The Wright Side of LifeThe family is one of nature’s masterpieces.

Scarlett had held firm to her desire for a “Belle Birthday” for months and months, and although definitely more conventional than last year’s cow birthday request, it was virtually impossible to find JUST Belle merchandise.  Every Belle-related item also had at least two other Disney princesses accompanying her, so we had to settle for a “Belle + princess friends” theme.  I was shocked that Scarlett managed to take a nap that day, since she had woken up SOOO excited for her party!  Awaking with just enough time to put on her dress, fix her hair and fasten her party hat on, my 4-year-old girl was ready to greet her guests:

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!

We are part of a small group at our church – an independent little unit comprised of a few couples/families that gathers together once a week to fellowship and study.  During the past two months our group has struggled with work schedules, sickness and time availability to get together as consistently as we had been, so we were excited for our small group cookout and get together thrown by the Cook’s.  It was fun to have more time than usual to chat with everyone and of course the kids had a blast running around William and Shanna’s huge yard!!

This small retaining wall provided an unbelievably large amount of fun for the kids.  They would work together to get boosted up….

…until finally they all mastered the art of getting up and over by themselves.

Which resulted in immense feelings of happiness and pride in their efforts, as demonstrated by Victoria:

It was also a much needed break for Jim from his ever-hectic work schedule, and Lincoln was thrilled with all of the time and tickles with daddy:

Ever have one of those perfect afternoons?  When the weather is unseasonably warm and everyone heads outdoors, drinks tea and plays so well together that you wish you could capture the feeling in those moments forever…then you walk around to where the kids were playing silly games and giggling together for 20 minutes and discover mud plastering the entire front of your home:

Oh well, it was still a great time and that’s what hoses are for

We were so excited for our friends Chris and Elizabeth as they welcomed their second son, Joseph, into the world in late March!  The kids were all eager to meet him (but not as much as me!), but none so much as Lincoln which was surprising and hilarious.  When Elizabeth first brought him in, there was a covering over his carseat and Linc was really anxious to see what was underneath.

The big reveal:

“Oh my gosh, mom – there’s a tiny PERSON IN THERE, can you believe it??  Can I love it and squeeze it and give it endless kisses?!?!?” was basically Lincoln’s response  He yelled at Elizabeth constantly to put Joseph lower where he could reach and touch him.

All of the warm weather we were experience, coupled with rain showers here and there, made for some great playing-in-the-mud days.  Lincoln was really excited to dive right in the fray with his sisters, or so he thought.  Come to find out, he wasn’t sure whether or not he liked the mud after all.

Feeling hesitant, he armed himself with a sizable stick:

“Hmm, maybe if I dominate it by standing… EW!  It’s squishing!!”

Foiled!  The mud seems to be winning:

One thing this boy DOES love, however, is popcorn.  Set up for a movie with his own bowl on the floor

One morning I had to run a couple of errands and was packing up the kiddos when Scarlett declared that she would like to stay with Mikayla.  This was totally out of character for her, but I told her that was fine if she talked with Mik about it.  Sure enough, a plan was made and when we came back an hour later, Scarlett was all dolled up – hair curled, nails painted, lipgloss on and dressed to perfection.  It was some great cousin bonding time!

So pretty.  She is absolutely a 14-year-old trapped in a 3-year-old’s body.  I love how she is sitting and no, it was not posed!  That’s just Scarlett

Of course once Sissy saw her cute Scarlett looked, she wanted to get all dolled up too and Mikayla was kind enough to oblige.  Cutest sisters ever!

Later that evening, Erica and Elizabeth joined us for a work-widow’s dinner, and all three girls put on a spectacular dance show for us.  Love these girls!

On the last day of the month, we were treated to a visit from Meredith and Justin.  Gram made her famous roast beef dinner, and after much eating, playing chase and being silly, Lincoln went to bed and the girls were able to convince Mere and Justin to watch a movie with them.  Thanks guys for taking the time!!

Friday we found ourselves at Thompson Park, which is a park we had visited several times early last spring but hadn’t visited again in over a year.  Their play area is fun and all, but the real attraction is the big pond down the hill which is usually fully stocked with ducks and geese of all shapes and sizes.  Read the rest of this entry »

Well this blog could very easily be titled, “We found a cool new park and then went there day after day.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday morning (the 16th), our friends the Cooks came over to play and visit.  It had literally been months since the kids had seen each other, and my girls were dancing by the door in anticipation.  There was much running, jumping, playing and general excitement before lunch, and afterward I was able to snag a few pictures while the crew was mostly stationary and busy painting. Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday, February 5th, we headed over to Karen, Izzy and Elly’s house (whom I’ve tagged “the Rodriguez clan”, largely because I do not know the pluralization technique for Rodriguez… the Rodriguezes? the Rodriguez’s?  the Rodrigui?  Karen, you will have to clarify that for me) for our first official joint-homeschooling Spanish class. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m taking a quick detour back to the middle and end of September so that I can catch up on some missed moments, which took a temporary backseat to blogging about our vacation and subsequent adventures.  Comments will be short but sweet

Papa built the girls an awesome miniature porch swing, and they were instantly smitten with it.  Victoria, in particular, sat on it and (I swear, I have witnesses) didn’t move from this position for a solid 5 or 6 minutes: Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday morning as we headed out the door to church we had Grammie take a quick snapshot of us by our shiny red minivan! Read the rest of this entry »

You remember that really great train table that arrived for Victoria’s birthday (from the previous post) from Nana?  Well, the girls aren’t the only ones who play with it all day: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve really been enjoying our occasional breakfasts out at IHOP, and Tuesday morning we once again met up with Erica and Elizabeth to indulge in pancakes and ham.  It’s nice too, because while I once felt as though I was constantly juggling drinks and bites and fishing crayon bits out of their mouths (and so forth and so on…), forcing myself to take them out to eat at places other than fast-food joints has paid off big time and they are now a lot of fun to go with.  Read the rest of this entry »