Here is the area where the silver balls ended up.

Over here, not too far to the right, is where the silver bells pile onto one branch.  Don’t want them to be alone.  (The second bell is hard to see.)

Then all the gold ornaments apparently needed to be grouped together, away from the silver items (you know how they are.)

Last, but not least, the red balls had there own place of honor on the tree.

Overall, the tree looks lovely.  It was decorated with love and excitement- so fun to see.

Merry Christmas!

“How sweet! But are you sure you want to give it away?”

“Yes, it’s for you.”  she nodded seriously “I checked, it’s not the special coin Papa brought from his trip.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep it and spend it?”

“No.”  she shook her head.  “I want you to have it.”

I’ve been hearing the coins clink in my pocket all day and it makes me smile.

It was not The Boy.

She has a little plastic one that she was so excited to get  but it was very cheap and I knew it wouldn’t last long.  She seemed disapointed that she wasn’t able to dig in the hard earth with it.  Then the handle broke a little.

This is not the one that wants everything she sees.  That one walks through the store saying “Oh!  I want that!”  “I want that.”  “I like that, can I have it?”  This, of course, is when the Mother looses patience and says “Don’t you DARE ask for one more thing!”  I mean, really, how many different ways can a person say “no”.  It apprently doesn’t sink in- there is always the hope that I mean “no” for that ONE item, not the one next to it.

So here was the child that doesn’t ask for much, looking all sweet, begging “Please?!”  For a shovel.  We bought it for her.  She has been happily digging in the hard earth with it.

Then we approached the sporting goods area and she thought she’d also like a fishing pole.  She didn’t get that.

Now, I bet you know which girl – can you guess?

(Note:  I know I’ve been sadly neglecting my blog.  I promised more beach photos- I’ll see about getting them up.  There are other stories that need to be told too. )

Going down the trail.

Peeking to see if we’re coming.

Having a good time.

Granted there have been a few unsettling things happen during last years thunderstorms- branches breaking off, eletricitiy going out, trees breaking in half.  Stuff like that.  But she does go a bit overboard in the frightened department and, in typical for her fashion, will not listen to any reason becuase she is too busy making noise herself.

A few weeks ago we had a thunderstorm roll through the hills around us.  We had a meeting in town so the kids and I headed out to the park where the meeting was being held.  We looked at the gray skyes and hurried through our meeting as the kids played.  There were a few flashes of light in the distance that Sunshine commented on as we drove in.

“What was that?”

What?

“That flashing?”  sounding nervous.

Oh, probably nothing much. 

We went to see some friends afterwards and a few flashes were seen and a few low rumbles were heard.

On the way home Sunshine’s high voice proclaimed from the back:

“There was a thunderstorm, and I wasn’t afraid!”

Oh that’s good news honey!

“…because I’m five now!”

Makes all the difference in the world.

Yes, Miss Pixie is wearing sandals (jellies) with socks, her nightgown, heavy jacket and mittens.

It’s June.

I will say that our mornings can be rather chilly sometimes but I do think this is a little extreme.

Then she gives me that Otter smile….

(Click to enlarge and see her shoes.)

She has her googles on to be safe!

But maybe these two were better helpers.

What do you think?

Pixie and I were walking along, hand in hand when she said “Papa is thinking of getting me a horse.”

Oh really?

I later asked him about this and he can’t remember the conversation but leave it to Miss Literal to not miss anything.

“Yes, so I can ride in the parade.”

I see.

“I want to be a bear in the parade.”

My mind pictures a cute little brown bear costumed Pixie on top of a horse in a parade. Why does she need a horse for that? She could just walk. Her little voice interrupts my vision of her in a bear costume walking the parade route.

“I don’t mean a costume…”

Can she read minds?

“I want to have a flag and be a flag bear on a horse.”

One of the kids would experiment with cutting their hair, specifically their bangs. The Boy, being the oldest, was scissor challenged because I would hardly let him touch the things. I drilled into him “Scissors cut paper! Never hair!”

I thought I was still being diligent about keeping the scissors out of reach. There was the one little incident when Pixie cut a bit of her hair but it was in the long portion and easily hid. I renewed by efforts of scissor banishment and on we went.

But then, with the girls being more interested in crafts than their brother ever was, the scissors came down and were left out in the open. So very tempting. Calling her name, I’m sure.

So she took them, hid, threw away the evidence and hoped no one would notice.

Umm, yeah. Not noticeable at all.

So I trimmed it all up; at least she left a bit, it wasn’t cut at scalp level.

*Note: I am behind in my postings (you didn’t notice that it was pretty quiet around here, did you?) This happened in April but I had to put it up. You can see in her birthday shot how things are growing out. I will continue to post some things that have happened and try to catch us up as well as insert some newer things.*

****Note to Editor: I bravely used a semi-colon. I hope I didn’t cause you a heart attack as it’s probably improper usage. *****