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.

Simon Update

Here is a copy of Sherry's blog post from just a few moments ago. Praise God!

Friday, March 14, 2008

Great News about Simon!
Simon's hearing went amazing this morning! My mom and dad get to pick him up at 3:00 today and will have custody of him from now until he gets to be back with Amy and Allen. What an answered prayer! Also, Amy and Allen have very good visitation rights... they can be with Simon most of the time! YAY! This is a HUGE praise! Thank you for your prayers, God is great. This is a big step in getting Simon back with my sister and Allen. Continue to pray that he will be back with them soon.I will post pictures of Simon with my family as soon as I can!

Sherry Clemens
http://ourlifeouthere.blogspot.com/

Blog-apalooza continues

I've been in quite the blogging mood lately. It's probably just a convenient excuse to put off things I know need to be done but sure aren't as much fun! (Maybe I should work on becoming a poet...)

Anyway, there is a new sound in our house..."ma ma, ma ma" It is music to my ears. Yesterday the girl finally distinguished it from "na na" and lovingly uses it when she wants me or wants me to do something for her. The boy graciously joins in when she says "dada" or "mama" - they just love to feed off each other so we get a lot of things in stereo.

The boy has a new love too - Super Why! It's a great show on PBS that teaches reading, writing, and storytelling. He's got the phonetics down for most of his letters - I am just too proud because I've not really worked on that with him - thank you LeapFrog magnetic letters!

I'll hush...there are plenty of posts to keep you busy for a while and I have a few things that need to get done.

Will you pray?

I've debated for days whether to ask you to pray, but I realized today that I need to do so. There is a family I don't know in an unthinkable situation in regard to their son Simon...and they need our prayers. We are in this fight of life together as brothers and sisters whether we know each other or not.

Abby shares the story well so I will send you on to her...Until Next Time and encourage you to blog-stalk a bit as you link through to Amy's blog and Sherry's blog to learn more.

I also ask you to pray for Richard and Jennifer (Jennifer is Sherry's best friend) whose 3 month old daughter died unexpectedly Monday, March 3rd.

I know of another couple who lost their baby this week (they were 11 weeks pregnant) and another little girl born yesterday who is fighting for her health after labor complications.

I cannot fathom what these families are experiencing and I am drawn to my knees. I hope you are too.

Generations

I've always enjoyed the generation pictures I've seen so I made sure to get one of Clay, Granddaddy, and the boy when we took professional pictures together. Not wanting the girl to feel left out, we took Grannylou with us on the last photo shoot for a similar picture. The photographer asked us a few questions while setting up and we realized some crazy similarities between the two pictures taken. I thought I would share them and allow you to see how much the genes seem to follow the gender line.



Picture taken: May 2006
The boy is almost 11 months.
All men are the first born in their family.
Look how much the boy has changed!









Picture taken: February 2008
The girl is 12 months.
All gals are the babies in their family.



And yes, I realize my mother and I have the same smile lines...at least I know what I'll look like in 28 years. I need to scan a picture my mom found of me at 18 months...it is the girl with a bit more hair! CRAZY!

Can't sleep!

What do you do when you can't sleep? Blog, of course!

Yes, this is becoming a habit I'm not too fond of, but lately my heart has been heavy for loved ones and others I don't know. After praying and reading, I often need something light to close down the day. Messing around with my template and sharing moments from our days is a wonderful therapy. Make sure to catch up as I've blogged every day this week!

Billy Graham here we come!

I'm sure you've noticed the new ticker above my posts. In just a little over 3 weeks, my grandmother and I head to Charlotte, NC to visit the Billy Graham Library. I heard about the BGL while watching a TV special on Ruth Bell Graham last fall. When I learned my grandmother, who so loves Billy and Ruth, had never been, I longed to be able to take her. My amazing man encouraged me to follow my heart's desire regardless of the cost.

I can't tell you how excited I am about this trip. I'm looking forward to learning more about my grandmother (my only living grandparent and the one I've always been closest to) and experiencing something new together. I will also get to enjoy a few days away from my sweet husband and adorable children - a first in years. I've never been gone more than 24 hours nor been this far away since kids came along. Minus one overnight women's retreat 2 years ago, my last trip by myself was in February 2001 (to North Carolina amazingly enough)!

I've always enjoyed North Carolina - it's so beautiful, holds the mountains and the beach and has been a bit of a home away from home at various points in my life. Once again it will hold a special memory for me. So if you hear lots of giggles from the east in early April, know that we are having the time of our lives.

(You can begin now praying for Clay who will pull single-parent duty for 3 days! God bless him for sending me away...he is a good man, a great husband, and an amazing father...and he knows I need this more than I realize.)