What EXACTLY are the 'red flags' for future criminals?

The above pictures are of my paternal Grandmomma (you can call her "Mammaw... I do ;)  We hadn't seen her for awhile.


It was a massive shot in the arm to reconnect with her and for her to spend time with my sister and I's families. 


Obviously, from the series of 4 pictures...SOMEONE (one of the Uncles I do believe) was doing something extremely hysterical...

.... I do believe the camera-woman's (uh-hem..me) life was in danger but I was to focused (ha..pun intended) on catching smiles....

These are now TREASURED moments in time that we will always have to smile about :)  


Okay....


So.


Here's the deal.


Jim and I were de-hoarding our precious almost 5 year old daughter's bedroom.


Yes.   She is a hoarder.


I have accepted that.


She keeps EVERYTHING...No Joke...EVERYTHING. Of course, we draw the lines at pieces of trash and used coffee cups but if we let her, she'd figure out a spot for them in her room.


After two trash bags of "toys" (read: junk) .... we were almost done but then....well...we stumbled upon something that kinda took our breathe away.


I discovered "it" and, at first, was scared to show Jim as I sorta wanted to just throw it in the trash bag and forget I ever saw "it".


Cuzz...seriously...stuff like "this".....well...it is SURELY an indicator of future, adult behaviors right?


I'm shivering now that I'm about to tell you what "it" is. 


She seems so...so...'normal'.  Friendly.  Happy.  WHO KNEW???


[big breath]


I ... discovered.....


a ... box...of... allthebarbiehairshehascutoffoverlasttwomonths!!!!!!!!!!


Okay. There. I said it.

Seriously...isn't this like a serial-criminal keeping 'tokens' of their crimes???     ISN'T IT????

Oh my word.

I just...I just...well...We knew she'd cut some of her "Barbies' hair" but...shudder...

I DID NOT KNOW SHE KEPT THE CLIPPINGS!!!!!!!!!!!  


Does this MEAN something about my princessa?

(bbwwwhahahahahahaha)


Daddy says it is a sign that she thought she'd get big-time busted for cutting the hair and hid it like any normal, smart, sneaky,  little girl would do (?) !!  


[BTW, at the time - she did not get busted for cutting her dolls' hair. I considered it 'creative'. IF I had known she was keeping the hair bits as TOKENS of her misdeeds...I mighta acted differently!!!]


But, alas, I do not think she has come into this criminal-in-the-making habit independently. I am a smidge afraid that she's learned it from those around here...


Cuz...I mean...LOOK:

THESE are some of the male examples she's surrounded by!  YES...They are shaking their "tail feathers" along with one of Aven's BABY DOLLS!  


And then...well...There is .... [cough cough] my habits:

 

She has DEFINITELY learned her hoarding talents from .... sigh .... me. 

I admit...I admit...I hoard SHOES!  

I love them. 

They are artwork. 

Don't cha think??!!! 

[Note my growing collection ...er hoarding...of cowgirl boots that I've now got displayed on the top of my herd of shoes. sigh. shoes. swoon. happy.]

So, I suppose Aven keeping tokens of her deviant behavior cannot be blamed "her" alone. 

BTW, after Jim and I stopped sweating from the shock and laughter of this crazy/creepy discovery, we asked Aven WHY she was keeping the hair clippings.

HER answer, "Well, they are so colorful. Sometimes I like to look at them."  

JIM says decoded that still means, "I thought I'd get in trouble so I hid them."  I'm going to think my husband is a parenting GENIUS and go with HIS theory. Don't you think that's a good idea?  

Me Too.

Oh, and the "tattoos" on the "Barbie" dolls of sorts (pictured above)...that's old news. 

She "tattoos" EVERYTHING...like her WALLS. (She does get in trouble for that. I am not a complete pushover. I wonder if she has a stash of MARKERS somewhere????  ;)

And here I thought we were just cleaning her room...Instead, we stumbled upon covert material!

Now, I wonder.... Do I DARE de-hoard the BOYS' rooms?  (though their rooms are no where NEAR the state of Aven's!!)

Just thought about it....

Nope. I do not dare.

Do you dare my friend? Nope...Jeanna don't dare either!!! smile  

I luv "my Jeanna" and seeing her over the holidays was a huge highlight.  You may remember that she was one of the girls in the horrible Chicago incident along with myself and 3 other close friends, and she is Momma to "Averie".... a member "Guat Girl Gang".  

She, too, deals with life-changing affects from that horrid event....but she's a SO strong. My heart SWELLS and LEAPS every time I see her because I truly saw, with my own eyes, what 'could' have happened (and what we all thought had happened) to her on that day.  Luv you Jeanna... )

Now hush!   I heard you roll your collective eyes...BUT...Meet ONE of our new, living Christmas presents!!!! 

This is MY new pup...Yes...Yes...I fell in love with one of "Dorothy's" litter....the other two have gone to their new homes but "Bishop Ivan" was gifted to me by my hubby on Christmas Eve. 

The kids had fallen in love with the pup too and were shocked to silence when Jim gave him to me. If you are keeping count ..... "Bishop" makes 4 dogs...but 3 of them are itty-bitty so 3 of them only count as 1.5 in my opinion :)

Welp....

Do you think my "weird, odd, quirky discovery" means something about our little, spunky girl??! 

Or is this "normal"??? 

Do I laugh or cry?!!!!!

Much Love My Friends....and PRAYER! ha

Andrea