Rainy Days are Happy Days

About a week ago, it was pouring and when I went outside, Garrett and Cecily were dancing in the rain, soaking wet. I grabbed the camera and took some pictures. When its raining its really nice and our creek floods and our grass is green. Now its up to 100 degrees sometimes and really hot. Some other things that have happened so far in the summer was I (Livi) went to Girls Camp and got my hair braided in Corn Rows and when I took it out for church today, it went poof and wavy all over. Garrett spent the whole week last week at boys state and Becca also went to Girl Scout camp where she did some archery and hiking. When Garrett came home she said, "Garrett, guess what...I'm a warrior!" The water park is open now and we are going there basically every day, plus me and Becca are on the swim team and we have our first meet tomorrow. Another exciting event coming up is Emmy is coming to visit us for 2 weeks and we are all so excited! Becca also got some cool, new glasses that darken when they are outside and lighten when inside. We kind of experimented on them yesterday with shining flashlights and going in dark places. A hobby that I like to do now with my friends is to make movies. My friend and I made a excercise clip that we would like to share.

Here is Becca's new stylish frames.

Here is my poofy "80's" style (Mom's point of view) hair look.

Oh My Goodness!

Here is our video that we made.

Smitten

Being the youngest, Cecily has to tag along for a lot of events: concerts, doctor appts, costco runs, games. She's gotten to the point where when I don't pack a lunch and she's hungry, she'll say "I want to go to Donalds. I want a chicken wrap, apples, chocolate milk, and a toy. " I think she know the Donalds menu by heart.

We've run into a snag when she needs to go to the bathroom. There are either "bad" toilets or "good" toilets. Any toilet, no matter how clean with an automatic flusher is a "bad" toilet. She loses the element of control, and she usually ends up sitting on the toilet while the loud "woosh" empties below her, and that is unnerving. After a brief toilet survey, she will not go to any automatic toilets anymore. She would rather so in the grass. So far we haven't had to do that yet, but we have driven to several different stores until we find a "good" toilet - one that she can flush herself. Then she sits and stays for a while - singing lovely songs that she has composed in her mind. The other day she was in the doctor's office. I was standing outside the door, and everyone could hear her melodies in the waiting room. It brought a smile to almost everyone. A toilet is also bad if something is in the bowl, a bug is in the stall, or toilet paper is on the floor. I know that when Cecily has to go, it's going to take a while.
At home, she has her favorite foods "Mac-a-nac-a-cheese" and "Holy Moly" which translate to mac and cheese and ravioli. I think that she is becoming a little princess, and if we don't watch out, she isn't going to have to work a day in her life. When Rhett comes home, if she's had a hard day, he'll say in an exaggerated sypathetic voice "Come here to Daddy! Daddy loves you and will take care of everything". He's totally smitten, and so is she!

Having older children and having perspective about the end from the beginning helps a lot. It lets me relax a lot and just enjoy her. I love her creativity, her sparkle, even her flightiness! We just have to put a little discipline into her life - good luck with that!

I've got a few great blogs to compose for the future, but I need to wait a few months until things blow over. I'll just keep you in suspense!

And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon and goodnight!

I was having too close of a relationship with my Facebook account and it got out of hand, so I am officially "unplugged", meaning I deleted the account a few weeks ago. For me, it had to be all or nothing ... like getting all of the alcohol out of the house for an alcoholic. Day one I wandered over to the computer about ten to twenty times before forgetting that I didn't have a Facebook account. Then I went and ate a few chocolate chips to fill the void, then I realized that chocolate chips will not help me in the long run! Gone are the nights of clicking through Madison's pictures missing her. Gone are the nights of sifting through other peoples pictures, or thinking about the status of 200 plus people. The thing is that I DO care, and seeing so many different status updates was a little stressful, plus reading things that can be classified as just mind numbing was an issue too. My friend Michelle told me that if anything earth shattering happens, she will be sure and pick up the phone and call me. I've had a few more phone calls this week. It's nice!
I don't want to live as a hermit, though I do love the quiet of having time all to myself... by myself. I hardly ever get bored, and sometimes I need to make an effort to go outside and make new friends. It's something I need to do. Facebook can be reaching out and connecting, but going on can also leave a feeling of being lonely and unsatisfied.... that everyone else is doing something great, and I'm not. Going off of Facebook has also helped my mind go off "compose" mode, like thinking of great lines or thoughts for my "status update".

The president of Facebook in a Time magazine article is a 24 year old genius, and said that he hopes that people will get to the point where they will automatically push the "like" button when they like something without giving it another thought. This will help the advertisers lined up on Facebook, and that every peace of data we reveal about ourselves is logged into Facebook so that we can be targeted by certain advertisers. So what about Blogging... isn't it the same thing? I hope not. So going counter-culture for a while has been nice. I've read more, tucked my kids in at night and read to them, looked them in the eye while talking to them, and the house might be a little cleaner too. I feel a little like Truman in "The Truman Show" escaping from this world where everyone can see what he is doing, and saying "Good Morning, and it I don't see ya, good afternoon and goodnight"!