Tuesday, September 27, 2011

"can i vacuum, please?"

it's without a doubt izzy's favorite way to serve, and between her and her tongue, they can vacuum a mean floor.

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"i did it!!!"

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Monday, September 26, 2011

the red plate and two of my men

the year josh and i got married we moved to nashville, TN for a time of leaving and cleaving.  for those of you who know the whole story, you know that unfortunately, nashville wasn't that great to us.  but one of the huge gifts that did come during that time was the ability to spend a lot of time with my cousin and her husband who lived just a hop, skip, and a jump down the road.  tracy and todd had this particular tradition that they had done within their own family for a while, and when we got married they passed it on to us.

the red plate.

what's the red plate, you ask?  well, it's not much more than a. red. plate.  it's more about the who and why of the red plate that makes this tradition so wonderful.  anyone who's experiencing something special - a birthday, the first missing tooth, first day of school, anything - gets to eat their meals that day off of the red plate.  and today was jack's turn - because our big boy turned FIVE YEARS OLD today!!

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if you can't tell, jack's stuffing his face with a blueberry muffin (filled with five candles, of course!) before we jetted out the door this morning for our second big event of the day.  another precious man in my life was celebrating a big milestone as well because as of friday evening this week, my dad will officially be a retiree!  his secretary had put together a celebration with several members of his police department and josh, me, my mom, my sister, and our combined seven little people were invited to attend. 

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no, the lunch wasn't at the mcdonald's play place, but judging by that crew, it probably should have been.  :-)

**tracy, in case you're wondering, that IS the original red plate that you gave us as a wedding gift eleven years ago.  anytime we've moved it's gotten packed with the 'very important and breakable' box so it doesn't get damaged.  and since i didn't feel comfortable carting it into the restaurant for daddy's big manly retirement party, i'll be serving him some goodies on it this weekend.**

Friday, September 9, 2011

the night owl strikes again

we arrived in marietta on saturday afternoon only to realize that we'd left half our baby gear at home.  we didn't forget to put it in the car...we just flat forgot we'd need it.  you'd think we've never traveled with a baby before.  but one of the joys of mine and josh's younger siblings now birthing babies as well is that they tote around much of the same gear we do.  and not only is their gear nicer (let me tell you, a lot's changed in the last three years!) but their younger brains work better than ours so they actually remember to pack what they'll need.

one of the didn't-make-the-trip items was the baby monitor.  since all four of our little peeps were sleeping in one room while josh and i were down the hall in another room, we thought we should make a wal-mart run to get a backup monitor in case micah protested his first night away from home.  but before we could make it out the door, josh's sister, rebekah, offered us her ultra-swanky video monitor.

ummm, hello!  

i'll admit that this thought has crossed my mind before:  a video monitor?  really?!?  what do you do?  just sit and watch your baby sleep all night?

YES, and it's fantastic!  well, i guess there wasn't much sleeping going on while i was eyeing my littlest two, but i got a sweet glimpse into their world together.  and what a cute, funny, precious world it is!  (my apologies to all the video-monitor-owners out there that i used to secretly giggle at.  you may now return the favor because not only did i watch my babies over the monitor for 30 minutes, i took pictures as well!)

the night owl crept up to micah's crib and whisper-yelled to see if he was awake...

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when he responded with an immediate jump to his feet, playtime soon began.

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i'm usually a pretty big stickler for bedtime, but for some reason it didn't seem all that important on this night.  :-)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

where the wild things are

it's not just a book...it's a place. and i can say with complete certainty now that it's in pine mountain, ga. on our visit to marietta over labor day, josh's family took us on our first "wild animal safari", and we all came home disgustingly filthy...but full of smiles.

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if you ask izzy what her favorite part of the day was, she'll tell you with an excited flair that it was the gruffalos. ironically, she'll also ID that as the part she didn't care for so much. but who can blame her? i was thrilled/terrified as well when the massive monsters moved from outside our van window to head-completely-in-breathing-and-slobbering-in-our-faces...

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this is when izzy and i almost made a run for it...

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sometimes, though, massive heads or expansive horns got in the way of the animals being able to put their whole heads through the window. no worries, though...that's why god made two-foot-long tongues. EEEEK!

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and if you're wondering about micah, he wasn't such a fan of the whole mess at first. for all you fellow adoptive parents out there, i know what you're thinking, and in my defense, i had no idea the gruffalos would actually try to get inside the car with us. there was no turning back once we had entered the gates...

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but he eventually calmed down in my arms and was content to work the finger-of-much-soothing while he cuddled with grandpam.

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you know, now that i think about it, i think the squeals of delight might have been as "exciting" for him as anything else. see for yourself - and enjoy jack's bull's-eye at the :32 mark (or should i say bull's-nose)...

Friday, September 2, 2011

the day is here. the hour has arrived.

izzy has wanted to be a "ballewina" for as long as her big sister's been donning slippers for her weekly class.  and after an entire summer of asking if it was time to go yet, izzy's big day finally arrived and she had her first ballet class this week.

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i loved hearing abby encourage izzy and share in her excitement.  if only i had a nickel for each time i heard her say, isabel, only ____ more days until you get to start ballet!!

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but ballet wasn't the only first this week.  we were ecstatic to be asked to join in a homeschool co-op with a couple of sweet friends for this year, and yesterday was the kids' first day at "miss bwook's house". 

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(please excuse the direct-sun-freak-out my blue-eyed little ones are doing in that last photo.)  :-)