Wordless Wednesday - Too Stinkin' Cute (no pun intended)

New diapers!

I think my bacon just got burnt.

My kids love to tell each other that. I'm afraid it might just be a local thing, knowing our town the way I do. At any rate, today I had my nephew during lunch. He is not picky unlike some I know so I offered him some pineapple with his Spaghetti Os. Here is the conversation that followed.

Rayden: Allie, it's pineapple. It tastes good.
Allie: No, I don't like it.
Rayden: I do.
Allie: It tastes like casserole.

Guess what we had the night before for supper. You got it - casserole. I know a slam on my cooking when I hear one. Yep, my bacon got burnt.

The End of an (Preschool) Era

Allie is officially through with preschool. Her last day was today, and they had field day, which involved a bunch of water games. Last Friday was their end of the year program where they did a pirate themed program. It was adorable! They sang songs and had centers set up around the room to show what they'd learned throughout the year. At the end they gave each child an "award" which was their teacher's prediction of what they would be when they grew up. Allie was most likely to be a C.E.O. I think it fits.

Pirate cousins Allie and Rayden posed for a picture before the program. There is a lot of love between these two.


One of the books they read was an alphabet story. Rayden is the "R" and Allie is "X" marks the spot.


Afterward they had some outdoor activities for the kids to enjoy, s'mores, a jumpy castle, treasure hunting, tatoos, among other stuff. Everybody really enjoyed themselves. Jon Tyler even got a complimentary eye patch.


I can't believe how quickly the year has passed and how much she has learned and grown in this year. She can write all her letters and Corey is teaching her to add. She got along so well with her classmates and had a year long crush on James. Only two short months until she starts kindergarten. Her orientation was Tuesday and thankfully she knew enough kids from preschool to make her feel comfortable. She was worried about missing her friends, but I know she will settle in to her new environment quickly. I'm just glad we have 2 months to enjoy no school.

Hope He Grows Into His Head

Jon Tyler had his 18 month check up today (he is 20 months old, so we are a few months behind. no big). I took him to our new doctor. He was the same as Allie in that he is 25th percentile in height at 32 1/4 inches and 10th percentile in weight at 23.4 pounds. He is in the 75th percentile, however, in head circumference. The doctor (nurse practioner, but whatever) actually laughed when she told me that. I hope he grows into that head. I suppose he will. I have always thought he had a pretty head, and today's visit doesn't change that. Besides, he needs room for all his "smarts", or at least for all that scheming. He had 3 shots, as we somehow got behind in that as well. Poor 4th child. He was a little upset screamed bloody murder over the shots. All the way out of the office. And into the car. And down the street to Walgreens. He then quieted to a grumble through Walgreen's. He seemed irritated by the bandaids, though so I took them off and he was much happier. I did leave one on while we went in KMart and he entertained the people behind us by pulling up his shorts and showing it off. I won't mention any names, but a certain much older sister of his has to tell us all of her ailments and I think he might be following suit in the melodrama. Thankfully he is a happy and healthy little guy - big head and all.

Check Up

Allie had her five year old check up today. I've been saying for months that I was going to change pediatricians. After months of sitting in our current office feeling like I was in a clinic or better yet, a MASH unit, I bit the bullet. The office where I decided to move to is actually one that Hannah went to as an infant. They have now moved to a super fancy office and I suppose I will be helping them pay for that building. It is a worthy investment, however. When I walked in, there was a spacious waiting room and the concept of well child room was actually in place. At my old pediatrician, the well child room is the room all the sick people sit in when the sick people room fills up. I literally cringed going in there, dared my children to touch anything and bathed when we got home. My new pediatrician had me arrive 30 minutes early to complete paperwork. You must be thinking that people write really slow around here. Quite the contrary, the amount of paperwork is ungodly, completely insane. I brought the other 3 kids' paperwork home so I could do in peace and quiet front of TV. Enough rambling.

Allie was in true form and talked openly and candidly to the doctor, with complete animation. She told about her brother and his shenanigans, about our trampoline (I was hoping she'd leave that one off as doctors frown on these things), and a number of other ramblings (don't know where she got that from). She even informed the doctor that she could lick her armpit and proceeded to try a demonstration. I would say I was mortally embarrassed, but I was laughing too hard. She did great on her vision screening. When she couldn't see the bottom line, she leaned over, cupped her hand and whispered, "What is dat??" We hit somewhat of a snag,too, with the whole finger prick thing, which caused a total freak out. SO glad that nurse could snip it in a hurry. She was all of 41 inches tall and 34.6 pounds. That is the 25th and 10th percentile, respectively, which I think is nuts. I would be afraid of that going to kindergarten but she's had 5 years of training by her older brother and can hold her own pretty well. She talks a good game, too, and I think I'd be scared of her if I was in kindergarten. I guess she will follow suit as one of the shortest in the class, a trait my older two hate.

So to recap...Allie had a good visit, is small, and I like my new pediatrician. Yeah, I coulda said that to start with and saved you the trouble.

Not so wordless Wednesday ~ Healing

This picture makes my heart happy. These are two of my nieces being their silly selves. They are also two whose father died recently. The one holding the pink guitar has been pursuing a music career for several years and the girl's got talent. They both do, along with their younger sister, but this one is passionate about it. It is in her blood. She has competed in and placed in several music competitions, including winning the American Idol Experience last year at Disney. Let's just say she's awesome.

The week of her father's death, she said she'd never play and sing again, which would have been the second great tragedy in this situation. My prayer for her was that God would draw her back to it, that she couldn't not sing, and that is need be, she would pick up her guitar without even realizing she'd done it. God has answered that prayer. Already in the past three weeks, she's been invited to sing at another Christian music competition. (That means I'm not just being partial.) She has also recorded several songs on a CD for this contest, including one she wrote.

I have changed my prayer. Now I am praying that what this world lost in the talent of her father, God would increase one hundred-fold in her. I can't wait to see Him answer that one.

Good Neighbors

Growing up I had limited experience with neighbors, at least those not related to me. We lived in the country so neighbors were not close by, not like I have now. When I was in high school we moved but I never had a connection with the people who were our neighbors. Donnie and I were married 11 years and 1 week before we moved into our house and not once in those 11 years 1 week did we have sane neighbors on both sides. When we first married our neighbor was a drug dealer, when we moved to Chester the lady who shared our duplex was certifiably crazy and when we bought our first house, our neighbors were yard nazis. I say all this to tell you that it took us 11 years and 1 week to find good neighbors, but when we found them, we really struck gold.

We share a driveway with our neighbors to the right, Don and Pete (I know you may be confused here, but don't worry, they're not life partners. I have found it customary in Chester for some women to be called men's names. I can't figure it out amd stopped trying, but I felt you should know Pete is a she.) The shared driveway thing is the way our neighborhood was created when it was built 50+ years ago. Don has lived here his whole life, grew up around the corner, got married and moved into the house where he lives now. Don can tell you all kinds of history about this place. He makes me wish I lived "back in the day." He has known Donnie and his family for years and years, at least back to their high school days (not Donnie's, his parents). He went to our church and served faithfully there until God called him to pastor a small congregation.

He cuts grass as a side job and owns an impressive amount of rakes, pitchforks, and shovels. He used to cut our grass occasionally when Donnie had so much work to do, he couldn't get to it. We worked out a pretty sweet deal - he cut our grass and I'd bake him a cake (pun intended - haha). Don has always told us we could borrow whatever yard tools we needed. The other day while he was out working in his own yard, I asked him if we could borrow his tiller to make a small garden spot. He gave me a little advice about using it and I told him I'd try to get it from him a little later since I had to run errands. He asked me where I planned on putting it. I told him and left to do what I had to do. When I came back this is what I found.



My sweet neighbor had tilled my spot for me. When I thanked him, he told me he didn't mind, that it gave him something to do. Believe me, he has plenty to do, but I am so very thankful for him and for his blessing us in that way. The Bible tells us in several places to love your neighbor as yourself. There are many folks who do that. Then there are folks like Don who love their neighbors more.

Birthday Girl!!! (pics added)

Allie turned five today!! Hard to believe she has grown so quickly and that she will be in kindergarten come July. It breaks my heart. In our tradition of allowing them to have big birthday parties every other year, this was Allie's year. She had a Minnie Mouse party at Burger King, with LOTS of friends and family. She really had fun being queen (or should I say, mouse) for a day!!

Pics will not load so I will edit later!