Halloween!

From the girls that brought you the fairy and the sheep just a short year ago, I present:

The Ghost and the Cow!

This ghost may look scary, but as you can see in this never-before-seen paranormal photograph...this ghost actually loves to paint her toenails pink!

Kameryn was really looking forward to Halloween this year. She talked about it a lot, and the part she was most excited for wasn't the candy, surprisingly. She wanted to wear the costumes. And she decided really early that she wanted to be a ghost. I don't know why. And Jay bought this costume for her when I was at work one day. (Don't tell her, but I hate it. I think it's too scary for her.) But she LOVED it. She was so excited to wear it.

Reagan, as you may or may not know, LOVES the moon. She loves anything to do with the moon. So not long ago during a trip to Oregon, we bought her the book "Goodnight Moon" which became her constant companion. She reads it all the time and takes it to bed with her every night. So in her mind she wasn't just a cow, she was the cow that jumps over the moon.

The only time I could get her to put her hood on this time I only got a picture of her from the back. I can't help but love it because of the tail. And the irony of a little cow gazing longingly at the ice cream...

Reagan

I was going to post pictures from Halloween, but it's late, so I just decided to post this one of Reagan. It was on Halloween, but since it was raining we went to visit Chelsee at BR instead of going out trick or treating. Reagan, ironically, was a cow. I got this picture of her and I think it's so beautiful.

Manipulation

Last week on Saturday, I got my hair cut. I needed the cut SO badly. I cut about 6 inches off, and some people don't even notice the difference when I wear my hair down now because I was wearing it up every day. That's a fact.

We walked out of the salon (Does Fantastic Sams count as a salon?) and I was so happy with my hair, running my hand through, and Kameryn, the little beacon of light that she is sometimes, said,

"Mom, I HATE your haircut."

I wasn't really surprised that she felt that way, because she LOVES long hair. Her hair has always been short, and she frequently will put clothes and things on her head pretending it's long hair. She loved playing with my long hair. I knew cutting it off would make her sad.

I said, "That's alright that you don't like it, Kami. But it's my hair and it needed to be cut."

"No, Mom. I HATE your haircut!"

"That's okay, Kami. I like it."

And then she sat there thinking, and said out loud but strictly to herself,
"Hmmm, I want ice cream."

Then, acting like we hadn't heard her, she said, "Mom, I LOVE your haircut!"

Four Years

On Sunday, Kameryn was swinging on the swings at Allison's house. She holds up 4 fingers.

"Mom, there are this many days until my birthday."


Still holding up four fingers she says, "On my birthday, I'm gonna be this many."

"That's right." I say. She's been counting down to her birthday for months, usually just saying, "Mom, it's almost my birthday! It's getting closer and closer!"

Now she's pretty excited she can count the days on one hand.

"I used to be a little baby," Kameryn continues, "and I was laying in my crib. And I was crying. And I was drinking a bottle. But now I'm big, and I'm happy to see you!"

Yep, that about sums it up.

Memories

For me, it's hard to know how well I remember things from my childhood. I think it's because we lived in the same house my entire life and so I don't have a change in scenery to help provide a timetable. I'm not complaining about that. I'm grateful that I grew up where I did because it led to having amazing and lifelong friends who all lived in the same neighborhood as me. But still, the downside is not remembering things as well, and maybe out of order.

I've been thinking about how my girls, specifically Kameryn, are getting old enough to remember things. Which has led me to think about my earliest memories.

Strangely, when I think about my mom, I always remember her hands. Situations where I was watching her hands - helping me, dressing me, comforting me.

I'll be content even if my girls only have simple memories like mine. I remember her hands so well, but even in that limited memory, I remember feeling how much she loved me.

Catch Phrase

Allison: "What's your..."
Chelsee and me, in unison: "SIGN!"
Allison: "But even before I know your sign, I need to know your..."
Chelsee and me, in unison: "NAME!"

Starting Out Small

I love making New Years Resolutions. I understand that, really, they are just goals that you make at a particular time of year, and you can make goals anytime. But there's something about New Years resolutions that make them seem more possible than just a regular goal. More exciting.

I read this post by my friend Kim and loved it. Her entire blog is amazing, but this one post really spoke to me. This year I also found a quote that I'm trying to incorporate into my year. It was said by Oprah, which in my mind is both a pro and a con, but I liked it anyway.

"Devote today to something so daring even you can't believe you're doing it."

I'm trying to keep it in mind but start out small. Like Kim, I'm just trying to shake things up a little bit and try to do one thing every day that normally I would talk myself out of. Whether it be a big thing, or a little thing, or just waking up in the morning to go to the gym when I really would rather sleep. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll be able to spend an entire day working toward something daring. But right now I'm just working on the little things.

My Crazy Girls

One of my New Years Resolutions is to blog more often. I love to see my friends' blogs since it's a good way to stay in touch with them despite us not living closer. I've decided to be less of a dead beat so they can see what's up with me also.
I'm looking forward to this year, because I think a few different situations in my life that have been open-ended will resolve this year. Thinking about that made me think about how much changes in a year, and then I got the idea to put pictures up of my girls from 1/1/10 so I can compare them to pictures I'll take on 1/1/11. First, Reagan. Reagan got these glasses in her stocking, and enjoyed playing with them all day long.Kameryn was playing with these new books that Reagan got for Christmas, and she was being so cute with them I wanted to take her picture. After I took the first one, she looked at it and said, "How about this?" And struck another pose. I took that picture and she came and looked at it, and said, "Oh. How about this?" America's Next Top Model, right here in my house. Though if she ever does she ever does want to really model, she BETTER be wearing more than she is in these pictures.
She added the hand for this next one right at the last second. An excellent addition, I must say.