Funny conversations

There have been several funny conversations Autumn or I have had with the girls and I keep forgetting to write them on here. I have posted a lot of them on facebook, so some of you may have seen them before, but this post is really more for my memory than for your entertainment, but don't worry, you will probably be entertained along the way!


A couple of weeks ago, I was in the car with just the two little girls (they will forever be the little girls I think). Any time we have just two of the girls together, there are different dynamics. Most of the time, when it is just the little girls, they are partners in crime. This particular afternoon, they were both in the mood to pick at each other. S asked me a question and A answered her question. S was not satisfied with her sister answering the question, she wanted ME to answer the question. I, however, was completely satisfied with the sister answering the question, so I chose to keep silent. Here is what I heard:
S: Didn't hear you...didn't hear you...didn't hear!!!
A: Yes you did!
S: Didn't hear...didn't hear...
A: Yes you did HEAR, but you didn't UNDERSTAND. Hearing and understanding are two different things!!!
Wise words A!

Autumn saw something funny one of the girls said that I had posted on facebook one day. She came to me.
Her: I didn't know that happened.
Me: Oh, I didn't tell you that?
Her: No, when did that happen?
Me: Remember when I was giving the girls a bath and I started laughing really really hard and loud? You didn't hear me laughing?
Her: Trinity, you laughing is nothing new....no, it doesn't stick out to me!

A came home one day from school thinking a LOT about presidents. And when I say thinking, just know that she thinks out loud with a ton of questions! One of the most interesting questions:
A: Was Abraham Lincoln killed with a gun?
Autumn: Yeah I guess so.
A: ....or a basketball?
Autumn laughed and then came and told me about it. That's when she got it. Mrs. Sprague told A that Abraham Lincoln got shot. I guess she thought of two things you could shoot...a gun and a basketball! Hmmm....wonder what the poor girl thought when we took her to basketball games!

The girls were getting ready one day and A was moving very very slow. M gave her a little encouragement: Hurry up, A...you move slower than my grandma! Oh wait...my grandma moves pretty fast. Nevermind!

Bargain

Our family loves a good bargain. I do most of the clothes shopping. Actually, we have very good friends that hand down their clothes, so I don't do a ton of clothes shopping, but we like to shop. I do not like to spend very much at all on clothes. Really. I don't buy much unless it is on sale or consignment. That's just how we are. My mom loved a bargain, and my dad is wise and resourceful in spending his money. Autumn spends who knows how many hours doing research on different products and places...finding the best deals and such. Our family loves a good bargain. When we find a bargain, we talk about it for a long time, get really excited...we LOVE a good bargain!

Knowing all of this about our family makes this story even better.

I wonder how many funny things I miss that the girls say because I am totally zoned out. I zone out easily when I am driving, but this particular night, I was listening...thank goodness because it was funny. We were driving in the dark home from AWANA, all six of us telling stories from each of our evenings. The first funny conversation is as follows?
A: (tattling) Trinity...M had beer!
Me: WHAT?
A: M said she put beer on her hand!
Me: WHAT???
M: A...I did NOT put beer on my hand! My finger was hurt, so I put alcohol on it...NOT the same thing!!!
Oh man, did we ever crack up at this one!!
When I laugh so hard, one of the girls always seem to ask if that one is going on facebook...yes darling...went on facebook AND the blog!
As we were approaching the house and my mind was moving to all of the things that needed to get done to get everyone to bed, A spoke with a little concern in her voice.
A: Trinity, how much money did you pay her for us?
Me: What? Pay who?
A: Mama C...how much did you give mama C for us? Or did she give you money for us?
Me: No, she did not give us money for you...and we did not give her money for you. We got you for free!
H: Yeah, they just got us from the orphanage right?
Me: Well, kind of.
H: But do some kids at the orphanage get paid for?
Autumn: Well, there are some kids in an orphanage where there parents have died or can't take care of them, and people might pay some money to the orphanage to help pay for travel, medicine, and such. But we didn't do it that way.
A: We were a bargain!
S: (she calls herself mommy's little piggy) Mommy's little piggy is a bargain!
A: Mama's horse is a deal!
So we joked and were excited in what a bargain they were! Yes, I know that our girls are priceless...I know you can't buy love...I realize all of these things. We were just having fun with our situation. We figure that with a situation as different as ours...you might as well just have fun with it! And I LOVE it that my girls count it an honor to be considered a bargain!!!

hmmm...can't think of a good title

I couldn't think of a good title. Sometimes I feel very creative, but right now just isn't that moment. We went out one afternoon to do a girl's senior pictures. While she was changing clothes, I got a few of us...the other girls were in the car playing a game or drawing. Emily came along with us. She has become an honorary Tinsley sister! However, she is exactly 10 years older than M and exactly 10 years younger than me, so I'm not sure which generation of Tinsley sisters she fits with! We love Emily!!!

Few pics from the wedding

Finally...some pictures from the wedding...my cousin Marci's wedding! Now, I will say that I made a choice during all of the wedding festivities. My choice was to put down my camera. I chose very specific times to pick up my camera and times to put it down. Marci asked me to take pics of the girls getting ready, but other than that I got very few shots. Her photographer looked like she got awesome shots. Yes, I could have clicked away all night, but you see, I have a problem. When I pick up my camera, I see awesome things through the lens, but that's just it...I see them through the lens, and therefore, I miss out on the being in the moment. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE seeing things through the lens...it is very fulfilling, but I miss out on just being there. So...I made the choice to get some shots, then put the camera down and enjoy being the cousin of the bride! Here are a few of what I got:

Parents of the bride...Aunt Becky and Uncle Robert were so gracious to feed us just about every meal while we were down there...like they didn't have anything else to do! They made the whole weekend so fun, and my aunt Becky was so thoughtful...she had special wedding plates and napkins for the meals, baskets of snacks and prizes for our hotel, and so many other special touches. They are so sweet to our girls and we love them so much!
The girls LOVED watching the beautiful bride and all of the bridesmaids get ready. They were in awe.

She was beautiful!

Let's just say that cousin B has lots of little mother hens ready to help at all times. He sometimes loves the help and sometimes not so much. However, he is much more likely to let "his girls" help than he is his aunt TT right now...boo! Hopefully that is a short stage!

They got that tie on just right!

My cousins are really more like having a few more sisters. "Cousin" seems so distant...we are close cousins....we love each other so much....It was so much fun to spend time together, although we were missing a cousin due to her little girl's illness. I have beautiful cousins!

BEAUTIFUL mother of the bride!

Cousin B kept going up to Marci the bride and my girls and telling them they were beautiful princesses! He came up with that one on his own....sweet boy!

Thanks to aunt Bethany for coming to the rescue on the hair! I curled the girls hair before we left the hotel, but while I was taking pics, Beth did the final touches!

They felt so pretty!

On the road again...

Like I said before, we went on an 8 hour trip to my cousin's wedding. Being on the road for that long with 6 girls packed tight in a car, you know there will be lots of 3 things...eating, laughing, and whining. Luckily, we did more of the first two and not a ton of the last. I wanted to share one little story of something that happened while driving, but in order for you to really appreciate the story, I have to give you some background stories, so get ready!

I do not know if this happens to everyone and it just traumatizes me, or if this happens to me unusually often. For some reason, I have strange encounters with animals on the road quite often. Weird, I know! Let me tell you about them...one encounter happened while driving at night to my grandma's house. It was dark, and POURING down rain. I'm telling you, the rain was blinding, so I decided to pull over and let the rain pass over us. As I pulled on the shoulder, I saw something white through the blinding rain. What was it? A DUCK!!! Yes, a duck, and it was "ducking" (I crack myself up) its head into its feathers. I scream. And I ran over the duck...by ran over it, I mean that my car straddled it...the duck lived...I screamed and then laughed hysterically. Another time, I was driving with several friends in the car. It was dark. As I drove down a hill, I saw something in the road. I screamed, and screamed and screamed. I don't think my friends knew what I was screaming about. We drove over the victim animal, then I heard a thump thump. He was a goner. I screamed and screamed, then laughed hysterically.
A different time, I was driving late at night by myself back to Falls Creek camp. I saw something, so I slowed down. It was a good thing I slowed down because here came an animal (I can't remember if it was a raccoon or a possum) crossing the road, and guess what was behind it??? Little babies! Such a sweet and tender moment...I laughed hysterically and then screamed at the thought that I saved the lives of a family that night, even if it was the family of raccoons or possums.
Another time, I was driving either by myself or with Bethany. We saw a cat in the middle of the road. I didn't see it in time...thump thump. I looked in the rear view mirror, and I saw that poor cat...only half of his legs worked. He drug the other half. It was so sad, but I screamed, then laughed hysterically. I don't know why I laugh at such sad things.
I ran into a bird one time. I screamed and then laughed hysterically.
I saw a hawk drop a mouse from the sky, straddled the mouse and saved his life. I closed my eyes, screamed, and laughed hysterically.
These are only the times I remember. These are very traumatic times in my life.
Well, it happened again on the road to Texas. We were driving in broad daylight, when I see a squirrel in the road. The little guy really reminded me of those commercials when the squirrel pops out in front of the car and causes the accident on purpose. He kind of came out on the road, and kept going back and forth on the road, leaving me screaming, "oh no! oh no!"
When I saw that he was going to stay in the road, I ducked my head, put my hands over my head (as if the thing was really going to come up and hit me in the face!) and screamed, closing my eyes tightly. Did I tell you I was driving? Yes I was! Why in the world do I always close my eyes and scream and then laugh? I don't know, but it is true. And by the way, there was no thump. Mr. Squirrel lived to see the evening, unless he was hit by a different driver, but I don't want to think of that!
Autumn and I spent a lot of our miles on the way to Texas laughing SO hard at me covering my head because of that squirrel! I glad his life was saved!

Aunt Ida

Like I said in the previous post, I will post pictures from my cousin Marci's wedding soon, but here is a little story from the weekend. The girls have dreamed about being flower girls in a wedding, so they were thrilled when Marci asked them to be apart of her special day. They loved every second of the wedding. They adored all of the bridesmaids and watched their every move...they LOVED watching Marci, and just liked spending time with family and friends, and new friends. The girls make friends pretty quickly with people, and everyone there was so sweet to pay attention and play and talk to them.
One of the family members we got to meet is Aunt Ida. Aunt Ida is (follow me here) my mom's sister's husband's sister. So she is my uncle's sister. We are not related to Aunt Ida, and I don't remember ever meeting her before the wedding, but we have heard about her for years. It's not like there are big stories or anything about her, but I just remember hearing things like, "we went to see Aunt Ida. or Aunt Ida might be coming." Things like that. So, knowing that Aunt Ida and her husband Fred were going to be at the wedding, I was pretty interested to finally meet her and see if she is like I have imagined her to be. I know I probably sound creepy sometimes when I tell the thoughts that are inside my head. I guess I just hope that some of you have the same type of thoughts and maybe I'm not so crazy!
Anyway...that was a wierd sidetrack...
Back to Aunt Ida...
So I saw Aunt Ida and her husband Fred come into the rehearsal dinner, although I never formally met them. They were very nice looking. Aunt Ida was very proper looking. She smiled at us, but I could tell right away that she was not going to be the type to get on the floor and play with the kids. She was very nice, but she just seemed to not be a "kid" person. She probably warms up to kids after a while, and I know my girls can be a bit overwhelming with their big personalities and just the fact that there are four of them. So we really did not visit with aunt Ida at the rehearsal dinner.
However, at the reception, the opportunity arrived...there were two tables for the bride's family to sit, and our table filled up, so we sent H and M to sit at the other table.
Now, follow me here, even if it gets confusing. Picture this with me. At the round table, from left to right was:
Fred, Aunt Ida, M, H, and then somewhere was my cousin Scott and his wife Katie.
Well, something happened...not sure exactly what...but M and H spilled M's. I saw that they spilled, and Scott and Katie and aunt Ida were cleaning the mess quickly, which was nice. The mess got cleaned up, and I went to the bathroom. Guess who was in the bathroom...aunt Ida! So I started telling her how thankful I was that she helped the girls clean up...then I noticed that she was cleaning her skirt off. Then I realized what happened...the girls didn't just spill their tea, but they spilled their tea ON aunt Ida!!! I apologized several times in the bathroom, and she sweetly smiled and told me she thought it would rinse out just fine.
As I walked back into the reception, I was thankful that our one accident for the evening wasn't too bad. That was my mistake. There wasn't just one accident of the evening.
You see, when aunt Ida came back from the restroom, she did a little switch-a-roo with the seating. Now the order was: Scott, Katie, M, H, Ida, Fred
So poor wet aunt Ida thought she would be smart and move to sit by the other girl, H. Well, pretty soon, the commotion at the other table caught my attention. Another drink was down and flowing all over....you guessed it...aunt Ida! Are you kidding me? Really? POOR SWEET AUNT IDA!!! I could NOT believe it!
So we got everything cleaned up, brought H to our table, and then noticed that aunt Ida had not only scooched over, but had also put Fred in between herself and the girls. Poor Ida! Well, a little later in the evening, Scott was walking back to his seat, carrying his water with him, when all of a sudden, something tripped him, and his water spilled just a bit. Aunt Ida was sitting right beside where he tripped, and all I could think was, "PLEASE DO NOT LET IT SPILL ON AUNT IDA!!!"
Well, good thing people, because it did NOT spill on aunt Ida, but we sure had a good laugh imagining that it did!
I'm sure that was a wedding that aunt Ida will never forget!

Welcome to Texas

I will definitely post some pictures later, but we took a 8ish hour trip to go to my cousin's wedding, which the girls were also the flower girls in. We had SO much fun, and I have lots of good stories, but I will share just one at a time! The girls all do really well traveling. They really do. We always say, "Girls, you need to go to the bathroom now, cause it's going to be a long time." Then, usually just an hour or two down the road, we stop at the bathroom...not for any of the girls, but usually for Autumn, and sometimes for me. So really, the girls are better travellers than we are in some senses!
Well, we brought TONS of snacks and game boys, Nintendo DS, and notebooks and such to keep them busy, and it did just that. On the way to the wedding, the girls were so excited that they could not sleep, so we let them play their games. Of course when we crossed the state live, we honked, because we always honk when we cross the state line. So I told the girls, "Girls, put your games on pause and everyone look up because we are about to cross into Texas. Everyone look up...we are almost in Texas! Look girls...you want to see what Texas looks like!"
Of course A immediately starts looking for cowboys, then Autumn spotted the same building the girls spotted...it was the most noticeable building around. Let me describe this building to you. It was a little building all painted white, making it very very bright. The sign in front was white with big red letters. The building had (in big HUGE letters written across the front of it) "XXX" and the big huge bright sign said "ADULT VIDEOS"
Of course.
Of course.
The girls had their pretty little faces stuck to their games, oblivious to the scenery around them, and I, me, the smart woman I am, had to make a point to draw their attention to the naughty store. Oh my! I just couldn't believe it.
WELCOME TO TEXAS GIRLS!!!
Oh, and just so you know, A did get to see her "real" cowboy. There was a man riding his horse on the shoulder of the highway. Good for A!