangements. I love that they bloom gradually and in all different colors.

What a beautiful world we live in!

Not Much Compares

to meeting a new cousin and neice! Welcome Elayna, and Congrats. Edyn!

Our New Pet

Isn't Carly a good little snake charmer? Uncle Mike blessed us with Slithery Jake for Macy's 3rd B-day. He felt bad that all of our fish died that he gave us for Christmas.

A Mothers' Day to Remember!

The night before, Myles and I tried getting way too much done and went to bed late. As I was finally starting to drift off to sleep, I was shocked right out of LaLa Land with a huge THUD! I catapulted out of bed, hoping it was Carly or Macy who fell out of bed onto the hardwood floor, and not Robyn (who is on the top bunk). To my utter confusion, all 3 girls were sung as a bug on their beds.

"Mmmm, what the heck was that?" I thought, with my heart still racing. (I couldn't ask Myles his opinion. He was sound asleep)!

The next morning, when Myles popped a pan full of orange rolls into the oven for me, the bottom element started shooting sparks everywhere and blew out! He happened to be holding a pen in his mouth, which he dropped with all the excitement. Luckily, it didn't start on fire and neither did he.

As Myles is a man of solutions, he put a stone pan on the top rack, covered the pan of rolls with aluminum foil, and broiled the rolls. It was a different product, but still very yummy!

So, I thought I'd be getting a new oven for Mothers' Day, but Myles reassured me he could fix it.

He and the girls gave me sweet, homemade cards.

I got to talk to the kids at church about how mothers get to bless their families. Macy made a cute cup in her Nursery class filled with candy. When she gave it to me, she said, "I love you, Mom! When you open this, you can give me one or two...or three!"

While I was on the phone, I pushed the coffee table with my feet, which bumped our fish bowl and sloshed water all over the place. I think a few other "funny" things happened, but I can't even remember what!

I loved it that we could take our fam. pic. in front of our first iris blooms!

Oh, when I woke up, I discovered a cantaloupe on the floor across the room from where it had been sitting in a windowsill to ripen. Mystery solved. Although, what makes a cantaloupe move by itself in the middle of the night?!

Top 10 Things My Mother Has Taught Me

10. The love of writing (I think I brought more journals into my marriage than dollars...Here I am blogging...We are still going to write a book together someday, right Mom?!)

9. The love of reading

8. Get the good deals. Never buy anything that's not on sale! (And, when you go home, it's show-n-tell time. Have everyone guess the original price and what you paid).

7. Write thank you notes. (Homemade are best)!

6. Don't make excuses. If you want it, go get it!

5. Keep your promises.

4. Be creative

3. Be assertive

2. Make the most of your vacations.

1. Love your kids!

Lazy Lunches

So there's only a few weeks left of school, and we are definitely in a sack lunch slump. Robyn's usually got the treat part figured out real fast, but when it comes to the main entree, we're struggling here.

She's not allergic to peanuts, but 3 of her friends are, so that makes PB&J and many other easy things out of the question. So, with no peanut butter and many moans and groans for tuna, we're having trouble getting some protein in here!

What's your kids' favorite lunch item? Any ideas?

For Macy's 3rd B-day, She got an . . .

antibiotic shot!

Yeah, a field trip to the Health Center wasn't exactly on our B-day clipboard of fun, but she was up ALL night the night before, didn't touch her strawberries at breakfast and didn't even ask about her chocolate milk that she'd requested for the last several months.

She ended up having an ear infection. Thank goodness for medicine! The nurses and docs. were extra nice, and luckily we celebrated her B-day with her cousins the weekend before. We had fun seeing an Eye Spy exhibit and playing Bozo Buckets, of course!

Robyn and Carly were sweet about wrapping up her presents, making her cards, and making her bed.

I am sure grateful for every day I have with this girl. She cracks me up and is full of love.

(When she was feeling well, she ate about 2 lbs. of berries all by herself!)

Do YOU Know the Muffin Man?

All of my kids have asked me this question, quite seriously.

Macy entertained herself for quite some time with a muffin tin, buttons, and paper, making all kinds of treats for us.

Spring into Snow!

Thanks to my friend, Amber, I finally figured out how to post a slide show, so here is our spring break with my mom.

Some people grab their swim suits and head for the beach. This year, we grabbed our snow suits and headed to the park! At first, I was bitter to see the snow, but then decided to just enjoy.

The girls were excited to find an abandoned grocery cart and pretend to sell snow cones.

Robyn and Gram got really into an amazing children's book called The Eleventh Hour, A Curious Mystery by Graeme Base. The illustrations and details of the book are unbelievable. Other books by him are great, too!

Carly and Robyn made the red eyebrows Carly's wearing for their Circus Show they put on for me, my mom, and Macy.

Of course, a visit from Gram wouldn't be complete without a trip to see "Old McDonald."