Possibly Becoming a Giraffe and Going Green

It all started this summer. Grace realized what all those animals hanging up in Popi’s office were. Then she overheard Poppi and Uncle Bruce talking about going to check a new lease for hunting. She proceeded to lecture them about how we are not supposed to hurt God’s creatures!

Then, 2 weeks ago we were sitting in Salt Grass with Nano eating dinner. Grace turned around and asked, “Who hurt all those animals and put them up on the wall?” We had to reassure her that our wonderful waiter had not hurt the animals and put them on the wall. She then proceeded to ask the waiter who had put the animals up there, stated that she was going to be like a giraffe, and only eat leaves!
Now let me specify that my girl LOVES meat! We are talking filet mignon, hamburgers, all steaks, etc. We convinced her to eat her hamburger and a few bites of my filet. She proceeded to question us the whole evening and we told her that if she wanted to eat like a “giraffe” that she could no longer eat bacon, chicken, hamburgers, steak, etc.

The next day at lunch, she kinda flipped out when I put her plate in front of her. It has salad, tomatoes, and chicken. She told Poppi, “I told you that I am like a giraffe and I am only going to eat leaves!” We convinced her to eat yet again and the response we got was, “Well, one day, I am going to grow up and be like a giraffe. I will eat meat for now but I am going to grow up to be like a giraffe!”

So now, her other newest thing is that we need to more “environmentally cautious”! What? That was what I said! She said, “Mommy we it means we have to take care of the environment!” Ok, well… so we get in trouble for leaving the lights on, water running, and not turning off the TV. The other day, she and I were playing on Pixie Hallow .com and she looked at me and started going off about how we were wasting energy. We were not watching TV so we needed to turn it off. Therefore, she did. Yesterday she walked in the bathroom and fussed at me because I had the water in the shower on and I was not in it yet. I was sorting clothes waiting on the water to get warm.

Hunter was getting the trash ready to go outside last week and G demanded to know where our recycling bin was. Hunter was stumped. He told her that the trash got recycled and that was not good enough for her!

“Daddy, don’t you know that you are hurting our environment? It is our responsibility to take care of our world. You need to get us a recycling bin!” Well, we are now recycling and our sweet girl is so happy. It is official... The Lynch house is going green but Hunter and I refuse to be like giraffes!

Snow Days (this one’s for Angie)

My dear friend Angie and her sweet family moved away to the cold, frozen land of Chicago at the beginning of November. God Bless Her! Angie grew up in Texas and she is having a time adjusting to her new environment. I admit, that I have laughed about her recent blogs describing how cold it is and changing her mindset about what a Blizzard is (it is no longer the Dairy Queen treat she wishes it was in her new world). She has been on my mind the last 2 days.

Northwest ISD, whom I work for and Angie did until she moved, canceled school for the last 2 days due to inclement weather. Honestly, yesterday’s closure was a joke and just a rather nice day to be at home and be lazy. Now today was a little bit icy and cold. If I could, I would bless Angie with these last 2 days and give her a little bit of reprieve from the cold and snow of Chicago! I miss you girl and hope that you guys get some warmer weather soon!

Sunshine & Roses

My babies, G & H, otherwise known as Sunshine and Roses in our house. I nicknamed them that about a year ago. The names are so appropriate. Both of angels are so sweet and in my eyes (and their grandparents), beautiful! However, as everyone know... Sunshine can turn stormy really fast and Roses are ever so prickly. This describes my duo to the T!

G can be so sweet one minute and the next moment she can tell you off! As our friend Ryan put it one Sunday after bible class, "She is very DIRECT!" Everyone and I mean everyone at the new daycare knows who my Grace is. They all think she is hysterical. She told my grandparents and great uncles and aunts that Santa wasn't going to bring Daddy anything for Christmas and he was going to get coal in his stocking because he was no being nice to Mommy.. Needless to say, everyone at that table got a good laugh. The kindergarten teachers I work with are all just waiting for her to start school. They can't wait to see who gets her! YIKES!

Hope, oh my Hopie Lopes... WOW! She was my easy baby. She smiled at everyone and has always been so happy. She woke up with a smile and went to bed with a smile. She quickly became a Daddy's girl and a snuggle bug. Then, she turned 2! Oh the terrible 2's! She has retractable horns that come out. When she gets mad, she crosses her arms and lets out a big HHMMMMMFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now se sticks her nose in the air and says FINE! I DON"T CARE! Like I said earlier, WOW! Then, 5 minutes later she is in your lap telling you how much she loves you and kissing on your. 2... lots of fun.


Sunshine and Roses! I love them more than the sun, and the moon, and the stars in the sky! I would not trade them for anything. Sometimes, I wish they would give their Mama a break! How we will laugh when they get older!

New Year's In Arkansas

Hunter, what is this about?

Grace, Hope and London watching Barbie!



Fun with the Broussard cousins!


A Grandparent's 12 reasons to brag!

Just the grown-ups

Brothers and Sisters: Ronnie, Ricky... what is with sticking out your tongues?

Like I said, Brothers and Sisters... Ronnie and Ronda had to mess around!

My G girl!

Just the 4 of us!

More Holiday pictures to come soon!

Holiday Highs!

Boo-Hoo! The Holidays are over. Every year I think it goes a little faster. We had a great time with our family and seeing old friends. Grace was so much fun this year because she really got into Santa and "The List". Hopie, well, she was a blast, too! The first time she saw Santa she cried, well, more like screamed and kicked and threw and all out fit because she was scared. We made a track to the mall on Christmas Eve to take "official" pictures with Santa. Hopie was so sweet. She kept saying, "I not cry! I not scared of Santa! Hopie a big girl. Sure enough, she climbed right up and smiled at Santa. It was a moment I will always treasure as a parent.

We started the Holidays the weekend before Christmas with Hunter’s Aunt Anna coming to his Mom's house to have Christmas with the girls. As usual, Aunt Anna gave them the cutest things. She always gets the girls a matching out and I was too cute, yet again! Grace's comment was "I told you it was nothin! It is just clothes!" Then, proceeded to throw the box over her shoulder.

We had Christmas Eve at both his Mom and his Dad's houses. The girls were supper excited and got wonderful things from Granddad and Lilly and Nano and Poppi. Grace was so worried about getting home in time to put out cookies and eggnog. They were so cute about which cookies and how much fudge we had to put out. Then we had to go put out the food for the reindeer. We ripped open packs of instant strawberry oatmeal (no, we had no real oatmeal) to spread on the yard for the reindeer.

Christmas morning was joy. There is no other word for it. Hope got a princess bike and Barbie Diamond Castle baby Muses and Grace got the Tinkerbelle Pixie Hallow and 4 of the fairies. Grace was very excited but could not wait for her stocking. It has always been a big deal in our house and she caught on fast. We has snowman pancakes for breakfast (which did not look much a snowman after I pulled them off the griddle). We spend the afternoon at Nano and Poppi's house with all the family. Grace and Hope truly had a wonderful Christmas. It gets better and better every year!

For New Year's, we headed to my sister's house in Benton, Arkansas. She and her husband just moved into their brand new house they built (16 yeas of marriage to get her first house). It was gorgeous and has a kitchen to die for (in our family that is a big deal)! The whole Broussard clan showed up. So, all 10 adults, 12 kids, and 4 dogs piled in and it was not crowded. I am the youngest of 4 and I am so used to the big family, I think that Hunter gets a little bit overwhelmed but he says it wasn't that bad. It was great to see everyone. We had not all been together in a year and a half when we all went to Destin. My oldest brother Ronnie and his family live in North Carolina, Ricky's family is Mesquite, and Ronda's bunch is in Arkansas. We had a great time telling old stories, laughing about our childhood memories, and watching my parents with their 12 grandkids. So now, it has been decided that we are all going on a cruise in 3 years for Christmas. Yes, all 22 of us (hopefully 23 by that time) on a boat in the Carribiean!

So, the tree and decorations are down. Hunter packed up ALL the Christmas decorations for the yard (our friends from church and Neighbors - The Blake’s) say we are the Griswold’s of the neighborhood). As we told the kids, Santa went on vacation somewhere (probably to the beach). However, be careful because you never know when Santa or Jingle the Elf is going to check in on you for next year's list! Good Times! Holiday Highs!