Take that Ms. Tooth Fairy!

One Christmas Santa Clause brought both me and my little sister a pillow. Not just any pillow but a popple pillow! Popples were the rage at this time. They were cute cuddly little stuff animals that folded into balls. When I saw this pillow I was just about in bliss. Both of us started screaming and jumping up and down excited at this new gift! This was truly the best Christmas gift I have ever received. I can't remember being that excited and surprised about any other gift I have ever received. This pillow had a pocket in front of it to stash wonderful treasures. As soon as I saw the pocket there was one thought verberated in my mind. With a coy smirk on my face and one squinted eye I thought "I got you now Ms. Tooth fairy, I got you now!". I was sure there was no way for the Tooth fairy to take my teeth and leave me money without my knowledge with this wonderful pillow. I would have her trapped for she had to make the exchange. I would be the only 6 year old to meet the Tooth fairy!
As the months passed I waited with anticipation to lose just one more tooth. Finally the day arrived and I went to sleep with a smug facing knowing that it was only a matter of time before I met a real live fairy. I even promised my little sister that I would wake her up when the meeting occurred. When I woke up I laid in bed listening for the noise that surely must have woken me. I looked around in my bedroom for a flying lady. I didn't see anything! I shoved my hand into the pocket to my wonderful popple pillow and found not a tooth but a dollar bill. I had been duped by the flying temptress again. I vowed that next time I was going to sleep with my hand inside the pocket of the pillow so I couldn't miss her. I thought, "Take that Ms. Tooth fairy"!
As it so happened that the Tooth fairy is VERY good at her job for I never got to see her even though I slept with the popple pillow until I had no other teeth to lose. Sneaky and skilled she must be for my sister Kayla never saw her either! So I guess she showed us. Regardless the promise of the popple pillow still made it the best gift a little girl ever received. Who would have thought that a 6 year old would love to get a pillow for Christmas? That just goes to show you that Santa Clause is VERY wise:)

THIS IS HOW YOU EAT A HOT DOG

My little sister Kayla was a petite 4 year old with curly blond hair. So small in fact that I could easily carry her around being just 2 years her senior. Kayla loved to be the center of attention and it always shined through in our home videos. There is a video of Kayla screaming "MOM! MOM!" while my mom is taping on of our legendary backyard bonfires. The fires were legendary since the neighborhood never knew if it was a bonfire or the house on fire! This is quite a feet since we lived 20 minutes into the countryside in rural northern Michigan. Sometimes the smoke would be so thick that my grandmother would come up from her farm 3 miles away to make sure nothing was burning down! When the camera finally focuses on her she politely says "This is how you eat a hot dog" and proceeds to take 3 bites in 5 seconds and the hot dog disappears. She grins with the satisfaction that she got the whole thing in her mouth. What is more amazing is that she manages to chew and swallow it in the next 10 seconds! Every time I go to roast a hot dog over the camp fire I think of her and chuckle wondering if she still has that hidden talent!

Traumatized by my Initials

I was like most seven year old girls; I wanted to be just like my older sister. So naturally when she had a friend over to play I was stalking their every move. It was a nice sunny summer day and we were in our backyard walking around the swing set grabbing on to random poles and swinging our weight in circles. Joanna and Bridgette were gabbing about things that 11 year olds do when they started talking about each others initials. I wasn't really listening as I didn't know what they were talking about 90 percent of the time. Somewhere in the dark depths of my mind I heard Joanna and Bridget started calling me BABS. Why were they making fun of me? I didn't do anything mean to them... how cruel this world is. I burst into tears convinced that it was a terrible thing even though that both Bridget and my initials are both BAB. I still a little sensitive about my initials but at least they aren't ASS.