Liv

Here are some of the recent adventures of my Liv:

This is her personal flag. Her class has been learning about different country's flags and what they represent. They were also assigned to make their own flag. The colors on her flag are her favorite (with pink in the middle as her very favorite). Mint chocolate chip is her favorite flavor of ice cream, the DANCE represents her love of clogging, the bone and paw represent her love of animals (dogs especially), the heart represents all the people she loves, and the seahorse is her favorite sea animal (I didn't know she had a favorite sea animal).

Here she is with her hot dog and fries cake for the school carnival's cake walk:

Here she is sporting the latest hole in her mouth:

This tooth was stubborn. She asked me to pull it out for her, and it seemed like it was loose enough. I tried to wrap floss around it, but it kept slipping off. I tried to pull it out with the aid of toilet paper, but it stayed put. I told her we should wait it out, but she said it felt weird, and she wanted it out. So, knowing she wouldn't rest peacefully until it was out, I tried the floss trick one more time, and VOILA! It didn't quite pop out, rather, it rested in her mouth and she spit it out. (Sorry for anyone who has an aversion to teeth pulling. It gives Darin the heebie-jeebies.) I have to include the note she wrote to the tooth fairy:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I know you don't have a lot of money, but could I have 3 dollars or at most five?

Answer here _____________________

Love, Olivia

(I don't even have a penny.) p.s. leave me my tooth and note and bag please. (You can leave it under the pillow.)

When she woke up the next morning I asked her what the tooth fairy said. She replied, "He said 'I regretfully decline' and gave me ONE dollar." (How observant of her to realize that the tooth fairy must have been a "he". In his defense, giving $3 or $5 now would only cause inflation to go up faster in our house). I think she has recovered, and I told her that I'm sure the only reason he (the tooth fairy) only gave her one dollar is because he knew that her loving parents would always provide extra chores for her to earn extra money.

I love my sweet girl. I know that I am much too hard on her most of the time, and it's good to take a step back and realize what a blessing it is to have her in my life. She cracks me up! I think frequently about the time she had me, Jodi, Rylee, and Kamryn crying because we were laughing so hard. It was one of those "you had to be there" moments, but my child (who was 7 at the time) was relaying the story of Dee-Wayne, who showed up at one of Olivia's friend's dad's cousin's wedding (phew!) drunk and holding a garbage sack with a snake in it. The highlight of the story is when she says, in a drunk southern accent, "Dee-Wayne, you get dem snakes outta here right now." (Ok, I know I just said you had to be there, and then went ahead describing it anyway, but it's something I haven't yet written down for posterity, and I want to remember it.)