It's SPRING Break!!

At least, it is supposed to be SPRING. Someone forgot to tell the weatherman though - they are forecasting a massive cold front tomorrow, the first day of Spring, and 4 - 8 inches of snow in the next 24 hours after that! UGH!

Well, we are enjoying the warm weather while it lasts. We actually had plans to be skiing for spring break, but after Amy Sr.'s death, we decided that spending time with our family would be more appropriate, so that's what we did.

Sunday, the day of the funeral, was absolutely beautiful. The dads took the cousins out for some farm exploring to the big pond, where they enjoyed tossing things into the pond and plowing through the woods. Here's Gracie and Will making a tractor stop on the way home:
After that they headed to the park for more fun - getting all worn out for the babysitter! Maggie took her role as older cousin seriously, watching over Carissa - not that little Miss Independent needed watching over! Here they are on the slide:

It's amazing how fast they grow up - I seriously have trouble remembering when Maggie was two - it was so long ago.

Amy Sr.'s service was beautiful. It was fairly small - for the visitation as well. I guess that's the hazard of living 91 years - there's not many of your peers left to come to your funeral. We sang her favorite songs. One was "There's Just Something About That Name." Amy Sr. had told me ever since I started taking piano lessons that she wanted that song at her funeral. I've played and sung that song a million times, but it was hard to sing it at her service.

We headed back home on Wednesday, stopping by to see GGma, who was back to her usual self. She's got her fancy new walker, which she calls her "hobby horse" and seems to be moving around pretty good.

Thursday we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head down to the local nature park. At the visitor center they have a bunch of walking sticks that you can "borrow" for your visit - the girls chose two that had little loafers attached to the end of them. They got lots of comments as we walked the trails:

We came to a creek that the girls had played in during a trip last summer, but the water was cold, so we didn't wade across - although I'm sure Gracie would have if we had let her. Jerry mentioned how as a kid he had enjoyed playing in the creek. Gracie was amazed that he had come up from Texas to play in the creek here in Oklahoma. He clarified that it was not this particular creek, but one near his house. Gracie thought about that awhile and then said, "That was a long time ago, before there were swimming pools, right?"

Here's another shot of my pre-teen (that moan you just heard was Jerry - he gives this little moan of despair every time someone calls her a pre-teen.) Isn't it amazing how grown-up she is looking these days?

Olga Mozelle Cleveland Randolph

September 1, 1918 - March 10, 2010

Olga Mozelle Cleveland Randolph, 91, beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, grandmother and friend to many, passed away Wednesday, March 10, 2010, in Weatherford, Texas.

Mozelle was born in Acton, Texas, on Sunday, September 1, 1918, to Courts and Olga Cleveland. She started school at Acton, Texas, in September 1923 at the age of five years. She graduated from Stripling High School in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 29, 1934, at the age of fifteen. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Texas Wesleyan College, where she was chosen Class Beauty and May Queen in 1938. She graduated from TWC on May 29, 1938, having not missed a single day of school.

Mozelle married Robert Brown "Randy" Randolph on September 3, 1938, in Fort Worth, Texas, and honeymooned in Galveston. They made their first home in Sanger, Texas. They had three children, Suzanne, Jane and Robert.

She attended North Texas Teachers College and received her Masters of Arts degree in Elementary Education in August 1949 and taught for the Fort Worth Independent School District until 1971.

Mozelle and Randy returned to Acton around 1968 and were involved in the cattle business. Mozelle was a member of the Acton United Methodist Church where she was baptized as a baby and was a long time choir member, and a member of the 50/50 Sunday School class. she enjoyed going to Sunday School in the same small white chapel where she was baptized. She was an involved member of the community, serving with many groups such as the Hood County Beautification society, The Melody Belles, the DeCordova Bend Rockettes, Granbury Women's Wednesday Club, DCBE Board of Directors, and the Granbury Chamber of Commerce.

In her spare time Mozelle enjoyed golfing, bridge, dancing, singing and fellowship with friends and family. She was also an avid traveler. Her many trips included Hawaii, Alaska, the Orient, Europe, Africa, Australia, Egypt, Israel, the Mediterranean and much more.

Dinner Conversations

Okay, tonight the girls and I were eating without Jerry, as this is the night that he goes to Bible Study. This usually means a fairly quiet meal, as Jerry almost always finishes his meal first and spends the rest of the dinner time doing something to agitate the girls. It drives me mad.

Anyway, tonight it was just us girls, so I was expecing an uneventful dinner. However, as we began eating the conversation turned to . . . poo. Yes, that's right, my girls started discussing the finer points of poo. And not the kind from Tarleton State University either. I quickly moved to put the conversation to an end and stated in no uncertain terms that poo was not acceptable dinner conversation. The table grew quiet, and then. . .

"You know what's neat about snot?" My youngest began.

"ARGGH!!" I interjected. "NO! No poo, no snot, no bodily functions will be discussed at dinner!"

Another thing to put on the list of things I never thought I'd say.

Journey to Oz

Well, the journey to Oz is complete. Here is Maggie, singing with her fellow munchkins:

So that every child had an opportunity to sing a solo, play an instrument, or have a speaking part, there were multiple Dorothy's, Scarecrows, Tin Men and Lions. There were also a couple of Glendas:

There was only one Mayor of Munchkin City, and he was dedicated to his part. He had been practicing his best munchkin voice diligently for the occasion, and he was a hit:

Here's one of the Lollipop Guild:

And the one and only Wicked Witch of the West. She is in my Girl Scout Troop as well, and has been in several community plays. She knows all about throwing herself into character!

Here's Maggie, singing her brief duet part:

And dancing for joy that the Wicked Witch is dead:

Now that the play is over, I wonder how long it is going to take for me to stop singing Wizard of Oz songs. I had one of the songs running through my head while I was making dinner, and kept humming it aloud. Maggie asked "Is that song was stuck in your head?"

I replied, "Yes, it is, and I wish I could get it out of there!"

At that Maggie and Gracie began singing, "It's a small world after all. . . It's a small world after all. . . It's a small world after all, it's a small, small world."

It worked, but I'm not sure that song is any better!

Munchkin Mania

This has been the week of Munchkin Mania around here. See, Maggie's class is doing their annual program this week. They have selected The Wizard of Oz as their program. Maggie's class will be playing the part of the Munchkins. We got a letter home several weeks ago saying that she would need a costume, and to be creative, and get ideas from the movie. Now, I haven't seen the movie in a long, long time, and it's not exactly a title that you can run down to the Redbox and expect to find. Still, I'm thinking something cute, colorful, and not too involved. How hard can it be?

Fast forward to last weekend, when we go to Houston to see Aunt Amy and family, and Maggie gets a copy of The Wizard of Oz for her birthday. We all gather round the TV, Amy puts in the disc, and we begin the journey to Oz. When the munchkins come out of hiding, all the male munchkins are wearing cute, colorful, simple outfits. But look at what the girl munchkins are wearing:
They are all dressed in elaborate dresses with poufy sleeves, peplums and aprons. A feeling of mild panic overtakes me as I look for anyone dressed in sweats with polka-dots. A little help here!?! It's okay - I still have a week, right?

Except I had a birthday party to plan and execute. And a sinus infection. And the laundry piled sky high.

So, it's Tuesday morning, the day we are supposed to have the costume to the school, and I have nothing. Not even an idea.

I got home from BSF and re-read the note. In addition to looking at the movie, they suggested googling munchkin costumes. I did. There are three, not counting anything that had the word "sexy" in the title, thank you very much. But this one gave me hope:

So at 12:30 I headed out - Goodwill, Old Navy, Hancock Fabrics and Hobby Lobby, here I come.

Back home by 2:30. I start out with this:

And my trusty friends - My 1970's (or earlier, not really sure, it's a hand-me-down from my grandma) era Viking sewing machine:

And my handy-dandy glue gun:

Using the classic "lay something on the felt and cut around it" method I create a skirt:

And embellishments for a shirt:

And three hours later, we have this:

Whew.

Can you tell I love my babies?

The Big One-Oh!

It is hard for me to believe, but Maggie's age is now in double-digits. If you had told me ten years ago that I would be where I am today, and tried to explain to me the joys and trials of parenting a child to ten years of age, I would not have believed you. Yet, here we are. On the morning of Maggie's birthday she climbed into my bed for a snuggle pretty early and we laid there for awhile marveling at her advanced age. Eventually she decided to get up and say good morning to her Daddy, Mimi and Pepaw, who were in the kitchen. As she was getting up she moaned, "I can't believe I'm the big TEN-OH! Somebody bring me a cane!" Poor baby!

I was really blessed that Mimi and Pepaw had decided to come for the party this weekend, for I was sorely behind on party preparations. Maggie had decided a few weeks ago that she wanted a cat party because of some u-paint-it kitty bobblehead party activity in a catalog. The bobbleheads were so expensive, I convinced her that we could find an alternative, but we still got the kitty plates and such. We had looked at several local stores for alternative activities, but hadn't actually purchased them. Therefore, on the day of Maggie's birthday and party, I still had a to-do list as long as several of my arms, and only the two arms God gave me. Luckily, Mimi and Pepaw were happy to lend me theirs. They took the girls to Wal-Mart and one of them took Gracie one way to get her sister a gift, while the other took Maggie to the party supply aisle and finished the party shopping.

Meanwhile back at the house I was making kitty cat cupcakes. I had found a cute kitty cat cupcake idea in a book called Hello Cupcake! at Hobby Lobby. Of course, I didn't snap it up the minute I saw it - I went back home to get my coupon. By the time I got back, the book was gone. I ended up having to go to another Hobby Lobby to get it. Lesson learned - I probably burned more gas than I saved using the coupon. Next time, just get it! The cupcakes were decorated with candy items - I went to seven stores to find the right candy, and finally gave up on black licorice laces and just used icing. I am a dedicated (read: anal) mother! Anyway, here's the resulting cupcakes:

I got to use my cupcake tower, although I couldn't fill it up entirely - the ears kept getting in the way! Still, it was cute. . .

We replaced the bobblehead activity with painting a regular (no bobble) kitty or puppy figurine. As the guests arrived, they selected their figurine and then sat down to paint.

These girls were focused!

After the figurines, each girl decorated a triangle for our next game - Pin the Party Hat on Bad Kitty!

It's our tradition, after all.

Next the girls played Cranium Cariboo. My only regret is that our sleeper sofa is so heavy, we didn't have enough room to spread out without moving it, but moving it is almost enough to give three grown men a hernia, so it stayed put. It didn't hamper the girls victory "funky dance" moves:

After that it was time for cake and ice cream. Here's Miss Maggie after being serenaded and blowing out the candles:

After that, they were off the charts on their sugar highs - while Maggie opened presents the rest of the girls carefully shredded the wrapping paper and tissue into confetti and. . .

Let loose with a wild tissue fight!

Maggie said the tissue fight was her favorite part.

After that we took one last picture, and then everyone's parents arrived to take them home.

All in all, it was a successful birthday party.

For her now-mature, sophisticated palate, Maggie chose Cici's Pizza for her birthday dinner, followed by yogurt at the Orange Tree. She said that it was a wonderful birthday, and it was. All good, no meltdowns, no drama, and not even any bickering about whether or not her sister could touch/look at/play with the new toys. Is this what double-digits brings? Life is good!

Now I wonder what the next ten years holds. . .

Questions from the Backseat

One thing Jerry and I have learned is that we always need to be on our toes when it comes to questions from the girls as we are driving down the road. For instance, on a recent Sunday, Gracie's voice pipes up from the backseat:

"Momma, what's hail?"

"Well. . ." I start, formulating my best answer on meteorology when she continues,

"You know, where you go if you don't go to heaven."

"Oh! Well, first off, I know we've been in Oklahoma for awhile, but the word is hell, not hail. Rhymes with bell, like a jingle bell. Okay? Well, the Bible says it is a lake of fire. . ." and we are off, briefly discussing all her questions about hell in the two miles we drive to church.

After church we get in the van to go home and Gracie's inquisitive voice comes again from the backseat:

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure." I reply, taking a deep breath and waiting to see what weighty subject we have now.

"What color is a burp?" Gracie asks.

"Ummm. I don't know. I guess I imagine it's a greenish-yellow color." I reply, hesitatingly.

"No," she says gleefully, "It's BURPle!!!"

You just never know what's coming next. . .

A New Year. . .

Well, here it is, 2010. And not even the first month of 2010. Somehow, the first month has already passed me by. Sigh. So much for slogans like "Blogging again in 2010!" or "A Blog Entry A Day Keeps the Boredom Away!" or any other such nonsense.

Usually I love the beginning of a new year. It's such a great time to take stock of the last year, and have a fresh start for whatever you want to accomplish. This year, however, was somewhat different. Normally I start the year out by looking at the results of last year - seeing how I did on the ten resolutions that I made for the previous year, re-reading my journal for the last year, and usually those activities make me feel pretty good. Not this year. This year I did not accomplish even ONE of my resolutions for last year. And lest you think I was too hard on myself, some of my resolutions were: To do something for myself (massage, manicure, etc.) once a quarter. Or how about this toughie: To try a new restaurant once a quarter.

Since I didn't even manage those I certainly don't want to tell you what my ambitions were for my exercise program or scrapbooking or keeping up with my correspondence. Let me assure you though, they were doable, I just didn't do them. Then there was looking back at the past year. I must say, where I am this January looks remarkably like where I was last January. Depressing. So, here it is, February 1, 2010, and I have not made a single resolution for the new year. Zip. Zero. Nada. Zilch. And you know what. . . I think it's going to stay that way. How's this for a slogan: "2010 - The Year I Give Myself a Break!" Hmmmmm.... Catchy!

Now to catch you up - Christmas was good. We were in Texas at my in-laws, where they got several inches of snow on Christmas Eve afternoon/night. The first white Christmas DFW had seen in 80+ years, and we were there to witness it. Even though the snow wreaked havoc with uncle Aaron's travel arrangements, Santa managed to find us in Texas, and brought the girls scooters and other things. Maggie lost no time diving into her "Do It Yourself Diary of a Wimpy Kid":

And Legos hit Gracie's happy button. You could see the joy in her eyes. . . if only you could see her eyes. Oy, it's taking forever for these bangs to grow out!!!

Gracie and Pepaw headed out to play in the snow and managed to scrape up a snowman before the snow melted:

It didn't take long for the roads to clear though, and we headed to Granddad and Nana's house where there were several new kids that needed to be bottle fed three times a day. Maggie and Gracie were only too happy to help Nana out with this chore, even asking to be woken up at six o'clock in the morning so they wouldn't miss an opportunity to feed them. Here's Maggie holding the littlest goat - she has a goat coat because it's pretty cold out there!

And here's a bottle feeding in all its glory:

Pretty soon Jerry and I headed back up to Oklahoma City, where they had gotten twelve inches of snow on Christmas Eve, and there was still plenty of it hanging around. The worst of the driving was getting through our neighborhood. The snow had drifted against our garage door, and we ended up using the van as a snowplow to get in. The next day I shoveled the drive using our box blade garden shovel. I hurt for a week. I thought it was finally time to get a snow shovel - so when they were back in stock, we did. I thought this would be insurance against further snow this year, but - as you will see - no such luck.

When the girls got home on New Year's Eve there was still plenty of snow around. They immediately went into the back yard to play with the snow - the only problem was that the snow was so dry, it wouldn't pack into snowballs. We ended up getting a spray bottle to wet the snow so we could have a snowball fight. Maggie persevered and eventually made a very small snowman of her own:

We went back to school, work, etc. and eventually the weather warmed up a bit. We had a good time celebrating Jerry's birthday, and got into the swing of Girl Scout Cookie Sales. Gracie has been particularly gung-ho about this. The first weekend we sold cookies, she was riding her new scooter from house to house when she hit a bump and went down hard. She scraped up her chin pretty good, and let out enough hollers to get Jerry down the street to help handle the situation. Still, she was back on the scooter that afternoon, selling cookies.

Fast forward to the next weekend, when she rings a doorbell, a man answers the door, and his ferocious mini terrier-type dog comes out snarling and barking and bites her on the ankle. Wow! In all my years of cookies, that was a first. Pandemonium ensued, I took her home, we cleaned the wound and realized that yes, she had in fact been bitten, and it did break the skin. We went back over there, and I rang the doorbell while she stood at a distance and I asked the dog's owner about his shots and so forth. Eventually Gracie did walk up (the dog was not there) and asked the lady, "Can't you teach your dog to be nice?" Still, she wanted to go sell more cookies that afternoon. What a trooper!

Last week we got the news - more snow on the way. It was supposed to start on Thursday, late morning, so they didn't have school that day. It rained all day, and then sleeted about 1/2 inch that evening, making things slick for the next morning. The next morning though, it started snowing - and didn't stop until way into the evening. We went out while it was still snowing and sledded down the hills with some neighborhood friends, but it was really coming down - no challenge at all to catch snowflakes on your tongue - just open up and say "AH!" I couldn't even get a decent picture - too many snowflakes:

Once it stopped though, it was just beautiful:

although I'm not sure the herbs will pull through this winter:

I was glad it was a Saturday though - that meant I had help shoveling the driveway, which was a real challenge considering the 1/2 inch of sleet that fell before the snow. It took Jerry and I about four hours to clear the drive and walkway, even with our new show shovel (and the garden shovel, and a pitchfork to break the ice!)

Even though, the streets were still icy enough that they cancelled school today (Monday) and now they've cancelled it for tomorrow. That makes four snow/ice days and one day they closed just because it was so cold. So I guess that means that we will have to come back to school after Memorial Day. Rats! I was hoping to kick off the summer with a nice long weekend trip, but I guess that's out!

Today the birds, specifically the robins, being ravenous from everything being under the snow, found our bumper crop of holly berries on the bushes next to our front walk. There were so many of them, it looked like a scene from The Birds - except with robins. There must have been at least 25 of them. I took a few pictures of the large flock, but my camera was set wrong and they turned out as big black blobs. By the time I got the camera adjusted, they had flown off to my neighbor's holly. Still, I got this one shot:

The other thing that caught my eye were these icicles hanging outside my guest room window. They are right above the dryer vent, and I've been doing laundry all day. I'm not sure if the heat from the vent is the cause of this, but look how twisted these icicles are - they look like little fingers reaching down:

Very interesting. I love to wander around and look at all the snow and ice sculptures that Mother Nature has made these past few days - if only it wasn't so danged cold! Oh well. I guess it comes with the territory.

Well, I guess that's it for now - I better go get ready for a fun-filled day with the girls again tomorrow - but please, oh please, let the sun shine tomorrow!

Catching Up

'Twas the day before Christmas,

Sitting before my blog,

Months have gone by

And my memory's a fog.

What's happened around here

Since my October update?

A whole lot of stuff,

Too much to relate.

First there was Halloween

With candy galore

Pocohontas and Elizaeth Cole

Graced our door

Next came the leaves

They fell and fell.

I raked them up

And began to yell:

"Someone bring me a bag!"

But there were none to be had,

So the girls had lots

Of leaf fun instead.

Soon Veteran's day

Came to our school

The Girl Scouts thought

A Flag Ceremony would be cool

So we put on our vests

And answered the call

We did our best

I was proud of them all.

Next came Thanksgiving,

Time to hit the road.

We saw GGma with everyone,

Eighteen relatives, all told.

The next day was a test

of patience and grace

To get a Christmas card photo

With no pouty face.

Once the photo was taken

It was time to relax

We headed out to the stock pond

to relax to the max.

The catfish were crafty,

Sneaky and quick,

Gracie caught one,

Maggie just caught a stick.

Once back home

A project had to be made

A red panda habitat -

Maggie got a good grade

We also had fun

building gingerbread houses,

With loads of candy

the girls nibbled like mouses.

We celebrated at Church

Rang bells and sang too,

Happy Birthday Jesus,

We love you!

We know in our hearts

He's the reason for the season

But we saw Santa too -

We don't think that's treason.

Once last stop at the mall

to see cool Legos

the girls could have played for hours

except we said, "Let's go!"

We have to pack

and be on our way

So we drove to DFW

and here we will stay

For the snow's coming down

all over the road

and for right now,

my story is told.

Have a Merry, Merry Christmas!!!

Yes, yes, I KNOW!!!

Okay - I am aware that I skipped an entire month without blogging. I've already been lectured, and I know I need to catch you up - and I will. The next 10 days, however, are solidly booked. I'm sure you know what I mean. Check back after the New Year, and I promise, I'll catch you up!

Merry Christmas!!!!