My Mother Taught Me Better Than This!!...and Other Grand Adventures

I have been meaning to update sooner then I have, but I was busy having fun and showing off a bit of Amarillo to my mom and my sister, Whitney and her kiddos. So, pardon the tardiness. ;)

You may be wondering what the title was referring to when I said that my mother taught me better then this. That would be these:

If I saw this picture I may be thinking to myself what's so wrong with a pair of Dora sandals?? Well, it all began with a harmless trip to Kohl's. I have been checking out the shopping a little bit now that the boys have been in school (love the freedom). I was looking at the jewelry and Ella insists that all of it is hers. She lets me know it's "mine"! Getting a bit tired of hearing her incessant cries that all the jewelry belongs to her and she has all licence to try on (and keep) whatever she wants. I tell her we can go to the shoes...her other passion (a girl after my own heart). She breaths "shoes" and we're off. I am looking at little cute fall shoes for her and she lays eyes on that particular pair of Dora shoes. She won't let them out of her sweaty little hands...unless it's to try them on. I get a look at them and folks, they light up. Ella is AMAZED. She bops them against the floor and cannot believe her eyes. Love at first sight. I get a bit better look at them and see that they are two different sizes...no good. I ask the sales lady if there are matches to them and evidently some person has purchased a 5 and and size 6. I get a bit better look and realize that a.) there is no price tag and b.) they are plastic. I ask the sales lady how much they cost and she tells me they are on sale for $14.50, but since they are two different sizes they would give them to me for 1/2 off...$7.25. I am thinking...um, yeah...they should be paying ME to take them off their hands. What crazy lady would purchase shoes that aren't the same size?? By now Ella has wielded her feet into the mismatched sandals and are proudly wearing them. I try to take them off, but she pitches a fit. So, I decided that I will let her wear them while I continue to browse and then stealthy take them off and slip them onto a shelf while she is is busy looking elsewhere. (Fantasy World??....I think so) As fate would have it, Ella takes off the shoes herself and so I plan on just "leaving" them somewhere in the store...not to go back to the shoe section because it would start the cycle all over again. But...then I remember how much of a deal I had made with the sales lady and realize she would remember me and the mismatched shoes and see that I totally ditched them in the middle of the store...tacky, tacky, tacky. Well, I continue looking around and actually forget the Dora shoes were in my basket altogether and then remember that I need to get my boys from school. So, I rushed up to the front of the store to purchase the couple of things I picked out and Ella spies the sandals...a bit faster then I do. She has them clutched so tightly in her hands and I try to reason with her and tug them all at the same time. I am running out of time and she is making such a big fuss all the while there is a line beginning to form behind me. I must admit to all, that I have a "bit" of an anxiety problem and I could feel it rising as I struggled with my daughter who refuses to give up the mismatched, plastic, light-up Dora sandals....all of which my mother would staunchly remind me are a horrible deal. After all, I did have her words ring in my ears ("they should pay you to take them off their hands!). My anxiety and the screeching, I must say, drowned out all reason and I purchased the Dora sandals. When I get home and I see them placed on her sweet, chubby feet I think of all the negatives of the shoes and realize I lost that battle, but she was so insistent and who could say no to this face??

Onto other naughtiness... Another love of my sweet daughter's is makeup. I will, on occasion, sit in front of a window and do my makeup. I will get a hand mirror and place it on the window sill and put my makeup on while sitting on the floor. Ella gets the routine and she will grab a compact and brush and scoot her little bottom right in front of me. She will sit with her head right in front of my view. I will place her out of the way, but she will repeat the bottom scooching and head blocking until I get sick of getting her out of the way. She "gets" for the most part what each product does, and I was proven right on this assumption the other day. While my mom and sister were here my mother gave Whitney's youngest, Scarlett, a mascara to fiddle around with. She is young enough she wouldn't have opened it, just roll it around. We were all getting ready and then we see Ella emerge looking like this:The picture didn't come out very clear, but she has mascara all over her eyes and even onto her lashes. I was quite shocked that she could get it onto her lashes w/o poking her eye...but then I remember that she has amazing dexterity. She was pleased as punch and could see no problem with her naughtiness. We scoured the house looking for the mascara aftermath. We ran straight to Georgia (Whit's other daughter) with whom Ella has loads of naughty fun with. But no, Georgia was playing beautifully by herself. So, we continue our hunt and eventually find the mascara tube perfectly closed w/o as much of a smudge on anything (remember the amazing dexterity) and she hates to be dirty. So, I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was. Wiping off the mascara, I did have to chuckle to myself at the girly naughtiness that had been abounding.

Onto other fun things...

While Whitney and my mother was here we were able to go to Cadillac Ranch. One of my favorite, fun, simple things in Amarillo. I guess I love it so much because it is characteristically Amarillo. If you ever drive through, it is fun to see. The kids got quite a kick out of the cars sticking out of the air and actually getting to color! on them. We didn't stay too long as we brought permanent markers (Phillip's brainchild)...at least it wasn't spray paint (what is traditionally used to color the cars). Scratch that, the kids ended up picking up the discarded cans and trying to spray them, much to our protests to put them down. Cooper still ended up getting blue spray paint on and in his ear...I don't know how they do it. Overall, we did have a fun time and left our mark on a interesting art statement.

Greyson inside of a Cadillac making his mark.

Ezra and Coop happy to be together...and loving the dirt, cars and coloring on whatever their heart's desire.

Little Miss Georgia taking time out of her scribbles to take a picture.

Boys in the Hood....ummm, literally.

Cutie-patootie Scarlett. Ahhh, love that little girl.

The girls kept insisting that they get their hands traced on the cars...Georgia even tried on her own. Gotta love green permanet marker hands... My mother sweetly took their little hands and traced them. They loved it.

After that, we went to Blue Sky Burger and had a grand time. They have fantastic burgers and may I say a fabulous sand area for the kids to play.
It is wonderful because there isn't humidity like there is in Oklahoma. We sit out on the tree shaded deck and feel the breeze while the kids play. It's wonderful. We had lots of fun and only had to deal with the sand covered scalps (much to my sister's dismay).

I am so grateful they traveled down here and were able to see my little piece of the world. And, I just want to tell them how much I love and miss them (already! :)