What's Love Got To Do With It?

( I love this pic bec of her face, obv not bec of my hair!)

McKenna:  (Reaching over and kissing me on the cheek...)
"Can I have a Slurpee, now?" .

Me: "Oh, you want a slurpee, huh?"

McKenna:  "Yes!"

Me: (I kiss McKenna on the nose) "Nope!".

McKenna: "Hey!"

Me: "What?  You only give kisses now, when you want something??"

McKenna:  "Yes."

Good Morning, Sunshine!

We had to get up a little earlier today, because it is snowing and we are going to have to give ourselves an extra 10-15 minutes of travel time.  Berkeley, my eight-year-old, hates waking up.  She's a lot like her mother.  It usually takes me about a half-an-hour of begging to get her to rise and exit the top bunk. 

Anyhow...this morning wasn't a good morning for us.  She was dishing out the attitude from the moment she first spoke.  It all came to a -head- when we had an argument over "why she hates headbands" vs. "please stop going to school with hair that makes you look homeless." 

She won't keep the hair bows or the barretts in at school.  She hates to have braids and ponytails unless she's "in the mood" for them, which is next-to-never.  So she has this tangled, messy, long hair. Grrr....  All I ask is that SOMETIMES she actually put a headband in when the hair isn't looking it's greatest!  It's one of those "small things" that I let "get to me" sometimes. 

Anyhow...the point is...that she didn't start off the day in the best mood.  We were arguing all the way to the freaking car and partly on the drive to school.  Finally...we both just fell silent and began letting the radio make the noise.

(Here's a picture of us...and the mood we woke up in....)

It's snowing still, but lightly.  Roads are wet and the windshield wipers are trying to ward off the 'gunk' that the high speeds of the freeway spews onto our windshield.  It's cold.  But we're almost there.

I am silently chastising myself for not handling our argument better, while wondering if all eight-year-old girls are this fiesty and independent.  I hate starting off mornings badly.  I just want her to start her day off happy.  I just want to start my day off happy!

Right in the middle of my mental turmoil though, I hear her mutter something outloud, that was so funny, it just made me re-vamp my attitude for the whole day.  She was staring out the window at the cold, the snow, and the muck and just muttered...

"Damn Groundhog."

I love that kid.

What's in a Name?

Berkeley is doing this super cute project in her third grade class.  They have to go through magazines, cut out adults, kids, pets, etc.  Then they assemble the pictures into families, glue them on paper, and write a story about that family that they've created. 

We were in the car talking about this assignment the other day, when Berkeley was trying to name her family.  She said "I'll just say 'The 'Smith' Family."  I protested.  No, Berk, there are so MANY "Smith" families out there.  Let's try to be creative."  I started giving suggestions...some serious, some silly...

"The 'Gabriella' Family?" She liked the High School Musical parallell, so I kept going...
"The 'Sharpay' Family?"  She and McKenna giggled.  
"The 'Montana's'?"  They loved that.  Hannah Montana -rocks it- at our house.

McKenna chimed in:
"The 'Shannon' Family?!" - She suggested, in honor of Aunt Shannon. She continued...
"The 'Popcorn' Family?!"  "The 'Slurpee' Family?!" "The 'Cheddar' Family?!" "The 'Beef' Family?!"

Berk shared her ideas:
"The 'Rainbow' Family?! Her and McKenna giggled.
"The 'Coke' Family?!" "The 'Dr. Pepper' Family?!" "The 'Make-Up' Family?!" "The 'Bolton' Family?!" (Another HSM parallell) "The 'Earring' Family!?"

I told them some of the "different" or "memorable" last names of friend's that I've had:
 
In Junior High, I SWORE I would marry Jared "Walkenhorst"...just because I wanted to be "Mrs. Walkenhorst."  In High School, I had a friend with the last name "Belcher".  Ironically, she had the best manners out of all of us.  And, most recently, one of my best friend's is currently "Mrs. Gum."  Which, I love more than words can say. 

Anyhow.....we were having lots of fun suggesting ideas to one another.  I loved hearing the MANY things they thought of.  When, all of the sudden, McKenna shouts out from the back seat:

"I KNOW!!!  How about "The 'NIPPLE' Family ?!!!?!!!" 

Berkeley and I are laughing so hard we almost wet ourselves. 
Clearly it's time to end the "brainstorming" session.
And, while  I hope, that Mr. and Mrs. Nipple live happily ever after...
I pray daily that their children "Chapped", "Pierced", and "Enlarged"
make it through school without incident.