Just Shoot Me

The older she gets, the more Abby's been upping the pressure to get her ears pierced.  After some thought and coaxing her father to go along with the idea, we finally decided she was old enough to handle the responsibility of taking care of pierced ears.  Today was the day Abby took another baby step toward being a big girl.

We laid out the rules: getting your ears pierced means you're a big girl; it means not only taking care of them, but knowing that you don't brag about things you have that others do not.  In other words, stop making your sister feel like garbage because you have one up on her.  She has no idea how much this works in my favor!  She also has no idea that after Lauren saw how painful it is, that was enough to turn her off to the idea of getting holes in her own ears any time soon.  Another plus in my column.

Abby hopped up in the chair at our favorite hometown beauty salon for a quick hair cut and the moment she'd been waiting for.  She knew three things: she would get to pick out the earring she wanted, it would hurt, and there would be a gun involved.  She had only question, "Will it be loud?"


It was truly hard to do anything but smile.  As soon as Sue pulled out the box that encased the gun, I knew it was the same one she'd used decades earlier to pierce my ears.  I also knew my little miss sensitive would be in pain, and for that I was partially grateful.  If she knows how much it hurts, I hope she knows well enough to keep the rest of her body free of piercings and tats.  I can tell you so far, it's worked.

{Just Shoot Me}

{Lauren Pushes Her Buttons}

{A Closer Look at Her Piercings}

{Big Girls Celebrate with Dairy Queen}

There were tears.  Lots of tears.  But all-in-all she was brave.  She only sees two types of people now: those who have their ears pieced and those who don't.  She's so grateful to finally be part of the club.  And as much as I hate seeing her grow up so fast, I'm glad she's part of our club, too.

Bar Superstar

Christmas in Ohio has found its own unconventional tradition in our family.  Typically we open gifts the Sunday before we leave for Minnesota; usually packages sent by our family in Washington, and other misc. gifts that may be too big to cart back & forth.

However, this year the girls got one of their gifts (and might I add, the very best one!) a little earlier than the norm.  We stumbled upon a great deal on a gymnastics bar, and because keeping them out of the basement is nearly impossible it became an early, early gift.

Geoff was amazed when he saw what Abby can do now on the bars.  I can only imagine what having her own at home now will do to beef up her skill level.

Our bar superstar....

Thank you, Grandma & Papa, for the gym mats.  They make for a softer landing and a tumbling dream!

Flashback Friday

Tonight we treated ourselves to supper at Pizza Hut.  We've never been to Pizza Hut as a family of four, but the girls wanted to cash in on their Book It! coupons and I was grateful for a culinary vacation.

Consuming nearly half of the dining area was a birthday celebration for one lucky girl's sweet sixteen.  Of course the girls wanted to attend.  As we sat in our booth watching the party unfold around us, it brought back giggles & belly laughs as we recalled another birthday party crash from days gone by....

It was about two years ago.  Geoff took the girls on one of their Daddy Days Out for an afternoon of play at The Magic Castle.  A popular birthday destination for young ones, it's common to get mixed up with party-goes on weekend trips to the MC.  On this particular trip, Abby was feeling especially celebratory and doing as Abby does, she quickly made friends.  Having lost track of his oldest daughter, Geoff scanned the giant play land only to find her smack in the middle of a birthday party photo op.  The crowd of picture-takers had no problem with the stand-out snuggling up with her arm around her new BFF and, in fact, insisted it was fine that she be in the picture.

I'm sorry I don't have a copy of that photograph, although the story itself is probably just as good without it.  And yet I wonder.... somewhere, in some Indian family's collection of pictures is a birthday party picture of their daughter and all of her friends.  And Abby, the token white kid.  I can just imagine the look on her face.  I'm sure she had no idea.