Lessons From A 9 yr. Old

Kaleigh told me something tonight that broke my heart. You see.....she has this friend named Baylee that's in her class at school. They have become REALLY good friends. Poor Baylee is the sweetest girl, but not the prettiest at all. In a class full of well-taken-care-of beautiful girls, she sticks out like a sore thumb. To make matters worse, she is in a family of all boys and her mom is a tomboy who wishes Baylee was a boy as well. Her hair is never combed and her clothes are too small and dumpy. I have been told by Kaleigh's teacher that she is the only one who will play with Baylee and can look past her "flaws". I have been very happy about that and have encouraged Kaleigh to be a good friend to all.
She and Baylee have become close and have play dates often. Every time I am working in their classroom or Baylee is at our house I am always saddened at how she admires Kaleighs clothes and hairstyles. She always asks if she can go shopping with us so she can have clothes like Kaleighs and she ESPECIALLY loves when Kaleighs hair is curled for school, which is often.
Well, tonight Kaleigh and I were talking and she told me something that happened at school today. It went exactly like this.....
*They were playing at recess and Baylee was admiring Kaleighs bouncy hair, which was curled. As the bell rang and they ran to line up, Baylee walked beside Kaleigh to class and grabbed her hand and said, "You know what Kaleigh? Every night when I go to bed I pray and ask Heavenly Father if he can please make me your twin when I wake up in the morning so I can look just like you!". *
I immediately started to cry. It broke my heart that a 9 YEAR OLD girl goes to bed at night wishing she were someone else. That's just not right. Kaleigh was so confused as to why it made me cry so bad. It was a great opportunity to talk to her about self esteem and kindness. As a mother myself, I can't imagine my daughter feeling that way. Especially at such a young age! We had a great discussion about it and figured out how we will approach the situation to help Baylee. I wanted to blog about this to raise awareness. It is situations like these that we all need to learn from. I hope that everyone who reads this will take time to tell a child how BEAUTIFUL they are. It's so important to let them know how special they are and how important it is to be happy being themselves. Please. Everyone could use it, really.

Pause

I just heard terrible news that hurts my heart. A family member has lost their twins. I don't want to go into too much detail at this time, but I can't help but feel so grateful for my good fortune. My heart goes out to those of you who have suffered the loss of a child. I have so many friends and family that have dealt with miscarriages and I also know many who are unable to have kids. Unfortunately I also know a few who have lost a child later in life. I can't even begin to imagine how much that loss must hurt, and I won't even try. I just want you all to know that I admire you! I have been very blessed thus far and I thank my Heavenly Father for that. In this time of sorrow for family members, I have felt a huge need to pause and thank my Father in Heaven for the blessings I call my girls. We should never take our healthy children for granted! That's all.

The First Snowfall

We had our first real snowfall right before Halloween and boy was it pretty! Looking at these pictures now makes me laugh cause it seems like NOTHING compared to what we have now. The girls were ECSTATIC and couldn't wait to go out and play in it. Peyton is like me and preferred to enjoy the beauty from inside the warm house. :) Here's part of the backyard... And the snowball fights begin!

Sweet Shayla and Kaleigh...

Their first mini-snowman of the season. :)

There's nothing like a cup of hot chocolate while playing in the snow!

Kay and Shay made baby snowmen that were adorable! Kaleigh named hers Ricky. :)

Shayla named hers Matt. :)

We LOVE living in a place with 4 seasons! Life is so fun.

I Heart Sidewalk Chalk!

I was out with a friend one evening and returned to find this work of art on my driveway. Apparently the girls wanted to draw themselves with Scott....as mermaids! That's nothing new, trust me, but I cracked up seeing Scott as one. That was a first. He was kind of embarrassed but let them keep it there for days anyways. He's such a good Dad. It was adorable! Check out my hunky MERMAN!!! LOL

Sidewalk chalk ROCKS! ;)

A Visit from Dad and Mom Biehn

Back in early October Scott's parents were able to come and stay with us for 4 days. We had a great time and really enjoyed their company. We were able to spend quality time together and also got some Christmas shopping done! Here are some highlights from the stay...
*Peyton and Grandpa*
*Grandma and the Girls*

Of coarse we fired up the pit and had a nice BBQ one night. I really loved sitting around talking till late.

One of the nights we all went to Outback Steakhouse and it was DEELISH!

The girls loved going to the park with Grandpa and Grandma. It's memories like these that will last a lifetime. ♥

I LOVE this picture and think it's beautiful.

Our last supper....

We love Dad and Mom Biehn and loved having them here. It's amazing how quickly the time passes. We appreciate the time they take to come see us. We also appreciate their love and wisdom. We can't wait till next time!

I love that my girls take wearing a helmet seriously, but while SITTING on a plasma car on our GRASS is a little over board, don't ya think?

Oh well. I love 'em anyways! :)

Another Haircut...

Back in early October (yes, I'm WAY behind on blogging) Shayla decided she wanted to get her hair cut. I was sad because I loved her long hair, but knew I had to let her make that decision for herself. Here it was before... She was very excited!

And the after!!! She looked oh-so-cute and was very happy with the change.

She's such a cutie and I think the cut actually fits her better! Great choice Shay. :)

Peyton turns 3!!!

On September 29th our little doll baby turned 3!

She requested homemade cinnamon rolls and orange juice.

For lunch she wanted Burger King. :)

That night we had a little family birthday dinner/party for her. Luckily Grandpa Biehn and Dorothy were in town and were able to be here. The girls LOVE them!!!

Scott's Grandpa is 93 years old and as sharp as a pin. We love having he and Dorothy over. We were so lucky to have them here.Kyle and Sarah came too! We had delicious lime tacos, rice and beans and dip.

Peyton got lots of presents. This was her favorite. It's a fake ironing board. LOL!

She got clothes, toys and jewelry and I finally made her her own blanket. She loved it all!

The funniest part of the evening was when Peyton got a card from Grandpa Biehn that was for a boy and it was a FIRST birthday card! Ha! Apparently he gave her our nephews card on accident and the funniest part of that is that Brady is only 4 months old! LOL! Well, Grandpa's 93, so we'll just excuse that one. :)

Peyton wanted a heart shaped chocolate cake so she got it.

Aunt Suzie came and learned that, in my house, when you ask for "a tiny bit of cake and ice cream" you get EXACTLY that! It even came complete with a TINY spoon. :) That's how us Griffin's roll....There was lots of fun and laughter that night. It was awesome! Here I am with my BABY sister!

What happens when you mix a BUFF chick with a TINY chick? Someones gonna get thrown around! lol. I love this picture of Sarah and Suzie.

The girls ♥ Aunt Suzie!

And they ♥ Uncle Kyle and Aunt Sarah too! I am grateful for the love and support of family.

Grandpa told us stories for hours and it made me so glad to have them in our lives. They are wonderful!

Oh, and Peyton's big present was this....her very own motorcycle! It is the cutest thing in the world.

Peyton's Birthday was fabulous! Again, thanks to all who helped make her day so special. I can't believe my BABY is 3!!! :(

It's GREAT to be 6!!!

On September 25th Shayla turned 6! She requested homemade cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk for breakfast...

She opened her gifts and was so happy to see that she got her very own Nintendo DS lite. Now she won't have to borrow Kaleigh's. :)

She also got some games for her DS, a movie and a bunch of books she wanted. She was a happy girl!

She specifically requested a Pirate themed party and we all had fun getting into character.

Here's the girls and a couple friends. She invited 15 friends and 14 showed up. They were ALL dressed up as pirates and it was TOO stinking cute! I forgot to get a group shot this year. :(

Argh!!!

Uncle Kyle and Aunt Sarah came and got into character too!

And so did Aunt Suzie!

I did a "walk the plank" game with the kids and they LOVED it! No one fell into the "ocean", which was a good thing cause it was filled with sharks. :)

Although Shay wanted a pirate party, she wanted her cake to be pink and purple with a glass shoe on it. :)

Scott did a treasure hunt with all the kids and the map he made was AMAZING! They loved it and I'm thinking he should go into business. :)

As soon as the party ended we literally had a few minutes to change before heading to Cafe Rio for dinner. That's Shay's favorite and she was mighty happy!

We then rushed to the ESA for the Barnum and Bailey's Circus. It was so exciting and was a first for the girls. I had won 2 tickets from a radio station. Yeah!

Us girls...

Peytie and Daddy...

The circus knocked our socks off! We absolutely loved it and decided to make it a yearly tradition. When we got home it was time for some Birthday spankings. :)

Shayla had a fabulous 6th Birthday! Thanks to all those who sent gifts, cards and called to make it extra special. Now if only I could stop her from growing up...