Tuesday, April 10, 2012

AG is 8!

I can hardlyt believe it! On April 2 AG turned 8, and we started celebrating the Saturday before that with a party on the patio with her friends and grandparents. She invited lots of sweet girls from CC, co-op, and church for games, fancy finger food, and cake, of course!





It's tough sometimes being the only little guy around (who can walk!) but RL had fun anyway. Here he is hanging out with Nana...


The next day we hosted our church community group and hunted a few eggs! Here's the "little" crew after the hunt!


Then Monday, AG's actual birthday, we celebrated at home with her requested meal of pizza and corn on the cob, followed by cake and a few more gifts.



We are so thankful for this sweet girl! She is a thinker, a reader, a planner, a joker, a helper, and a good friend and great big sister.

Ahh, Spring!

Spring arrived on the heels of a warm springish winter, I suppose, but made itself apparent with bursts of colorful azaleas and extra doses of warm sunshine. We have enjoyed it! To officially kick it off, our sweet neighbors down the street (the ones with the three beautiful golden retrievers that the girls LOVE) held an egg hunt and treat fest for the kids on our block. Seriously, after they hunted eggs, we went inside and the kids were served ice cream sandwiches, followed by cake, followed by cupcake and cookie decorating (and each of our girls brought home 4 cupcakes and 3-4 cookies, plus they sent us home with the extra goodies). Talk about a sweet way to start the season! Thankfully we were able to "share" with friends at church the next morning!

SJ was a good egg-finder...


RL, not so much. He was more concerned with holding the foam "chick" he'd just decorated. But he ended up with a few eggs anyway.


Let the decorating begin!




Back at home...





LL took the next two...



LL takes her role as a big sister seriously when it comes to having fun with her brother...


Sweet AG in her last days as a 7 year old...


SA at almost 6 months!


Silly AG after running through the sprinkler...while she still had one front tooth! (It came out last weekend!)

March On...

Where do the weeks go? We've been busy with our usual activities plus lots of extra fun things over the last month or so. I guess that's not unusual though...seems to be the case whenever I post that it's a mixture of special events and ordinary days, which are really just as sweet. We are blessed to be able to enjoy all this with our little people.

Spontaneous dance party underway...


RL got into the hats that night...


and everybody ended up in mouse ears!


We went to the zoo on March 10 for T's company's spring picnic. What could make a beautiful day at the zoo even better? Crawfish, ice cream, and train rides for all! I think this was the first time RL has ridden a train since he was old enough to know it. He was speechless.





Feeding the turtles


Happy in the huge hippo


Back home, SJ catches another lizard. I can't stop taking pics every time she catches one...I am just so amazed!


Way back in February the girls gave me a handwritten invitation (from all three of them and their "dollies") to a tea party in their room to be held on March 14 at 2:30p.m. I accepted with pleasure and put it on my calendar. They did not forget. They woke up that morning and dressed for the occasion. And as the time approached they spent a good half-hour or so in the kitchen with the door closed and (since I was distracted by a phone call) even used the toaster oven to cook something without so much as a peek or a question from me (a totally unprecendented experience). What they intended to be chocolate chip muffins (made from scratch with no recipe) turned out to be baked chocolate chip dip (because they also used no Pam), but no problem because we were using Thin Mints as dippers! It was a super-sweet party...they had even made gifts for me and let RL join in, too. Here are the hostesses!


And SA was there, too, though he did not try the dip.


SA likes the exersaucer sometimes, and I think it was around this time that his hair started standing up all time...love it.

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Seen and Heard...

T and his four helpers!


SA at 5 months (a month ago!)


AG and SA


He loves his thumb.


SJ's half-birthday date with her Daddy. They celebrated 4.5 with dinner at IHOP and a trip to the bookstore.


Our sweet "foh"-and-a-half year old!


Have I mentioned she is a fearless lizard-catcher? This is a wonderful gift when T's not home and one shows up inside. It was one of the first times I thought, "Can this really be MY child?" I am so proud of her!


RL in one of his last recorded moments with Ralph. A few days after this, I spontaneously suggested Ralph had gone on vacation one night at bedtime, and he has yet to return...I don't think he's coming back. And RL has done great with it...now he has "monkey/George" and "tiger" (which he caught from the "mardi drop truck")to snuggle with at night.


SA at the park on March 8, after his ENT appointment in NOLA revealed his throat "bump" was gone and no surgery would be needed! So thankful for that!



LL to SJ after her date at IHOP: "I bet that pancake was really good...let me smell your breath again!"

SJ, looking at the tag on her size small nightgown: "This gown is for S-year-olds."

LL, dressed-up and playing Little House, to me, with a very proper-sounding accent: "Mrs. J, I'm Mary Power, a friend of Laura Ingalls. Where should I park my horse?"

AG, all in one day, a Sunday:
on the way home from church, after T commented on her writing "I like God" in cursive during church: "I would have written "I love God" but I don't know v yet."

to me, with a tired voice,while searching for shoes, any shoes, that would work for her: "Shoe-shopping is hard."

on the way home, after I mentioned baths would be taken when we got home: "Mary and Laura only took a bath once a week."