Drama Queen #2 turns FOUR!!!

My baby is no longer a baby. Or a toddler. She's a big girl. And she knows it.

It's cliche, but, wow, time flies! Seems like just yesterday I was rocking her and cuddling her and giving her butterfly kisses. Oh wait. That was yesterday.

For her 4th birthday party this past weekend, we had a BRIDAL BIRTHDAY PARTY on Memaw's back sun porch. It was a beautiful day for a porch party. I stole the bridal idea from Traci at livingthegoodlife5.blogspot.com She did it for one of her daughters and I thought it was the cutest idea. So, we copied and we had a blast!

Of course, the birthday girl was the bride and all of her friends were the adorable bridesmaids. They looked so cute in their fancy dresses and with their beautiful bouquets that I made myself! They colored wedding placemats, drank punch out of antique glasses, took photos with their pretty bouquets, shuffled through their wedding gift boxes, and ate some suuuuuuper good cake! It appeared that they all had a fantastic time. One day they'll look back on these days and be grateful that one of their friends had a mom that could steal the best ideas EVER! **Thanks Traci**

Here's the beautiful, elegant birthday BRIDE







Here is a group shot of the bride and all of her beautiful bridesmaids


The cake...courtesy of The Little Cake Company (Muskogee, OK)


My girls...Drama Queen #1 and Drama Queen #2


Happy birthday baby. We love you so much. You are getting so big. You are becoming a smart and beautiful little girl. And thank you to all the moms for bringing your girls to my daughter's special day.

Another milestone down...

The TIN GRIN.

It's gone.

(tear tear tear)

No more metal mouth. No more tin grin. No more brace face.

All that's left now is a ridiculously mature looking 8-year-old.

That smile I'd grown so warmly accustomed to is gone. She now has a correct bite and really pretty straight teeth. And she looks about four years older than she did yesterday morning. Ugghh! I hate it. And my husband....well, he said she's not allowed to go out in public anymore and that I have to pull her out of school and start home-schooling her. He's serious. He has PDD. "Protective Daddy Disorder."

So, here's my beautiful EIGHT YEAR OLD now.



One good thing that comes out of this whole thing. She gets to have braces AGAIN. Oh yeah. In about 4 years. So, in four years, when she IS 12, maybe she'll get her braces on and go back to looking like she's 8?? Maybe???

I can always hope.

"Yummy yummy that's a pizza pie"

(please read the below in a very sing-songy manner...)

"A pizza pie is made with dough and then we throw it...into the air.
Into the air!
Yeay! Soon, we'll add some sauce, and then some cheeses...and then we bake!
Just like a cake!
Yummy, yummy, that's a pizza pie!
Yummy, yummy, you toss me in the sky!
A pizza pie is very nice;
It's good to eat them by the slice!
Yummy, yummy, yum.
Baking pizza's so much fun!"

*that's the Elmo pizza song for all of you non-mothers*

My darling daughters and I made some home-made pizzas last night. They were super easy, mega fun, and exploding with robust flavor. Not really, but hey, keep reading anyways. I'll give you the how-to in case you and your punks want to make some brilliant Italian-cafe style biscuit pizzas (haha on the Italian-cafe style). But, honestly, they are affordable (cheap is such an ugly word), fun to make, and pretty tasty. Plus clean up is almost non-existent! Yippy! More time to do laundry or clean toilets.

Here are the items needed for your "pizza pie" (please note I'm a Great Value buyer. Same thing + lower price = super savings!)



(canned biscuits ("grand" ones are good, no butter flavored, get just PLAIN or Homestyle), pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni minis, or you could do hamburger or sausage or whatever toppings you wish. With older, less picky kids you can be really creative: pineapple, peppers, mushrooms, onions, etc.)

My daughters are simple. Cheese + pepperoni = YUMMY

First step: Bang your biscuit can as hard as you can against whatever surface you choose. Countertops work wonderfully. Make sure small children are out of the kitchen. Hopefully the can will slightly explode allowing the biscuits to escape. If not, throw the can away and call Pizza Hut.

No pic available here. I couldn't "bang" and "click" at the same time.

Second step: Separate your biscuits and place one on a plate. Roll them with a rolling pin, or if you lack such fancy household items, you can do what I did and smash it real good and flat with a spatula.



Next, spoon some pizza sauce onto your nicely smashed biscuit crust...



Add the cheeeeeese pleeeeeese...



Add your pepperoni or whatever topping you have chosen...



Transfer to cookie sheet (non-stick or spray with non-stick spray). Cook at whatever temp the biscuit can calls for and for around the time + or - a few minutes. Just watch them. When the cheese is melted through and your biscuit crust is good and golden - they're done! Remove, let cool slightly, and devour.

Here's one of the final products. This is pre-oven. Post-oven pics are not available - hungry mouths devoured the beautiful products before good ole' Mom could grab her Sony.

Sorry... blame my nerds.



Here's the wonderfully creative chefs behind this Italian masterpiece...





Hope your pizza pie creations are just as drool-worthy as our's were. If they aren't, I hope you don't have my number.

Drama Momma

I may be tootin' my own horn here, but I have to give credit where credit is due.

My daughter, age 3, has recently decided to venture into her own business. It's every woman's favorite place to be, every juicy rumor's birthing center, and every broom's worst nightmare. It's a SALON. She takes this job very very seriously. She tries really hard to give each customer exactly the "do" that they would love. The "do" that would get them noticed. The "do" that sets them apart from all the other "do's" in the city. The "do" that could land them a job, get them a man, or even cure a bad self-esteem. She's a magic-maker, a wish-granter, and a woman's best friend.

Now, with any talent, doing hair takes practice. That's where good ole' Mom comes into play. She has done her sister's hair. She has done her aunt's hair. She has done her grandma's hair. She's probably even done her boy cousin's hair. Well, last night she asked good ole' Mom if she could "Make my hair beautiful". Of course, I was much obliged.

This was the outcome. I was very pleased. I do think my "do" sets me apart from all the other moms in town. I do think my "do" helps my self-esteem, and I'm pretty sure my husband was totally appreciative of my new "do". He used the phrase "hot momma".

I call this a success!
(sorry, no make-up)



Here's the really great part of my new "do". The back! It shows so much individuality. And she used all my favorite colors!



She said last night, "If you wake up real early and wake me up, I can do your hair for you to go to work". I told her that wasn't necessary. A hairstyle that beautiful is meant for a night on the town where everyone can appreciate it, not for a lonely office suite.

**I have a feeling that statement will soon bite me in the butt.**

So, if you see me at Wal-Mart and I'm lookin' like a movie star, you'll know. I've been at the salon.

Let me know if you are interested in a "do" of your very own. She has some open appointments.

Stylin',
Drama Momma

Take my picture, take my picture

Here's some shots I took a couple weekends ago of Drama Queens #1 and #2 - PER THEIR REQUEST. It's before #1 had a softball tournament and she was fierce looking, or so she thought! Drama Queen #2 of course had to be in the shots too. Can't have one feeling less important or less picture-worthy.

I don't know if it's just my kids or every kid, but they love close-ups of their faces. Like they want to see up their noses or something. Or see how bad their eyebrows need tweezed. Not sure, but they like them as close as humanly possible, like so close that their heads look the size of watermelons. Who knows? It's probably just my weirdo strange kids.

Clooooooose up of #1 (she's been brushing good - no misc. gunk in the braces!)(and she has a neck tattoo - she wants to be a UFC fighter when she grows up. hahaha)


Clooooooose up of #2 (She has a rose tattoo. She wants to be a biker chick when she grows up!)


Here's both the drama queens in all their glory


The lighting in this one is a bit junky. I need to write a letter to Sony later today. Maybe they'll move the sun or maybe just pay for me some photograhy classes. :)


Hope you enjoyed. I'll let you know how it turns out with Sony.

Drama Momma

School lunches are AWESOME...

Do you remember your first day of third grade? I only somewhat remember mine. I remember I had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Carolyn Robertson. I remember I had on brand-spankin' new white Keds. I remember my hair had been rolled in sponge rollers the night before and I looked like a Texas pageant queen. I remember my best friend Brianne was in my class and I wanted to get there early and make sure that I got a seat right next to her, you know, so we could compare Keds. I remember that it was the highlight of the year. You got to see everyone's new school clothes, you got to hang out with friends you didn't see over the summer, and you got to eat those yummy school lunches. Okay, so the school lunches part is a lie. But still.

Well, my big girl experienced her first day of third grade last Thursday. She was very calm about the whole thing. She found out her teacher and she was very excited. She was excited about seeing her friends she hadn't seen over the summer, she was excited about her new class in a new grade, and she was excited about the school lunches (that's NOT a joke, my cooking could obviously use some work!). She says, "School lunches are awesome". Hmmm, I'm working on it, okay?!

This is my baby on her one and only first day of 3rd grade



She's letting her hair grow out. I think it looks beautiful!


These are her new "kicks". That's teen-slang for shoes for you old folk.
Let it be known that I'm a momma who let's her children make their OWN decisions! Thus...these shoes...


I hope her year in 3rd grade is as good or better than mine was. She's getting so big so quickly. It hurts me to the bone. Yep, all the way to the bone.

I love my daughters the most...

I love my daughters the most...

when they kiss me on my cheek

when they tell me they love me every night before bedtime

when they wrap their arms around their daddy's neck and kiss him on his cheek

when they laugh and giggle because someone made a sound that sounded like a toot

when they watch something so intently that you can just see their little minds expanding

when they ask so many millions of questions every day just so they can understand the big big world

when they take a bite of their supper and say, "Mom this is great. How did you make it?" And it was Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper

when they get their hair cut and they both think they look so old and mature

when they insist on buying a candy bar for me when their daddy takes them to Wal-Mart

when they watch movies together and both are sitting in the floor with their heads cocked to the side

when they play outside and then come in and bring me a basket full of locust shells

when they sing Taylor Swift songs and then immediately stop when they realize I'm watching

when they tell each other that they love each other

when they fight and then make up and get along for the next five whole minutes

when their little faces are glowing with joy on Christmas morning

when they play dress-up and insist on wearing my heels, my $70 black heels

when they play sports and I can cheer them on proudly

when they play outside and think that "sometimes it's okay to pee-pee outside" because "we do it when we're swimming"

when they wipe their snotty little noses with their brand new shirt

when they pass out from a long day's play in the recliner and we have to carry them to bed

when they leave money, bugs, shells, and rocks in the pockets of their pants

But do you know when I love my two daughters the most? When they make me smile more than I ever thought I could? When they can melt my heart without saying a word? When they can make everything in the world seem right at that exact moment? When all my worries fade and my frown always turns upside down? When they show me what wonderful, amazing, beautiful, smart little girls they are?


When they are sleeping!!!!!





Too bad it's only for 8 hours a night.

We saw a FINCH and a CAT!!!!!!!!!

Okay, so it wasn't a fuzzy, warm, shedding, litter-box using, hairball hacking, make you sneeze kind of cat. It was CAT OSTERMAN, pitcher for Team USA softball. And it wasn't an annoying, chirping, seed-eating feathery disaster of a finch either. It was JENNIE FINCH, pitcher and first baseman for Team USA softball. My daughter and our whole family are huge fans of these two players. Let me tell you, it was an amazing day. My daughter was amazed. We were all amazed!

Team USA played in Oklahoma City last weekend for the World Cup. They played countries like Australia, Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands. We went on Saturday, July 18th, PINK OUT for Cancer day. We all got free breast cancer Team USA hats. All of Team USA wore their PINK OUT uniforms in support of breast cancer research. It was a very awesome experience to say the least.

The crowd was just in one of those moods. Where there's so much adrenaline in the crowd you can just feel it. If the crowd were a softball, it would've burst at it's very red seams from an overload of adrenaline and anxiety. You could just feel it, in the air, in the screams, in the sweaty faces of the crowd. You could hear it in the voices that rang out loudly, "U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A" over and over again. You could hear the excitement and pride in the voices as Jenny Finch and Cat Osterman stepped to the plate. The crowd wanted to see something amazing, and we were definitely not let down! USA beat Canada 15 to 0 in 4 innings. Then later that night USA beat Japan 6 to 1.

Team USA took the title in the end to no great surprise. It was a victory. A sweet, sweet one.

Here's some pictures from our trip. This one is of some USA girls when they were warming up for the first game Saturday.


Here's the two girls (in my opinion) that could steal the show from any team, any group of players, ANY DAY! They are by far my 8-year-old's role models. And, I have no problem with that whatsoever. They are wonderful players as well as wonderful role models for young girls across the US playing the great game of softball. (They are the "cat" and the "finch" - Cat Osterman and Jennie Finch)



I thought this was great. They even made first base pink in support of the cause!



Here's a close-up of Jennie in her pink USA uniform. They looked great. Very inspiring.



After USA beat Canada (actually, thumped Canada), we headed to the ASA Softball Hall of Fame. It was great. It's a really great place to take young players for inspiration. Then we headed on over to I Love This Bar and Grill (Toby Keith's restaurant). The food was great, the service was great, and the prices were pretty average. I got a fried bologna sandwich (yeah, I know what you're thinking. I don't eat calf fries. Everyone ate them except me. Sorry!).
Here's Rae eating some St. Louis-style ribs. My hubby tied her napkin around her neck because she eats ribs like a lion eats it's prey! Scary! The girl gets ribs wherever we go!



Here's Jennie again in her regular USA uniform.



Here's the starters lined up in front of the dug out before the game.



Here's Cat throwing some heat to the Japanese players. (Please note Cat is #8 - same as my girl. We actually didn't pick #8 for that reason, but still...she loves Cat!)



To show you how fast Cat can throw, check this out. Her feet are off the ground during her wind up. Amazing!



Here's the look of intensity. And determination. Would you wanna be standing at the plate looking at that face? I think not!



Here's another close up of Jennie. My SIL was taking these pics for my hubby and my nephew. When you look at her, you know why. She's, ummm, photogenic and, ummm, the boys love her! My nephew and my husband were wiping drool from the corners of their hormonal mouths all day!



Here's another great player. Natasha Watley, short stop. She cranked one over the fence during the USA/Canada game and it was a GRAND SLAM baby! Only seeing it in person could you imagine the thrills and chills that it produced!



Another milestone happened while we were at the game. Raegan had made a Team USA sign and held it up during the USA/Japan game. She actually made it onto the HUGE Jumbotron at the field. So all of those thousands of people saw my baby holding her sign and screaming for Team USA! It was incredible!



We were a little disappointed at the end of the day. Team USA didn't sign any autographs and we really wanted some. But, hey, my girl did get her picture taken with two of the players from the Japanese team. They were hilarious. They had more energy than I've ever seen on a ball field. Here's two of the players with my daughter.

Here's Rae and Japan's right fielder, #1 Kasumi Karino.



Here's her with Japan's second baseman, #6 Naoko Matsumoto. She was really pretty and sweet.



The day was a blast. Me, my hubby, my 8-year-old softball-obsessed daughter, my SIL, and my nephew all had a wonderful time and can't wait to go again next year! We'd buy our tickets if they went on sale tomorrow. That's how great it was!

The day ended with us getting home around 1 AM or so. It was a long day but so worth it. Raegan will never forget it. I will never forget it.

My new friend. He's a rabbit. Or she's a rabbit?

We have a new friend at our house. It's Mr. Rabbit. Or Mrs. Rabbit. Not really sure either way. He/she won't let me get close enough to inspect! We'll call it Friend Rabbit since we don't know the gender just yet.

Friend Rabbit has been coming into our back yard a lot lately. Friend Rabbit sleeps under our trampoline where it's nice and shady. Friend Rabbit eats our grass, which is just fine with us. Friend Rabbit ignores our dog Jake and all of his excessive barking. Friend Rabbit lets me take some photos of him/her.





But, Friend Rabbit isn't really that friendly. At all. Friend Rabbit runs away very fast when I go near him/her.



Please come back Friend Rabbit. I swear I won't try to determine your gender! Honest!

"Not today Lord"

Do you ever have those days when you wake up and you just feel like you can't face the day? You are just too tired or too lazy, you might have had a long night, or whatever the case may be. You grab a cup of "joe" and wipe the sleepy from your eyes and then, when you sit in your living room recliner, you think "oh please, not today". Sometimes it's the weather. It can be dreary or rainy or cloudy or even just too darn cold to brave it. You know you need to get up and get around so you can get the kiddos off to school or get your fanny to work. You just can't conjure up a good enough amount of energy. No cappucino could do it. No eye cream can hide the dark circles under your eyes. No soul could talk you into it. Just not today.

What do we do on those days? We know better than to call in sick. We know better than to let the kiddos skip school. We know we have to do it, we just don't know how. It's so early and I'm so, so, so tired.

Maybe we all need an attitude adjustment. We all need to revert back to childhood. We all need to sometimes lower our maturity levels and look at the world through different EYES!



Sometimes crossed eyes!



Maybe we could take a lesson from our children. They always have enough energy. They are always brave and ready to face another day. They hardly ever complain. They don't get stressed out. And they NEVER need eye cream!

I think there's a lot we can learn from our crazy little people. Let's just sit back and observe.



Let's all vow that it's time to lower our maturity levels and just face the world with crossed eyes, a snotty nose, and little scraped up, dirty knees and elbows. Let's giggle more and pout less. Let's count our blessings and not our faults. Let's look forward to tomorrow and not dwell on yesterday. Let's get excited about the little things in life and not take them for granted. Let's go to bed each night knowing that tomorrow is a brand new day, and a whole new set of adventures are coming our way. And, sometimes, just sometimes, let's all pretend we're super heroes that are here to save the world.

Wouldn't that make getting up in the mornings so much more pleasant?

I think so.

"So many seeds, so little time"

"Though an old man, I am but a young gardener." (Thomas Jefferson)



Let me introduce you. This is Pawpaw. He's my Pawpaw by marriage, but still the same. He's 78 (and a half). And he gardens. If you've driven down the country roads in Wagoner, you've more than likely seen his garden. To me, it's magazine-worthy. At just the right time of early to mid-Summer, it's breathtaking. It's beautiful. It's abundantly green. It's wide and tall and massive in size. It's overflowing with ripe, delicious, home-grown, from the heart vegetables. It's HIS garden. It's one of the things, one of many, that this man is known for. He's known for his generosity, his back-breaking, callous-building hard work, his devotion to the Lord (as evident in his Sunday door greeting at the Assembly), his wood-whittling, for being a caring family man, and for his ability to produce from God's soil, a beautifully glorious garden.

These are some pictures from Pawpaw's garden.

This is what you see from the road. He sells his produce from home (since the Farmer's Market charges now-don't dare get me started on that), so if you're interested in home-grown fresh vegetables, let me know. I'll give you his address.


Pictures can do it no justice. The words just can't be spoken.






These are Memaw's sunflowers. One of my favorite things about Summer.




Seen here working with his "protege" (his grandson and my wonderful husband)




One day my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be so thankful for photographs like these. The photos who show who we really are.







He'll be 79 this year. He's strong and he's stubborn (thus not alot of face-forward photos). His name is Pawpaw. And he gardens.