summertime ... finally!

Well, the school year wrapped up with lots of pomp and circumstance, and now we are into summer.  I wish I could say we are just lounging around, but between swim team every morning, Vacation Bible School(s),  baseball games, ballet camps, sports camps, art camps ... and the occasional vacation ... we are hardly lounging around!

Mimi enjoyed her first full week of summer at a cheerleading camp while Charlie dove headfirst (literally) into swim team.  What fun!  

But while we are enjoying this time, we've been constantly reminded that we have SO many friends right now that are dealing with some very real, very difficult challenges.  Kennedy, one of Charlie and Amelia's sweet friends, was recently diagnosed with a very rare and debilitating disease ( see link).  Every time we go up to the club, the kids miss seeing her.  My sweet friend Michelle's sister is still battling a very serious form of cancer.  As is Gage Holmes, the 5-year-old son of friends of ours.  Our good friends the Fournets finally received their referrel for the twins they are adopting from Ethiopia -- a country with so much pain and so many kids that need homes. 

Please join us in continuing to pray for all of them, during their transitions and health issues.

Ballet Recital

The Dancing Angels Spring Recital is one of the highlights of my year.  As usual, Amelia wowed us with her dancing prowess ... 

I'm always proud of my kids, but for a 4-year-old to be able to stand up on stage in front of hundreds of people and perform wonderfully -- I was just overwhelmed.  Thankfully, she did NOT inherit my dancing genes!  

Thank you, Kids!

Thank you for letting me be your Mommy ... You make my every day special!  

A four-year-old's perspective on Mom

Today, when I picked up Amelia from school, she had 2 early Mother's Day gifts for me.  One was a beautiful potted flower -- she had painted the pot "all by herself."  

The second gift was a "survey" about mommies she had filled out (or at least, her teacher filled out for her!).  I have to say that some of her answers about me were quite humorous . . . 

*What is your mom's name?   

Jessica Watkins (A little strange she didn't get the right last name!)

*How old is your mom? 

 32  (I wish!)

*What's your mom's favorite song?  

I don't know ... Amazing Grace? (Sweet, but probably anything by U2)

*What's your mom's favorite thing to do with you?  

Go run some errands (This answer made me feel very bad!)

*What's your mom's favorite food?  

I think steak (That would be daddy!)

*What do you like most about your mom?  

Her jewelry that she gave me (No idea on this one!)

*How long have you known your mom? 

 A long time.  (No kidding!)

Ha!  To have a 4-year-old's perspective on life!

summertime is almost here...

We can tell this in two big ways:

1.)  the pool....  we are still heating it, but several days in the 80's has made it possible for us to announce that we are now "re-open for business."  

2) Mimi's annual spring Ballet recital is this Saturday.  Don't the girls look adorable at today's dress rehearsal?  Oops, I'm sorry Amelia ... not 'adorable,' but 'sophisticated and posh."  

(The hands-under-chin pose is Mimi's current favorite.  I am trying to get her to drop this habit, but she saw the princesses doing this at Disneyworld last fall. . . so it is likely to stick around for a while.)

Bittersweet

Me with (some of) the ladies in my group.  

Yesterday and today were my final days at CBS for the year.  Yesterday was Share Day for Leader's Council, and today was Share Day for the class.  This is probably one of my favorite times of the year -- such a great time to see what God has done in the lives of the women through our study during the year.  

But unfortunately, (sniff!), it was the last time I got to lead my group.  It has been SUCH an incredible blessing to have been on the Leadership team for this Bible study the past 2 years.  The women in my small group really formed a tight bond, and I have loved walking with them through good times and bad.  Each woman in my group has made a mark on my life this year.  I will miss Tuesdays with them so much!  

I will be taking at least a year sabbatical from leadership (but NOT from the study!) because of the kids' schedules next year ... and while I know this is the right decision for our family, I will really miss being on CBS leadership.  It humbles me by what a blessing and a joy it is to be able to serve, since even Jesus, "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."  (Mark 10:45)

To the ladies in my group, here are my prayers for you:

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  (Romans 15:13)  

and that you will ... "live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience and joyfully give thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light."  (Colossians 1:10-12)

You know you live in TX when ...

... the annual Young Life fundraiser is a skeet shooting tournament.  But I LOVE Young Life ... love what they do, love the people, love the mission -- so of course, I agreed to participate.  Who do I think I am, Annie Oakley? 

The first time I shot a gun was 2 weeks ago. (Which is very un-Texan, apparently.)  The bruise on my cheek lasted until a few days ago.  But that didn't hinder me, or my team ... we were out there today in full force, with our team t-shirts on!  (They read, "Don't make momma mad" on the front, with our names on the back.)

The BBQ lunch with a Country/Western band providing atmosphere was great.   The fellowship with my friends was priceless.  And we even had fun shooting us some skeet ... Tara 'took one for the team' when she accidentally got her finger caught in the gun while loading the 20-gauge, slicing it open.  Other that that mishap, fun times by all.  But, wow -- it still stresses me out to load that gun!

Did I mention that I led our team with 17 points?  And we didn't even finish the entire course ...We had 4 more stations to go (OK, so our team most likely finished dead last, I still have to be proud of something!)  

All for a great cause -- supporting YL's mission to share the love of Christ with some high school/inner-city kids.  Sign me up again next year!

Coop does NOT like swim lessons ...

He really does not like his survival swim lessons.  Really. Does. Not. Like. Them. One. Bit.

But better a child with a healthy fear of the water than the alternative ... Thank you, Miss Patti!

little momma

who needs to hire a babysitter when you have a 4-year-old who thinks she is 24?  

Amelia LOVES her baby brother -- dotes on him ... spoils him ... harasses him ...  smothers him ... carries him around the house like he's her life-size doll ... feeds him ... clothes him ... put stickers and makeup on him ... you get the picture.

It was nice, however, to be able to enjoy Charlie's baseball game on Saturday -- as Mimi and Francie single-handedly took care of Cooper the entire time.  

Mostly, they pushed him around in his Pooh car, and hovered around the ice-cream truck, waiting for someone to buy them a treat.  This all started at 8:45.  By about 10 a.m., some poor parent had bought them all ice-cream.  

(That ice-cream man should be sued.  It's pure manipulation.  One child gets ice-cream, and after that, they all fall like dominoes.)

The difference between boys and girls ...

Today we had the brother-sister duo of Holt and Scarlett over to play.  Immediately, the girls and boys broke off into warring factions ... OK, not really, but it was interesting to see what the girls chose to do versus the boys.

Here are the girls:

They had approximately 15 costume changes each, and did each other's hair and makeup several times.

Here are the boys:

Occasionally, they burped at each other while figuring out ways to covertly throw rocks at the construction workers next door.  

While all of this was going on, Cooper (who was diagnosed today with a double-ear infection,  poor guy!) really decided to walk:

Whew!

For baby gifts ...

Check out this website from one of my sorority sisters at WFU -- Jennifer Lehman Ludt.  She makes the most adorable monogrammed and embroidered baby gifts.  I know because she was sweet enough to send me some of her burp cloths when Coop was born (she also has a Cooper).

She has gotten some cool press because one of our sorority sisters is BFF with Jennifer Garner and gave these to her at her baby shower ... 

Her site is www.babysophiagifts.com.  

Wheels off!

"Wheels off" is usually a pretty good description of our family life these days -- with 3 young and incredibly energetic kids running around.  But this weekend, it also described Charlie -- who learned how to ride his bike without the training wheels.  

Grandma was in town, and she got to observe the big event.  We were all very proud of him!  

Saturday night was Northwood's annual Father/Daughter dance, and Chuck and Mimi got all dressed up for the event.  They had a blast, and Mimi's favorite parts were: 1) dancing with Daddy and 2)having a banana split.  She even came home with a beautiful corsage. 

Sunday, I even got to have a little "girls only" time to myself with some of the ladies in our CG. But instead of mani/pedis or shopping, this time we went to a shooting range!  We are practicing skeet shooting for a team fundraiser for Young Life in 2 weeks (we bought a team of four). . . Let's just say we could use some improvement.   

I am still sore, have a bruised shoulder and chin/cheek from the recoil on the 28-gauge, but at least we had fun!  

The things you do for love ...

Motherhood makes you do things that any normal, rational person would consider crazy.  Like...

*Willingly gaining weight (lots of it) and being sick, uncomfortable and miserable for 9 months of pregnancy

*Doing the above repeatedly, even after you know what you are signing up for

*Signing up for years of extreme sleep-deprivation -- very similar to what the Chinese use as a form of torturing political prisoners

*Listening to Weejoice and the Wiggles in the car instead of U2.

*Sitting through movies like "Alvin and the Chipmunks." 

*Letting your 4-year-old daughter do your makeup

*Pretending to laugh at knock-knock jokes made up by a car full of kindergarten boys (They all have the same punch line:  "poop!")

*Taking trips to Disneyworld instead of Cabo (or any place exotic, for that matter!)

I'm sure I could go on for days with other examples.  But I don't think too many of them can top my current display of foolishness:

*Taking in a tarantula as a houseguest.

Right now, I willingly have a tarantula living in my kitchen.  His name is Terry, and he belongs to Charlie's class at school.  We have adopted him for April recess.  I've been assured that he **probably** isn't poisonous. Probably.  And I am feeding him live crickets.  Which means I am caring for and nurturing said tarantula.  What is wrong with this picture? 

Of course, the kids are infatuated with him.  They have totally broken the "no touching the glass" rule posted on Terry's cage.  The poor tarantula is probably traumatized by his new host family.  

Charlie is trying to convince me to let him set up Terry's cage in his bedroom.  Yeah, right.  I might be crazy, but I'm not stupid.  I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has strong memories of Bobby Brady waking up with a tarantula on his face during the Brady Bunch's trip to Hawaii.  

Opening Day

Today was the long-awaited first game of the season for the Patriots. Charlie was so excited to get out there and play ... and I know I'm biased, but doesn't he look great in his uniform?

  (He chose #5 to be like Albert Pujols, his favorite Cardinal)

 Amelia even got into the spirit with her shirt that reads "Girls Love Baseball"

The team was pretty impressive, and I was very proud of the way that Charlie played.  He even tagged one guy out when he was playing 2nd base!  Machine-pitch is definitely a huge step up from t-ball, but you would have thought the boys had been playing it for years.  And all of their pre-season hard work paid off ... they beat the Rockies 4-0!  

                                                        First at bat

             Charlie played catcher one inning

 Mimi and Francie found the ice-cream truck -- at 10 a.m. in the morning!

it's happening already ...

I thought I could expect something like this around early adolescence ... not 6 years old...

Charlie doesn't think I'm cool.  

I guess I should have been forewarned when he started "shrugging" off my hugs at carpool line.  And rolling his eyes at me when I try to kiss him on the cheek.  And choosing to wear t-shirts that say stuff like, "There is no off-season!" instead of the polos I pick out for him.

But today, since Chuck was out of town, I took Charlie to baseball practice.  The exclusive domain of dads and sons.   Apparently, it is not so "cool" to have your mom, little sister and baby brother in tow.  Especially when aforementioned little sister is VERY loud.

We walk up to practice ... Mimi yells to everyone, "HEY GUYS!"  Charlie immediately turns on a dime -- and motions that we must stop there, and let him and him alone proceed to practice.  

We were banished to the playground.  This was as close as he let us get during practice ...

You can probably see (with a magnifying glass) that Charlie is the one in the long-sleeve white t-shirt batting?  No?  Well, I think he might have gotten a single.  

At least Mimi and Cooper think I am cool.  For a while at least.  

I love the spring!

Springtime in Dallas is definitely my favorite time of the year.  We don't get much in the way of spring or fall here in Texas ... usually only about 2 weeks of each --  and then on to either blazing heat or dreary gray winter.  

Today was a great spring day, though.  Mid-70's, sunny, and gorgeous outside.  We spent a perfect (at least in my eyes) family day:  early church service, then brunch, potted some plants in the backyard, hung out beside the pool, etc.  Later on, Mimi had a birthday party, and Charlie practiced baseball in the backyard with Chuck while Cooper napped.  Then we all headed up to Bent Tree to hit balls, and Dad and Penny joined us there for dinner.  Coop even enjoyed being out on the range, and Dad gave an impromptu putting lesson to Charlie and Amelia.  

                Charlie helped me pot some plants in the backyard.

                   Mimi on the way to, and then at, Gracie's party.

         By the way, Cooper's shirt reads, "Chicks dig me."  :)