David's 4th Birthday Party!

To everyone who missed it - we missed you! We had a good time cooking out at the new house site and celebrating David's birthday. Dad gave tours of the foundation and did a great job being photographer for the evening!

It was too windy to light his candles, but that didn't seem to bother him too much, and it made for a very pleasant evening with no mosquitoes. His cupcake cup was about 1/4 cupcake, 3/4 icing... just the way he likes it!

Here are a few pictures of David opening presents. Notice all the shark stuff he got? He's been wearing shark flip-flops since the party, too! And all the glow bracelets & sticks went to bed with him!

He was born *MY* senior year...

I can't believe it. My nephew, Andy, was born my senior year of high school when I was in library period. I knew he was expected that day, so when I was paged to the office for a phone call, I raced down the hall, and actually pushed my English teacher out of my way because I was so excited. I can't remember who called, probably Grandpa. Library was my last period of the day & it seems like Mrs. Blake (the English teacher) let me go ahead & leave early.


Later that school year, Andy & Lauren both attended their first high school graduation - mine. I was wearing the same red robe & same sash... with a slightly different year on it! This photo is for Bubba & Lynne, who didn't remember attending my graduation - That little boy is Andy & it looks like Lynne holding him. I remember y'all being there. Grandma is holding Lauren.

Next thing you know, these two will be next. I'll upload the rest of my photos to my Flickr soon. Lynne ran the photo session like it was a wedding, so there were LOTS of pictures! : )

During the photo session, Dad & David needed something to keep them from being bored, so they found a set of light sabers & had David's first light saber fight! Looks like he enjoyed it, doesn't it!?

Speaking of Andy's graduation, Grandpa has some photos & video from the ceremony on his blog. Surely Bubba will put some up when he has time, too.

To Congratulate Andy...

To congratulate Andy on his high school graduation, all the family went out for a dinner at Red Lobster tonight:

Andy, Will & Jesse

Uncle Bubba & Aunt Wee

Andy's Uncle D & Family

Andy's Other Grandparents

Grandma & Grandpa

and our family.

You'd think at a dinner celebrating Andy, I would have taken a picture of him, right? Um... I knew I forgot something! I did get some cute pictures of the kids, though! : ) Here's Aunt Wee with all of her youngest nieces & nephews:

In every photo with Elizabeth, she was looking at Aunt Wee with admiration! How sweet!

Now, not quite so sweet was this creature that Grandpa found near our new house this morning! Actually, he found it where Dad & I had been collecting rocks just a few days ago!

In case you don't recognize him, it is a Copperhead... with it's head cut off. The third snake I have seen up there since construction started... and the second poisonous one! (and I have not seen a rattlesnake!) Aren't we blessed to live in a state that is home to so many venomous snakes?!

.

BTW, I'm going to post-date some entries, so scroll down (or click the links) to see some things that I forgot to blog earlier: Our Cubbies Party, The Splash Pad is Open!, and House Update with Sprinkler Pics.

Cubbies Party!

We celebrated a fun year of Cubbies Wednesday night with a pizza/cupcake/ice cream party! All 15 Cubbies, 9 Sparks (in the background at the square table), and 6 adults in the room sang Happy Birthday to David, too! And he didn't cry!

It was wild, as always. David ate about 1/3 slice of pizza, the icing & sprinkles off his cupcake, a mini cup of chocolate Blue Bell ice cream with sprinkles (had to throw that brand in for Aunt Sissy), and a mini A&W root beer. I was happy she got the A&W, which is caffeine free. A sugar rush plus caffeine at 7pm is not ideal. A new statement came out of my mouth this evening, too, "Eat your ice cream with your spoon, not your finger!"

The kids all thoroughly enjoyed the party and the whole year of Cubbies!

David's Birthday Outing

I realized at the end of the day that I hadn't gotten pictures of everything, but such is to be expected when Dad's on duty & Mom is going solo. We started the day with a very special breakfast for our 4-year-old birthday boy. David got to pick his own sprinkle donut and chocolate milk!

Not knowing what time we were going to be able to go to "the surprise," we went to the big library first. We returned our books & as soon as we got into the bathroom at the library, we got the call, so we quickly found some new books about sharks, worms, the space shuttle, and all things interesting to a little boy. Amazingly, we made it out without stopping at Story Time or in the play area, but we did have to stop at the fish tank.

Next we drove over to the surprise. When I parked the car, David said, "Are we at the park?" No... "Are we at Getzendaner Park?" Guess he was wanting to play. Or maybe he remembers that we went to Getzendaner Park for his birthday two years ago?

I told Dad to stay back until I got David out of the car. When he saw Dad, his face lit up & he said, "Is Dad a fireman?" which he always says when he sees Dad in uniform.

Dad took us up the fire escape-like stairs on the outside of the building up to the roof of the fire station. They had patio furniture & grills up there! Then Dad gave us a tour of the station. This was our first time to visit this station.

David was interested in seeing the poles. So many of the children's books show firemen sliding down the pole, but he's never seen one in person before. We took the safer route down to the engine bay.

Then Dad demonstrated the pole for David:

That sure was a lot faster than going down the stairs!

When we left the station, I let David pick where we went for lunch. He picked "Old McDonald's" and asked if they had Speed Racer (he must have seen a commercial for a Happy Meal or something, because I didn't know they had Speed Racer toys!) and if he could play.

After lunch, Elizabeth was very tired, so I figured we'd better head home. We traveled in a pretty bad thunderstorm, through construction, but had a nice ride home.

.

This evening we joined Grandma & Grandpa for half price burger night at Sonic and after Elizabeth went to bed, we played Hi Ho Cherry-O and read some of our library books. David asked me to snuggle in bed with him, so we snuggled for a while and thanked God for a fun birthday. Then suddenly, David remembered, "We didn't have any candles!" I told him we'd have those at his birthday party.

.

How long do you think it feels to a 4-year-old to wait until Saturday for his birthday party?

A Letter to My 4-year-old

I remember standing on the front porch of our house in West Texas with a pregnancy test in my hand. Dad was working in the yard. He came onto the porch to hear the news. We were excited. We were scared.

I remember the day I had to start giving myself shots. Twice a day, I gave myself a heparin injection and repeated, "I love this baby. I love this baby!"


I remember the joy that all of our family & friends shared awaiting your arrival and the outpouring of gifts and cards - 4 baby showers! We were not the only ones who were excited about your arrival!

I remember the overwhelming relief when you were born safely and Dad's tears as he saw his first born, a son, who would carry his father's name. I remember fear & pain in taking you in for jaundice tests in the first week and the blue light you had to be wrapped in.

I remember thinking, "How on earth did we get such a cute baby?!?!" I remember quickly realizing how much I didn't know!

I remember caring for you through really strange living situations, praying with you every night, teaching you, trusting God with you. To hear you talk & run now, no one would ever know that it didn't come easy.

You amaze me and entertain me. You keep me on my toes. You are so smart, talented, creative and inventive! I can't believe you're 4 already, and I can't imagine how dull my life would be without you.

I am so glad that God picked me to be your Mommy.

Happy Birthday, David! I love you!!!

House Update with Sprinkler Pics

The foundation wall was completed on Friday! We can now start visualizing the house & where things will actually be! The concrete had to cure for 4 days, then it rained & now (5/29) we're waiting for lumber to be delivered for the floor to go in.

MawMaw gave Elizabeth this cute Ladybug sprinkler on Friday, also. David quickly took it over Saturday night when Elizabeth went to bed!

Elizabeth has played with it in the living room, but she hasn't seen it squirting water yet!

The Splash Pad is Open!

We made our first Splash Pad trip of the summer on Friday evening. Elizabeth was too small last year, so this was her first time ever!

David had a ball running around, splashing, getting splashed & playing with the other kids. You never knew what water jet he would be sitting on running through, or aiming at himself!

Elizabeth was a little slow to get comfortable with the splashing water, but warmed up to the concept before too long. Then she spotted some kids playing basketball at the neighboring BB court. In this clip, she's watching them yelling, "BALL!"

Check my Flickr for more photos from the Splash Pad.

Pray for the Chapman Family

I don't really get into celebrities like some people. I've even thought it silly of people who do. But looking back over my life, I can think of no single musical artist that has had a greater impact on my life than Steven Curtis Chapman. I've got more of his songs on my MP3 player than any other artist. His music has touched my life when I needed a lift, it has encouraged me, it has deepened my faith. His ministry to assist in caring for orphans inspires me.

If you listen to Christian music, you have probably already heard the news, but if not I urge you to add his family to your prayer list as they mourn the loss of their 5 year old daughter, Maria. This is an extremely difficult situation for their whole family.

Visit Steven Curtis Chapman's website.
Get to know Maria on SCC's blogsite.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requests gifts be given to a special fund at Shaohannah’s Hope.

Tiny Talk & First Drawing

I have completely forgotten to post Tiny Talk Tuesday the last 2 weeks! Last week I intended to post these videos of David's non-stop talking:

Boy, does it take Blogger forever to load videos! In the following video, I was trying to get Elizabeth to sing EIEIO with me. When she does it, it's adorable! She ended up doing more peek-a-boo and David was singing with me in the background.

We've had to have some discussions lately about how we love our family, so we need to talk nicely to each other. Today, I heard David saying to Elizabeth, in a not-so-nice tone, "Don't get my cars, Sweetie!" I had to giggle. I think adding "Sweetie" was his attempt at talking nice to his sister.

Tonight during bedtime prayers, I paused, and David interjected, "The End."

I know it's not Tuesday, but I'm going to link anyway. Check out more Tiny Talk over at Not Before 7!

Elizabeth also had another first today - her first crayon drawing! I gave her small red, yellow & blue crayons and let her go.

Foundation Forms Are Going Up!

Monday Drilling All Around

Two drilling rigs were set up today at the house site. The taller one in the foreground is the water well truck. The smaller in the background is the pier drilling truck.

The water well was finished in one day! I thought it would take longer than that. Now if we ever get the electric service, we'll see how it works. Oh, how I long to be off grid!

All of the piers were finished today, too! Concrete trucks came in the afternoon & got them all poured, too! Shade made it hard to tell much in this photo because I waited too late to get a good photo. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

You can see how the site is progressing in my Flickr.

Friday was Exciting!

Nice weather finally dried up the ground (for the most part) and allowed pier drilling to actually make some headway on Friday!

The holes are so deep you can't see the bottom!

Then, about mid-afternoon, the first concrete truck arrived to start filling the piers!!!!! Yay!!!! They put the pre-tied rebar in the hole and poured!

The audience didn't seem to make them nervous.

Here's Dad & Mr. Builder talking about the "plan" for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll see lots of change in the upcoming weeks!

Drilling piers & filling with concrete is supposed to be finished Monday.

I love Indian Blankets!

I think the Indian Blanket is my favorite wildflower, so my blog will be sporting their blooms for a while. This photo, and the blanket on my border, are from Grandpa's yard/pasture.

By the way, I finally got photos added to Zoo Day! Don't miss them!

Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!

First off, I would like to say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to my Momma and to my mother-in-law, Beth!

Now... I should be embarrassed to post this photo, which I just knew was going to look terrible. But when I saw it, all I could do was laugh! And it's still cracking me up! (though I was not laughing in the photo!) This was the first attempt at this year's Mother's Day photo. I think the part that gets me the most is the expression David & I are sharing. We weren't looking at each other and both ended up with exactly the same look of torture! I guess laughing about it is better than the alternative...


On a more pleasant note, David made this beautiful butterfly for me in Sunday School this morning. (And, by the way, he was so excited to go to his class this morning!!!)

He also planted seeds in a styrofoam cup last week that were starting to sprout. "Flowers for Mom."

Since the first photo went awry, I snapped a couple in the car while Dad was in Lowe's this afternoon, and was much happier with their turn out.

This evening, we spent a little time at the North Place and I got this cute "together" photo:

And finally got the dreamed of Mother's Day photo for myself. Oh, how I love my children & love being their Mom!

I just discovered that if I got paid for being a Mom, this would be my yearly salary:

Try out Salary.com's Mom Salary Wizard to see what you ought to be paid! (I'd be interested to see how much our friends who have 7 kids should be making!!!)