Where's my Grandpa Beff?!

I had to say goodbye to my mommy today. And I was VERY sad. It was so fun having my mom here for an entire week! I couldn't believe it when she told me that when she came for Maddy's baptism that she was going to stay for a whole week! The only time my mom has been able to do that was when I have had babies. And we don't exactly get to get out and do a whole lot of fun things together when you are having the baby and recovering from having the baby and adjusting to having a baby, you all know the drill. So this was such a treat to have my mom here just on a regular random week with my family. We had SO much fun.....at least I know I did! I think you had a good time mom? Like always it turned out to be quite a week with two field trips, a trip to the doctors (all the way in downtown Portland where consequently I had a mother break down moment that only a mom can understand), a mother-daughter (grandma) achievement day activity at the graveyard and we can't forget the baptism and mother's day. We also threw in lots of lunches out, pierced ears, a few trips to the pet store, shopping and a couple of movies. We definitely took advantage of our time with grandma! Unfortunately what I didn't take advantage of was my camera! I just kept forgetting to get it out all week. I am so sad about that. I finally snapped a few shots the day she was leaving but I really wish that I had taken some more. I hate it when I do that! I am glad I got these though at least. They were very cute. Here is Lilly (and check out her little piggys!) in one of the cute little outfits she got for her while she was here. Lilly warmed right up to her and was so excited when she would come downstairs in the mornings and find "grandpa Beff". It was really one of the funniest things this week. We could not get Lilly to remember to say GRANDMA Beff, it was always GRANDPA Beff. We would just laugh and laugh every time she would say it because it sounded so funny. My mom finally said she started to feel like a transvestite or something! I assured her she did not look like a grandpa! I finally decided to work on it with Lilly and see if I could get her to say grandma. So we were sitting there and I kept having her say grandma over and over again. I then proceeded to ask her a bunch of questions, what is your favorite color? (blue) how old are you? (blue) what color is your shirt? (blue) what is your name? (LEELEE) who is that? (Josey) who is that? (Maddy). And I finally pointed at my mom and said "who is that?" GRANDPA BEFF!!!!! We laughed so hard! I think by the end of the week she would call her something like grandmama Beff. But when we got back from the airport the first thing she did was start walking around the house looking for "her grandpa Beff".
You can't really see them in the picture but my mom took Maddy to get her ears pierced! She was very very excited! She has wanted to get them pierced for a while but I just hadn't felt like she was old enough. When I went on her field trip this week I started looking around at the little girls in her class and realized that about 90% of them had their ears pierced! While this wasn't the reason that we decided to get them pierced it just made me think that maybe she wasn't too young to take care of them. So we went to the mall and she was VERY brave despite Josey plugging her ears and closing her eyes and screaming every couple of seconds, "HAVE THEY POKED THEM YET?" (Josey was very disturbed by the whole process). Maddy almost backed out at the last minute but we got one earring in one side. Sadly there weren't two people there to do them at the same time, so she had get one and then get the other. I thought we were possibly going to have to walk out of the store with only one earring in, but she pulled it off and she was SO happy that she had done it. We left the store with like 10 pairs of earrings and she is very much looking forward to July when she can finally change them. My mom and I were laughing that Maddy has reached a level of womanhood. She actually invited pain for beauty!
And lastly grandma took Josey to get her snails that she has been wanting for months! We have a pet store next to a pizza place that we get pizza from often and so whenever we order our pizzas we go to the pet store and wait for it to be done. So we did this while grandma was here and of course Josey persuaded grandma to get the snails for her (there wasn't really much persuading going on, grandma wanted too). I always tell her they cost too much, but really they are only 2 dollars! I have just not wanted to buy them. But she was so excited to get her snails. Those of you that know her obsession with snails and slugs and worms, basically anything slimy and creepy, will understand how exciting this was to her. We brought them home and stuck them in the fish tank with velvet and they are actually really fun to watch crawl all over the place and clean up the water. I think I should have purchased them a while ago!

Thank you for coming, even though it got all your other daughters mad that you spent so much time up here. It was so wonderful to show you my home and Portland and let my girls spend such quality time with grandma. We need to do it more often! We already miss you and wish that you could have stayed longer but I think I might have had a hit out on me from the sistas! You are a wonderful mom and I felt so lucky that I got to spend mother's day with you and Colleen. How often do you get to spend mother's day with your mom and mom-in-law! I wish that I could have done more for you because you are truly special to me and I love you. Miss you already and....I'll call you tomorrow!

These are just some funny pictures I took the other day of Lilly. She insisted on wearing these goggles and they really made her look so funny but she did NOT want them taken off. She was running all over the room laughing and finally screaming as is usually the case.

And I just had to put these pictures up of Lilly's hair. This was after they had played in the sprinklers out back. I really don't know how I gave birth to those blonde ringlets and I am a little in awe of it and I love it!