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To celebrate Lincoln’s momentous day, we had a fun, simple playdate with the Phillips at one of our favorites, Little Bear Indoor Playground.  The kids all had a wonderful time playing, and it was stunning to see how my little guy has gone from this:

To this:

At what seems like an impossible speed!

Judd and Linc are such buddies  They give each other hugs and kisses when they see each other and play so great together – I love it!

Giving Lincoln a birthday smooch:

Lincoln returning the favor with a hug, which makes Judd guffaw and Sissy laugh too:

Happy Birthday song:

I had made cupcakes and brought them for the group in honor of his birthday, but Lincoln sure was not liking all that sticky frosting:

This picture was taken mid-fling as he tried to hurl the offending cupcake against the wall.  See the determined look??

Olivia helping Lincoln open his gift:

At home that evening after dinner, it was time to have our family’s little celebration for Lincoln.  This time I went with a vanilla-frosted cupcake in the hopes he would actually eat some of it!

“Mmmmm!”  He liked this one MUCH better:

Scarlett giving Lincoln some birthday loving:

The girls hovered around him in hopes of snagging extra cupcake bites:

Simultaneous cupcake shoveling:

The following week on Wednesday, it was time for Jim and Scarlett’s rescheduled date.  Grammie was going to take Sissy out on a special date too, and I was trying in vain to get a picture of the two of them.  First Victoria wouldn’t look, and then just when I thought I’d gotten one with *both* of them looking…

Grammie was distracted and looked down at Lincoln :-p  He is pretty hard to look away from though because whenever I am taking pictures now he stops whatever he’s doing and tries to run into the frame, all the while giving the BIGGEST “cheese!” grin he can muster:

The kids are so lucky to have such a wonderful great-grandmother in their day-to-day lives!

Daddy and Scarlett, ready to head out on their dinner-train-dessert date:

Thanks Mikayla for being willing to curl Scarlett’s hair for her special evening!

Scarlett and Lincoln

The girls diligently worked all morning on painting several pictures for Jim, and we decorated an area in his room with their artwork, then spent some time hanging out and chatting:

Although I don’t think they could even verbalize how or why it made them feel better, the relief in their overall attitudes was tangible that afternoon and evening.  My girls wanted to make sure their Daddy was going to be just fine!

Finally back at home on Tuesday afternoon, Jim spent a couple of days still taking it easy per the doctor’s orders… however, he always had at least one (if not two) sidekicks helping him relax.  I don’t think any of the kids wanted to have him out of their site:

The following weekend after being out and about for a bit, we came home and discovered that Nana had found and captured a box turtle for the kids to see!  I didn’t get any pictures of it, but it was fairly good sized and the kids were super interested… for a few minutes anyways.  Lincoln mostly made this “huh-huh-HUH” noise – I call it his Alert Sound.  For instance, he made that sound non-stop one afternoon until I went into the living room and saw him pointing at this dead bird that one of the cats had dragged in and lovingly laid next to the floor lamp.  So although Linc was interested in looking at the turtle, he mostly seemed to feel like it was something he didn’t really want to mess with, made the Alert Sound, and wandered off to find something else to do that was a little less threatening.  Scarlett and Victoria both took turns holding it, but it was definitely Sissy who stayed interested – in fact she made Grammie stay outside with her for 40 minutes following it around as it tried to escape

I was inspired by our turtle friend, and early the next week we made a turtle craft that the girls really enjoyed.  We first went outside a found a few rocks that were not-too-big and not-too-small, and brought them in to wash them up.  Then the girls got to paint their rocks, and I encouraged them to try and design them like the turtle shell we had seen, which was really beautiful.  After the rocks dried, I hot glued two popsicle sticks into an “X” under the rock, forming the legs, and then added one more half of a stick for it’s head.  The girls added googly eyes, and voila!  Turtles:

Speaking of arts & crafts, below is this picture that Scarlett drew – I am horrible at actually keeping the physical copy of their artwork, so I try to take pictures of any that are extra special (like this one).  Scarlett drew it and brought it to me to explain that “there was Lincoln, with his eyes, nose and mouth, his two arms – in one arm (left) he’s holding a nice spider that has eyes, and two legs, and his penis.”

I busted out laughing.  I tried so hard not to laugh, but she was just so proud of herself and so earnest and I couldn’t help it.  When she asked why I was laughing, I semi-recovered and just let her know that I was impressed with all the fine attention to detail.  She accepted that and made sure to hang up her picture on the fridge for all to see.

And to end the post, just a few pictures of Grammie and her boy – he is getting so snuggly and loves giving big, wet kisses!

Linc is eyeing Grammie, trying to decide where he’s gonna go in for the smooch:

Got her!

Now that she’s been properly loved-on, he can relax and watch some Curious George

The kids had been playing so hard all weekend in the super hot weather, and with no time for a nap before we had to depart, it wasn’t 10 minutes into the drive that two very excited, but VERY exhausted little girls fell fast asleep.  We arrived at our destination (a solid 30-minute drive) and sat in the parking lot letting the sleeping beauties get some rest:

Mikayla and I occupied ourselves taking mostly cheesy, ridiculous photos, but this picture was actually normal:

Sissy woke up, feeling dazed and definitely in need of some sunglasses against the glare of this 100+ degree day:

After rousing Scarlett, we stepped out of the van and the girls were totally blown away.  It’s funny how HUGE and amazing it seems to them – I loved it!  Although I had been a bit anxious that the experience would be a little over their heads, I shouldn’t have worried – they ate everything up, from the faux castle exterior, to the introductory announcement that it was almost time to enter, and every step along the way!

Scarlett was practically BURSTING with excitement with each new thing we encountered, and Victoria was mostly in sheer awe.  I don’t think she cracked a smile for almost 30 minutes, as she clutched my hand tightly, unsure what was real and what was pretend.

Holding her flashing flower (still no smile):

See Scarlett’s stance?  The trying-to-hold-it-in excitement??  :-)

When the “master of ceremonies” came out onto this little balcony, Scarlett was literally hopping up and down, while Victoria listened earnestly to every word he said:

Seated in the arena:

Mikayla in the arena:

We were cheering for the Green Knight, and with all of our recent practice cheering for the Bulls, the girls were pros at waving their green banners and clapping for our guy:

Victoria was SO into the knights fighting… almost as much as she was into her ribs:

And then, the Green Knight bestowed upon her the special Queen of Beauty sash – this was her expression:

Here we are, with my little Queen of Beauty.  She felt SO happy and thrilled that she had gotten this coveted sash:

After the show and dinner was over, we took our little books and had the knights sign all of them.  The girls REALLY liked being able to meet the knights, and even though with the first one-on-one encounter they were a little shy, by about the 3rd knight they were confident and racing up to them to ask for autographs.  Mikayla asked this knight for a smooch, but failed to realize how incredibly sweaty these guys are after running around for an hour in full-blown armor – ew!

Scarlett’s book:

Victoria’s book:

What a fun time that the girls still talk about!  I hated that Jim missed his date with Scarlett, but I was thankful we could still salvage the trip and turn it into a memorable Girls Date

All of our kiddos eating lunch – a far cry from when it was just Scarlett and Olivia in the beginning!!

We also had our end of the year party with our homeschool group – it was a great first year with them and we look forward to many more.  The girls were VERY proud of their accomplishment certificates  I love Scarlett’s outfit in the picture below – she picked everything, from dress, shoes, necklace (that she bought with her own money from her birthday – she negotiated the cost down from $1 to $0.50 at a yard sale!) to bow.  She looks like a member of the Young Republicans:

Grammie Wright was down to visit for a couple of days, and the girls were anxious to have a tea party with her – complete with the new Beauty & the Beast tea pot set:

Grammie Wright also got to sit and watch a Bulls’ game with us and see the girls all decked out in their team paraphernalia!  Jim ordered all new team gear for all of us gals and Victoria and Mik got there’s first, while Scarlett and I were left on the back-ordered list.  Sissy sure did love her personalized “Victoria” shirt

Jim came home early from work mid-week one day, which is super unusual for him and stayed pretty much in bed for the next couple of days with what we thought was a bad cold or flu.  He rallied late Friday afternoon to go along for Linc’s first haircut.  We arrived and Linc didn’t seem nervous at all – super smiley and acting like his normal charming self:

But when the hairdresser tried to strap him into the chair, no amount of trying to talk him through it would make him settle down, so he ended up getting a really awesome cut… from the comfort of daddy’s lap and with a sucker to keep him otherwise distracted.  He looked so much older and very handsome!

Speaking of Lincoln, he has some pretty awesome dance moves.  We have a bootleg version of the movie “Rio” that the girls love, and whenever the opening sequence begins, he puts on his Dancing Face…

…and starts busting a move:

It also won’t be long until he is opening all the doors – eek!  He’s just so tall, and is always trying to “help” me out like his sister do by opening the back door so that the cats can go in or out:

A couple of pictures of Lincoln with his hair before it was cut….

(I thought I could give the girls juice boxes and Lincoln wouldn’t mind… um, I was wrong. He hollered himself right into his very own capri sun-)

(but while those are tasty and all, nothing beats drinking straight from the hose until he you can hear the water sloshing around in his belly as he walks!)

And AFTER his haircut!  He went from looking like a baby to looking like a little boy.  I love it!!!

All of the kids love this inflatable pool that Grammie bought for them – Scarlett and Lincoln playing:

If one of the girls decide they are just NOT going to smile/look up for the camera, there is no getting them to cooperate.  Victoria was not wanting to pause – even for a moment! – to bother with getting her picture taken.  First she looked away to her right…

… then away to her left

Then there’s this clown, who not only will literally stop mid-tears when a camera is pointed his way and give a full-blown smile, but also thinks it’s pure comedic gold to stick his finger up his nose:

Victoria was super relived when she arrived at Jim’s work and discovered that she wasn’t expected to sit in her own office all alone – that is what she told Jim.  It’s always tough as a parent, because even when you think you’re being very attentive and in-tune with your child and try to talk with them about potential anxieties (“Don’t worry, they have a potty and Daddy will help you” or “Daddy will get you a drink when you get there to keep at your desk” or “Everyone there is happy you are coming and will be friendly,” etc.) you just can’t always predict what they might be worrying about!!  So there Sissy was, super excited to go in with Daddy, but almost sick with nervousness about the thought of having to sit all alone doing work makes me feel both bad for her, and at the same time made me think “Wow, that’s super brave that she would go in anyway!”

After doing a walk-around and chatting with everyone, eating a donut, and getting her work station all set up, Victoria spent most of her time happily “working” and crafting one-of-a-kind pieces of artwork for various co-workers:

The Chicago Bulls made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in more than a decade, and the whole family got into watching with Jim – getting dressed up in team garb, cheering on (literally) the Bulls, and letting the girls stay up til half-time on most game nights.  They loved it!  It was so much fun to see them really get into it, ask a million questions and start to piece together what was happening.  Plus, I’m pretty sure there is nothing cuter in the world than hearing Sissy say, “Daddy!  There’s the Balls’ [she can't say BULLS, it comes out as BALLS] coach, Tom Tippytoe!”

Scarlett, wearing a Bulls’ jersey that Jim had bought for Mikayla when she was three years old:

Later that week, Mik and I took the kids strawberry picking with our homeschool group.  It was H-O-T that day, and the kids could hardly look up at the camera for the sun glare:

The girls had vague recollections of strawberry picking in summers past, plus we had talked about what kind of berries we would be hunting for and so they felt confident and ready to dive in.  Due to the field being almost picked clean, the girls truly had to HUNT for the berries:

Once the girls were fully searching, I tried to spend a little more time with Linc, who wasn’t feeling too sure about all of the goings on at first.

“See, Linc, we have to look for a red berry.”

“Yeah, great mommy, you have fun with that.”

Sissy really dug into the bushes trying to find those dark red berries:

Finally, Linc got into trying to help me pull the strawberries off their stems.  I really thought he’d be more interested to eat them, but he mostly liked to hold them and put them into the bucket:

Scarlett is pretty strong – she lugged this half-full 5-gallon bucket all around:

Lincoln was way jealous of Scarlett’s bucket, so we had to get one of our own:

“Hmm, mine seems more empty than hers did…”

At the end of picking, we were all hot and sweaty, but it had been fun!

Lunch afterwards in an air conditioned restaurant and shopping around Old Navy with the Phillips helped to make it an officially great Friday

Party hats are a MUST in our household.  Scarlett is very adamant about that – I truly don’t know why – but most other kids I’ve ever met loathe wearing birthday hats, while she insists everyone wear them!

We kept the scale of her party small this year – parring down Scarlett’s extensive invitation list to only a few people.  With almost everyone in our house’s birthdays all bunched up together during May – August, moderation is the key for celebrations… now if only I could get my darling husband on board with that (“How about a jump house??” and “Let’s have it at the Botanical Gardens!” and many other terrific <and expensive!> ideas were submitted by Jim and summarily tossed aside~) we’d be all set

I did do one silly, fun thing for the kids however: a Spaghetti Pool.  Buy a cheapo plastic or blow-up pool, cook up about 10 boxes of spaghetti and throw into said pool once cooled off, and let the kids stomp, fling, swim and frolic in those noodles.  A cheap, entertaining and memorable activity!

Olivia and Scarlett squealing as they investigated the Spaghetti Pool:

Collin and Victoria running laps up and down the driveway:

IN the Spaghetti Pool with a big smile:

Elizabeth, trying to wait patiently as the adults and kids gathered for prayer before diving into the food:

I made sure my party hat was on at all times, just for my birthday girl:

The dinner/cake spread.  A create-your-own taco dinner (with seasoned chicken and beef options), fresh guacamole, cheese quesadillas, spanish rice, all the fixings AND of course, the princess castle cake (back left of the table):

Happy Birthday Scarlett!

Diligently decorating:

Our cat Sparky is so bizarre.  Actually BOTH of our cats are incredibly strange in their own unique and equally disturbing ways, however Sparky has recently developed a new favorite past time… whenever one of us is lying in the living room floor he immediately runs over and sits on that person’s behind, as demonstrated by Mikayla below.  WEIRD:

I like letting the girls do crafts several times throughout the day, and as long as they ask me first they are usually welcome to get all of their craft supplies out whenever they feel the urge.  One such day I was walking through the dining room and stopped dead in my tracks because Victoria had created this awesome spider of her own accord:

Lincoln has a couple of favorite books right now and if someone is stationary in the living room for more than a couple of moments, he hurries to find one of the books and brings it over for some reading time :

Daddy and Lincoln, playing some hilarious peek-a-boo:

While it wasn’t yet scorchingly hot, we tried to get out for a walk on most afternoons.  Victoria likes pulling Lincoln in the wagon… at least for the flat stretches of road

During the first weekend in May, my mom and I put on a dual garage sale at my house.  We both made good money and sold a lot of things we didn’t have use for anymore (or that the kids had outgrown!) and overall on Friday – the first sale day – all of the kids really enjoyed the hustle and bustle of shoppers and were content to play outside with Nana and I or relax indoors a bit with Grammie.  On Saturday, however, the girls were treated to nearly an entire day with Daddy as he took them to Discover Mills mall to shop and play.  Since we’d been there last time around Christmas, the mall had added a fun “kids town” with a miniaturized hospital, town hall, prison, restaurant, fire station and so forth.  Jim said the kids had such a blast there and played in “town” for over an hour!

Dr. Scarlett Wright:

Meanwhile, back at the garage sale Lincoln was walking all over the place!  I knew he had been able to walk for a few weeks, but he just flat-out refused to take anything more than a few tentative steps.  Finally though, something clicked and once he successfully took a dozen or so steps in a row he was off and virtually ceased crawling altogether:

Mik, Nana and I had a fun time hanging out during the garage sale! At one point on Saturday the traffic died down and Nana offered for me and Mik to drive the neighborhood and check out the other nearby garage sales.  Most were total busts, but Mikayla made and purchased a great find for Lincoln – something vital that every little boy needs:  a cowboy hat, miniature 6-shooter and hip holster.

Sheriff Wright:

The following week was fairly low key, and the weather cooperated for lots of outdoor tea time (yes, Scarlett is dressed like the queen):

We had Elizabeth, Sam and baby Joseph over to play and I couldn’t believe how much bigger the baby has gotten!  It’s good to be able to get my little-baby fix via Joseph

Victoria wanted to hold Joseph so badly, and Elizabeth was kind enough to oblige even though Joseph wasn’t personally too thrilled with the arrangement:

You would think a squalling one-month old would freak out most 2-year-olds, but not Sissy.  She just sang “rock-a-bye baby” and “dearest duckling” to him and tried to soothe him – it was a proud mama moment for me!

“It’s okay little buddy, don’t cry!” she was saying to him. Even Scarlett was trying to help:

The kids played outside a while, too, and ate half of a watermelon.  Lincoln LOVED being able to run around with the Big Kids!

The entire week leading up to May 6th, Scarlett would announce several times daily exactly how many days remained until she turned four.  ”Mommy, in THREE more day, I will be four!” and so forth  On the morning of her birthday she awoke to several presents from various members of the household and got to select whatever she wanted for breakfast.  Since her birthday party wasn’t until the following day, we mostly had a low key time on her actual birthday, while making sure to have lots of fun anyway!

This talking Beauty & the Beast tea set was a huge hit (from Grammie) and the girls drank about 2 gallons of watered-down Earl Grey tea that morning since I let them use real cream and sugar in the serving dishes:

Even if you are just running errands with Mommy, you can’t go out on your FOURTH birthday in just any old thing.  So in true Scarlett fashion, she got all decked out and asked Mik to curl her hair and put on her crown – she even got a little lipstick  I still had to beg and plead to snag a picture, but she looked so adorable that I couldn’t let the opportunity pass – she even held up double fours (you know, just in case I forgot why I was taking this picture~):

Grammie and the birthday girl:

Mommy and the birthday girl:

It’s a sweet picture of us but I look pained for unknown reasons (maybe from pleading with her for the pictures??) and Scarlett’s hand placement is…well, distracting.

One of our stops was by the bank and is unanimously a favorite because all of the kids score a sucker:

While we were waiting for our bank teller to finish up the transaction, Victoria kept doing all of these legs-flung-over-the-side poses for me in her seat:

Later that night our family gathered around a small cake to sing Happy Birthday to our precious 4-year-old girl:

I cannot believe my first child is four years old.  She made me a mother and is one of the loves of my life – I am thankful for her each moment of every day~