Gearing Up

We are gearing up for summer, beginning to think about swim lessons, vacation Bible school, hot dogs and lemonade! I have enjoyed the fact that it's starting to feel more like summertime, but golly, when will we get rain?!
We recently drove to La Vernia, and I spent a day with my best friend, Nicole, for her birthday, which was last week, and we had a great time catching up. That night, James came and met up with us and we had dinner out. The pic I took didn't turn out, boo, but it was fantastic fun anyway! Below is a pic of James and the kids with his parents.

Family pic ~Soccer Time!Soccer is coming to a close soon, she just wrapped up gymnastics for now, but she's taking swimming lessons (which is so important I feel) this summer. In the fall, she will begin ballet and tap!

I do yoga now, LOVE it, and my instructor told me I'm ready for intermediate in the 98 degree rooms! WHOOP! I have "yoga goals," so I hope I can advance! I cannot run, I'm not into aerobics, BUT yoga, at the higher levels becomes aerobic, so that is my aspiration!

So, until her lessons start, we are content to splash and goof off in these little jobbers.

I took the kids to the dentist, and Linc did such a great job! I warned the dentist that he'd give him a hard time, but I ate my words! Wendy has two small cavities due to deep grooves (like her mom, ugh!), so he'll later fill them and get the other teeth sealed, so that'll be preventative and perfect.

Good boy! Mama is SO PROUD! His teeth looked great, and he's got 6 left to get in.

Playtime before their names were called~

Following Easter service, we ate lunch with dear friends, and their son is so sweet and precious, and he's so compatible with Wendy. I had to take their pic!

Da da DAAAA!!!!!!!!!! "Wake up, Woo Loo! It's EASTER!" We spent time telling her the real Easter story, and she enjoyed hearing it again and again. I'm so glad she was genuinely interested, because with the baskets and goodies, it's easy for a child to forget the love of the cross.

TANGLED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For Linc, I knew I had to think outside the box. Now, what kind of mom would I be if I filled his basket with ladles, hammers and brooms, which he absolutely gravitates towards? So, this claw-like grabber, a sort of light saber, and a harmonica did the trick. Believe it or not, his favorite item is this small, light yellow duck, and I think it's, in part, because the duck has a decorated egg, smallish badge thing that's like a BELLY BUTTON, and Linc LOVES not only his belly button, but any one's! He lifts shirts over and over again and jabs a pokey finger in your navel, so consider this your warning.

I relented, so Wendy got to take her Tangled doll to church. I worried it would be problematic in some way, but no, thank goodness. We made it to church RIGHT as our choir was ready to go out, so I dashed back there, grabbed my robe, threw it over my head, and caught my breath quickly before joining in for the Easter Cantata!

Linc's outfit, all handed down! Can't see the front of his lil' vest, but light blue argyle. Ah, so sweet!

James' mom got Wendy this top, and it's soooo darling, I had to take her picture outside! I adore this shot.

"Bring a Friend Day" at Wendy's friend's ballet studio! This is where she will dance in the fall.

One day, James and I made a quick trip to La Vernia for his aunt's funeral, and my mom took the kids to Wendy's school. Well, she fell. With Linc in her arms. I am so thankful that she did not let go of Linc, but they both got scuffed up. Linc, just a teensy bit, but my mom, oh, my poor, poor mom. She got quite a beating on that curb, which was not seen due to the ginormous obstruction to her vision---Linc's big ole bobble head! She's healing up, and broke no bones, PRAISE GOD, but oh my. How dreadful, right? I asked Wendy if she saw Mimi fall. "Well, yes I did." "What did it look like?," I ask with furrowed brow. "I don't want to tell you, because it's too embarrassing." Her words. And later, when my mom returned for the party, she took this pic of Wendy deep into her celebrating Easter!

Taken one night at a restaurant. Her brows are darkening, and I just could stare at her pretty eyes all day long.

Wendy's friend, Katie, had her party, and her mom made this cute cake! The flames are those hard banana candies frosted!

My friend, Lizbeth, and I jumped into the foam pit! WHY NOT?! It was so fabulously fun, I want a membership at this place for my work-out!

Wendy didn't have any fun.

Yeah, not much fun...

I don't think she'll ever want to go do this again...

Never ever.............

NONE of us want to.

What would it take to fill a room in a house with scrap foam?

The BTU egg hunt was a blast. Linc is so funny. Little toddlers are funny. Just sitting there, staring and smiling at ONE egg while all the kids swarm in like a pack of wolves! James helped Linc get a few more...

Guess this wraps up this portion of "Days of Our Kid-Focused Lives."

These Kids

Good golly, you'll never believe what happened this morning. I was bathing Linc, and he suddenly stands up at the edge, places his hands down on the edge and with a ton of force, propels himself over! I thank God I was right there, was looking, and was fast enough! My hands grabbed his slippery shoulders as he was upside down now, his head maybe one inch from crashing into the hard tile floor! I then leaned into him and slowly spun his wet body around on the outside of the tub and lay his side down on the floor. Oh. My. Gosh. Had I not been able to stop him, he very well might have cracked his skull or broken his neck. That is terrifying to me. Please pray for future bath times. Wendy news--changing keys now so we can all laugh after that scary bit! Last night James made her an ice cream cone at the Chinese Buffet, and as he handed it to her, she said, "Thank you, Daddy! It's just the way I LOVE it! Vanilla and chocolate, my two FAVorite kinds, AND the kind of details I love on it---sprinkles!" Funny that she said, "details." And at a furniture store the other day, she was pointing out an ottoman or something she liked, and I could hear her as she was with Daddy around the corner. "Look at this good MATERIAL on it!" "Material?" Really? Funny. And Linc did something so wonderfully sweet the other day. He had climbed into the cabinet under the tv, and dropped a small but heavy speaker on his hand and fussed. I rushed over, comforted Linc and shook my finger at that mean speaker, saying, "No no, bad speaker! No hurty Lincy!" Linc then looks up at me with a small smile, places his big chubby hands on either side of my face, leans in and "MmmA!" kisses me on the lips! I felt such pure love and joy! And it was so spontaneous. It was his idea! He felt inclined to kiss me then in that moment. Reminded me of how James first told me he loved me. After his birthday dinner, in my parents' foyer, he placed his hands on either side of my face and told me he loved me for the first time. Awe....

Spa, Egg Hunt, Vet School, Oh My!

I begin with this sweet pic of Wendy from yesterday. I'd picked up some MOVIES along with books from our library, and she was in a chill-axed mood, wanting to feel cozy with her Pooh Bear and JC Penney, the other bear. This morning, I took the kids to the church, dropped them off in the kid room, and...

Our Bible study went to the spa!!!!!!!! Below, friends getting pampered...

My turn! Our teacher treated us all---awesome, right?!

Earlier this morning, Wendy in front of her calendar. Here's what we do--Each month, I make a new calendar for her. For every night that she stays in bed after the bedtime routine, and stays put and quiet until morning (doesn't wake us for something like a stuffed animal missing under a blanket or something), she puts a sticker for that night. When the calendar is full, she gets a $5 toy. In the mornings, I draw a new pic for her to color, and slide it silently under her door. Then, if she's been awake a while, she knows she can bolt out with all of her spirited self! This is what works. If we slack, she wakes in the night, hollers out, comes into our room super early, thinking it's a new day already, etc!

I've been experimenting with her hair...

Last Sunday, she wore the Easter dress MY grandmother made for me to wear! It's got to be 28 years old or so.

I had this idea a while ago to have an egg hunt for Wendy and some of her friends from school! The fellow moms were on board, and it turned out so well, with grilled dinner and lots of stuffed eggs--all a shared effort! We were the first ones there and I just started snapping a few pics right off the bat. I saw this one as it appeared on my computer and thought, "Some things never change..."

Wendy and Friends.

My little girl~

The day before, James and I took the children to the Vet School Open House! I'm SO glad James read about it first online because of "this here event"---Glad she took along Pooh Bear for the experience!

Resident Wendy is ready for her first surgery!

"What do you think we should do, Wendy?"

They decided to splint and bandage his broken knee (my idea). Afterwards, he asked her if they should cut him open in his belly or chest and insert one of the buttons or colorful puff balls (selection contained in a vomit bowl), and he held a scalpel over Pooh Bear, who lay there helplessly, hooked thread beside him. Wendy said, "No!"

Linc crashed on the way home. Tired boy.

But don't think Sister had all the fun! Linc loves dogs.

A special canine presentation--soo way cool how these dogs can sniff out anything buried anywhere!

Before we reached the campus, we made one quick stop at a garage sale. I had one dollar with which I bought a broken gun for Linc, I know, bad mom, and a chef's hat for the Woo Loo!

Look what my girl did with her lunch the other day!

TTFN!