And Now, A Word From Lily

Friends, it's been a while since I've had a chance to talk to all of you, and I have some things I'd like to say. First of all, I need to apologize for my mother. She does not post things on this blog nearly as often as she should. She says she's going to do better about that, but we're going to have to wait and see. Second, I would like to thank my Aunt Grace for the adorable outfit that I'm wearing. I look especially cute in this, so I made sure Mommy got plenty of pictures of me today!

I am eight months old today! It seems like just yesterday that Mommy and Daddy were bringing me home from the hospital. These past eight months have gone really fast. As you can see, I'm growing really fast, too. I am so tall that my doctor said I was "off the charts." I have finally learned to sit up on my own. It took me a while to get the hang of this--there's a lot of me to try and balance. And really, sitting up in one place is not that exciting. I've got places to go! I've just got to figure out how to get there...

I'm learning to get up on my hands and knees, and then I rock back and forth, back and forth, and then I push as hard as I can, and I go--backwards! I can scoot all the way across a room backwards, but I haven't figured out how to push myself forward yet. Mommy says she'd rather I wait until after Christmas to figure that out

I have finally decided that I like my baby food. It took me a little while to get used to it, but now I get really excited when Mommy puts me in the high chair and puts my bib on. I like most all my food, except for one thing. Green beans. Just when I think I'm going to get something yummy, like pears or sweet potatoes or yogurt, Mommy comes in with a jar of green beans! YUCK.

I'm doing much better about sleeping all night now. Sometimes I wake up and think that I need company and a little snack, so I call my Daddy. He's my favorite person to see in the middle of the night. At least that's what Mommy tells him!

The best thing about being me is all the love that comes with it. My days are filled with hugs and kisses. Mommy, Daddy, Lydia, and Nathan spend all day just loving on me. And when I go to church, my teachers there love on me some more. And then--there are the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Lydia and Nathan have been telling me all about Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I can't wait! Mommy did warn me about Uncle Bart, though. Apparently, I'm not supposed to eat ANYTHING that he tries to feed me!

Miss Lydia

As I was getting ready to blog about a field trip we took this morning, I noticed that there were a few random pictures of Lydia that didn't seem to fit any particular catagory. These pictures, however, are a far more accurate glimpse into her personality than any of the other pictures I have taken recently, so I thought I'd dedicate a post just to her!



Every Wednesday when we get ready for ballet, Lydia begs for piggy-tails. Since we're usually running late, I never have time for them. Last Wednesday, I did, and she was so proud of her hair-do!

Lydia loves to take pictures. She started with a Fisher-Price camera that we got her for her birthday, and has moved on to asking if she can borrow my camera to make pictures. This is one that she took of our kitten sitting on the kitchen windowsill.

Oh, how silly she can be! I have probably spent a hundred dollars on hair clips and barrettes, none of which will stay in her super-fine hair. I finally gathered up all of those clips and told her that she could use them to fix her doll's hair. She had other ideas and spent all morning giving herself a fancy new look. Of course, she needed to wear the red sequined dress to match her hair!

After reading a book about King Tut's tomb, Lydia decided she was afraid of mummies. She insisted that she could not possibly go to sleep on her own in the dark--she just kept thinking about those mummies and she was so scared of them. Could we please let her leave the light on and have books in her bed? Now, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that this was a ploy to get to stay up later and read. To Lydia's credit, she was smart enough to try it on a night when Daddy was home, and he fell for it! She read her Bible storybooks for well over an hour before finally falling asleep with the book open on her lap.

Back to the pig tails and ballet! These are the rest of the pictures I took of her before we left for ballet practice. She loves her ballet class. At the end of each class, her teacher lets the girl who has worked the hardest that day wear a fancy princess crown. Occasionally when I pick her up, another girl will have it on, but most often, Lydia is the one wearing it. She knows all the fancy French names for the steps and positions--there are some days when I feel like she really is speaking another language!

She is also excelling in school this year. Last year, we really struggled with a lack of focus. Some days it would take me twenty minutes just to get her to write her name at the top of her paper! Imagine my surprise when, this year, she completed an entire math assessment in 20 minutes and made a perfect score!

I hope that these pictures have given a glimpse of Lydia's personality. She is such a wonderful, unique little girl. I am looking forward to seeing all that God has in store for her in the coming years.

Beach Pictures, Part 1

It's been a month since our trip to the beach, and I'm finally getting around to posting pictures!

Lydia has been to the beach twice before, once as a baby and once as a toddler, but this was Nathan and Lily's first trip. It was also the first time that my side of the family has gone on vacation together since David and I were in high school.
Between the pictures that I took and the ones that I copied from my mom's camera, I have well over 200 pictures to sort through, which is why it's taken me so long to get these online!

These are in no particular order, by the way!

Nathan had a great time playing with his Uncle Dave!

Lydia and Lily

Lydia, Papa, Kayla, and Nathan

Nathan loved the sand, but was not too sure abut the ocean itself. He like to dig in the wet sand, but would take off running if the waves got too close!

Uncle Matt is not as crazy as Uncle Dave, but I think Kayla had fun playing with him anyway!

This is our first day at the beach. Lydia and Nathan couldn't wait to build a sand castle!

Dad and Nathan walking on the beach--they had just stepped off the boardwalk when Nathan had to stop and play in the sand.

There were red flag warnings the first two days we were there. The waves were as big as I've ever seen them at Orange Beach. Lydia was not taking any chances--she was holding on tight!

Lily sees the ocean for the first time! I'm not sure she was impressed, although she did try to eat some sand.

The Fair's In Town!

One of my favorite memories of when Matt and I were dating is the first time we went to the Mid-South fair together. A man from church had given us tickets, so one night when I got home from work, we headed to the fair. A freak cold front had come through Memphis earlier in the day and the temperature had plunged into the forties. I couldn't have imagined a more perfect night for fair-going! Fortunately, the rest of the city of Memphis disagreed with me and stayed home. Matt and I practically had the fairgrounds to ourselves. It was the first time I had been to a really big fair, and I had so much fun looking at the exhibits and livestock!
Since we moved back to the Memphis area, Matt and I have made a point of taking Lydia and Nathan, and now Lily, to the fair every year. Some years have been more fun than others, but we always look forward to the fair coming to town!

Look, Mom, it's Wilbur!

The petting zoo is one of our favorite parts of the fair. Lydia and Nathan love feeding the animals and petting them. This year's petting zoo was much smaller than usual. We missed getting to see camels and yaks, but we did get to pet this sweet baby pig.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Lily, Mama, and Lilly the Llama

The llama's name really was Lilly. I guess that's why she was the only one looking at the camera when Matt called out, "Lily!"

This hungry goat thinks Lily's sock just might make a good dinner!

Matt and Nathan enjoyed the John Deere tractor exhibited outside the petting zoo, and Lily even got her picture made on it! Grandpa, she's really looking forward to that first tractor ride!

What would a trip to the fair be without fair food? We had hoped to try some deep fried butter, but apparently it's exclusive to Texas! Nathan and Lydia enjoyed ice cream cones while Matt and I shared a funnel cake.

We even shared a little with Lily.

School Days

First Grade

How can six years go by so quickly? Wasn't it just yesterday that we were putting the crib together and washing those tiny pink clothes? And now, here she is, a first grader! Since we home school, it didn't make sense to take the traditional first day pictures with a backpack and lunch box, but I still wanted to commemorate the day!

Preschool

We are blessed to have a wonderful preschool program at our church. Nathan will be going to preschool three mornings a week this year. These are pictures from his first day, and he was so excited! He came home and told me that he had made lots of friends at school. I asked him what their names were, and he replied, "I don't know." Oh well! I'm sure he'll learn their names before graduation!

What We Do All Day

No, we're not playing, even if that's what it looks like! There are so many wonderful things about homeschooling, and this is one of them. Our science lesson today was about vascular plants. We were supposed to collect and examine leaves to see the veins that carried water through them. Since it was a beautiful day, we moved our entire lesson outside. It's easy to collect leaves when you're sittting in the middle of them!

Nathan enjoys refreshments during the lesson.


Collecting science specimens. Somehow, our study of leaves turned into a study of dirt, bugs, and a really scary looking caterpillar.

I'm sure it won't be long until Lily is toddling around behind her sister with a book in hand, begging, "Read to me!" You can see the adoring look on her face as Lydia reads Dick and Jane stories to her.



One of the first science lessons we had dealt with how botanists separate plants into kingdom, phylum, class, etc. Our book suggested we try this with our shoes. Here is Lydia sitting beside our giant pile of shoes, getting ready to put them in order.


Here we've separated them into four phyla: Sunday shoes, everyday shoes, boots, and slippers. Lydia really enjoyed this experiment and insisted on assigning each of our shoes a "scientific name." For example, I'm wearing a Sandalicus mommius as I'm writing this!


This is just a small snapshot of all that we've done this week. We've had a great start to our year, and I cannot express how excited I am to be homeschooling! We had a wonderful experience last year, and I expect this year to be even better.

Nathan And The Biker

I think the four most horrible words in any mother's vocabulary are these: "I forgot the camera!" Last weekend, Matt had to do a wedding in Henderson, TN. As I hastily packed for the trip, I forgot to pack our camera. Matt and I tried to do the best we could with our cell phones, but I'm afraid we missed some great photo opportunities.

We drove in Friday night for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner had a luau theme, and we had a great time! During the dinner, Nathan and Lydia were given sun visors that were shaped like a shark and a parrot. Remember that, because it will be important in the later part of this story! We spent the night in a local motel. The wedding was not until 3:00 the next afternoon, and since checkout at the hotel was at 11:00, we had to find something to fill the few hours in between.

On the drive down, we passed the Pinson Mounds Archeological Area. We had no idea what that was, but it wasn't too far away and it sounded both historical and educational, so of course we had to go! What a fascinating trip! We enjoyed it so much that we're already planning a second trip when Lily's a little older and we have better shoes on. (It's hard to climb mounds in flip-flops.) While we were prohibited from climbing the museum, one of the mounds had stairs built up the side so that we could climb to the top. This mound is the second highest mound in the Untited States. It's a ceremonial mound and not a burial site, so we weren't being disrespectful by climbing it.

After we left the mounds, it was time for lunch. We had heard that there was a little diner in Henderson that offered the "best burger in West Tennessee," so we decided to check it out. After all, we could eat at McDonald's anytime, but how often would we have an opportunity like this? When we found the diner, the first thing I noticed was that there weren't many cars. There were, however, lots of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. I looked at Matt. Suddenly, the best burger in West Tennessee didn't seem like such a good idea.

"It's a burger joint," he said. "They'll clear out quickly." We went in. Sure enough, the diner was packed with bikers. But they weren't your average bikers. Take a moment and imagine the sweetest little old lady that you know. Now imagine her in tight jeans with a Harley-Davidson doo-rag on her head. These bikers were all senior citizens!

The highlight of my dining experience came at the end, when Matt and Lydia had gone to pay for our meal. Nathan had swapped the shark hat he was wearing at the park for Lydia's parrot hat. He was so enjoying wearing the hat that he refused to take it off. As we were waiting on Matt and Lydia, a very large and scruffy biker approached our table. He was huge. He was hairy. He was a little bit scary. He walked up to Nathan and said, "Hey, buddy, I'll trade my hat for yours." He held out a plain black baseball cap. Nathan wasn't intimidated in the least. He looked at the cap. He looked at the biker. And without a second thought, he replied, "No. I like my hat. I'm gonna keep it!"

Fortunately for us, this man was much nicer than he looked!

We had a great time at the wedding and enjoyed catching up with friends that we hadn't seen for some time. It is, as always, good to be home for a little while!

Forgive Me!

I wanted to take a moment to apologize to you all for not updating my blog recently! We've been busy these past few weeks! As soon as we got home from youth camp, Lydia and Nathan had two weeks of swimming lessons. Their lessons were supposed to be in the mornings, but due to lots of rain and an unusual cold spell, we ended up moving the lessons around on a regular basis, which meant that our days quickly fell into chaos! As soon as swimming lessons were over, it was time for Vacation Bible School, which is what we spent last week doing. Now that VBS is over, I'm desperately trying to get things in order to start school again. We are also going out of town this weekend for a wedding. One of the boys from Matt's first youth group at Merton Avenue Baptist is getting married, and Matt is doing the ceremony. So please forgive me for falling behind on my blog updates, and check back in a week or so. I hope to have some new pictures by then, and I'm sure that Lydia, Nathan, and Lily will provide me with plenty of entertaining stories!