H, H and H (Helen's Half-bday and Hair)

Yes, my oldest child turned 8 1/2 today...Yall know we like to celebrate some HALF bdays around here...so she said she wanted her nails painted (no manicure..just a polish which is just a couple of bucks)...so we wrapped it around getting George's hair cut..which used to be torture..but he doesn't cry anymore for Ms. Shelby which is a TRUE miracle: The big girls enjoyed a "nail polish" :

And, well...LL enjoyed "stealing" suckers the ENTIRE TIME:
You see...this place has a tower of suckers...and LL likes to yell "SUCKER" really loud and can sneak a sucker faster than anything you've ever seen...This is WHERE and HOW I kept finding her:

But as she stole sucker after sucker....I had fun chatting with the AA stylists there about LL's hair....They get a kick out of her VERY TIGHT SPIRAL CURLS:

I get asked all the time, "How do you get her hair to curl like that??" And, I say: "It's just what her hair does!! " She has the tightest, tiniest, silkiest spiral curls all over her head...Her hair is about 6 inches long on top now...and her hair in the back can touch her shoulders now...but you'd never know that from HOW TIGHT those curls are:

I always say that her hair looks like it has tiny little worms all over it...The ladies at the shop say that it will take her until about age 4 to have her hair "heavy" enough and long enough to look like she has some hair!! And, her hair is still "filling in" in spots too...It's growing like crazy...but it really doesn't even knot that badly cause it's only REALLY thick on her Mohawk area!!! And, the ladies there say I'm doin a great job on it...so that's all I need to know!! :)

So, WHAT am I using these days: I've gotten several emails on this lately...So I thought it must be time for a "hair update"......Well...I use a ton of different things...My favorite is Miss Jessie's Baby Buttercream, but it is too expensive and I'm out of it and can't buy it again until it goes on sale in December...BUT I really do like a lot of other, cheaper stuff too... Right now..I'm spraying it every morning with a water bottle full of water and Pantene Conditioner mixed together in it (Pantene for Women of Color conditioner)!! This forms her curls and is more moisturizing than JUST plain water (got this tip from Jodi at http://www.talkissheep.blogspot.com/ :) THEN..I apply Pantene Daily Moisturizing Cream... I think Jodi said this is too oily for her girl's head...but LL's hair just soaks it right up..I think the tighter the curl, the more oil it needs (just in my experience so far). NOTHING is too oily for her hair...Her hair will soak in anything in minutes!! Her hair is SO tight after apply any product that I take the top of it and put it in a soft, loose pony tail and let it dry that way...This extends the root and makes her hair appear "bigger" and "more loose" on top!! Just a trick I discovered!!! :) So, I will then reapply stuff at least one or two times through out the day!! I have everything on the market in my cabinet and just use different daily moisturizing stuff each time. I'll always end the day with putting something on her hair before she goes to bed (like coconut oil, olive oil, even Vaseline)..She then sleeps on a satin pillowcase which helps too!! How do i get her to sit still to do her hair?? Well, my silly little nut plays in the sink water the entire time..As long as she has water to play with...she'll sit forever...but yes, a big mess to clean up daily afterwards! :)

Now...HOW DO YOU MESS UP THE HAIR INSTANTLY???? Take them swimming:

Yes, I watch my money go right down the drain when we go swimming....but OH, SHE LOVES IT!! Thanks Honeycutts for inviting us to swim tonight at your pool!! We all had a great time!! (The Honeycutts are another local agci family on the waitlist and better known in my blog world as my "bowling alley" family!! :) The kids say they are ready to move to your neighborhood!! :)

So, happy 1/2 bday Sissy, Happy Hair Do'in, and Happy Wednesday to you all, kj

The Western Ky State Fair (attack chickens and my favorite conversation yet :)

Yes, a couple of weeks ago, I drove back home to attend the Western Kentucky State Fair with my sister, Kasey, and her two little ones!! My hubby said, "Why are you taking our 5 kids to this by yourself??" Ummmm, because 5 kids at the fair in 95 degree heat sounds like FUN!! :) LOL Ok, so sometimes, I do wonder about my sanity...but really it was a fun, fast trip home!! And, I experienced one of my favorite conversations yet that i'll share at the end....so here goes: See this above pic??? This cute little 4H boy comes up and asks my kids: "Do yall want to see my chicken?" My kids look interested and ONE SECOND AFTER THIS PIC IS TAKEN...can you guess what happened?? YES, the chicken jumped OFF his shoulder and straight into my stroller with my 2 babies!!! It was awful!!! George just jumped and tried to get away from it...BUT LL FREAKED!!! She hated the thing and wanted it off her!! She couldn't calm down and needed LOTS of Mommy lovin to get over the ATTACK of the 4H Chicken!! Poor thing...she might hate chickens the rest of her life!!!

Ok, so then she was in an ill mood and VERY fragile...and THEN she realized that I bought arm bands for the older 4 (even George) but not for her...which meant she stayed with Momma while the older 4 rode rides!!! It didn't seem cruel at the time since she was STILL not over the chicken attack and wanted NOTHING to do with the stroller and just wanted me to hold her!! I mean..and she is ONLY 20 months old!!! :)

But the Little Gal is smart and couldn't believe I let George go somewhere with out her!! So, as they got on a ride with out her....she started her ear piercing SCREAM!!!

I got the whole " throw myself on the nasty fair ground floor and take my shoe off" fit!! She wasn't happy with me.....

But she always gets over things quickly..and decided hangin on to my leg was BETTER AFTER ALL!! :)

Oh, that was until a kind, fair carnival guy felt sorry for her and let her ride for free one time!!! Ok, so I thought she was too young...but obviously i was wrong..and she had a blast...but then I had to take her off the thing....MAD AGAIN!!! :)

I even ran into one of my friends from home that adopted Internationally too!! So fun!! We had to grab a pic of our girls that are the exact same age and came home about the same time too!!



****Now for the CONVERSATION OF THE YEAR!!!! It was SO FUNNY to see how the young kids reacted to having LL on my hip walking around the fair!! It was the 10 to 13 year old African American children (both boys and girls ) that just couldn't help themselves and would have to come up to me and ask me about LL...My favorite conversation went something like this:

(standing in line for a ride) Young girl with many of her friends standing with her says: "is that your baby?"

me: "yes, she's mine"

girls and boys chime in: "She don't look nuttin like you...She don't look like you AT ALL!!! "

me: "oh, i think she does..I think she looks just like me"

kids: "nu uh...no way she looks like you...she don't look nuttin like you"

me: "oh, i think we look a lot alike" (me trying not to crack up)

boy: "well, she did get your eyes, but THAT'S IT!! " :)

me: "yay, but I think she got more than just my eyes"

boy: (he leans over to talk softly) : " Is her Daddy REAL DARK?"

me: (ok , i bust a gut laughin) : "All right..i'll stop messin with yall...I adopted her"

kids: "ADOPTED???? "

me: " yes, adopted her!" ( i go on to explain where she is from, etc. )

girl: "You mean, you went all the way to Africa FOR HER??? "

me; "uh, yes..I think she was worth it"

girl: "yes, she's cute and I like her bow...but while you were there...why didn't you get you a WHITE baby?"

me; "ummm. because it is Africa, there aren't any white babies"

girl: "oh, I didn't think of that"

me: "and I think brown is pretty..I like her color...I'm glad she is brown"

kids all together: "OH, YEA, BROWN IS PRETTY...Uh, huh...she's pretty...she's a nice brown!" :)

So, that was it..I educated a few more groups of children that were brave enough to come up and chat....Such a funny thing...and that's why i love kids...cause they'll just come up to ya and ask ya WHAT EVERY ONE ELSE THERE IS THINKIN!! :) And, i've had SO MUCH fun tellin that story for the past couple of weeks!! Priceless!! :)

**Attack chickens and great conversations...not sure HOW our fair here in Tennessee can quite compare...but it is comin up in August and I can't wait!! :) Happy Monday to you all, kj

Our First Stitches....

Yes, it was a VERY long night in the ER last night...And, about 3am and 4 stitches later...we made it back home!! My 5 yr. old little Hal was playing outside (after dark) and we were setting up tent to "camp" in the back yard when he ran into the metal SeeSaw and it obviously had a sharp corner and well...as you can see... it got him!!! Our pediatrician lives in our neighborhood, so I made a quick stop by there to "make sure" i really needed to go to the ER...and he and his physician wife agreed we HAD to GO!!! DARN!!! So, my buddy was a trooper...we waited FOREVER!!! I made friends with everyone around me...(imagine that :) Heard lots of neat/interesting stories for MANY hours!! :)

We finally got to a room in the early hours of the morning..and my Hal was snoozing away by that point across my body....I have never been so happy to see a bed to finally get to put my boy down on to sleep!! :) He's not light!! I snapped a couple of pics with my phone...but then had to HOLD him down for the stitches...AWFUL!! He was tired, disoriented and in PAIN!! YUCK!! He went right back to sleep after his stitches were over..and I came home to an Ethiopian Princess that wouldnt' go to sleep for daddy at 3 A.M. LOL! Can you say she's slightly spoiled by her Momma being there...She was SO relieved to see me and after thinking it was TIME TO PLAY for about an hour..she finally passed out too! Phew...NOT much sleep going on around here!! But my Hal is feeling great today (no pain) and we made it his "brave day" for getting the FIRST stitches in the fam and he got to pick WHAT we were doing all day!! The other kids said, "NO FAIR"..but we said, "Hey, when you get stitches, we'll let you pick too!!" :)

**So, now it's almost 11pm, still going on no sleep from last night, no camping occurred last night, all camping stuff has been moved indoors to camp in the living room tonight (much safer), no kids are even slightly asleep yet, and I have to teach Sunday School tomorrow and I'm trying to drink coffee to stay awake to plan the lesson!! Maybe a nap with LL would be nice tomorrow!! :) But certainly grateful my sweet 5 yr. old Hal is ok and praising God that I live in a country where kind people in a Children's Hospital are just a drive down the road!! Happy Saturday to you all, kj

P.S. My sister, Kelly, just flew in from Ethiopia with her team tonight!! It was an amazing trip and they have SO many children to advocate for!! I'll be posting all about it soon!! But for now, check out all the great posts at www.ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com kj

One Week From Today...AGCI Comes To Town!!

Yes, it's true...ONE WEEK FROM TODAY my beloved agency, AGCI is coming to Nashville!!! They are putting on an ALL WEEKEND event with many different opportunities for everyone to get involved with Orphan Care!! So, do I LOVE and RECOMMEND our adoption agency out of Portland, Oregon??? Yes!! 110% YES...I mean...who wouldn't LOVE them when they brought me this:

AND THIS:

Yes, I'm forever grateful to this wonderful group of people for connecting the dots to our PRECIOUS Lucy Lane!!! So, here's the line up of events for next weekend IF you are at all interested in checking out ANY of the activities:

Thursday Night, July 29th - Information Night at Brentwood United Methodist Church at 6:30 P.M. located at 309 Franklin Rd., Brentwood. This is just a night open to the community to come out in a smaller group setting to hear AGCI staff speak of their different countries, different programs and get all your questions answered!!

Friday Night, July 30th- AGCI Fundraising Dinner at the Franklin Cool Springs Marriott. Sign up on line at www.allgodschildren.org Should be a great dinner and great entertainment (I'm the speaker, LOL..so maybe NOT SO great....:) Anyways, looking forward to this night and to hear about ALL that AGCI is doing to help others around the world.

Saturday, July 31st - All Day Family Picnic at Granny White Park...Lots of fun for the whole family...Lots of families will be coming in from all over the country for this...so fun!!

So, excited to meet SO MANY families and friends next weekend!! Hope you'll consider coming to something too!! You can read more about it all by going to www.allgodschildren.org Happy Thursday to you all, kj

Lucy Lane and Luci May..Back Together Again!!!

Yes, look who came to visit us...It's Luci from www.teamkollar.blogspot.com : OH, she's just a doll!! Luci May came home from HH right after Lucy Lane did...So I actually got to love on their Luci before Mom and Dad even did!! OH, and she's so yummy sweet!! And, this family came to visit us TODAY!!!

I'm just sure these two remembered each other from their days rolling around at HH!! :) But you see, Luci May had a little cat nap before arriving...my Lucy Lane was, well, quite irritable and wouldn't take a pic for me for ANYTHING!!! OH, but we tried:

I made the mistake of "trying" to take her paci away for the pic....NOT a good idea!!!

Luci May was feelin the LOVE!!! She would pat and love on LL as if they'd been best buddies their whole life!!!

Then, above, LL pretty much lost it and was READY for a nap....So...off to bed she went and the rest of our crew had fun playing together all afternoon!!!

My lucy lane missed out on all the water fun...but Luci May enjoyed it until she slipped and bonked her head on my garage floor...Oh, well..it was fun for a bit..and she was TOO cute in her yellow suit!!! :)

Missy and her little Ethiopian Princess!!! I've followed Missy's blog FOREVER!! I really feel like I know all these BLOG FRIENDS..and then they really come to life when they show up on your front steps (invited of course :) So...it was AWESOME to finally meet this fam in person!! And, she was just as I imagined...funny and adorable!!

Oh, and the big kids had fun too!! My kids enjoyed a little water sliding on the garage floor...and, yes, I had them wear their helmets cause I was afraid they'd hit their precious little noggins!! :)

And, ONE pic of all the kids MINUS LL who was still napping away!! We couldn't get George out of the pool so we just gathered around him!! :) Oh, and my girls told me, Missy, after you left that your OLDEST son looks like Justin Beiber (sp?) (who ever that is???? ) They said it was the "hair" !! :)

One last pic of the BLOG FRIEND MOMS before they had to head out BACK to Nebraska!! Such a fun time!! Such a neat connection for our girls and I will hope and pray that this sweet family makes it down to see us again some day!! What a blessing it is to know you guys!! Thanks SOOO MUCH for coming to visit us!!!

**Happy Monday to you all, kj

Another Amazing Post From Ethiopia...

I have kids climbing all over me...but I'M BROKEN and my kids are sitting here asking me WHY I'm crying...I just read my friend Jody's post from Ethiopia...She is traveling with my sister Kelly and Ordinary Hero... I'm not even there..but yet...moved to tears by Jody's words... Go to www.talkissheep.blogspot.com Jody and her fam adopted a baby girl RIGHT before I did with AGCI as well... AND this is her first time back since adopting Baby Zoe... READ HER WORDS and let me know what ya think!!! Happy Sunday to you all, kj

You Know You're From Kentucky When....(and happy 20 months LL)

Yes, I really do enjoy and embrace my "Kentucky" side every once in a while!! Now, my hubby has Kentucky blood too...so well...we both enjoy heading that way from time to time to take in ALL that the BIG BLUE GRASS STATE has to offer!! :)

So, seriously...I do believe Kentucky just has some things that other states DON'T!!! For example...How many states have DINOSAUR WORLD?? Well, we'd never ventured over to old "Dinosaur World" before...so this past Saturday...we loaded up the kiddos and headed that way!!

You know you're from Kentucky when you drive down the interstate and there our Dinosaurs on the side of the road letting you know that "Dinosaur World" is the next exit!! Our kids were screaming with excitement!!! How many times in your life do you get the above pic?? Only in Kentucky!!

LL didn't find it quite as exciting at the rest of the kids did, so she took a little snooze at old Dino World!!

My 5 yr. old Hal was enjoying climbing on the dinosaurs one minute...and literally the next:

He lost his FIRST tooth!!! Yes, my Hal lost his FIRST tooth at Dinosaur world...something he'll probably never forget!! He was a little traumatized..but it was loose and ready to go!! :) Poor guy!! :) BUT he got excited and happy when he realized the tooth fairy would be coming AND he beat his 1st cousin Haiden to lose their first tooth!! :)

So, on the same street as "Dinosaur World"...you can literally drive up and down the street and find ALL these crazy attractions like: Haunted Houses, Caves, and my favorite: Bumper Boats!! Someone seriously put an above ground pool on their farm and stuck some boats on it and painted a sign above it and they call it "Bumper Boats" and charge people to come and ride!! There was even a Ski Lift (minus the skiing) that took you over the farm (but it had no seat belts and I'm unsure if ANYONE has EVER come to check on this RIDE and I'm pretty sure it would never pass codes...so we passed on that one) BUT the Bumper Boats were really fun....Only in Kentucky!!! :)

Another stop was the Put Put Golf!! The kids loved it!!

(oh, i love seeing her reach for his hand...just too sweet)

You know you're in Kentucky when you find this trampoline jumping device on the side of the road too..and they charge you to jump...All on the same street as Dinosaur World...You just can't get any better than this folks!! The kids were in heaven!!! :) (above, they even let my 3 yr. old George do it...not sure there were any rules to this place...they asked if LL wanted to do it..I kindly passed :)

Above, all the kids waiting on Hal to finish...What you can't see is my 6 yr. old Julia crying because she said that 5 yr. old Hal jumped "better" than her and did "better" flips than she did...They are a year apart and slightly competitive with one another!! :) It's a MUST with 5 kids to leave EVERY fun place with at least ONE kid crying...just wouldn't feel RIGHT if it didn't happen!! :)

(above, Hal's jumping ability that left Julia in tears :)

How about a pickle break?? Ok, so does every place in America offer LARGE pickles in a murky jar of water for 99 cents?? Or is this just a Kentucky thing??? Just wondering!!

And, just when you think you've seen it all...You head on down the road a bit more..and the kids scream when they see that someone has a WATER SLIDE in their front yard and the sign read, "Slide for 10 bucks ALL DAY"....Well...yes, we're suckers for some fun....So, we pull over..open the back..throw on their suits...and they run for it!!! BUT, in the end...only my two competitive middle children 5 yr old Hal and 6 yr. old Julia would go down the BIG slide...8 yr. old helen was too scared..and well... the babies weren't offered the chance!! :) But these two, above, wouldn't dare allow the other to show them up...so off they went...and they had a blast while the rest of us cheered them on!!!

***We then packed up 5 VERY sleepy kids and headed back to TN!!! They said they can't wait to go back next summer!! :) Our kids think KENTUCKY IS THE BEST!!! And, every once in a while...Daddy and I completely agree with them!! :)

***And, Happy 20 months LL!! I can't believe we're OUT of the teens and only 4 months away from you being TWO!! Oh, hurt my heart!! Crazy how fast time is flying....and we're so blessed to have you experiencing OUR CRAZY ADVENTURES with us each and every day!! God couldn't have made a more perfect child for our family!! :) Happy 20 months LL and Happy Friday to you all, kj

ps...go read www.ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com My big sister Kelly is posting from Ethiopia...Tell me you couldn't love one of those sweet babies?? I can't wait to go back!! In every orphaned face..all I see is Lucy Lane!! kj