Clothing Prejudice

The other day Nicole and I were at the mall. I saw a top I liked on a mannequin and told her I thought it was cute. Her response, after looking at the mannequin, was that the shirt was only for "black people." Bummer.

White Water

We went to White Water yesterday, a water slide park in Branson. Britt wanted to enjoy the lazy river with Allyson (in reality he ended up following her around the kiddie area all day).

Nicole and I were looking for a little more adventure so we headed for the slides. The first ones we saw looked a little intimidating...

... but Nicole didn't even hesitate. (She was too short for the ridiculously tall one. Even if she wasn't there's no way I'd send my kid down that thing!) We grabbed our sled-like mats and climbed the stairs to the shorter "bumpy" slide.

By the time we made it to the top, Nicole was very afraid. It does look different from the top!

 I told her we'd just go find something else to do. Unfortunately, her excitement was doused and she wasn't sure she wanted to do any slides at all. I coaxed her into trying one with a "doubles" tube she could ride on with me. 

By the time we were in the tube she started to cry. But, trying to be a "risk taker" (a phrase from her kindergarten teacher) she did it anyway. 

I held my breath and, at the first sharp (and fast) turn, thought of the trauma she might forever carry from this experience. In just seconds I decided I'm the worst mother on the planet. Then I heard this wonderful sound. Nicole's belly laugh. That's when I knew the day was saved (and I could stop the self loathing.). At the bottom she just yelled, "I want to do that again!" And we did.

Her excitement was back with a new-found confidence that only comes from conquering fear. We rode everything: big tubes, double tubes, single tubes, tunnel slides, waterfall slides, even the wave pool. You name it, she loved it all.

At the end of the day Nicole wanted to go back to that first, giant, "bumpy" slide. So, once again, we grabbed  our sled-like mats and climbed the stairs.

First we went down together. She never hesitated. 

Then she went down by herself so I could get this on video. Notice the "thumbs up" sign at the end.

So proud of her!!

Then it was time for Mommy to conquer her fear. We walked up the extra steps to the ridiculous slide. I handed the video camera to the lifeguard (and also gave her babysitting duties) and took the leap. Notice the thumbs up sign again!

Meanwhile, back at the kiddie pool, Allyson had no fear to conquer. She saw the slide and jumped right on it.

We all had a great day at White Water. And, yes, Daddy did get a little time on the lazy river.

Old Videos

I found some old videos that I couldn't figure out how to publish when they were taken. Now I'm hoping it will work. This was Nicole singing to Allyson in March of 2009. Allyson was just six months old and Nicole had just turned four. Allyson wasn't in the mood to be serenaded.

This one explains how Allyson got her "extra-long" name. (It's not on the birth certificate!) Nicole just started adding names after we brought her home from the hospital. Since this video was taken she's also added "Nadalyn." So, her "official-according-to-Nicole" name is Allyson Paige Laura Emily Nadalyn.

Concert for Joplin

I enjoyed such a great concert tonight with Tracy Lawrence, Jo Dee Messina, and more country music singers. It was at the Bass Pro Shop parking lot and the stars came to raise money for Joplin relief efforts. I only had my cell phone so the quality of these videos is horrific and the lights blocked any view of the singer but I still just had to post this. I took a picture of Jo Dee up close and...accidentally deleted it. Argh.

An ex-boyfriend from North Carolina once dedicated this song to me. Guess I flipped heads and he flipped tails. Ha Ha. It was a perfect song at the time.

Tomorrow I will be getting up at 5:30 to join a team from church going to Joplin to help. Will post some pics of that as well.

Gardening!

We've been wanting to have a garden for a while now. But... we have a tree issue.

Or several tree issues. 

All of these fall leaves (and this is only a fraction of what we get) are hanging tightly to branches all summer long, providing plenty of shade but virtually no sun. 

Last year an expert was nice enough to pay a visit to our house to give us any advice. He basically said we couldn't grow anything here. But, we could try some container gardening and move them around to the few spots on our decks that do get sun. So, we planted one container of lettuce and another of spinach.

We got a few sprouts and were sooo excited! So were the squirrels that love our landscape. They ate every last bit.

So that was last year. This year, a dear friend with a beautiful, sunny yard and a beautiful, successful garden offered to let us plant on her property. I was so excited. Britt was a trooper yesterday preparing the ground for our new plants. We have tomatoes (the kind Britt's Dad and Grandpa grew...yum!), zucchini, yellow pepper, lettuce and spinach. I'm hoping to plant a yellow squash plant, too.

We also bought a raspberry plant and some shade-loving herbs that we are going to try at the house along with new shade plants and ground cover for the yard.

To enjoy it all I painted a bench that's been sitting, neglected, on our front porch. And we added a hammock to a couple of the zillion trees in the back. Will try to get some pictures in the daylight and post.

Potty Surprise

Britt says this needs to be on the blog so we are going to blame him for its presence here. I would have to say it's definitely one of the funniest videos ever but, be warned, it's definitely bathroom humor (although no nudity).

So, we are still in the potty training process and it just takes a while. We read books and sing songs and just talk until "the moment" arrives. On this particular day she was talking so much I decided to videotape some of her cute expressions. Little did I know the cuteness would take a very sudden and serious turn.

Papa Visits the Classroom

Today was a special day for many reasons. First, it was the last day of student appreciation week and the kids have been doing fun things like crazy hair day, jersey day, show and share day...today was mismatch day. I think we pulled it off pretty well! It was also the day the kindergartners were rewarded with their banana split party. For weeks now they've been working to learn how to spell a list of more than 30 first grade words. The more they learned the more toppings they earned!

MISMATCH DAY!!

Probably the thing that made today the most special was that Papa was in town. We didn't want Nicole to miss school today so Papa (and Mommy and Allyson) went to her class and read the kids a story.

It wasn't long before Allyson spotted her sister and decided to join the group.

Then it was time to line up for lunch.

On the way to the cafeteria.

Watching Dad squeeze onto the kid-sized benches was one of the funnier things I've ever seen.

Nicole was called to the front to be recognized for receiving a "Happy Husky." Happy Huskies are awards any teacher or staff member can give to kids for catching them doing something good. In the background you can hear Dad telling Allyson that Nicole was receiving an award. Then you hear him say, "Where are you going?" It wasn't until I saw her little hairbows in the viewfinder that I realized Allyson went up to find her sister.

After lunch the kids take a lunch walk.

After school Papa and Nicole worked on puzzles and then she suckered him into playing the Horton game. He was thrilled.

That evening we went to the mall, to Andy's (of course) and came home to watch "Despicable Me." What a great day!