A Thorn Among Roses

i'm not the made from scratch mom, but my girls love a little dump, stir and bake action. there's so much help sometimes... the excitement is almost, well, unconfined! {she takes after her father's side...he he he} jada is a natural born chef or "cooker" as she often refers to herself.  she glows in delight when she is in the kitchen. {see what i mean about the father's side?  hmmm?} and what does brooke do while the other girls cook?  chill and wait for the baking to be done.

one of the best things about having little girlies is that they LOVE to help in the kitchen and baking is the master of bonding mommas and kids world round! i'm certain that in jada's adult life, food prep will be involved.  this girl loves food and anything meticulous {which i hate} she loves to do in the kitchen! brooke is the "engineering" mind in the kitchen...why does this work this way and how many cookies can i fit on this roll out. and sofia...well, she's the cute end of the deal who just eats. we prepped and baked...and laughed along the way... they did a really great job...i mean, wow! and jada says, "mom, take my picture with the cookies because i am the best cooker in the world and i want to remember it." and in typical form, my blood sugar went low, hubs popped in at the end to help and he got in the pics with the girlies. so much fun!!!  and i love that in spite of us not being gourmets, we make the best rolled cookie dough cookies ...

we love to decorate around these parts at christmas time...and there seems to be no lack of helpers, either! but when my SIL meg { www.megandtheboys.blogspot.com } comes from colorado to visit, there's even more help...and way more fun to go along with it! it was a "new tree" look this year...and boy, was it fun!!! it all started with my desire to have a tree that looked like the girlies...hot pink and green...and it took off!!! walmart delivered with NON BREAKABLE ornaments that were super fab and cheap...spiced up a little with ribbon for hanging and...bazaam! and then, the FAIRIES!!!!  oh my word...the fairies!!!!  thank you tj maxx! there's always the "star" and how brooke fights to be the one to put it on...she won this year, again.  stinker. and somehow, there's still not a single pic of me with the fam or the tree...such is life. i did grab this super fab shot of the hubs...donning the garland. i'm pretty happy with it...i dream of th...

being a kid is awesome bc even when the parade in your home town for homecoming is totally lame, you think it's perfect... why?  bc you are with your friends... they throw candy...free candy!!! and when else do you get to scream and run around begging for people to give you a hat? why not?  and in the end...it's still fun bc it's YOUR hometown and that's what makes it fun.

the non-high school kiddos got wednesday off this week for teacher conferences...no school means kiddos whining around about not having anything to do and fighting over the tv and who can go where. enter my friend, stacy!!  she's awesome at little kid stuff...and the kids love it too. so we all headed over to a park close-by where they have an active archeological dig and tons of trails.   everywhere we walked, we were asking the girls if they could find stuff from the indians...and boy, did the creativity fly!!! limbs became canoe paddles, shells became food dishes, and the kiddos started really getting into it! i'm not much of a history buff, but there is a ton of indian artifacts and they have uncovered saber tooth tiger teeth and wooly mammoth horns, which is pretty cool. proving that kids are like their parents, jada's one question of the day after looking at the archeological finds.... "why would these indians break all their pretty stuff up and bury it in...

a few things me and the fam DID NOT do this last week... i DID NOT get what i've been asking for...i DID NOT have 4 scheduled shoots in 3 days and i am NOT thrilled to see that my work is really getting noticed...finallly. jada DID NOT say in the car on friday night, "have you noticed that i am the only brown person in this family?"   hubs DID NOT respond with, "jada, i believe i have the oddest part in this fam bc i am def the only man." i DID NOT add, "paige is the only one with a different last name, brooke is the only one with a bio baby brother, and sofia is the only one with a bio link to daddy and me.  i guess we're all just different.  and well, different is good.  different is us." i DID NOT have a total blast with 2 of my most fav high school girlies ever on a duo shoot saturday.  we DID NOT take an air conditioning break in the historical museum and fina all sorts of fun things, like wooden shoes the size of new hampshire! i also DID ...

i've always been the mom who never wanted their girls to be prissy or girly...but there are things i have learned with having 4 girlies...girls just like to be princesses.  it's something they are born with... any my girlies are no exception.  the other night, hubs and i got a "show" from b, jk and s...and you guessed it, it was a princess show. {and note...they are all smiling and loving each other.  that was the "show" part for us!} so the story goes...prince mickey kisses princesses tiana tiana is flabbergasted. mickey is hurt. the end.

i'm not gonna lie, i have to get almost to the yelling stage or i have to bribe my kids to get things done right.  it makes me frustrated and tired...and so i am trying a little something new.  diamonds. i am using hot pink diamonds as rewards that each girlie gets as reward for completing chores correctly.  i took popsicle sticks, wrote the chores on them and assigned a diamond rating...bc i'm cool like that...and when they complete the chore, bring me the stick and i review, they get the diamonds. and at the end of the week, there's reward store that open and they exchange their diamonds out {or choose to save them for bigger items} for goodies they have chosen to be on the list like candy necklaces, slushies, new packs of gum, etc...and NO TOYS. it seems to be working, bc i have some busy bees... and you can never be too young or beautiful for diamonds...and chores. and you can dress the way you want...like a desperate housewife... but in the end, it's all about the ...