Seven is Heaven!

Our dear sweet Poodle -

Happy 7th Birthday precious one!  You are still the sweet, vivacious, people-loving, drama-princess daughter of the King that you have always been.  While it's weird to say "Seven" when talking about your age, it's fitting.

It's fitting because this past year has brought with it a lot of growing up and changes.  We see you becoming more aware of yourself.  The childlike freedom from self-consciousness is beginning to wane.  We get glimpses of the Tween girl that you but a year or two from becoming.

But, I'm so glad to say that you still love to act out your narrations during school.  That you still want to play with your dolls and your brother and your sister.  That you still think going to Build-A-Bear with MooMoo is the greatest thing since someone pre-cut all that sandwich bread.  That you still want to snuggle in our laps.  That you still want someone to read to you at night and put "good dreams dust" on your pillow.

But, on the other side of that coin, you are DIE-ing to get your ears pierced.  You want to wear "heel shoes".  You still love-love girly-girl clothes and skirts and dresses, but the clothes you are drawn to are more often than not outside of the Little Girl section.  And I've noticed sometimes when you roll your eyes, you're doing it because you are self-conscious about what you've just said.  You're not sure if you've been funny or not.  It's sweet and sad, all in the same moment.

So, here's "who you are" at 7:
You can make pancake batter, from scratch, with zero help.  You get everything out, mix it all up, break all the eggs, clean it all up.  I barely know you've done it until you say "can I have pancakes for breakfast?"
You are in second grade in school.
You are taking ballet, but still only once a week.  And it's still a combo ballet/jazz class.
You still have some problems with "bumpy speech", a.k.a. stuttering.  Mostly because you talk ninety-to-nothing with abandon.  And your mother isn't exactly a Slow Talker herself.  ;-)
You are such a huge help with your baby sister.  You love her and you dote on her.
You and Tooter are still best playmates at home.  And y'all can also argue like no one's business as well!
Your BFF is still Spencer!  Still love her to pieces.
You are very much a girly-girl in all you do.  But you can still line drive your Daddy's pitches in the backyard.  I won't pitch to you.  It scares me.  Seriously.
You really found your groove in the pool this summer.
You still walk on tiptoe most of the time at the house.
You love-love-love to draw and paint and color and do "arts and crafts".
You love to sing, but you and the "proper tune" aren't always the best of friends.  (but i love you!)
You love your family so much.
You aren't big on putting your clothes away without being told to do so.  ;-)

You have a tender heart, but it's strong.  You are incredibly forgiving, which is a good thing for your mother's sake!  You are thoughtful and caring.  You are mostly fearless in social situations, which is so neat to me.  You try so hard to please people.  You want so much for people to be happy with you and around you.  Your sense of humor is so-so-so awesome!  Your real laugh makes the sun shine brighter.  You're a smart, dear, wonderful girl!

There are times that your Daddy and I feel like we "missed" your baby years.  We felt as though we were so not-very-good with the parenting thing.  And we (I) were so caught up in trying to do things that were not very important.  Praise GOD that He gave us YOU as our first child.  That He gave us someone so forgiving and loving to be the child who had to trudge through most of the mistakes that new parents make.

Oh, my dear Poodle, I praise God for you and for your life.  I praise Him for your heart and your loving spirit.  I pray that you will seek Him as you grow and that you will remain close to your family.  I pray that the Holy Spirit will come into your heart and reside there always.  You like to say that when you get older, you are going to get married and move into the house next door to us so that you and I can always live near each other.  :-)  Babygirl, the idea of that is just plain awesome.

We love you so much honey - Happy Birthday dearest!

Twelve Month Portraits

This is the dress that her sister wore during her 12 month photo shoot as well.  It's a squidge too big for her, but not by much.

And, her "Cloud Baby" dress!  Poodle named that dress.  Thank you to Mom for lending the chair!

I don't wanna do this any more!  It's time for my nap!  Boooooo pictures!

Nap - check.  TuTu - check.  Ready to play - check!

Poodle *really* wanted to take some pictures.  I *really* wanted some of those Mom-and-Dad-hold-the-baby's-hands pictures.  Success!

My sweet father made Lollypop a jewelry box for her birthday.  Just as he did for Poodle years ago.  It's truly a work of art - made from cherry trees (and a bit of oak) taken from my parents' property.  It has her monogram on the top, which is designed after her "Go To Church" silver passie clip.

She also got a beautiful pearl bracelet for her birthday!  Can't wear it yet but give her a few years...

Love, love......

Boogie free nose!  Just look!

Can't wear the bracelet, so I'll eat it.  Mmmmm.....  jewelry.

Playing peek-a-boo with the wonderful Daddy who was the perfect helper to me to get all the pictures done in one day, before lunch!

Parents hold their children's hands for a short time...  but their hearts forever.

Our babies.  Growing up faster than we imagined they would.

Party on Wayne. Party on Lollypop.

The widdle girl's birthday was quite a day, punctuated by lots o' "happy birthday" singing at unplanned moments all during its hours.  I dare say she got quite a kick out of all of us gathered around her on the couch singing at the tops of our merry voices.  Either that, or she was completely unsure of what to do next.

We took some pictures outside before leaving for church (read: I forced everyone out into the heat and humidity to capture forever the stress of taking pictures on a Sunday morning), but I'm glad I did.  They will be too, eventually.  ha!

Um, have I ever mentioned how much I love these people?  No?
Well, the most wonderful man in the world is surrounded by the most precious little people in the above picture.
That's all.

Especially considering that I was quite awful the rest of the day with the camera.  Truly awful.  I had big intentions during her birthday lunch to get everyone photographed with her.  And I Failed, miserably.  I'm not sure why I was so off my game.  Hmmmm.....   Anyway, thankfully, I took a coupla-few before everyone got there, and my brother got some choice shots of the all important cake extravaganza.

And for anyone who might be cringing at the chocolate cake and pink icing all over the sweet little "cloud baby" dress - worry not!  It all came out.  Didn't even have to bleach it, which quite frankly, I was totally expecting to have to do.  Wait.  You WERE worried about my laundry weren't you?  Of course you were.  I'm glad I could put your mind at ease.  How thoughtful of me.

Soooo, onward we go, with a one year old babygirl in tow.  How glad we are of it!  Now it's on with the school year.  Hopefully, I'll get all bloggy about school this year.  Fingers crossed, eh?

Crazy floating Mommy Head!  Run for your lives!

Twelve Months! Happy Birthday Baby!!!

Happy Birthday to our precious ONE YEAR OLD Lollypop!

WHAT A YEAR!!!  (How's that for Understatement Of The Year?)

Since the moments of our all-night-long labor, you have been blessed with health and strength and you were a blessed answer to a LOT of prayers.  You "belong" to your church, my love.  Oh, how many precious brothers and sisters prayed for you during the days when we were so nervous about you staying on this earth.  And, precious girl, you truly belong to our Lord who we pray you will come to know and love as you continue your journey in this world.

And what have you been up to this past month?  Well, I suppose the news we should share first is that you have begun to walk!  You took your first tentative steps all by your widdle self this past month.  You can now walk unaided for 7-8 steps in a row, and you still giggle when you get finished with them. You haven't quite decided to just forgo all crawling yet.  But, I'm sure that within the next couple of months, we can expect to see you all over the place!

You are eating more and beginning to drink milk.  You have turned around in your car seat (we cheated and turned you around a week early - yay!).  You have cut yet another tooth.  (This makes 8!)  Your golden hair has gotten long enough that it can be pulled back with a little bow (yay!), although the bow has to have hot glue strips on the clip of the bow in order to keep it from sliding out of your hair.

Reaching for Daddy!  She wasn't too interested in her progress picture this time.  Mostly wanted to laugh at people and get down off of the chair.

You are still chattering at all things, still love Custard, still love your siblings.  You will still stop whatever you are doing and crawl-race for the door when you hear Daddy come in at the end of the day.  I have this yellow shirt from the vet that PopPop worked for a while back that has a picture of a dog and a cat on it.  Whenever I wear it, you point to the dog and look at me with a huge grin so that I will say "dog" to you.  Then we do it with the picture of the "cat".  Then we do this little "game" over and over and over.  It's little things like this yellow shirt that I hope I don't forget.  You are so sweet and precious and yummy and squishy and wonderful!

We have a special day planned for you!  Since it's Sunday, we of course will be going to church.  And then we will meet as much of your immediate family that could be in town today for lunch up at the Club.  We all pitched in to make your cupcakes and had a grand time.  Heck, even PopPop got in on the act by holding the icing bag yesterday afternoon so we could make different color flowers.  That's the fun of being the third baby.  You get the privilege of having your big brother and sister be such a big part of things.

Tooter helping to cut out the bee wings out of the modeling chocolate.  He and Poodle took turns and each did half of the wings.

The bees were a big deal around the house this week.  We were all involved in making them out of modeling chocolate.  Your whole cupcake is edible!  (Mommy's been watching too much Cake Boss on TLC).  Homemade chocolate cake, of course, because crumbly dark cupcakes make a much bigger mess for pictures.  :-)

Putting the bees on top of the cuppy cakes!  It was momentous, people.  Truly momentous.

There are so many things in our life for which we are so grateful to God, but our children are top of the list.  We have been given a great gift with you and Poodle and Tooter.  And I hope that I am able to let y'all know just how deeply you are a part of each breath we take.  How every decision we make is done with you three in mind.  How much, how completely, how utterly we love you!  And we'll get your big-one-year-old-girl photos made within the next couple of weeks.

Happy Birthday precious honey bee girl!  We are excited about celebrating YOU today!

Poodle was right!

She said Lollypop would be walking before she turned one.  :-)

Technically, LP started the take-one-step-and-fall-into-arms thing about a week or so ago.  And, truthfully, she seemed to do it for Jmk every single time I wasn't watching.  But, then, a few days ago, she walked a few steps between the two of us.  And, yesterday, I could tell that she was wanting to do it again.  So, when Jmk got home from work, she walked from me to him.  OH, the joy on her face!  She was just as pleased with herself as a little girl could be.

MooMoo and GaGa had picked up the older kids to take them for ice cream yesterday, simply because it seemed like a good day for ice cream.  (The kids were SO excited!)  So, when they brought Poodle and Tooter back to the house, they got to see Lollypop in all her first steps excitement!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bonanza of Bonuses!

This started with "I'd better get a short video of Lollypop crawling before she's not doing it any more".  Then I grabbed my phone and started filming.

And, yes, I got her crawling in her speedy, effective manner.  But, as luck would have it, we managed to also capture her standing up, applauding herself for her brilliance, and doin' a little dance in celebration of all that fine standing-up'ness.

And we also got forever captured Lollypop's version of the World's Most Annoying Sound.  She makes this awful screamy noise that started as a response to Tooter's playing with her.  He acts like he's some kind of panther or lion or something-or-other and he growls at her....  I dunno exactly what's happening, but it makes the baby laugh, so he does it over and over again.  However, in her attempt to mimic his sound, she has created something a mite hard on the ears.

Sooooo, you might want to turn your speakers down a little bit.  Because between Poodle and Tooter's tickle fest going on in the background and Lollypop's Most Annoying Sound, this is a LOUD video clip!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

School? School. School!

It's that time of year again!


The Walmarts and Targets are buzzing with notebook and pencil sales, the new jeans are hanging out in closets until it cools off enough to wear them.  Kids are still excited and loving the idea of seeing all their friends and new teachers, and there's just a general sense of anticipation and forward-focusing that is happening all over!


We at the Zoo are getting geared up as well.  The books have been ordered and have had a new home cleared out in the bookshelves.  Summer thoughts have begun to turn to what's-to-come.  Lesson plans are coming together and we'll be hunkering down over some wonderful living books in just a couple of weeks as we bid adieu to the Lazy Days of Summer.


WAIT!!!!!  Hold on a minute!!!
Summer's gone???


Alright, who lost the last three months?  You won't get in trouble, just be honest with me so we can fix it.  I swear, I *just* made that list of things that I wanted to get done this summer.  I wasn't fearless in my planning!  I didn't ink in things like Climb Mount Everest or Learn To Cook Like Julia Childs or anything like that!  They were modest things, really.


~~Get caught up with my magazines.  Really.  I'm reading April's Good Housekeeping right now.  Or maybe it's March.  They're talking about things like "don't plant this until you're sure the last frost has occurred in your area".  Huh?  I'm that far behind?


~~Lose 10 lbs.  Really.  There's a wedding coming.  I want to be able to tote my baby around on my hip all night without the extra 10 lbs slowing me down.  How is it that kids know exactly when you've put the baby down and are about to try to sneak 15 minutes on the treadmill in the garage and they come out and start arguing about who is going to use the rower machine first?  I declare, these children want me at my current size.  They NEED me at my current size.  No, I won't tell you what my current size is.  


~~Finish the two books that I started at the beginning of the year.  War and Peace, you ask?  Maybe it was Moby Dick?
No.  The Screwtape Letters and the Charlotte Mason Companion.  This isn't difficult reading people.  Yet...  Here we are.  But, the good news is that I started another book by a college friend.  THAT one gets read a couple of minutes every night while I'm brushing my teeth.  Yeah, I'm just blowin' through that one.


~~Blog at least once a week.  Ha!  I remember writing that one down.  I was attempting to Go Easy On Myself.  What I was thinking when I wrote that down was "oh, I'll blog at least twice a week.  Probably more than that.  And I'll take lots of pictures and learn tons about photography and share some cool stuff with people, and the grandparents are going to be loving all the fun anecdotes about the babies, and yippee for summer time!"  Mm-hmm.  


Now, my sweet husband, who has to read all the way to the end of my posts, is getting irritated because he's pretty sure I'm about to start beating up on myself.  Thus, I should probably focus on the things that I *did* get accomplished this summer.  Ehhh.  But, see, you understand, don't you?  The LIST didn't get accomplished.  I'm such a list girl.  I lurve crossing things off of a to-do list.  So, when The List doesn't get all those nice cross-through lines on it, I don't feel as though I accomplished the right things.  Isn't that weird?  Sort of like Holland?  (Austin Powers reference.  That was for the Hubs).


::dramatic long exhale::  I suppose I should just go finish those last 12 minutes on the treadmill now that I've gotten over being frustrated at the kids.  Baby is still napping, and I doubt seriously that the kids will come back out into the garage after that last tirade.  There's a crazy lady out there who is really sweaty and red-faced and doesn't seem to be responding to exercise endorphins.  Be Afraid!




P.S.  No dice.  :-)  Baby just woke up.

Mental Picture!

There are so many moments in parents' lives that they wish they had their camera/video camera permanently embedded into an arm so that every sweet moment they come across during their day could be captured to be seen over and over.

So many....

Add to that, my ability to recall things is spotty at best.  Maybe I took one too many knocks to the noggin during the ole cheerleading days.  Who knows.  But if I don't write it down, I'm probably not going to recall it.  So, here's a mental picture for myself, and you get to share!

Poodle was sitting on the floor near Lollypop, and they were just behind my desk chair as I was sitting at the desk paying bills.  I just watched Lollypop crawl up into Poodle's lap, wrap her arms around Poodle's neck, lay her head down on Poodle's shoulder, and just sit there motionless for a good 45 seconds.  Poodle rocked her back and forth with a look of calm happiness and fullness of love on her face, as she closed her eyes and nuzzled her nose into Lollypop's neck.  Then, Lollypop wiggled down and crawled over to the nearby garbage can to empty its contents on the floor.  :-)

Sigh.....  CLICK.  Mental Picture.

She Said Yes!

My littlest brother is getting married!  Yay!  She's a wonderful, sweet, laid-back, genuine kind of Christian girl, and I'm just thrilled to pieces that the Lord brought them together.

They let me take some engagement photos of them a couple of weeks ago, which was SO much fun.  And it was really SWEET of them to let me do it!  I feel like I need to repeat my assertion that I am in no way trying to become a photographer.  Believe you me, I am well aware of how much I don't know.  But for things like this, it really does mean a lot to be able to do it.  And, hopefully, they will find a shot or two that they can actually use!

I have no idea if these shots are the ones that the beautiful couple will actually want to use.  I'm just putting about 8 of them on here.  I sent them about 70!  (Again, not a photographer....  )  

Who doesn't want to be looked at like this?  Ahhhh.... it's nice to see your brother in love.

Ha!  As we were taking pictures, a car drove by and honked at the duo.  David's look says it all!  "Yes, I know she's hot.  No, you can not honk at her.  Do it again, and I will smack ya".

Lord willing, we'll be able to watch them tie the wedding knot in early November.  We're so looking forward to it!  Then we can start pestering them to have babies.

KIDDING!!!!!!!  Just kidding.  Seriously.  You two, I'm kidding.  

David has just recently passed his dissertation proposal defense, so he's in the last stages of finishing up his PhD.  We're all so happy for him and Leah!

To the blessed couple, may your walk together be close and full, and always focused on a singular point - pleasing God.  May your lines of communication always be wide open to each other.  May you become each other's very best friend.  May you make each other laugh till you can't breathe!  May the new family that you create the day you get married be strong and forever-lasting.  God bless you, my sweet brother and future SIL.  I love y'all!

Eleven Months

Happy Eleven Months little angel girl!!!

Wow.  Eleven.  Next month brings you to the one year mark that always gets here way too quickly.  It's the one thing that parents always hear about, are expecting to experience, but never quite know what to do with - the speedy passage of time that surrounds the lives of our children.  But, God has been so gracious to us.  You are healthy and happy and full of the joie de vivre!

Just yesterday, you learned how to flush a potty.  Haha!  I was doing a quick clean of a bathroom and you caught sight of the handle on the side.  Oh yes, the look on your face expressed all the power and mischievousness that your little mind could imagine.  As your daddy said, you're enough of a stinker that you're going to be the one to throw things in the potty just to see them flush!  It's a good thing he has access to a database of plumbers.  Maybe we should put one on retainer now.

You are still crawling as your means of locomotion (yay!  not ready to give that up yet!), and you are still "cruising" by pulling up on things and using them to help you "walk".  We have caught you a number of times over the last month letting go while you were standing and remaining on your feet for a moment or two before sitting back down.

We get lots and lots and lots of babbling.  You still love patting on something or pointing to something and being told what its name is.  Dogs fascinate you, and Custard is like a mini, walking, shedding playground for you.

We are beginning to see the first stages of "independence", for lack of a better term.  You will look at us before you do something you know to be the wrong thing.  Like drop things off of your high chair.  And you're beginning to test your boundaries by having those first intentional tantrums.  Granted, they are mild and they are cute compared to what we know will be coming.  But, we're ready for 'em little one!  That's one of the problems of being the third baby.  It's not Mommy and Daddy's first rodeo.  We may have been clueless with Poodle and mostly clueless with Tooter, but we've got our collective gloves up this time.  And you are responding beautifully to the wee bits of discipline that babies can get, in your normal, sweet, accommodating way.

You've got two more teeth!  As of 7/16, you had a new tooth on top to the right of your front teeth and a new one on the bottom to the left of those front ones.  There is one more looking to break through any day now.  Teething is still bothersome to you, BUT, it's getting slightly better.  Just slightly, but still, we'll take what we can get.  Your toothy smile is just so cute.  So cute!!!

You are a whiz with the sippy cup.  And, it is still practically impossible to convince you to eat baby food.  (Don't know what happened!)  You want things you can pick up and hold and eat yourself.  Which is a challenge, because we're having to find things that you can gum (since you have no chewing teeth), but that have some nutritional value, that will also be easy on your tummy.  Yippee!  ::wink::  You're still nursing a lot, so that makes up for what you don't get vitamin-wise from your "real" food.  And, I can still convince you to eat a bit of yogurt, even though it is awfully baby food'ish to you.

Here are some things you like:
fish sticks
cheese (cheddar)
crackers
pretzels
rice (brown and white)
apples
blueberries, sort of
steamed carrots, sort of
cheerios
corn chex cereal

You kind of like pasta with a bit of tomato sauce, but pasta in general has a weird texture for you to chew up.

We have discovered that peanut butter is a big no-no right now.  I gave you a piece of a crust of bread cut from Poodle's pb&j, and it had a teensy bit of peanut butter on it.  The bread - you liked!  But, the peanut butter made your little face break out and your lips swell up.  Scared me a bit!  But, I don't think you have the kind of dangerous peanut allergy that is a cause for true alarm.  We just have to keep you away from the "strong stuff" for awhile.

Same thing with egg whites.  Not quite as extreme of a reaction, but still.  You can eat things with egg whites in them, like cookies or what-have-you.  But, scrambled eggs cause a bit of a reaction.  I have discovered, however, that you like scrambled egg yolks with cheese!  (and those are okay)

You have begun to "love love" things.  You'll put your sweet face down on various things and smile with a darling look in your eyes and wait for us to say "awww, Lollypop, loooove love!"  In fact, that's what you're doing in your eleven month progress picture.  You were love loving on Fuzzy Wuzzy!

My babygirl, you make us laugh, you make us sigh with pleasure.  Your giggle is our attitude adjustment, and your eyes are our reminder to do better.  We love you so much!