Kristy Dorminy

Molly earned her Cubbie Bear pin for saying lots of verses over this past year of Cubbies.  

Ruby earned a “Hopper” Medal for saying many verses and their references.  

You can clearly see how excited Molly was about being awarded the bear for her vest.  She loved the idea of going on the stage and seeing her Daddy out in the audience.  I was there, too, but I am her teacher (note the hideous jacket I am wearing).  HOWEVER, her excitement was brought to a halt when the Big Cubbie Bear came out on stage.  Someone was dressed up as Cubbie Bear, and I must say, while he isn’t super-scary, he isn’t the most normal looking bear you’ve ever seen.  Molly grabbed around my neck and would. not. let. go.  She was panicking.  I tried to peel her off of me and talk her through the situation, but she would have no part of it.  No part of it.  Finally, Mrs.Traci, the Cubbies Story Lady, saw the predicament I was in and graciously hid Cubbie Bear until Molly was done walking across the stage.  She didn’t have to do that, but I sure did appreciate it!!  And Molly appreciated it even more.  The rest of the time she kept her eyes on Cubbie Bear while hiding behind me.  It was nice to get out of the room with Cubbie Bear!  Molly was visibly relieved.  When Josh asked her why she was scared of the bear, she simply said, “He is a sleeping bear who walks and waves, but does not talk.”  Hmmmm….again, I don’t know what that means exactly, but Molly feels totally validated in her assessment of Cubbie Bear.

Sweet Sisters

And  here is Mack, sporting the medal, though he did nothing to earn it.  I have a feeling that as the younger brother of two sisters, he will be riding their coat tails many times in his future.  I mean, look at his face.  He totally thinks he deserves that medal….maybe for drinking the most grape Crystal Light of any other two year old in the world, I don’t know.  I mean, not that his mother would let him do such a thing.  Moving on…..

 

We really are proud of our little Cubbie Bears!  They have done a great job with their verses.  And though Mack didn’t memorize any verses, he does act like a little bear himself—that must count for something!

Life just keeps on happening, which makes it very difficult for me to cover all the pictures from Augusta and from the dance recital!  Maybe I will try to double up on my posts.  We’ll see.  Considering the dreary rain (AGAIN), I may have time today.  It doesn’t seem like May at all to me.  I cannot believe how rainy and dreary it has been here!  Is it just me or does it really seem that way to y’all, too?  (Side note:  I just saw my cute little neighbor leave her house like she does every day while her mom comes and plays with her one little girl.  I am not bitter.  Not. one. bit.)

So instead of getting out and doing something…anything…we are here today.  We pulled out our sight words after we read together.  These were given to me by Gran.  She always gives great educational tools to me!  If any of our kids aren’t very smart, it won’t be for lack of materials to help in this area!  It may have to do with the teacher of the material though!  A-hem.  Yes, that would be me.  

These are so neat.  They are magnetic little spongey words that stick onto these cool lap boards.  The girls love placing their words on the boards.

We also have some flash cards that Molly wanted to use.  They lack the “fun” of the magnetic words, but she enjoys holding the ones she gets correct.

We started with the word “pig.”  Then, the next word was “is,” but Molly couldn’t stop herself from saying the “p” sound first…”piss” is all she could say until she was redirected to the short “i” sound.  Gotta be careful with these sight words.  🙂

So, what does Mack do while these precious girls are learning????  Hmmm.  Well, I try to include him by getting out some cards that are more age appropriate for him.  It never goes quite as smooth as I would like…..

I think he is more interested in Science and why these magnetic words stick together…..

Let me get off of here.  Ruby just asked me in a very alarmed fashion if she could take all of her clothes off because she is trying to catch a fly.  Not sure what the two have to do with each other, but I would like to find out.

Oh, and one more closing conversation from last night while tucking in the kids…

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Me- Let’s pray for the little boy who is so sick.

Molly- The one in the Lellow class?

Me-Yes! Molly, that is so smart to remember that from last week.

Molly- Is he a bear?

Me-***just looking at her***  No, he’s not a bear.

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Where does she get these things????  I have no idea.

Ruby lost her first tooth today!  On the morning of her recital (Saturday), she told me that something was weird with her teeth.   She said that they were “wiggley.”  When I realized that this was a huge step in her growing-up and not that she had knocked her teeth loose while playing, I got excited.  She was not so excited and didn’t like the idea of her tooth coming out.  I reassured her that it happens to all of us and that she is just getting so big and getting ready for Kindergarten.  Things just seem much better when you tie it into the fact that she is starting Kindergarten.  She reluctantly let me take a look in her mouth, but then let me know that she didn’t want to talk about it anymore.  OK.

I made some cinnamon sugar tortilla chips this afternoon because evidently I don’t mind all of my jeans being tight and feeling quite frumpy I am a fun mom like that!  The girls were eating them when the tooth came out, so excuse the cinnamon in her teeth.  Also, we can’t find the tooth!  I told her she probably swallowed it ,but she insisted that she didn’t and eventually said to me, “Mom, you have got to believe me.  I was eating my chip and then I felt something and was, like, ‘What is that?!’ and then I pulled it out, but it was slippery.”  We searched the chair and all around the chair, but could not find it.  She is upset about not putting it under her pillow.  Josh says she should mail it and send it to her Sweetie (my mom) because Sweetie told Ruby that the tooth fairy leaves $20.  Ummm, this fairy is broke and will, hopefully, be able to scroung up a dollar.  We’ll see…

Molly was proud of Ruby and wants to know when she will be big and lose her teeth.  

So even though we’d like to make Ruby stop growing up and just keep her at 4 years old a little longer, it doesn’t seem that is going to happen.  Now, if you will excuse me, I must go find some change….or maybe Ruby will take a check?

And if you can look at her without smiling, there is something seriously wrong.  (This is my older sister, Marcy’s, little 9 month old baby girl, by the way.  More pictures from our weekend to come later….much later…unless the laundry attacks me and eats me alive.)

 

Mother’s Day is quickly approaching.  I never appreciated this day completely….until I became a Mother.  Wow.  You have no idea how much your mom did for you until you actually are doing all those things for your own kids.  Why life works that way, I am not sure, but it just seems so.  I remember a lot about my mom growing up.  She stayed home with us until I was about 13 years old.  Then, she started working in real estate; it was far out of her comfort zone, but my Dad encouraged her in this endeavor, and you should see her now!  She is the manager of the rental department at one of the biggest and most respected Real Estate Agencies in Augusta.  She works hard for the money.  ha.  Seriously though, one thing in particular that I can clearly remember about my mom is her hands.  I can clearly remember how her hands (that were always painted and well-manicured) smelt when she would button my shirts.  I also remember that she was the crossing guard right outside of our house.  We would say good bye to her right there as we walked down the hill to school.  Then, she was always there as we walked up the hill on our way home.  We could always count on the Debbie Snacks to be waiting on us in the kitchen, too.

 She taught us about being ladies….some of her rules were for us girls to NEVER talk to a guy while he was sitting in his car and we were standing outside of the car…NEVER, under any circumstances, were we to sit in a boy’s lap….and NEVER call boys.  There were more, but these are the ones that most definitely stand out!  She spent time with us a lot, but she also was quick to make sure she and my dad had their own time.  They still put each other before any of us, and I am glad to see that.  Now they have each other in that house.  We all left them!  

I am more thankful now for my mom than when I was in the house and she was doing so much for me and my sisters.  I appreciate the time she invested in us.  I appreciate all the places she drove us.  I appreciate how she made sure we went to church camp each summer.  She was involved.  My room mate in college loves her because of her practical and honest advice.  I didn’t really notice it so much until Paige raved about it.  I am glad I will be able to spend Mother’s Day with her this year.  

It feels weird to put a picture of her with just me.  She is usually in a picture with me, Marcy and Cacy!  I can’t find one of those right now.  (Sorry, sisters.)  Here is one of Mama as “Sweetie” with all SEVEN of her grandkids.

 

And then there is my mom’s mom, MeMe.  She was with us a lot growing up.  She taught the toddlers in nursery for soosooo many years.  I can’t even begin to guess how many.  My sisters and I used to spend the night with her, and she would let us rearrange her furniture.  I remember that she wrote little Christian “ditties.”  She would sing them and record them onto a tape, then we would listen to them at her house.  She made the best Vegetable Soup.  She let us POUR sugar onto our Rice Krispies cereal.  She taught us what “french baths” were (I guess she didn’t want us to take a real bath at her house.)  She wouldn’t let us walk around her house bare footed.  We always had to wear socks or we’d “catch a cold!”  She would fuss at us for being loud in the car while my mom was driving….except it really wasn’t fussing.  I don’t ever remember her fussing at me.  Every Halloween we got a Kit-Kat and some money from her in a ziploc bag.  I am sure there are so many more things I could write about her, but I couldn’t possible cover them all.  I will say that she is a godly grandmother.  She freely talked and sang about Jesus.  She loves to read her Bible even now.  

Love you, Meme!!

On the day I married Josh, I got another Mom.  Deb is such a great Mother-in-law.  Understanding.  Compassionate.  Caring. Giving.  Loves my kids so much!  Not bossy.  Not nosey.  Not critical.  I appreciate these things and so much more about her.  I suppose I am one of the greatest recipients of her mothering since I got to marry her son!  Josh is an incredible person and husband and daddy.  What can be a better testimony to a great mom than that?! Josh has wonderful memories of growing up under her care.  She has a knack for focusing on what really matters and not letting the other stuff bother her.  She is battling cancer and winning.  Her spirit is soaring.  She is a great light for Jesus as she allows Him to meet her needs and carry her through this very difficult time; I can see how she is allowing it to bring glory to HIM.  She is wonderful.  Josh loves her so much.  I love her.  And my kids—they adore her.  I hope she has a fantastic Mother’s Day!

Gran/Deb’s mom is Charlene/Grandma/GG.  She is such fun.  She is one of those ladies that speaks her mind.  She also is a “Mama Bear” who would totally fight for any of her kids and win, even today!  She loves her family.  She cannot say enough good about them.  She feels the same about her grandkids, too.  Though I never attended any of Josh’s games pre-college, it seems that she was one of his biggest fans!  I love to see her with my kids.  She is close with all of them, but it does seem that she and Mack have this special thing.  She cracks him up.  And vice versa.  She is a very active great grandmother, too.  She volunteers at the hospital.  She swims at the Y often.  And she serves her husband and does anything that Deb or Irv might ask of her.  And I must add, GG can make a mean pecan pie.  

I hope all of these Mothers have a blessed Mother’s Day!  I know that I am greatly blessed to have each of them in my life.

 

OK, so I am laughing so hard that I can hardly type.  Let me start with what happened two days ago.  Ruby was outside playing and evidently got bitten by some mosquitos.  She has horrible allergic reactions to mosquito bites.  Last year, she got bitten on the thigh and her entire thigh was swollen, red and hard.  It was awful.  We kept cortisone cream around for the itching.  Anywhere she got a bite, she would have swelling and major itching.  SO, two days ago a mosquito bit Ruby on her forehead.  Yesterday she woke up with a goose egg on her forehead, and I wondered if she had gotten hit in the head with a bat while sleeping.  She said it didn’t hurt, but I couldn’t imagine that it wasn’t painful because of how bad it looked. I finally put two and two together and realized that this was the doings of a mosquito!  This morning when she woke up and came downstairs, I had to control myself from gasping at the sight of her eye being almost swollen shut.  I called the doctor, and they said to have her take some Benadryl and to keep cortisone cream on it for the itch.  Here is what my little Ruby looks like:

NOW, for the funny part….Ruby and Molly were decorating Ruby’s birthday party invitations with Hello Kitty stickers.  I had already filled them out and written each kid’s name on the envelope, so I let them just use all the stickers to decorate the envelopes.  Molly really gets into stickers and placed each one perfectly on the envelopes.  Then, she said, “Aw, Mama, look, is this Hello Kitty sick, too?” (Take a good look at Hello Kitty’s eyes in this picture.)

Apparently, Hello Kitty is allergic to mosquito bites as well.  

1-I am proud of myself for putting back the brown flip flops that I DID NOT need today while roaming Target.

2-I am not proud of myself for being at Target.  Money just disappears there.  Not to mention the slushee and pretzel that has to be bought in order to endure the roam around Target.

3-I glanced at string bikinis only because I was walking by them on my way to the shoe aisle.  Do people really wear those things out in public?  And why is it that I also caught a glance of myself in that reflective mirror only 25  seconds after the string bikinis?  How annoying.

4-I wonder if I would be a billiongazillionare if I had a dime for every time I swept and mopped my kitchen floor.  Just wondering.

5-I would have loved to know what the check-out lady at SALLY’S was thinking when I purchased Super Volumizing Hair Spray.  (I have recently got a haircut that I loving refer to as the white girl “fro” and volume in my hair isn’t something I am exactly lacking, but the spray helps keep it big all day instead of only until 10am.)

6-Does drinking a protein shake instead of eating a meal totally defeat its purpose if I end up using that protein shake to wash down Doritos?  Again, just wondering.

7-How many times can Mack say “NO” in one day?  I lost count at 78.

8-Ruby is allergic to mosquito bites.  This morning the right side of her forehead and eyebrow is disfigured from a bite.  Very strange.

9- Molly holds her #2 way too long and it is scary when she says her tummy hurts.  You would think she was a 45 year old overweight man.  Bless her heart.  And mine.  

10-You would not believe how much JUNK I bagged up from our back seat while at the car wash.  It is crazy how much JUNK the kids sneak into the car each and every time we go anywhere.  I threatened (again) to throw all the toys that got left in the car into the trash.  There were tears, so I said, “I’ll give you one  more chance….”  yaddi-yaddi-yaddi…..

11-There was a lady giving “complimentary chair massages” at  the car wash place.  She told me that she would love for me to come on in and try one.  I smiled and said, “Well, I have my three kids with me.”  She looked at them and then said, “You can bring them in with you.”  I just smiled and then kept cleaning my car as she walked away.  And I was thinking how funny her suggestion was…”you can just bring them in with you”… She evidently didn’t understand the back breaking work it is of unloading and loading up three kids into car seats and buckling them in, etc.  Not to mention whatever in the world they might do while I was getting the massage.  The benefit of the massage doesn’t even register in this scenario.  “You can just bring them in with you.”  hahahaha…still laughing about this one.

12- I am attempting to take on the rest of this day with Mack not taking a nap since he dozed for 30 minutes in the car.  I’m thinking at 4:38 pm I will be deeply regretting this decision.

13- Laundry is waiting on me upstairs.  Oh, how I love laundry.

Wonder if I should make Tuesday my “Random Thoughts” day?  Or is that just what this whole blog is anyway?  Don’t answer that.

We started off our weekend by going by our house that is under construction and may be done in about six weeks.  If all goes as we think it will go, we will have a new house very soon.  A house that I think is beautiful.  Josh has contracted it out on his own and has done a fantastic job.  This was not an easy task.   I don’t know how he manages all that he does.  I am so proud of him.

Here are the kids EATING their first meal on the back porch of our new house.  Love a Happy Meal….

And here is a wider picture that shows more of the rear of the house….

 

 

 

Gran and PawPaw came for a visit this weekend also.  It was nice to have them here.  They almost always bring every piece of food we eat while they are here.  There was a lot of cooking going on by PawPaw and a lot of eating going on by all of us!

 

 

Besides eating too much, here are a few other shots of things that went on…

 

 

 

We had a fun weekend full of food and family.  I am tired and should probably be taking a nap right now, but I am finding in my “old age” that naps make me grumpy and a little groggy.  Weird.

 

So, I am meeting friends later tonight at Chili’s to talk and talk and talk.  Josh was craving wings, so he picked some up on his way home from work.  I pondered how I could get away with the least amount of work in the kitchen considering our plans thus far.  Here’s what I came up with:

And do you know what Molly said, “OH, MOM.  I REALLY LOVE THOSE.  THEY LOOK SO VERY, VERY GOOD.”  I was laughing my head off inside because these really gross me out.  So why would I serve them to my children, you ask?  Because they LOVE them.  

 

 

So dinner was served with the twist of the can-opener and some zapping from the microwave………see, I really don’t work!  hahaha.  Really though, I am very happy with myself right now.  Happy Thursday night to all!

Mack had his two year check up last week.  He checked out great except for some minor ear issues.  He remains a “big boy.”  My girls were “big girls,” too.  Josh and I aren’t surprised.  We aren’t small, petite people.  Here is Mack’s info from the visit:  Height, 36 3/8″ (90%), Weight, 34lbs,8oz (97%) and Head, 52 cm (97%).  I have some of the girl’s information written down on slips of paper and thrown in a bag for them to rummage through later in life and talk about how they wish I had kept up with this stuff much better.  Oh well.  

I remember a day when I thought I was totally stuck in “Baby World.”  I am glad to see that is not true.  They do grow up.  They do feed themselves.  They do, they do!  Sometimes sad to think about, but usually not.