the.wedding.

It was hard, not gonna lie to you. I had this surreal feeling come over me during the exchanging of the vows. It's strange, because weddings are usually such a happy time. Wade and I normally look at each other, smile and remember that amazing feeling when we got married. I definitely did not have that feeling wash over me.

It was quick, the girls didn't walk down the aisle throwing flowers (much to Grace's dismay, "that was the most boring wedding EVER!"), and there were only 20 people at most.

Grace and Sydney looked precious, which is more than I can say for the others. Wow, that was rude. Here are some pics to shut up my bitchiness.

The after party was a freakin madhouse, to which Wade and I only stayed about an hour. The girls had fun, but I was seriously worried that Sydney was going to trip and kill an old person. She was damn excited to be staying up so late.

Which brings us to the funniest picture of the night.

Get it girl! Eat that shitty food!

Meet the Newest Member of Our Family

This is Abigail:

And the best part:

Probably not exactly the surprise he was hoping for.

Heeheeheehee.

The 2nd Christmas

Grace continues to amaze me in her memory and/or willingness to remember my mom. For those of you that know G, are already aware of her, ahem, inability to see the big picture.... But today, 2 days before Christmas, she feels the need to tell Sydney about my mom.

"Cici is dead, " to which Sydney replies, "oh (pondering)..., sissy dead."

After a lot of, "no, cici, not sissy" talk, Grace goes on to tell her that it is okay that she is dead because she still lives in "here" and points to her chest.

*Insert me DYING*

I shit you not. I have never told her that. I'm sure someone has, but nonetheless, it is strange to hear my six year old say these words.

We then go downstairs and Grace tells me that she is going to draw a beautiful picture for Cici. For Christmas. Because it was her favorite holiday.

She's trying to kill me.

How does she remember this? It may be because we still talk about her (at least Wade, my brother and I) and she has simply heard it from our mouths. Who knows? It still breaks my heart.

And makes me proud.

Mary had a sad little lamb...

My youngest child broke my heart into several million little pieces today.

She didn't want to perform in the theater as a little lamb. She wanted to sit on my lap and watch the other children perform the worst Christmas play to date. But, nooooooooo, her "teacher" wanted her to sit with the other children and sing the songs.

But she didn't want to.

(who is that poor motherless child in the background?)

And so I am the mother and I get to make those decisions. So she sat on my lap.

And was a happy little lamb.

The end.

Home Sweet Home

You really never realize how much you take advantage of everyday conveniences, like, electricity, cable and heat. Sure, these are things that you don't get free, but, they are also things that you would never be without. Brief interlude for a little pic of the cutest snow bunny. And yes, she may be wearing the same socks that she wore Monday. Packing on the fly is hard!!








Our electricity came back on at 6 pm Wednesday night, and I was ecstatic!!!!!!!!!! We decided tostay in the hotel room one more night, because we had already paid for it and because our house was 49 degrees. Brrrrrr.... But we are definitely one of the lucky ones, so no complaining. Now we have to deal with insurance companies, which should be fun. NOT!! Here's how excited Rudolph is about talking to the insurance company AND delivering gifts:


The kids were also really excited to be back in their own beds, both marked by very little bickering our first day back. And I'll have you know I was so excited to be back that I actually did 4!! loads of laundry (Myself, people...which also included folding AND putting away), made chili in the crock pot and made blond brownies. Who's happy to have electric??!?!??









Me!! That's who! And Curly marked his excitement to be back by darting out the front door (for the billionth time in 2007), but Wade actually caught him with his bare hands, which is no small feat. Curly is a fast mo-fo. I just had to put this pic up because both Wade and Curly look cute after the above mentioned capture!



So, all is right in the Starr house. And thankfully it did not snow a bizillion inches like they thought! God owes OK some apologies here!

the view from my window

And that was our trampoline.

And, no, we are not at home. We are sitting comfortably in a hotel in downtown OKC after losing power on Sunday night. That NEVER came back on. And they think it may be upwards of a week.

And there was a tree in my dining room. And I'm not talking about a Christmas tree.

I do believe my worst nightmare is coming true. No school, no babysitter, no electricity, NO SANITY!!!!!

outtakes

I was determined to get a cute pic with the girls together for a Christmas card because THAT NEVER HAPPENS!!! I've been trying with my camera phone for the last 2 months to no avail. Thankfully the lovely Camille offered her expertise and came to the house this a.m. to attempt to "catch" them both looking decent. And when I say both I mean Sydney. Grace knows that when I'm trying to take some serious pics, she's supposed to smile with all her might. But Sydney is a pain in the rump. She purposefully makes silly faces just to make me cry. And loves it. Most of the pics were awesome, but here are a few of the, ahem, less than pretty ones.

Now, obviously I'm not going to show you the good ones just yet (I'm sure everyone can hardly contain their excitement). You'll be seeing them in the darrrrling Christmas cards I just ordered form here. And if you don't think I'm going to send you one, then send me your address and I'll do it!!! You know you want one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Thank you so much Camille!)

(Thank you so much Bubby for helping put our house together for Christmas!)

Flashback Tuesday

This picture was taken last year, November 30, 2006. It's around 70 degrees today! Oh, snow, where have you gone??

Although, I do hate school snow days!

hi-ho, hi-ho, to the doctor we go...

What an amzingly horrible couple of days I've been subjected to!! Now, I'm not complaining tooooo much because I have definately had worse (read: rotavirus at 9 months!!!! WORST SICKNESS TO DATE). But, my Lord. The Sickness That Has Invaded Our House. And I'm not even talking about vomit. Which everyone knows sends me right over the edge. Grace has a "bacterial throat infection." Which means, in layman's terms, that he tested for strep. Negative. He tested for Mono. Negative. Thankfuckinggod (Because I asked what that would mean and he said 2 weeks in bed...)So, the winner is the above diagnosis. Her throat looked so bad the doctor MADE me look at it. Even after I told him I didn't like that kind of thing. But he would not take no for an answer. So I looked. And people, it was sick. It looked like an explosion of pus, swelling and red dots. Which is why I didn't wanna look in the first place!!! So she gets a z-pack which is supposed to kill every bad (and prolly good) bacteria in your entire body. If this doesn't work who knows what they will do. He was pretty sure it was all related to that damn streppppppclkjdlkjfcous, or however it's spelled. Damn those strep bacteria's. They never die. Grrrrrr.....

So, of course, I had our new fine doctor peeeek inside Sydney's ears and BAM-O! double ear infection. He said they looked awful. But he didn't make me look. And she had no fever. Still hasn't. Weird, huh? So we left that fine establishment with antibiotics for all. Which is the first time they had both been on them at the same time. Lucky again.

Fast forward to today, Tuesday. Grace was feeling 90 percent better, but because of the 105 fever yesterday, I agreed to keep her home from school. Begrudingly. Kidding. I decided to send Sydney since she never had a fever. WE WERE SO SICK OF EACH OTHER. All of us. Grace was hyper/loud/jumpy/talkative. I was sooo happy she was feeling better, but, my God The Talking. And once Sydney was home from school, the talking to me shifted to the bothering of her. I'm sure it was because she was bored. But she was pissing the 2 year old off and LOVING every minute of it. I wanted to kill them both.

And then Sydney fell off a chair and damn near knocked out her teeth. It was the shit-icing on top of the vomit cake. But, alas, she was fine. Again, it could have been much worse. Of course, she talked about her boo-boo on her cheek/chin the rest of the entire night. But, hell, I don't really blame her. She gave herself one mighty fine shiner.

Bedtime, glorious bedtime. And my head is freakin' killing me (and my throat kinda hurts too...NOOOOOOO).

Flashback Tuesday

Just perusing through the photos and came upon Grace's first birthday. A few things stuck out.



Exhibit A: My husband and daughter were in dire need of a tan---damn those Chicago winters (...notice I don't show a picture of myself).
























Exhibit B: I had a lot of freakin' time on my hands. Look at the detail on that cake!! Good times. Poor Sydney












Exhibit C: WHERE HAS MY LIFE GONE??????????????????? It's only been 6 years, can you imagine how I'm going to feel in the year 2021??

The Hens--a montage

Well, folks, this is really a shout out to my Oklahoma City girlfriends, aptly named, The Hens. One of our husbands overheard us talking one day and said we sounded like a bunch of clucking hens, thus our name. These are the ladies that I met at Grace's mother's day out a short 4? years ago. And now we are like family. Closer than family, really. There are 13 kids between the 6 of us and, no shit if they don't think they are related.

Oh we've had our ups and downs. I mean how could you not with such smart, interesting, outspoken, stubborn and opinionated women. But with the exception of one fall out (see monkey/dinosaur on montage), we've stuck together. We all have our own set of strengths and limitations that truly make us who we are as individuals and as a group.

So, this is for you, ladies. Thank you for filling my monotonous days with laughter and friendship. I (and the kids) love you (and your kids).

Sisters forever!!

halloween-er

Hey, I'm on time about things that matter...I finally stole some pics off my dads camera and they're cute!! This is our new neighbor, who is also in kindergarten with G. I'm prolly gonna get sued for not marking out her face--but I forgot how to do that!

Here is our adorable family, plus scary butler guy rented for the Deadman's Ball the night before, plus Lily. Who might as well be part of our family. Isn't Wade's costume awesome?? More on that later.

And here is the 2nd little-ist witch, although she acts like the biggest one. HA! Isn't she cute??

And then there's me. What am I you ask? I'm a plus size Vampiress. Oh, relax, I'm not getting insecure, I accidently bought the plus size costume. (Psst...it wasn't that big!). I looked so inspired, no?

And then there's Wade. Let's get one thing straight. This was his costume for the Halloween party the night before. He did not trampce around Crown Heights in this get-up.

Look closely...he's the snake charmer.

So inappropriate and funny as hell!!!!!!!!

HaHaHaHaHa!!!!!!!!!

flashback Tuesday

No words can express the love I have for this picture.

It all ends up in the same place

What an amazing day!!! It's funny how your day can start off so ho-hum and end up spectacular. Well, that my be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a damn fine day!! We went to brunch with my good friend Kathryn (sans Grace-she was with Daddy Dad). The little girls were soooo good and had soooo much fun. I just want to start out by apologizing to Kathryn for Sydney teaching Hailey J. the art of dipping.

Oh, I'm sure you are thinking about ketchup or ranch. Nope. It's milk.

I do not know why, but lately Sydney has been dipping, dunking and downright soaking all her food items in milk. It really is disgusting. The only thing I can make of it is that she loves cereal with milk, and the idea from that was born. Maybe? She made Grace so sick the other day putting, no lie here, green beans and peaches in her milk and then eating/drinking it all. What? It all goes to the same place, right? It's still apart of all the major food groups. Just really wet and nasty!!

Anyway, we had a blast catching up and because of our schedules, we never get to see each other. SO FUN!!!

And THEN, my friend Meredith (here from Cali) came by with her kids (age 1 and 3). They just played and played. Of course, Grace was in charge of the trampoline rules and etiquette. So we got to catch up.

And THEN, my other friend from highschool, Kadie, came over with her little girl (11 months). She and Meredith had seen each other last night at a wedding and made plans to do this get-together. So then we got to catch up. It was an afternoon of catching up!! So.much.fun.

And THEN, my husband came home for the night.

Perfection, I tell ya.

she didn't have it for 6 years

I'm talking about STREP THROAT!!!! She's had it 2 times in one month. Ok, fine, I didn't quite finish ALL the antibiotics last time, but my God. 10 days...2 times a day... that shit is tough. No, but really the PA said it probably wasn't because of that. SO THERE!! All you haters.

I'm back to washing my hands like a mad woman. Not letting Grace breath near Sydney. It makes me nervous. I don't want the little bi-polar lady to get it. She would NOT be a good patient. Just a feeling.

Anyone wanna babysit tomorrow? C'mon, she's cute...and she wears her headbands like this? How could you say no to that?!?!?

she made it all by herself

Flashback, almost Tuesday.

Okay I know I have posted this before, a year ago to be exact, but it is sooo freakin' cute. And I can't believe this is the same child. Seriously.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

WaLk for the CuRe

Yeah, it's supposed to be "Run for the Cure," but, you know, the kids were with us. Otherwise, I definately would have run. Ha! I'm funny. But really, thank you summer for inviting us to walk. The kids were really into it and it felt great to do something so feel good for such an amazing cause. I loved it!

Don't foget to check out myspace for additional photos.

A different post

Hi all- I really just wanted to change the post because Summer was tired of loading, "Ginny the Hero," and since I do whatever Summer says, then there you go!!



Not much at the Casa De Starr's except a few interesting and fun tidbits, in no particular order:

• My husband had strep throat last week and was in bed for 6 days. No lie. As much as I would like to say he was being a baby, blah, blah, he really was sooo sick. I actually felt sorry for him. Don't get me wrong, I felt sorry for myself too. I was a single parent for the week!


• We went to OU/TX the weekend before last with the Scott's and the Steel's. It was so_much_fun that I cannot even express. So relaxing and enjoyable. I will eventually post some pics when Ashli sends me some. Fun was had and Ashli was as crass as ever!


• Our longtime housekeepers quit. These were the folks that brought their kids every week and were like siblings to Grace. She was so upset! And so was I. The cleaning was secondary to the actual relationships. But, alas, the mom despised my darling husband and decided to be done with us. Sigh.


• My dad is still annoying, but I decided to be nice to him. It's really pointless to be mad at him. It gets me nowhere and only makes me feel worse. So I am back to being nice again.
• I finally got a myspace. I feel kinda old in doing it, but it's been fun! Go over there and check it out right here.

Ginny the hero!!

There is nuttin' worth a damn to report for the Starr family right now. Oh sure, schools started and activities have begun, but it's been really uneventful around here.

Except for this:

Meet the newest member of our family: Lily B. I had to do a little intervention on her obvious neglect. And now she lives with us!! Oh my, 3 dogs. That's the limit when it comes to the law! Who would have guessed! Ginny the dog saver! While it has taken a little getting used to, the barking, loud playing and FARTING, she really is sooo happy and doesn't have to sleep outside anymore :[

As for everything else in our life....this about sums it up....