BAKING BUDDIES

ONE nosedive off the chair and I had
TWO eager and happy helpers with only
THREE good hands to bake
FOUR pans of cookies
We were practicing our gingerbread recipe for Christmas!! This one makes super soft gingerbread cookies that are quite mild - not overly sweet either.

SCHOOLYARD CRYBABY

Well, it happened again...there I was standing at the school with tears flowing....5 year old crying her heart out for her mom. No, not MY 5 year old....Avon Lady's 5 year old. She calmly turned her back to the little one, pursed her Magenta Lips, clicked her high heel shoes and started walking....away...without a care in the world! Probably had a makeover to perform! Could have slapped her right upside the head with my big white sneaker.
You know me...I stayed to see if the little one was all right (from a distance - didn't want her to see me cry). Okay, the real reason I stayed at a distance was just in case Ry spotted me and started yelling at me to go home!!!

CABIN CAPERS

We headed up north to our cabin Friday morning...picking up Rylee from an overnighter with Lao Lao. It was a beautiful sunshiny day....leaves are turning and not a bug in sight! Perfect! The chitlins stayed with Grandma while Big Daddy and I took a bottle of wine to our favourite ridge and had some "big people" time. Man it's beautiful there!!
We stayed overnight at Grandma's and wouldn't yah know it, Rylee falls out of the single bed and cracks her noggin on the dresser....now on top of having a broken arm, she has a cut on the corner of her eye and on her eyebrow. Unbelievable!!
Saturday morning we got up and headed back to the cabin to go for a long walk and post our "no hunting" signs. So with spray paint in hand, hiker boots on feet, and Little Piddle squished into the baby backpack, we were off to walk the perimeter of our 100 acres.....

Just a thought...but why do I have to post "no trespassing/no hunting" signs on my property? It just doesn't make sense to me....if you don't OWN the property, why would you think you could just go onto it? That's like me heading to the city and setting up a tent on someone's front yard. Well, there wasn't a no trespassing sign posted. Like I said....it just doesn't make sense!!!!

Bellie girl sporting her new "do":


Trekking through the bush:


Rylee's all done walking NOWWWW:


Red dots...hmmph, I say trip wires and land mines...that ought to keep 'em off my land!!

IF......YOU JUST MIGHT BE A REDNECK

Listen, I grew up in a tiny pocket of inbred madness....I know allllll about rednecks. But really, this takes the cake....
Tell me, when, oh when, is it OKAY for the school crossing guard to graciously extend an offer to show my 5yr old her new false chompers? Hmmm? I ask you....and not once mind you, but twice in the same day.
I wish I was making this stuff up....
And tomorrow when we have to make the trek across the street, and she invites us to take a closer look while they're in her hand....I'm definitely moving....to Arkansas!

KIDS, DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME...

It all started with a very fussy little one who would NOT go and play with her sister. I was multi-tasking in the kitchen...which usually means stirring something while watching a cooking show...and now was holding this fussing child on my hip. I offered a cup of juice to the fussy one and that's where it all went so terribly wrong.

I got distracted by Paula Dean and some wild Southern salad...turned quickly to the right just at the same exact moment that Baby J finished her sip and thrust her tiny hand into the air towards her Mama's face for me to have a sip. That's when the searing pain engulfed my nasal cavity. A nanosecond later, I was on my knees, with this now frightened baby on the floor, and holding the contents of what was left of my nostril. Rylee comes flying around the corner and says, "that's blood from inside Mommy's nose." From my nose? Are you kidding? That tiny raptor claw of a fingernail went a lot further in than that...that blood came from my frontal lobe!

Think I'll switch to TVO...

NAME DROPPING

3 weeks into this Kindergarten adventure and Rylee can name a few of her classmates. Their names are always prefaced with a description. There's denim dress Kayley, white hair Charles and the ever popular picky-hair Jack. Hmmm, sounds oddly familiar. Although I don't know the names of the other Moms dropping little people off at school, I do have their descriptions down pat.

There's Trendy Mom...with her fabulously toned body poured into her sleek yoga gear. You've probably seen her at your school too...perfect ponytail positioned just right out of her ballcap, with the brilliantly white happy smile and dark sunglasses.

Then there's Crunchy Granola Mom...with that straight, long hair down to her bum. You just know her kid has hummus in her lunch.

There's the Babysitter Mom...pulling a wagon load of littles who don't belong to her.

Then there's the mom whom I've dubbed the Avon Lady. Classically dressed in a tailored suit with nylons and heels. Impeccable makeup every freakin' morning!! And the hair...oh my word, the hair...honestly, it looks like she just stepped out of the beauty parlour...at 8:45 am?! This one looks like she's always ready to whip out the latest lip colour and perform a makeover right on the spot. She's been eyeing me up real good! lol

I'm probably described as Sloppy Mom. You know, jeans, sneakers, old white hoody with little bits of someone's breakfast on the sleeve and shoulder...not always mine either. Not yet showered, hair up in a bun....now if only they knew I was wearing Lyle's boxers....wonder what my name would be then?

3:15

Little Piddle's favourite time of the day....getting ready to pick up Rylee. Or as she says "Ryree" and then signs "school". Too sweet!