Looka here Huck......

Carlie recently checked out the book Tom Sawyer from the library. Carlie told Granny that it was an 8^th grade level book. So Granny asked her if she was having any trouble reading it.

 Carlie said “No, not really. Because Pepaw talks that way all the time.”

Anti-Obama

For years we have had this issue with our kids and school lunches.  The cost of school lunches has continued to go up over the years.  Multiply that by four and it adds up to alot.

So we had the kids start packing a lunch.  But they insisted they wanted to eat hot lunches.  So we made a deal that they could eat one hot lunch a week.  The kids would careful scan the week's lunch menu and determine what day they wished to have their school lunch.

Wellll...then comes Michelle Obama and her health kids campaign.  My kids sat up on election night and were CRUSHED to find out that Obama was re-elected.  Not because of MR. Obama, but because of MRS. Obama.

Carlie said "MAN, it's going to be another FOUR years become we can have Oreo Delight back in our school lunches again!!!"

So today Carlie said "I am just not having a hot lunch this week"  I ask "Why not?  You are always excited to pick out your school lunch each week?"

She said "Seriously Mom.  Have you ever heard of a whole wheat CORN DOG?!?!"  And Madi chimes "Yeah and we just get FOUR tater tots"  And Libby says "And we just get for items on our tray!!!

They are ready for the next Presidental election.

Ballin' and Shot Callin'

All three girls still play basketball. They all have their own "style" and I love watching them play.  Libby is getting really, really good.  She'll be a freshman next year and may have a chance to play some on the varsity team.  Madi and Carlie both scored at least one basket this season and Libby averages about 9 points a game.

Here are some pictures from the season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Family Bed

No, I do not practice attachment parenting....not by choice anyway.

 

 

Carlie is nearly 10 years old and still she insists on sneaking into our bed at night.   I woke up the other night and literally, Carlie was in the middle of the bed...I had a cat curled up on the pillow pressed up against my face and a dog on my legs.

I asked Carlie yesterday "Our you still going to crawl in bed with us when you are 16?  She thinks about it a minute and says "Well, I still have a long time to work that out."

Mustache

When I was a kid we grew up in a house with my sister, my Mom and Dad and one bathroom.  My sister and I shared a room.   So there wasn't alot of room for modesty amongst us girls. 

So I was really surprised that as my daughters have started going through puberty that are WAY modest.  They'd rather me pull their fingernails out than let me see them naked.  (Now this isn't true for Carlie who still doesn't have a modest bone in her body.)

So I will ask them questions about how they are "developing".  Somewhat to aggravate them and somewhat because I really want to know.

So the other day I asked Madi if she was growing any hair "down there".  She blushed and said "NO.  I. AM. NOT."   Carlie was in the room with us and just busts out in a belly laugh.

She said "Yes, Yes she is!!! She had a towel wrapped around her the other day and the corner of it slipped off and she's growing a little mustache down there!!!"


I about choked on my Diet Coke!!! LOL.

Mini-Me

Caught these two chillin' out with their books.

 

 



 

Like Father, Like Daughter.

The Great Blizzard of '13

No school today....working from home. Cat in my lap, dog at my feet, blankee tucked in around me....cardinals on my deck....kids frolicking in the snow.

From Face Book Today

Carlie Mae Pool

All I see is white and footprints . Why,why,why me !!!

Brenda Morgan

LOL Oh Carlie!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

Does it look like she's  unhappy with the snow???

Your Cheatin' Heart

I don’t get to have a girls’ weekend with my girlfriends in Oklahoma very often. For some reason, Carlie was very anxious about me going down to Margie’s house for the weekend. I used to travel for work, and they stay with their grandparents all the time, so I wasn’t sure what was up.

Finally the day before I was ready to go, I was working at night on my laptop at the kitchen table. Carlie sits down next to me with a bowl of cereal. I was concentrating on my work, so I wasn’t really paying attention.

Eventually she says “Mom, about this weekend….” On autopilot I reply “What?” Then she said “Please don’t cheat on Dad while you’re gone, okay?”

Now THAT got my attention. I told her “First of all, I would NEVER cheat on your Dad. And why on earth would you worry about that anyway?” Carlie said “Well you said you were going to go down there and have a good time, and I was just worried you’d cheat on him.”
 

 

So I finally get to Margie’s. We talk until 1am. I wake up in the middle of the night in a strange bed and someone is in bed with me snoring so loudly it actually woke me up!  The is something warm pressed up against me.

I feel around and it is Margie’s Boston Terrier named Murphy. LOL.

When I get home, I told Carlie. “I hate to tell you this.   But at Margie’s house, I spent the night with Murphy and I had to kick him out of bed because he was snoring so loudly!!”

For just a second her eyes got wide, and then she narrowed them and said “Don’t mess with me Mom. I think Murphy is a dog.” Smart cookie

Snow White and the Who?

 

The other day we were watching Snow White and the Huntsman. It’s a different spin on the Snow White story, but basically the same. Libby kept asking these weird questions “Why are there seven little guys there?” “Those are the seven dwarves?” “Why is she asking that mirror questions?”

 

Bob finally says  “Libby haven’t you heard ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall who’s the fairest one of all?” Libby says “She doesn’t look very fair to me, she’s being unfair to Snow White.”

 

Bob tries again "LIBBY! Haven't you ever seen the movie "Snow White and the Seven Drawves?"  She goes "OH!!"  

 

 

Then Carlie slaps on the back and says "Don't worry, Genious, I got your back.  I'll explain it all later!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pool brand of Stubborn!!

 

 

I am tired of the Pool brand of stubborn tonight!!! First I chase Carlie all over the living room this evening with a wooden spoon trying to get her to clean the living room up. It should have taken 30 minutes.  But I had to stand over her for TWO hours to make her get it all done.

 

Then Pepaw Pool decided that he was going to leave the hospital tonight whether he was signed out or not. He snuck out on them and got in the hallway and wouldn't go back to his room. They brought him a wheelchair so he wouldn't fall down. He stayed out there FOUR hours. Bob had Libby with him and Bob was SO tired.  He's been trying to visit him Dad twice a day in the hospital and we are taking turns staying with Memaw as she needs 24/7 care.

 

He told Bob and Libby that if they loved him, they would take him home.   Bob told him "Dad you know you can't just walk out of this hosptial without checking out."  Pepaw said "No, I don't know that."

 

I finally went up there at the 3 hour mark and we finally got him back to his room.  I used the Momma-Guilt-Trip skill on him that all women automatically get when they become Mom's.  I told him that Memaw knew he was sitting out in the hall and she wouldn't go to bed until she knew that HE was safely in HIS hospital bed.  (She knew no such thing....but he didn't know that).  Finally about 9:30pm we got him back to his room.

 

When the doctor came to see him the next morning he told the doctor "You'd just best let me go home today or I'm going to sit outside in the hallway again today until you do."

 

 That's some kind of stubborn. I told him that Carlie gets that from him!!!

Sleeping Beauty

Carlie is 9 years old and she still crawls into bed with us.  She's like I was when I was young....she doesn't sleep well and has a bit of anxiety.  We seldom let her go to bed with us, but several nights a week she will creep into bed between us in the middle of the night.  She doesn't wake either of us up or I might send her back to her own bed.

When she comes to sneak into our bed, she always brings her blanket, and her leopard (Zuri) and usually and eye mask.  I have no idea why she likes these so much but she has several and wears them all the time!!

I always buy them the cheap blankets at Walmart every year.  They are soft and light and they go on sale for $2.50 each after Christmas is over.  That is what Carlie carries around. 

When I bought her a new one after Christmas this year, she told me that it took a while for her to attach to a new blanket each year.  I asked her how long it took her to get fully attached to the new one and she said "About two weeks!"

One night I was lying still in bed, but I wasn't asleep.  I saw the door crack open, but the cats do that all the time when they come into our bedroom.  So I just laid there and in a few seconds, I felt something tugging at the covers.  I thought, well it must have been the cats and they are down there playing under the covers.  I was just about to close my eyes again when I see a head pop up on the side of the bed near the bottom.  It was like a spy movie. LOL.  I didn't move a muscle as I watched her creep stealthily across the bottom of the bed, climb up towards the middle and snuggle in.

I caught her in bed the other morning.  Notice Zuri in the picture, the new red blanket she just got good and attached to as well as the eye mask that makes her look like she has sunglasses on and a bow in her hair.  She was sound asleep.

Nevada or Nebraska? That is the question....

This summer we were in the car discussing where we might like to go on vacation someday. We talked about Washington, DC and going back to Disney World.

 

 Eventually the topic of the Grand Canyon came up. Libby said she would like to go there and it wasn’t so far away…it was only in Nebraska.

 

 

 

Carlie goes “Uh Libby, it’s in Nevada not Nebraska.” We couldn’t convince her. Finally I asked her if it was in Nebraska, why hadn’t we just run up there to see it a long time ago. And Libby goes “Oh!”

Christmas Present From Carlie

Carlie's Christmas present to me. It says "Merry Christmas Mommy from your imaginative and very crazy and creative daughter - Carlie or Snicklefritz

She's so modest too!

Happy Birthday, Mr. President

Madi is going to be Marilyn Monroe for Halloween. I asked if she knew who that was and she said "Sure, she's the lady in the pretty white dress that has a statue at Spangles"

Madi INSISTED on finding a blonde wig to wear.  So the best we could find was the white one from Walmart.  But it was a long one.  So I spend 30 minutes cutting it to the length that she wanted.   And after all of that she wore it about 10 minutes into trick-or-treating before she decided it was hot and took it off. Grrrrr!!!!

Drama Queens

Three daughters grades 8th, 5th and 4th + first day of school = drama.

Carlie hysterical because she couldn't find the shirt she wanted to wear that she supposedly laid out the night before.

Madi hysterical because she had a "Zit" on her forehead that needed to be covered with makeup. 

Libby hysterical because Madi is wearing shorts that she claims are hers even tho Madi could barely squeeze into them. Are we having fun yet?

Will You Be My Valentine.....Early

After all of these years of parenting, my kids know me well.  This year Valentine's Day was on a Tuesday.  We all the stuff going on with work, building the house, helping my in-laws...I really hadn't given it much thought.  We make one trip to Walmart a week to buy groceries and it's usually on a Saturday or Sunday.  All special requests for the week should be put on "the list".  They know this.

Well Wednesday Feb 8th, Carlie comes up to me and says "Mom, my teacher told us today that we have to have our Valentines purchased and brought to school by Friday."  My first thought was "Crud, that's really short notice.  I'm going to have to make a special trip to Walmart because she (either Carlie or her teacher) didn't give me enough notice. 

Then I started to think about it.  "Carlie, Valentine's Day isn't until Tuesday.  Why do we have to have your Valentines to school by the Friday before?"  Carlie gives me a dead-pan innocent expression "I dunno.  That's just what she said."

I know there isn't something not quite right about this, but it's not clicking in my brain.  I'm still muttering to myself about having to make a mid-week trip to Walmart.  Then the tumblers click in my stressed out over worked brain.  Ahhhh.....

"Carlie, that's not logical.  Did your teacher REALLY say you had to have them by Friday?  Because you know I can email her and ask?"  Carlie replies "Wellllll, techincally that's not what she said.  But I thought if I gave you an earlier deadline....that would make sure that I had them on time for Valentine's Day!!!"

She knows me too well!!!

Does it have The HydroPhobee?

In case you haven’t seen the movie Old Yeller, that’s what they used to call Rabies.

Yesterday
, I was the last one in the family to leave the house.  I walk out the back door headed to the mini-van, and there is a raccoon sitting in my driveway.  I stared at it and it stared back at me.  Then it slowly started walking away weaving back and forth.   

The first thing that popped into my head was “OMG it has the beginning stages of Rabies.  Which of my animals are current on their rabies shots?  Which of my kids are current on THEIR rabies shots…oh wait, kids don’t have Rabies shots.  Oh CRAP kids don’t have Rabies shots!!!”

So I’m standing there in the yard frozen with indecision.  We don’t own a firearm, for reasons we’ll discuss some other time.  Who around me has a gun and is willing to shoot?  Everybody has already left for work.  So I’m looking up the number for animal control on my phone with one eye, and keeping the other on the potentially rabid coon.  It is hard to use a Blackberry with just one eye. 

As I’m fumbling around with my phone, I see my neighbor leave his driveway.  Ohhhhhh…he is a wildlife officer out at the lake!!!  I run to the road and flag him down…which probably scared him to death.  He gets out of his truck.  He looks at it for a minute and says “Wellllll it COULD have rabies.”  NOT makin' me feel any better here Alan!!  We watch it a few more minutes and then we see that it has a broken back leg.  Still no one around with a gun to put it out of its misery.  Alan says it will probably wander off during the day.

I’d really forgotten about it.  The girls had practice at 5:30pm.  In order for us to make it on time, I have to fly home and they have to be in basketball clothes ready to go.  So I pull up in the driveway and no one is in sight.  THEN I heard the screaming. Madi is running from the back five acres bawling hysterically.  Frank is right behind her with Scrappy in his arms, and the other two girls are hot on their heels.  I could not IMAGINE what was going on. 

Madi reaches me first and she says “Mom, it’s leg is broken.  Frank broke its leg.”  I see Frank running with Scrappy and all I can think is “OMG, Frank broke Scrappy’s other leg!!!!”

Frank finally catches up.  Madi is continuing “There is a raccoon back there and Frank is beating it with a stick.  And he beat it so much he broke its leg.  He’s trying to kill it.”  At the same time Frank is saying “Mom, Scrappy was attacking it and they were fighting and I couldn’t get Scrappy to stop so I only hit it with the stick once so I could get Scrappy.” Carlie adds in “I think Scrappy is bleeding.”  (Which he wasn’t.)  Inwardly I grown. “Ohhhhh…..the coon.” 

So I walk out to the field and the poor old coon is curled up in the middle of the pasture miserable.  It made me want to cry to think about shooting it, but there probably wasn’t anything that could be done for it either.

So I walk back to the new house.  There were three different groups of construction guys in the house working.  I walk into the house and say “Does anybody here have a gun in their truck?”  Boy THAT got a lot of wide eyes.  And then I think Duh!!! And explain about the raccoon.  None of them have a gun (that will admit to it anyway).

So a couple of minutes later the builder pulls in.  I say “I have a dumb question.  Do you happen to have a gun with you?”  He looks at me and says “No, I only carry a gun in my truck on Mondays.”  NO ONE is helping me here!!!  He goes “If it wasn’t something as mean as a raccoon, I’d go out there and hit it in the head with a 2x4 for you, but those things bite hard.  I look over at Frank and he says “I’ll go do it.”  Uhhh…no you won’t!!!

I left it out there in the field.  I didn’t go check on it this morning.  Hopefully it’s not still out there suffering.  I thought briefly…ever so briefly about opening up a raccoon rehabilitation center on our land.  I felt so badly for it.

The Pool Sisters....Ballin'

Were playin Bask-et-ballll, were playin' Bask-et-balllll.....