Cute...

The first picture just speaks for itself, doesn't it? Noah is such a cheeser. I mean, just look at that grin. There's mischief behind that grin, experience tells me.

There's a bit of a story behind the second picture. Rylee was playing quietly in her room (perhaps that should have served as a warning with any other child, but Rylee playing quietly does not usually equate to trouble for me). She comes to me and says, "What do you think, Mom?" I look and realize that she has just decided to cut herself some bangs. My immediate reaction was to laugh, so I covered my mouth so she wouldn't see. I didn't want her to think it was funny to cut your own hair. After 30 seconds of silent laughter, I just couldn't help it anymore and realized that I simply was not going to be able to keep a straight face as I questioned her. I said, "Rylee, why did you cut your hair?" She says, "I just wanted bangs". I continue to smirk as I look at her cutting job. She said, "I don't want everyone to laugh at me because I have bangs now!" I said, "I'm laughing because I can not believe you just cut your hair and did such an amazing job...don't you dare ever cut your hair again!!" She cut her bangs so well you never would have guessed a 6 year old did it. The following day she went with me to get my hair trimmed. She decided to get her hair cut as well and now has a shoulder length "do". She looks so much older now, sniff, sniff!

The last picture is Gracyn taking a bath a couple of weeks ago. Does this child ever stop smiling and making herself look adorable? I mean, really. As my mom often says, "Not an ugly bone in her body".

Tagged!

I was tagged by Carole for this fun post. I am to post the fourth picture from my fourth folder in my pictures archive, then explain. This picture was taken by my sister, Cindy, while we were all on vacation in September of 2007. This is the beach in Corolla, Outer Banks of North Carolina. We has such a wonderful time on vacation that we repeated it this past September. We stayed at an even larger house and my other sister, her husband and kids all joined us. Its become one of our favorite places to visit.

By the way...how grateful am I that the fourth picture in my fourth picture folder was not one of those shots where my kids took my camera and shot really strange items up close, resulting in a weird blurry shot.

The rules are to tag 4 people...I tag:

Hannah
Trina
Jen
Jewel

Random...

~ The older I get the more I come to realize that I am a pretty open person. I honestly can not think of a subject that is truly "off limits". I guess I really value transparency. Some of my most favorite people on this earth are those who are open and transparent. Not only do I feel close to them, but it also satisfies my intense curiosity with humans in general. That being said, I realize that not all people are wired that way. That doesn't mean I'm not close to friends who are not as open, just that I love it when they don't hold back. Know what I mean?

~ It amazes me that things as seemingly insignificant as a haircut or trim can really boost my mood or self confidence or whatever you want to call it. I don't know whether that is a good thing that I am that easily boosted, or a bad thing that something so "unimportant" makes me feel better. Hmmm...

~ I like doing laundry for the most part, but find it difficult to follow through and actually put the clean clothes away in the dresser or closet. I'm guilty of living out of laundry baskets at times.

~ My Christmas tree and decorations around the house are STILL UP. Yup, its January 8th. I think that is a record for me. Due to our crazy schedule in December, our tree didn't get up and decorated until a week before Christmas. It was a shame to spend money on a beautiful, fragrant tree and not fully enjoy it, so I kept it up. I think its time, though. Its dry, and I sure could use the space that it occupies. I guess its time to stop listening to Christmas music also. Speaking of which...

~ For whatever reason, I love the song "Santa Baby". The old one that Earth Kitt sang. I also love "Jingle Bell Rock". As for Christmas carol's, probably my favorite would have to be "O Holy Night". Am I the only person that remembers that old Hallmark commercial where the adult son comes home and starts singing that for his family on Christmas Eve...it gave me goosebumps to see/hear that. Please tell me that someone else remembers that commercial.