Aunt Lara's Fingers

I think this may be my only post without pictures. I'm not sure I can handle it. I just had some funny stories to share before I forget them.
This morning the girls and I went to a ballerina birthday party while the boys "cleaned" the house. Yes, it's in quotes because their definition and my definition of clean apparently are two completely different terms. Bennett DID get the basket of white clothes matched and put away. The girls had fun being princesses. Nail painting, face/hand painting and general running around. Lydia attached herself to the dolls while Ruth and Maggie flip-flopped between the trampoline and the play house. They had cake and ice cream then we headed home for lunch. Some appetizer, eh?! The birthday girl's big sister painted a flower on my hand... which was very good too. I still have two little pink stains on my hand from whichever color choice she picked. I hope none of the girls used this color for their face painting. Otherwise, church in the morning may be entertaining for some.
We got home and learned that Curtis had made plans to go to the lake with his buddy, who has a boat! We choked down some sandwiches and loaded up the van to drive the hour east. The boat ramp had 10+ trucks lined up to retrieve their boats. They must have had a convention in the water today. So, instead of waiting an hour to unload we drove to a different ramp and were the only ones there. We boated around to the development where the pool is (there is a parcel of land with the Davidson/Knott name which gives us pool rights). We unloaded the 6 kids and 3 adults from the boat only to find the pool had already been closed for the season. Our calendars said September 13th but apparently the pool people use a different calendar and went home early. So we played in an extremely muddy section of the lake with very deep sticky mud. It wasn't as big as hit as the pool would have been. Plus, there was nowhere for me to just relax and sit. We boated around to another section of the lake with more sand and less mud, ate PB&J's and watched other boats make waves. It really was a good afternoon despite the piles of work left at the house.
We ran in the backdoor to showers and bed. I told the girls I could roll or braid their hair. Nobody wanted me to but Maggie asked if I could do it in the morning. I told her I needed to practice tonight. Once I got finished with her braids... (a practice run) I told her to take them out because they weren't very good and I would need to do them in the morning. She wanted them like Aunt Lara makes them. I told her my fingers weren't very good at making tight braids and she says "Aunt Lara has really good fingers for that". After this week's hormonal outbursts she may just get a chance to live with Aunt Lara for a really long time. Maybe a few of those teenage years!
Oh, one other thing. If you ever drive behind a friend with a boat... make sure they secure all their trash and life vests BEFORE driving 60+ mph!! I felt like Hansel and Gretel coming home tonight. Anyone should be able to see our trail!