Pomp and Circumstance

Look out world, or at least Kindergarten!  Lincoln is moving on up!  He graduated from pre-K last week with honors.  Ok, there were no official honors but if there were, I'd say he'd at least get "best looking!"  There's always "cutest dimples" or "most charming".  He'd be a candidate for those also.  Lincoln went to preschool at Woodsedge where we went to church for the past year.  We were SO lucky to have what I believe were the best teachers in the program.  They had 30 years of combined preschool experience.  They loved Lincoln but then again, who doesn't?  He can/does charm anyone and everyone he meets.  

What is it about that song "Pomp and Circumstance" that always seems to invoke tears.  It's a mixed feeling of pride and sadness of a time that has passed.  I'm proud that Lincoln started not completely knowing his letters, hardly knowing their sounds and is now reading sight words and learning to sound them out.  He can also write his full name!  I'm sad that the 4 short years I have at home with him are almost over and he will now spend the majority of his day with someone other than me.  I tell him on a regular basis that I'm going to keep him home next year because without him, I'll have no one to open doors for me and no one to eat lunches with me.  

This handsome guy has grown from grumpy baby to an independent explorer.  He can melt your heart before you even know what hit you.  He's "the pick", just ask his Nana.

Ms. Sue and Ms. Catherine were wonderful caring teachers that helped Lincoln blossom in learning by making it fun and memorable.

Lincoln and his friend Julia.  She's also our neighbor so we see her often and we carpooled with her since the babies were born.

 Hat's off to the future class of 2027!  The future is yours!

What's happenin' hot stuff?

We had a hibachi lunch a few sundays ago.  When he was done cooking, Jackson told him he wanted to take lessons.  He gave an impromptu one right there.  Lincoln mastered the "egg roll" and then smashed it on the grill.  

This sweet face picked these flowers as we walked home from taking Jackson to school.  I thought they were for me.  Nope, as it turns out, they are for his sweet sister, Lillian!  I can see why people think he's simply irresistible!  

Jackson picked out his own clothes for school the other day (I usually lay his clothes out).  I thought he looked SO cute in his white shirt and his Vandy jersey.  I can see him having a future as a commodore!  

Lincoln's preschool had muffins with mom last week.  Dad was here to watch Lillian so it was just Lincoln and I!  He probably enjoyed the muffins as much as the time with mom but it was still cute!  

These things are my FAVORITE!  I love to hear what your kids think about you.  At least I'm a spring chicken, I'm sweet and I do love rainbows!

This kid.  Chased down and caught 2 frogs.  One for each hand!  All boy!

I had brought the bouncy seat downstairs to give my arms a little break from baby Lillian.  I came home from the gym to find THIS.  Lucy has climbed into the seat and made it her bed instead.  But she looks so cute, I don't want to make her get down.

Looked back and saw this in the backseat of my car!  Sweetness.

The Woodlands Pools have opened ! Weekends until June 4th but we will take it!  We have already made 2 trips and it's nothing short of FUN!

We were cleaning and playing trains in the playroom and I asked Lincoln to hold his sister.  She looked so big sitting up beside him.  These two are just the cutest!

This was Jackson's first time at the pool this summer.  He didn't waste any time hitting the diving board and jumping in!  Remember the days when we didn't care about how COLD the water was?  Yeah, I'm too old for that now.

It was career day at school and this guy woke up well before our normal time because he couldn't wait to wear this to school.  He asked every minute until 8:30 if he could leave yet.  He was so excited for his friends to see his dads uniform.  His career was Army and the way he was going to get there was by going to West Point!  While I'm unsure about sending my firstborn into the Army, I know I'd be the parent with the biggest smile (and the most tears) on R-day!  He would be a legacy so it could happen!

Dad left his camo hat.  Jackson was wearing it when he caught this little fellow and put him on the hat!  He thought it was funny to put a lizard on pawpaw's hat!

I looked out the front door glass the other day and this is what I see on the porch.  It made me gasp and giggle at the same time.  What in the world is this cat doing? 

And that's what's been going on in defoor life via iphone photos.  

Daily dose of Adorable

There isn't a day that goes by that we don't have an impromptu photo shoot around here.  With the help of my trusty iphone, Lillian is possibly the worlds most photographed child!  My mom lives in one part of Alabama and my sister in the other and I"m here in Texas, it's imperative that they get a photo daily.  Otherwise, how would they see what this adorable baby is wearing on a daily basis.  

I don't know that I'll ever get tired of making her picture.  It still thrills me to death when she smiles at me.  My mom jokes with me that I have my own little baby doll but seriously.  We play dress up, swap headbands and play "house" together every day.  Sounds a lot like a living baby doll to me!  So many of the outfits she's wearing are over 30 years old. They were mine and my sisters when we were babies.  Mom kept them all and now our daughters are getting to wear them!  I love to see her in these vintage pieces!

We are really enjoying bathtime these days.  At first, she thinks i'm trying to scald her, even if the water isn't hot!  She soon realizes that she likes it and starts cooing at me.

It's hard to believe 2 months have passed.  Lady Lillian did better on her 2 month photos than she did her first!  

She's a pretty cute chick!
Right now she's waking up once a night around 3-5am and then getting up around 7am.  She's usually back down for a nap by 8:30am.  She prefers to eat every 2ish hours in the daytime but she's a FIRM believer in her self imposed 8pm bedtime.

Baby blue eyes!  I don't know if she'll keep the blue eyes but for now, i sure love looking into these baby blues!

This bubble suit was mine, probably at around 6 months.  

I'm telling you right now, this is the sweetest, most cuddly, loving smiling happy little baby girl ever!  She loves to be close and closer to you.  She smiles with a big open mouth first thing in the morning and she thinks the baby in the mirror is EXTRA cute!

We recently started taking mother daughter selfies and it's become a bit of a habit.  I'm pretty sure you'll be tired of them before long.  I'll try to refrain from publishing too many of them but I can't make the same promises about cute photos of her.

But when you're this cute, how can you help it?  

Zoo Boo

The boys "pawpaw" was visiting last week.  The lucky thing about him being retired is that he can pretty much fly here to visit anytime he wants.  He tells Lincoln that retired is "drinking coffee and eating chocolate."  I'm just glad he gets to do what he wants and that he wants to see US!!
He also came to visit us back during spring break.  I had a newborn and the boys needed some entertainment.  That's when this zoo trip fiasco first began.  We decided on a tuesday that it might be a good day to head out to the Houston zoo.  It wasn't too hot and I could push the baby in the stroller.  We packed our lunch and set out for the interstate.  As we were driving along Jackson said he didn't feel good, his throat hurt.  I knew this usually meant strep for Jackson but I was trying to be positive.  I asked if he needed to go to the doctor and he said no, he'd be ok.  It takes about 20 minutes to get to the interstate and by the time we got to the highway, he was crying and asking me if I would take him to the doctor and not go to the zoo. It turns out not only did he have strep but I had mastitis and we both ended up in the doctors office by the end of the day.
 This we will call zoo fail #1.

The next attempt was later on in the week.  We went to meet Jason in the tunnels for lunch and then headed to the zoo afterward.  We ran into traffic (big surprise Houston) but it didn't stop when we got off the interstate.  Or when we got closer to the zoo, no an hour and a half later we were STILL in traffic and the baby was about to be hungry again.  We soon realized that it was spring break and EVERYONE in Houston had decided it was a great day to go to the zoo.  We never even made it to the road the zoo was on before I aborted the mission and we turned around.  There wouldn't have been a parking place for miles around.  We ended up going to the aquarium and sadly it wasn't any better in the crowd department.  Note to self:   spring break in Houston = stay at HOME!  This will be called zoo fail #2.

This time, Dad was visiting in May.  It is normally already well into the 90's here in May but it's been unusually cool recently.  The weather while he was here was fabulous.  We planned our day at the zoo for Friday and we intended to arrive just after lunch so that we would be entering the zoo about the time the school field trips were leaving.  We saw lots of buses but they had to be getting back to school so we hung out, ate our picnic and watched and fed the squirrels.  We rode the train around Herman Park before we finally loaded up to go into the zoo.  Most of the buses had departed and we'd have the zoo all to ourselves.  When we walked up I heard the announcement "Thank you for visiting today, have a good night." I then noticed this sign.

I was thinking, this HAS to be a joke.  Surely there is no way we have struck out of going to the zoo the THIRD time.  We had even talked about how the "third time's the charm" when going to the zoo and we would finally get in today!  I could hardly believe my eyes but it was 2:45 and the zoo was closing for a private event.  

The good news is the zoo is located in a park area called Herman Park.  Its the central park of Houston.  It has trails, fountains, ponds and lots of natural wildlife.  We would not be discouraged.  We just made the best of it and hung out in the park.  We let the boys get wet in the fountains. We walked around the amphitheatre, we fed so many animals you'd have thought we did visit the zoo.  There were squirrels and pigeons that would eat from your hand.  There were ducks, geese, swans, and turtles all over the pond.We saw rabbits big and small.   There were fish, frogs, and even a muskrat swimming in the water.  There was so much to do we probably didn't even miss the zoo.  It does make you wonder though, how many times would it take for us to actually get into the zoo?  We also joked about how it must be our guardian angel keeping us from entering because if we did, the lions might get loose or something.  So far, we are 3 for 3 at the zoo with dad.  The only two times we HAVE been inside haven't been without their share of troubles.  The first time, the temp was a steamy 106 and one of the hottest on record in Houston.  The other time we were there for maybe 2 hours before the sky turned BLACK and we had to evacuate.  We hit the car door about the time the bottom fell out.  

Next time dad comes, I saw we visit...The Beach! It can't close, or avoid us as easily!