A Visit From Mr. Skink

Once upon a time a young lady named Maya was enjoying a late afternoon movie when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. At first she was frozen with fear, not sure whether to scream or run as a long, reptilian animal stealthily moved along the wall and behind the entertainment center. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Maya was jolted back into reality and screamed to her mother, "There's a skink in the house!"

Her mother, who was brave and quite ingenuous, thought quickly. She located the skink who was sitting amidst a pile of wires. She built a tunnel-like contraption along the wall so that the skink had to go from the entertainment center and out the door. She carefully prodded the skink with a long stick and urged him into the tunnel. The skink recognized the danger, saw the light of day and ran outside to his freedom.

Although Maya and her family had quite a scare that day, they remember Mr. Skink fondly. They sincerely hope that he doesn't decide to venture into their house again.

THE END

Look Who's a Redhead!

We're pretty much convinced that Ava is a redhead. What do you think?

The Many Faces of Ava

Ava is 6 months old now and she is gaining more and more personality each day. I am having WAY too much fun taking pictures of her!

Chloe My Muse

Chloe is a softball player! She is my first child to join an organized sports team so this is all new for me. She's had two games and is doing great! She loves everything except for her team name, the "Banana Splits" which she says is the dumbest team name in the history of the world. Her favorite part about softball isn't the cute uniforms, it isn't the cool helmet she gets to wear and it isn't the awesome purple glove her Dad bought her. Her favorite part about softball is the truly wondrous experience of buying exhorbitant amounts of sugar in the form of giant candy bars from the snack bar. She gets to after every game and that, my friends, is truly motivating. Way to go Chloe Girl!




Chloe wrote me a sweet letter today and used some of her adorable verbage. I had to share:

Dear Mom (the girl I love),

You are the most beautiful person in the world. You look like the most powerful and pretty angel.

Signed,
The daughter of a mother who looks like a queen

*And given the facial rash I have had the past few weeks, I totally appreciate the reassurance!

Humbling

So. . .I'm sharing this HORRID picture of me because I want to share what's been happening to my face. I had an allergic reaction to a steriod cream that is used for excema. Anywhere I used the cream on my face, I got horrible, painful blisters. This is what my face looks like at day 8 of this experience. It's called, "Perioral Dermatitis" and I feel for anyone who has ever dealt with it. It feels like a bad sunburn, your skin is incredibly tight and dry. The worst part is that you can't do anything about it. You can't put anything on it. You don't want to anyway because it hurts so bad. You have to stay out of the sun as well, so I've been hibernating. You just have to wait for the steriod cream to get out of your body - "they" say it takes about 14 days - we'll see.

If someone perscribes you a steriod cream - BEWARE. If I had know this was a possible side-effect, I never would have used the stuff. I guess I needed to be humbled. :(