Our mini-adult

I failed to catch the best pose: him holding the paper open intently checking out what's on sale!

I'm hoping to teach him early how to find the best deal!

Bye bye curls

As promised, this was a full family affair. There was much thrashing and wailing, and at one point it took both of us holding him down! I was sad to see the curls go, but summer is upon us. As much as he loves to play outdoors, as dark as his hair is, and as much as he sweats, the summer cut was a must. He does look quite dashing though, doesn't he?

BEFORE

















AFTER

Enjoy the game

This is a phrase that is repeated often around our house right now thanks to Super Why! The "super story answer" to Red & Princess' problem is "enjoy the game." (I know that makes no sense unless you've seen The Tortoise and the Hare episode.) Anyway, I walked into the kitchen this afternoon and found this on our fridge...I confirmed that Dad didn't help- the boy did this all on his own! I'm quite proud...and have to protest those that say any amount of television is not good for our little ones. I agree too much can be a problem, but our boy has learned A LOT from Blue, BOZ and Super Why! that I'm not sure he would know by this point if it was all left up to me!

A little about us

Found this on another blog and thought it might be fun for those of you who don't know us all that well - and some of you who do know us might be surprised by a few of the answers (yeah, right!).

1. Who is your man? Clay

2. How long have you been together? married 9 years in May

3. How long did you date? 11 months before engagement, 7 month engagement

4. How old is your man? 30 (this is where he would point out that I am older than him even if it is only 4 months and 3 days!)

5. Who eats more? usually him, but I can put him to waste with chips & salsa

6. Who said, "I love you," first? he did the Sunday after we got back from a ski trip in the street - he led me to the interstate (we were in Memphis) and then I was headed home to Nashville - we'd been dating all of 1 month

7. Who is taller? HELLO - not hard to beat 4'11"

8. Who sings better? we can both sing on key, but it's not a natural gift for either of us

9. Who is smarter? again- HELLO - engineer vs. communications gal and he remembers all sorts of various junk he learned in school and on the History Channel

10. Whose temper is worse? On a regular basis - mine. His fuse is longer, but once it's blown it's blown big.

11. Who does the laundry? mostly me, but he will

12. Who takes out the garbage? I usually gather it from around the house and he takes the cans to the street.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? when you are facing the bed, me (see, it's different if you are talking about when you are lying down on your back)

14. Who pays the bills? I do, but he has and can.

15. Who is better at the computer? Depends on the program

16. Who mows the lawn? definitely him - and he does an awesome job!

17. Who cooks dinner? mostly me, but he grills

18. Who drives when you are together? him

19. Who pays when you go out? him

20. Who is most stubborn? usually me, but he has his moments

21. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? usually me because I usually am

22. Who kissed who first? we disagree a bit on this, but basically it's me because I misread his signals

23. Whose parents do you see the most? mine because they live 10 minutes from us while his are 8 hours away

24. Who asked who out? Since our first date was after our DTR, does this really count? But he was the one who asked for a real date the next week.

25. Who proposed? Him - he knew we were going to get married first too.

26. Who is more sensitive? Usually me.

27. Who has more friends? Probably me because I can talk to a fence post.

28. Who has more siblings? him - 1 sister and 2 half-sisters

Little Miss Attitude

Terrible twos. The tween years. These I heard about, but our little girl must be an overachiever since she is only 13 months. She has developed quite the little attitude lately. This morning she bit me - BIT ME ON THE CHEEK - because I wouldn't let her play with the computer. Some family members keep bringing up stories from my toddler days, but I just don't see the similarities (yeah, right). My mom found this picture from my dad's birthday party that captures one of her fits (without the arching back and flailing legs). As you can see, my dad is quite surprised as this was the first time my family had the honor of seeing her in full swing. Now you know better how to pray for me and Clay!

Easter

We had a fabulous Easter weekend. Mimi, Granddaddy, and Aunt Claire came to visit. We had a great time playing outdoors, watching basketball and just enjoying each other. Again, I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few from Sunday morning. The boy is less tolerant of posing these days - thus why the family photo only has 3 of us in it! Hopefully I'll have more pictures to share once Mimi and Aunt Claire send some my way!

Make it rain!

It's March Madness time, and my boys promptly pulled the basketball goal from the younger boy's room Thursday night. Much fun was had as Clay taught the boy about basketball. The girl so wanted to get involved, but mostly just got run over or pushed out of the way. Here are some fun shots and a video so you can hear the boy makin' it rain!

ZOO redeux

I made a trip to the zoo with both kids for the second time last Thursday. We enjoyed the day with Grannylou, Aunt Kristi, Dylan, Kadyn, and a couple of Kadyn's friends. We couldn't have asked for better weather and crowd (especially for it being spring break). I think we all had a great time. The boy finally enjoyed the animals instead of just the water at each exhibit. The girl also enjoyed the animals, but not being contained in the stroller (see her unhappiness to the left - and we hadn't even started seeing animals yet!). I didn't take a ton of pictures because we were having so much fun - and I only have 2 hands/arms and 2 kids who wanted a better view. We spent over 4 hours there - I think visiting the zoo will be a must again this spring & summer.




Here is the girl entralled with this gorilla. I was so excited to watch her find it. The lion put on the best show with multiple roars right after we walked up. The boy practiced his roar once the lion laid down!

Trying to get a better look...

Look Grannylou, an elephant!





"Climb, climb, climb," he said, and then he simply tried to get a better look at the cow in the petting area. The animals weren't much for being touched while we were there, but the boy did pet a chicken. I was so proud he touched it. The girl promptly crashed for a brief moment...but it didn't last long because she didn't want to miss a thing!




The boy wasn't too thrilled about stopping to take pictures, but we did capture me getting some little boy lovin'. I know the days of public displays are short lived.

You know you're tired when...

you fall asleep right where you're playing -

especially when your bed is only a few steps away!!!

The kids + outside = LOVE

Our kids LOVE to be outside. I am thankful, but dreading the late summer heat. I am also thankful we got the boy a swing set for his birthday last year so playing outside can simply mean opening the back door - no need to look presentable! The girl loves to swing as much as her brother, and he is finally tall enough to maneuver climbing up the slide all by himself. After almost 2 hours outside this morning, I was only able to lure them indoors happily with the promise of Super Why! and snacks. I foresee this being a regular routine now that spring is here.

Yesterday was another wonderful spring day so I opened the windows to air out the house. The girl stood like a captive longing for freedom at the front windows for about half an hour. It didn't help that she kept seeing her daddy "enjoying" the outdoors as he pulled limbs and bags of leaves to the street for pickup. She couldn't seem to understand why he was getting to have all the fun!
I couldn't resist posting this picture - don't you just love that smirk? We are discovering what a joyful handful little miss will be in the coming years. Yes, you can begin increasing your prayers for us now!

Pop turns 60!!!

Today is a special day in our family - Pop turned 60!!! We gathered to celebrate our patriarch with steaks, potatoes, and key lime pie or cupcakes (depending on your age). Family gatherings are quite an adventure these days with 4 kiddos running around - especially when cake is involved! We were able to enjoy Pop and Grannylou's backyard playground thanks to warm weather. Here are a few snapshots of the fun I think was had by all.