A Time to Remember

Oh my goodness. Miss Wendy had the time of her life at her friend's birthday party! The theme was The Fairies of Pixie Hollow and The Lost Boys of Peter Pan! The birthday girl's mom made these ADORABLE costumes for the little girls. Amazing!
Wendy, along with all of the other little fluttery things, sparkled with glee...

...because of their fairy dust!
And then Captain Hook arrived. Time to scare him off!

Fabulous job on the cake.

The park was just lovely, especially once the sun emerged from behind the clouds. All the kiddos just sort of followed each other all around. There were so many cute photo ops!

The Line-Up.

Lincster, right before he, let's say, compromised his adorable party suit. Thank goodness I packed a spare outfit!

Even little forest spirits need to go home for a nap at the end of a festive celebration. Toodle Loo to all of you! Time to lay this sleepy head down.

Katie is right!

My great friend, Katie, recently told me "It's scary how much your kids look like each other." OH MY GOODNESS! She is SO right. I find it wondrous how my two children, conceived years apart, opposite genders, could somehow manage to pull from mommy and daddy the very same coloring, features, etc. when the possibilities from our two immense gene pools is infinate! I mean, my mother is darker, with brown eyes and a deeper skin tone. James' father, the same ---darker coloring. In our two families, we've got small noses, big noses, green eyes, blue eyes, brown eyes, brown hair, blonde hair, tall 'uns, short 'uns, etc, etc, etc. I cloned Wendy and added male parts. Seriously. I do hear it a lot now, too. "He looks just like Wendy!" Mm-hm!

"Brother, I'm smiling for the camera, but don't think for one minute that you're getting my Zhu Zhu pet!"

"Hey, we're close. But not that close. "

"You aren't getting my pet! I'm older and faster so there!"

Brother says, "Yeah, but I can make you feel insecure about dat! Lemme at him!"

(Insert Mommy's hand of justice.) "Now, now, Wendy, don't fret. He won't take it. He'll get his own when he's older and he won't share his with you, either."

"Be nice now. Aw, that's sweet, Wendy. Hold it! Click! Got it! Precious moments!"

"This must be Mommy's lucky day! You're such a great big sister! Smooch!"

"And you're not so bad yourself, little fellah."

Wendy Graduates from Preschool!!!!!!!

She did it. She graduated from preschool. SOB! Where, oh where, is the time going?! She did not wear a cap n' gown, or walk across the stage, but it was a concert of jubilee with apple juice and cookies following. Daddy took the morning to come and see her and her classmates sing silly songs and flap their arms on stage. I videotaped it. Linc bounced up and down on our laps watching joyfully! It was so special. Afterwards, we ate lunch at Chipotle and then I took her to Target to pick out her own graduation present. She chose a Barbie in a swimsuit with a toddler doll in matching swimsuit. As if to say, "See? Preschool was a piece of cake! Pre-K, ready or not, here I come!"

I call this "Ole Sarge." If Linc follows in his mommy and daddy's footsteps, and goes to Texas A & M, and covers our old stomping grounds with his now pudgy feet, perhaps this shot will make the slide show at his wedding rehearsal dinner that we'll someday host! Especially if his future wife is going to be an Aggie! You never know!

"The Way She Plays" Wendy is imaginative and can play for hours, creating little scenes from her own mind's wanderings. This paper towel is snow on the house.

The other day, I opened her bedroom closet for socks and found this little guy napping in the sock basket!

"In her play kitchen, behind closed doors, two dear friends enjoyed a quiet, peaceful tea break."

Linc holds his head up high, rolls around on the floor, but is not yet crawling--still has a way to go before that, I think!

Smokey blues bring out his eyes. He looks rather dazed and confused in this pic. Must've just gotten up out of bed!

She stuck a butterfly on his head to make him beautiful before she'd agree to this tender Sister-Brother shot!

Linc is thinking, "Mom! MOM! Why on Earth are you letting her handle me? Come ON!"

Wearing Ralph Lauren, from my mom. Of course, I go to put it on him this morning, for the first time, size 6 months, and already, this'll be the last time. It was a fight of fixed cotton seams pulled over soft, rubbery, squeaky clean baby chub!

Here is one well-fed baby!

I am so blessed to have such a happy baby boy! I mean he is eas--aye!

The Past Couple Days

Daddy and Son---watching sports. What else? Sports of course! Before school---this day was "Balls, Bubbles and Balloons!" They finished up the alphabet so it was a play day! I think her legs look sooooo long!

Look at this face! Oh, I just love his squishy cheeks! His skin is so incredibly soft!

After her "nap," she came down having dressed herself!

What I Love About My Kids...

I love Linc's gregarious laugh. I love his sweet disposition and small smile. (And I adore his gaping wide open smile also!) I love his squishy chubby legs...

And let's not forget his HUGE big toe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How cute?!

I love Wendy's social personality...

And the fabulous friends she attracts! This was from Anna's lemonade stand during our neighborhood garage sale!

How "Stinkin'" Hilarious!

Once upon a time, I e-mailed a photo of one of baby Wendy's diapers because I was truly concerned that she might need a doctor's attention. One recipient of my message was offended. She said, "Too much information." And she's a mom. How's that for kindness? I guess she thought I was trying to be crude. Well, I opened this up today, and just felt refreshed to be reassured that no, I am not abnormal. This sort of concern is legitimate. That reassurance came, even if late...
http://www.babycenter.com/baby-poop-photos?scid=momsbaby_20100518:2&pe=2UvLMBB

Gloriously Fun Day!

So, because last night was sort of...er...challenging due to a very strong-willed 3-year-old who wanted to party at 2 a.m., we didn't make it to church. We love Living Water Church, and want to become members soon, and truly forge those friendships and establish that family in Christ, so it was kind of a bummer that we missed this morning. But, alas, this is the life we live and from day to day, one never knows if "plans" will unfold as "planned." Instead of worship, we went for a family drive. We traveled down a direction we've never taken before. It was neat to see new landscape, new developments, and new folks. We love adventure. We never stay put. We are out and about, and I love that about James---that he's got the same wander-lust! We stopped at a gas station so he could consult the map. I got out to check out this nude, mission-style furniture in a small shop. I poked my head in, saw not a soul....a lot of benches, some tables. I left. Heading down the sidewalk, back towards the minivan, where James studied our next move, with windows up, and outside sounds masked by a vocal Lil' Linc and opinionated Woo Loo, I heard a dreaded noise. An aggressive, ANGRY dog's bark! I turn my head back to see this shiny, black, rather LARGE-framed beast ferociously gaining on me!!!!!!!!!! I faced forward and continued on at the same pace. I thought to myself, "Okay. This is going to hurt," imagining his FANGS puncturing my fleshy limb (ha ha ha ha--you'd have to know my current weight struggle to laugh at this one!) It was just one of those occasions where you know, absolutely without a doubt, that something unpleasant is fixin' to happen, and there aint a durn thang you can do about it! Well! THANK THE LORD his master, a gal about my age, came a racin' after that monster! "STOP BARLKEY!!!!!!!!!" I grasped my heart, hoping and praying that this'd do the trick to stop this canine from punishing me, and oh my goodness. The dog turned towards his owner. She said to me, very sympathetically, "He wanted to say, 'Hi!'" I smiled weakly and made it, briskly, back to James, who had not heard so much as a puppy whine. He unrolled his window. I literally supported all of me on the door frame, and nearly collapsed. My legs felt like jell-o. ACTUALLY, they felt EXACTLY the way my entire body had felt when they pumped morphine into me while hospitalized with pylonephritis! I was "weak in the knees." As an adult, I didn't really know what fear felt like any more. I mean, when was the last time I felt truly endangered?! Well, all, I felt it today. And I have to say, I am relieved that that man's best friend did not have his way with me! It took me quite a long time to recover. I feel exhausted from that teensy moment in time. Seriously. Thank you, God, for sparing me! After this, we went on to have a super fun excursion. Tons to see and do! More later!

B.F.F. stands for...

"Best Fairy Friend!" Yesterday, we all went back into the woods, and I took these! These are just a few of many I took. The two really were convincing as they pretended to be fairy friends on a mission! It was ADORABLE! My dear friend, Katie, gave me a fantastic idea that I'm working on. Stay tuned.

"And like that, the bird's voice was restored!"

Anna is older and SO much easier to pose!!!!!!!!