Can you find

Kennedy is my neat, organized child.  Taylor is my hoarder not as neat and organized child.  However, she knows what she has and where it is...most of the time.  Okay, maybe she doesn't know exactly where it is unless it is important to her.  You might ask, "How do you know if it's important to her?"  Well, I'm going to show you.  These are Taylor's important things. 

Can you find the following items? I've included some up-close photos of the same pile below.
Christmas Jingle Bell bracelet, pink and white mechanical pencil, Hubba Bubba Bubble Gum, 2 black/white checked socks, 2 green/white frog socks, 1 yellow checked sock, tic tacs, 2 pink plastic bracelets, Build A Be@r MP3 player, empty make up case with mirror, 2 black tennis shoes, 3 varying shades of pink lip gloss, Halloween flashing necklace, 2 garden gloves with the fingers cut out, 5 unused (thank you, Jesus) band-aids, 2 half star shaped plastic mystery items, container of miniature office supplies, black plastic bracelet with broken cross pendant tied to it with random string, 3 pens, 1 unsharpened pencil, 2 Abby Cadabby Halloween shoes, paper lady bug, Gold Bond lotion, lid to GB lotion, Eucerin lotion, lid to lotion, purple note pad, 2 hair clips, heart shaped eraser, purple pony,silly band, random cut out papers, "Hamster" on a piece of paper, and Valentine ribbon

Oh, and I also found her "Take Home Folder" in her backpack tonight!

Laugh and Cry

Many of you have heard of a dear lady in our lives that we refer to as Memaw.  Memaw is "bless her heart" precious.  In case you don't know the language of East Texas, that means that Memaw is a good person who loves my children more than life itself, but she can drive me insane!

We've been trying to make it to Longview to see Memaw since early February.  Remember that day I vomited in Chad's truck...yep, supposed to go see Memaw.  Remember that weekend Kennedy had the flu...yep, supposed to go see Memaw.  So, I decided that while we were out of school for spring break, we'd have Memaw over to our house for a night.  Based on my desire to sleep and some already scheduled appointments, I strategically scheduled Memaw's visit for a night/morning when I knew I had to have the dog to the groomer at 7:30 AM.  Yes, without fail, Memaw is up and ready to love the kids to death by 7AM.

So, Monday afternoon the girls and I went to Longview to pick up Memaw from her apartment with the intentions of her spending one night.  The older girls wanted to go to the movies, so we were going to do that Tuesday when we returned Memaw back to Longview.  But, as we were leaving, she told her sweet neighbor that she would be back on Wednesday, Thursday, or even Friday.  Uh...really?  Well, OK.  We can compromise with Wednesday.  I had no intentions of spending my entire spring break entertaining Memaw.  Well, mostly I had no intentions of getting up at the crack of dawn every day of my spring break.

So, Monday evening we all had great fun.  Blake LOVES Memaw.  It took Blake all of about five minutes to realize that if she even thinks she might whimper in the next three seconds that Memaw will pick her up and talk to her.  Tuesday, I took Blake to preschool with Mimi, left Kennedy and Taylor home with Memaw, and took myself to the dentist.  On the way home, I decided that we could go to the zoo.  I called home to tell the girls to get dressed and be ready to go so we'll have plenty of time for the zoo.

When I got home, I was surprised to see that Memaw was ready to go AND had gathered her belongings.  Here's our conversation

Memaw:  I thought that you could just take me home today and save yourself a trip tomorrow.

Me: I thought we were going to the zoo.

Memaw:  Kennedy said the zoo is in Tyler. 

Me:  It is.  Am I taking you to back to Tyler (because she's got her things and Chad's parents live in Tyler)?

Memaw:  Well, I just thought that after the zoo you could take me home so you wouldn't have to make a special trip tomorrow.

Me:  Are you going to Ann and Richard's?

Memaw:  (quite irritated) I just thought it would save you a trip to take me home today.

Me:  Memaw, you don't live in Tyler.

Memaw:  Where do I live?

Me:  Longview

Memaw:  Oh, I don't even know where I live anymore

Obviously Memaw has some memory issues going on.  Yes, she is taking medicine.  Yes, she is safe where she lives.  Yes, she did live in Tyler before she moved to Longview three years ago. 

Now, I'm not making fun of Memaw, but you have no idea how funny this experience really was.  She is the same Memaw who walks around my house with the "white glove" attitude.  She continuously cleans, sweeps, picks, pokes, and drives me up the wall.  She tells the same stories over and over again.  She is "bless her heart" precious.  You can't help but love her, but she can make you CRAZY! 

As a family, we laughed about this experience with Memaw.  The alternative was to cry because it really is sad.  But, in the big picture, Memaw is 84 years old and manages to take care of herself, love her family, and nourish a thriving friendship with a sweet neighbor.  If I can still do all that at 84 and I don't drive a car, who cares if I can't remember the name of the town where I live?

Picture updates

Here are some pictures from some of our family fun from the last few months....

You know the conversations that we've all heard about the third (or whichever)child who doesn't have the same caliber baby book, isn't as protected, etc. Well, we work hard to disprove this theory at our house. But, at the deer lease in January I took this picture. Look close. Yes, she is chewing on a rock. Yes,cutting teeth on a rock!

Later that same day, Iwas having a fun size Hershey bar when Blake took it upon herself to get a bite. After one small taste, she had to have it. I know it's not real healthy, but can't you see the pure joy in those eyes?

A few weeks back, we had a weekend with U-n-b-e-l-i-e-v-a-b-l-e weather. We are so blessed with kids and kids and more kids on our street. And, since we live on a dead-end street, they pretty much play in the street even though all of us remind them not to get in the street. Anyway, the boy (yes the ONE BOY) was on his side of the street shooting nerf darts at the girls (about 5 of them)on our side of the street. After discovering that he couldn't beat the girls, the little guy came on over and joined the girls.



The next picture is one of my favorites. When Taylor was about Blake's size, she fell in love with a book called Millie Moo. Now, four years later, Taylor is reading the same book to Blake.



Any recap of the highlights of the last few months must include the SNOW DAY!



The last few pictures were taken at Chad's mom and dad's house last month. It was a beautiful day outside. I tried to "play" photographer and accidentally got some neat shots of the girls.

Pa "resting" with Blake.



Taylor at the bottom of the pulley in the playhouse.





Kennedy on top of the playhouse sending "goods" down to Taylor.

Blake just looking super cute in the leaves.

Two of my favorite girls...wonder why I couldn't have one like this with all three girls?

I know, it's like the blog that never ends, but these are too funny. The first one is a picture that I thought was just too funny not to share. Aren't Chad and his dad just precious on the four wheeler?

But, when they came back toward me, I was able to see why they were so close and cuddly on the four wheeler.



We've been busy, but we've made great memories!