DaddyDay Letdown

We had all sorts of fun plans for DaddyDay today. The McWane Center. The park. Maybe a good game of corn-hole (What, you don't know about corn-hole? I'll fill you in on the details another day.)

We didn't quite get to all (or any!) of that, though, because Jack and I spent a good portion of the day at Children's Hospital.

Everything is fine, but he and Abigail had a little run-in in the living room this morning. Jack came up screaming, and he couldn't walk on his right leg. After the tears had stopped, we gave him a few minutes to try to "walk it out", but each time he tried, he just fell over on the floor.

Time to call the doctor.

Needless to say, they brought us in and examined him for a variety of potential conditions, but each test and x-ray for the more serious problems came back negative (no ligament tears or fractures). The diagnosis? A knee sprain and deep tissue bruise. So we're taking it easy for the rest of the weekend (and trying to convince Jack to do the same!) He's such a trooper, and he's been an angel all day long.

When he first got hurt, our whole family huddled around Jack and prayed for his little knee to be OK...and we're so thankful that it is!

I hope your DaddyDay was more fun than ours, and I hope we all have a nice day of rest tomorrow!

The rest of the story...

As I'm sure you figured out from yesterday's picture, I took the kids to the zoo earlier this week. The weather was bee-yoo-tee-ful that day, and I knew as soon as I woke up and saw how gorgeous it was that we had to find something to do outside. Here's the conversation I had in my mind as I laid in bed that morning:

Score! We could go to the zoo today.

Oh man...I let our membership expire. I guess we can't go, because the zoo is expensive!

Sad.

WAIT! What's today? Is this Tuesday? Let me think...yesterday was ballet, right?

Yes! That means it's "Half-Price-Admission-Day" at the zoo.

COME ON, KIDS, WE'RE GOING TO THE ZOO!!!!!

If you saw One-Word Wednesday, you've already seen how we started the morning. Here's another equally creepy fascinating shot from the reptile house.

From there we moved on to the sea lions. And in an effort to one day prove that I did actually go places with the kids, I set the timer on the camera and took a picture of all of us.

Izzy's not quite chatting it up yet, but as you can see, she definitely gets her "point" across when she wants you to see something.

Here were some of the animals that she was so excited about:

But the kids' very favorite part of the trip was our stop at the farm section of the zoo. It's got lots of hands-on fun that all three of them enjoyed.


And my favorite shot of the day...
This is Jack shouting "No dog!" to the goat.

Hey, when you've got a little one in speech therapy for a language delay, you take what you can get! :-)

We had a super day at the zoo, but we were pooped when we left!!

One-Word Wednesday

What a Fun Site!

Remember "Landscape Anna" that I mentioned in a recent post? Well, she introduced me to a great site that I've had so much fun looking through:
They do themed contests each week, and this week's theme is JOY. Isabel's "joyful face" almost always involves a scrunched-up nose (hence the "Piggy Party" we had for her first birthday). This picture that I took on the way to Meme's house was a perfect fit for this week.

I had been saving it for Wordless Wednesday tomorrow, so now I'll have to surprise you with something else!

The second half of DaddyDay

After a little post-"Couch-Toss" nap, we headed east on I-20 for a couple of family visits. Our first stop was to visit my grandmother, Meme, in Eastaboga.

Imagine Birmingham.

Now take away three of the interstates, 687 of the red lights (just a guess), and every inch of Highway 280. Now add 12 lakes, 34 cows, and countless trees.

That's Eastaboga.

One of my favorite childhood memories was visiting there with my family and spending hours trekking through the woods, strolling around the lakes, and running in the fields. Time seems to slow down a little in Eastaboga, and that's a feeling I love. Josh put it best when we first sat down in Meme's living room. He said, "I always feel like I could take a long nap when I'm here. It's so relaxing."

Meme is special to us for many, many reasons, but one of those reasons is that she's Abigail's namesake. Abigail Eleanor Lewis is named in honor of Meme. (As a side note, my dad and Abby were talking about this fact over lunch last week, and Abby said "Oh, so Meme's real name is Meme Eleanor Lewis?" Too cute!!)

Here's one of my favorite shots from our visit to Meme's. This photo tells so much about the passage of time...

Goodbye Eastaboga! (I've kind of fallen in love with sunset shots)

Our next stop was in Oxford for dinner with Josh's sister (Rebekah), her husband (Kevin), and their sweet baby girl (Ayda). I did Ayda's newborn pictures in December:

And even though I've seen her since our session, I was still surprised at how much bigger she's gotten. Rebekah says the little girl loves to eat!

Rebekah lived with us for a while when I was pregnant with Abby, and she was over at our house a lot after she was born. The running joke is that Abby looks like she belongs to Rebekah much more than does me. Whenever we were out together, people would always compliment Rebekah on her beautiful daughter! Now Ayda obviously doesn't look a thing like Rebekah, so she could pass for my daughter just as easily as Rebekah's (if not more so). So we did a little switch-a-roo at the restaurant. Whose daughter is whose? :-)

This really does look more accurate, doesn't it?!?

Now for the ride home...remember how I mentioned in the "Izzy Facts" that Izzy is the most flexible child I've ever seen? This is how she rode home that night:

I don't know if the picture does this any justice, but her legs are literally in a straight line out to each side. And she's not even batting an eyelash! I told Josh that if she didn't have shoulders to get in the way, I'm pretty sure she could clap her feet behind her back!!

How are you spending your DaddyDay?

I think I've mentioned this before, but we no longer have Saturdays around our house. Since Josh works each weekday and we're tied up with church most of Sunday, Saturday is a special time for our family. The kids always ask, "Is tomorrow the day Daddy stays here with us?" So it only seemed natural to rename Saturday...now we celebrate "DaddyDay"!

One of Jack and Abby's favorite things to do with Daddy is to be "thrown on the couch". Do you have a mental image going yet? No? Well let me help you out. The kids run as fast as they possibly can (laughing hysterically the whole time) into the kitchen, through the dining room, past the foyer, and straight into the living room where Josh is lying on his back, ready to toss them over his head onto the couch. Only a Daddy could think of this game!

It looks a little like this:


And sometimes, if the momentum/throwing force ratio is just right, it looks more like this:


They work together like a well-oiled machine...until Abby laps Jack, and they end up with a bit of a traffic jam...

...or until Jack slows down for a little snuggle (who could resist this?!?)

Izzy's not quite ready for the Couch Toss, but she still manages to get a little DaddyDay workout of her own...(drum roll, please)...because guess who's finally pulling herself up to stand!
HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ENJOY YOUR DADDYDAY!

Not Too Bad

I'm a photographer, yes. But that definitely doesn't mean I take good pictures of everything. My friend, Anna, is an incredible landscape and architectural photographer (you can see some of her photos here). Me? I just don't have an eye for that kind of work. But when I saw this view from my back porch this evening, I knew I had to give it a shot (that's a hokey pun, isn't it?). It was such a beautiful day today, and the sunset was gorgeous! So although this photo seriously pales in comparison to anything on Anna's site, I didn't think it was too bad (for me, at least!) :-)