"I'm going fast!"

Okay, it's not really that fast, since I can walk and still keep up with her. But for her, it's super speedy. L'il Sis FINALLY discovered her bike and figured out that whole pedalling thing about 2 days ago. Since then, she's been all about riding her bike. Just another one of those things I wish Stretch were here to see.

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Following in Stretch's footsteps, Big Sis has started this season of basketball. They had their first game last weekend. She' s fast and has really improved her ability to make baskets. She's not terribly aggressive about getting the ball, though, so she only got the ball once. But then she dribbled it all the way down the court before passing it to a teammate. Of course, being a terrible mom, I have no pictures. But I did remember to take stuff to keep L'il Sis entertained. Hey, I'm not Wonder Woman here! And again, this is an area where Stretch's presence would really be useful. I am zero help to the child in sports. That is his area. So much for that plan.

Home again

I'm back from SpouseBuzz Live. Many, many thanks to my MIL for watching the kids for me!

It was great to put a face to some of the voices in my head, those imaginary friends. In addition to meeting some of the SpouseBuzz authors, I met Butterfly Wife and her Jack Bauer, who accommodated my need for a photographer not once, but twice. I also met Stephanie, who was just as tiny as I'd imagined.

And, hey! I even won something! It was one of the ammo cases; stuffed with a book, a hat, a t-shirt, and a fleece jacket!

Barbies and Ponies and bears, oh my!

I'm not one of those people who have a problem with Barbies, in general. I played with them as a kid and, quite frankly, I think there are much worse things kids play with out there. That said, I do have a problem with them when they are part of a bigger clutter problem.

I was trying to organize and consolidate and, yes, cull toys today. We used to keep Barbies and clothes, etc. in a large clear plastic bin with a lid that slid under my oldest daughter's bed. Lately, we can't get the lid on it. (Okay, in more ways than one!) I think I counted 23 Barbies (and friends) in the pile in the picture above. TWENTY-THREE! That's crazy. That doesn't even take into account the Barbies that are still in their boxes on a closet shelf somewhere. We could have our own Barbie Expo! I managed to wrest a whopping 8 away from my daughter for the "get rid of" pile.

In Marine terms, I haven't even started to tackle the company of My Little Ponies, the battalion of stuffed animals, or the regiment of Little People.