{girl time}

Yesterday was declared Family Fun Day! We started with a long bike ride together through the Baylands to brunch at Michaels. After we returned home, Phil suggested we play croquet in our backyard. While he and the kids got the game set up, I was busy inside the house. Will called out that they were ready for me and I told them I would be there in "just a minute." Several minutes later, he called out again and I heard Phil tell them that I said I would be there in just a minute. Will responded, without hesitation, "Yeah, but that's a woman's minute!"

{It's a love fest people!}

Last night Olivia and I were watching the Dancing with the Stars finale. We watched this season because Candace Cameron-Bure (aka DJ Tanner from Full House) was one of the stars, and if you know Olivia, you know her love of Full House runs deep!

We both love Candace and her willingness to share her love for God and her Faith.  She is a great role model for young girls and moms alike! She has three kids, two boys and a girl. She loves being a mom and often talks about how her faith and her family are her everything.

During one part of the show, Candace got emotional when talking about her daughter Natasha, who was cheering on her mom from the audience. Olivia sighed, "Oh wow. She really loves her mom so much, doesn't she?" I nudged Olivia and jokingly said, "Yep. Must be nice." Olivia looked at me and replied, "Oh come on, Mom, you know the feeling!"

What would I do without this sweet girl of mine? Who can melt my heart in a matter of seconds.

{Wanted: Cute Workers}

As I pulled out my sewing machine in preparation for making "CTR Baptism Towels" this morning, Olivia remarked, in the same voice typically used when she sees a darling baby or small child, "Oh mom, I love watching you work. It's so cute!"

{Note to Olivia's future husband: Here's the secret to winning her over.}

Olivia's favorite song right now is "ALL OF ME" by John Legend. We listen to it in the car over and over and she knows each and every word. We've talked about how amazing the lyrics are and I said to her one day, "Olivia, make sure you marry someone who feels this way about you." My favorite line is "[I love] your perfect imperfections."

Yesterday, after dropping Will off at soccer, and listened the song yet again, Olivia said to me. "Mommy, you know how I said I would DIE if my husband sang me this song one day? Well, will you please tell my husband to sing it to me on my birthday?" It was adorable and hilarious and wonderful. To think that her husband would, in 20+ years, sing her this song. I love it.  I asked, "What if he sang you this song when he proposed?" At that, she "fainted". And then made me PROMISE that I wouldn't forget to tell him. So I'm recording my promise here. It will be cheesy and sappy and over-the-top, but the boy who will sing this song to my girl, and mean each and every word, will have a place in my heart and our family forever.


"All Of Me" John Legend

[Verse 1:]

What would I do without your smart mouth?

Drawing me in, and you kicking me out

You've got my head spinning, no kidding, I can't pin you down

What's going on in that beautiful mind

I'm on your magical mystery ride

And I'm so dizzy, don't know what hit me, but I'll be alright

[Pre-Chorus:]

My head's under water

But I'm breathing fine

You're crazy and I'm out of my mind

[Chorus:]

'Cause all of me

Loves all of you

Love your curves and all your edges

All your perfect imperfections

Give your all to me

I'll give my all to you

You're my end and my beginning

Even when I lose I'm winning

'Cause I give you all of me

And you give me all of you, oh

[Verse 2:]

How many times do I have to tell you

Even when you're crying you're beautiful too

The world is beating you down, I'm around through every mood

You're my downfall, you're my muse

My worst distraction, my rhythm and blues

I can't stop singing, it's ringing, in my head for you

[Pre-Chorus:]

My head's under water

But I'm breathing fine

You're crazy and I'm out of my mind

[Chorus:]

'Cause all of me

Loves all of you

Love your curves and all your edges

All your perfect imperfections

Give your all to me

I'll give my all to you

You're my end and my beginning

Even when I lose I'm winning

'Cause I give you all of me

And you give me all of you, oh

[Bridge:]

Give me all of you

Cards on the table, we're both showing hearts

Risking it all, though it's hard

[Chorus:]

'Cause all of me

Loves all of you

Love your curves and all your edges

All your perfect imperfections

Give your all to me

I'll give my all to you

You're my end and my beginning

Even when I lose I'm winning

'Cause I give you all of me

And you give me all of you

I give you all of me

And you give me all of you, oh

{the talented Mrs. Marsh}

Tonight we celebrated Will's birthday with dinner at Amici's "fancy pizza". We scored a table next to the guys who make the pizzas and Olivia spent the majority of the. Light watching them work.

At one point a guy was tossing pizza dough over his head with ease and I commented, "Man, I am jealous of that talent!"

Olivia replied, "You have a better talent anyway mom."

"Being awesome?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes and answered, "I was going to say mom. But pretty close anyways."

I hope she always and forever thinks that about me.

{Surviving Taxes}

While watching Survivor this afternoon with Will, he told me that if we were playing together (as family members are this season) and he needed to vote me out to have a better chance of winning, he would still share the winnings with me. Then he did the math and realized that would only mean 250,000 each because taxes would take half. I said, yep, and he replied, "seriously? We have to pay taxes even on awards you win?" "Uh huh". He paused for a second and said, "Greedy suckers!" The ultimate greedy suckers. 

{Personal History}

On Saturday Phil stopped by CVS to get some "scar away" cream and asked Will if he would like to use it on the scars he has collected over the years. Will pondered this for a moment and replied, "No. I don't want you to use it on my scars. My scars tell stories of the past. They are like little time capsules on my body."

{Survivor}

Will and I love watching Survivor together. Today after he finished homework, we sat down to watch the finale together.

During an interview with "Eddie", Eddie mentioned that he really wanted to win because he would open a Doggy Daycare/Bar where basically you go to a bar and bring your dog.  Will started laughing so hard, "That's seriously what you would do with your money?!"

"If I was to win the million dollars, I would invest $50,000 in Apple, build a pool in our back yard and then buy a really nice house."

"For us?"

"Well....I would buy a really nice, big house that we could all live in."

"Hmmmm.....well, you know that taxes will take half, and I don't think you could buy a really big, nice house here for $500,000."

Doing the calculations in his head, he decided, "But if I moved to Alaska!!"

{Lost & Found}

A few minutes after sending Will to get ready for soccer, he called downstairs to me that he couldn't find his clothes and wanted me to help him. I tried giving him suggestions where he should look, but they each proved unsuccessful.

After several back and forths he called down, "Mom, do you love me?"
Knowing what he was trying to do, I replied, "Yes, I love you. And because I love you I want you to be able to fly on your own and find your own clothes without my help."
"Mom! Do you love me?"
"Yes"
"Would you fight a bear for me?"
"Yes, but I will not help you find your clothes."
{Laughing} "What a rip off!"

And with that I caved.

{Mother Bear}

At bedtime, as Will gave me his ritual hugs and kisses, he informed me that he "loved me google plex times the distance it takes to travel our entire universe." He continued with several {equally scientific} declarations of his love. Smiling, I asked, "Why? Why do you love me?" "Because! You are my mom and you do everything for me!" I looked into his blue eyes and told him seriously, "You know I would do anything for you, right? I would fight a bear for you." He giggled and said, "Yeah, but you would lose." I gave him one more hug and kiss and sent him on his way, with the reminder, "you never know...".  Just before the door closed, he called out, "I love you to bits & pieces mommy!" And if you can imagine, Will, I love you even more.

{Baby Factory}

This morning as Will and I were getting ready, he informed me, "Mom, I want to have three kids when I grow up. Is that a good number?" "Sure", I replied.
 "Did you want to have three kids?"
"I did."
"Well, why don't you have another baby then?"
"It's too late now."
His face got all sad and he put his hands on my stomach and said, "Oh mom, you're not too old! The factory isn't closed yet! It's still working!"

{Golf PRINCEples}

This morning Phil took Olivia golfing with him. While Olivia went to retrieve a ball, Phil drove the cart to the next tee. Olivia came running up to him, feigning that she was scared. "Dad!" She said with exasperation, "You left me alone with a scary frog that was croaking!" Phil smiled and replied, "Oh, that's just a prince waiting for you to kiss him." Not surprisingly he elicited the longest EWWWWW! She could possibly muster. Later Phil asked her if he was her Prince Charming. She said, somewhat disgusted, "Nooooooo! Daddy!" "Well you are too young to have a real prince yet." "Daddy, you're the King." And that makes me the Queen.

{Alien Abduction?}

Tuesday mornings are rough for me, because I do laundry on Monday nights and am usually up until at least 1:00am. Yesterday was particularly difficult because I had also been woken up separate times in the night by both Will & Olivia.  When they came to my room at 7:00am, I sent them downstairs to get breakfast with the promise that I would be right behind them.

It took me a little longer than I intended to get going, and s I started down the stairs, I stopped at Olivia's room to turn off her light and noticed her bed was made, an anomaly, for sure. I then checked Will's room, and his bed was made as well!  I ran down the stairs calling out, "Will! Olivia! Where are you? Someone kidnapped you and made your beds!" I rounded the corner into the kitchen, only to find them already dressed, eating breakfast they had made themselves! I again joked, "Aliens! What have you done with my children!? Give them back to me!" We all dissolved into a fit of giggles and endless hugs.

Their surprise, not only made my day, but turned what could have been a stressful and rushed morning into one of our best mornings ever!

{Beauty Drink}

The other day, Olivia picked up a bottle of water I left on the counter and asked, "Why do you drink so much water? Is it because drinking water makes you beautiful? Because it's totally working mom!"

{Party Principals}

Recently, Will & Olivia's school held a fundraiser to raise money for a new playground. The fundraiser was called "Pop Pop Read A lot Challenge". The children earned one kernel of popcorn for each minute they read at home. At the end of the fundraiser, the kids had a Popcorn party with the kernels they earned.

I heard the following story from a few different people, including our Principal.

Apparently, Will was hanging out with his friends and classmates during the party when he turned around and saw our Principal, Linda Creighton.  His face lit up and he said excitedly, "I was just saying that it's not a party unless Mrs. Creighton is here and then I turned around and here you are!"

She was so tickled by this and told several other parents throughout the party.  I love that we have a Principal who gets to know our kids so well that they miss her when she isn't there!

(And she is truly amazing. She not only knows the names of all the kids, but she knows who their parents are and who their siblings are!!)

{Reality Star}

This morning Olivia brought me a sweet card she made for me. I thought it was so special I started taking pictures of it so I could post it on Instagram. I needed one more picture to complete the collage of four pictures and asked if I could take one of her. Olivia got immediately bashful and asked, "Are you going to put it on the Internet for everyone to see? Because I don't live my life on the Internet!"

{Kindergarten Perseverance}

Recently, I was cleaning the kitchen and enlisted the help of Will & Olivia to put things that didn't belong away. Olivia had left her "100 days" hat on the kitchen table for several days, and since I had already taken pictures of her wearing it, I asked her to throw it away. It's a pretty obnoxious hat with 10 "tentacles", each representing one of the 10's (10, 20, 30, etc.) coming up and out from the band that goes around her head. At the end of each tentacle is a star and on each tentacle they put 10 stickers. It's a silly and fun hat, but not an easy to store hat, which is why I had taken a picture of it in the first place.

"What?! Why do I have to throw it away? But I worked so hard on this at school!"

"Because Olivia, we don't live in a house big enough to keep every single thing you guys do at school. We have already taken a picture of you wearing it and that's going to have to be good enough."

"Look, Mom. Before I made this hat, I didn't even know how to count to 100 by 10's...10..20..30...40...50...60...70...80...90..100...but I persevered!!!"

After I picked my jaw off the floor for her {correct} usage of the word "persevered", I told her we could keep the hat.

{Health Nut}

In our family, we try and make healthy choices. We're not perfect, and we try not to be ridiculously strict, but on the subject of candy, we try and follow our Virginia Pediatric Dentist's advice to only let the kids have chocolate, if we let them have candy at all.

For the most part, both Will & Olivia are good about following this rule. But that doesn't mean that there aren't times where they will still ask to have a sucker when they get their hair cut, or want to eat a jolly rancher that came in their birthday party goody bag (really parents? Can you please help us out by not giving our kids sugar at every turn????).

So, yesterday, being Valentine's Day, was one of those hard days. Everywhere I turned there was more and more "illegal" candy and I felt bad having to be the broken record of "no".

After school, my friend Angie hosted a Valentine's Day party at her house. She planned tons of fun activities including, Bingo & decorating sugar cookies & cupcakes.  She also had an activity where the kids make flowers using paper petals and a dum-dum sucker.

While outside, my friend Katt, attempted to give her little boy a Butterscotch sucker and Olivia stopped her. "No, no, no. Don't give him that one. Give him this one," she said grabbing an apple-flavored sucker. "It's apple, which means it's a lot healthier for him."

We've got some more work to do.

{Madame Smartie Pants}

It's a sad day when you realize your kids are wising up to your tricks.  A few days ago, Olivia asked me if I could read her mind. I've told the kids before that I can read their mind and usually can guess pretty close each time. I figure it will come in handy when they are teenagers if they think I can read their minds, so I told her yes and she asked me to prove it.

I told her to think of something and I would tell her what she was thinking.

"Okay, Mommy, I'm ready. What am I thinking?

"You tell me and I'll tell you if I was right," I countered.

"No way! You just want me to tell you and then you will say that's what you were thinking even if it wasn't!"

Caught red-handed, I started to laugh and so did she.  "I can read your mind, Mommy!"

{Art Ego}

Today, Will came home from school with artwork he created in his after school Art class. They were both really great pieces and I asked him if he would like to hang them up in his room.

He looked at me, with all seriousness and replied, "Ummm.....mom, these are too good to just hang in my room. I think these need to be hung in our living room."