My Wish for You

On this Christmas Eve day, I wanted to share our family photo that went out in our Christmas cards. My sister, Rock star, took these photos at Four Sisters Farm in the fall. She is an amazing photographer!


What I really wanted to share with you is that I have realized that everything does not need to be perfect. In fact, there is more beauty in being "real" than having everything appear perfect. I missed out on some opportunities to make impromptu memories with my kids this month because I was too busy working on things to make Christmas perfect. How ironic.

Don't get me wrong, we had fun...lots of fun! We did lots of activities together and spent time with family and all that good stuff, but I know that I missed the mark on a couple things.

As I was looking through the photos for the picture above, I came across the ones below. They are PERFECTLY IMPERFECT. When I look at these, I see joy, love, silliness, orneriness, and us. Perfectly imperfect us. And I wanted to share them with you and tell you that I hope your Christmas is full of YOU...not the you, you want everyone to see or think you are, but the REAL YOU and your perfectly imperfect family.





It is my hope to keep my focus on this...
James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above...

Notice it doesn't say every good and perfect gift is from ME. I am incapable of perfection but I can love and be loved and revel in that fellowship with my family and that is what I plan to do and that is my prayer for you this Christmas,that you would set aside the drive for a perfect Christmas and enjoy loving and being loved, especially by God who sent His son who is, of course, the reason for the season!

WE MET PW. Fo Rizzle.

Today, me (UDW) and two of my sisters...


Farm Chick...


and Pretty Princess, loaded up in the car and headed South.


Destination: Brace Books in Ponca City, OK.
Mission: To meet Ree Drummond and obtain her autograph in our nice and shiny new copies of her awesome cookbook.

We decided to get there early for two reasons. First, we did not want to be at the end of the line and wait for hours in a line to get a chance to meet her (although, we probably would have) and second, there is a coffee bar in the bookstore.

The Brace Bookstore was brilliant. They handed out these nifty numbers and everyone shopped and milled around until their number got close and then got in a short line to meet Ree. It was much better than waiting and getting irritated at line cutters and place savers.

I might add that it was also a brilliant marketing move for the bookstore. The women passed the time browsing books, picking out Christmas presents and drinking coffee, in short, spending money that would have stayed in their pockets if they had been forced to stay in a line! Bravo, Brace, Bravo!

While we hung out, I jotted a note to Ree, just thanking her for making my morning coffee a much more entertaining experience because I get to read her blog!

Then, I stuck it with a little package of LOVE cookies and a cookbook that has our family recipe for the cookies in it! Pretty Princess said I was bordering on being a crazy fan by bringing her a present. If bringing people love cookies is crazy, break out the straight jacket, I'm certifiable. I say, "Spread the LOVE people!"


Farm Chick was anxiously waiting!!! Finally, Ree entered the building! She is just as charming in person as I imagined!


We got a kick out of watching people. The guy there in the ball cap didn't seem like a typical PW fan but upon further observation, I noticed that indeed, he was toting around a couple of copies of the cookbook.

I had to giggle when he (and his wife) got their turn to talk to Ree. He told her, "I'm missin' an important ballgame right now."


Which reminds me, to pass the time (and admittedly, to amuse ourselves), we decided to write down the crazy things we overheard, including...

(Things said to Ree...)
"I made your Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti last night. We cook just like you do!"

"I found a typo."

"If I'd have realized you were going to be here, I'd have brought the 3 cookbooks I have at home!"

(Things said by women standing in line...)
"My nervous peeing will probably kick in when I get up there."

"I just went in the basement and started drinking."

(Don't ask about that last one. I don't know.)

Anyway, back to the book signing, someone brought out the big guns...two babies (which is Ree's weakness) dressed in her honor. Notice the P and W on their shirts. Way too cute!

Their socks alone were too sweet.

Really, whoever came up with those little socks that look like shoes...just precious.


When it was our turn to get in line, we passed the time playing with the toys on the wall. There is nothing like a good Viking hat. Everyone should have one.

Farm Chick was surprised by a little tug on her hair.

Princess thought it was stinkin' funny to be able to pull her older sister's hair from a distance. If only we had, had this toy when we were kids!

It doesn't take much for us to entertain ourselves. Sad. I know. At this time you may want to say a little prayer for our significant others who have to deal with our cheap humor all the time.

Finally, we got to the front of the line!


Ree was awesome and signed our multiple copies of her book. She chit chatted with us about our families and sent her best to our missing sister, Rockstar, who is about to deliver our little niecey pants any day now and couldn't make the trip!

Ree also brought along her oldest punk! I was so impressed with her grace and poise! She seemed comfortable visiting with crazy women, who love her Mom, and graciously signed the page with her photo in our cookbooks!

She also put up with us making her take a picture with us! So sweet!

So, thanks to Ree for writing an awesome cookbook and giving us an excuse for a girls day out!


We did indeed "Enjoy!" and I'm sure we will continue to do so every time we cook one of her recipes!

GET IT OUT....

The same afternoon that we enjoyed the family togetherness from my previous post, I took this photo...



It reminded me of another moth encounter...
Two summers ago, we were vacationing with our residency friends, in Tennessee, at a vacation home. Doc and I went out to the car to get some stuff, late one night. On the way back inside, Doc suddenly stopped in his tracks and started yelling and shaking his head furiously. He shouted to me, GET IT OUT!!!!

Now, it is a little known fact that I struggle with a severe case of Inappropriate Laughter Syndrome. It just jumps on me and is uncontrollable at the most inopportune times. Turning around and seeing Doc jumping up and down, banging his hand on the side of his head and then shaking it furiously like he was a man possessed, triggered a laughing attack like none I'd ever had. As you can imagine, the laughing did not help. It made Doc even more aggravated which in turn made me laugh even harder.

Finally, he said, "HELP ME...A MOTH FLEW INTO MY EAR!!!" Fortunately, among our friends that were there, 3 of the 4 were also doctors. I ran in and got our friend Kristin out of bed...



Me: "Kristin,(haaaahaaah) are you awake? (haaahaaa)"
K: "Yeah."
Me: "(Haa Haaa) Doc, he (hhaaa haaaaaaa) has a moth (hhaaaa) in his (heeheeeee) ear. He needs help to get it out! (HHHHHAAAAAAHAHhAAA)"

Doc had made his way to where we were, by this time. Kristin hopped out of bed and found some tweezers. She reached into his ear with the tweezers to try to extract the moth but unfortunately when the tweezers touched the moth, it sent it into a flurry of wing flapping against Doc's ear drum. Doc yelled, "IT DOESN'T LIKE THAAATT!!!!" which made me laugh even harder. By this time, Kristin was trying to control the laughter, as well.

Kristin told us that the tweezer method wasn't going to work. "If I were in the ER and saw this, I'd use a syringe to flush it out," she said. Tony, Kristin's hubby, came out of the bedroom and we started rummaging through the closet. He found a first aid kit on the top shelf. By some miracle, there happened to be a syringe in the kit.

We made our way into the kitchen where Kristin filled the syringe with water and squirted it into Doc's ear a couple of times until the moth moved out enough to get a good hold on it with the tweezers. She slowly removed the moth, who was wet and maybe a little bit waxy, but still flapping like mad.



Doc was so relieved and could finally join us in our amusement at the situation. Seriously, how often do you see a moth fly straight into someone's ear! How weird is that?!

Enjoying Fall Family Moments

Last month we raked and played in the "North Yard" (which is a phrase that must be uttered with a fancy southern accent) on a beautiful fall afternoon. Everyone who was anyone was there. Bub in all his "safety first" gear, Buzz Lightyear, the very fashionable Lou Lou, and little Ladybug!

Doc gave the kids underdog pushes, free of charge, on the tire swing.


SG was brave and swung higher than ever before! Can't you just see the delight on his face?!

Ladybug got miffed that Daddy wasn't paying attention to her. So she came to me to complain because it is a well known fact that Mommies can fix anything and make Daddies do the right thing.

I called out to Daddy and he came running in to save his princess from despair!

She already knows that she has Daddy wrapped around her little finger.

She was Daddy's girl until he decided it might be fun to let Ladybug "jump" into the leaves.



He did not quite get the response he was expecting. "What? You don't like the leaves, Ladybug?" Apparently he had forgotten rule number one in Ladybug's world "NO ICKY." Leaves equal ICKY on her clothes!

Mommy got to save the day. I brushed all the leaves off and gave her a squeeze and smooch. I am definitely enjoying this phase. I know from experience that the chubby little baby running to me will, all too, soon stretch up and become a long legged young lady. I'm relishing this phase with my last baby!

A Really Annoying Problem

Ladybug is a girlie girl. She loves purses, hats, sunglasses and dresses. She does not love being dirty.


That aversion led to a very annoying situation at the pumpkin patch.


There was a lot of hay. Now the hay was meant for good, to cushion little bodies from falls in the playground areas...


But it sure was annoying to Ladybug when it got stuck on her clothes!


I bet I heard the word "Icky" 75 times during the hour we played on the playground.

"Mama, icky. Icky, Mama." And it was very important that she did not throw the pesky hay back on the ground with the other hay because it might find its way back onto her pants. So I would take each piece of dirty, icky hay she handed me...


and wait until she wasn't looking before tossing it back in the pile! Poor little Ladybug. If she only knew the betrayal....

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Because I haven't had time to blog lately, I thought I'd better catch up a little! So travel with me back to October....
We met the home school group from our area at a Cox Farms in Wichita!


There was a menagerie of animals, much to the delight of Bub and Lou Lou...




and much to the dismay of Ladybug who thought the Llama looked vicious and clung to me every time she caught a glimpse of it!

Birdie and her kids were there too! She helped Lou get used to the idea of feeding the goat out of her hand. She really loves Lou. She must to get her hands slobbered on by a farm animal.


I think the next thing out of Birdie's mouth was, "WHERE'S A WIPE AND THE HAND SANITIZER?"

After petting and being slobbered on by the animals, the kids headed over to pick out their pumpkins.







Then, because boys are weird, they took the opportunity to pretend like they were gorillas at the pumpkin patch.

After being slobbered on, picking out pumpkins, and turning into wild animals, we took a hayride around to the corn maze!



Now, the corn maze was big. The man in charge said it would take about an hour to go through and being the realistic mother I am, I decided to let Lou go with her girlfriends. I didn't really think that an hour of being lost amongst plants would be real fun. I was picturing trying to keep up with an adventurous five year old while carrying a tired 3 year old and 18 month old on each hip. Call me crazy. It just wasn't that appealing.

So the four of us headed to the playground! Well, five, if you count R2D2 who (of course) needed to come to the pumpkin patch with us.

Bub met a new challenge. He loves challenges. The boy needs adventure like I need coffee.

I will say that he was a bit intimidated at first. He asked me to come catch him. It's nice to be needed, even if it is only for the first slide.

After that, he went up and down that thing for the next hour non- stop except for the occassional King of the Mountain display of power on the hay bales!


Someone else was King of the Mountain, too. Never you mind that her mountain was a wee bit shorter!


We managed to squeeze every little bit of fun out of the morning and Lou's pretty face appeared out of the corn maze just as it started misting. Fortunately, we got loaded up before it really let loose and started pouring! What a great day!

Lou's Trip to the Dentist

Lou has a lot of big teeth and a little mouth in which they are all supposed to live. Unfortunately, she had to have two baby teeth removed because the big teeth came in behind them instead of under them. Thankfully her dad was able to take her. I do not do well with teeth. Seriously. I can clean up poo or vomit all day long. I can deal with blood, scrapes and hangnails but if you show me a wiggly tooth, I'm nauseated. I know it's weird. I think I remember the feeling so vividly from when I was a kid and had loose teeth that the memory comes rushing back. I hated having loose teeth. Liked the tooth fairy money but not the feeling of having a body part loose and hanging by a thread. (Insert willies here.)

Anyway, here's the after shot...


and the close up!



She was a champ and back to her usual perky self by the afternoon!