Cosmetic Surgery

On the Today show this morning they reported that casting directors are looking for actors/actresses who have not gone under then knife or had mulitple injections to alter their appearance. They are looking for the "natural" men and ladies.

Well, halleluah.

Looks like I might get to be a star afterall (ha!).

A few years back, I went to a Women of Faith conference and was introduced to Anita Renfroe...funny, funny lady! She has a knack for taking popular songs and spinning the words for today's woman...kind of like the Christian woman Weird Al.

I saw her latest music video today and laughed hysterically. She has it right! I guess Hollywood is taking their cues now from Anita....enjoy!

Weekend guests...part 2

We woke up Sunday morning, after a long night at Beauty and the Beast, a little bleary-eyed.

Elyn slept for about 2 hours total on Saturday night. To say the night was miserable would be a true understatement...it was much worse than miserable.

(Side note: The house that we really like has sold...Bummer. HOWEVER, on Saturday night when I made multiple trips back and forth from our room to Elyn's room I was thanking God that we did not get the other house. It had two stories and I think I would have died from crawling up and down the stairs all night.)

Well, come to find out, our night wasn't the only one that was miserable. My mom, cousin Julie and her little boys stayed in a hotel while they were here. On Saturday night, after B and B, Bailey threw up all night long. Poor guy! The only person that got any sleep was Blake, he was in his pack and play in the other room and never heard a thing.

Needless to say, my family wasn't able to join us for church. We were going to meet at a restaurant after church and eat but Elyn was LOSING it as soon as we got in the car. I called my mom and asked her to just pick up lunch.

The second we walked through the door I put Elyn in her bed and I think she was snoring before I even left the room.

The day was a relaxing one...for most everyone...

On Monday, we got to experience the real reason for the visit...Nora and Elyn's school programs!

We never what to expect with our girls...will they perform? Will they act like clowns? Will they sing out the loudest?

I don't think we ever have to worry about either one of them being a stage hog.

Here is Elyn and her little class. I have a video of them singing, but will try and post that later.

This is how she sat throughout the ENTIRE time her class was on stage. Hand in mouth.

"Hey, I know you...you with the camera...I'll take my hand out of my mouth for you!"

Then it was Nora's turn...walking onto the stage.

That is her "shy/embarrassed" face. She did not make eye contact with us the entire time.

Some of her friends...

She did perform, but she was very timid about it. Check out the kid in the background...it's like he's rolling his eyes, saying, "Come on already...enough!" Hilarious!

Leaving the stage.

We went to visit the girls' rooms after the program was over. They needed to say goodbye to my mom, cousin and her boys and Grandpa (Matthew's stepdad drove over for the program).

Here is Nora and her class:

And her teachers...

We weren't able to get any pictures of Elyn in her class...she was a little overwhelmed by us being there.

(Side note numero dos...After school I took the girls to the doctor's office (again). Turns our Nora has an ear infection (surprise!) and Elyn has a "whopping" double ear infection. Sigh.)

Thank you family for coming to visit! The big question is...will Nora perform for her ballet recital in a few months or stand on stage? Stay tuned to find out!

Beauty and the Beast

Nora and Elyn have been SO EXCITED about this past weekend...so excited!

Well, their excitement was two-fold...my mom, cousin and her two little boys came to visit AND we went to see Beauty and the Beast, put on by a local high school.

First we went out to eat...and Nora LOVED Blake, Julie's youngest boy.

Elyn loved sitting by Nonna.

Bailey was happy to be there too...

Really, he was!

We made it to the high school! Yea! Elyn still wasn't feeling up to par. She didn't nap on Saturday (awesome) and had lots of snot pouring out of her nose. It was pretty.

Nora on the other hand...she was SOOOOOOO thrilled to see the "watch". (She kept saying "watch" even though I kept telling her it was called a "play".)

And this is how she sat for the first 45 minutes. If you look at her hands, she is holding tightly onto her ticket stub. Sweet girl! She was enchanted!

Belle.

The Beast, Belle and Mrs. Potts

It was about 6 million degrees in the auditorium so she had to get rid of her sweater. She loved it!

Beauty and the Beast!

We had gotten a "VIP" pass which meant the kids were able to take pictures with the characters after the play was over. I wasn't sure how it would go...since Santa and all mascots are "iffy". The girls loved it though!

Bailey wanted his picture made with the Beast...Nora and Elyn, not so much.

Elyn and "Chip" the teacup.

Nora and Mrs. Potts

Nora and "Babette", the promiscuous feather duster.

The play was a hit! The high school students did a great job and Nora and Elyn have been talking non-stop about it since Saturday night.

The day, from Nora's perspective

The girls and I got up early this morning, which was a bit of a beating considering that Elyn slept nearly ZERO last night...she woke up about every 30 minutes screaming crying. This morning she informed me that her ear hurt "on the inside". Did I rush Elyn off to the doctor's office?

NO! I hooked her up with some Motrin and we headed to Tulsa to the zoo!

(Mom of the Year?)

We had been planning this zoo trip for over a month and I was not about to miss it.

Three of my friends from college, Joy, Clair and Ashley (along with their kids) and I have been planning on getting together since we all live within an easy driving distance.

Sadly, Ashley's little boy has been sick for a few days so they weren't able to make it. But, Joy, Clair and I still made our way to Tulsa Zoo.

Nora packed a few things this morning that she wanted to take, one of them being her pretend camera. When we got to the zoo though, she couldn't find it. She was distraught and I told her she could use my little camera and I would use my big one.

So, here you have it...the zoo, as photographed by Nora Henderson:

My friend, Clair...sorry Clair, this was the first picture she took.


The picnic table next to ours:

Our picnic table and the enormous mulch underneath it.

Clair's birthday was this week and Joy brought some cupcakes to celebrate. Here they are, in the bottom of Joy's stroller.

Me, holding Clair's little boy John.

Joy and her baby, Fen.

Elyn.

Self-portrait. (I guess she didn't want to be left out.)

Now, on to the animals...a sheep. (This picture makes me laugh. It's as if the sheep is look at her and saying 'cheese'.)

Do you see the giraffe? I didn't teach her to zoom, just to point and shoot.

If you look carefully you can see the green head of the lizard. It's behind glass.

Green snake.

Napping monkeys.

More of monkeys.

An extreme close-up of a monkey.

The back part of a big fish.

Flamingos. (When I asked Nora what her favorite part of the zoo was, she told me it was that the flamingos didn't stink. Last summer, the flamingos smelled awful and that was a strong memory for her.)

The penguins...and a lady's backpack.

We got home about 5pm and had a call from our realtor that someone wanted to look at our house at 7pm. I wanted to swing by an after-hours doctors office for them to look at Elyn (I DO NOT want to miss more sleep!), so we dropped by our house, picked up Matthew and vacated the premises for the realtor.

The following are pictures, taken by Nora, at the drs office:

Attractive picture of Matthew...

Matthew holding Nora's blanket.

I have no idea...

Attractive picture of the doctor...

Elyn, the patient.

Attractive picture of me...I am thinking here, "The doctor just told me that Elyn DOES NOT have an ear infection...why in the world was she up ALL NIGHT LONG?"

Nora saying, "Thank you for taking a photo tour of our day with me."