Our new friends, Clifford and Chuck E. Cheese

Week before last, we all were sick. By that Friday we felt better but had been home most of the week, so when our friend told us about an Easter "eggstravaganza" at Barnes and Noble, we jumped on a chance to get out and have some fun. The girls had fun hearing a story, watching a movie in a portable tentlike planetarium, and picking out custom-made spring cupcakes, but the biggest impression that evening was made by the guests of honor: the Easter bunny and Clifford, the big red dog. After standing in line for a while, we got to go up with our friends to meet Clifford. AG and SJ were OK with this, but as you can see our little friend in the red pants was less than thrilled to be so close to Clifford, even though she was previously a fan! At the last second, LL also got scared and wouldn't even get close enough to be in the photo. So all in all it was a fun event, but I think we have a little more prep to do before making smooth and happy introductions to the Disney characters later this month!


Then last Saturday I took LL to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's...her first time to go there. It was such fun to watch her run around, totally loving all the rides, games, and dancing in front of the camera on the big screens. She had a great time, and I am sure it won't be long until we all go back. She cracked me up on these rides because she hugged Bob the builder and "Chucky and Cheese" the whole time!

Five!

AG turned 5 yesterday! We had a fun day, sort of unusual and low-key since we are all (the girls and me) getting over a yucky virus, but she got to celebrate in little ways all day long. She received 5 calls from family members to personally wish her a happy birthday, had fun opening her cards and gifts, went to the park, picked out a bike helmet to go along with her other "surprise" gift, played hopscotch on the porch, had a visit from a gift-bearing buddy from across the street, enjoyed a pizza she chose and ice cream pie for her birthday supper, and finally, got to try our her new set of wheels...a real bike (with training wheels)! She jumped right on and took off last night, and this morning she rode around and around on the patio while she counted to 139 (then decided to stop because she thought that was as long as a walk would take, and that was her goal...to see if she could ride long enough to accompany us on a walk!:)

We're thankful to have this sweetie as our "biggest sister"...with her freckles, sweet smile, eagerness to learn, helpful and thoughtful ways, and care for her sisters and friends. She has learned and grown so much since her 4th birthday, and we are excited to see what the next year has in store for her!

School Days, Shared

This month LL's had a few events at school that we all got to tag along for. A few weeks ago we went to the zoo for her class's field trip. I think it was the first time we've been since AG's zoo field trip last year...too long!

Riding the train after our zoo tour


The school had their annual "Western Day" and we were there to see LL brush a goat (the very same one that was a newborn last year on AG's Western Day!) and pan for gold!

18 Months!

A few weeks late to mark this event, but SJ is now an experienced 18 month old! Here she is on the actual "half-birthday" just before bed.


We see her personality more each day and she is so much fun! She loads her arms with purses and dolls/stuffed animals all the time. A few days ago she was outside raking in the dirt with a purse in the other hand...


SJ is so playful and loves to laugh and get us into little games by running away and giggling. Here's a blurry shot of a fun moment with T (the tiger) and LL...


Happy to share the swing with her favorite things

Our weekend trip

Last weekend we went to visit Mimi and PawPaw and the rest of the family to celebrate Mimi's birthday. There was lots of playing for the girls at their house but we also went to a park to feed the ducks and play on the playground. Fun!

PawPaw and SJ playing


LL loved rocking with Nana.


"DuckaDuckaDuckaDucka!!!!"


AG feeding the ducks. She and LL tore up lots of bread but apparently these ducks were well-fed! They were in no hurry to eat it and used good duck manners, unlike the "snappy" ducks the girls remember trying to feed with Nana once before.


The girls and grandparents after park playtime

Happy Mardi Gras & 8 Years!

It's a big day in our part of the world...Mardi Gras! We got to go to two parades last Friday: one at LL's school and the other, that night, an official city parade with real floats, a few marching bands, and tons of bead throwing.

Here are a few pictures, mostly of the school parade. They encourage the kids to dress up and they all have a chance to ride in wagon "floats" to throw out favors/beads and also to sit by the "route" and say "Throw me something, Mister!" SJ quickly learned how to put the beads around her neck and LL had fun riding, marching, and filling her bag with loot!





The girls and a new buddy after the evening parade


The most special thing about today for us, however, is that it marks 8 years since T and I got married! We are amazed when we look back and consider how much and how wonderfully our lives have changed in that time and look forward to many more years together, seeing what God has in store for our family.

SJ's Big Reveal

SJ got her first real haircut yesterday! I'd trimmed the front twice to keep it out ofher eyes and the back once, just a tiny bit, but it had gotten wild so we decided it was time for a trip to the pros. And would you believe I forgot my camera? So sad! She looked so cute sitting on my lap in the little blue and yellow cape. I thought she might be afraid since the last times we went to the doctor and tried to have her foot measured at the shoe store she went nuts, but she didn't fuss at all! She just looked at her book and occasionally checked herself out in the mirror.

Here's what we'll call a before photo, taken at LL's Valentine party last Friday. I think you can tell how long and crazy it was in the back...it was past her shoulders and pretty stringy.


And after:


Short but much neater!


She likes to sit on whatever happens to be the right height...this weekend it was a paint can on our kitchen floor, and yesterday the diaper box I'd just brought in.


And a random one of AG and LL taken over the weekend. They had a really good time playing together for long stretches without too many squabbles, as T and I both noticed!

A Mini Concert

AG has just learned to play her first "two-hand" song on the keyboard! Here's "Mister Snail"...

Little Sweethearts

Another busy week has passed! Last Friday we celebrated Valentine's Day at LL's school with her class. Here she is putting her Valentine's cards into her friends' bags. Assisting her is Ms. Evans, aka "Ms. Heavens," which AG continues to call her over a year and a half after she began preschool in the same class. On the way to the party that day AG said something about Ms. Heavens and LL finally said, "It's Ms. Evans, not Ms. Heavens." I'm not sure if AG even hears the difference, but even if so, I think old habits will be hard to break...and with such a sweet mistake, neither I nor Ms. Evans really cares!


We made sugar cookies the day before to take to the party (we rolled out the dough and cut out hearts to ice and sprinkle, but I bought the dough...I won't compete with Nana's excellence at the homemade ones!:)


One day AG had one of those ideas for making a surprise she just had to carry out right then. She gathered supplies, worked secretively in another room, then finally asked for some help because she wanted to make elephant ears and was having trouble cutting them the same size. Here the finished product after our hasty collaboration:


Three doodle bugs!


We recently increased the teddy bear/Pooh population at our house when Aunt Nanoo passed along some treasured friends. The girls quickly adopted them and love to make them a part of their playtimes. On this day they'd decided that each one (bears and girls!) would be a member of a beloved family in our church with 7 kids!

Overheard tonight...

AG was on the phone with PopPop and Gran, who are en route to the Holy Land and called from Atlanta just before the girls' bedtime. She passed through the room I was in just in time for me to hear this comment on their anticipated visit to Bethlehem:

"If you see where the stable was, you can call us. But you know the animals probably died."

Our Visit with Grandpa

Saturday Grandpa came through town and stopped for a visit filled with reading to the girls, playing outside, and more reading to the girls. It was a marathon of Disney storybook tales by their request, and he was a champ all the way through!

Getting a warm welcome from the girls!


This was the scene most of the time he was here! Of course SJ had her own book to look at...


Later that night AG and LL put on a show for T and me. LL performed the first number, then AG directed this one while dancing by giving LL instructions to spin, kick, march, and "raise your hand!"

LL on the Go!

"I did it!!!" LL has just learned how to get herself into the swing...now we'll work on getting, and staying, going!


She loves to pick the little yellow (weed) flowers in the yard.


This is how she sets her mouth when she's working intently at something...such as tucking my hair behind my ears, as she does almost daily as if our welfare depends on her corraling every single strand!


A beautiful bouquet!


Looking in the bathroom mirror and singing into her "micro-cone" one night before bed

Gran and PopPop Came to Town

Last week Gran and PopPop came to visit on Monday and Tuesday. Sunday had been Gran's birthday, so we all went out Monday night for her birthday dinner. Beforehand, though, there was much playing at our house and an outing to do what else? Ride the carousel, of course!

AG read a few stories to Gran and PopPop with SJ listening in a little, too.


PopPop and AG paired up for the carousel ride as usual.


Here are LL and Gran...with a lovely horse's behind in the foreground!


Gran snapped a shot of all of us following SJ's first ride...it was certainly one for the books! (sorry, I had to say it:)

Planetarium and more...

I'm playing catch up...these are photos from week before last. That Tuesday we went on a field trip with LL's class to our State Art and Science Museum and planetarium. It was the girls' first planetarium visit and they watched a little cartoon teaching about weather, planets, etc., which was probably mostly over their heads but was pretty entertaining. After the show we went into the museum's childrens' rooms to explore and play. SJ found a neat magnetic giraffe but was sort of baffled when his legs kept falling off.


After the museum time, we walked up the levee to see the river. It was a beautiful, warm day and the girls had a great time running around!


Later that day T took them for a wagon ride in the backyard. It's a good thing they're not as heavy as they are cute! :)



I tried letting SJ eat from a plate one evening. As you can see she's not quite ready, but we'll keep trying every now and then.

Bookworm

SJ is showing her preferences more and more each day. One of those was expressed early and hasn't changed...she loves books. "Buh" was her first word months ago, and even though she can pronounce it alot better now (with a very pronounced "k", and most recently, a steady stream of "bookabookabookabooka")it is still the first thing she says when she wakes up in the morning or from her nap, and it is undoubtedly the word she says most of all, probably 10 times as much as anything else. She likes to be read to, but most of the time is satisfied just to carry books around, often one in each hand, sometimes stopping to look at them. In the carseat, a few books are a must, and it is sometimes an issue to get her to let them go so we can get her arms in or out of the seatbelts! She spends most of her waking hours holding, or asking for, books.

This proves my point and cracks me up everytime I think about it. We went to ride the carousel earlier this week (more photos in the next post)and this time SJ was finally big enough for me to hold her up so she could ride. My mom took this photo to record SJ's first carousel ride, and right after she took it I realized SJ had a book in each hand! The girl never wants to let them go!


Just this week she has gotten into sitting in the little white rocker (which was her PopPop's back when he was little enough to sit in it!) to look at her books. It's a challenge for her to balance, especially with two books and a doll to hold!



This is easier...just one book so she can actually turn the pages!


Sometimes she backs the chair up into a little space between the other furniture. This time she had convinced PopPop to put her blanket sleeper halfway on her. She walked around that morning with the legs of the sleeper dragging behind her like two tails...silly girl!


It's so fun to see her interests developing. Her sisters definitely liked/like books alot, but I would say, comparatively, at this point SJ has a passion for them! It will be interesting to see where this goes...