Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Accessories

Did I mention that I am raising a little diva?

Well, two actually....


The girls have recently had a few moments of actually being friends, and not just sisters...and that makes my heart happy.

I was the only sister among brothers, and daddy only had brothers, so this whole "girlie" thing is a little new for us. We're still finding our way in the scary world of "girls".



Did you know that accessories make the look?


For instance, a pillow, a blanket, and a wicker trunk make for an adorable little baby...


A jester's hat is the latest in high fashion....



A little face paint can turn an ordinary kid into the cat's meow...



Fall leaves in the hair can make anybody look good....


A cute puppy is the ultimate fashion accessory...


And look at Cupcake now...


Isn't she adorable in glasses? And no, she doesn't need them...not to see. They are a fashion necessity. She bought these at the dollar aisle at Target. We popped the lenses out. She has been wearing them non-stop since then. Isn't that a hoot? Sugar is begging to wear contacts. Cupcake is begging to wear glasses. I'm pretty sure it's because she wants to look just like her big sister. Isn't that sweet?

And speaking of sweet...Cupcake wants the world to know that she has a giant jawbreaker.

And the sugar on her chin is just the perfect accessory.

Blessings to you,
Mamita

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Hey, Mr. Bad Guy...

I have decided to write a series of posts directly to the bad guys in Cupcake's life. I have a lot of unprocessed feelings about the individuals who hurt my daughter. I know her bad guys are not reading this. Most likely, they don't even speak English. I'm doing this as a way of working through my feelings. I must get them down on "paper" and out of my system. Maybe a real-life bad guy will read this, come to his senses, see the damage he has done, repent, and find healing. Maybe I can help other moms and dads who are working through these same issues. Maybe I just need to vent.

In any case, it will not be pretty at times....like tonight.


Hey Mr. Bad Guy,

Sometimes, I hate your guts.

Sometimes, I want you to suffer at the hands of someone who is bigger than you.

Sometimes, I'm glad you live in a far away country. If you lived here, I may be tempted to hunt you down and destroy you.

Sometimes, I hope God takes you out, so you won't hurt any more kids.

Sometimes, I pray for your salvation, so your life might be redeemed. I would hate for anyone to meet God with that kind of guilt on their heads.

Sometimes, I weep for you. You are putty in Satan's hands.

Sometimes, I feel sorry for you. You were probably a victim yourself.

However, that does not excuse what you did to my little girl. There is no excuse for that.

Sincerely,
Mamita

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Rough Day

This is the kind of day we had at our house...


Cupcake is going through something that is NO FUN.

Not fun for any of us. I'm weary.

Please pray for a breakthrough for us.

Blessings to you,
Mamita

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Happy Campers

Hallelujah! We survived September!

All the college visits are done! :-) Now to decide....hmmm....more on that later.

For our final college visit, we decided to check out Purdue University in Indiana. Since it's a 5 hour drive from here, we decided to go camping and spend some good quality family time around this trip.

This would be Cupcake's very first experience camping!

And it would be our first time camping with four kids and a dog!

We don't pack light. We must always prepare for all possibilities. Boy Scouts are always prepared.





It was a long drive. It took 7 hours, between puppy potty breaks, fighting kids needing calming, dinner and the rain. Oh, and the winding country roads through the middle of nowhere in the dark and in the rain.

So, we arrived 15 minutes before the gates closed at the campground. It was cold. And it was drizzling. Our plan was to use the headlights of the van to set up the tent. That worked for about 15 minutes...until they began to dim and the battery reached near-death. We were able to revive it just in time and were able to finish unpacking.

We've always camped in the primitive sites, but this time we decided to get a site with electricity for several reasons. We planned to use our air pump to blow up the air mattresses. We planned to plug in some electric blankets because northern Indiana is way colder than St. Louis this time of year, plus the temperatures plummeted last weekend. and the boys wanted to use the laptop. Unfortunately, the power was for an RV plug - not a regular electrical outlet. So much for our plans. By this time, Cupcake is whining and crying that she is tired, cold and wet. We're thinking we're going to be sleeping on the cold, hard ground covered in walnuts with no air mattresses and no electric blankets.

Never fear, we have a power converter in the van. It takes the cigarette lighter plug and converts it to a regular household plug. The only problem is that the air pump takes more amps or volts or whatever than the van puts out. So, we blow up the mattresses 5 seconds at a time. We turn off the pump whenever we smell the burn. Seriously.

We crawled into bed for the night. PHEW!


The first night, it got down to 38 degrees. We all survived.

The next morning, TE and Daddy toured the campus at Purdue. More on the college stuff later. The other kids and I drove around West Lafayette looking for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart's are notoriously wrong on GPS systems, but I digress.

After lunch, we went back to the campsite and had a wonderful afternoon of goofing off. The Wabash river was a few hundred feet behind us and we had our own personal sandbar for skipping rocks and finding shells and taking pictures of ALL FOUR KIDS TOGETHER.


We had fallen logs to climb.



We had toads to catch.


We had playsets to play on.



Rascal spent his days barking at every person that walked by...and getting tangled up in all the tent ropes and poles.

Daddy enjoyed his time making a power converter to go from RV power to regular power. We had electric blankets on the second night. :-) And the boys got to use the laptop. Did I mention that it pays to marry an engineer?


Mostly, the boys just enjoyed getting back to nature.



A good time was had by all.


The funny thing is, with all that went wrong, you would think I hate to camp, or at least I would now. But I love it. Nothing ever goes as planned. Sometimes you're cold and uncomfortable and you don't know how to make things right. But you're a family and you're in it together. and when you come home, you have great stories and great memories. Camping is fun.

When we asked Cupcake what she thought of camping, she said she liked it, except for the cold. I'm with her. :-)

Blessings to you,
Mamita

The Tooth Fairy is Going Broke Around Here

Cupcake had a loose tooth over the weekend. Her very first one!

WIGGLE, WIGGLE, WIGGLE...nothing.

Then, Sunday night, after bathtime, Sugar complained of a loose tooth.

WIGGLE, WIGGLE, WIGGLE...OUT IT POPS!

She ran over to show it to Cupcake, so she could see how this whole tooth thing works.

Cupcake begins to wiggle hers harder and harder.

The next thing I know, Sugar is bent over, helping to wiggle Cupcake's tooth. It was precious.

I ran to get my camera.

From the back room, I hear, "I GOT IT! MY TOOTH CAME OUT!!!"


Yep, it's true!



She was very excited to get money from the "Tooth Fairy". But, in reality, we had to explain that Mom plays the tooth fairy. There is no way we can pretend that our family lets a stranger in the house in the middle of the night to sneak into children's rooms. That goes for Mr. Claus too.

She was tickled pink the next morning to have spending money and a good story for her class.

Blessings to you,
Mamita