TX State Fair

Last Sunday, we went to the TX State Fair ... always a lot of fun for the kids. I can't say it is one of my favorite things to do -- the noise, crowds, heat and mess all wear on me. But the kids love the rides, the games, the petting zoo and especially the junk food.

Sip and See for Baby Avalon

Tonight I, along with a few other ladies, hosted a sip and see for my dear friend Shanin. Her new baby girl (#4!) is Avalon and she is just beautiful. It was a fun evening and everything looked beautiful. Avalon's big sister, Ainsley, was there and dressed to the nines! She is one of Mimi's favorite friends. Congrats Shanin!

See this Movie

"Bella" will be released this weekend. It is a small, art-house film that hasn't gotten a lot of press. I was invited to a screening of the movie last night because of Chuck's and my support for "Council for Life". We were not able to attend (we instead were at a Young Life Fundraising dinner), but everyone I spoke with said the movie was one of the most affecting films they have seen in a long time. I know the premise of the film, and it is a very life-affirming film that deals with one of my favorite topics, the sanctity of life.

See it! We plan on doing so this weekend!

Baby Phoebe

For those of you who watched "Friends", you know that Phoebe is definitely an original when it comes to her songwriting ability. That show is my all-time favorite, and Phoebe is my favorite character.

Well, Mimi has recently earned the nickname around our house of "Baby Phoebe". This is because she LOVES to sing. And she has an uncanny ability to take the tune of a well-known song/nursery rhyme and re-write the lyrics into a song that wonderfully describes her 3-year-old life. It is hard for me to give you an accurate representation without you actually seeing it in person, but it is hilarious.

Her songs are all very stream-of-consiousness. She is a hoot, or as she would say, "Kalarious" (how she thinks you pronounce hilarious). At the end of her first day of school, her teacher asked me if we listen to a lot of Johnny Cash at home. When I told her "not really" and asked why, she told me a story. When she was describing to their class how they all will have "circle-up"time and sit in a circle in the mornings, Mimi sat down in the circle and started singing "Let's go down, down, down, into our burnin' ring of fire ..."

Our daughter. She actually woke us up crying at 3 a.m. not too long ago. When Chuck asked her what was wrong, she said in between sobs, "My room isn't pink enough!"

Burning Questions of Parenthood ...

1. How does my 5-year-old son "accidentally" drop 2 pieces to a puzzle in the toilet while he is going #2? Answer: He is doing a jigsaw puzzle while he is going to the bathroom.

2. Why is he trying to do a puzzle while going to the bathroom in the first place? (No idea.) And how am I convinced to fish said contaminated pieces out of the toilet after their discovery? (To avoid the inevitable temper tantrum that would ensue if I just flushed them away.) Keep in mind that this puzzle is a leftover McDonald's Happy Meal toy -- the really cheap kind -- that was a promotion for the film "Casper". A film that came out I think about 15 years ago.

3. Why does this child of mine insist on completely stripping down whenever he goes to the bathroom?

4. Why is my 6-month-old son sleeping through the night fine, but my 3-1/2 year old daughter wakes us up almost every night for a new ailment? Last night, it was 3 a.m. and she had "too many boogies in her nose to sleep". Will we ever get a complete night's sleep again?

5. Out of all the new and wonderful things that my son has learned in kindergarten, why is his most favorite new word to say "teat"? (He visited a farm yesterday on his first field trip, and I got an in-depth explanation on how he milked a cow. Very detailed, probably too detailed, which is troubling in itself).

6. Why can't we make it out the door in time for Mimi to get to school in time for carpool? They close carpool at 9:15 and the school is less than a half mile away. But we just can't seem to get there once in time for carpool.

Well, aside from being incredibly sleep-deprived, today has been a great day. Very busy, but good. Mimi is turning into quite the fashionista. I had to take a picture of her on the way to school this morning because she was just so cute. What you can't see in the picture are all of the multi-colored, jeweled clips that she puts in her hair when she 'fixes it'. Attached is also a photo of her on her way to ballet class. All of the other girls are fine to wear their simple black leotards and pink tights, but not our Amelia. Her look is more bordello-meets-ballet. Very flashy, lots of silver jewelry, and tiara as well. At least she loves dance. She spends more time in front of the TV learning the moves from EVERY production piece from her spring recital ... she can do every dance pretty well.

Cooper is getting huge. Over 19 lbs., teething (2 teeth on the bottom so far) and sitting up. He loves the swing and loves being outside. Charlie is getting so mature! Right now he is very excited about Burger King because of all the pinata toys in their Happy Meals. This too shall pass.

happy birthday to mommy!

Yesterday was my birthday, and chuck and the kids made it so special!
saturday night, chuck arranged dinner at my favorite restaurant with the wilburns. it was great to catch up as adults, since when we are usually all together, we can barely get a complete sentence in with all of our kids running around!

sunday morning, the kids woke me up and presented me with my 'birthday poster'! this was supposed to be a big surprise, but mimi let it slip a few days earlier. i still acted surprised, though. It was so great! The kids put their handprints on it and made all sorts of decorations with pipe cleaners. Even Cooper contributed! And they also gave me my birthday gift ... a beautiful necklace to accent my diamond cross that Chuck gave me several years ago.

We spent the day at church, at the park and then Mimi and I went to Abby's "Mary Poppins" birthday party. We finished the night at dinner at Kathleen's Art Cafe.

I love my family! They are the best!

Beautiful Day

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day! The weather couldn't be more perfect, and we have already spent a good deal of our time today outdoors. Chuck is playing with Dave in the Preston Trails Member/Guest, so I took the kids to Caruth Park and met up with Abby and Tracy. We all had a picnic and the kids enjoyed themselves. Hopefully we will get back out to the park again today after Cooper wakes up from his afternoon nap. He really enjoyed going on the swing and just rolling around on the blanket in the sunshine. Charlie, as usual, was putting on the charm for the group of girls that he was surrounded by. At one point, Tracy and I spotted him walking hand in hand with a little girl he had just met! Tracy's comment: "That boy is going to be a politician!"

I agree ... It's either that or a used car salesman. He has a very smooth, Eddie Haskell-esque quality to him, my firstborn!

if you HAVE to get in trouble ...

Recently, Chuck and I instituted a 'zero tolerence' policy in our family with the kids. We don't give them 'chances' and don't count to three ... if they misbehave/disobey/fight/talk back, etc., the consequences are immediate. And for the most part, it seems to be paying off. Charlie's attitude seems to be improving, and Mimi is having fewer temper tantrums.

But, Chuck and I had to laugh when Charlie told us why he got in trouble at school the other day. His class is memorizing Psalm 1, complete with hand motions. The memorization is one of the things we love about Providence! Charlie got into the car after carpool and told me the day had been great, but he did get in trouble 'one time, when we were working on Psalm 1". He got a little carried away with the part about the "chaff blowing away." He let HIMSELF blow across the room, pretending he was a "piece of chaff being carried by the wind" (his words, not mine). I had to stifle a laugh at this one!

Charlie definitely has the tendency to get over-energized in groups, but despite this, it is a pretty funny story. And I also can't complain given he ...
1. is memorizing scripture at school in the first place
2. knows what 'chaff' is; and,
3. is creative enough to pretend he was a piece of chaff!

On another note, I LOVE bathtime with Cooper. He is such a joyful little guy! He sits and splashes and coos ... he is so proud of himself. Is there any smell better than a clean baby just out of the bath?

Happy to report that Amy is doing better. She had another surgery last night to relieve a blood clot, and is doing well today. She has even seen the twins, Carsen and Lauren. I can't wait till I can visit with her again.

sip and see mania

Today I hosted Tara's sip and see for sweet baby Cannon at our house. Tracy, Veruschka, Jodi, Kate and Lisa also hosted the party. There is nothing like hosting a party to get you organized! I spent the greater part of this weekend cleaning out closets and nooks and crannies of our house ... as if any of the guests were going to go through my kids' closets! I will say that our house has not been this clean for a while. Perhaps if we hosted big parties on a monthly basis, I would be a lot more organized!

Chuck and I had a nice date last night, and the Stringfields even joined us for the latter part of our dinner. I spent most of the rest of the weekend readying for the shower, while Chuck took Charlie and Mimi to play golf and do other fun stuff. The kids were so happy to spend a lot of time with Chuck, as he has been out of town a lot recently.

Charlie seems to have turned a corner in regards to his behavior and self-control. The two of us went to the memorial Friday for Sydney Thweatt and he sat still, respectful and reverent the entire service! It ran over 2 hours long and was sad yet very inspirational. Charlie says he wants to be a disciple of Christ just like Sydney was. He is such a sweet boy and has been surprisingly quiet over the passing of this schoolmate he has prayed for every night for the past year. Now, he has made up his mind that he is going to pray for Sydney's brothers every night.

Tomorrow night, another sip and see. Then in the coming weeks, two more -- one of which I am also hosting. We are going through a mini-baby boom around here, I think! Here is a photo from my sip and see a few months ago. Can't believe Cooper was EVER that small! He is so big and joyful!

new pics

charlie and cooper with matching pjs ...

chuck and mimi going on a 'date' to dinner ...

charlie at the science museum ...

mimi and gracie after ballet this week

sad week

well, this week has been a long one.

first, mimi was sick. very long trips to the pediatrician, but she is feeling better now. after an infection starting sunday and leading till monday night, she is doing better finally. she really missed being at school on monday! I got a sweet note from her teacher and they really missed her, too.

charlie was sick on tuesday. stomach issues, fever, etc. trip to the pediatrician who didn't say much other than that he had a virus that would pass. ugh.

i dropped out of my trip to Roundtop because of the sick kids. Also missed my small group on Tuesday because of taking care of them.

wednesday, we are doing better now. but i am overwhelmed just trying to catch up on everything going on around here. Amy P. had her twins tonight, very premature. We are praying that they are healthy and that Amy comes out of her surgery well. I'm sure we will have sweet peyton and parker over soon to play. Praying for their twin baby sisters, who are 3 lbs and 1.5 lbs. and doing ok so far. Amy is not doing so well. She is still in critical but stable condition in the icu. I will get there tonorrow in the morning.

Monday morning, sweet Sydney from Charlie's school passed away from a year-plus battle with AML -- the same leukemia that took Chuck's father. The school is in mourning, and the funeral is Friday at our church. They cancelled school on Friday because of the services.

Chuck is in NYC on a business trip and we all miss him! Hopefully he will be back safely so we can have a happy weekend with him. We need a lift!

Please pray for the Thweatts, the Holmes and the Prideauxs.