A Thorn Among Roses

do this...remember tuesday! ...and please, just kick cancer's butt! enter at project create a home where we are giving away a handmade print from sarah jane studios.

one of the things that makes weight loss or food management hard for me is, well, food. i love me some good food. i don't mind working out. but i need my double chocoloate fudge in a waffle cone every now and then! i grew up celebrating anything good with food...birthdays, grades, vacations. and when sad things happened, we ate our feelings...funeral dinners, loss of the boyfriend, glosing first chair, getting benched in a game. so as i take time on tuesday to pay tribute...i think of food. seriously. these onion rings...they made my heart skip a beat when they were sat on the table. ahhh...greasy, deep fried onions with a gooey dipping sauce. yum. the night at the pier...the sunset was gorgeous and perfect...the homemade ice cream was more than awesome! the golden egg...any place called "the golden egg" is a greasy spoon, but what a fun place! brian got a cinnamon roll...we all did the big sigh. and my heart sings for an ice cold diet coke from the countain...not k...

i love my bible study group of girlies!!! they are awesome for a number of reasons... they are fun {which is so important in life} beautiful and even pensive when they need to be... they laugh at themselves {another super valuable lesson in life} and they are down right supportive, loving and awesome!!!! they love jesus with all their hearts... they are trying to do the right thing in a world that is full of temptations... and they are doing it together!!! so i'm paying tribute today to girlies in high school who take a stand for their faith ...who don't just allow others to form who they are. they are formed by who they worship and who they serve . high school girls need {NEED and DESIRE} loving support from adults. we all do, actually. pray for our teens...and if you can serve them, do it...and remember, tell them how awesome they are. they hear it sooooo little. and mentor...mentor when and if you can...in any way. you never know what affect you will have on someone...

did you know a pure heart starts with your hair??? well, maybe... you know my jada loves to do some hair! i'm gonna be honest, i don't let her do mine all that much bc, well, it gets tangled and knotted in the brush...and it hurts! but ayla, well, she lets jada just play hair stylist to her hearts content! this is the "pre-jada" styled hair...and isn't ayla just precious??? one of the things you may or may not know is that brown girlie pies have to grease their hair every day. so, jada took ayla to the bathroom to grease her up...and ayla let her...with hand lotion, not real hair grease. {if you ever get hair grease in white girl hair, it does NOT come out...just don't do it} look at the diligence...she's so intense. then, the styling commenced...and look at the joy on jada's face! and look at how happy ayla is...not sitting with disconcernment...just joy! and ayla isn't just good with jada...she's just a sincerely loving woman. i learned th...

sofia hasn't quite got the hang of the sprinkler yet. she loves it...don't get me wrong, but she always forgets that it keeps coming back. {jada, on the other hand, is always out of waters reach...a quick learner on the water front.} filling a bowl with water and dumping it on the driveway...well, that's just fun! she loves the drips of water as they come close... and then, when it's over her entire head, she flips out and screams. but when there's no water hitting her, she heads right back in for some more sprinkler fun. selective memory...well, it will get her places. at least she's not scared. and boy, is she precious!!! so this week, i am paying tribute to the sprinkler. creator of green lawns, happy kids, crying kids and laughing moms everywhere. thank you sprinkler! i love you, man.

i caught them...red-handed!!! i downloaded the little digital and i found evidence that those little sneakers were stealing the cam and shooting it up... clue #1...the finger in the left corner. ok, and the fact that there's a picture of the basement media room with grub on the table. apparently it was fun action too...check out jada's super awesome and joyful screaming face! and look...it's their "tent" they made...you know with my feather filled duvet. sweet kids, huh? and jada did take at least one shot...apparently the bad life got tiring, so b had to take a nap! and the piano...you can never have too many pictures of your piano, trash can, candle or artwork {that paige did btw}. ah hah!!! the mysterious foot...belongs to brooke. this is when having kids with different races pays off. this is def a white foot! booger! jada is dancing away...on top of my feather filled duvet. again, so sweet. and to end the fun, and bring me back to reality, the "inb...

i had a super awesome radio flyer spring horse... and because i'm the bestest momma in the world, i bought one a few years ago at a garage sale for my girlie pies... so today, i'm honoring our {black horse on springs on a stand onthe back deck} spring horse... brooke has always been a horse lover...you know, she can talk to horses. if you don't believe her, ask her what they say...she'll tell you. anyway, brooke got sofia acquainted with "THE horse"...creative name, i know... and now, THE horse has a new best girlie pie that i'm sure will love and play with him for years to come...or until we break him. ride like the wind, sofie. ride like the wind. but don't fall off, because we def don't have time for stitches or broken bones. {oh, i'm just kidding...}

the wonders of the slide...you can chat with it. you can taunt and tease with it... but in the end, the slide always brings the best smiles... and the slide, is now, one of my best friends... where else can you get a huge smile like? ok, when daddy gets home, but that's just not as fun for me!

we had our first petty theft {since p was little} in the fam this last week...bath and body works was way too much of a temptation for brooke, when these rubber duckies batted their eyes and {in her words} said, "please take me home to play with me" . i can see why she loved them so much...they are sweet and pink and well, you do just want to play with them. the duck bandit asked if she could buy one for her and jada at the store...when i said no, well, the open old navy bag was too much for her to handle, and wazaam...the thievery began. when i got home and was looking thru the old navy bag {once the kiddos were in bed} i see the ducks...and i laughed out loud, knowing there was a story that she would have...and i sank, thinking that temptations are so hard to overcome, even when you are 5. i had the "lecture" session...she cried and cried. she said she was sorry. i held out on the "you will die story" and just told her about forgiveness. so we head to...