kids and their friends

i am having so much fun (and heartache) as i watch them develop friendships and remember old ones...

celebrating

a childlike faith. kids are so open. they believe the best in others and put themselves out there to be known. i wish i had this same attitude when i approached friendship initially.

harrison gets duped

he gets in the car yesterday and says it was a bad day. let me set the stage.

harrison had an old wallet of michael's he just got and had his new police badge in the see through licence pocket in the front so he could "flash his badge" along with a couple little animal sponge things he got as party favors and a shiny dollar bill from the tooth fairy (he doesn't believe in the tooth fairy but asked me to still slip the bill under his pillow). i didn't realize he was taking this wallet of loot to school but he did. so at some point in the day with all his buddies around he decides to show the loot. branson (yes a child's name) asks to look at the sponge shark and since branson threatens not to be his best friend every other day harrison said sure. after he looked at it and then harrison asked for it back branson informs him he will trade him that shark for the dollar in harrison's wallet. my kids no dummy and says *&^%$ no. what he missed is that a trade is not for your own crap back so since he wasn't about to give up the buck branson makes out with the shark.

i tell you, i wanted to call that kids mom and have that punk put on the phone. then harrison tells me that his mom has "a pink part in the front of her hair" and "wears a fancy leather coat and jeans" and that branson's t-shirt said "my mom is hotter than yours". now i have a clear picture of what we are working with. what mom wouldn't be hot with pink hair and leather?!

we set aside our desire to hunt down this shiester and worked with harrison on how to talk with branson about getting back the shark and being prepared for never seeing the toy again. we also encouraged him to select his friends wisely. this is not the first incident with branson. (was it wrong to tell him to stick with friends with real names?)

tatiana and her "old friend"

she was reminiscing about her full 6 years of life and all the friends she has had along the way. she goes through rachel in fl, kirby and riley and ms. ida in texas, rachael and adele in n.c. and now olivia, taylor and lanie in st. joe. then she says "OH YEA, and my oldest friend my best friend, my dog daiji." daiji died within a month of her coming from russia--before her 1st birthday. she has a great memory!

aleksandra's old and young friends

she has not a care in the world about limiting her friendships to those her own age. she does always list molly (smith-in georgia) first on any list of prayer requests, things she is thankful for, best hair, best anything but then the list is a broad mixture of adults, kids and teenagers. her teacher at school is catherine and there is a child catherine. both equal on the friendship scale. ms ida, jaime and mimi--all equal. the teenage jack and church and harrison's friend jack--all equal. we all have a thing or two to learn from aleksandra!

brennan and his cole's

he now has old cole (smith-in georgia) and buddy cole (nelson-in st. joe). never mind that cole smith is older and much more harrison's friend but in his sweet little mind cole smith was his best and only friend until he met cole nelson. since the names were the same and he and cole were the same height that must be a sign that was to be his new friend. whenever you mention the name cole he wants to clarify "old cole or my buddy cole?". wouldn't life be easier if we just had the same name friends? find a gift have it monogrammed and buy 10 of the same thing. much less stressful at birthdays.....

michael and i

still struggling to find "that one or two" here. we are grateful for the years of adding to our inner circle as we have journeyed and hopefully god is preparing more additions to our tapestry.

big and sassy!

what you can learn in the locker room

is amazing. in just one short get ready session in my gym's locker room i learned:

* ladies love line dancing- there was quite an uproar over the cancellation of the line dancing class for Nov/Dec. they didn't know what they would do with themselves until it resumed in january.

* dancing with the stars SHOCKED america- it was utter disbelief that the cheetah girl was voted off. as new ones came into the locker room the conversation began again (and again and again and again) but clearly that cheetah girls (whose name no one could recall) should have won the whole thing. in fact there was discussion of a boycott.

* i will plan my senior years carefully- so i am not a part of this crowd.

* st joe needs a national gym franchise- that was my conclusion. given the discussion and the fact that i was the youngest in the locker room by maybe 30 years, i think we need a new health club. i should have known when i signed up at alice's energy club and alice is 60 that i was probably a fish out of water. there is freedom in working out where you still have one of the higher racks and booties so i am thankful for that.

celebrating

the end of halloween. this is a nightmare for parents; especially parents of 4 small ones. they are all old enough now to know the game and they are super opinionated about their costumes, accessories etc... no home-made costumes--no sir. we are into all the commercial characters complete with hair dye to ensure we look EXACTLY like our character. praise the lord that is over! i heard jerry seinfeld say today that is it; he is not doing it anymore. i am on that wagon!