Bursting at the seems with excitement!!!

I accomplished TWO very important things today!!! First...I finished my brother's present that I have been laboring over for MONTHS! {Alan if you are reading this you darn better consider this your birthday AND Christmas present! ;)} Second...I printed 15 digital scrapbook layouts. This is the first time I have ever printed any of my layouts! I'm way excited to see how they turned out. I didn't even have to pay and arm and a leg for them. They were on sale for 25% off. I love a good deal! As soon as I get them {about a week} I'm going to take pictures and post. Ummm...not that I haven't posted the digital layout before, but I want people to see how they look when printed. Okay, I'm rambling....but still WAY excited! LOL! :D

Being led along my way...

Many times in my life I have had experiences where the Lord led me step by step through a situation that will do me good. Looking back on those experiences there was always a reason why the Lord made sure that experience happened. Today was one of those days....

Earlier in the week, my sweet visiting teacher had called asking if Russ or I needed to carpool down to the adult Stake Conference taking place tonight. In a not so nice manner, I replied that I wasn't planning on going since I don't know anyone to babysit my kids and that Russ was working out a ride to the priesthood session with some guys in the Elders Quorum. I really hadn't intended on being rude, because I really love my Visiting Teachers, but I was really upset that MY DAY with Russ was being taken away from me. See Russ had agreed to help a lady in our ward move in the morning, then he had to go to the priesthood session, dinner, and adult session because he would be carpooling. I was anticipating on seeing Russ for 2-3 hrs today. I know I shouldn't be upset with the time that Russ spends doing church duties, but lately, anything upsets me so it isn't surprising that I got all huffy over nothing.

Before the girls and I had even gotten up for the day Russ dutifully went and helped the lady move. He then got home around 9:45. WAY earlier than I expected. He then told me that someone in the ward had told him that a bishopric member was setting up babysitting so couples could go to stake conference. I told Russ if he was willing to make all the calls I would be willing to go to stake conference. So Russ made the call. Turns out that it had been a misunderstanding and that the bishopric member wasn't setting up babysitting BUT a girl in the ward had just called asking if he knew of anyone needing babysitting for Stake Conference tonight.

Russ and I decided that even though we didn't really know this girl, we would have her come babysit. We hurriedly cleaned the house because "Saturday is a special day, a day to get ready for Sunday!" Russ called my visiting teacher and asked if I could now carpool. (I was still feeling guilty for being snippety so I didn't dare call....)Then Russ got dressed and left. Then my other visiting teacher called to make sure I was going and had a ride. I assured her we were good and all taken care of. I prepped the girls with "be good" and "do what the babysitter asks", and then it was my turn to leave.

After meeting a few other ladies in the ward we piled into two cars and headed off. The hour ride to Bay City was really something I needed. I chatted and laughed the whole way there with three wonderful ladies. It buoyed my sagging spirits, and swept a few of my troubles away. Upon reaching Bay City I met up with Russ and we had dinner at the Stake Center. I was introduced to a guy Russ works with and his wife. I enjoyed talking with them as well.

We then had a great adult session. A few talks were serious, a few were lighthearted, but ALL left me knowing that I had needed to be there. The Lord had provided a way for me to be there, so I could hear a few things that I needed to hear. Things never fall together as easily as they did today. The move went faster than normal...Russ talked to someone about baby sitting...we don't ever know where to get babysitters, so a babysitter was made available to us....I didn't know how to get to Bay City, so I carpooled...I was checked on AGAIN to make sure I had a ride...the chitchat on the way there....the talks. It always amazes me that the Lord is mindful of each our needs.

He knew this was what I needed at this time, so he led me through it...

Family Picture and a Great Big Hug

For Alan's present that I made him, I needed a current family picture of us. I took this one today. It turned out pretty cute. I had to crop it a lot so it turned out a little grainy. Oh well! Hopefully I can get it up on the blog header sometime soon!

After I took the picture Lily wanted to take her own picture. She snapped this one, and I thought it was sooooo cute! In it Allie is running to Russ to give him a hug. She loves to give great big hugs!

I wish I had known that!

This morning we travelled an hour to JCPenny to get Allie's 1 year photos done. We had actually gone two months ago and got them done. But well...things didn't exactly go as planned that day. Allie was kind of sick when we were there. We found out later that she had double ear infections. When we got there that day she was all smiles and we figured that even though she was a little "off" things would go fine. She had always been fine at her other photo sessions. So the lady had us come back to the studio and started arranging Allie they way she wanted her. She took a few test pictures but wasn't getting anything worth using. She decided to try something different. She climbed up on a ladder to adjust some stuff. After getting down she backed up and some how managed to kick Allie in the head. Allie screamed...and screamed....and screamed...etc. The lady then started taking pictures while Allie was still in my arms crying. This scared Allie to death, what with the bright lights flashing at her. When I finally calmed her down she wouldn't leave my arms, and the only picture we got of her was one where she had tears running down her face staring at the camera with the look in her eyes of, "Why did you leave me mommy?" The lady over the photo session then proceeded to make me choose a picture, which I chose the only one where she was looking at the camera. I paid for it, and said a few choice words to Russell as we walked out to the car.

The past two months or so, we just never could get the right time to go back in and pick up the pictures and pay for another session. Today we finally made it. We first asked the lady if we could pick up our pictures from forever ago. I mentioned that we had already done the birthday shoot once before but had to redo it. Russ then piped in that the last lady had kicked Allie in the head. The lady helping us today, gasped, then replied,"You didn't pay for these did you." We sheepishly spilt the whole story to her.

She proceeded to tell us that if things like that happen they don't require you to buy a package, and that you can come in and get a re-shoot done. She then asked we even wanted the package we had ordered and we said well no, she is crying in it! She proceeded to tell us that today's session would be free and that they would swap out the pictures for free too. Boy, I wish I knew that this was possible. I'm POSITIVE the lady I got last time would not have let us know that it was even an option to reschedule our photos.

Anyway, the lady we got today was ASTOUNDING! She took a lot of time just to play with Allie, so Allie would be comfortable with her. After a few pictures, Allie got terrified again because of the bright flashing light. I'm SURE she was associating with getting hit in the head. This photographer though kept working with her, and between me sitting next to her, and Russ playing peek-a-boo we got a BEAUTIFUL shot. I can't wait until we get it to show it off!

Random Pictures

Downloading pictures is always a surprise. There are always a few pictures that you are deeply impressed with, those that turned out the way you wanted to, and then those that leave you saying, "HUH?!" Today I have a two pictures that I downloaded that I was "impressed" with. Not for the quality, but because they show something unique about each of my daughters.

I know I talk about Lily's curls a lot, but I....LOVE....THEM!{This my current opinion, but rest assured having curls can be a pain! Curly hair=Lots of knots!} This picture really displayed her beautiful new haircut when her curls have dried naturally. The curls end up so much looser when allowed to dry naturally.

This picture is my Alliegater. So quick to give a smile to a momma who needs one. Her red hair that I've dreamed of. And lets not forget those sparkly blue eyes. Her eyes are ALWAYS sparkling!

It is photos like these that remind me just how much I love my girls.

Thoughtful Papa Joe

Mom and Dad sent me a package with a few things in it for me. Knowing that the girls would be disappointed that the package wasn't for them, Papa Joe bought this cute little mailer. He thought they would like it. Papa Joe however didn't realize that Lily is going through a HUGE Mickey Mouse phase. She was so excited to find out that she got to keep the packaging that she didn't worry about what was actually inside it! Thanks for being so thoughtful Papa Joe!

Darth Tater

Oh the things you'll do to your kids when you are bored! We were BEYOND bored today. Darth Tater was scattered all around the house. Allie was crying, Lily was whining about wanting to watch a movie. My solution? Plop Darth Tater's hat on Allie's head and giggle at her. What did I get in return?! A blissful half hour of giggles. {PS...have you ever tried to get a one year old to keep a hat on WHILE trying to take her picture, and get her to look at you. Mmm...not so easy!}

While Allie preferred to put the "big" hat on her, Lily preferred the itty-bitty one.

And Lily is SOOOOO thoughtful of her friend Alan Bear, we couldn't forget to put the hat on him and take a picture! Mind you Alan Bear has been demoted to "Baby" Alan Bear. Most days he has to wear a diaper. No undies for him!

Don't forget Bunny Foo-Foo! He might turn you into a *GOON* if he doesn't get to join in the fun!

What kind of silly things do YOU do with your kids when ya'll are bored?

New park for playgroup

One thing I love about Lake Jackson are the parks. There are probably 10 parks {or more} in our little city. For playgroup, we went to a park that we had never been to before. At first this park wasn't much to look at. It had one set of swings, a rock wall, a metal fire engine and 4 or 5 of those bouncy things. You know the things where the animal is on a spring, and you rock forward and back. I wasn't sure if this "older" park would be able to hold the kids interest. After letting the kids go, I realized that we were going to be just fine.

Allie instantly took to the fire engine. I had watched her wander off and knew she had gone over there, but I had gotten involved in a conversation and hadn't noticed what she was doing. One mom started laughing, pointed to Allie and said,"Is she playing peek-a-boo?" It took me awhile to register who they were talking about, because I looked over to Lily and she was climbing the rock wall. I then glanced over at the fire engine and saw Allie bobbing up and down smiling.

I felt horrible at this point. I had totally forgotten that Allie was there, let along existed. It was the weirdest feeling ever. How could I forget this beautiful little girl. Just thinking about it makes me cry!

A few of the bigger kids came over and invaded the fire engine. Allie got hurt in some way, so I took her off to the space ship. She loved this thing! She stayed on it for the rest of the time we were there, about 30 minutes! She did demand though that I make it "bounce" for her, since she wasn't heavy enough to do it herself!

Before leaving a snapped a quick shot of some of the playgroup kids. They all hung out on this thing talking and playing.

I'm so glad that we can go to this playgroup. It really is good for Lily, Allie, and me! We've all made some great friends through it. If you look at the above picture you can see Lily's "best friend" Christopher in the gray shirt.

8:00 AM

I could have kissed and hugged my little Allie all day today if it had been possible. The reason for this massive amounts of joy? She didn't wake up until 8:00 AM! With a little coaxing I was able to convince Lily to lay in bed next to me until Allie woke up. Essentially I got to sleep in until 8:00. What a wonderful treat my little ones gave me today!

Worth Every Moment

The closest temple to us is the Houston temple. If we drive from our house to there it takes about 1 hour. Not too bad, but when you add in the time for the session, dressing time, and probably some time to get something to eat, it takes about six hours to go the temple. Finding a baby-sitter for that long really wasn't something we were looking forward to. So, we begged Russ's sister who also lives in Houston to watch our kids for us so we could go. We figured that way the kids wouldn't be without us for as long. I'm not sure that logic really worked out, but oh well!

We got up early this morning and traveled the 1 hr 30 minutes to Cori and Jake's. We dumped the girls off and almost ran to the car. We were running a little late and were hoping to make the 11:00 session. After realizing we couldn't find the temple using our GPS we called the temple. The assured us that we could use the GPS to find the temple if we plugged in a DIFFERENT city than what the address for the temple is. We tried, and it worked! Yipee! We arrived with just enough time to make the session. We cut it close though.

It was a beautiful session. I wish I could elaborate, but I can't....I was so grateful that we took the opportunity to go, it boyed my spirits quite a bit. I wanted to get a picture of us at the temple, but no one was around outside. I settled for a beautiful picture of just the temple. The funny thing about this picture {and all other pictures of the temple} is that they make it look HUGE! In actuality, it is a very small temple. Probably the size of the Rexburg temple, or smaller. We were really fascinated inside though because the "motif" of the temple consisted of Lillies. That brought a smile to my face.

The rest of the day was spent eating lunch, traveling back to Cori's, visiting, eating dinner with them, and travelling back to our house. The whole day took us about 12 hours from start to finish. I'm glad we went though, and the time was well spent.

Fun Filled Day

I'm so tired right now, and I should be going to bed so we can get up early and go to the temple, but I don't want to forget this fun day. So...I'll write! :D

Friday's are one of my favorite days of the week. Russ is home, and we generally don't have too much planned to do. It is OUR day to do something fun as a family. Today started off with Russ, Lily, and Allie putting together Lily's new bike. That is a different story, that I plan on telling later! It was the cutest thing ever to see Lily and Allie tinkering with Daddy's tools, as he tried to get the bike together. He was so patient with them even though the were dropping wrenches down the bike seat shaft, dropping pieces of the bike on his toes, and slobbering all over the screwdrivers. I should have taken a picture of it...but I didn't. I'm still not in the mood to get back to some of my hobbies. Slowly but surely the desire is coming back....did I mention SLOWLY?

We went shopping after wards, came home had lunch, and put Allie down to sleep. Russ then entertained Lily by watching Avatar so I could get some scrapbooking done. I have a present I'm working on, and it is dragging out. I got a bunch done on it today (Thanks to Russ!!!), and can't wait to show it off on here. Allie woke up and we decided to take Lily on her first bike ride. She had been practicing on her "other" bike in the parking lot, but we decided to go out on the street, and ride around our neighborhood.

We hauled our three bikes, and bike trailer down the stairs. Did I mention we live on the second floor? Hmmm...we do, and our balcony houses our bikes. Soooo ghetto/white trash, but I'm not paying $60.00/month for a garage that would only house a few things. Back to the bike ride...upon strapping Allie into the trailer one strap promptly broke. That should have been a sign that things weren't going to go as planned, but it didn't even cross my mind. I decided that Allie doesn't move around TOO much in the trailer anyway, so she really only needed one strap to hold her in place. A few more small details were taken care of, and we were off.

I led out, followed by Lily, then Russ on his bike, and Allie pulled up the rear in her trailer. We were slow going since Lily was still getting used to her bike, but we made significant progress. Then we had to go around a sharp corner. Lily doesn't do corners that well, let alone a SHARP corner. She of course fell, but at least it was onto grass. Lily was fine, but her training wheel came a little loose. This is where I could again say that Russ doesn't know how to put training wheels on a bike, but I won't, because that would be mean....;D (Love you honey!!!) From that point on Lily's bike leaned to one side therefor making her kinda wobbly. My big girl persevered though!

We ended up going to a part of the neighborhood that we didn't know too well. It was full of cul-de-sacs, and dead end streets. We ended up making a HUGE loop in order to get back to the main road behind our house. By this time we had been biking 1 hr 30 min in the VERY HOT weather without sunscreen or water. Poor planing on my part, I KNOW!!! Lily had many "crashes" throughout this whole time, but we finally...made...it...HOME! Almost 2 hours had gone by. We all dashed upstairs and drained our Brita of its ice cold water. The good news is that everyone survived although, I think I got heat exhaustion. It stinks being a redhead sometimes! Too much heat on the head!

After getting home we googled the route we took to see just how long Lily's "first bike trip" actually was. Us being the mean parents we are made her bike 2.4 miles! We were shocked that it was that long, and she had made it without complaining!

After getting home at 6:00, and realizing we had a ward activity at 7:00, we decided to go out to eat for dinner. It was yummy, especially since I didn't have to cook. We made it to our ward party about 10 min late. We ushered Lily into her movie, which was Brother Bear 2, and I told Russ to have a good time watching Quiet Man. I chased Allie into the nursery where a few other people who had children had gathered. We had a great time talking and laughing.

We are now home, the girls are in bed, and I am exhausted from too much family fun!

It has been confirmed....

Russ spied our little friend yesterday visiting the neighbor. He confirmed that YES it was a lizard. I shouldn't have doubted myself. I'm glad he came back to visit. It will be fun for the girls to have a "little friend" come visit every once in awhile. Rest assured he will never become a pet, because mommy is too squeamish to actually pick him up and put him in a container. We'll just be friends from afar! :)

What's on your porch?

After Allie's nap I got the girls dressed an in their shoes to walk down to the mail. I opened the door and kind of jumped in surprise. Right where I was about ready to step was a little green lizard(possibly a gheko...its debatable). He was the cutest thing I've ever seen. At least that is what I thought after I got over the initial surprise of having something move when I opened my door. He seemed afraid of us and scurried over to the railing on our balcony. Then he paused, held perfectly still, turned its head, and STARED at us.

It was a little creepy to have it staring at us, but I called Lily over and had her look at it. She was fascinated by it. She kept asking me where it was going, and did it have a family. Lily is always worried about "things" having a family. We told it goodbye and walked down to the mail. Lily was sad to see that when we got back it had gone "into the forest to be with its family." After she said that she perked up though and said she was happy he found his family. I chuckled to myself over this whole situation!

Beach Outing

In an attempt to get over some of the blahs I've been having lately, I decided to take the girls to the beach by myself. I got up early today, packed all the supplies we needed, dressed and sunscreened the girls, loaded them, and drove off into the sun. I managed to find the beach without using a map, which I was quite pleased with since I was unfamiliar with the way there. When we got there we had practically the whole beach to ourselves. As far as we could there was only two other cars, and they were WAY farther down than us.

I unloaded the girls and set them free. Allie roamed around, and I just had to make sure she didn't walk out to the road. Mostly she went and played in the shallow waves. She thinks it is hilarious when the sand washes away under her. Lily promptly started to build a sandcastle, and stayed with it the whole time we were there.

The almost finished castle...It never quite got finished because Allie kept thinking it was a chair to sit on. Funniest thing to watch!

Miss Allie wandering around...

We stayed for a few hours, and then went home to unload our swimming suits of the sand we had accumulated. This short trip lifted all of our spirits. Hopefully we can have more of these outings soon!

{Just some thoughts}

Things in my life have taken a hit recently. I used to find so much enjoyment in my many hobbies. Recently I've found it hard to even want to do any of these things. Primarily it was because Russell was gone on business for two weeks. Yep, TWO WEEKS! He got back on Friday evening, and me and the girls were SO happy to have him home. This is something we have to get used to because he will be leaving again soon for another two weeks. Until Christmas this will be our routine.

I hated being alone those two weeks. I didn't sleep well, therefore I was tired during the day, and could barely get around in a zombie state to take care of my motherly duties. I would try and do some things to snap me out of this state, but really they were half hearted. One thing that fell by the wayside was my blog, and the pictures and stories that go into it. I didn't take a SINGLE picture during the whole two weeks Russ was gone. Sad, huh?! I feel horrible about this, because I want to have this record for ME when my kids grow old. They get the scrapbooks and picture books, but I {ME, MYSELF, NO ONE ELSE} gets these blog books I'm making.

I wish I could say that this lack of will is resolving itself soon, but it isn't. Even with Russ being home, it is still there. I know myself well enough to know that this is a deep rut I have gotten myself into. I'm going to try and crawl my way out, not only for my benefit, but the benefit of my kids and hubby. They need their wife and mommy to be paying attention to them. So, sadly my blog might suffer AGAIN! Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and this will be a rung on the ladder that will help me climb my way to the sunshine. I can't wait to be in the sunshine, and back to creating my little dust devils of activity around me. I LOVE being busy!

1st haircut

No Allie didn't get a haircut. Lily got her first haircut! Yes I realize she is four, but she really never needed one. However, once we got down here in Texas I did notice her hair was starting to resemble a mop. Kinda string, and uneven. So I bit the bullet and found a kid salon online. The closest one was in Pearland. Since we were already heading to Katy today I decided that on the way back we would stop and get her hair cut. Normally, I wouldn't have gone to this place because it was $20.00 for a kids cut! No shampoo, no style, just a cut! Lucky me had a coupon though. So we only payed $10 {Much more reasonable}

I was really impressed with this place. They had small hair salon chairs. I had never seen that before! As soon as I told the lady what Lily's problem was she went to town snipping. Lily did great. She held still the whole time, of course that was probably because they were showing a movie for her. It was some show about a pair of scissors, and the scissors were animated. Since Lily's hair is curly and I know NOTHING about curly hair, I let the lady do what she thought would be best for Lily's hair. I was shocked when I saw four inch pieces of hair dropping of. Who knew Lily even had that long of hair to cut off?! Here she is getting it cut.

This is a picture I took about two day ago. Notice how her hair is hanging down to her shoulders?! Ummm...not so much anymore!

Here she is with her "new" do. See the cute bow in there? She got that with the haircut. I guess my $10.00 went to something worthwhile!

And of course the back....

The lady at the salon told me she put layers in Lily's hair to make it more full. Apparently her hair is heavy and pulls on the curls. Lily seems pleased with her hair as well, so we're happy! Oh, and I remembered to save a few of her curls they clipped off :)

Weary Traveler

After swimming Russ graciously offered to drive me to Katy so I could go to Archiver's, an amazing scrapbook store. We underestimated how long it would take us to get to there. I think it took us almost two hours! :O On the way there Allie fell asleep, which I had planned on. When I looked back to check on her I found this...She looked so cute with her glasses all askew that I had to snap a photo.

Rec Center Swimming

I felt that this weekend we needed to something as a family. Lily had recently received a free pass to the local rec center, and we also had one from a "move-in" package we had received. With those two passes we would be able to get into the rec center for $3.00, or the cost of Lily. It was a great deal and we decided to use it as an excuse to have some family fun.

The Rec Center swimming area is pretty cool. It has one big waterslide, a smaller one for kids Lily's age, and then there is a roped off shallow area for babies. Russ quickly whisked Lily off to the "big kid" slide and went down it a few times. Allie and I went and enjoyed the kiddie pool. She loved to try and grab the water. This was the first time she had been to a place that shot water out of the ground. Well, she went to the library splash park, but wouldn't go near it, so I don't count that. Here she is playing patty cake with the water!

Every so often Lily would join us and play with the shooting water too.

Almost the whole time we were there we had the pool to ourselves. It was fun. (Pardon the low swimsuit, it needs replaced...)

I tried to get some cool action shots of Allie in the water. I swear everytime I took the picture the water shot up. I even tried taken while the water was up, but then it would splash higher! These were my attempts...

Then finally I got this beauty!

I of course forgot to get a picture of Russ at the pool! I always forget someone! {Rolls eyes} I also wanted to get a picture of Lily coming off of the slides, but she couldn't go down them without someone catching her and I couldn't leave Allie unattended. Oh well! Maybe when she is older right?! It was so much fun to go and do something relaxing with just our family. It seems like these days are few and far between lately. I've come to treasure them, as I should.

Self-Imposed Haircut

I knew this day would have to come. Don't all little kids give themselves a haircut? Today Lily had been watching a movie while I put Allie down for her nap. While watching the movie she was using her safety scissors to cut up some construction paper. I don't know why she enjoys doing this, but she does. Obviously I had left her unattended since I was laying all down. This usually isn't a problem, but today it was.

When I came out from putting Allie down, Lily gave me a really sheepish look and hid her scissors behind her back. I didn't think anything of it, she hides things behind her back all the time without it meaning she has done something wrong. I went about my business and she returned to cutting up paper.

Later on we had to get ready to go to the store. I hadn't done Lily's hair for the day, so I decided to comb it, whet it, and put a bow in it. I had Lily bring me her hair brush. When I looked at it I thought to myself, "Huh, she usually doesn't lose that much hair before I clean it out." Again things hadn't clicked as to what was going on. I just cleaned the hairbrush out and began to comb her hair. That is when a small chunk fell out.

I quickly put two and two together. I kind of screamed when I realized she had cut her hair. Upon asking Lily why she had did it she responded, "I wanted to make my hair long and beautiful like yours" Oh boy, hear we go again!!! Needless to say we had ANOTHER self-image talk, and the scissors went in time out. They won't be coming out for a VERY long time.

The good news from this whole situation? Lily really didn't do much damage to her hair-do. She managed to cut a few curls that framed her face. Without them her hair just looks less full. Honestly, I spent a couple hours with her hair "cut" and I didn't notice, so I'm sure no one else will either!

Self-Image

Self-image is such a difficult thing to teach girls. Elementary school is the age, where it seems to become a critical part of raising a little girl. This is when most girls start getting the comparison thing going on. Whether they are comparing themselves to others, or whether others are doing it for them. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I now have to have some of these self-image talks with Lily. I've always made a conscious effort to tell Lily she is beautiful and give her specific reasons why I think she is beautiful, but I didn't think the whole"I'm not as pretty as so-and-so is" would hit already.

It all stemmed from an activity we went to this week. We occasionally see a girl at these activities that Lily likes to play with. I tend to cringe over the fact because Lily always comes home with some new thing we have to discuss with her that the little girl has told her. One time, it was that Lily was slow because she didn't run as fast as that girl. Another time it was Lily was stupid because she didn't know how to swing by herself on the swing. The mom {who thankfully doesn't read my blog, nor does she know it exists!} is in complete oblivion that anything is going on with her daughter. This girl is SLY with a capitol S!!!

Back to the story...Lily ran off to play with this girl. I watched them and they seemed to be interacting well together. Usually Lily will come to me in a fit of tears if the girl has said something to her. Not so on this day. I was pleased that at least one outing had gone well with Lily playing with this girl. I loaded the girls up and started to head home. Typically while we are in the car I try to talk to Lily about things she has done at our activity's. Today she wasn't really talking and was kind of quiet. So odd, considering Lily is a chatter-box. I finally asked her did you have fun with so-in-so.

Lily: No!

Me: Why not?

Lily: She said, she said {she repeats herself when upset} I wasn't beautiful because I have stupid curly hair.

Me: What?! {As I almost drive off the road because I have whipped around to look at her}

Lily: I'm not beautiful. I HATE curly hair. Will you make my hair long and straight and beautiful like yours?{Sniffle, sniffle, beginning of tears}

We then proceeded to discuss how Lily's hair is beautiful and just fine being curly. We talked about how she got curly hair like daddy. I also added in the most girls will be dying to have her hair when she is older, but she didn't buy that. {Its true though, didn't all the straight haired girls wish they had curly hair?}

Since that day there has been MULTIPLE times a day that Lily will say she isn't beautiful because of her curly hair. We have to correct her and reassure her this isn't true. Agh! Who knew I would be tackling these issues so soon?