"Mommy, do you still love me?"

When I arrived home after school on Friday, Lillee Grace met me at the door with a look of "uh-oh, I'm gonna get it." Apparently, after some pretty serious rough housing with Baxter, Mary had started to get agitated with her. So it's said that she was in time out for quite some time. We didn't talk a lot on the way to take Mary home, which is quite odd for my little chatterbox. Finally, she said she was sorry for pushing Baxter and I told her it's not nice to do and it makes everyone involved feel sad. She was walking behind me into the house and I heard her say, "Mommy, do you still love me?" I wanted to stop there and cry. What a moment! Of course, I had the whole conversation about how I always love her but feel sad when she makes bad choices. A little while later, "But mommy I know you love me, but do you like me?" Don't they know how to pull right at the heartstrings?

Saturday was seemingly a slow day. We decided instead of our usual Subway meal, we'd drive to Fayetteville to McCallister's. CLOSED. When you've got four people who love food as much as we do, you musn't close your establishment without sending us a regretful letter with the next available location. So, instead we settled for Atlanta Bread Company. In the picture Lillee Grace is really enjoying her cookie. Both kids went to sleep in the car, which meant we were in for it later. When I declined to put on her ballet outfit, she decided to find it herself by dumping out the entire rubbermaid container of clothes in her closet. When Baxter saw this, he was fascinated to see he could climb all the way up the pile! Sarah called and needed us to watch Bo for awhile so I snapped some great pictures of the two friends. They truly have a love-hate relationship. One minute they're kissing and you're worried it's a bit much and the next minute they're hitting and you're a little relieved.

During our trip to town yesterday, I crossed three lanes of traffic to pull into the Big Lots. Scott was flabberghasted that I would want to rummage through this store. We all piled out and fastened in the smart shopper - that was a must. We ended up with five new toys for the bribe session that was about to take place. Baxter loves the fact that his puffs and apple juice are only $1 a box at Big Lots. More savings for his 529. When we got home, I lined up the new toys on the dining room table. I told Lillee Grace to choose her favorite. It was Daisy, Dora's cousin, and her 15th birthday cake. She was dying to open it. I told her that if she slept in her bed all night that in the morning she could have it. We've been having this problem for the past few weeks. She's no disturbance but lately she's been bringing the babies into bed with us at 2 a.m. When I awoke a couple of days ago with Bonnie's plastic head in the small of my back, that's when I knew an intervention had to immediately occur. So, as we tucked her into bed last night she put the Daisy toy in her refrigerator. Don't ask. At 7:45 this a.m. I went in to check for a pulse. She was snoring away. I woke her up and she ask if she slept in her bed all night? I told her she did so she jumped up and opened Daisy. What a milestone. We'll see if the other four toys will motivate her just the same?