Back to reality

I escaped for the weekend to our church's women's retreat and had a great time. The speaker was Micca Campbell, and she works with Proverbs 31 ministries. She is hilarious and very southern. She reminded me a lot of home with her expressions and accent and kinda made me want to sound southern again. I made that comment this weekend and was told I sometimes still sound southern. Maybe, but I've definitely lost my twang. JD and the kids did great, and the house was in relative order when I arrived home. Thanks to my great roommates for not snoring and to all the Teammates gals who made the retreat so much fun.

My really fun, really cool, non-snoring roommates:


Teammates girls (plus Julie and Micca):

18 Months

My jaw dropped when I looked at the calendar yesterday and realized that Isabel was 18 months old. Her personality is really coming out, and she is intense. There is never any doubt about how she feels. She's very affectionate but also very temperamental. She runs everywhere and is rarely still. She can climb anything and will. I had to rearrange the kitchen when I saw her on the kitchen counter. She loves to be held right after she wakes up; don't try to put her on the ground or in her booster seat. Her vocabulary is really improving and she tries to imitate everything. Some of her "sentences" are "Help me.", "Help me up.", "Up, please.", "Help, please.", "More, please." She also says "thank you", and it's really cute, but you'd never guess that's what she's saying. She's still thin but her 12 month pants are becoming too short, so she's definitely growing. We have another week before we go for her check-up.

I thought I should take some pictures with her strapped down in her booster seat. Otherwise, all the pictures would be a blur.

After a pizza and chocolate dinner:




She's all done:


Are you talking to me?


All clean:

Pierce is Four

Pierce turned four last week, and I've been a bit remiss in not posting this sooner. He took cupcakes to school and got to be the line leader for the day. We had breakfast for dinner and more cupcakes for dessert. We opened presents and played with new toys.



Pierce is a sweet, funny boy; he's definitely a lover and not a fighter. He is apparently quite the ladies' man and all the girls love to play with him at preschool. He is quite tender-hearted and very sensitive; yet, he loves to run and jump and can hardly sit still. He likes playing "shoot the mean guys" with his pop gun but doesn't want to play the mean guy. Can't say that I blame him. I wouldn't want to get shot either.




Thanks for making the last four years so much fun, buddy. We love you bunches!!

March Birthday Bash

So most of the clan came up to celebrate the Feb. and March birthdays in our family. (We missed Philip and Catherine!) It's like Christmas all over again. A good time was had by all and the kids got some much needed new spring and summer clothes and more than a few cool toys. Madelyn received a couple of new princess dress ups along with matching ones for her new doll.

Here she is as Belle:


Pierce got this pretty cool football uniform:


Madelyn received a Mrs. Potato Head and Pierce received a Mr. Potato Head dressed as Buzz Lightyear. The both received this:


This is a large plastic jar in the shape of Mr. Potato Head and it contains no fewer than one hundred Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head accessories.

Here are a couple of pictures of the pandemonium:




Pierce asked for a Buzz Lightyear themed cake, so I pulled something together. The girls didn't seem to mind.






Sisters-in-law


My in-laws with the grandkids (minus Isabel who had already crashed and burned.)


Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures with the kids and my parents. Gotta get one next time! Happy birthday Madelyn, Kathryn, Pierce, Sarah, and Taylor!

Soccer

Madelyn has taken soccer lessons for the last 7 weeks, and she really likes it. She told me she likes it better than dance because she can use more energy. We all went to her lesson a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed watching the kids run around.







Isabel, where is your belly?


Isabel, where is your head?


Isabel, let's have some modesty.


Of course, Pierce, I'll take a picture of you.