The Kid Place

I know I haven't been here in ages, but I've realized I'm not keeping track of the goings on of our family like I used to, and I miss that.  I miss the act of documenting our memories, and I really miss going back and reading about what we've done, where we've been, and most importantly, how my babies are growing up.

Remember that little baby girl who had her first birthday in my last post?  Well, she'll be four next month.  FOUR!

How on earth did that happen?  I ask her all the time if she'll just stay little for me forever.  Some days she says yes, other days, she seems really anxious to be a big kid already.

We went to the beach a couple of weeks ago, and after taking some pictures, she and I were lagging behind the rest of the kiddos heading in to change.

I looked down at her little blond haired, blue eyed, tanned skin self and told her she was precious.

She looked up at me and said, "And that's why when you went to the kid place, you picked me?"

Oh, my sweet girl, that's not exactly how it works.  God picked you to be my daughter, and I am thankful every single day that He did.

But, if there were a kid place, and I got to make that choice, I would have picked you over all the other little girls in the world.

My Baby Had a Party

Yes, it was a long time ago, but I never posted about her party, and it's almost time for The Boy's birthday, so I thought I better go ahead and do this.

We went with a pink and green theme for Baby Girl's first birthday party. 

We invited our rather large family, and a few friends.

I spent a lot of time planning and making decorations and baking cakes.

My first (and possibly last) attempt at a checkerboard cake.

My sister made an adorable tutu for Baby Girl to wear with her "1" onsie.

My sister~in~law drove three hours with her two sons to be here to help me with the prep work (and bought me a bottle of wine to help me recover after the party).

Baby Girl had a fever and wasn't really all that interested in her party or her gifts. 

But she did tear into her cake.

And she was cute!

My Baby Turned One

Yes, it was about 3 1/2 months ago, but I never posted any pictures.

On Baby Girl's actual birthday, I took the easy way out and made cupcakes with canned icing (ick).  I was already planning her party and her birthday dinner at Nana's, so I felt okay with that decision.

I don't think she had an issue at all with her canned icing cupcake!

For me?!?!

If it's mine, why are they holding me back?  And where is my shirt?

Okay, fire is gone, I can dig in!

MMMMMMM!

Did I miss some chocolate?

Sugar High!

I'm 1!

Oh, I get the shirtless thing now!  Bath time!

Fours

Today is my birthday. 

I'm 44 years old.

I am one of four kids.

I have four kids.

My son will be four next month.

My oldest child is fourteen.

I think this might be the year of the fours.

John 4:4 ~

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Alphabitty Moments ~ C & D

I'm joining Mama Bear in celebrating the little moments in our kids' lives.

I thought C & D would catch me up, but Mama Bear is already on E.  Oh well.

C is for cars.  I've posted before about finding cars all over my house.  It's only getting worse.  The Boy loves his cars.  So does Baby Girl.  She spends much more time playing with cars than with baby dolls.

The little two also share a love of dinosaurs.  If Baby Girl hadn't been napping when I finally got around to photographing dinosaur play, she would have been right in there too.  The Boy is starting to want to learn the dinosaurs names.  Baby Girl just likes to make them walk and growl.

The Love List 106 ~ 109 Edition I'm Catching Up From Christmas

106.  My Christmas Tree.  Each year, I think I want to update my tree a little.  Add another color to the mix.  Something.  Then I get it all decorated, and I still love the simplicity of the gold, clear glass and white.

107.  Hearing The Teen read Twas The Night Before Christmas to her siblings on Christmas Eve.  A tradition she started on her own.

108.  Being surprised at the Christmas Eve church service when The Boy and his cousin are asked to portray Mary and Joseph.  Aren't they cute?

109.  Being asked to pretend to be a professional photographer for a day.

Note to self:  Next time, no one wears white!

The Rest of the (Pond) Story

Okay, so anyone who knows me, knows that if there is a group of kids, and one of them does something goofballish (it's a word...look it up, there's a picture of my son) and ends up falling into an alligator infested sink hole, that goofball will be one of my kids. 

And more often than not, that goofball will be The Boy.

The pond is near my mother's house in Georgia, and after I told The Tween about it, and described it's serious spookiness, she, of course, wanted to see it for herself. 

(When we were just dating, my daddy took my now husband fishing in that pond.  My husband swears he truly believed that Daddy was going to kill him and no one would ever find his body.  I've never been out onto the pond in a boat, and I don't know how far back it actually goes.  No one knows how deep it is.)

To appease The Tween, I offered to take her to see it the day after Christmas.  Almost all the kids wanted to go, so Mama, my brother, both my sisters and ten of the dozen cousins, loaded up and went to see the pond.  We explained the importance of staying away from the edge, and we told them of the twelve foot alligator Grandaddy had once seen in that general area.

Some of them listened. 

Others, not so much.

We had been there a while, walked down the bank, found old bottles and flint rocks, took pictures and were just about ready to head home.  I was at the top of the old boat ramp when I heard a splash.  I looked over and saw that The Boy had fallen into the pond. 

Now, if this were a normal pond with a graduated bank sloping gently into the water, it wouldn't have been a big deal.  He would have been a little wet and muddy and cold, but there really wouldn't have been any danger.  But because it is a sink hole, and because the water level was so low (you can see the various water levels on the trees in the pictures), instead of a gentle slope, there was a big drop off.

Before I could even think, The Tween, who was standing with her little brother, had jumped into the water to save him.  She never thought of her own safety, or the threat of alligators, she just knew she had to save her brother. (In all honesty, that water was much too cold for any alligators to actually show any activity at all, but she didn't know that.)

The water was so deep, she could barely stand up, but she managed to push him up so his head was above the water.  She couldn't get him out because she couldn't get a good foothold in the mud. 

My brother and I took off at the same time to run to them.  We could see both of their heads above water, so we weren't too panicked, but we knew we needed to get them out quickly.  He got there just before I did and managed to pull them both out at the same time.

At that point, The Tween, The Teen, The Boy and The Grandma all started to cry.  

I put The Boy in the back of the truck, pulled off his cold, wet clothes and wrapped my coat around him.  My sister gave The Tween her coat, and we put them in the truck to take them home.

Once we got back to Grandma's house, and I got The Boy into a nice warm bath, he informed that an alligator bit his butt.

I now owe The Tween a new pair of boots.  Hers were ruined by the water and mud.  

Her brother just might owe her his life. 

Guess Who?

Anyone care to venture a guess as to which one of the kids in the picture below fell into the aligator infested pond sink hole of unknown depth?

 Full story tomorrow when I have a few minutes to myself.

(Hahaha...I have four kids, like that'll happen.)

2011: A Year In Review

Wow. 

What a year this has been.

For our family, 2011 was sort of a roller coaster with some pretty high highs, and one extremely low low.

In January, we welcomed a new member to the family.  My nephew, Baby Jake, is such a sweet baby.  He may be the calmest baby to ever grace the planet, and I've had two super calm, easy babies myself, so I know whereof I speak.

In February, my Little Man turned three, and we moved into a new house. 

March was spent getting settled into our new environment.  The little ones never really had any sleep issues in their new rooms, which was my main concern with the move.  I took the kids to Georgia to celebrate Grandaddy's 70th birthday.

April was a big month for Baby Girl as we started giving her baby food.  Girlfriend still LOVES to eat.  Also in April, I was inspired by my nephew's hate list (which I now have a copy of, by the way) to start my Love List.  I still plan to finish that, I just got distracted along the way.

In May, I spent a very long day in the ER with The Teen ruling out appendicitis.  And I lost my son at the zoo, which is where I'm beginning to think he actually belongs anyway!

June marked The Tween's tenth birthday.  We enjoyed the first of two vacation weeks at the beach, and I took what is still one of my favorite pictures ever.  And the state of Florida was under a thick veil of smoke for most of the month.

July 4th was spent with my family in Georgia, eating my brother's famous ribs, corn my daddy picked that very morning and my mama's potato salad.  The dozen cousins had a blast together, and we all enjoyed family time.  I spent my last day there picking corn and tomatoes with my daddy.  And I got a ticket for having illegal tint on my windows.  We spent our second vacation week at the beach with my husband's family.  The end of July marked the lowest of the lows when Grandaddy passed away.  I think of him every single day and miss him so much sometimes I feel I can barely breathe.

In August, my big girls went back to school.  The Teen started her first year of high school and also turned 14. 

Baby Girl turned one in September.  Just before her birthday, she started walking.  And I learned that a little quiet time with her brother, is usually not a good thing.

October was our first Halloween in this house, and the first one not trick-or-treating with friends in a different part of town.  We decided to stay home and host The Tween's best friend and her parents.  We had a great time until The Tween announced that she didn't feel well and didn't think she could make it all the way around the circle that is our street.  I pushed her home in the stroller, discovered she had a fever, and she ended up missing a whole week of school.

Little Man Buzz, Zombie BFF, Tween Medusa, Baby Girl Butterfly, Teen Princess (aka Baby Wrangler)

In November, I loaded up the little ones and drove to Georgia to spend Thanksgiving with my family.  The big girls went to North Carolina with their Nana, and my husband stayed here in Florida to work.  Before we headed off in different directions, we had what I hope was our first annual family Thanksgiving.  Just our little family here at home.  We all enjoyed the meal and eating in the dining room seemed like quite a treat.

In December, Baby Girl experienced her first ER visit, and I lost my son at the mall.  Our first Christmas without Grandaddy was not easy for me.  I'm so thankful for my kids because I knew I needed to stay upbeat for them, and that certainly helped.  We spent Christmas Eve with my in-laws then came home to get ready for Santa.  We spent Christmas morning checking out the kids' new loot, then headed back to the in-laws for breakfast and gifts.  Then we drove to Georgia to spend the rest of Christmas Day and the next day with my family. 

What will 2012 hold?  I have no idea.  But I'm praying for the best year possible for my family and yours.

Merry Christmas!



Not Me! Monday

I haven't done one of these in a while, but the last week and a half has been a doozy, and I feel the need to fess up.

I did not lose my son in the mall while Christmas shopping with my mother.  Not me!  I know he's an escape artist and that he tends to wander away from the group, so I keep an eye on him at all times. 

The Teen did not find him shopping for underwear a minute after we realized he was missing.  I did not assign an older kid the job of watching every move he made in each store we entered after we found him.

I did not leave my sweet Baby Girl outside with her daddy while he was grilling steaks, only to have to rush her to the emergency room minutes later with burns on her hands from touching the grill. 

I did not run a red light, snap at a hospital employee who was less than helpful, or really want to punch a nurse before my baby finally got the attention she needed.  Not me!  I am always calm and cool under pressure.

Check out MckMama's blog to read what other moms did not do this week.

Is This Thing On?

Remember me? 

I used to post blog posts here. 

Then life got sad and icky and busy and overwhelming. 

I have missed the blog. 

I have missed the creative outlet it provides. 

I have lacked the motivation to do anything about any of that.

Mama Bear has started up with Alphabity Moments again, and I realized that if she can do it with three young kids, including a four month old (who by the way, has the most squish worthy thighs I have ever seen), then certainly, I can do it too.

A is for Acorns. 

Little Man loves to go on walks around the neighborhood.  At least once every day, he says, "I want to go walk on the sidewalk."

I've been wanting to get in better shape and lose a little weight, so I thought walks would be the perfect thing for us to do.  But, walks with my boy are not exactly vigorous exercise.  I walk about five steps, then stop to wait for him while he collects acorns and pine cones and magnolia things (drawing a total blank on what they are really called and don't have the motivation to go look it up...notice a trend in the lack of motivation department?) and sticks and leaves.

B is for Bows.

I love putting bows in little girls' hair.  I'm very aware of the short period of time I have to actually get Baby Girl to wear bows.  Right now she's in a stage where she wants bows in her hair, even bringing me a bow when she finds one and wanting me to put it in her hair.  She's also in a stage where she likes to pull bows out of her hair 30 seconds after I put them in.  I know soon she'll allow the bows to stay in all day, and then soon after that, she'll decide she's too old for such silliness.

I hope to get back in the bloggy swing of things soon. 

Expect some very random randomness.

One

My baby girl is one year old today.

I'm not sure how that happened already. I must have blinked or something.

It seems like just yesterday I found out about this surprise pregnancy which threw me for a loop and turned my world upside down.

It's funny, you never know what you really want or need until you have it.

I can't imagine our lives without this sweet child.

She has the sweetest personality of any baby I've ever seen.

She's perfectly happy entertaining herself with toys, especially if they really belong to her brother.

She loves getting attention from her big sisters, and her big brother makes her laugh hysterically on a daily basis.

She's a sweetheart, but she also has spunk.

I have no doubt that she'll be able to take care of herself, and when she gets a little bigger, The Boy had best watch out. I'm pretty sure she'll be able to give back every bit of grief that he gives her.

She's not a snuggler, she would much rather be along in her bed with her paci and her blankie when she's ready to go to sleep.

Really the only way to get good snuggles from her is to put her blankie over your shoulder, then when she snuggles the blankie, you get free snuggles too.

She does love to give big, wet, smoochie kisses.

She's a great eater. I don't know how a child that size can hold the amount of food she consumes on any given day.  We have yet to find a food she doesn't like.

She also loves to try to eat Barbie shoes, matchbox cars and any other small toy or piece of trash she can get her chubby little hands on.  And she gets royally ticked off when we remove those things from her mouth.

She loves to be outside and occasionally throws a little fit when I bring her inside.

She can say "Mama" when she really wants to. She says "Dada", "Thank You" and something that may or may not be the name of one sister.

She loves to dance and play pat-a-cake.

She does not love having bows in her hair and rips them out shortly after I put them in.

As I type this, Baby Girl is wearing a dress with "Birthday Girl" in silver sequins on the front and a pink ruffled skirt.  And she's playing with a tractor.  I think that pretty much sums her up!

She is a true joy and a blessing, and I am forever grateful that God saw fit to put her in my life when I didn't even know I needed her.