I blinked . .

I knew I wasn't imagining things. I look at Anna lately and wonder when in the world this happened. When did she turn into a young lady? When did the little girl disappear?
I can tell you it was in between ages 9 and 10. The picture on the left is exactly a year ago, the end of April 2005. Still looks like a little girl, right? The one on the right was from a couple of weeks ago (the same one I posted with the Easter pics). Little girl now? No. I kept thinking she had changed so much in the past year, but I never went back and looked at pictures to compare. When I did last night, I was stunned at the differences. The shape of her body, even the look of her face has evolved from being childlike to more womanly.

I must admit, it scares me a little. This means dealing very soon, with issues such as the start of her period, dating, and yikes, talks about sex.

It started to depress me somewhat, until I thought about it in a different light. I started to see that hopefully, Anna will be my future best friend. Someone to share with me, what my mom and I have shared for years. A friendship that compares to no other. Someone who knows and understands me in an intimate way. Someone I can always count on no matter what. I suddenly felt like the luckiest woman in the world.

Easter Egg Hunt 2006

Just a few pictures from our little family Easter egg hunt this year. I finally uploaded them. The girls had a great time hiding the eggs for John M. I think they even preferred doing the hiding, rather than hunting the eggs themselves. Notice in the pictures how Anna has evolved into a young lady and no longer a 'little girl'. How depressing is that? She even told me a few weeks back that she didn't want me writing about her on my blog. Hormones running rampant, I tell you. I know, I know, it only gets worse. But, she's 10, shouldn't I get to wait a little longer to deal with 'teenage' issues? The Easter bunny brought her a cell phone. I know, I'm asking for it.

Anyway, I'm getting off on a tangent here, but enjoy the pictures. Everything is so pretty and green down here, but it's been H-O-T. I'm not complaining though, I was so tired of cold weather! The girls went back to school today, after being off for over a week, so it's back to homework and studying for about 4 more weeks until they're out for the summer! The school year has flown by and I can't believe they're going to be 5th and 3rd graders next year. I hope the summer is nice and relaxing. Peace out.

Mark took about 15,000 pictures of John on Easter . .

hunting eggs and this is the only one I have access to at the moment. Hopefully, more to come..

He loved slamming the eggs into his big green bucket. There was no placing them gently. Every single egg but one was cracked at the end of the hunt. Go figure.

Renee's weird - now there's a NEWSFLASH!

I've been tagged by Trina for weird facts about myself. Gee, that should be quite a list. Let's see what I can come up with.

1.) I have a huge fear of going blind. It's one of the worst things I can imagine. Hand in hand with that, I'm insanely scared of the dark. I panic when the electricity goes off at night and everything goes black. I have a mini-panic attack. So I try to keep a flashlight in close vicinity to the bed, so I can just switch it on.

2.) I love to tie knots in things, strings, thread, my hair whatever. I love to make a little knot bigger and bigger 'til it can't be tied anymore. I've had to pull pieces of hair out because of this.

3.) I love a bargain . . anytime, anywhere. I love garage sales, yard sales, flea markets, whatever. It's almost impossible for me to NOT stop at one when I pass by. Another person's junk is always my treasure!

4.) I'm neurotic about, how should I say this? , where I perform #2. This has actually been discussed on my blog before.

5.) I HATE Easter grass, anytime, anywhere. Hate, hate, hate it. I guess this isn't so weird, we probably all hate it!

6.) I love peeling layers of sunburned skin off of myself, and other people. I haven't done this often, what with all the attention to skin care and actually protecting yourself from the sun these days. But I remember doing this as a kid and having the best time.

Weird? Yes, I am.

I need to hear more weirdness. I'll tag Tara, my favorite Canadian, Dani, and my fellow Kenny lover, Chesneygirl.

Emma had an egg hunt at school . .

Mark went to help hide the eggs .

Emma returned with this tidbit of info, "Mama, Daddy and Mrs. Mary (the other mom-hider) aren't very good egg hiders. "
Me: "Why do you say that?"

Emma: "They just put them out in the dirt, I mean, we could see them just laying there."

When I thought about this: 12 eggs x 52 kids = 624, on a tiny, wee bit of playground, I understood why. But they had a great time picking the not-well-hidden-eggs up anyway.

Happy Easter Egg Hunting!

He loves the puppy . . he really does

Sometimes just a little too much.

Yikes!

Thankful Tuesday

1. First and foremost, this face to the left. And the faces of his cohorts(sisters).
2. Fried chicken.
3. Warm, breezy weather.
4. Flowers in bloom. And no weeds, at least for now. Check back tomorrow.
5. Easter barbecues!
6. Toes in the grass.
7. Summer vacation in a couple of short months.
8. Playing outside 'til 8:30 pm!
9. A Friday holiday this week. Only 2 more work days to go after today!
10. Did I mention fried chicken?

We're pool owners!

Check out our new purchase! A pool! Isn't it luxurious? Are you jealous?
I'll let you in on a little secret. Wal-Mart. $11.88. And you too can own on of these babies.
Or everyone could head down to South Louisiana and join us in ours.
Laissez les bontemps roulet!

The latest member of the FroggieMom family

Say 'hello' to Dippin' Dots. Her name goes great with our last name, which I try not to post. But, just trust me. She's also known as 'Triple D'. We're hoping she'll make a career as a stripper with that name. Do any of you have experience/knowledge of dalmatians? I don't.

She's cute beyond belief. That much, I do know.

Aiming for the bumps

One thing that always got on my nerves about the area I live in is the condition of the roads there. There are potholes everywhere; most have been filled in but not well, so they're bumps.
It makes for a very bumpy ride.

John M. has changed my outlook on these bumps. He giggles everytime we hit one that shakes the car a little. He can be crying but when we hit a little bump, he'll take a break in the crying for a giggle. It's as if he can't help but do it.

Crossing railroad tracks nearly makes him hysterical with laughter!

So, now, every day I find myself aiming for the bumps. Anything to see that kid smile.

Emma pics

Not much energy in me to post much. After discovering that we won the Powerball jackpot and then discovering a '+' on my pregnancy test and all. .

Okay, April Fool's.

Anyway, just wanted to post an 'After the extra teeth got pulled' shot:
Can you tell how happy she was to finally have those babies out?!















Next, a picture of Emma's first communion group. She's smack dab in the middle there.

















That's all for now. I'm pooped. Dont' forget to spring forward tonight.