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."  :)

Our home is kind of like the Louvre ...

... just without all of the fine art. 

 

But we DO have art!  (And in my eyes, they are all masterpieces ...)  It seems like each week, we accumulate more and more paintings, drawings, sculptures, dioramas, collages, etc.  Between school, art class, cooking class, sunday school and CBS, we are actually having to become quite selective over which pieces of art we are keeping.  

Here are a couple of recent keepers:  Check out this "self portrait sculpture" that Charlie brought home from Kid Art this week.  It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows our son that his "miniature version" is decked out in full Cowboys gear -- including football and blue jersey.  The finishing touch is his hat, worn backward "just like Tony Romo."  (Why again did we tell him he looked like Tony Romo when he wears his hat backward?  Now he won't take it off!)

Underneath the sculpture is a love note/picture that Mimi wrote for Daddy upon his return from Vegas.  It includes pictures of hearts, sunflower seeds and a lion.  Almost reminiscent of Gauguin (the lion).  And very sweet.   

                                               See the resemblance?  It's almost uncanny. . . 

Going Green

OK, so I know that the current trend in US society is to go all "green" and eco-friendly.  This is just really not me.  I don't recycle, use paper plates with abandon to avoid doing dishes, and drive a huge honkin' SUV that guzzles gas like Ted Kennedy guzzles bourbon.  I also wear leather, eat meat, and would wear fur if I had it (not much need for a mink coat in Dallas, though).  It's not just because I'm a proud Republican, but also because I don't know that any of this "green living" business makes a difference.  As my pal Laura puts it, "If global warming means I can lay out in DC in January, than I'm all for it."  

To be honest, this whole "green" thing makes me a little annoyed.  It also reminds me of Al Gore (bleh!).  BUT ... then I recently read that one way you can be "green" is to buy antiques!  Imagine my delight when I realized that I was actually doing a little high-end recycling with my vintage Fortuny pillows!  

Yesterday I spent the day at the world-famous Round Top antiques market to acquire some new stuff for the house and for our remodel.  The market consists of several fields out in the middle of nowhere, covered in tents and filled with antiques.  We are talking WAY out in the country -- the market "newsletter" is actually called "The Howdy."  There is a lot of junk (stuffed squirrels, anyone?), but also some great stuff to be found.

I found a few cool things, including:  an old Swedish clock, a French chest from the 1800s, some antique transferware, and a huge mirror made from reclaimed vintage shutters.  I am SOOO green!  

But don't worry ... I'm not about to go see "An Inconvenient Truth!"