Ali with pigtails. Very cute. Here are the pictures.

Play Time

Ali is better at playing and exploring things.

Including, box car racing...

She would sit in the box and I would race her around our house making fast turns around corners.

She loved it, but

we still need to teach her about drinking and driving.

I also had to sword fight her today.

Don't be fooled....

she is the most dangerous in the land.

See.... she defeated me..

She will also eat you alive...

like this banana.

And this is just a funny face.

Ali and I made the best of Mother's Day for Jodi.

Flowers... check,

Giant card (even bigger than Ali) ... check,

Yummy breakfast... check,

Special drink for Mommy (orange juice with cute "for mom" label)... check.

A Visit from Grandparents

Ali received a visit from her grandparents this week,

my dad & stepmother.

The visit was filled with a lot of fun: tennis, parks, and art.

(The tennis is not featured here, but we played hard;

especially my dad and I.)

Ali's expression after asking her what she thought of the art.

We took the hint and went outside on the patio that had some sculptures

 and room for her to walk around.

Ali :  "I'm tired ...

...What does this say?

- Don't stay at art museum for more than an hour with little children...

 ... Yay!!!"

The featured exhibition at the museum: The Look of Love

Miniature paintings of eyes.

Read about its history here.

Then we ate lunch and walked around the beautiful railroad park in Birmingham.

Have you ever been to railroad park?

What is your favorite part about the park?

For me, it was the wildlife; especially these flowers along the trail.

My Resolution

I'll try not to make this long or soap boxish because I don't like long or soap boxish.

So, I've tried it and I'm done. PG-13 movies that is.

As a teenager and all growing up I vigorously stuck to what my parents taught me, but I'm almost ashamed to admit that as an adult I just wanted to fit in. I wanted to be more accepted. But I'm done with that.

That's not to say they've all been really bad or that some PG movies don't leave me wishing I'd never been, but most were too much for me.

The violence gives me headaches, the images never leave my mind.

I don't allow my family or friends to use inappropriate language in front of me, so why should I allow that in a movie?

I honestly and firmly believe intimate things are sacred and should be shared between husband and wife (or maybe a therapist if you need help but definetly not with me) and not in a movie.

I realize this standard is different than the rest of world, but I can't do it anymore. It's never been anything but a burden to me. I'm OK to be different now. I like being different now.

What does bring me happiness is to remember the friends that did respect that standard of mine as a teenager. Friends that I was close to and friends that were really only acquaintances.

So, surely adults can accept it as well, right? Either way... I've decided, and there's no going back now.