She's officially 2

I can't believe the girl turned 2 last weekend. Time sure does fly (and that means I need to get busy getting ready for #3 to arrive in 5 months!). Mimi & Granddaddy came over for the weekend, and we had a grand party with family and friends at McDonalds. Let me tell you, for a great price they take care of EVERYTHING. I simply had to bring candles and a lighter and serve the cake. No set up. No clean up. Awesome. The girl wasn't so sure about having all the attention focused on her (allowing lots of people got some good cuddle time), but she perked up when her happy meal arrived and again during cake and presents. We got a lot of great pictures that captured the fun.

I got a great coupon for Build-A-Bear since the girl's birthday fell on President's Day weekend this year (can't beat $12 toward an animal, right?). Monday after her birthday, we had a mother/daughter date to go get her new friend. She chose a pink monkey and a princess t-shirt. She wasn't so sure about it getting stuffed, but did enjoy brushing her teeth. She was NOT happy about taking a picture with her new friend, but totes her around a lot since bringing her home.

Our wee one truly is that - wee. She weighs a whopping 21 lbs. 2 oz. (with clothes on) and measures 31 1/2 inches. She still isn't officially on the growth chart for her age! She may be small in stature, but her personality is larger than life. Love this one - she may be the cause of all the extra gray in my hair and cause an ulcer or two, but she's a spitfire and you can't help but love her. (At least I hope so since she is definitely a mini-version of me!)

A Valentine's Party

Our wonderful friend and her daughter (the boy's best bud at church) threw a Valentine's Party this morning for friends. It was fun to get all the kids together, enjoy some yummy goodies, share Valentine's, and play outside in this amazing weather. I've been having camera issues so I didn't get too many shots before it died (yay since the girl's birthday is tomorrow!). I'm thinking it just a battery issue, but I did a few great shots of the fun.

The pictures include: the girl with our children's minister, Stephanie (or Destiny as the boy calls her). I promise the girl likes her - she was just in a mood for a bit this morning. Lots of outdoor fun swinging and romping through the trees and leaves. And the girl was enthralled with picking and counting flowers.

Fun at the park

We visit the park a lot here (a benefit to abnormally warm TX weather) - and I realized I hadn't taken a lot of pictures of the kids lately. We are so blessed to have other mommies who get to stay at home or have crazy ER doctor/nursing schedules that love to get together. Our kids play well together and it gives us all some adult conversation. I realize so many mommies don't have the privilege to stay at home or don't have a handful or more women who love to get together - I am one blessed woman. Here are some pictures of our fun last Friday.

The girl is all about the pig tails now. She requests them most days, and is doing well at leaving them alone. She was all over the place on Friday...it was fun to watch. She is so ready to be big, and it's hard to believe she will be 2 on Saturday!

The boy finally figured out how to drive a powerwheel on Wednesday - well, he needs to work on steering, but he's got the gas thing down. The kids LOVE riding around, playing with the radio, and having the wind in their hair. The girl already knows how to shift it into the highest gear - she is a speed girl. I didn't get as many pictures of him because he spent his whole time in the jeep - the picture that looks like nothing actually shows him & Elyjah about to drive into the creek. Candie (Elyjah's mom) was rescuing them from danger.

Candie also brought a kite since it was pretty windy. All the kids had a blast - even when the kite landed on them. It was fun to watch them try to fly it themselves. The girl saw the opportunity to have the jeep to herself, and took it. What a great way to spend the morning with friends. Again, blessed, so very blessed.

Out of the mouths of babes

"Come on Cletus," said the boy.

Heard last night from the boy as he was trying to get his father to come with him.

Learned from said father during previous wrestling matches.

There are many other great sayings, but I'm failing to write them all down. I think one of our favorite responses to questions right now is, "I think so/ I guess so."

The girl is keeping right up with him although she isn't quite so humorous yet with what she says so much as how she says it. She does jabber non-stop much like her mama is known to do.

It does make us laugh that she tries to identify letters (much like her brother), but she only says "d" and "r." However, she calls out either of those letters upon seeing any letter. Too funny. She has recently decided she loves to sing, but usually only gets out the last word from each line. This is what you may hear from the back seat:

"...heart...gainst you...heart...gainst you"

We've fallen in love with these two blessings all over again the last couple of days, but how can you not?

Amazing song

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know how much I love praise music and how it speaks right to my soul. I LOVE our worship minister. He has an amazing gift of leading us into the presence of God each week, a humble spirit, and it helps that I love his voice too. This week he introduced us to a new song (to me anyway) - Jesus Lord of Heaven by Phil Wickham. The sermon, early in the service, reminded us of the goodness of God. Steven followed that with an amazing time of musical worship including this song. AWESOME! I've added it to my playlist so you've been listening to it if you haven't muted it already. I encourage you to start it over and really listen to these powerful words. I've been singing this song all week...