A dress and a bonnet and a whole bunch of honesty

M is in the fourth grade, which is the year they start learning about Oklahoma history. Lucky for her, part of learning about that history is being able to celebrate the land run. Unlucky for me, I was in both Texas and Colorado for those years of my life, which meant we got to learn about the Alamo and about a bunch of guys who found the mountains....not NEAR as much fun as getting a whole day to reenact the Land Run. Don't get me wrong, I am very glad we didn't reenact the Alamo and those Colorado mountains are really pretty, but really boring to learn about who discovered what...just not my cup of tea!









So pretty much ever year, I go and celebrate with the fourth graders. They all dress up, and I spend the day imagining how fun it would have been to do that as a fourth grader with all of my friends! I have fun every year with it. Some years we stay in town and the teachers make a land run, and some years we go to places with a larger land run and more activities. This year, M's class go to go to a bigger Land Run, and we were all excited about it. But even in all of our excitement, we had one obstacle...we needed a prairie dress. I am sure that many people around here have one we could borrow, but really...we will need it for the next several years, because we will have a fourth grader for a while (all of the little girls coming up, not M staying in fourth grade!) And I look in amazement at the women who can just go to the store and get material and whip up a dress just like that....I can't even sew on a button, and Autumn can't do much more than sew on a button. Really, some people are so talented and it amazes me. However, we then remembered that we are talented people too! Autumn has a great talent of getting online and finding good deals! So she used her talents and found a very sweet woman who makes all kinds of dresses and things and we bought a dress that all 4 girls can use. We picked out the material, and Autumn ordered it. We (I really mean Autumn) told the sweet lady that we were going to use the dress for 3 sisters in coming years, and to our surprise, the sweet lady made extra bonnets so they can play dress up together. So...what did we do? We put the bonnets on (Okay, they did...I didn't have one and I did not steal theirs) and watched "Little House On the Prairie". I love that show! I will have more pictures from the land run soon.





It is so funny to me how simple little things can bring us such excitement and joy. This dress and these bonnets sparked a conversation with Autumn and I. These fun occasions in school are so much fun...we love them. We love the parties at school, dress up days, field trips, etc. We do the best we can to contribute to the parties, dress up the girls the best we can, and go on the field trips. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the details of these things that we forget to have fun and just cherish the moment. There are students in each class that for whatever reason, may not get to dress up, have parents at their events and never have the experience of bringing in items to contribute for a party or special project. Many times, these children respond in one of two ways: either they sit back quietly and try with all their might to not be noticed, or they act so naughty that you will notice their naughty behavior, not the fact that they have no parent support. Don't get me wrong...I do not believe that every parent has to attend every little event. I do not think that every parent has to send the best cookies to the party. I am not talking about that...I am talking about the kids whose parents probably don't even ever acknowledge that they are going to have a special day at school and never even ask how it went. Autumn reminded me, as we bought this dress, that there was a time when our girls were those kids. They were the ones who probably did not have a Halloween costume, who didn't get to bring something to the party, who watched the other little girls in their fun outfits for things while they sat in their "normal" clothes. Now, I fully realize that not everything in their other home was terrible and the girls have chosen to remember more of the good times than bad (thank you Lord), but let's face reality...they were "those" kids. Every time I hear that song "Alyssa Lies", I think of my girls. Most days, we forget that the girls are not our biological children. We forget the terrible things they have faced in their short lives. We forget. But this dress and these bonnets for some reason brought these issues up (to Autumn and I, not to the girls). It brings me to tears to think about their past, and to think about what could have been their future. It makes me sick and brings me to tears. Thank you LORD that YOU (not Autumn and I) rescued them! Thank you that YOU saved them from that! The sad reality is though, that there are so many children still living in that situation, and I get so wrapped up in myself and my own problems that I miss opportunities, or get frustrated with them when they are acting out, or I simply neglect to pray for them! So please take a moment right now and pray for these children. You may know some by name, and you may not. Pray for them. And, I am going to go out on a limb and ask you to pray about what YOU can do to help. It might be signing up to be a foster parent, or donating things to your local school, or simply forming a relationship with a child you know needs some extra love and attention. I feel an urgency for our children.
And all of this conversation because of a dress and a bonnet.

Another conversation

`We have so many funny conversations. SO many!! I laugh all of the time and then often forget the conversation by the time I get to a computer to write it down. Well...let me just share with you a typical conversation with A that leaves you saying....huh?
Autumn was taking the chicken off of the bone in the kitchen when A walked in, looked at what Autumn was doing and asked, "Why do you call a chicken chicken?
Autumn: Well...
A: Why do you call turkey a turkey?
Autumn: Well, should we call this chicken pig?
A: NO! That wouldn't make sense at all!


Yes...this is just one of the many conversations we have that make us laugh or scratch our heads! I have NO idea what in the world she was meaning!

My treasures

When you meet our family, depending on the circumstances, chances are that your could possibly be very overwhelmed. My guess is, just thinking of our personalities, that you would probably get to know me (Trinity) and my girls (M and S) first. We have the most outgoing personalities. I'm loud and both of my daughters are pretty social, outgoing and confident. Most likely, you will spot S with her huge smile, and M will hug you pretty quick. Yep, my girls tend to capture people's hearts right away. It doesn't take long at all. Most likely, Autumn is at the back of the pack carrying what needs to be carried, or cooking or doing whatever needs to be done. She is the behind-the-scene, get what needs to be done type of person. Her daughters (H and A) won't be the first to shake your hand or talk to you, but they will probably sit back and watch, then maybe try and get a couple of words in. However, if you are around us very long, you will see the full dynamics. M will get bored and go find something to entertain herself. However, if something needs to be done, ask M...she will see that it is done. If there are needs to be met, she will meet them. S will flash that smile as long as it keeps your attention and when that doesn't work anymore, she might throw a fit or she might be content to sit in your lap...as long as you are giving her some attention. You will not find her by herself...well, actually, if you do find her by herself, she has probably gotten into something, so watch out! H will probably just quietly watch, then gradually work herself into the conversation. If you give her the chance, she will sit quietly with you one-on-one, and hold on to every word you say. She loves to hear about people. She loves to listen to what they say. She loves to hear their stories and she genuinely cares about them, but she is quiet and a little timid and it takes a little time for her to "work her magic". A...well she is a different story. When you first see A, you might see a scowl or just a straight face. She probably isn't going to run and hug you right away. She is going to take her time and figure you out...see if you are what you say you are. She is going to stare you up and down, ask you a million questions, test you a little, THEN she will start to trust a little at a time. Once you start to earn her trust, she will tell you the funniest things you have ever heard! I am telling you...all four of my girls are jewels and treasures. All of them! It is amazing to me how different they are and yet each of them are so incredibly valuable in their own way! They each bring something different to the table! They are all treasures...a couple of them are a little "flashier" and "sparkly" and a couple are a little more hidden...you have to dig a little and be patient to see them, but they are each priceless and I thank the Lord for them! Thank you Lord that we are not all alike. Thank you that some of us are loud and some are quiet...thank you that some of us are social and some of us are task oriented....thank you that you place people in our lives that are different than us. Thank you for my treasures! I LOVE them!!!

Home run, Touch down....whatever!

I always have people ask me what it is like with 6 girls in one house. My answer is usually something like, "lots of moods" or "never dull" or something like that. There are definite advantages to having all girls in the house. For example, there were several jealous moms during football season when we watched whatever we wanted on TV while they were "stuck" watching a football game. We had a blast having a Miss America party. Yes, there are many fun advantages that come with having six girls in the house, but let me just tell you an example of what we may be lacking. Autumn and I like sports just fine. While there are teams that we like to watch, there are no teams that we follow diligently. When we think about it, we might turn on a football game. We watched part of the Superbowl (more for the halftime show and commercials, but watched it none the less). However, in this house of six girls, we just don't do a lot of sports. So our poor girls don't know a lot about sports. We like going to the high school games, but on our way to the football game, one of the girls will say, "I'm so so excited to see baseball!" Yeah...they just are pretty clueless. Well, this became very obvious on Sunday morning. We were at church, and as always, the girls were milling around the sanctuary hugging and visiting people. M went to our friends in the pew behind me and immediately noticed their middle school son had a broken leg, so she asked, "Okay...WHAT happened?" So our friend Kim started to explain: "Well, he was sliding into home, and...." (she went on about what happened.) I could see it on M's face...I could just see what she was thinking. I thought I would help the poor girl out: "M, she's talking about baseball...home plate in baseball, not sliding in her house." M tried to kind of smile like she already knew that, but I knew better...a mother always knows! Me: "Is that what you were thinking? That he was sliding in the house?" M: (laughing a little) "yeah"
Oh my...our poor girls...we need to teach them a little more about sports......or not!

Two hands!!!

That's right folks...S has to use TWO hands to show how old she is! She's a two hander now!
Instead of having a big party, S decided to bring a couple of friends to go see a movie and go to eat dinner.

We went to see Gnomeo and Juliet....such a fun movie!!! We had SO much fun!!!!!!

Emily and Becky made the party tons of fun!

Lighting the candles!

She was so happy for every part of her party.

LOVE this picture! It really shows how excited she was about the whole day.

Grandpa called to say "happy birthday". She talked and talked and talked to him...telling him everything about the day....pretty sure he could not understand her.

S went to a friend's party just a few days earlier and we got a couple of things, including a bunch of messy makeup. As I laughed about her taking home the "fun" makeup, I was reminded that she would be coming to S's party and bringing a "great" present. Well, it was a great present indeed. The bag was full of tons and tons of candy, lots of loud and noisy things like party poppers, a whistle and air horn, and lots of messy things like nail polish, hair glitter spray, and makeup....there was more, I just forget it all. She was pretty thrilled with the air horn! Look at that face!

She is a fun girl to watch open presents....she loves each one!

This card not only sings, but it dances too....she laughed and laughed and laughed!

Great....just great...

Sweet friends at the movie.

A little fun photo shoot after the movie.

I don't get many mother/daughter pictures...I forget...I need to get more!

Imperfections

I am not a perfectionist. I never have been a perfectionist at all. Actually, my super-non-competitive personality sure might drive some people crazy. I can usually do projects, and whether they are perfect or not, I can be happy with them. Well, I have found myself to be my worst critic in two areas of my life: photography and cake decorating. I do not know why I get so hard on myself about those two things. Here is a little example.





The girls just love it that I took the beginner cake decorating class and that I can make their birthday cakes rather than buy them. It really doesn't matter what I do on the cakes, they think it should be in a magazine. They oooo and awww over every little thing I make, so you would think that I wouldn't put pressure on myself to make a perfect cake right???? WRONG!!! I don't even know why I do it, but I guess I watch too many of those cake shows (Ultimate Cake off, Cake Boss, Ace of Cakes, Cupcake Wars...yeah...I love those) and for some reason I forget that those guys have had years of experience and/or formal training and that after one beginner class and only less than a dozen cakes made, I won't be able to be cake boss just yet. I forget that and I envision a cake boss cake in my head when I get ideas. It just doesn't always turn out that way. And with most things, it just would not bother me, but this cake thing does. So, for the birthdays, the girls have been able to come up with an idea and we can put it on the cake. They are so happy to be apart of the cake and so proud that their mom/aunt made it. Very proud moment...then WHY am I always pointing out the imperfections? Why am I expecting the cakes to be perfect, and WHY oh WHY can I not just enjoy the moment and look at my cakes and be happy with them?

S just had her birthday (I'll post more pictures later) and I FREAKED out about the cake. Here was her request: a round cake with grass and yellow flowers, a sun and rainbow...sounds easy right? Well, first off, the paper that I wrote my frosting recipe on got something spilled on it, so I had to do the recipe from memory, which you all know that memory isn't the greatest. The frosting tasted great, but I put way too much butter in it, so it got soft easily, which makes it hard to work with on the cake. So, after working with my melty frosting (putting the cake in the fridge every few minutes) and trying to figure out how to make the rainbow and sun out of fondant. I know it sounds easy...just a circle and a some lines for rays, but I had to find the right size circle and figure out how to make the rays....I ended up with the apple cutter for the rays. I kept running into problems, which while writing these cake problems out on this blog, I am realizing how silly these are, so I will spare you the rest of the details, but just know that I was frustrated...and you might know that when I stress out, I get a LITTLE dramatic! So, as I finished the cake, all I saw was a pile of melted frosting and fondant that looked like playdo a three year old threw together. I threw the cake (ok, I didn't throw it) in the fridge, and started calling and texting Bethany and a couple of friends to tell them of my disaster (cause apparently I didn't listen to Autumn when she said it was cute and S would love it). After a while, I finally heard back from a couple of them who CALMLY had me tell them the problem and send them a picture and ASSURED me that the cake was great and S would love it.

We also got to bring cupcakes to S's class, and she wanted yellow ducks on her cupcakes, so instead of trying to make them out of fondant, I chose to use peeps. Again, my frosting was melty, and all I could see were the imperfections of the cupcakes.

So, you might ask, why such a long post on such a silly thing? I have been wondering the same thing...why am I spending so much time and effort focusing on the imperfections? So the Lord spoke to me. Yes, He used cake and melty frosting to speak to me! Here I am focusing on the imperfections, but in all reality, (and I am talking about life now, not just cakes) through our imperfections God can show His strength. If we were perfect, there would be no need for HIM. He also has shown me how silly it is to spend my efforts worrying about frosting and cake when there are far greater things to put my efforts in. There are people who need the Lord all around me and I am worried about cake??? Yeah...put it in perspective for me! So, thank you Lord for the lessons you teach me...thank you that you can even use melty frosting to show me more of who YOU are!

And just so you know....S LOVED her cake!!! And I LOVE that!

Cousins

I think I have said a million times how much I love my cousins and what a special bond I have with them. I love it that the girls love their cousins so much! We don't get to see the cousins in TX quite as much, but we get to see little cousin B more...not enough, but more.

He fell off of her back!

The girls wore hats...B wanted to wear their hats....you are welcome Jarrod (his dad) for introducing him to Barbies, dolls, and girly hats.

LOVE the bond that sisters have....there is none like it!!!!!!!

I love details....they show so much love. H is so tender and nurturing...this picture shows it. She loves B and loves to just hold him and cuddle him.

B fell asleep...I love his eyelashes. They are beautiful!