Easter Sunday!

We had a late night last night - our friends from the neighborhood had a birthday party at the local skating rink. Not only was it a skating party, it was also a costume party! So fun!!

Once we were back home, we set out the Easter Baskets and carefully hung the key on the door handle. Thanks to a smokin' hot pre-Christmas Sale, the Easter Bunny didn't disappoint. The girlz got a new full-size American Girl (Marie-Grace), a mini American Girl (Molly) a few American Girl accessories, a book, an egg full of tatoos, and one small egg of candy.

 They were THRILLED.

Our new friends HAD to come to church with us (that's a rule), so we all got dressed and headed to church. The girlz rocked their Lilly Pulitzer dresses!

Our Spring Break vacation has officially started!

Church Easter Party

Today was our Easter Party at church. The girlz look forward to it every year!

We played games...

And made crafts...

And helped clear the church yard of 6000+ eggs that had been hidden.

It was a GREAT morning!!

Palm Sunday, A Week Later

It wasn't until I pulled this morning's Easter Party pictures off my memory card that I realized I never downloaded our Palm Sunday pictures. Oops!

The girlz wore matching brown corduroy dresses with hot pink monograms.

Oh, the sweetness... be still, my southern heart.

You may have noticed something missing from Campbell's hair recently. She's decided that she's too old for hair bows and prefers clips instead (I know - ridiculous, right?!?).

Just thinking about it makes me want to cry. How can my girl think she's too old for hair bows?!?

Easter Parties

The girlz had their Easter Parties at school this morning, so I spent the entire morning hiding eggs and herding children.

It was AWESOME!

The end of this morning's festivities signaled the beginning of Spring Break. Hooray!!

It's a Good Day

The girlz came home with backpacks full of awesome this afternoon. I have to take just a minute to tell the world about their accomplishments!

In spite of a few missteps during the semester, Cassidy brought home a report card today that has 4 As and 1 B+ on it. Go Cassidy!

Campbell tends to not take her homework seriously, as noted here a few weeks ago. Her homework last night included counting and coloring Easter Eggs on a worksheet. She completed the assignment with typical Campbell style - she chose to turn a few of the eggs into bugs. This concerned me, but Mrs. M clearly appreciated her flair and left a nice note. Good work, Campbell!

And the icing on the cake - Cassidy's Grace Hopper project score sheet came home today. Drum Roll... our girl earned an A+ (102!!) on it! HOORAY!!

It's a good day in the Censored Last Name household!

Nobody Has It All Together

This is the IgniterMedia video I had been planning to post a few months ago. Spring Break is quickly approaching, and it seems like life has hit a fevered pitch in anticipation of the break. Cassidy has had several big school items due in the last few weeks, Campbell has homework assignments more often, both classes have Easter Parties tomorrow, and dance commitments are at their peak.

We *almost* overslept this morning, and our day started exactly like the family in the video. We stepped out the door with only seconds to spare, and Campbell started complaining of her legs being cold just as the bus rolled up (she chose to wear socks instead of tights).

In the midst of our most chaotic moments, I silently remind myself that we are not alone. If these issues were limited to just us, we would have been the family featured in the video - right?

Birthday Parties

We have found ourselves in the 7th Circle of Birthday Party Hell. The girlz bring home party invitations by the fist full - two or three each week. And just when I think we've finally cleared the hurdle, we get more invitations.

At this rate, her classmates will be burned out by the time we get to this girl's birthday.

What a blessing to have so many good friends. Exhausting, yes. But a blessing nonetheless!!

Good Citizen Project

For several weeks now, Cassidy has been working on a Good Citizen Project for school. She had to choose a citizen, research that person, and then write a presentation on notecards explaining who the person is/was and why they are/were a good citizen.

Cassidy chose Grace Hopper. If you don't know who Grace Hopper is, her Wikipedia page can be found here. She was a tiny little woman that did HUGE things with a mainframe computer. She was promoted to the highest ranks of the Navy in a time when many women didn't work.

I admit, I influenced Cassidy to choose her. But it was an easy sell once I explained who Grace Hopper was and what she'd done.

Costumes were optional, and Cassidy decided a full-blown costume was not do-able. But we did ask Mama and Papa if they could pick up a NAVY t-shirt from the Exchange next time they were there.

Mama and Papa said they could do better than that - they would get her the t-shirt AND let her wear Papa's dress whites hat for her presentation!

We practiced her presentation in the car one last time this morning. She's SO EXCITED to dress up and tell her friends about Grace Hopper. I can't wait to hear all about it!!

Go Cassidy!!

When Worlds Collide

Veggie Tales ~ Queen Esther
Veggie Tales movies have pretty much been on continuous loop in our house and vehicles since 2005. I've gotten to where I can recite many of the lines from the girlz favorite episodes. It has made watching The Bible mini series kind of tricky... I kept waiting for the pizza to be delivered while Daniel was in the Lion's Den, but it never happened. Odd.

For many years, Cassidy's favorite Veggie Tales show was Esther. One of my favorite parts of that story is when Mordecai tells Esther, "Perhaps God put you here for such a time as this."

For children's movies, those Veggie Tales have some pretty profound messages. And that one in particular has always stuck with me.


Department Transfer
Several months ago, Lieutenant Sexy was asked to move from the Bad Crimes Division to the EXTREMELY Bad Crimes Division. He liked where he was and wasn't thrilled about the change, but accepted it with grace and got over it.

The change brought the element of unpredictability back into our lives, which was a crummy pill to swallow. It's hard to accept invitations that don't include both girlz when I never know if I'll be on my own that day. But we've done it before and I knew we'd eventually have to do it again. It's part of the job - better to embrace it instead of wasting time complaining about it.

And now that Lieutenant Sexy has settled in, the trademark smirk on his face tells me he secretly likes it. Shhhh.... don't tell him I said that.


Tragedy Within Our Church Family
Something very bad happened within our church family last Thursday afternoon. People we've known for 20+ years were hurt -- good, kind people that celebrated as Lieutenant Sexy and I experienced some of the biggest moments of our lives.

I didn't realize anything was wrong until Mama called Friday afternoon, and that's when worlds began to collide.


Worlds Collide
Lieutenant Sexy left for work Friday morning and didn't come home until the sun was up Saturday morning. An EXTREMELY Bad Crime had taken place, and his group worked hard to quickly piece it all together. Lieutenant Sexy was the one to notify the family that the bad guys were in jail.

The family he notified were our friends, people that watched us get married 11 years ago.

There's not a question in my mind that God knew what was coming for this family, and carefully paved the way for them. God placed Lieutenant Sexy in that position in that city for such a time as this.

While it certainly doesn't make the situation right, it's comforting to see the hand of God at work in the midst of something so evil and tragic.

Please keep our friends in your prayers as they grieve. Their lives have been changed forever, and there are no words to describe the heartbreak they must be feeling.

Where's Spring?

It snowed here tonight -- thank goodness it didn't stick.

It was pretty, but I'm totally not in the mood for snow. According to my calendar, the first day of Spring was last Wednesday.

This doesn't feel much like Spring to me.

We All Scream For Ice Cream

The ice cream truck wasted no time this year - the first day of Spring brought our first treat from the street! The girlz had just gotten off the bus and Cassidy was getting ready for tumble class when they heard the signature music no child can resist. Cassidy started yelling "Mommy! The ice cream truck is here! The ice cream truck is here! Come quick!!!"

Luckily I had some cash in my wallet, so the girlz ran outside and flagged him down.

The tunes continued as we waited for him to dig their choices out of the cooler. Campbell looked at me with a very serious look on her face and said, "Mommy, I REALLY LOVE this music".

Welcome, Spring!

Angry Smoke Detectors

We have about 12 smoke detectors in our house (probably a bit of overkill, but that's what the builder put in). A main smoke detector got angry and decided it needed new batteries at 3 o'clock this morning. And since it's hooked into the alarm system, we were treated to an excruciatingly loud BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP blaring through the alarm speaker and ripping into our eardrums once every 60 seconds until we left the house this morning.

One of the regular detectors needed a new battery a few weeks ago, and I didn't have time to get to a store for a new one. Mama and Papa brought us a fresh 9V and an extra (love them!!), so Lieutenant Sexy went straight for the extra 9V in his bleary-eyed haze last night. Sadly, the main detectors take two 3V photo batteries, so we were out of luck.

A trip to the Stuff Mart was not in my plan for today, but I had no choice. As soon as the girlz were on the bus, I hopped in the car and headed up the road.

And that's where I found the silver lining to the sleepy black cloud that was hanging over my head (and bleeding ears)...

A plastic, double wall insulated mason jar tumbler with a straw. I would have liked pink or green, but this orange one was the last they had on the shelf. It was love at first sight, and there was NO WAY I was walking out of that store without this cup.

It just screams "Hey Y'all!!  It's springtime in the south!!".

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!

It doesn't take much to make me happy.

Even better, it was only $4.96.  That was one FABULOUS silver lining!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

So there's good news and there's bad news.

The good news is that the Leprechauns visited last night and left all kinds of cool things behind! The bad news is that the Leprechaun Trap failed.

The top of the trap wasn't made to shut when he fell in, and our Leprechaun (who we now know is named Lucky) climbed to freedom using a piece of dental floss. They were so close!

The girlz are now thinking of ways to truly entrap the Leprechaun to make sure he stays put until we wake up. Better luck next year, girlz!

A very disappointed Cassidy with the dental floss rope

Lucky left us a note!

The Leprechauns left us lots of goodies and decorations!

And they colored our milk green! They peed in our potties, too -- but I didn't take a picture of that!

 Campbell loved her "hair-do"

And Cassidy thought the entire thing was outstanding!

And in celebration of the Irish in all of us, here's an Irish Blessing I found on the interwebz:

May the light always find you

on a dreary day.

When you need to be home,

may you find your way.

May you always have courage

to take a chance.

And never find frogs

in your underpants.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Upward Banquet & Leprechaun Traps

After swimming lessons, a trip to the library, lunch, and some other random stuff, it was finally time to get to the real fun of the day - enjoying our Upward end of season banquet and building our Leprechaun traps!

The cheerleaders hadn't been able to practice their dance routine on the stage until tonight.  We'd been having CD trouble all season, so I wasn't sure our music would play through the big sound system. A few girls were late and didn't get to practice on the stage at all. There were several variables that were seriously STRESSING ME OUT. It was no surprise that I had zero appetite and missed out on a really delicious-looking potluck. Boo.

Regardless of my nerves, the cheerleaders did FANTASTIC. The only casualty of the night was my left hand - I got a little overzealous when cueing the dance routine and banged it HARD on the wooden steps I was sitting next to. It may be broken. I'm not kidding.

After the banquet was over, we headed home to build our Leprechaun traps.

The girlz worked very hard on their trap.  They scoured the house looking for just the right building material, and then carefully constructed their trap. They tested it several times to be sure it worked properly. But they showed their rookie stripes and missed the final, most critical steps of testing - finding the loopholes and trying to break it. More on that tomorrow!

They filled the trap with gold chocolate coins their Aunt Robin and Uncle Jim sent. The perfect Leprechaun bait!

The trap is tested and ready to go!

Ta Da!

Will the Leprechauns come tonight? Only time will tell!

Happy Pi Day!

Next Stop, Kindergarten!

Campbell passed her Gesell School Readiness Test this morning with flying colors!

The Gesell assesses developmental markers to determine if a child is developmentally ready for Kindergarten. Because it's a developmental assessment and not a measurement of knowledge (colors, letters, shapes), there's really no way to prep for it.

Even still, I tried my best to prep Campbell anyway. Cassidy took the same test for Kindergarten, and I dug deep to remember as much about the test as possible.

She wore her special pink tutu dress to school today, and everyone in the office ooohed and ahhhed over how pretty she looked. It's important to look extra-fabulous on Kindergarten testing day!

Campbell's actual age is 4 years and 8 months.  Her developmental age in all categories fell between 5 and 5 1/2 years old.

There's absolutely no question about it... my girl is ready for Kindergarten.

Way to go, Campbell!!

Another Cheer Season Has Come And Gone

The end of Upward Cheer has arrived once again. We finished our last games on Saturday and the Banquet is this coming weekend. The girlz had a blast and my first season as the Cheer Commissioner was a success... which means I'm probably on the hook for a repeat performance.  At least I have 9 months to prepare!

Because of the dance competition last weekend, we missed the cheerleader's appointment with the professional photographer. The weather was nice after Saturday's game, so I put the girlz in the church yard and took a few shots. I was hoping to find a shady spot, but it was noon and there wasn't a trace of shade anywhere. Even still, I was able to get a pretty good picture!

After the basketball games, we headed to Mama and Papa's church for a spaghetti lunch with Pop.  It was delicious, as always. The girlz thought having lunch with Pop and Papa was an excellent way to spend the afternoon.

We did some more running around Saturday afternoon, and we were all seriously wiped out by Saturday evening. But just as we were starting to get sleepy, Lieutenant Sexy was called in to work. Turns out, the fine citizens of our neighboring city had been acting up again. They pick the WORST times to misbehave.

Murder = Lieutenant Sexy unexpectedly working = Long, sleepless night for me

Lieutenant Sexy came rolling back in just as the sun was peeking over the horizon (yes, I was still awake). At least the clocks sprung forward Saturday night, making my sleepless night 1 hour shorter!

Lieutenant Sexy opted out of church for obvious reasons. The girlz looked extra-cute when we headed to church Sunday morning, so I took some pictures of them.

Only Campbell can rock a fancy pink and white eyelet dress with pink cowboy boots.

The dress below is Cassidy's first Lilly Pulitzer dress, but not her last... I got both girlz Easter dresses from Lilly, too!

I figure we already opened a costly can of worms with the American Girls, so what's one more expensive habit?

I took Cassidy to a birthday party at the bounce house yesterday afternoon. After dinner, I hopped in the car and headed to a meeting with my student group. It turned out to be a super-long meeting - I didn't leave the college until 11PM.

Um, yeah. Like I wasn't already tired enough.

Hopefully tonight will bring early bed times for the girlz and some much-needed rest for me and Lieutenant Sexy!

Kindergarten Testing

This girl will be tested for Kindergarten next week.

We took her to the Open House this week so she could have a few quiet moments chance to fully inspect her next classroom and speak to her next teacher. We plan to request the same extraordinary teacher Cassidy had for Kindergarten. I've already been in contact with Campbell's two BFFs, and they will be requesting the same teacher.

The Three Musketeers will be together again!

While we were standing in Mrs. H's cozy and familiar classroom the other night, I remembered how many teeth Cassidy lost that year. And that's when I realized my little Cuddle Bug is *thisclose* to shedding her very last layer of babyhood. In my mind, they're full-blown kids once they start losing teeth.


She's getting so grown up!

Competition Pins

Up until a few months ago, Cassidy proudly wore all of her competition pins on her dance team jacket. In typical Cassidy style, she decided to rearrange them at school one day and lost the backing to one of the pins. Luckily, she didn't lose the actual pin... but I immediately took them all off and put them in a safe place.

A memory board idea has been brewing in my mind ever since, but I couldn't figure out what materials to use. There were some memory boards on display at the Diva Spa on Monday, so I took a good look at them while the girlz were getting pampered. They were made very differently than the one that hangs above my desk, and that's when I realized the project would be far easier than I'd thought.

An empty 12x16 frame, some batting, fabric, ribbon, a TON of hot glue, and 4 severely burned fingers later...

I have a perfectly imperfect masterpiece.

Not too shabby for my first try. Next time I might use a thinner ribbon and see if I can create more cross-hatches... and choose a lighter colored ribbon instead of black...and maybe even a longer and thinner frame.

Even if it's not completely perfect, it's nice to know it can be done. And the best part is that the pins are on display in a very safe place!

Divas For a Day

School was closed today, so I took (most of) the day off. I had a special surprise planned, but didn't tell the girlz what was planned until we pulled up in front of the building.

They were thrilled to learn some pampering and relaxation were in their future! They got manis and pedis, a glitter tattoo, a facial, diva make-up, special hair style, and a diva ring.

It was such a fun afternoon. They loved every second of it!

2013 Dance Competition #1

The first dance competition of the season is done! It was a terribly long day, but Cassidy and her friends did a terrific job. Lucky for me, the event was held at the same local college where I volunteer as the Finance Advisor for a student group. It was nice to finally be in a place I'm familiar with!

Here are the results...

Trio: High Gold adjudication, 1st place in category, 2nd place overall

Mini Group Routine: Platinum adjudication, 1st place in category, 1st place overall

Production Routine: Platinum adjudication, 1st place in category, 2nd place overall, Best Choreography Award (for all routines that entire day!)

Not a bad haul for the first competition of the season!