Sunday Sound Out

I need to take a minute to thank everyone who has sent me email the last couple months. I've gotten the most awesome notes from people who have read my book and taken the time to tell me how much they liked it. I want you to know that I read every single email I get and I appreciate them more than you know. I just haven't been able to keep up with all my mail and respond to all of them. But THANK YOU so very much!!!

Today, Austin had his confirmation. I think it's cool that confirmation Sunday fell on Pentecost.



I can't believe my baby is getting so old! He's far surpassed me in height (which isn't saying much, I know). I'm wearing high heels in this picture! And he'll be graduating 8th grade this month. I don't know how that happened. I swear I was just pregnant with him yesterday.

And now for your questions...

Uhhh got a ticket [to BlogHer] this weekend for free? How? And why didn't you tell me? I'm one of those procrastinators on the mile long list and it's in my own backyard!
I never said it was free! Oh no, I had to pay a premium for waiting so long to register. I just lucked out when they got to my number on the waiting list. Anyone going to BlogHer, look me up and say "hi"!

So does a Nintendo game survive being washed?
Surprisingly, yes, it did survive. It might have just been a fluke though. I don't recommend washing your DS game cartridges.

What I think is the most precious is that you could tell which kid it is [Brooklyn with the blue mask/wig/mummy getup] ....mine did stuff like this and I had to identify the kid on the old camera by the furniture and color of the walls....sigh
I'll let you in on a little secret. I didn't know it was Brooklyn until I saw this picture with Clay in the background...



And I always have to look at background clues to tell pictures of my kids (when they were little) apart. See what I mean...








Happy Birthday to your girls! How did you cut the lip gloss cake?
With a knife

How hard is the lipgloss cake?
Like you said - it's cake. Cake is generally pretty soft.

How did you get all that gunk [Desitin, Vaseline & bubble juice] off your floor?
Gasoline and a match

I've got three with a birthday all within two days of each other (two are twins) and I was debating if we do two celebrations or one. Making two separate cakes seems like a good idea to make the day special for both of them without getting birthday overload. DId you invite friends to this double celebration or was it just family?
This was just family and family friends. I usually double up for Savannah and Lexi and do one party for them because their birthdays are 7 days apart. It saves me time and effort and money, and this way, our guests don't have to block off 2 weekends and drive out for a party 2 weeks in a row. And so far, the girls have never minded sharing a party. I let them each pick out a theme and we decorate and use cups and napkins and such from both themes.

SSO question: Where do you get all your cake ideas? And do you just put them together out of your own brilliant mind? Or do you find directions somewhere? And just how would you go about making fondant foil?
I get a lot of my ideas from the Wilton books or from watching cake contests and Ace of Cakes on Food Network. I find some ideas online too. Austin suggested I make a big Hershey bar for Savannah. I liked his idea, but decided to do a kiss instead. The lipgloss idea just came to me because Lexi loves lip gloss!

Did they actually try their indoor slip-n-slide? Did it work? It's kind of ingenious really, for a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old. :)
Oh yeah they tried it! No, it didn't so much work. And "ingenious" was not quite the word I'd use.

So, um, what flavor was the Hershey kiss one?!
You'd think chocolate, right? For a girl who loves her chocolate, it's surprising that she doesn't like chocolate cake. Go figure. It was "funfetti".

What kind of punishment did you give Clay and Brooklyn for the mess they made with the bubbles, rash creme and vaseline? Do you bother anymore? I'm wondering because I don't know if they do things like this because they know they can get away with it or because they don't care if they get punished? I don't have six kids, but sweet Jesus, my boys would never think of doing some of the stuff you write about because they would be in so much trouble! Plus I'd make them clean it up and that's almost worse than the punishment!
I threw Brooklyn in the tub because she was covered head to toe with diaper cream. Then I put Clay to work helping me clean up the mess. Unfortunately, he just kinda smeared it around and made more work for me so I sent him to his room. After Brooklyn was bathed, she had time out too. The thing is - the kids didn't do this to be bad. I think sometimes kids get into stuff because they want to explore and experiment and learn and they don't always think things through. That's a learning process that takes time. (Some people never get it!) When they do stuff like this, it's irritating but I don't get too mad.

On the other hand, a couple days ago, Clay brought a ball in the house and was tossing it up in the air. I told him twice to take it outside, but before he went out, he managed to hit and shatter a picture frame on the wall. I was mad because it wouldn't have happened if he'd listened to me and taken the ball outside where it belonged. For punishment, I couldn't make him clean up the glass because that would be dangerous. Instead I took a few dollars out of the birthday money he'd been saving for a toy and told him he had to buy a new frame.

I think there's a difference in deliberately disobeying and kids just doing goofy kid stuff. I try to separate the two and respond accordingly. I like when there are natural consequences to their actions. I try to apply logical consequences when there aren't. Do I do it consistently and perfectly? Heck no. Do I sometimes say, "Are you bleeding? No? Then I don't want to hear about it! Work it out!"?Heck yes. Do I sometimes tell Joe I simply must run some errands and then make a speedy getaway so he can deal with it? Heck yes. I never claimed to be perfect.

If it weren't for Clayton you wouldn't have half of the material that you use to write about. Aren't you glad God gave you the wealth of material in the form of Clay?
Honestly? YES! The funny thing is - my friends remember when I used to tell "Jackson stories" all the time. Jackson grew out of that stage and I know Clay will too. Sooner than I can imagine, I'm sure.

Do you own a steam carpet cleaner??
I probably should, shouldn't I? It would sure come in handy.

And has your website always been "the official site of ..." or is this new? Are people trying to create fake Dawn sites?
"fake Dawn sites" LOL! Not that I know of and yeah, it has said "the official site of author Dawn Meehan" since my website was designed in October.