Terrifying

Today my no-nonsense Mary went to a birthday party which involved going to a beauty school for an updo. Before she left, she insisted that she didn't want to get her hair done, since she prefers it tied back in a simple ponytail every day. As I said, no nonsense.

So imagine my surprise when she returned from the festivities looking more than Jon Benet Ramsey than my own daughter. With a gorgeous updo and, gasp, a bit of blush and eyeshadow.

Of course, she had a wonderful time with her sweet friends, and that's what is most important. At least, that is what I'm telling myself when I catch a glimpse of her all dolled up. Flash forward ten years, and I'm not just terrified, I'm petrified.

Snow

Today, we awoke to a few inches of snow on the ground, and more lovely flakes floating down at a rapid pace. We loved it. I think the tulips, however, were rather confused.

A Tale of Two Sisters

We all have a boiling point, where we get so frustrated that we want to explode.

When Mary reaches that point, she tends to cry, "Nobody loves me!"

And, in direct contrast, Lucy's words of choice are, "I don't love anybody!"

I have to laugh because this difference in responses says an awful lot about these two sisters and their incredibly different personalities.

Ski Weekend

Skiing, sunshine, Sunriver, smiles, the Superbowl...all ingredients for a fabulous weekend getaway.

We rented a wonderfully spacious house with four other families in Sunriver for a few nights. The girls enjoyed an inaugural ski lesson on Saturday, sledding on Sunday, and hot-tubbing well, pretty much every day! Between the five families, there were 11 children ages 0-6, and it was truly delightful the entire time.

We are so fortunate this great group of families has included us in their adventures.

The Suspense is Killing Me!!

Last night, Mary and I were reading one of her new Christmas books, featuring Kit, a child growing up in the midst of the Great Depression. We read a chapter in which Kit generously took some food to a hobo friend and ended up deciding to ride the rails with him for an adventure. Except, the adventure took a wrong turn and they ended up in jail. The chapter ended on a suspenseful note, but I promised Mary they would sort it all out when we read the next chapter. I shooed her off to bed.

About 30 minutes later, a tearful Mary came downstairs. I asked her what was wrong, and she burst out, "Kit is in jail and it's giving me nightmares! Mom, I cannot sleep knowing she is in that awful jail!"

So, what's a mom to do? Well, of course, we had to quickly read the next chapter so that our heroine Kit could be set free and all was right again in the world for my sweet and sensitive Mary.

Gratitude

Birthday celebration theories are everywhere. My friend Erin believes in the "Birthday Month," celebrating your special day the entire month. My sister Emily believes you celebrate for as many days as you are old (meaning that my dad's September birthday helped him celebrate all the way to Thanksgiving...well, nearly).

My personal theory is that my birthday is just the DAY. But, it's clear that my circle of friends and family buys into other theories because I've been spoiled rotten for an entire week! Fabulous dinners, entertaining plays, breakfast in bed, thoughtful gifts, decadent cakes...and SUNSHINE. I'm one lucky girl to be surrounded by so much goodness!

Touche

Confession time.

Back when my girls were younger, the noisy, plastic toys would grate my nerves. You know the ones- that sing-songy tune playing over and over, the obnoxious "mama, mama" from the doll. So, when those plastic headache-inducing toys would thankfully "run out of batteries" (and yes, from time to time, this did involve surreptitious tinkering) I was overjoyed. The girls would ask me to replace the batteries, and I would shrug and say, "Oh, that is something Dad has to do. Let's wait until he gets home, and you can ask him to change the batteries."

This strategy worked very well. It meant that most obnoxious toys became relegated to the basement. And by the time Curtis got home, the toys were typically forgotten. In fact, to this day, the girls think battery-changing is a task that can be tackled only by Dad.

Now, that clever little strategy has come back to bite me. Today, Lucy and Mary wanted to build bunk beds out of their existing doll beds, and I offered that I could drill some holes and put pegs in to accomplish the goal.

Lucy looked me straight in the eye and said, "C'mon Mom. We're gonna wait for Dad. You can't even change batteries."

Touche.