Before I had children I said I was scared of having little girls. I really wanted one, I was just scared. I was terrified that she would be this little girl who was always a princess, wanted bright, frilly, fancy, curly, heart-shaped, glittered, pink stuff around her at all times. This scared the mess out of me. I have a great relationship with my mom and wanted to have that with a daughter one day, but everything just seemed so much more pink and shiny and "Cinderella" than it was when I was a kid. (Which is hilarious because I went through a phase where I would only wear dresses!) I was never a tom boy, but I had two brothers and my sister was quite the adorable tom boy so I had two options: I could either play house with my dolls by myself or go play G.I. Joe with everyone else.

Well, fast forward to today and my life now. I may have an adorable little tom boy in my house, but God has quite a sense of humor because He didn't give me the princess I was scared of, He gave me a DIVA instead. Y'all, this girl is crazy! (I'm having to go back to saying y'all because I was told the other day by someone that they never would have guessed I was from the South and it cut. Deep. Guess that's what I get for living around people from the NW for so long, even if it's in FL!) Here are just a few samplings of life with my Diva named Sophie...

I walked in her room the other morning and found her standing on her kitchen, wearing a hat that Christopher made at school back in the fall (they were going through the items we saved) and her sunglasses and she was about to climb up higher so she could put her blanket over her window. I've always called her my little monkey because she was scaling walls long before she could walk. She FREAKS PEOPLE OUT when we are in public because she can climb up things that only kids twice her age should be climbing. Or climbs up moving objects. Her daddy would have a heart attack if he saw half the things I let her climb. But my mom always said, "If they are going to do it, at least teach them the right way!" (She climbed into my brother's crib when he was a baby and showed him the right way to climb out. He'd already figured it out, but she wanted to make sure if he was going to do it, at least it wasn't head first.)





We gave up naps when we turned three. No warning. I really didn't care because it was starting to interfere with things. Her teachers feel otherwise and still try to get the kids to nap. Um, Sophie doesn't. She ripped her nap pad with her bare hands. You know, the kind that fold up and have a vinyl covering? Yup, she ripped it almost in half. Another day I was told that she wouldn't keep her feet off the walls and took the posters with her feet. Needless to say she doesn't get a Tootsie Roll when she leaves at the end of the day. One day she had substitute teachers. I think I saw steam coming out of one of their ears when I went to pick her up. I don't really know how I'm supposed to fix these problems other than just say, she's 3, she doesn't nap anymore and keep her away from the wall. I'm sorry that I'm not more supportive, but is it crazy of me to think that a 3 year old should be expected to lie completely still while still awake for 30-45 minutes? I do apologize for her misbehaving, believe me when I say I understand your frustration, but I'm working on it too, so please stop making me feel guilty. I do have good news, she has decided to nap every now and then, her teachers are beaming on those days and she still sleeps well at night. For the most part.





Most of the time she doesn't like when I take her picture. But she cracks me up so much that I just can't help it. She is OBSSESSED with the movie Tangled and quotes it at least 5 times a day. We have forgotten how to use our manners and are constantly have to remind her who the boss is, but she still says it's her. Here's just a sample of some of the conversations we have had:

*When trying to load up to go grocery shopping.
Sophie - "OPEN MY DOOR!!!!!"
Me - "Excuse me???????"
S - "Oh my gosh! Open my door PLEASE!"
(Me - "That really just happened.")

*When trying to unload at the grocery store.
She has my yard stick and insists that it has to come inside with her and she will keep it in her lap. (Yeah right!) So I'm trying to pry her little hands off of it.
M - "Sophie, we can't take this inside. It's too big."
S - "I HAVE TO HAVE IT!!"
M - "You can have it when we come back."
S - "No! I have to have it for every minute of the rest of my life!!!!"  (quote from Tangled)
M - (laughing) "No you don't and you're coming with me."

*When hitting her brother with her Raggedy Ann doll in the car. (It was playful and not being mean.)
M - "Sophie, please stop hitting your brother. You might hurt him."
S - "No, I won't stop hitting him for every minute of the rest of my life, I will keep hitting him!"

*When talking about school next year and that they will be in classes with our best friends' kids Nicholas and Joshua.
M - "Aren't you excited about being in the same class as your best friends?"
C/S - "Yeah!!! We can't wait!!"
S - "Christopher, I'm going to school with Nicholas' brother."
M - "Sophie, are you and Joshua going to be so good when you are in school together?"
S - (shaking her head with a big grin on her face) "Nooooooooo."
(I'm already praying for their teachers.)





We have had quite the battle on Sunday morning with wearing a dress to church. She is super confused because they go to school at our church so she assumes she can wear shorts on Sunday. We finally have started calling mom's day out "school" and Sundays are called "church" so now we don't have quite the confusion anymore. But just in case you didn't see the above photo I wanted to post it again. On this particular morning I asked her to get dressed and you would have thought I asked her to rip her arms off. So, to pay me back for making such a hideous request, this is what she put on. She even got her brother involved in taking the laces out of her shoes. I almost wet my pants when she tried to walk into the building we had to go to that morning. I finally just pulled out the few items that I hated and now I don't care what she puts on. You can only get away with looking like this for so long so I figure she should enjoy it. Plus it makes running errands much more fun when you have this to laugh at the whole time!

I love this girl to death and my life would be so empty without her in it. She has us laughing all the time and she is seriously the funniest person I know. My aunt tells me all the time that Sophie needs her own reality tv show and I agree 100%. Y'all, you would wet your pants if you witnessed half the stuff I do on a daily basis. And your abs would get a great workout!!

I know, it's Mother's Day and I'm finally posting Easter photos on here. I just haven't had time.They pretty much explain themselves. Forced photo sessions. One child is all for it. The other would rather have his/her hair pulled out. Let's see if you can figure that out for yourself. It's pretty hard to tell.

Thank you so much to Mimi and Papa John who let us crash at your house at the last minute. They didn't know we were coming until Thursday. I'm not sure WE even knew we were coming until then too. I'll try to be better about posting info and photos on here, but we are getting closer to moving and that is sucking up my time right now and is only going to get worse. Thanks for understanding!!!

This month, the customer special for Thirty-One is about the mini zipper pouch. For every $31 you spend you get one for $2.31! (They are $10 regular price!) These would make a really cute end of the year teacher gift, with a gift card slipped inside to their favorite store, coffee shop or restaurant.

You could even plan ahead and order a couple extra for cute little gifts throughout the rest of the year too. (Stocking stuffers, anyone?)

Here's the link to my site and if you have any questions about any of the products, please let me know! : )

I need some suggestions. I really want to start having daily devotionals with the kids, but want to find a really good, and interesting, book to use. I looked at a bookstore this past weekend, but it was overwhelming. You've got ones for preschoolers. For boys. For girls. For teen boys. For teen girls. For families. For ages 6-10. For ages 2-5. For ages 13+.

I left with nothing.

So, if any of you have one that you have used that your children were really interested in and you enjoyed as well, please let me know. We have a wonderful Bible that was given to us and the kids love it, but I want something more.

Now a change of subject...

I know I need to do another updated post with photos, but we've been busy. And I haven't had time to download the photos from Easter onto my computer. Here's just a glimpse of Easter morning: Sophie was mad at me because I made her wear a dress that morning. And it was funny because she's actually into wearing dresses and skirts now. But she didn't want to smile or have her picture taken at all. I had to tell her that Mimi had a big booger in her nose (sorry Mimi!), but she didn't smile, just quickly turned her head and checked to see if I was lying. Great, I just realized I lied to my child ON EASTER to get what I wanted. Sorry, God. Probably why we didn't get a good family photo. I deserve it.

In other news, we are going to start getting ready to pack this weekend because we found out we have to move ourselves. I'm actually a little relieved. It's wonderful to have total strangers come into your house and spend 8 hours individually wrapping everything you own with paper and sticking it in boxes for you. But this means that on the other end, several rooms will be will be filled to the ceiling with this paper when you have to go and unwrap it all. And they wrap everything. Even trash. Or an open container with food in it and a piece of paper shoved in it so the food doesn't come out. I've seen it with my own eyes.

I'm glad they aren't moving us only because that means we will have to go through our stuff and toss or give away what we don't need. I told Brandon if it wasn't unpacked 3 years ago then it's going straight to Goodwill. Today, I threw out two trash bags full of old and broken toys. I didn't want to do anything, but I knew I'd regret it if I didn't get started. It felt soooooooooo good! My next stop, the massive amount of toys we have that are outside. That will be at least two huge black trash bags and I'm very excited about that! I've already got things picked out that I will be selling in the big consignment sale they have twice a year in Montgomery. Call me crazy, I already know.

Wish us luck. Say a prayer. I promise to be back soon with photos. : )

** PLEASE PRAY FOR THOSE IN ALABAMA AND THE OTHER STATES THAT WERE HIT BY TORNADOES! I'M PRAISING GOD THAT MY FAMILY IS SAFE, BUT OTHERS WERE NOT SO LUCKY.

Us - "What color hair does Nanny have?"

I have really enjoyed learning how to sew this year and started out with really simple stuff and tried a few harder things, but decided to go back to where I started. Burp cloths. I have always loved a cute burp cloth and it always seems to make spit up more tolerable. Well, I posted a pic of a couple of the ones I made this week and had such a great response that I've decided to make more and start selling them. I'm going to set up an Etsy shop this weekend, but wanted to give you a sneak peek at what I've been up to.

The kids made some wooden projects at a kids event we went to recently and have been wanting to paint them. My kids LOVE to paint and I love that they enjoy it, but I'm not always up for getting it out. The other day I finally decided it was a good day to paint and sent them outside. Here's what they did: