Fun Pictures

My Jedi...

My silly girl. I really think I had glasses JUST like those when I was 9!!

My sweet boy and me and Chuck E. Cheese last week.

Green and blue hair. Why? Just for fun. Why not?

My beautiful girl...with her beautiful girl, Holly Beary aka Toto!

The Kids...

Ella...the quick-learning one...has been taking piano lessons since June...and she is doing SO well!! That sweet baby has learned so much. She has a really great ear for it. At Christmas, she went to the piano and taught herself several carols. She literally pecked out the tune until she had another one down. She amazes her momma. We also have a fantastic babysitter who is a wonderful piano player...a night out for Mom and Dad means piano blessings for my baby. Gotta love that!

Ella also brought home another 'A' Honor Roll report card last week. I'm so happy that she does well in school!!

Evan...the ever-entertaining son...is also ever-impressive. His drive to read, and read WELL, is so awesome. The words that child can read are incredible. He won't start kindergarten until this fall...he has a super head start. I believe a lot of his drive comes from wanting to be like his big sister. He has also learned some things on the piano from of her.

Evan does well at school as well. They use a traffic light system...Evan is on 'green' 99% of the time. Oh...and as if turning five and reading don't make him 'grown' enough, he has also lost two teeth! Within two weeks of turning five, they were out! I'm still going to call him my baby...hush.

We took the children ice skating for the first time ever back in December. Ella stepped on the ice, got acquainted and took off. Wow. Evan...well...he was either hugging the side or picking himself up off the ice most of the night. At the end, he was branching out a little, but he needed more time, for sure. He was probably sore, but he had fun...and it was fun just to experience it with them.

The day after Christmas, we drove to Texas. We visited friends, went shopping, bowling and hit Sea World. We had a blast!! The kids did great in the car...one of our best road trips ever!!

Our kids are happy and healthy...and definitely busy and fun!

My Baby is Five Today!!

Time certainly flies!!

My handsome son is five today. He is so excited!!!

He is:

Smart -- he's reading. Very well. He's reading Ella's books...she's in first grade. It's so cool to hear him sounding out words and making connections.

Funny -- he's stinkin' hilarious. To me...and many others. A lot of times he's not even trying to be funny...he just is. He's entertaining.

Sweet -- he's an encourager, helper and comforter for his friends. He is not aggressive, particularly in sports. We need to work on that...momma thinks he should play football.

Awesome

Handsome

Loveable

Growing up too stinkin' fast!! (He has TWO loose teeth!! Crazy!)

We had a 'party of four' date to Chuck E Cheese last night...but his birthday party is Saturday. Can't wait!! I love to see him with his little buddies!!

Dear Lord, thank you for blessing me with a son. He is a delight...I am proud to be his mother. Thank you for this gift!!

Happy birthday, my sweet boy...you will never know how much I love you. I love you more than you love me. I love you forever.

Wordless Wednesday

Went fishin'!

I traded in taking the kids to the beach for taking them to the lake. A former co-worker of hubby's has a lake house a couple hours from us and she allowed us to go up for the weekend. She'd been inviting us for years...we just didn't know what we were missing!!

The kids have been fishing before, but it's been a LONG time. I'm surprised they even remember! They were so patient...I never would've imagined that they could fish without complaining, but they did. Mostly.

Evan caught a fish before Ella. She had a meltdown.

When she finally did catch a fish...

...it flipped all over crazy just after this picture...and she had another meltdown.

Daddy and I got in BIG trouble, too, because we laughed. She threw this stomping crazy fit about the fish jumping and it was hilarious. To us. She could hardly breathe as she 'yelled' "IT IS NOT FUNNY!"

Our response: "Yes, it most certainly is. If only it were on video!"

We're mean like that.

We rented a boat one day and it was wonderful to get out on the water. We need to make some friends up there so we don't have to rent one each time...my debit card was SMOKIN' after that!

Look who caught the biggest fish...

...but did you notice that she is NOT holding the line this time!!

My favorite people:

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday - take 2

Wordless Wednesday

According to my son...

These are some very important people!

Luigi, Toad, Yoshi and Mario

Evan caught 'Mario fever' from my best friend's son. He's 5 years older than Evan and LOVES Mario...and so...with any time spent around him, a kid could be infected.

Evan got these figures for Christmas...the larger ones stand about 9 inches high...so they are almost like 'baby dolls' for boys. It is hilarious to watch him act out scenes from the game with these guys.

Oh yea. The game. For the Wii. I gave it to my HUSBAND for his birthday. It was dubbed 'daddy's new game.'

Everyday when hubby comes home from work, Evan (bouncing up and down) says "Dad, can we play your new game together??" It's cute. For the first three times. And then it's annoying!!

Mario has caused a great deal of male bonding around here...with Evan and my friend's son...and with Evan and his daddy.

It's sweet.


Really.



Who'da thought?

Tina

Wordless Wednesday. Almost.

**Playing on daddy's iPhone while laying in the big honkin' bath tub.**

Wordless Wednesday

No way, Really?

My 'baby' turns 4 today!

It's really just so hard to believe that 'toddler' days are over and here we are in the midst of 'preschooler-hood.'

My son...

Is a Gift from God.

Is handsome.

Is hilarious.

Is loud.

Is not a good listener.

Is a good snuggler.

Is a conversation piece. (you should join us for lunch or shopping...we will, without a doubt, get stopped to talk about his hair!!)

Is super smart.

Is curious.

Is loving.

Is brave.

Is a blessing.

Is my baby boy.

Forever.

Happy Birthday, Evan!

I'm so proud to be your mother...I love you!

Can 3 year old boys turn off their ears??

I do believe the answer is YES!

My boy. My oh my. I sure do love him!

This is when my words don't matter....

But...unless my words include 'do you want something to eat?' or 'do you want to play ___?', he doesn't seem to be hearing me lately.

Maybe it's selective hearing.

And I think it's possible, no, it's probable, that he will never grow out of this.

And that's all I'll say about that.

hee hee

Two days a week...this kid's in school too!

This is Evan's 'word to yo mutha' pose...goofy kid.

Evan will be going to Mother's Day Out twice a week again this year. This allows me to work without neglecting him completely! :-) This will be his first year at a different church...but he's going with my best friend's daughter. We call them the 'Old married couple'. One minute they are sweet and loving...the next they are ready for the boxing ring. It's entertaining to say the least. We warned their teachers...we'll see how it goes!

Cheezer.

Taking care of business.

I suppose this marks the last 'beginning' for the school year. We have all survived the first drop offs...in fact, Evan was pretty much like 'Bye, see ya, scram Lady!' Makes a momma feel loved.

Good thing these two couldn't see us mommas giggling in the car that we were 'kid-free' for a few hours....so we could work...NOT go to Chickfila and grab breakfast, nooooooo!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

The babe is growing up...

Let it be said that I'm not really ready for even the thoughts of my 5 year old graduating anything...

...but she did it anyway...

She graduated from Mother's Day Out. She's officially beyond that stage of life and must now proceed to kindergarten. Oh My Goodness.

How did this happen so fast!??

The ceremony was Thursday night. All the classes performed a few songs and the 'Class of 2009' walked the stage to grab a 'diploma'. And did I cry?? Of course. I'm a big sissy when it comes to this kind of stuff. I once cried when the folks at Toys R Us got on the loud speaker to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Ella. Yep. Big. Sissy. It was all about MY girl...I couldn't help it!

So Evan...his class sang in the program. Here, he's not too sure about singing...

He eventually warmed up a little and sang the words...but he stayed in a semi-trance while doing so. The most fun he had was while the other kids sang!

The big finish to the Bible Book Bop song...Revelation!!!

Making silly faces the WHOLE time the other kids were singing!

Playing a horn in the Praise Parade...

The 'Diploma'

Happy Girl!

The Graduate with her great pal Miss M

Family Portrait - gotta love Evan's lip...

Yay! A smile!