Pictures Lie!

Sometimes pictures just don't tell the whole story.  Sometimes photos lie just a little bit - because you never really take photos of the parts of your day you don't want to remember, right?  (Or maybe that's just me).

On this day (Monday) - we went to the park, which is the part of the day I'd like to remember most.  It's also pretty much the only time during the day I took any photos.

But here's what also happened:

Mr. M worked until 2 am - so I was flying solo with the girls from morning until the wee hours.

After the park, Paprika had her piano lesson - and Ginger did not want to get IN the van to go, and then did not want to get OUT of the van once we were there.  She also didn't want to wear clothes. ;-)  Violet, on the other hand, wanted to run up and down the halls and scream at the top of her lungs.

At dinner, Violet threw a glass across the kitchen and it shattered into a thousand pieces.  After I cleaned up the glass, but before I mopped up the water, she came running back into the kitchen and slipped.

Later that night, I took Daisy outside to go to the bathroom.  Daisy ran to the back of the yard, and just then I saw two beady little eyes staring back at me.  A skunk!  The skunk sprayed Daisy right in the face, and Daisy STILL wanted to be friends with the skunk.  So, I brought Daisy in the house to keep her away from the skunk.

As I walked inside the house - barefoot - I stepped on a piece of glass that I had missed cleaning up earlier that night.  I had a riled up skunky dog, and now a piece of glass in my foot.  I got most of the glass out, but there are still a few small pieces I'm feeling days later every step I take.

So, now Daisy was inside - but she was stinking up the whole house.  I read online to leave her outside overnight - so I tried that but she started barking (and I love my neighbors and would not want to wake them up!)  So, inside she came.  She sleeps in my bedroom in a crate next to my bed, so yep- she slept right next to me with a face full of skunk smell. I was too tired to bathe her in tomato juice, as the website also suggested.

By that time, it was about 1am, and Ginger came downstairs to sleep in my bed.  But then she smelled the skunk smell and started crying because it smelled so awful!  It took an hour to get her back to sleep.

Mr. M got home a little after 2am - I waited up for him...and well, I was awake anyway.  When I finally got to bed around 2:40, guess who came waddling right downstairs?   Miss Violet, of course!

So, that meant Mr. M went upstairs to get some good quality rest, and I went back to bed with the skunky dog, Ginger and a very awake Violet.  Good times!  ;-)

Here are some other pictures from the day:

Paprika's math lesson - she will only write her numbers fancy with swirls, so you can guess how long it takes her to do a math problem.  ;-)





After we did the rest of Paprika's homeschool lessons, I let her try out Scratch (a computer programming language).  She LOVED working on Scratch and couldn't pry herself away from the computer.  After a few hours, she knows more about computer programming than I probably ever will.  Ha!

(This is a picture of her playing Minecraft last week - I put it here because it is computer-ish):




Paprika did NOT want to leave after she got going on Scratch, but I was going out of my mind keeping Violet out of trouble in the house, and I knew we all needed some fresh air.  Park trip sounded like a good idea.

I finally got everyone out of the house to go to the park  (two diaper changes, four wardrobe changes, and three snacks later) - and then the park we decided to go to was closed down for the day.  So, we went to a different park - and  it took us FOREVER to find parking.


While I was putting the little girls' shoes on, I let Paprika go ahead into the park by herself (it is small and fenced) - and I told her I'd be right there.

90 seconds later, I went into the park, and Paprika had disappeared!





I could not find her anywhere.  My heart fell into my stomach - and then...then...about a minute later (which seemed like an eternity), I found her face down in the sand, crying.

She sobbed:   Why, why, why had I made her leave her computer when she was finally getting to learn Scratch computer programming?   She had waited her whole life for this moment and now I had made her stop?!

So, for 95% of the time we were at the park, she laid on the ground (face down) and talked to herself about the programs she was going to execute once we got home...


Violet had a great time doing scary feats - like climbing everything she wasn't supposed to, and in general terrifying me.  I spent a lot of time holding her while she attempted to do Cirque du Soleil moves on the playground.






Ginger had a great time at the park.  This is her favorite park - she would probably pitch a tent and live here if she could...



And then...just a few more pics from the day (parts I want to remember):

Violet blowing kisses at the park:




Ginger going down the slide five billion times and getting so excited to "zap" me with static electricity when she got to the bottom:



Skunky Daisy being the coolest dog ever - and even though she STILL smells like a skunk, she really doesn't care as long as she's near us:




Paprika getting her face out of the sand and playing with her sisters:



My sweet Ginger falling asleep in my bed - I know someday she'll sleep in her own bed - so for now, I am  grateful I get to be next to her when she's in dreamland.  Does it get any sweeter?!




So, that was JUST Monday!  ;-)  People sometimes wonder what the heck I do all day - and there's your answer!

If I have any free time, I will be bathing my dog with tomato juice and picking glass out of my foot with a set of tweezers.


The End.

Happy Big Seven!

Paprika turned 7 on Friday.  She had a great birthday!  When she woke up, we sang her Happy Birthday and she had her birthday cupcake...chocolate with chocolate frosting, of course!  :-)

We also had birthday cake that night - and we also sang and blew out candles then (but those pictures are on my other camera - so they will have to wait!  Haha!)





Paprika was so excited about her birthday, she could not sleep AT ALL the nigh before.  Not one wink!  She stayed up all night long (seriously, all night).  I worried she'd be in a bad mood the next day, but nope!  Hardly even a yawn...



It's very exciting being seven years old, you know! ;-)



We decorated the house, of course!




Paprika opened half her presents in the first part of the day.  And we saved a few to open with cake at the end of the night.

Mr. M came home early from work, and we decided to go to the beach!




My mom was visiting with us last week (she was here from Indiana!)  Here she is building sandcastles with Violet:



Me and sweet Ginger-Bear.  She had a great time building sandcastles, and she wanted to stay by my side the whole time.  She is such a sweetheart!




Paprika was so excited to get a boogie board for her birthday!  She has been asking for one for YEARS - so she was super excited when she opened her present.  She wanted to try it out right away (of course!)





After spending hours in the freezing cold water with Mr. M, it was time to go home.  But of course, the second Paprika got out of the water, she asked when she could come back!  Haha!  So we made it a beach weekend- and she got to go boogie boarding again on Saturday.

I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time at the beach with this little boogie boarder!  ;-)




That night, we had cake opened the rest of her presents - and Ginger got to open a present, too!  Paprika at that point hadn't slept in - oh- about 40 hours, but of course she was still not tired!  ;-)

Ginger and Paprika went to my bedroom to read books, and they were up until midnight at least.  I went in to turn out the lights, and what do you know - Paprika had fallen asleep!  Ginger was reading books to Paprika...I don't think she even noticed she was asleep!  Ha!


The End!

Last Place Winner

Tomorrow, Paprika will turn 7 years old! Today is her last day of being 6, and I'm feeling a little nostalgic.

One of my favorite Paprika stories from this past year happened last Fall - and I don't think I blogged about it, but I wanted to write it down now because for me, it was something that sums up so much about life and how I want to parent (and also, just how I want to live).

First thing you should know is that for most of my life (until Paprika entered my world), I was very competitive.  It was always important to me to be the best at everything - better than I was the day before, and better than others.  I did pretty well at this.  I graduated with honors from just about every school I ever attended (and that's a lot! Ha!) - and in everything I did, well...I just had to be the best.  It is embarrassing, and annoying and it's something I am a little sheepish about admitting.

It also separated me from others, and made me feel competitive as if by others doing better, I would do worse.  Or that if others did better, it somehow diminished my own accomplishments.  Looking back, I see how silly this was...and how holding hands we ALL can move forward together.  But back then, the way I viewed the world was one of competition - that there are a limited number of spots for this or that, and I had to do better than others (no matter how low or high that standard was) to have value.  My worth was based on something external that was not only completely arbitrary, but had nothing to do with my actual self-worth or happiness.

It also meant that I didn't try a lot of things when I was younger because I was afraid of failing.  I knew my areas of excellence (English, writing, verbal pursuits) - and I knew the areas that were struggles (sports, science, etc.)  So many things I wanted to do, I stopped myself because I didn't know if I could be the best.  I limited myself to what I knew I could do well because the fear of not being the best was something I didn't want to face.





So, all this brings me to my little story about Paprika.  Last Fall, I enrolled Paprika in her first swim meet.  Paprika LOVES to swim.  She loves being in the water, pretending to be a mermaid, and the feel of the water on her body as she glides through it.

Paprika loves other people, and is so happy for their successes.  It never enters her mind to run faster or to be "better" than someone else.  If you ask her if she loves one person more than another or one thing more than another, she will look at you and say the same thing every time:

I love them the same.  In love, there is no more or less. There is just love.  

I was hesitant to enroll Paprika in swim team because I wanted her to keep her love for swimming without feeling the need to compete or "be better" than someone else.  I didn't want her to judge herself next to the person in the next lane.  On the other hand, she really wanted to be on swim team because it meant four days/week of being in the water  - her home away from home, if you will.  ;-)





So, the night of her first swim meet - I was nervous for her!  There were hundreds of kids and parents at the pool, and she was swimming the backstroke against kids who I knew were much faster than her.  Since it was night and quite dark, long strands of white lights (kind of like Christmas lights) hung over the lanes.

She started in the water, and as everyone else shot across the pool, my heart sank.  Paprika was swimming very slowly down her lane, as if she was in a lazy river with not a care in the world.

When she climbed out of the pool (well in last place), I gave her a big hug and congratulated her on her swim.

I said:  You did so great, honey!  I am so proud of you!

She said (with great excitement):  Thanks!  Did you see the lights?!  They were sooo beautiful!  I couldn't stop looking at them.  They took my breath away how they lit up the sky.

Then I said:  I did see them!  They are beautiful!  

I paused for a moment, unsure about what to say next.  Then, I bent down to her level and carefully chose my words.  I said:

Honey, did you know this was a race and you were supposed to swim your fastest?


Paprika put her hands on my shoulders as I bent down low.  She looked me straight in the eyes and said:

Mom, I know it was a race.  But if I'd gone fast, I would have missed looking at those beautiful lights.  Did you see how gorgeous they were?  How they twinkled and sparkled.  It was magical!







I caught my breath, and looked up at the lights. And yes, they were so beautiful! I hadn't really noticed, had I? Everyone around us was buzzing and screaming at their child to go faster, and nobody (it seemed) was looking at the lights. And now that I was looking at them, I couldn't help but notice their beauty. How they twinkled. How they lit up the sky. The miracle of electricity! It was overwhelming, actually!

Even though Paprika came in last place in the race, I could not have been prouder.  I started to cry.  She teaches me things every single day, and that was a day I never want to forget. How many times have I raced to be the best, or the fastest, and lost sight of what's really important?

I love those lights, and I stop to see them now. I love the roses, and I stop to smell them. When I raced to be first, I didn't have time to enjoy the journey.  And that journey, I am convinced, is the greatest win of all.

I'm so glad that Paprika sees that - and that on that night when I started to lose sight of the big picture, she showed me some simple lights in the night sky that changed my outlook completely.  Forever.

The End.

A Walk On A Pier

Just wanted to jot down a few memories about how we spent our 10th wedding anniversary. :-)

For our 5 year anniversary, we happened to be in Panama City Beach, Florida for the week.  We spent our anniversary at the beach, and I especially remember watching the gorgeous sunset from our little motel balcony.

So, it seemed only fitting to spend our 10 year the same way...at the beach, watching the sunset.  On our 5 year, it was just me, Mr. M and Paprika (it was three weeks after Vivian and Annemarie had passed away).

For our 10 year, our brood had grown substantially!  :-)  We kept trying to get Ginger to be in the picture, but she refused...so we did the best we could.





Ginger was feeling grumpy, so I carried her the whole way.  I think we walked about five miles, and so yes- I got in a bit of a workout, since Ginger now weighs over 40 pounds!  Ha!







Paprika had the time of her life.  She was skipping down the walkway, singing songs, and gazing out at the ocean:




Violet was all smiles - Mr. M carried her the whole time and she was so happy.  It was a Friday night, so there were a lot of things going on down at the beach - lots of people watching and activity.






It was great to be all together on our special night.  Every day, I am so grateful for each member of our little family.



We made it all the way down to the pier, and walked to the end and made wishes.  Paprika wrote this post about it on her blog.



All in all, it was a great anniversary.  Just us, celebrating in our quiet little way.  Afterwards we went home and made dinner, and the girls watched Cinderella  while the adults ate dinner, drank wine, and laughed about everything under the sun.

I can't say that any night out on the town could be better than what we've got going here at home.  Even though my days are filled with normal ups and downs (and even some very big ups and downs) - I am so happy, and grateful, and feel so lucky for the simple pleasures of life.  It is all almost too much to bear sometimes - the beauty of it.  But here we are...and it is good.


The End.

Snapshots Of A Week!

A few snapshots from our week!

First up, a lazy day spent at the park.  We had the whole place to ourselves!  Score!







Scenes from my evening strolls around the neighborhood.







Violet discovered the Lego bin this week and has been obsessed!  Paprika played Legos with her quite a few times this week - but instead of building, Paprika takes the Lego pieces and makes them into characters in her plays.  She has endless little stories of "the Lego people..."




Violet loves to build.  And tear things apart once they are built!  Ha!




Daily swim team practice.  Paprika loves it like nobody's business:



The peanut gallery! ;-)



Violet and Ginger spend the hour of practice playing in the park, or dancing in the grass outside the pool.




Another day, another practice!  ;-)




Everyone else is doing freestyle, and Paprika is doing backstroke.  Why?  Because it's so relaxing.  (That's what she said!  Ha!)





Paprika ate a whole piece of watermelon on Thursday!  It was her first time ever eating a slice of watermelon - and she said it was:  very feisty!





Violet on the swings while Paprika is at swim team practice.  This girl is LIFE!





I never get tired of watching this scene.  Always brings a smile to my face.




The End!