Beach day one... Hey, it's Nurse Terri!

Hey!  Have I mentioned that we are at the beach?!  ha...And that can only mean one thing....

Teenage girls as playmates!  Hmm.  THAT could certainly be taken the wrong way, but... what I mean is Ellie Sue is now officially entertained!!  We ran into some old friends, and they have a 12 year old, so it is well in the world.

Gabs on the other hand, with her little sensory seeking self, was pleased as punch just to be lying in the sand.  And by lying, I mean "wallering".

I was just happy to have my toes in the sand.  And for the record, this was our first official day at the beach (last Thursday).  We have not been on the beach again!  Except for a quick before dinner photo. The girls want to play in the pool.  Period!

I am glad Todd the Bod made it down, cause he, like me, kind of enjoys the beach in the late evening.  Gosh.  Are we getting old?!

It's just so peaceful and not so bloomin' hot when the sun is going down.  And since Todd is here, so are the babysitters.  B.L.I.S.S.!!

Now THEY can dig the 3" of sand out of the crotch of this baby's suit.

And scrub her scalp to get the sand accumulation out of the nooks and crannies.

And run interference when Ellie is running up to every teenage girl she sees asking them where they got their suit.  Or... "Hey look.  Both of our swimsuits have fringe."  She meets no stranger!

This precious little isolated soul on the other hand just needs the breeze, the sand, the water and a shovel.  And her world is complete.

I mean, seriously, can it get any cuter?  Some of you follow me on instagram and saw this already.  For those of you who dont, I am melaniemomom on there.  Just request to follow me and I'll hook a sista up.

Oh, another favorite pasttime of my sensory kid is this....

lining up rocks.  BY THE HUNDREDS!

She eventually went all the way around this planter box.  TWICE!!

Um.  Yes!

                                

oh, and that familiar teen?  Well, that was this lady's daughter.... this lady is NURSE TERRI!!!  One of Jake's favorite nurses at St. Jude.  We run into her periodically on our trips to The Beach Club.

We hung with her for a day or two until JinJin and Staci came down.  And they've since gone home.

Now, we are on group three.  KK and her friends were also here a day or so.  We have a revolving door policy.  If you wanna come bunk, brang it.  Just put your bedding up the next morning!

Cause we got sand to dig in!!

More beach pics forthcoming!

MO

Polly's Place

Guess what... today I uploaded pics from the beach trip.  So, that means starting tomorrow, I will be able to share beachy posts!  When I upload pics, I typically mean around 600 or so at a time.  You may or may not realize (ha!!), but I take a lot of photos.  So, there is a process involved in getting them all in files an labelled and sorted, etc.  I have a very organized filing system for my pics for the past 5years; starting with the birth of Ellie.  I might not could put my finger on any picture at any given time, but I'd have a pretty good starting place.

Anyhoo, let me tell you about this day.  This was one day when we all three went out to support a little patient of mine who is a straight up miracle!  Gaines was in distress when he was born and had to be resuscitated.  He was not breathing for 12 minutes.

And let me tell you.. he is a straight up miracle!!  So, we all donned our TEAM GAINES tee shirts and went out to participate in a fundraiser walk for March of Dimes.  As soon as it was over, we headed right on into our buddy, Polly's Place!

To my recollection, the girls have never had an "official, sit-in-the-chair" haircut.  And so, this was the day!

Polly spritzed it a little to make it more official and then, trimmed those raggedy ends!

I know I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  When Jake was sick, Polly said, "I don't have a lot of money I can donate, but what I can donate, I will.  I will not accept any money from you or any of your family for haircuts/ color/ whatever until Jake is healed."  And she meant it.  She WANTED us to all come to her for our hair needs.  And she refused to accept any payment.

and when she could, she would also throw in awesome hair products that I assume she could get for cost.  She would send goodie bags with me to Memphis for Staci of mousse, gel, straightening stuff, whatever!  And let's just admit it... who doesn't love all that kind of stuff?!  It was always a fun surprise for Staci.  (Oh... she did it for me too!)

And if you recall, I had Hunter and Hayden for a couple of years in there, so they were part of the deal too.  And she definitely meant it when she said she wanted us to all come to her.

Polly has a great servant's heart.  She is a really good friend.

                                 

She and Staci have been good buds since they were in elementary school.

And I mean, DANG!  I look fly!  Thanks, Polly, for always taking care of us and making us look and feel great.

Have a good Thursday, y'all.

Mo

Shopping with three little divas

Anyone recognize this awesome piece of codfish?  I've been ordering the same thing from this place since I was a little girl!  We used to come to this place EVERY Friday night and still make it home in time for all of us to catch Dallas.  Got a guess on where this is?

HInt:  THe ladies also take the girls' trays to the table for them.

Until you figure it out, let's cut to the after lunch shopping trip.  I was shopping around, and these two nuts kept coming up to me in totally new get ups.

And then Madi got in on the action!

We'd all been to the first of three rehearsals for the recital.   To answer the question asked two blogs ago, yes, they do miss school for this week of rehearsals.  I have NO idea how we all get away with that.  But... I'm game!  It makes the last week of school quite hectic, but also... OVER!  So, when we were done with school, we were also done with dancing, and in my mind... it was officially summer!

My little Gabs doesnt' really dress herself, so imagine my surprise as she kept coming back to me with totally new shoes, hats, bracelets, and scarves.

I was proud of her.

Madi really pretty much loved the dress up too.  Ellie was really in truly shopping.  As in, "Mom, can I have this shirt? "
"Ellie, this is an adult store.  You can't wear any of these clothes."
"Mom.  Look.  I tried it on.  I think it does fit!  I can wear the small."
"Ok, Ellie.  Just get it and let's go."

Meanwhile, back in the vintage area...

Back and forth. Back and forth.  Had it not been for the fact that I was buying lots of graduation gifts and spending a good bit of cashola in this store, I would've made them stop.  They were pretty much scattering things to and fro.  But the saleslady wisely recognized that keeping them preoccupied kept me shopping!  And so, she obliged!

POW!

Eventually I was able to get them preoccupied with some sales forms and a few highlighters.

THese three little monkeys surely are close.  I am glad they get to grow up together.

They've had an absolute BLAST at the beach together this week.  Staci, JinJin and Madi will only be here one more day.  They head out on Thursday.  New friends and sitters will be coming in for another week or so.

I wait all year for this fun week.  My girls totally LOVE the pool and on and off, the beach.  I love the time off, as I need to occasionally turn my brain off. I have made two scrapbooks since I've been here.  Three canvases.  And have begun a scrapbook for a friend who is soon to have a baby.  (I think she should name her Melanie.  Just sayin') .  So, I am in my zone!  Tomorrow, we'll be painting poolside!

Thanks for reading.
MO

MMPT Staff Paint Party

From time to time I just want to get my crew together and do a little bonding.  This is my MMPT girlies.

I'm pretty sure I remember correctly that it was also bad weather, so some of the MMPT girlies who were planning to come over from out of town had to cancel.  But for those who did, we had a ball.  This is my new receptionist in the pediatric building, Abigail.

She was a rebel.  She decided to do her own thing and added some background images on which she intended to work more when she got home.

And this is a guest.  She'd been at a retreat earlier in the week, which was bid on and won by a friend at a fundraiser.  She said, "If you EVER do this again, please call me.  I want to be included".  And so, I did.  And so, she did!

Below is Kourtney.  She is a fairly new PTA at the West Monroe MMPT location.

Her saying says, "Your greatness is not in what you have.  It's in what you give."  Good quote.

Polly worked on her heart with wings, but had something else in mind that she wanted to put on the front of the canvas, so she also decided she'd finish hers up later in the week and on her own.

Gabs joined us and did a little camo inspired piece!

This is Britany.  She is a parent of a super duper cute kid who comes to MMPT. I was so glad she took me up on the invitation to join us.  Her quote said, "Choose to see the world through optimistic eyes."

And this is the whole group.

I was pretty impressed with the body of work.

This is mine.  I did this funky little bird with the class as an example, and used the quote, "Your greatness is not in...." like Kourtney.  I gave it to Ellie's kindergarten teacher at the end of the year.

                                           

Emery got all fancy schmancy and did some sort of landscape vs the mixed media project at hand.  It's her perogative!

Above is Casey, a new OT at the West Monroe office.  She chose, "Today I choose joy".  And below, Becky liked the same quote but went in a totally different direction with her artwork.

THat's the beauty of art!!  Everybody interpreted the project in a totally different way!

Polly helped me manage the music.  ANybody else have one of these new beats pods?  Kinda cool.

I LOVE art.  It brings people together.  ANd speaking of art and bringing together.  I can't wait to share with you all of the art that Suzy and I made this weekend at the beach.  We inspired each other!  I wish she lived closer!

I am such a super duper blessed girl to get to have an art room like this.  I think I could do without a kitchen in my next house, but I could never again do without this!

We used stencils, sprays, distress inks, paint, decoupaged old hymnal pages,....

ANd even learned to use dryers to speed the process along for expediting the layers.

It was a good night.  I wish I could commit to doing this about once a week.  I think more people would benefit from exploring their creative side.  And I would L.O.V.E. to be the facilitator of such a fun activity.  I have been working on some new really fun ideas to do at an art retreat... to inspire creativity, positivity, and growth.  HOpe to implement it soon.

MO