Walter's 4th Birthday

Here's the birthday boy! He turned a wopping 4 years old last week!
Doesn't he look proud?
(we celebrated his birthday at Great-Grandma's house)

Walter was very concerned that Grandpa's fingers were going to get burned!
Then, while we sang "Happy Birthday" to him, he did a robot dance.... he he
(where do little kids learn these things?)
One of his favorite things to say is,"Everybody dance now! Na-na-na!"
What a silly boy!!!!

Making a wish.....

My wish for you my little man --
have a wild and wonderful summer,
don't ever quit telling me that you want to give me a hug,
and bottle up the fount of joy springing from your soul and spill it liberally on those around you.

I love you.

(PS--in the scrapbook image above, I made the cloud and balloons by using the custom shapes tool in PSE as clipping masks. Just learned that one from Jessica Sprague.)

A little Maternal bragging.......

Time for a little digi-scrapbook goodness, maternal bragging, life documentation
.... whatever you want to call it.....

A few weeks ago, Wyatt performed in a school musical followed by preschool graduation.
He was just a tiny bit excited..... can you tell?
The preschool boys were weeds and the preschool girls were flowers.....
As we were weeding the garden last weekend Wyatt kept asking me, "Are all weeds boys, and all flowers girls?"
I think he may have taken the musical part too literally. I'm sure he'll get it straightened out sooner or later (after I explain it to him about 14,765 times)...
Anyway, he did a really good job and had a REALLY good time!

This brought tears to my eyes ....thinking about how far he's come since his leg was burned.....
... you wouldn't even know by looking at him ....
.... dancing with his shadow in the back of the gym during Wyatt's musical......
(I could hardly watch him for fear of breaking down altogether)

Next bit of bragging..... here is Reid (and the 1st grade class) at the spring concert earlier this week.
Reid was very nervous..... he's the kind of kid that likes to plan ahead, and in this case his planning ahead was worrying about being on stage.....
(Gee, I wonder where that came from, mama?)
He even had to worry for the kid in his class that had a speaking part, "Mom, I hope he does OK."
(Reid, Reid, Reid, life is too short for such worrying -- ask me how I know....)

They sang, "You are My Sunshine", "The Crocodile", and "ABC Rock".

I love this photo -- I just wish it had been Reid's face vignetted while all the others were moving....
....Oh well, better luck next time.

Here's hoping YOU have a WONDERFUL weekend!!!!
(and that I shake this head cold..... I am SO dragging)

Happy Mother's Day!

Only One Mother

Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky,
Hundreds of shells on the shore together,
Hundreds of birds that go singing by,
Hundreds of lambs in the sunny weather.

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover,
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.

~George Cooper~

Finally..... Wyatt's Birthday Scrapbook

It only took me about 2 hours to finish..... but now it's finally done.
You can see why I put off making his digi-scrapbook page until I had a little time to play. Geesh!!
Below are the two pages cut apart so you can actually see them. (he he)

Around here, the birthday candles are re-lit again and again until everyone has had a chance to blow them out..... of course the birthday kid gets to go first! The funny part is .... look at the hand covering Walter's mouth while Wyatt is blowing out the candles. Bet you can't guess who's hand that is!


The birthday boy's choice of cake design -- the number six with various farm animals and chocolate fences.
(Please notice the Daddy getting the sheep back in their pen! True to life!)

PS -- Happy 1st Birthday cousin Emily!
Hope you had a wonderful day!

{Digi papers, template, and elements from Jessica Sprague}

First Haircut

Before 4 children, before the X chromosomes were slightly more represented in this household, before this baby girl was a sparkle in her Daddy's eyes...... there was a mother who lamented the fact that she would always have to cut the lovely, red curls from her little boys' heads. And it is kind of funny how that lament was so big to her, so monstrous, so sad.

But then the sparkle happened, and a baby girl blessed the heavily weighted XY chromosome household, and the mother was given the chance to enjoy the red curls growing from her baby girl's head as long as she liked. (Although she knew that one day the little girl would grow up and make her own hair choices -- or better yet, take scissors to her own hair.....but that is yet to come......). Now, 15 months later, the mother decided that enough was enough and the wispy bangs had to go and be replaced with easier to care for "new" bangs. And that was good, very good.

Pictures courtesy of Reid and Wyatt.

Nona Love

Winona received this knitted hat from a dear friend some months ago. I was never able to get her to leave it on long enough to get some pictures. Now that she is trying to dress herself, she puts all kinds of hats on......and then takes them off. But if I tell her to "leave it alone" she usually does. Kinda scary. I've never had such an obedient child. The other night she was trying to brush her hair and put her little pigtail holder in place on top of her head. Too cute. Ahhhh........my little girl, I'm sure you could catch the tiger by his tail, too.

Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad

They say rubies are for 4oth anniversaries. Well, I have no ruby reds to send you, but FIVE "ruby" red-heads and and one dash of silver send you lots of love.

Christmas Loot part 2

Christmas Loot part 1

More to follow later, hopefully.
(digital template and paper from here)

Merry Christmas

Date Night

Friday night, my man and I had the pleasure of going out to eat dinner.....just the two of us.

Amazing.........wonderful.........beautiful.
The babysitters even survived.
We might just have to try it again someday!

Christmas Past I

This wasn't Reid's first Christmas, but it was the first one he really took notice of.
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit.
It snowed.....alot.
I was pregnant with #2.
I love the lower right picture......love it.

Walter Faces

My chocolate faced 3 year old and "his" cap. I love his many facial expressions. These pictures were all taken in about 60 seconds. (My Grandma lives in Indiana and my parents both attended IU). Walter has been going through a developmental growth spurt lately. He has been getting himself dressed -- all by himself -- multiple times a day. He even puts his dirty clothes in the laundry *sometimes* (as opposed to his next biggest brother who *never* puts his clothes in the laundry). Walter has been spending as much time as I will allow him on our old computer (no internet) playing Jumpstart Preschool and Animal Genius. He is a little computer whiz. He also loves to dance. He and his little sister both start dancing every time I turn on some Christmas music. We like to have "dance parties" in the middle of the kitchen. Growing, learning, changing.....it is exciting to watch him grow......but just a tiny bit sad, too.

I am immensely proud of you Walter,
but I have to let you in on a little secret --
you will ALWAYS be my little snugglebug--
no matter how big you get.

Tree Hunt

We're going on a tree hunt......gonna find a big one.........we're not scared..............

We have a little tradition of going to a tree farm about 20 miles from here to pick our Christmas tree every year. The kids greatly enjoy it. We hunt for the "perfect tree". Reid and Wyatt both had much to say about the tree selection this year. It was so funny to listen to them. They are full of sage advice and masculine brawn.

We found a good tree. It needed a little trimming. I even did the Martha Stewart thing and cut out about 1/3 of the branches. Now that was the really scary thing! It did open up the tree a lot, and you cannot tell that I trimmed any branches out at all. It took me over 2 hours to string the lights. Honestly, that chore in and of itself is enough to make me want to get one of those fake trees. That ..... and this........

This was our tree last year......the day after Christmas. I think our tree was dead even before we cut it down -- it just didn't look it yet. Pretty sad, eh? Hope that doesn't happen this year!

Chutes and Ladders

Another digi scrapbook page. With the long winter evenings (and days spent home on vacation), the boys have been playing lots of games. On this particular occasion, poor Wyatt kept landing on the same square and riding the same chute back down to near the beginning of the game. I think he hit that square 4 times in a row. He was a good sport about it, but I felt REALLY bad for him. Isn't it hard to see one of your kids being disappointed over and over again? Even in this small instance, I felt the urge to let him skip on ahead, but I restrained myself. I hope in the long run, learning to "take your lumps" is a good thing.

Red Curls and Cutting Teeth

Doesn't Nona have the most luscious curls? I must admit, that my little ol' heart had longed for a little girl with red curls, but after Walter was born with outdoor plumbing, I figured that I would have to wait for a granddaughter. I guess God had other ideas. I may rue the day I wished for such a bundle of cuteness (probably from the day she turns 12 until ..... I don't know.....when do the hormones settle down?), but for now -- I am enjoying her.

Nona has been kinda grumpy lately -- just a taste of the teenage years I suppose. She will lower her little face and look up at you through her bangs with her eyebrows knit together -- an honest to goodness scowl. She does it SO well. Heaven help me, it's hard not to laugh.....now. I am trying to cut her a little slack because she is cutting 4 upper teeth all at the same time. I imagine that would make me grumpy too.

Thanksgiving Day Collage

Blueberry Breakfast

I am getting together a post about our slow breakfast this morning -- crepes! But wanted to share this with you. So ---- what did you have for breakfast?

Since We've No Place to Go.......

.....let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!!!!

The boys have been playing in the wet snow that has been falling all afternoon.

But first they had to take one of the molting chickens out to the hen house. She got stranded in the garage when the snow started. Chickens don't like snow, just in case you were wondering.

Winona Fall Photos 2009

Let me tell ya, I had 164 photos to choose from -- it was hard. Some of them obviously were not good photos, poor lighting and such, but still...... I think I need an intervention. She is going to be the MOST photographed child in the universe and have a HUGE complex by the time she is three. As you can tell, I am also a sucker for golden light shining on her hair. And I think that in many of the photos, this obsession of mine made for not good portrait photography. What do you think? I think I NEED a good flash. You professionals (and non-professionals) out there, please tell me what I need to do -- I love the light on her hair, but I don't like the harshness on her face. I would also love input on which photo you think is the best.

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