I am BANISHED!

This weekend Scarlett and Owen were playing, and Scarlett was not sharing with Owen and she was bossing him around. We had planned to go ride bumper boats at this place in town, and I told Scarlett if she wanted to go she had to be nice and quit bossing everyone around. As soon as the words left my mouth, she turned around and yelled at Owen that he could not "walk the plank".(I had rolled up a rug and it was sitting on the coffe table and she was using the rug as "the plank") So I had to say we could not go ride bumper boats. Then my sweet little girl runs to me and says, with tears rolling down her face, "It makes me so mad when you do that!" I said, "Well Scarlett, it makes me sad when you do not listen, I wish I did not have to take away the bumper boat rides, but you WILL learn to listen." Then she says, "Well it doesn't make me mad, I am just really frustrated and I just want to banish you." Yeah, That is what I have to deal with!

SAMPSON!!!!!

The other night a friend and I were talking. Somehow we started talking about salmon and My friend said, "Scarlett, how did you come up with that name?" (funny, I was sure I had asked her that question before, but apparently, because of her answer, I have not EVER asked that question!) Scarlett said, "I thought of that name because of Salmon in the bible." I started to think about it and this is what began to happen in my brain:
1."Well, because there were a lot of fishermen in the bible, I guess the word salmon might have been mentioned."
2."Where in her children's bible does it mention salmon?"
3."Maybe in her sunday school class they said the fisermen caught salmon."
4." hmmmmm...I am so confused!"
5. "OH MY GOSH! SAMPSON!"

I said, "Scarlett, did you mean Sampson?" She said, "Oh yeah, Sampson!" I said, "Sampson like the strong man who got his hair cut of and lost all of his strength...that "salmon"? She said yes! So we named our dog Salmon when it should have been Sampson! We can not change it now, he is used to it! But needless to say, I have learned my lesson!

Scarlett Scarlett Scarlett!

She cut her hair! I know that at some point most kids cut their own hair, or their siblings hair. I wish Scarlett had cut Owen's hair, but no...she cut a huge chunk out of the side of her head right behind her ear. No more pony tails, no more pig tails, no more braids. Just hair down in the eyes! When I asked her why she did it she said, "Mom, I just wanted a new style." What!? Who says that?! I said the next time you want a "new style" come talk to me and we can make it happen together.

Also, Scarlett is really in to art projects like drawing and painting. Our carpet has been painted, and a bed too, oh and some clothes! I do not want her to stop drawing and painting, so I had to get creative. She really loves to draw on herself too. Some people would frown on this, but I am supposed to choose my battles right? Well coloring on yourself is not a battle I choose to fight, especially if it saves my carpet and walls. My new rule is you can only color on yourself and paper.

WHY!!!

Why do grandparents have to get old? I was lucky enough to have great grandparents growing up. They were not just great, they made me who I am today. They taught me values, and to put God first in everything I do. They showed me what marriage and parenting is all about. I have always been closest to my Maw maw and Pa Paw (my Dad's parents). My Maw maw passed away I think in 2001 (I am really bad with dates, especially dates I don't like to remember). My Maw maw had the greastest impact on my life. She taught me how to cook, make clothes out of leaves, shuck corn, pick peas and on and on and on. The greatest things she taught me were how to be a woman that loves God, a godly wife and mother, and taking care of people who need it. She taught me how to be a strong woman, and I am so thankful for that. She also taught me how to play games like spinner, uno, and so on. What a great woman she was! The greatest gift she ever gave me, one of my greatest posessions to this day, Is a letter she wrote me when I was born. She wanted me to know her dreams for me in case she was not around to tell me herself. Thank God she was around to tell me and show me herself. I missed her on my wedding day, and I missed her when my kids were born, but I know 100% that I will be with her again one day.
All of this to say, my Paw paw is reaching the end as well. I am going to see him this weekend. It is hard watching him get older, but in a way I am happy for him. He was ready to go to Heaven the minute my maw maw did. He has not taken his wedding ring off and tells people that she was the only woman he will ever love. He is commited to her forever! What an amazing example of the word covenant! I feel lucky to have witnessed longevity in a marriage. Not to say they had a perfect marriage, but they did love each other very much, and it showed. My Paw paw is such an amazing man of God, and he wanted all of us to grow up to follow God. He wrote me a letter as well, and I will have it forever!! I remember getting so excited as a kid to go see them. My paw paw taught my brother and I how to farm, catch lizards, collect and make honey, shoot guns. Actually he would catch lots of animals for us, and he passed that down to my dad who would catch crazy animals for us. He would take us on rides on his four wheeler for hours. We would go exploring in the woods and he would show us different kinds of plants and catch bugs for us. He made us all kids of stuff out of wood in his workshop. The greatest times were going places in their moterhome. I thought it was the coolest thing ever to go in the moterhome. Oh he taught us how to fish, I mean my dad helped with that too :) Oh and he could tell us stories for hours, and the funny thing is most of them were very interesting! I can't wait to see him this weekend. The greatest thing for me to think about is the fact that my paw paw got to meet Mike and my kids, and when he sees my maw maw he can tell her all about them. They can create a huge farm in heaven together, and I can't wait to see them again!

Visitors!

My aunt, cousins, and cousins kids came to visit. I was a great time. My cousin has two little boys. Grant is a little older than Scarlett, but they had so much fun together, and Rhett is Owens age. My kids were worn out every evening!!! I think the best part was we got a girls night out, and we had a blast. The worst part was...THAT I DID NOT TAKE ONE PICTURE!!!!! what is wrong with me?! My mom said she took a bunch of pictures, so THANK GOD! I don't get to see these cousins very much, so we I do I must take advantage of picture time. We have great pictures of all of our kids together from a year and a half ago, but not this year. In my defense, I was planning on taking some pictures the last day they were here, but poor little Grant got sick, and was quarintined. Oh and Congrats to Amanda for making the long trip here with the boys!

4th of Ju-lizzle

Crazy Remunds watching fireworks.

I do not know what Owen is saying, but it looks funny!

Here are Scarlett and Owen aka ice smugglers! They kept eating the ice from the beverage bucket.

Owen likes to stand like an old man these days.

Pictures Galore!

Finally here are some pictures of our trip to California. I had to go through over 800 pictures, and finally I got it done, so I was able to post some of them.