And the Award Goes To...

Eat your heart out PW, Lori of I'm no super mom gave me my very first award. I am honored given that I think her blog and the other blogs I follow are way cooler. But hey I will happily accept and pass on the honor.

Here are rules:

1) List 5 things you love
2) Pass on the Award to 5 fellow bloggers
3) Please link back to my blog

Here are the 5 things that I love:
1) God
2) My family
3) A day to myself here and there
4) Peppermint Mochas
5) The Beach

Check out these 5 blogs...I love em for a variety of reasons...

1) Carrie of the Kerbs Family
2) Ali Home of the Lazy Dog
3) Jenn of the Bankhead Bunch
4) Valinda of the Kennedy Krew
5) Stephanie of Life on Prescott Avenue

And an honorable mention to Paul of heychefpw. What can I say? I love the man, and I think he's a great writer!

Friendly Competition

OK, so it's no secret I am competitive.

Early in our marriage, Paul and I had to set boundaries when it came to playing games with other couples. The need arose, when Paul discovered that he had married Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde. We were playing an innocent game of pictionary when the realization hit. We, therefore, did not play games together for many, many months.

It saved the marriage I'm sure.

But it begs the question, what is the purpose of playing something if not to win? Another time and another place.

Fast forward to the present. I have been blogging since February. I love it. Given my OCD behavior, it also tends to be addictive. Thus, I have to temper how much time I spend doing it.

Paul, early in my blogging adventure, started a blog of his own. But it sort of fizzled. He started out enthusiastic about developing a "creative chef blog." His goal was to chronicle his adventures in the kitchen, to share cooking tips, and to amuse his readers with his stories. But, as I said, it fizzled a bit. Until recently...

He has started up again. Can I tell you the competitive demon has resurfaced in me. After two weeks of blogging, he has passed me in reader "hits." How do I know? I check the sitemeters of each blog twice a day-of course.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

SEE! That's why I hate cleaning!!!

We woke up this morning with extra time. Not because of the extra hour of sleep. But, because despite the fact that I was counting the days until we got to "Fall" back, we FORGOT!

So at 7 am when the alarm sounded for church, it was 6 am. BUMMER!! This did however create a calmness about getting ready for church.

It was, however, the calm before the storm. While curling my hair, I hear a ruckus coming from the general direction of Hunter's room.

In the next moment Paul's reflection is staring back at me trying desperately to avoid hysterical laughter. I realize curiosity killed the cat, but I didn't care.

"What is so funny?"

In his best Hunter imitation, he stomps his foot and furiously blurts out, "SEE! THAT'S WHY I HATE CLEANING!"

Knowing my son's personality intimately (given that he is a mini me), I responded with, "What can't he find?"

"His script for the musical." was the reply.

Knowing that in fact the script was NOT missing
but hidden in plain sight
by none other than me
because,
big surprise,
after asking for several days that it be put away
it remained on the island in the kitchen, I marched myself to his room for a "discussion."

"Son, Daddy said you can't find your script because you cleaned."

"Yeah, see I'm sick of cleaning. I CAN NEVER FIND ANYTHING AFTER I CLEAN." (Clearly a conversation for another day and time.)

"Well, actually buddy, your script is in the kitchen by the espresso machine because you didn't put it away when I asked you."

"Let me guess, you were teaching me a lesson."

Oh no you didn't!!! Suffice it to say...the storm had arrived.

Countdown Has Begun

In less than 5 days our BG (Baby girl) will be 11.

Neither Paul nor I know when this happened.

We are pretty sure that yesterday Paul was taking her on daddy dates to the zoo and pretending to be Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid. Maddy would beg him to act out the scene from the movie where Ariel would rescue Eric and then sing the song on the rock. She could play Ariel for hours. Paul loved every minute of it. She will always be his precious BG. And let me tell you. She has him wrapped around her little finger.

Now she wants to go shopping at Justice and hang out with her friends. We are thankful that she will still sneak in our room early in the morning, crawl in bed with us and cuddle. But she is growing bigger wings and trying to fly further from the nest.

Despite the occasional alien behavior, we are so proud of who she is and how she is growing up. She has an amazing heart for people. She puts others first 90% of the time, and she loves Jesus. She tries hard to do what is right. She is an AMAZING big sissy. Hunter has no idea how good he has it.

So, with mixed emotions we are getting ready to celebrate her 11th birthday. She is 2 years away from being an official teen. UGH! But she is growing up as we hoped she would-with a heart of gold.