It's Just the Way God Made Me!

Yesterday Maizie did a good amount of her tutoring homework. Thank goodness! She told me, "Mama...I told you...when I feel like doing it I can...when I don't...I can't." We went on to discuss what she feels like when she can't do her school work and she says, "It's just the way God made me!"

I do have to remember that God did make Maizie differently. There are days when school work seems impossible and everything learned the day before has been forgotten. But, then the next day she does her work and does it with gusto.

Today Maizie did well at tutoring. She is working towards earning three ankle bracelets for 500 points. After tutoring we picked up Marie and headed over to Mindy's for a delicious lunch...prepared by...Mindy. Complete with a partially eaten yet beautiful strawberry pie. Mindy and the girls picked the strawberries themselves. Yum!

Maralyn (seen above begging me to take this boom box from her...ooops she dropped it...sorry Mindy...it was worth the cute picture though...right??) and Maizie went out back to pick raspberries. I think Marlayn had pretty much eaten any berry within sight previously. She did manage to find one very tiny berry that she gave to Maizie. Maizie said it tasted very good.The girls also enjoyed playing barbies in the swimming pool. Maralyn was running and doing 'cannonballs' into the little pool. She is a natural born gymnast. The twins are out of school for the summer and are looking beautiful as always.
Levi took to Marie immediately, unlike the time he did his weird little growl upon first meeting me. Right after I took this picture of Marie and Levi I put away my camera. I should have waited because Levi cuddled up real calm like next to Marie. So sweet.
Mindy has started a beautiful garden. Here is her first little pepper! It is so cute. Make sure you share this one with me Mindy! You are all invited over to our house next.

Speaking of our house...It is time to update you all on 'Farmer Fred' and 'Fancy Pants' (seen below). One day last weekend I was putting on my makeup when Maizie came running into the bathroom to tell me she heard men yelling. I ran to the front door and there were our neighbor brothers. The police had broke up the fight, putting brother 'Farmer Fred' in one car and brother 'Fancy Pants' in the other.

Apparently, they were fighting pretty hard since someone else had called the police before we did! The police stood around outside for two hours! They were waiting for their parents to take one boy home with them. Once the parents arrived they loaded up 'Fancy Pants' and we have not seen him since. 'Farmer Fred' has finally stopped parking his car by our back door. 'Fancy Pants' had been parking like this...

so...things are seeming awfully quiet around here now. I did call the landlords again when the fight broke out. She said, "If the police are there than that is the right thing to be happening." Whatever, she said something similar to the pot plant we found by our back door. Our neighborly "slum lords" don't have to live next to 'Farmer Ted' and 'Fancy Pants' so they could really care less. Like many of the lords of the living poor around here...it seems like they just want their money.