I realize I haven’t blogged about Belle a lot lately.  She’s been really sweet and into saying “Yes, m’am” and doing what she’s asked in order to show up her big sister.  She also loves baby Amelia and is so good to play with her and cuddle her and read to her.

The other day Belle wanted to know why her daddy and I got married.  I told her you marry someone because you love them and want to have a family with them.  The response I got: “That’s all?!”
While practicing letters we had this conversation.
Belle: Mommy, how do you spell paint?
Me: P-
Belle: How do you spell pee?

Tonight she decided to read a book aloud to Amelia.  The name of this book is Tasha’s Talented Team.  It’s about a little girl who discovers that everybody has different talents.  This is how Annabelle was reading it:
“and the smell was in the house and on the green hair.  The smell was yellow and black and white.  The smell was outside under the tree…”
No, I have no idea what the smell is.

Does your belly hurt from laughing yet?

It’s a monster alright.  Starts with just a little thought and then tumbles out of control.

Jealousy.

I never used to think of myself as a jealous person.  Far too concerned with what others thought of me, yes.  Too much of a perfectionist, definitely.  Too hard on myself, all the time.  But jealous?

That’s the struggle right now.  I try to make a jokes out of it, but I’m afraid it’s getting out of control.  It is really hard to be patient and wait on God’s timing and see others with all the things I want for our life.  And then I think of how blessed we are in comparison to others and I remember that I deserve nothing.  Everything I have is by His grace and I will never understand that what this world sees as inadequate, God sees as part of His mosaic for our lives.

And while I’m making peace with my lack of understanding, I’m going to try to remember His commandments and my blessings.

I missed last week!  Might be the reason for this post.  So here’s a few blessings I’ve had this week…

….coupons.  Except this week it wasn’t $5 Pampers or free cereal that got me excited.  It’s the 20% off code we used on our car rental that we can also stack with a “Free Sunday.”  Thank goodness since we waited til the last minute to book and prices go up.  Apparently car rentals don’t work like the meat department at Ingles.  They don’t slash prices to move the inventory before it expires.

…BUNCO!  I’m not sure why I never made the effort to go before a few months ago, but I’m sure glad I finally did.  Girls night out, yummy snacks, and maybe a little extra moo-lah when I get back home.  Except tonight I came home $20 poorer because I figured I better pay off debts before I gambled on a win.

…airlines recognizing that baby food should be exempt from the same restrictions as big people food.  There’s bound to be a Starbucks at the gate, but pureed carrots?  A little trickier.  Thank goodness I can bring Amelia’s breakfast and snacks with us on the flights to and from Vegas.  Now if only I could figure out a way to make her Exersaucer a carry on item….

Nothing says goodbye to summer like a great big water slide, fish in the fryer, and homemade ice cream.  This past weekend we celebrated family and summertime at my parents’ house, aka Paynes-a-plenty Plantation.  Since a gathering of our extended family at this time is becoming something of a tradition, we decided to give the event an official name and the Lazy Hazy Daze of Summer Meltdown was born!  It’s the perfect summary of a Payne (with a little Beeson, Ashworth, Volz, Stephens, Brackett) family event.  And as we all know, it’s not over until…

Back in April, just before I started back to work, Madelynne auditioned for her first big play at our local community theatre.  Previously she had made a name for herself in our small community as a the “flying sheep of Bethlehem” during a church Christmas muscial and “that littlest fishie” at my school production of Seussical.  So, we thought she was ready for a challenge.  A “real” theatre where they charge more than $5 for tickets and close out their season every year with a big summer musical.

So, for the past three months, we’ve been on an extended vacation in Oz.  And since for us theatre has always been a family affair, everyone was there, including Amelia who has learned to cackle almost as well as the Wicked Witch!  The show was directed by my friend Paula, whom I direct with at school.  Originally, I was also supposed to help direct Oz, but a certain small person got in the way 🙂  I did, however, loan her my husband and all his lighting and special effect expertise, and although he couldn’t employ pyrotechnics (fire chief shot him down), he still managed to make the Witch disappear in a puff of smoke and, most nights, the Scarecrow “caught” fire.  I also helped her find more help by having the most awesome long-term sub ever who, even though she’s definitely not paid for this, was more than happy to stick around and help Paula corral this cast of 50+ that was mostly kids!  And most nights I was on hand for whatever randomness might be needed: going to the dungeon to help the Witch melt, smearing on (and then taking off) lots of stage makeup, and hanging out backstage so Paula could enjoy the show.

But the real joy of the show was seeing it through the eyes of my children.  I’m not sure if Annabelle will ever look at our friend Kristy the same again, since she’s pretty convinced Kristy really is the Wicked Witch.  And though I admit to being a little tired of listening to the music every time we get in the car, I love that Madelynne can sing (and act out) every line of the Munchkin scene including impersonating the kid who played our Munchkin Mayor.

This show was a reminder to me that live theatre is magical.  Unlike movies that are edited for their best performance and are, therefore, the same everytime, you never know what you might get with theatre.  Every show is different and at any moment a hundred factors can affect the energy, the polish, the magic of the actors and the tech.  It’s creating something that can never be re-created exactly the same.  Unique and special.  Like my sweet girls, who I hope found this experience down the yellow brick road as magical as I did.