Girls are wonderful mimics.  A girl learns how to behave as an adult from the women around them.  They learn how they should be treated from the men and women they live with.

When I was a kid I was surrounded by men and women who knew this.

I don’t see that as much in the world today.

This weekend I saw groups of girls being chaperoned by women who were graceful and friendly, women who knew that their behavior must be beyond reproach because they were under constant scrutiny by dozens of little eyes.  These girls were engaging and friendly.  They were respectful of the people around them and the rules they were asked to follow.

Unfortunately these women (and girls) were not in the majority.

The majority of the chaperones were loud and obnoxious.  They were profane and, in many cases, at least slightly drunk.  The groups of girls under the supervison of these women were rude, arrogant and catty.  They ran through the place like there was no one else ther knocking into people and causing general disorder.

Call me old fashioned or out of it but I want my daughter to be respectful, kind and graceful to everyone around her.  I want her to appreciate her own beauty and the beauty of the world around her.  And for the time being I intend to teach her to make the choices in life that will continue to surround her with the kind of women that she should emulate, the kind of women that embody the same characteristics that I value.

“If it were easy, everyone would be a Hokie.”

-Homer Hickam, Virginia Tech Class of 1964

Author of Rocket Boys inspiration for the movie “October Sky”

We have this way cool off leash dog park not far from our house that the two-legged and four-legged monsters love to go to.  On Saturday they had their 4th annual PetFest so we decided to go.

The kids wanted to enter the pet/owner look alike contest so we dressed them up to look like the dogs.  They didn’t win but they had a lot of fun and got lots of compliments.  Hubby monster and Lullibel think the contest might have been rigged because the winners were…well…I’ll just say they were nice enough people and move on.  Check out the picture of the winner and my monsters and you decide.  The cutest dog in that contest was a little guy named Elvis that had a slicked up hairstyle…He didn’t place either!

Go Hokies!

Prissy girl and her dog

My 4 monsters

The...um...winner...

We also entered a “raffle” for some very cool gift baskets that they had there.  We won the basket that was a cute dog carrier and had pet sushi in it.  Funny stuff!

I love crazy hair day!

I caught this big guy his morning!

He weighed about 25 pounds…Isn’t he gorgeous?!?

Lullibell was all dressed up and freshly coiffed for her date with Daddy!

We went to dinosaur world a couple of weeks ago.  I got some great pics but haven’t sat dow to work on them yet. This was one of my favorites!

Do you think he’s jammin’ out to Kid Rock?!?!?

A day off from school
One of two this short month. For
what?  you may wonder.

Monsters here get a
day off from school to go to
the State Fair today.

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When I was a kid I love to go to the state fair.  The sounds. The sights. The way cool stuff!  But as an adult I will avoid the fair like the plague.  It seems more crowded and it seems that the crowds are way different.  I think that is more than my perception.  People are just different than when I was a kid.

So I talked the monsters into saving the money and waiting on a trip to Sea World!  Yay me!

Check out more Haiku at A Mommy Story.

I pass this lovely rental abode at least 3 times a week…If you can’t read the addition on the bottom of the sign it says “NO Children”

Not being a terrible snob I will say that I wouldn’t let my dogs…much less the monsters reside in such a lovely home!

Steeler football is 60 minutes.

That’s what Coach Tomlin said after the game last night.

Frankly, I was really glad when that 60 minutes was over!  I couldn’t even watch it.  It wasn’t that I didn’t believe they could pull it off.  Really.

Eight plays. Seventy eight yards…

Roethlisberger jokingly called the last play, “Scramble left, scramble right, and find someone open.”

A big guy like Ben doesn’t really scramble though, does he?  It was more lumbering than scrambling!  With his first two reads covered, Big Ben had to believe in himself and Santonio Holmes, who had dropped a pass earlier, to make this play.

And a beautiful play it was!  Amazing. Nail biting. Toes-tapping-the-edge-of-the-end-zone kind of beautiful!

And as an added win to the day…in the flag football game prior to the Super Bowl…the old guys at church beat the youth by 2 touchdowns…I wonder who is moving with the most difficulty this morning…and does that negate their win?