These are the moments of my life

I savor the quiet moments in my house.  I sit and drink a cup of coffee and reflect on how God has blessed me and my family.  These sweet moments usually take place on a day when the kids have miraculously synched up and taken their naps at the same time. (Can you hear the Hallelujah music?)  

However, there have been a few occasions that I realized that this serenity was just a fantasy.  Merely a mommy caught in a daydream. No one is asleep.  No music is playing.  Even so, the house is eerily quiet.  Trouble! 

During one of these spells Ella applied her own make-up just like Mommy.  Unfortunately, her tool of choice was a Sharpie marker.  Her eyes did look quite dramatic after that but I don’t think she quite achieved the effect she was going for. 

Bryce has recently joined into the sneaky mischief.  His method of making mommy crazy usually involves climbing.   A couple of weeks ago, I caught him on top of the dining room table, emptying his diaper bag and making a huge mess.  I didn’t speak a word to him but instead grabbed my camera.  I had a good laugh later as I looked at the progression of expressions he had when he realized he had been caught.  He immediately pouted, turned the pout into a scream, and then stared  in wonder at the crazy mommy who was taking pictures of the very sad baby.

Hairy Sucker

That’s what we had today because Bryce received his first haircut.  It hurt my heart to think of cutting his hair so I’ve put it off as long as possible.  However, it was recently brought to my attention that he was developing a bit of a mullet.  My heart decided it was way more painful to have a baby with a mullet than to have a big boy with a haircut, so cut we did.

PaPa (Jake’s dad) scheduled the haircut with Mr Luther.  Jake and his dad have a tradition of going to the barber shop together and have gone to Mr. Luther for years.  It was only right that Bryce be initiated into the “Man Club” and join them for his first trim.  Mr Luther quickly made friends with Bryce by giving him a sucker and from that point on we had a relaxed, people-watching, sucker-slurping, baby.    

 

So little in such a big chair

Haircut? No big deal

Still my sweet baby, even with a big boy haircut!

Beautiful Boy??

Bryce loves his big sister more than anything else in the world. He follows her, he kisses her, he duplicates her style...

Yes. That's my tough little boy in a princess outfit. He was terribly proud of himself and Ella was thrilled to have another princess in the house. I have to admit that he is awfully pretty!!

Happy Father's Day

One little monkey sat on his knee.

The other little monkey said, "What about me?"

Now his arms were full and his heart was happy,

'Cause his two little monkeys had found their proud pappy!

Ella speak

Ella has a remarkable ability to communicate. Anyone who has been around her for more than 5 minutes can probably attest to this! She has also developed her own vocabulary. We have found that often times "Ella speak" is more appropriate and always more humorous than ordinary lingo. Here are a few examples:

Wordpickle: Sharp beaked bird best known for pecking on wood

licker: That thing in your mouth that gets ice cream and Popsicles (I heard this word first used in Sam's one day when Ella announced, "Look, Mom! That man has a BIIIG licker!")

screamer: Called a baby monitor by most but in our house it's the contraption that screaming comes out of.

poenails: Those things at the end of our toes that we like to paint pink.

shoo-bee: This is similar to "bombs away" and usually means that Bryce is about to cry.

growl: The part of your gums above your two front teeth. Only visible when you growl.

creech: The action of squeezing too hard. This especially applies to a hug that last too long.

boop: This is usually described as a teasing poke. Be on alert when you hear this word. Ella uses little discretion in what part of the anatomy she boops. If you've fallen victim to a boop, I apologize.




Ella in the Smokey Mountains searching for the elusive wordpickle.

My little girl is driving...

With a tear in my eye I announce that my little girl is finally driving! I say finally because she's had her new "wheels" since Christmas but until this weekend she was a wild woman behind the wheel. Her driving has mostly consisted of a jerky stop and go motion accompanied by a total lack of focus and inability to concentrate on the task at hand. (pretty much the same way her mommy drives a straight shift!) Unlike her mommy, Ella has finally developed a method that gets her where she wants to go. She picks a direction, points with her little finger, and then drives like mad in that direction. She even throws the jeep in reverse when she runs over something or gets stuck. It's so funny! Bryce was so funny riding with her! He picked up a flag and rode through the yard waving it like they were the cavalry coming to the rescue!!



Picking her direction


Let's cruise!


Just like a man... she does a little multi-tasking while driving and he tries to take her keys away! ugh!