I'm so sorry mom. I'm sorry I did that. I was wrong, and I made you a lego creation to make up for it.
I love you so much and I am sooooooo sorry. 
Oh, my little boy just continues to madden me and melt my heart every day of the week.
Then today, he proudly popped in the door and showed me the "excellent" written across his hand. I made him cookies. It was the first HAND message of excellence he had ever received. Can you believe the word "excellent" even fit on his hot, grubby hand?
Before bedtime he came downstairs wearing every shark tooth necklace that he owns. All four of em. There's just something about a little boy that makes you want to hug em and never let them go.
The child is competely sold out right now to his interest in the Titanic. He pores over pictures and knows a lot of info about the disaster, including the location in the ocean where the boat sank and the name of the boat that saved the survivors. Today at the library, I found The Magic Tree house book Trouble on the Titanic and the CD to go along with it. I turned it on for him about 9:15. Bad idea. I thought he had fallen asleep to the author's soothing reading of the story, but at 10:45 he came and asked me (told me) to put the next CD in. "No way!" I insisted. "WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY," he moaned loudly! Luke really brings alive the old saying "my way or the highway." I gave him a sleep strip and it was MY WAY like it or not.
Surprisingly, he has a soft side too. Our doggie isn't well. In fact, we took him to the vet today to see if there is something we can do. He sleeps all day and hasn't eaten in several. They decided to keep Cosmo overnight, and when I told Luke, his comment was, "Poor Cosmo. He must be so discouraged." My sister's 3 year old daughter Maggie has captivated all of us, but in particular Luke who sits next to her at every family occasion and cutely puts his arm behind her back when he is walking by her.
One more thing: last week, when I took him to Sunday school, the teacher stopped me and told me that Luke had prayed for the Sunday school class last week and that his prayer was a really wonderful one. Honestly, I so seldom get stopped with positives about Luke that the tears flowed out of my eyes almost immediatley. That meant so much to me. So we got in the car and I mentioned his prayer to him and he said that in fact he needed to pray right now. "Heavenly Father," he said quietly, "please help me to get 1000 Lego Motors so I can make cars, and... (glancing over toward me,) "please give my mom 200 pairs of earrings." Ha. So much for the profound prayer, but at least he included his mama!
What a lucky mom I am!
He's a madman I tell you!
Every since we returned from our 6 day stay in Cancun, Luke can think of nothing and I mean nothing but Legos. It's as though he's taking one long drag on his Lego cigarette. Ahhhhhh!
Saturday, while Tom and I unpacked, did laundry, cleared out the Thanksgiving decor, etc., Luke made Lego creations FROM 9 AM to 9 PM. Twelve hours of Legos. No breaks. No commercials. No kidding. The child didn't even want to eat. Yesterday was no different, although I did have to to force him get out of the house to visit Granny and Gran Carolyn. That was like extracting his toenails.
Then yesterday evening, I began to find some strange items around the house.
A screwdriver. 3 tiny screws. 
And the remainder of this little basketball prism that lights up and twirls around on a base in his room. He uses it as a night light.
Or should I say USED it as a night light.
On our way to Cancun, we got to experience the newfangled x-ray machine at our local airport that looks like something Captain Kirk may have used. Forget the good old walk through xray. On by one, we stepped into an intimidating looking cylinder. We each had to space our feet apart and form our hands, strangely, into a diamond shape on top of our heads. Then, a whirring panel circled around until somebody in uniform yelled "clear!"
I didn't get the magic word "clear," but instead was whisked into a separate holding area, apparently for terrorists and moms alike. I stood there on the mat, my naked feet placed into the printed shoe outlines with my arms straight out in surrender. "Just relax ma'am," said the guard. How could I relax when I feared that someone may perform a body cavity search at any second?
At that same time, another guard notified me that I needed to watch him search one of our bags that had come through the x-ray machine. "Ok!" I said, relieved, dropping my arms. "Don't move," barked the first TSA official, "You are not clear!" 2 seconds later, he bulleted, "CLEAR."
I walked over to the bag searching area. The bag in question was Ellie's black carry-on, covered with neon colored peace signs. Did they think a bomb would be planted in a bag covered with peace signs? He began disassembling the contents of Ellie's bag with his rubber-gloved hands. Remember, this is Ellie we are talking about. The one who wore an elf hat the whole 12 hour journey to our destination. The one who loves gadgets of any kind. A strange little soul. Knowing her bag was being searched and picturing herself thrown in jail, Ellie's face soon matched her hat. 
He slowly pulled the following items out of her bag:
1 pair of large binoculars.
1 Nintendo DS case with a variety of games
1 pair of neon green vampire teeth
2 large bouncy balls
2 chapter books
1 small etch a sketch
3 rubber rats - 2 black and 1 grey
1 dog wallet
1 duck tape wallet
1 large white and black spotted leopard stuffed animal
and finally, he fished out....
1 pair of metal handcuffs.
Dangling them in front of my face, a smile spread over his.
"THIS," he said, stifling a laugh, "is the problem."
At that point the whole line of officers burst out laughing, as Ellie began panicking.
The tension finally broke and we all tried to reassure Ellie that everything was OK.
She was not going to jail, she was going to go to Cancun and she had probably made everyone's day. As we walked off, the head officer joked with my mom from his platform, "hey lady, are you the one who brought the handcuffs?" "No!" she yelled back, "can you guess who it is? The one in the elf hat!"
Little did mom know that her time was coming. On our way home from Cancun, she was pulled into a separate area and searched with a metal detector not once but TWICE! Can you picture that scene? The officer waving the wand over every part of her body and mom fit to be tied. At least we got a good laugh from it all!
When Ellie was cast as a "wiseguy" in Fellowship Bible Church's musical focusing on the life of Daniel, we all had a good laugh.
Ellie has been a wise one ever since she's been a little bittle - always cracking us up with comments that seem way ahead of her time.
At 2 years, she would yell "privacia" at us when she wanted us to get out of the bathroom.
At 3, she described something as "smokin' hot."
At 4, when she was cold, she told us she was "freee-ee-ee-ee-zin her beak off" (a quote from the movie Ice Age, I think.)
And so it goes. She constantly says the funniest things and always nails the context of the comment perfectly.
(just wish I'd written some more down from when she was little!)
Definitely NOT a trait inherited from me. I am pretty slow and not witty whatsoever.
Anyway, she is a true delight to us and brings lots of light to our family.
But she was wise in a different way this time. During a basketball game at the state tournament, I found her making the beginnings of a list she called...
"100 things I want to do in my lifetime."
Here are the first Ten....
Translation:
1) Go to a Harlem Globetrotter game.
2) Go to the Bahamas.
3) Meet a dolphin. (I just Love the word "meet" in that sentence).
4) Sky Dive
5) Be on a Major Soccer Team.
6) ME find my OWN arrowhead.
7) Go camping with my family only.
8) Go skiing.
9) Always agree with my family. (this one is a work in progress - not easy for the little, wise one)
10) See a baby tiger.
My prayer for the ever sharp Elle Belle?
Proverbs 3:7
That she will not be wise in her own eyes; that she will fear the LORD and shun evil.
Do you know who this is?
Well, it's our beautiful daughter, Ellie.
My only consolation? She's not the only looney-toon around!
...the real reason it snowed a little bit last week...
Any idea why here in this corner of Oklahoma we got that dusting of snow?
It had nothing to do with a cold front or precipitation.
It was because this child
pulled out all the stops.
She went to bat for all the children out there who were
keeping their fingers crossed for snow.
Ellie slept with her pajamas inside out AND backwards.
She slept with a spoon under her pillow
and flushed some ice down the toilet.
And whaddya know, the next morning,
with her nose pressed hard to the cold glass,
what did she see but white flakes falling daintily from sky
Next time you'd like some snow, you know who to call.
