The Big One-O For My Precious "K"

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl, you are now officially double digits. You have been waiting so long to be able to say you are 10 and now the day has come. I think you even looked a little taller this morning when you woke up. We all know you only get prettier each day, both with outer and inner beauty. You have such a sweet loving and giving spirit. I guess you will always be known as "The Little Momma" and very deservingly. You give me such joy having you as my sweet daughter. We love you, Sweet Girl!!!

I know, not exactly the picture you thought you would see after a speech on my swwet little girl, however, this is what "K"s birthday consisted of.....wings, wings,and more wings....oh yeah, and some fried pickles. Yum Yum.

Everyone got to paint their own cupcake or ice cream as a party favor. What great sports Memaw and Pepaw were for letting a bunch of little artists use permanent paint at their dining table. Hey, you only live once, and believe it or not I dont think a single drop of paint ever hit the table. Not to mention, the kids had a great time designing their masterpieces.

Here is what the finished products looked like.....

Then we played an old party favorite "pin the tail on the donkey" only we had "pin the purse on Penny". To be such a simple game, kids really enjoy the sillyness of it.

Even our usual party pooper (Cousin "N") seemed to have an enjoyable time pinning his purse on as well. Isnt it nice to know that sillyness is still alive. (And contagious)!

Then it was cake time (look at how Little Bro "O" is staring at it with such desire). Cake has always been my kids favorite part about birthdays. You would think with as many b-days that we have each year we would get sick of cake, but oh no bring it on!!!

"K" designed this one herself. She loves sprinkles, can you tell?

Next, was the official conga line for the birthday cha cha cha. Memaw is hurt pretty bad in her knee, so she gave the honor to Big Papa who has been secretly yearning to be in the conga line for years. Its official, youve been conga'd, now you are 10!!! Happy Birthday Sweet "K"!!!

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too...

Yes, my dear friends, that is an electrical plug on my dear sons birthday cake. If you had witnessed Baby "L" zap his tongue as many times as I have, you would have chosen this same theme as I felt compelled to do. I figured the only way to make food look appetizing to this little fella was to drape it in something familiar to eat.....plugs!!!

See, we took the plug off the cake and gave him a slice to eat and he looked at us and said, "You want me to do what with this stuff?" Ok, so maybe he didnt say it out loud, but look at that face....it says it all.

Baby "L" decided the best thing to do was to feed it to Big Papa before he tried it himself. "Here Daddy try this bite, its good!"

After the cake and ice cream, Memaw took Baby "L" on his first conga train while singing happy birthday Jamaican style. Its a tradition, as you will see if you look back at my many b-day posts. Its not officially your birthday until you conga with Memaw!!

And then there's the party poopers who are too big to conga. Shame on you 2 for party poopin' on the conga line!!!

Yay!!! Its present time!!! Thank goodness for gift bags...Baby "L" loved ripping the paper out of each bag. Then, there was someone by the name of Big Bro "O" that seized each gift (Im sure it was to check for age appropriateness) as Baby "L" pulled them from the bag. Things got a little aggressive around the gift table, but what would a memory be without a good fight?

Just as Baby "L" thought is was about over, Pepaw swooped in with a great goodie bag filled with lots of stackers and shape fitters. And this baby hasnt gone a day without stacking or sorting over and over and over. Whats funny is that his sisters and Big Bro "O" do it just as much as Baby "L"!!!

After all the hoopla, Nana entertained Little "O" (and the rest of us) with her animal sounds song. Little did Nana know that once you do something funny, 2 year olds love to make you do it 100 times more. "Again..., again..., again..."

Then Baby "L" tried to play a game of hide and go seek with Pepa ....I wonder if he knows that this doesnt make him invisible?

When it was all said and done and the smoke had cleared and Baby "L" was finally able to see what wonderful gifts he received, he fell in love with his baby Tonka's. He loves to roll the wheels and make motor sounds with his mouth. He has driven his little Tonka trucks many miles on my kitchen floor since we got home from the party. Thanks everyone for making this celebration of Baby "L"s birthday a day to remember and cherish for ever. Now I must go and cry ......my baby is growing up!!!

Happy 1st Birthday....

Happy Birthday Baby "L"!!!! You are now 1 year old!!! Well, to sum up your first year of life in one word I guess it would be electric!!!! You have been a gift of many adventures (to say the least). I would say that you are truly my need for caffeine, and my spice in life lately. There has yet to be a dull day from the day you were born, and I have loved every waking moment with you (ok maybe not the 1:30, 3:30, and 5:30 am wakeup calls). I am now wearing an eternal mask of dark circles under my eyes thanks to your multiple waking sessions, but I wear my mask proudly because I wouldnt trade this year with you for the world. Ok so maybe you ate the trim around the window, and cried when I wouldnt let you eat the blocks of wood that you found outside, and get this strange kick out of shocking yourself with Daddy's computer cable; you're still my Little Lyndy Boo!!! and I love you today, tomorrow, and forever. Happy Birthday!!! I hope it is as electric as you are!!!

My Sleepin' Dudes...

I guess this is what happens when you bring home a girly movie to watch on movie night. Even Baby "L" couldnt take it anymore; he had to have guy time so he decided to curl up with Big Bro "O" and Big Papa!!! Nighty Night boys!!!

I Love Black and White...

You ever look at a picture and not know why you cant stop looking at it? That is how I feel about the following shots...I just love them and I really have no exact reason why....

My Sweet "F" is Seven...

In the midst of the crazy computer crash, my little girl turned 7. Do you know what 7 means in this house? It means you are no longer a little girl, now you get to do big girl things....like ride with your big sisters around the block (as long as you check in every 2 laps), and she officially hit the age of inviting a friend to dinner for her birthday dinner. Somehow we accumulated a few more when we returned home. (No biggie)

To start "F"s big day, Big Papa took her out on a lunch date to a local Mexican diner where they enjoyed laughing at each other the whole time!!! Then she went back to work with Daddy so he could show off his big girl to the rest of the shop.

Then she came back home and we began the traditional birthday bake off. "F" made her own cake with a little help from yours truly and once we put it in the oven...we ran upstairs and created a personal salon in my bathroom....


....We curled hair and put on a little makeup and painted fingernails and toenails; you know all the things a big girl gets to do. "F" was the envy of all my girls who dont usually do those things without a special occasion. And in the end...

...We had a beauty queen in our presence!!! It was a fun day and a big eye opener to what a big girl is supposed to do. My "F" has always been such a breath of fresh air to me, but this day she seemed to breathe sweetness into the air that I just wanted to bottle and hang onto for those days when life just stinks...Lord help me every day to remember to breathe in her sweetness so I dont overlook the joy that she brings to all of us daily. Amen.

Open Up and Say AAAAHHHH!!!!

Anyone who knows my sweet Baby "L" knows that he is in no way deprived of food...however, he would rather eat wood, and plaster, and computer battery cords than food. After trying myself to get the little garbage disposal to eat some actual food (with no success), Little "O" thought he would give it a try. As you can see he had about as much success as I did. You would think we were trying to feed him poison the way he protests. Oh well, maybe I will give him a table leg to chew on.

Me and My Shadow....

For Little "O"s b-day, he received a bubble mower, and from that day foward any time Big Papa is mowing you will find my little man side by side mowing too. I used to worry when I was pregnant with this sweet baby that he would turn out a little pansyish, but he is proving daily that he knows exactly who he wants to be like. I guess there is enough man in Big Papa to override all the girliness in our household.

Fun In The Summer Sun

To celebrate the summer, Memaw and Pepaw hosted a party for the kids. Needless to say the kids had a blast and will be looking foward to next years party (hint hint).

Pepaw sat at the sink for an hour filling up an endless supply of water balloons for the official water balloon fight and filling water guns to the hilt for as much soaking fun as possible.I thought this little wagon shot was to cute to pass up!!

Then the fight began....somehow the kids wearing the bathing suits didnt get as wet as Memaw who was wearing clothes....I think there must have been a conspiracy....Luckily Memaw and Pepaw were good sports and enjoyed being kids again and getting wet as well as soaking their grandkids!!!!



Then came time for the slip and slide, I have pictures of everyone going down the thing, however this picture stuck out of the photo slides. Cousin M&M is going to find a way to be the Little Diva no matter what we are doing. You go girl!!!!

Then there was this shot that made me smile, anyone who knows Cousin N knows how reserved he can be...but on this day there was a daredevil emerging from within. He took a dive off the end of this thing quite a few times.

What do you do for a baby when everyone else is playing in the water? You give him a bucket of toys and put a little water in the bottom and they will play for hours...

And Little "O" ....what a cutie (if I do say so myself)!!! He would be content for ever if he had a never ending spray bottle. He loves to spray everything....plants, toys, cousins, Pepaw....

After all the fun the girls huddled close and enjoyed popsicles to renew their strength to go do it all again....what is it with kids, they never seem to need motivation to go out and have a good time. We could all learn a little something from these never ending balls of energy.

Pepaw was content to take a break and enjoy the snuggles of the newest member of the family....He has this amazing way of making every baby putty in his hands. And he loves every minute of it!

Sisterly love, what else would bring these two this close together....Oh yeah, they were freezing and there was only one towel left after Little "O" soaked the other one with his water bottle. Arent they cute!?!

Wow, love must be in the air....Any kid, no matter how old they are, gets a warm fuzzy feeling when they see their parents snuzzle each other and offer sweet kisses to each other. I am so glad I grew up with these tender moments etched in my memory. Love is forever!!!!

13 Years and Counting...

Happy Anniversary Big Papa!!! 13 years....7 children....and I still cherish everyday we have together (some more than others). Who would have guessed that two silly teenagers meeting at the beach graduation week would be standing in our shoes today? Life is no box of chocolates in our house (more like a can of mixed nuts), but I dont know who would want the cavity that comes with all that chocolate anyway. You keep me hummin' a new song daily and we both know how much you love to hear hummin'!!!! Thanks for loving me everyday and reminding me that sometimes relationships need two people to pop the clutch. I love you Scooter Boo!!!!!

A Little More of O's B-Day.....

Please excuse the delay in the upcoming blogs but my computer crashed and all my pictures were goners (or so I thought), but my amazing Daddy came to the rescue and pulled them out of the computer and made my computer an even more amazing machine. Your a genius Daddy!!!

Little "O" loved his big boy ball cake about as much as we had decorating it!!! I love finding new gender themes. Needless to say there was no guessing as to what this years theme was going to be!

We invited a few of the neighborhood kids to enjoy cake and ice cream!! Little "O" is convinced that Happy Cake Day would be a better name for birthdays.

Little "O" enjoyed opening all his presents but his favorite of them all was his bug collector. He has caught more grasshoppers and lightning bugs than I can count!!!

Then came the big finalle.....A new Radio Flyer Tricycle....What more could a 2 year old ask for. HAPPY CAKE DAY LITTLE "O"!!!!!!