No Boys Allowed

Heddy-Bird came into town,
So we celebrated our birthday together,
A month and a half late... what?

I don't know what happened, but for some reason, I could not resist the urge to shove cake in Heather's face. It looks like she got it worse than me, but don't be fooled. Some how Heather managed to insert frosting directly onto my eyeball, as if it were a contact lens. Ouch (dot com).

We decided to give the boys the boot and have a
Girly Slumber Party.

It was fun. Real fun.

A conversation, after the little girls took a bath, went like this:
Meadow: "I know, Mom! Now you, your sisters, your niece and your Mom can all take a bath together!!!"
Me: "Hmmm, do you think we'd all fit in the tub?"
Meadow: "Probably not. I guess just you and Nat should."
So we did. (PSYCHE!!!)

We stayed up late eating Pei Wei, painting toe nails, and watching movies. The next morning, we picked up where we left off. It was so fun to lay around, with my favorite girls, on a Saturday morning watching "Girls Just Want To Have Fun", with a banana-honey mask on my face. This is the life, I tell ya.

No Girls Allowed

While the girls were busy "No Boys Allowed" ing,
Jared took the boys on a campout...

Where they climbed trees,

And used pocket knifes,

To their heart's content.

2 Pink Flowerboxes and 2 Happy Girls

When Meadow discovered my intentions of painting our white flower boxes black, she burst into tears and said, "They can't be black!" (you see, black is even worse than white)
Me: "What color did you think I was going to paint them?"
Meadow: "PINK!" (with the look of "Duh!" on her face)
As you can guess, Meadow got her wish.
Now every night before the girls go to bed, they:
Give their flowers a drink,

And a kiss,

And sing them a song.
(while posing foxily for a picture, sometimes)

Just in case the gi-normous white van isn't a dead giveaway of where we live...

The hot-pink flower boxes on the balcony seal the deal.

Meet My Future Son-In-Law

The only problem is which girl "gets" him. Oh well, I guess they've got about 20 years or so to figure out those details.

School's Out For Summer!

School's out forever!

Out for summer,

Out till fall,

We might not go back at all,

School's out for summer!

We had a "Boy's Bakugon Party" (complete with pizza, root beer floats and a movie) to welcome the first day of summer. The kids had so much fun with their friends tonight that I almost forgot that by 9 AM this morning: Meadow and Heaven were fighting, Secret was crying at my feet, Raven was bored, and River was in a time-out. I'm a little worried that this is going to be a long summer.

P.S. The shiner on Meadow's eye happened when she jumped off the ottoman directly onto Heaven's head. When it instantly swelled up and turned black and blue, Meadow said, "Oh no!!! Those aren't my favorite colors!!!"

Forgetting Something?

Let's See...
Ladybug Rainboots. Check.

Pink Bee-Bee. Check.

Nope. Looks like I have everything I need to play out back.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Nakey Tom-Cat on the loose!

Expect Magic

Raven Jonah of Mine,

When I was pregnant with you, I read somewhere that
"When a Raven enters your life, expect magic."
10 years ago today, you looked up at me with this
"Are you my Mother?" look in your eyes, and I knew...

My life had changed forever. Thank-you for entering our family and sprinkling magic every where you go.

Oh... and happy "double-digits" day to you! I love you to infinity.

Love,
Mama

Super-Girl

Yay!!! Today was Rhea-Rhea's last day of radiation!!

Meadow was slightly nervous when R-R modeled her "mask".

Heaven wasn't. She couldn't wait to try it on! I think she thought, "If Rhea-Rhea is wearing it, it must be the hottest new accessory."

Rhea-Lynn will get another MRI in a month to make sure the cancer is double-dog-ditched. Keep her in your prayers!

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

But then again, so does:
1. Ripping up all the dead geraniums.
2. Returning them to Home Depot (yes, they take back flowers, dead or alive, as long as you have the receipt).
3. Exchanging lots of sad geraniums for lots of happy vincas.
4. And having a Family-Flower-Planting-Party (everything is much funner when you add "Party" to the title).
Mission: Planting 38 gallons of flowers before sunset.

Our big helpers:
River "helped" by clearing flowerbeds of all random what-nots.

Meadow and Heaven "helped" by quickly drinking all of Mom's coke when they thought she wasn't looking.

Secret "helped" by devouring exactly 12 dum-dums and 1 handful of dirt (look how proud she is).

Raven "helped" by...
Laying the weed cloth with Dad,

Planting the flowers with Mama,

And giving all the newly planted flowers a big drink.

All helped in their own special way, but one in particular (I'm not naming any names) was just a touch more productive than the others.

Mission: Accomplished.

When I Grow Up

This is a picture I drew when I was in kindergarten.

Lucky me!!

(River gets tourtured that Raven is the only one in the picture. When I asked him how he knew it was Raven, he said, "Well... because it looks like Raven". I guess I'm a better artist than I thought.)

A Couple of "No-Brainer" Questions

Question #1:
Are these the CUTEST

GRADUATES you've ever seen?

Question #2:
Why on earth would anyone settle for "Miss Jenny"

When they can have "Mr. Raven"

And "Mr. River"?

Answers:
#1. Without a doubt, YES!
#2. They wouldn't!

Finally Famous

Raven had a drawing of his selected to be in an Art Show (T-Rex in the background). He was very proud to win the ONE Honorary Award for his whole school.

He was a little nervous to walk all the way from the back of the Auditorium up to the stage to receive his award... but he did it anyways.

When he came back to his seat, he smiled at me and said, "I can't believe it. I'm finally famous!"

The most wonderful smell in the WORLD

Last week, my girls and I walked into Bakers Shoes in the mall. Meadow held out her arms, spun in a circle and said,
"Oh, Mom! This store is beautiful!" She then picked up a shoe and smelled it, exclaiming, "This smells wonderful!"

Me: "Really? What does it smell like?"
Meadow: "Fresh, sugared strawberries!"

So... I took a whiff. To me, they smelled exactly like slightly stinky, leather shoes. To Meadow, they smelled exactly like her favorite treat. Uh-Oh. I think I may have the next "Confessions of a Shopaholic"-ster on my hands.