Today I Thought About Being a Hermit.

I'll keep this one short.  Basically, Ash got her feelings hurt when some of the neighbor girls, she was playing with, all of a sudden decided to tell her she couldn't play with them anymore. 

I gave them a lecture about how mean and rude that was, but to be frank, if that's how they are going to behave, I don't want my kids playing with them anyways.  Last things I want my kids to say are, "You can't play with me," "I'm not going to be your friend," or "I hate you."  I abhor mean girls (and boys).  It's pointless and hurtful.  And no one can say, "Oh, they're just being kids."  No.  That's not ok at any age.  And it's our job, as the adults, to help them understand that.

If we moved off to live in the woods of Alaska, we could probably avoid these sad instances.  But, I don't really want to shut myself and my family off from all other people.  We'd miss out on all the nice families that there are around us everywhere. 

**sigh**  I just wish I could shield my girls from all emotional pains.  I think hurt feelings are infinitely more ouchy than skinned knees.  All I could do in this situation was let Ash know that what those girls were saying was not nice and that we don't talk like that or treat people that way. 

I thought about letting Ash take a fun toy outside and then not letting the mean girls play with it since they had decided to exclude her from their games.  It would have made a lovely point, but I'm not sure if that's not just fighting spite with spite.

Guess I'd better get good at helping my kids feel love and accepted at home at all times to offset any of these negative experiences they have elsewhere.  It's so hard though!  The hurt isn't really something I can completely protect them from (without moving us to the boonies) because I can't control the actions and words of others.

Have any of you had experience with these types of scenarios?  What did you do?  Or what would you do?

(see?  i just hate seeing my babies eyes full of sad tears.  this is ash two summers ago.  she didn't want to hold still for pictures.)

Today I Added a Little Poll.

It's right there on the top, left hand side of my blog. 

Just because I'm curious. 

And because I felt like adding a poll. 

Blogger teased me with the option of letting you vote more than once, but will not allow me to check that darn, little box.  So, you'll have to leave your other votes in the comments!  :)

I think.

And some unrelated, but adorable pics of my oldest girls.

(britt)

(ash)

(heehee!)

Today I Melted.

It was HOT today!  A high of 90 degrees.  I know that for some of you, that is nothing.  Back home they had 50 degree weather.  That is what I'm used to!  :)  Well, Ash and Elle had just playing in the water to help cool off.  Britt is soooooo NOT a water baby.  She always wants to put her swimsuit on but never wants to get in the kiddie pool.  **shrug**  Here is a little video I took with my phone. 



And here's another one (video, I mean).  Ash helped me make pina colada popsicles today.  I got the recipe here.  They had waaaay to much texture for my liking.  But the girls like them, so that's what matters.  :)

(best popsicle making helper everrrrrr!)

Today I Made My Little Girl Happy. It Was So Simple Too!

Ash and I went out today to do the weekly grocery shopping.  She's a fun, little errand companion.  I had graham crackers on my list, but when Ash saw these Spider-man grahams she was so excited.  I figured it was close enough.  :)  I get such a kick out of her current love for the webbed menace.  I had a similar crush on Spider-Man when I was the same age.  So cute!

(cheese!)

Today I Cleaned Pee Out of the Carpet. Not Fun.

But better than cleaning poo out of the carpet...

I noticed that I haven't focused on Britt in many of my recent posts.

Britt is......doing a good job of being a toddler.  She is truly living it up and making sure that the Terrible Twos is a label that remains alive and well.  :)

(loooove her little profile)

She really is doing a good job of potty training.  She just, occasionally, gets super interested in what she's doing sometimes and then, whoops!  Kinda waited too long! 

**sigh**

She is currently very good at saying "no!" to everything, testing every rule we have, and strengthening her lungs aka screaming.  She has a very good vocabulary for her age.  My favorite is her pronounciation of Tinkerbell.  She says, "Key the Bell."  I also love hearing her say "oatmeal" (her favorite breakfast).  It sounds like she's saying, "Nomak."  She also repeats everything she hears.  She loves Elle (a little too much) and is slowly getting nicer about playing with Ash without tantruming.  I've never met anyone better at staring you down making eye contact.  :) 

Love my firey, little Britt-Britt!

(diva on wheels)

As I've been writing this, I've had to go upstairs and put Britt's diaper back on her twice (it's bedtime).  She sure does her best to fight the sandman!  And gets up early too!  She obviously doesn't want to waste her precious time with sleeping.  :P  Can't say that I blame her.  I wish sleeping and eating weren't important for our health.

Today I Let the Repair Man into Our House.

We've been having issues with the dryer ever since we moved into this rental.  Clothes will randomly get caught between the barrel and the frame and they get blacken and chewed.  Luckily it's mostly the wash rags, tags, dryer sheets, underwear and color catchers that I have found hanging in there.  It was annoying but didn't really upset me until it ate one of Ash's brand new jumpsuits.  Put a hole in it.  Sooooooooooooo mad!  I told Tony to call the landlord and he did but I don't think either of them took me quite seriously. 

(so sad that she'll never wear this again!)

Until now.  :)  Too bad a load full of Tony's whites (including our sheets and some of my stuff) had to get completely covered in nasty black spots before this thing really got paid attention to.  If my mom reads this, she'll totally be nodding her head at this part.  Haha!
The repair guy said that the dryer is completely shot and that if the insides were metal instead of plastic it would have been making an awful screeching, scraping sound by now.  So, at this point, we get to wait for the landlord to decide whether he wants to buy expensive parts and repair it or just replace it.  Whatever he does, I hope it happens quickly!
And just for fun, a video of my precious baby, Elle.  Be sure to turn up the volume.  ;)

Today I Want to Tell You about Something Awesome!!!

We now have an author in the family!  My sister, Kara, is a wife and mother of four.  Yet, she still carved out some time to write and illustrate a book!  It's currently available for Kindle only right now and is also being offered at a promotional price.  Sooooooo - get it while it's hot!  I'm not a comic book/manga person, but this was a fun read (and I'm not just saying that because I love her).  I enjoyed the humor and the expressive faces of her characters a lot.  I'm really looking forward to volume 2. 

(here's the cover of her book)

Seriously.  3 bucks.  Buy it.  :P