Home photo shoot

Feeling guilty about not having taken the girl for more professional photos, I decided to have a photo shoot at home. I discovered it's hard to get her to smile when you are also trying to operate the camera. I got some cute shots anyway!

This is the way I roll

I've talked a lot about the boy lately due to the birthday, but I thought you should know the girl rolled from her back to her tummy Friday. She's been workin' hard and finally figured it out. Now she's working on being a flippin' machine. She's also pretty good about wiggling around to get what she wants. I'm just hoping it'll take a bit longer before she realizes she can get anywhere she wants in a room by rolling now that she can roll both ways. If I thought I was busy before, I'm guessing two mobile kids will help me lose the rest of the lingering baby weight!

Birthday fun

I'm having so much fun I could scream...so I am!!!

On the go!

We had a blast this evening celebrating the big birthday just the four of us. We ate dinner at the mall and then let the boy run wild at the play area. He had too much fun! He laughed, squealed and ran himself silly. It was such a joy for us to watch him play. He giggled when another kid crawled all over him to slide first. He squealed as other children ran and played around him. He tried new things and just had the time of his life. I think he thoroughly enjoyed his birthday!

Birthday!!!

The official day is finally here - do you see the top ticker? We now have a two-year old...and my heart is overwhelmed with thankfulness this morning. There is so much wrapped up in this day for me...and words can't even begin to express all my heart feels. I now understand why my mom recounted my birth story every year the night before my birthday. I now understand the verse about Mary treasuring all these things in her heart.

Thank you, God, for the gift of this little boy - the one who makes me smile, who challenges me, who teaches me, who melts my heart. He's really coming into his own, and it is such a joy to watch him become his own little person.

Two amazing years - and I pray for many more to come...Happy Birthday Big Boy!!!

Have I mentioned the rain?

Have I mentioned the rain? I think I have...it continues to be a problem here. We are at least getting some sun each morning, but the afternoons bring often heavy showers. Flooding continues, and many communities around us are suffering badly. We are thankful that we haven't had problems at our home. The boys have just been enjoying playing in the puddles (with the car and themselves)! I heard last night on the news that we were only 1 inch short of our normal YEARLY rainfall. We've already surpassed the total amount we received in 2006...and this doesn't account for the rain we received today. The bugs continue to be pesky, but the temperatures are staying in the 80s. Pros and cons. It does seem to be a feast or a famine.

What a difference a year makes

What a difference a year makes. At his first birthday party, the boy just about freaked out and spent more time by himself than with his guests. This year was the total opposite. Our pool party got rained out, but we simply moved down the street to Pop and Grannylou's house for some inside fun. How thankful we are for the large living room and playroom! The boy was so excited to have his friends at his grandparents' house. He just kept coming to me and Clay with the most excited face. The kids seemed to have a great time too! And, yes, as you see the pictures most of the guests are girls...the boy has good odds.

We finally stopped the playing to partake a little cake. The boy was excited."A clue. Right there!" He was quite intrigued by the candle, but cheered as everyone sang to him. Then he wasn't quite sure what I was doing as we blew out the candle.










Then it was time for presents. He took much more interest this year which made it a lot of fun. He has had a blast with his Backyardigans sing along machine and bubble machine as well as reading his books.

Clay and I enjoyed watching him enjoy the party. Our precious son has really come into his own. All our worries this time last year about his lack of gross motor skills and social interaction have been alleviated. God has grown our boy in amazing ways this year. We swell with pride, smile and laugh a lot! God is good.

The girl

Sittin' pretty and goin' gansta

4:00 AM wake up call

So, the girl had a great night last night...down a little before 9:00 p.m., she didn't wake until around 4:00 a.m. But it wasn't her cries that woke me out of a dead sleep, it was the boy's. I stumbled into their room, and he quickly sat up while still crying. I tried to console him and lay him back down, but he simply cried out, "Nooooo" in the saddest little voice. I noticed the girl was wide awake so I figured I should feed her. Scooping her up, I quickly exited. The boy got off the bed and followed me to the door crying the whole way. He was still crying pretty hard when I got to our room so I put the girl in the pack 'n play and headed back down the hall. The poor boy was sitting on his bed, bunny in hand in tears. I decided to get the CD player (which I removed earlier that evening in preparation for the flea treatment we received this morning) to hopefully settle him down. As soon as I walked in the room with it, I hear the saddest "Thank you" I think I've ever heard. With the music playing, I headed to help him lay back down for a few more hours of rest. Still whimpering, he said, "Thank you. Bye-bye." I kissed him, told him I loved him and hoped for the best. A few more bye-byes followed, but then he slept for another 4 hours. Poor guy...guess all he wanted was a little music.

A park in our backyard

Before I get to the point of this blog, I had to show you this - do you see what is behind the climbing apparatus? Yes, it is our neighbor's dog. He dug under the fence and came through...but HE'S STILL ATTACHED TO HIS LEASH!!! Poor thing couldn't do more than lie down or sit up. Instead of trying to force him back under the fence, Clay went to meet our neighbors - that's right...they recently moved in and we haven't ventured over there yet. Even better is that it was 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday. What a great first impression! To make it all much more fun, the dog decided to go back to his own yard before the neighbors got outside. Sounds like a Seinfeld episode...

On to the fun of Saturday. The boy celebrates his birthday in just over a week. His party is this weekend, but we (really, I) couldn't wait to give him his present - a swing set! I knew it would take Clay and my dad several hours to put it together and last weekend seemed like the best time. I'll let the boy tell you all about it...
"How great! Pop came to play. Man, I want to join them outside. Wait, do they really know what they are doing?"









"When I got up from my nap, there was a park in our backyard! Mommy and Daddy say it is for my birthday, whatever that means. I'm just excited that I can swing any time I want to. I'm still working on climbing the steps to the slide. They are pretty narrow, and I don't get the holding on with your hands part. I do like to slide though. I sit at the top and count to three before going down. My favorite part is the swing. It's great to have one just outside. Now I don't have to wait for Mommy to get it together to go to a park...and I can have special time with Mommy and/or Daddy while the girl sleeps!"

It's hard to believe he'll be two next week. We're having another pool party on Saturday (barring rain - see previous post) with a few of his friends. His vocabulary continues to explode as does his ability to put phrases or short sentences together. His current favorites are "Jasmine hush" and "It's a clue. Right there." He's a Blue's Clues fan and ANY animal print is a clue in his world. He's just a little sponge...and it's so much fun. I think I am most proud that he knows what God created on each day...not just that he can say all of those words and remember what day God created them on, but that he knows God created everything including him.

God is so good.

Rain, rain go AWAY!

I never really thought I would long for some dry days living in Texas; but sure enough, I am tired of the wet stuff. I saw a statistic the other day that said we had rain 25 of the previous 35 days...sounds more like Seattle than Texas to me! If I could, I would gladly move the clouds to the areas battling a drought. Mind you, our grass is greener than I think it's ever been, the trees are a deep green, and the plants don't wither each day...but I am frustrated with the bugs that accompany this increased wetness. The flies are awful, the gnats are annoying, the mosquitoes are vicious, and the fleas are indestructible. I don't recall it being this bad in the 6 years we've lived in this town. I've often said that it isn't where we live that I love, it's the life we have here - I'd love this life if we were living it in Timbuktu. We do miss the southeast, but I have found one thing I don't miss - the bugs that come with the humidity...score one for Texas.

Can you tell I'm a bit annoyed by these little creatures God created? I'm at my wits end!!!

My little hams

I know you've seen these pictures before, but as I wasted time tonight adding music to my blog (turn on your speakers to enjoy the effect) I just couldn't stop checking out these two pics. I thought they deserved to be posted beside each other...I could just eat these two up some days. And to say we have two hams on our hands might be an understatement!

I think the music adds a nice touch (thanks for the coaching, EJ). The playlist is located at the bottom of the blog if you want to listen to a particular song. It should play a different song each time you pull up the blog, but you can select a song to play if you want. I also added a birthday countdown so you can keep track of just how old these little cuties are.

Some moments I am stopped dead in my tracks overwhelmed with all God has given me: a man who will sit in the front seat of the roller coaster and hold my hand, two children who melt my heart, and most importantly His grace for the many times I screw up.

200

I've made it to the 200 mark. Not so hard to believe for this chatterbox - and some of you may be surprised it took me so long. What an awesome thing to live in this day when we can keep up with family and friends (and even people we don't know) who may live hundreds of miles away. I know this makes my life easier!

So, on this 200th post I just thought I would share the most important thing in my life - Jesus Christ. Simply put, He loves me. He loves you. He came to earth to save us. God sacrificed His only Son to reconcile us to Him. He loves us that much. He loves me that much. He loves you that much. Everything I have, I have because He gave it to me. And while I fight my natural selfishness each day, I desire to live a life of thanksgiving for what He did/is doing/and will do in my life. My heart's desire: to love Him with all I am and with all I have. He is God. I am not.

A busy Friday

We had a busy Friday - and I caught a bit of it on camera. Here are my boys playing in the rain. I'm not sure who had more fun...

Muddin' with the jeep










The boy discovers the gutter system...and Dad relives the joy of jumping in a puddle








This boy loves his daddy and goin' on the "jonathan train" - it's our sure-fire way to get him to go where we go








Teaching him how to splash








Here are some adorable shots of the girl wanting to be like the boys...ain't she cute?











Then we made our first attempt at cereal. As you can see, she wasn't too sure about what I was doing. Then she just got totally disgusted.
It was a great day. I love that their daddy has every other Friday off...we get an extra day to enjoy as a family and do some special things. It may seem like nothing special, but I know I enjoy making these memories.