A Birthday Party Day

We are birthday-partying it up today.  Ella has two parties to attend, and James has one.  I am actually very excited about the fun day ahead.  I'm excited about getting to spend time with Ella just having fun.  Our first event is a tea party this morning with the daughter of some college friends.  They have recently bought a house here and are working with a church that our church is connected to, and so I am looking forward to some good fellowship this morning myself.  In addition, my friend asked if I would like to take pictures at the party so she wouldn't have to worry about having to stop preparations to do it.  Do you think I would like to take pictures of giggling little girls playing dress-up and drinking tea?  Yes, I think I would.  Get ready, hard drive.  You will have 500 more pictures on you by the day's end.  


Our next party is at a place filled with inflatables.  That will be a lot of fun for Ella as well.  Then we'll come home and have about an hour and a half of downtime before heading out again.  It's going to be a good day.  


I was going to share a funny story about Ella getting out of bed last night, but James is calling me.  "Ma-aa..."  Suffice it to say, about forty minutes after she was put to bed, Ella came out of her room with her new princess stick book I bought her and looked confusedly at us.  She said, "What are you doing still awake?"  KJ and I burst into laughter, because at 9:25, the correct question was, "What are you doing still awake?"  Precious girl.  She was hyped up with excitement, so she didn't get in trouble, but she did get sent back to bed.

Surprise Homecoming

Because I've been taking such a large quantity of pictures with my new camera, I've been going through all the pictures on our computer, deleting blurry and superfluous files to save valuable hard drive space. Today I came across this gem. Five and a half years ago KJ, Katie, David, and I drove down from Kentucky to surprise KJ's parents at their 10-year anniversary at their church. It made me smile.

A Late-Night Conversation

Me:  Do you love me?


KJ:  Yes.


Me:  (kind of whiny) But I'm just not perfect...


KJ:  (in all sincerity) That's news to me.


Me:  Good answer.


I love my husband.  He makes me laugh.

To the Afflicted, Tossed with Tempests and not Comforted

I have a new "favorite" song.  I went to look up the words online, and guess who wrote it...John Newton, of course.  Good job, John.  I think I might visit your home and your church in September.

Pensive, doubting, fearful heart,

Hear what Christ the Saviour says;

Every word should joy impart,

Change thy mourning into praise:

Yes, he speaks, and speaks to thee,

May he help thee to believe!

Then thou presently wilt see,

Thou hast little cause to grieve.

Fear thou not, nor be ashamed,

All thy sorrows soon shall end.

I who heav'n and earth have framed,

Am thy husband and thy friend.

I the high and holy One,

Israel's God by all adored;

As thy Saviour will be known,

Thy Redeemer and thy Lord.

For a moment I withdrew,

And thy heart was filled with pain;

But my mercies I'll renew,

Thou shalt soon rejoice again:

Though I scorn to hide my face,

Very soon my wrath shall cease;

'Tis but for a moment's space,

Ending in eternal peace.

When my peaceful bow appears

Painted on the wat'ry cloud;

'Tis to dissipate thy fears,

Lest the earth be o'erflowed:

'Tis emblem too of grace,

Of my cov'nant love a sign;

Though the mountains leave their place,

Thou shalt be forever mine.

Though afflicted, tempest tossed,

Comfortless awhile thou art,

Do not think thou canst be lost,

Thou art graven on my heart.

All thy walls I will repair,

Thou shalt be rebuilt anew;

And in thee it shall appear,

What a God of love can do.

20 Months

My boy is 20 months today.  I think I will stop dealing in months once he turns two.  In fact, I'm already starting to think of him as an "almost two-year old."  He looks like one all of a sudden.  He's starting to talk like one all of a sudden, but he still snuggles into me and puts his head on my shoulder.  He's precious...and trouble.  And you know what?  Not once, but TWICE today I have told James how precious and sweet he is and how much I love him, and BOTH TIMES he has run up to me and had runny poo-poo pouring out of his diaper.  Once it even poured down both legs and onto his feet.  Picture that.  I'm having a fight with diapers lately.

But I digress.  I don't really want to tell you about my fight with diapers, but I do want to record all that James is doing right now.  A written record really is the only way to remember.  James is now the age that Ella was when we moved here, and it is sometimes hard to remember what life was like with her then.  I can remember if I take a moment to think back, but it's hard to find those moments these days.  I did remember yesterday that Ella sang her first full song by herself around this age:  Jesus Loves Me, of course.  That has been the song we rocked both our babies to sleep to every night, and I can remember the nights when Ella started singing with me instead of just lying silently in my arms.  She was a sweet baby girl.  But on to James' accomplishments...

• He's added a bazillion words to his stockpile in the past month.  Now we are able to understand the following:  Dog, Bye, Ma, Da, Ella, Hello, car, ball, balloon, book, cup, all gone, no, nose, eye, mouth, banana, night-night, moon, hush, star, Debbo, T (Tuh) two (Once he even said "Hi-wee.")... Probably more will come to me later, and of course he has his own way of saying some things, but it would take too long to write everything out phonetically.
• He calls me, Ma.  "Ma-aaaa"  to be exact.  He says it like the good Southern boy he is, and I hear this hollered all day long from all corners of the house.  There's a part of me that finds the constant hollering of my name a little bit stress-inducing, and there's also a part of me that finds it the sweetest sound in the world.
• His favorite book for the past couple of months has been Goodnight Moon.  He loves this book so much.  He even reads it by himself.  He loves to say "hush" with the old lady, and our whole family can recite this book cover to cover.  
• He still loves to go outside.  He loves to go out in the morning and wave "bye" to Daddy.  He loves to go out with me when I take out the trash. 
• He's gotten a little bit clingy around new people and in new, enclosed places.  He cries and grabs on to my leg.  
• He says, "Mmm" repeatedly when he's eating something he likes.
• He can play a good game of catch with Ella.
• He still really likes balloons.
• He's a great laugher and a sweet giggler.
• He gives precious, slobbery kisses.
• He loves watching Backyardigans.  He sings along with all the songs in the episodes we have.  He also likes to sing the theme song to The Pink Panther.
• He can also likes to sing Fields of Gold with Celtic Woman.  Yes, he really does.  He chimes in on the "goad" part.
• He loves to dance with his sister.  If I turn on the music he and Ella will go to town for a good 15-20 minutes.  His favorite are songs from The Andy Griffith Show.
• He likes to play Hide and Seek.

If you made it through that list good for you!  If you didn't, that's okay.  I really just wrote it down for me.  I want to remember.

A Magical Photoshoot

So, if you read my blog frequently, you know all about KJ's cousin Hillary.  Well, maybe you don't know all about her, but you know that she has been a really good friend to me and my kids the past couple of years.  Her online classes have enabled her to be in town for the past 10 weeks, but she's back to school in Tennessee after this weekend.  Hillary's also been falling in love lately.  So what do you get when you add falling in love with my love of photography, a sprinkler, and Ella's umbrella?  You get some magic and have some crazy fun.

James Eats a Sandwich