It all started with a crazy idea from a friend wondering if the girls and I would want to come down to Orlando for a program at her church.

I thought about it … but not too long … I was just crazy enough to say YES!

So … the girls and I are headed to Florida this morning!  But they don’t know!!  I think surprising them is the thing I’m most excited about!  Well … that and getting to see Stacey!

The girls think they have to go to school this morning, but I’m letting them sleep in and we’ll see what happens when they wake up.

Then on Saturday we’ll explore one of the theme parks {I’m going to let them choose … Disney, Universal Studios, a water park?}.

I’m sorta bursting and wanted to share!

Thanks for listening!

Have a blessed weekend!

As you were …

These girls are beautiful souls.  They fill me.  They sustain me.

We have a long way to go in our journey together … and I don’t know four better gifts to walk it with.

I love you ladies … more than words would ever do justice … I love you.

Yesterday was “dress like your favorite book character” at school.  Fun, no?

Here’s the thing with my girls … they are pretty much their own little individuals.  I use to be harder on what I made let them wear … including Taylor.  Really, mostly with Taylor.  She groomed the way for the little girls.

When Taylor was six or seven, she had on a pair of bootcut pants that were about 2-3 inches well above her ankle.  Seeing that they were bootcut, she sure wasn’t gettin’ away with a capri look!

Anyway.  I told her to change her pants and she got upset.  “You just want me to be perfect,” she yelled said.  Stopped me in my tracks.

Wasn’t so much I wanted her to be perfect, as I wanted others to think she was perfect.  Hmm.

She taught me something.

So now days {and for the last six or seven years}, I pretty much let them have their own style.  In fact, at church this past week, Wynter’s Sunday school teacher stopped me and remarked at what great style my girls have.

Note:  Wynter was wearing polka-dots … a bright pink variety on her sweater {that was probably layered over something striped} and light pink pants with a different polka-dotted variety.

“Gee, thanks,” I said to the teacher.  “They do dress themselves,” I added, lest she think their style was my style!  Right?

Anyway.  So back to today’s theme.

I’ve been asking the girls what character they’d like to dress up as … I had a few ideas of my own!  Ladybug Girl, maybe a Bible character, the classic Cinderella {or one of her princess friends}, and then of course the fallback … Fancy Nancy.  But nah … they had their own thoughts on what they were going to do.

They had their costumes all picked out and ready to go.  Piper was going to be the Fairy Godmother and Wynter was going to be Fancy Nancy.  They wouldn’t let me help with the costumes at all.  Everything I suggested was either too itchy, or not right.  So I watched as they put their outfits together.

Piper ended up with a really pretty ballerina type skirt with beautiful tulle and flowers; a fairy cape; the purple bodysuit she’s sporting above; and I was trying to convince her to wear her glittery Converse.  So she’s all set.

Wynter picked out a beautiful Cinderella character dress she got for Christmas.  She had the shoes, a tiara … she’s all set.  Oh! and I should mention … she’s not going as Cinderella … she’s going as Fancy Nancy.

They set everything out in their closets and go to bed.  When we get up the next morning, they get into their costumes … and look great.  Whew … all set.

Wait … those descriptions don’t at all match these photos, do they?  What happened?

Individuality, patience, and letting go, is what happened.

They were all dressed and ready to go, when they changed their minds.  They wanted to dress in something different.  Huge sigh from mama … “all right, go change.”

This is what they come back with.  Can you see the stain on Wynter’s dress?  My-oh-my … is it courage I have for sending them to school like this … or stupidity?

Wynter is still Fancy Nancy {did you look at the link folks?  she ain’t lookin’ so fancy … or so nancy!}.  And getta look at her shoes … well, more precisely, the socks!

And Piper, I assumed was still a fairy godmother.  But when we got in the car, I thought I should double check, so asked her what she was … she said she didn’t know.  I thought of a few things, but she said no … she wasn’t that.  She was perfectly happy with not having her costume defined.

And I couldn’t resist sharing these photos of Hunter.  She decided it was dress-up day at her school too!  My baby …

Okay, here’s the thing … I really love their individuality.  I love they are confident in who they are and what they want … well, unless it involves a tantrum in the middle of Target.

But when we got to school and I saw all the beautiful costumes … Harry Potter, Olivia, mermaids, Thing 1 and Thing 2 {a sister team … incredible!} … I had pangs of letting my kids down.

A friend of mine, and fellow mom … asked what Piper was, and I tried to blow it off so I didn’t have to say, “she doesn’t know.”  When she asked Piper directly what she was, Piper answered in complete confidence, “I don’t know.”

I kind of whispered above Piper to my friend, “she just wanted to get dressed up and this is what she chose.”  My friend said, “Oh! It wasn’t a big deal?  Cuz it was a really big deal in our house.”  I felt hurt.  It was a big deal in our house too … but I let the kids have the freedom of being what they wanted.

I got in the car feeling sad for them.  Questioning my parenting style.

Should I have been stronger about dressing them up?  Did I do them a disservice?  Are they sad they aren’t more dressed up?  Or am I just worrying too much about what other people think?  Hmm.

I’ve been pondering this a lot yesterday and today, and I guess when all is said and done … I would prefer they have the freedom to be individuals.  I would prefer they continue to be confident in who they are, what they look like and how they’re dressed.

And now that I think about it … Hunter went to school today in her pajama gown.  Not because I didn’t try to get her dressed … but because she felt like it.

What do you think?  Conform … or foster individuality?

Our house came with a pier, dock and boat slip … minus the boat.  So one of the first things I did was get ourselves a boat!  In fact, as I was writing out the check on my tenth wedding anniversary … I thought, “happy anniversary to me!”

Just one glitch.  I’ve never. ever. never. driven a boat before.  True story.

And the thought of it freaked me out a tad.

And then there’s the thought of the whole-motor-under-the-boat-thing.  And it didn’t help that when we picked up the boat, the dealer told us a story of just a few days before a man falling out of his boat and running himself over and losing limbs.  True story.

But anyway.

I took it slow and learned what I could learn.  Like for instance … the boat should be in the water before one starts the engine.  Yeah.  It’s like that.

But once we got that puppy in the water … off we went!  And because the weather’s so warm, we’ve been out on the lake pretty much since we got here in May.

I took these photos of the girls mid-May …

And this past week, we found a new lake activity … wakeboarding!  Three outta four gave it a try …

But only two could get out of the water.  I’ve gotta tell you though … I’m so proud of her for giving it a try!  She tried over and over …

Lastly … here we have our favorite pastime!  The girls could spend hours on a tube!  If you make it to .40 seconds or so, the girls take a wicked flip!

Anyway … they didn’t make a profit … but they did make friends!  We had no idea, but 2 girls live just 2 doors down from us!  They saw Piper and Wynter sitting out, so decided to come over {personally, I think they thought they’d be getting some lemonade out of the visit!}.

In the photo below, Piper and Wynter are looking at the neighbor girls walking over … it was sort of mirage and surreal-like.  They’ve been wanting to find other kids to play with, so these 2 girls seemed to drop straight from Heaven! :)

They shared a few magic tricks and then spent the afternoon at the girls house … while I felt the bliss of a grocery store visit – sans kids!

This was the best twenty bucks I’ve spent in a long time!  The girls had hours of fun on it … and I had one of the best laughs I’ve had in a while after I took my turn!  Let’s all shout a hallelujah that no one got that on film!

Have a great weekend everyone!  I hope you get a chance to do some slip slidin’ yourselves …

On our recent stay in Exuma, the girls did a lot of snorkeling.  A. lot!  They’ve even worked their way up to using fins!

When I was a kid, I was afraid of what was on the other side of our 24 foot pool{and let’s not even discuss what was lurking under the cover that wasn’t pulled all the way off}!  But these girls … they jump into, and swim off into an ocean with no fear!

This trip Huntie was brave enough to give it a try too!  LOVE the yellow fins!!  She climbed into the water into CJ’s arms and stayed there for a cruise around the boat.   In fact, she came back into the boat with dry hair.  But as they went out time and time again … she got braver and finally started looking under.  Don’t get me wrong … she’s turning into an amazing swimmer … but maybe she’s got a little bit of mom in her and is a little apprehensive of that great big ocean!

And yep!  You’re seeing clearly … that’s a real lobster the girls are holding!  Caught right in the Bahamian waters of Exuma.  And my girls gave it some love … right before we had it for dinner! =)

And lastly … a new science experiment!  Drinking club soda through a flower …

Praying your life adventures are always good!

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Here’s an iPhone photo of our mission completed!

As with my handmade Christmas gifts … I didn’t want to make this RACK activity about “blogging” it … I wanted to be truly “present” with each activity and the girls, so instead of bringing my camera and worrying about blogging shots … I’d grab a random iPhone photo when I could.

Some of our activities included in the photos below:

• Taping candy canes to ATM machines around town
• Bringing the girls riding instructor {and barn manager} hot cocoa and a muffin early one morning
• Taping quarters to vending and toy machines around town
• Grocery shopping for the sole purpose of putting it in the “Food for Families” box in the entryway of the store
• Plugging meters around town {and lots of fun explaining to the girls what “plugging” a meter meant!}
• Donating 72 stockings with treats, candy and a craft for second graders at a school in need
• Ringing Salvation Army bells
• Handing out Starbucks gift cards {$5.00 value each}

Some of our activities without photos:

• Paid past due library fees for 5 people
• Donated a poinsettia to the girls school
• Bought and donated toys for “Toys 4 Tots”
• Brought the girls teachers their favorite Starbucks drinks
• Brought treats to the employees of our local Post Office branch
• Purged from the girls personal “library” and donated to a school library in need

Originally, our plan was to hand out flowers at the mall, but the day before this RACK was planned, CJ had his company program and shared with everyone how we were celebrating the Advent season … that they “were about to be RACK’ed” … and had the girls go through and hand out Starbucks cards to everyone.  We had a ton left over, so decided to hand them out at the mall instead of flowers.

I have to tell you … I experienced an incredible surge of emotion and thoughts as we were handing them out.  Either people were so shocked and happy, or people would ignore us, shaking their heads and walking by.  As people were ignoring us … or more significantly, the girls, I made a solemn vow to grab whatever anyone was trying to give me from now on!

The next day, I received this message …

Hi Tracie! Just wanted to share this with you..
Bennett and I were at the mall yesterday
and of course, I was kind-of rushing through
the holiday crowd to pick something up
(wanting to get in and out) and Bennett tugs o
my hand and said, “Mom, did you hear that?
Someone said they have free Starbucks cards.”
Not even turning around, I told him that it
was probably someone wanting you to buy
something, that nothing is ever for free.
Long story short, when I got home and read
your status, I explained to him that he was right
and it was the perfect opportunity to talk about
all the good that people have in them.
So I wanted to thank you for 1. Reminding me
that there is “good” out there, and
2. That I need to slow down and really listen!

I LOVED this note!!  It’s exactly what I experienced from the other side of giving out the cards.  And seriously, what another amazing lesson in how when you do something selflessly to bless others, you end up being blessed yourself!

The girls were watching TV recently and something came on explaining Advent … this particular activity was using candles to countdown Advent.  I took the opportunity to talk about all the different ways people celebrate, and I even reminded them of our activity last year.  When they asked what we’d do next year, I asked what they wanted to do.

Hands down and with excitement they quickly answered, “our kindness activity.”  Yep! just like I always say … it’s far better to give than to receive!”

Praying a happy and blessed 2011 for you all!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

UPDATE {11.28.11}
I’ve created a blank RACK’ed activity card … the download can be found in this post.  At the end of the post, you’ll find another link to other downloads.

Thank you … SO much … for the response to this little activity we did last year!  I’m amazed and excited to think how many people will be blessed this year because of it!  If you have a moment, be sure to stop by and let me know how it went for you!  Have fun and be blessed!!

They did it!!  I can’t believe they did it!  This is the first year
they’ve WENT FOR IT!  Every other year has required
prodding and hemming and hawing!  Even though the crowd may have been a tad
confused with the tune of choice, but heck … who doesn’t love a cow tune at Christmas!?

And um … P.S. Hunter dressed herself!