I like these dolls. A lot...at least $5 worth.

If you have daughters and they are anything like my girls, then they like Barbies. No matter how much I secretly (or not so secretly) want my daughters to play with non-commercial things, they are always drawn to things like Barbies, Ponies, Dora dolls, and Hello Kitty anything. 

We have a hand full of Barbies, some old garage sale finds and some new. Overall the only emotion I've felt about any Barbie I've bought in the store for a while is dissapointed. These aren't the Barbies of my youth. They're cheaply made. The legs are a hollow plastic. Extra outfits cost $7 or more. They break easily. The heads pop off, the legs break off.... And, the cheaper ones just have their shirt painted on... I just don't like them. But my girls...they still love this kind of doll. 

We do most of our shopping at Walmart because that's the cheapest place in town to get our stuff. When we aren't in a hurry, I usually let my kids wander through the toy aisle for a bit before we head to the grocery side of life. It was during one of these days that we stumbled across the Sparkle Girlz doll. 

I'm not going to say that it was love at first sight...but it was a heck of a lot closer than I've come to that emotion in a long time. 

The dolls are slightly larger than Barbie, but are made with way more quality. Their bodies are made from the same material as my Barbies were growing up. They're cutely dressed and my daughters love them.

The best part is that they are less than $5. The going rate at our Wakmart was $4.98. This is a price that Sophie can actually save up for. Extra dresses were right around $3 each...so she can reasonably save up for those too. 

So far I've only seen these at Walmart or on Amazon. They were way more expensive on Amazon though. 

I like them enough to write a blog post to let other moms know....so maybe it is love.

Comfort Dogs

The LCMS comfort dogs are coming to our school chapel service in November. If you aren't sure what that means, you can check it out here.

This event sparked a discussion between me and the kids on why you might need comfort dogs. It wasn't a pleasant conversation as we had to talk about some of the horrible things that have happened over the past couple of years that the comfort dogs went too. We talked about natural disasters, school shootings, why people in these situations need the dogs, and what kind of horrible things would have to befall a town before the comfort dogs are sent in.

What Connor took from this conversation is that people, even in the worst of times, can be comforted by the gentle nature of a great big dog. 

What Sophie took from this conversation is that if our house happened to burn down, and we lost all our stuff...and we didn't have a place to live...we'd totally get to pet the comfort dogs and it would be awesome. 

Clearly I need to find more opportunities for this girl to pet dogs.

Sophie on digesting worms.

Sophie: When I grow up I am never going to digest a worm.

Me: Um...good?

Sophie: Unless maybe they were covered in cinnamon and sugar. Then I guess I could digest them.

Me: I still think they'd be pretty gross.

Sophie: Maybe. But cinnamon and sugar are pretty good.

Me: Yes they are.

Sophie: When you digested worms did you put cinnamon and sugar on them?

Me: I've never eaten a worm.

Sophie: I heard you telling Connor that you had eaten a worm and a rat and that you thought the worm was way worse than the rat. Maybe I should digest a rat instead!

Me: Dissect! I said I had dissected a worm and a rat and that the worm was worse. We didn't eat them!

Sophie: What is dissect?

Me: It's when you cut something open and look inside.

Sophie: Oh gross! I'm never doing that!

Beware of poison.

If you want to have an interesting conversation with Sophie Jane, just bring up poison...or give her a Clorox wipe.

It will go something like this:

Me: Here, why don't you wipe down the table with this wipe?

Sophie: But, is this poison?

Me: Well...kind-of, just don't eat it.

Sophie: But if I ate it then I would die and get to go be with Jesus...

Me: Well, yes, but I'd still prefer that you didn't eat it.

Sophie: Well I won't, because there is NO WAY I'm going to heaven without my parents. We all have to go together.

Me: Sounds good to me.

Sophie: But how will I remember not to eat it? Who will remind me? I'll need someone to tell me all the time!

Me: Sophie, don't eat the Clorox Wipe...there, I reminded you.

Sophie: Whew...if I did eat it, I'd have to go to the dentist and they'd have to clean the poison off my teeth and then I'd probably have to go to the doctor to get a shot. Right?

Me: Uh...sure? That sounds about right.

Sophie: What if it gets on my knees and then I try to eat my knees?

Me: Don't eat your knees.

Sophie: Yeah...we're going to need to tell the babies about this.

Me: Or...how about we just don't give them a Clorox wipe?

Sophie: Yeah, I guess...but we should probably tell them too. Wait! Is that glitter in that bag? Can I play with glitter?

And thus, all thoughts of poison, dentists, death, and eating knees are forgotten.

Back to School

School time is here again. I love having my kids home for the summer, but I have to say that by about August 3rd, we've lost all control of our schedule, we've all gone a little crazy, the house has fallen into shambles and ruin, and we are all ready for the school year to start.

My kids love going to school and I know that a big part of that is that they go to a really awesome one. It's small, there is only one teacher per grade and in the upper grades they even have combined classes. There is something kind of nice about knowing not only who my kids will have as teachers this year, but for the next five years. 

Here are our first day pictures. 

 Every time I think about Sophia being in 4 year old preschool, I automatically think about the fact that this means she'll be in Kindergarten next year. Which then leads me to think about Elinor being in preschool next year and that in just a few short years, all my babies will be in school. 

 I asked her to stand by this column for a picture and this was her go to pose. You know...just acting natural. 

 Yep...this handsome boy is in 3rd grade this year. Crazy. 

 I remembered to take a picture near an object so we can see how much he has changed by the end of the year. I can't wait.

And these two monkeys were pretty happy this morning to not have to share me with two more people. Plus we may have had cookies for breakfast...but I'm pretty sure the happiness was about me. I'm kind-of vain like that. 

Of carnivals, fireworks, and dancing on the sidewalk.

If you happen to be in Atchison, Kansas on the third weekend in July you will notice that something is going on in our little town. For the last eighteen years, The Amelia Earhart Festival has been celebrated here. Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison on July 24th and for the past eighteen years, they've celebrated her birth with a giant festival, including arts, crafts, foods, a carnival, a huge concert, a fireworks show, and even a piece of birthday cake if you time it just right.

 Sophie riding a carnival ride.

 

 You can't see her, but that's Ila up there in that crazy thing. 

 I may have lost three years of my life when Connor said he wanted to ride The Zipper at the carnival. 

Our awesome view for the fireworks. 

 Elinor dancing to the music. 

 Sophia doing some dancing too. 

 My oldest and my youngest babies. 

 Sophia making sure she gets another picture. 

Connor spent a long time chipping a fossil off of this rock. He ended up getting it!

 And we couldn't resist a little of our own carnival fare. 

 Connor was able to meet the governor as he meandered through the crowd. 

In the end, only Connor and I made it through to the firework show as the girls were just not up for the long night. Maybe next year. 

It was a great weekend to wrap up a great week spent with Lynne and Ila. The show, was as always, wonderful. 

Eleven.

Warning: This post contains lovey doveyness which I usually snark at. Seriously.

On Saturday, Ben and I will have been married for eleven years. It is hard to believe that we've been married that long since it feels more like a minute or sometimes eleven million years.

We aren't very fancy, so there won't be flowers on Saturday, and probably not even dinner out. (We had to visit an oral surgeon for Connor this last week and it turns out that you have to pay some big time money to just be in his glorious presence. You don't even want to know how much it costs to let him look into your mouth.)

Maybe I'll make him a special dinner for the two of us to eat after the kids go to bed. That could be kind of nice, right? Or maybe well just stay up late and eat chips with guacamole and watch Jim Gaffigan or Arrested Development. That may be more our speed.

The great thing is that even if I don't make a special dinner, or don't have any special plans for him, Ben will tell me thatI'm the best wife ever, and that he'd marry me all over again. And, even if we don't go out for dinner, and there aren't flowers, I'll tell him that he's my absolute favorite person, and that I'd marry him again tomorrow.

And we'll both mean it. We love being married - and more importantly, we love being married to each other.

We've accomplished a lot in our eleven years. We've moved six times, given birth to four beautiful children, have mourned the loss of four children in the womb, watched Ben get his masters degree and become a pastor, and watched me transition into being a stay at home mom.

We've cried, been frustrated together or at each other, fought, said we were sorry even when we weren't, fought some more, and then said we were sorry again when we actually meant it.

We've perfected the art of belting out a Journey song on the radio, discovered our mutual love of singing "You can't always get what you want" to our children when they are complaining, and can often be found laughing so hard that we are nearly brought to tears.

We are two hopelessly flawed, stubborn, sarcastic, cynical people that through a whole lotta patience, some major crying (me), and tons of forgiveness have been able to make this marriage a joy.

Here is to eleven amazing years and many many more. There's no one I'd rather by sojourning in this place with than you, Ben.