more fickle & larky...

...from our past few days:

***

we have this thing where we will sing songs while i am driving. one of our favorites is "i love my ______ & my ________ loves me". the blanks could be "momma', "sister", "wrenner", "daddy", "neanea", etc. the little song's last line is "i'm going to give him/her a __________". the original words are "a big hug". but here are some of the recent fill-ins: "great big tuba" (by wren", "little doggie named ruby" (by linnea). but my favorite from last week was this one by linnea: "i love my daddy and my daddy loves, my daddy loves me! i love my daddy and my daddy loves me, i'm going to give him a wren's white kitter to plunder!" (nearly every night, the daddy will take one of the girls' favorites stuffies, usually it is wren as he gets the biggest reaction from her...) and places it on his shoulder and says "plunder!")

***

when told to eat her potatoes during our valentine's day dinner on friday evening, linnea politely answered that her potatoes "did not want to go to the party in her tummy". (that's a "go gabba gabba" reference for those of you without a toddler...). do you think she had to eat those potatoes?

***

this happened a number of days ago, but still makes me laugh: president obama mispronounced "corpsman" as "corpse-man"numerous times during a prayer breakfast. (not that i myself have not mispronounced a word or two when i read scripture...)

***

opening ceremonies of the olympics: one word: amazing! we all enjoyed watching in its entirety. well, the girls did not make it much past the first few team marches, so they missed the parts they would've enjoyed the most...that were my favorite moments: sarah maclachlan's performance of "ordinary miracle". she has long been one of my all-time favorite musical artist! then there was kd lang's beautiful & haunting rendition of leonard cohen's "hallelujah"...i had forgotten what a deep, rich range kd has! and that song is a favorite of mine...whether it is an accoustic cover by jeff buckley, or by american idol contestant jason castro, or my friends jill & jeremy's basement version, or the versions played in "shrek" or on tv shows such as "the west wing", "er", "the oc". i am (obviously) a big fan!

***

the girls were playing together downstairs earlier and they came stomping upstairs "for more things"...and linnea came to tell me that they were playing "mythbuster girls". perhaps i need to put an ix-nay on some of the daddy shows they watch with him??

***

wren got invited to her first boy friend's birthday party (please note that is "boy friend" as in a friend who is a boy; not a "boyfriend"...we will not be even joking about that for at least 20 years okay?) last week. and she was concerned that her sister would feel left out at the bouncy-house place...so she took it upon herself to ask the boy's mom if her sister could bounce, too. luckily i was within earshot and explained to the mom what wren meant...and luckily for linnea, the mom said she could come and bounce too! so, i guess i should've started this paragraph by saying that "both girls got invited to...", huh? and, yes, linnea brought the birthday boy a gift, too.

***

this morning while watching a show with the girls, there was a commercial for a new barbie...it is called "barbie potty training pups". yep, you and barbie can potty train these little pups...after feeding them a bottle of water...oh my! since we have a real dog, i am certain that is one barbie that need not come to our home!

saying good-bye...

...to the ballet at the rose theater.

the current ballet, "the rainforest", will be the last ballet to perform at the rose. the girls & i will miss the ballet there. one of the best things about taking dance lessons through the rose...is that the girls got to see their teacher on stage! they loved that! and, at the end of the dance year, their showcase is held at the rose...and they get to dance on the same stage! totally awesome!

luckily, the ballet is not gone from omaha...

no, i did not forget...

...about

this

girl!

a tutorial...

this is the girl who inspired the craftiness:

(she's five, in case you did not know this...or have not read my previous posts...or you live under a big ole rock...ahem)

these were the "princesses" that helped a certain 5-yr-old celebrate that milestone:
and these are the supplies needed to complete the craftiness. oh, and a couple hours of my time one afternoon:
this is how ruby, the dog, helps.

close your eyes and imagine hearing some snoring.

and, this is how puddy mcfluffkins, the cat, helps. he sits on the tissue paper.

and then he turns his back on ya after you take his photo. and yell "shew! away!" to no avail.

then he brings a paw up as to say, "talk to the paw, cuz the face don't wanna hear it!"

"hey, do you think i'm moving? just cuz you asked?"

and, then, he will give you this. on your new carpet!

cuz nothing says "help" like half eaten tissue paper and cat slobber. on the steps to the basement. well, i suppose cat yak would be worse kind of help...but i digress.

but, results, when you are all done:

beautiful!

so pretty!

stunning!

the 5-yr-old loves these so much she wants to hang from her ceiling in her room. if i ever decide to take them down, that is.

and the adult guests will ask where you found these gorgeous paper flowers that are all over. and they'll want to know if they were expensive.

and you'll answer: "i made them. i spent a whopping 6 bucks on paper and a couple hours of my time..."

to sleep, per chance to dream...

a 5-year-old's new room:

she's five...

gotta hold on easy as i let you go

gonna tell you how much i love you

though you think you already know

i remember i thought you

looked like an angel

wrapped in pink so soft and warm

you've had me wrapped around

your finger since the day you were born...

(wren & momma - 02/03/05)
***

you're beautiful baby from the outside in

chase your dreams

but always know the road

that'll lead you home again

go on, take on this whole world

but to me you know

you'll always be, my little girl...

(wren - one year)
***
when you were in trouble
that crooked little smile
could melt my heart of stone
now look at you,
i've turned around
and you've almost grown
sometimes you're asleep
i whisper "i love you"
in the moonlight at your door
as i walk away,
i hear you say, "daddy love you more"...
(wren - age 2)

(wren & mousey - age 2)

***
you're beautiful baby from the outside in
chase your dreams
but always know the road
that'll lead you home again
go on, take on this whole world
but to me you know
you'll always be, my little girl...

(wren - age 3)

(wren & mousey - age 3)

***
someday, some boy will come

and ask me for your hand

but i won't say "yes" to him

unless i know, he's the half

that makes you whole,

he has a poet's soul,

and the heart of a man's man

i know he'll say that he's in love

but between you and me

he won't be good enough

(wren & mousey & coco-cupcake - age 4)

***
you're beautiful baby from the outside in

chase your dreams

but always know the road

that'll lead you home again

go on,

take on this whole world

but to me you know

you'll always be, my little girl...

***

all our love to

our dearest wren mariann!

(lyrics from "my little girl", tim mcgraw)

ninety...

this is ralph morse.

he is my husband's grandfather.

on january 25th, he celebrated his 90th birthday!

and his family and friends gathered to honor him on the day before.

the next photo is my husband & our daughters with his grandparents.

this is arlene morse.

wife to ralph.

and she is my husband's grandmother.

and another photo of what 90 looks like...

looks pretty darned good, huh??!!
happy 90th, grandpa!
(i think he and grandma had a lovely day!)