One Cousin's Junk is Another Cousin's Jewel

Your family has regular traditions like pizza on Friday nights or feeding the homeless on Thanksgiving. My family has unique traditions like snake hunting and crap swap. What can I say? We come from unique DNA!?!

My granny Nelle and grandpa Walt on their wedding day

This past weekend, we had our annual Poling Cousins' Reunion. It's a gathering of all of Walt's kids and grandkids. This is the 4th year in a row we have all managed to get together and not get into any screaming matches. I'm so proud of us!

Anyway, we all met at my grandfather's house near Fritch, in the Texas Panhandle. What started as a small trade has now become my favorite family tradition--Crap Swap! What could be better than getting rid of your crap-o-la and coming home with your cousins' crap-o-rama?? This year, I hit the jackpot from my cousin's wife Julianne. I stole her necklace, two cool toothbrushes that light up, and two really cool pillows. This one sums up our whole weekend:

Have a heart, have a dream, but most of all, have a ball!

Boy, howdy, did we ever have a ball!! Except for this little snake encounter, we had a blast picking plums, awarding door prizes, hunting ABC's with our digital cameras (for this project),

and eating delicious food. As soon as my ABC book is done, I'll be selling them on Amazon to fund next year's "unique" reunion!!

Non-Mall Rat

Growing up in a small town 90 minutes from the "big city" of Amarillo, I didn't have a whole lot of opportunities to hang out at the malls like other teenagers. All the really rich and really cool kids travelled to Dallas for the weekend just to shop. Being neither really rich nor really cool, I was given $100 once a year for back-to-school clothes. Mom would turn my sister and I loose at Westgate Mall in Amarillo, and I would try to buy as much as I could. Needless to say, I wasn't wearing Nike, Guess, or Girbaud like all the rich, cool kids!

If there is one thing I learned from the obvious child abuse from my stingy parents, it was to be a bargain shopper. Sure, there was that period in my life post-college where I went a little nuts with the credit card, but it was only for a few (five!) years...Anyway, living in Dallas now, I'm always shocked that I am now like those cool kids. Only I get to Dallas-shop every day if I want to.

While I'm love browsing the Galleria as much as the next person, what I really love is two little-known outlets here. First is the Wisteria outlet in Carrollton. Today, I scored these stools, listed on their website for $99, for only $24

Shelby thought they were really cool drums...Sorry for the lack of clothes. She had just gotten out of the bath!

My second favorite way to spend an afternoon is browsing around Horchow Finale. It's a Neiman Marcus housewares outlet, and they have some of the most unusual stuff ever i.e. a mink fur collar for your spoiled dog, Kate Spade dominos (originally $350 marked down to a cool $50), random furniture that would only fit in a 10,000 square foot mansion, and $100 candles. Do you know anyone that would spend $100 on a candle??

Anyway, I just love digging to see what the rich, cool people were buying last year that I am now getting for 75% off. Today's big purchase was a huge painting for the kitchen that was marked $450, and I paid $111. In order to see it, you have to come visit me so that we can toast to Dallas bargain shopping!

Haley

My younger sister, Molly, claims she was neglected as a baby since there were no photographs taken of her. I won't admit she is right, but she might be onto something. Keeping things equal with two kids is a tough thing to do. I hate for Haley to tell all her friends down the road, "Just look at my crazy mom's blog. There are NO posts about ME!" So, Miss Haley, this one is just for you.

Unique does not even begin to describe Her Majesty. Haley is our little beauty queen, and she takes her queen-ness seriously! Because she is prettier than any other child under the age of one*, she requires a little more attention than her older sister.

*Yes, every mother says that their kid is the most beautiful ever. With Haley, I know it is true!

Haley constantly wants to be held, and once she is in your arms, she wants to squirm, kick, spin, and flail about. She only has your best interest in mind, as this helps to build your entire body's muscles.

Her Royal Highness is also stronger than any other 9-month old you've ever seen. I predict she will be walking soon and has been climbing the stairs for weeks now. She's just trying to out do her sister. Tilt your head to the left, and check out this video of her showing off: (feel free to sing along to the Wonder Pets background music!)

Another unique characteristic that is oh-so-charming is that we have our own version of "The Princess and the Pea" going on every night in Haley's room. She still refuses to sleep all night and will only go back down if you hold her tight and feed her a bottle. I cherish these late night/early morning interruptions in my sleeping, as it is the only chance I get to snuggle with her all day. (Moms have to play these little mind games. If not, society as a whole would cease reproduction from all the horror stories!!)

Mealtime is Haley's favorite. She will put anything in her mouth that is on her tray. She gets lots of laughs from her dining companions from covering herself with her meal. So far, she is one adventurous eater with her one lonely tooth to chew with.

Haley, you are such a delight to all of us. No matter where I drag you out in public, you are such a good sport and will flirt with any strangers. Your smile lights up your entire face and can brighten the worst of days. I treasure you as the baby of our little family!

Dipping Their Toes in the Water

Before February 2007, Bryon and I led a typical no-kids kind of life with a couple of Mexico vacations a year, dinner out on the town every night, drinks at the neighbors' houses on the weekends, and no tolerance for kids' noise whatsoever. Then this happened.

Sixteen months later, Shelby was born. Had it not been for Ashlee's passions and sacrifices, our little family would have forever remained two. I never understood why Ashlee wanted to work with animals, but I did envy the pure joy her career brought her. In fact, the night before she passed, Bryon and I were having a deep discussion with friends about working in a field where you make the money to do what you want in your free time versus working in a field where you make little money but look forward to each day.

As Shelby grew a little older, friends kept asking us to go to the zoo. The idea of facing the very thing that tore my husband and his family to pieces was not very attractive, but I knew I wanted Shelby to enjoy the same things her aunt did. So, Bryon had a great idea. He and his mom decided to take her to the Dallas World Aquarium on the day Shelby turned two.

Since I had to work at that time, I was concerned all day about the toll the outing would take on Bryon and Janice. But, then I got home and heard their stories and saw their pictures. That night, it dawned on me why Ashlee loved her job so much. She got to experience the sheer delight of every child getting to see the animals in real life for the first time. Imagine the squeals at the birds, laughs at the otters, and screams at the snakes she heard on a day-to-day basis. I can't think of any other job that lets you witness that kind of happiness in a child. How uplifting to go home each night knowing you influenced someone in a great way EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Pinky and the Brain

Way back in the early '90's, "Pinky and the Brain" was this funny cartoon about two lab rats that had big plans to "take over the world" every night. Pinky was always unknowingly sabotaging Brain's plans with his playful attitude. Something about the following video reminded me of watching that funny cartoon back in college.

Shelby (the Brain) had big plans to put every possible toy in Haley's crib so that she could climb in there and have the time of her life. Haley (Pinky) ratted Shelby out by laughing hysterically at her antics, thus prompting me to sneak in on those two crazy rats just to see what was going on. Busted!

Shelby's Second Birthday

"The days are long but the years are short". Truer words have never been spoken. In the blink of an eye, Shelby turned two. I can't even remember my life without her now. There were those endless days in the past two years that I would be standing on the porch with two crying girls (Haley and Shelby, not me...) praying the next car that drove down our street would be Bryon coming home from work. Two kids under the age of two can drive a person insane trying to get anything accomplished!

Then there were the perfect days, like the one where Shelby randomly ran up to me, gave me a big hug, and said, "I wuv you, Mama!" for the first time. I hope I never forget that moment or that feeling of sheer joy. Another daily event that I try to appreciate and remember is the first 30 minutes of our day. The weight of her in my lap, drinking her milk, watching her morning cartoons, and twirling her hair and mine reminds me every day that I have been blessed with the world's best snuggle-bunny.

So, enough of the reflection. Time to bore you, Dear Reader, with details of Shelby's big birthday. I threw the party together at the last minute and was proud of how it all turned out. We had a "coloring" theme, covering the dinning room table in paper and leaving crayons out for all the little girls. The cake, made by a random woman I found on craigslist, turned out adorable. She used ice cream cones and Ding Dongs to make the "crayons", and Shelby couldn't wait to get her hands on the pink one. Haley even got in on the cake action and loved every tiny morsel.

It was great fun to see Shelby open gifts, blow out candles, and run around with her friends. She is finally starting to understand the whole concept of a party and loved being the center of attention. Don't we all??

A Catch-Up Post

Oops! Has it really been six weeks since my last blog post? I have a good excuse. June has been CRAZY to say the least. Birthdays galore, overnight visitors, and this dang summer heat have all added up to me abandoning my little blog for awhile. Time to get caught up! My goal is 6 posts before July. Hold me to it...

June started with a celebration of Dad's birthday. We all met up at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. Dad isn't the type to enjoy a lot of attention or surprises, so we decided a nice little vacation would be more his speed for his 60th. Shelby and Haley LOVED the water, even though they didn't make it out of the toddler area. Unfortunately, the only picture I was able to snap was with my cell phone in one hand, and Haley in the other. Sorry, Haley, but if you would just sit still in the water and not try to crawl off, you might have gotten some pictures taken of you, too!

All in all, we had a great "staycation" at the Great Wolf. While Haley can be a challenge at home, she absolutely loves being around other people. So, she had a great time watching all the big kids swim, play, run, and spend their parents' hard-earned cash. Bryon and I did manage to con Dad and Christy into watching the girls for a little while so we could ride one of the water slides together. We piled into a raft with Molly and Marc and screamed our lungs out on the Tornado Toilet Flush (not it's real name...my memory is shot due to sleep deprivation).

For our big birthday dinner, we all went to Rainforest Cafe. If you have not experienced the wonder that is the Rainforest Cafe, you are missing out on lots of cool aquariums, awesome animated animals, and many opportunities to shell out more of that hard-earned cash. Here's Bryon helping Shelby win a stuffed toy, because she doesn't seem to have enough of those at home!

As you can see, both of them were very determined to win a prize. Bryon told Shelby to hit the button when she thought it was time for the claw to go down. That little engineer in the making managed to win a stuffed animal on her first try. Looks like we've got a genius on our hands!

And, speaking of geniuses, take a look at this beauty+brains in the making:

Isn't Miss Haley the most intriguing thing ever? I can only hope Dad had as much fun as all his grandkids did celebrating his birthday with him.