Nicole

I swear to you, it was just yesterday when I took this photo. Time isn't marching...it's running. This little girl is now a young lady, on her own and somewhat independent. I've got to capture some of those "Nicole" moments in time before they rust away in the cobwebs of my mind.

"Cole" was always a happy little girlie-girl. The color pink suits her very well--if people do indeed have an "aura", Nicole's would definitely be pink. As families tend to do, we have our favorite stories of each member. Here are my favorite Nicole stories.

When she was just barely out of toddlerhood, Nicole's daddy was left to take care of the two kids while mommy was out. Mark made a trip to the bathroom to "take care of business" and when he came out, he found Nicole in the dressing area of the bathroom having a good ol' time with her mommy's makeup Mark yelled, "NICOLE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???? Nicole knew how to get out of this mess. She turned around, and with bright red lipstick smeared on her lips and the surrounding area of her mouth, she sweetly asked, "Am I so purdy?"

My favorite was the time when Mark and family were on their way home from church, and my brother accidentally ran over the kids' kitten. Markie and Cole didn't see it happen, and he dreaded having to tell them about the little cat's untimely demise.

Steeling himself, he gently explained to his two little kids how their kitten had been run over, died and gone to some sort of "kitty heaven". Markie, the older of the two, started crying. And evidently, Markie has a much more tender heart than Nicole. As Markie was quietly crying, Nicole piped up and as cold as ice said, "Did it suck its brains out or something?".

When Nicole started school, she soon attracted the attention of little boys--there's just something about a little girl with long blonde hair and big blue eyes that little boys like. She came home from school one day and told her dad about a little boy giving her "the date look". The date look? Mark had never heard that expression and wasn't sure what she meant, so he asked her what "the date look" was. Matter of factly, she answered, "You know..."low eyes". She demonstrated by shutting her eyes halfway. I think she had watched too many soap operas. Oh, and the photo demonstrates "the date look, aka: low eyes". I'm pretty sure the person giving "the date look" wouldn't be smiling, but would have a sultry curl of the lips.

Living in the boondocks of "Martins-tucky", wild creatures often visited their place. One day a possum decided to meander into their yard. Nicole came running in, all excited and out of breath. "Dad! Dad! There's a hippopotamus in our yard!" Mark told her, "Quick! Go get my elephant gun!"

After reading this post, Mark reminded me of the time we all went to Spring Mill State Park. Nicole was about two then. About the last half-hour of our picnic, Nicole had been playing with a wooly-worm. When we were all getting ready to leave, Mark told Nicole to put the wooly-worm down because they were going home. Nicole, with her little bristley friend in her hand, bent over the kissed the worm goodbye.

I'm not even going into detail about the time she projectile-vomited on a fat lady in their church, but I would've given anything to have seen it.