O-N-E!

It's hardly believable to me that today my Little Tee-Tiny turned one. The time has passed so quickly. I just wish I could scoop it up and bottle it so it would stand still. I went back to read my post from this day in 2010 and what a difference a year makes! This time last year I was a nervous wreck; my insides all torn to pieces. We held our 5lb 9oz bundle of pink for the first time and it felt just like I had always imagined.

This gal is keeping me on my toes lately with her bootie scooting. She refuses to do a traditional crawl despite all my instruction and encouragement. If there is one thing I've learned about her it's that she's in NO hurry to meet developmental milestones in a timely fashion. There is no pulling up but she will stand when propped. She complains about it though....and right now she's still cute when she complains (give it another year).

It's been a great first year and I can't wait to watch her continue to grow. I'm so excited to be hosting my first pink birthday party. I even got crafty for it. I'll have the big reveal in the party post. Don't get your hopes up too high. I'm still far from Martha Stewart.

Happy First Birthday, LanieBugs! Here's to at least 99 more!!

An Honorary Blog

In honor of all of the lucky (but hopefully not TOO lucky) highschool kids that are heading to prom this very night, I thought it would be fitting to take a little lookie back on prom way back in the 90's. I would SO go to prom right now if I hadn't read in the paper a few weeks ago that the "average couple" spends an estimated $1,300 on prom night! Whaaaa??? I guarantee that wasn't happening back in '94. I'll tell you what WAS happening: my sequins and this backdrop. Please view Magic Carpet Ride 1994, Bobby's Junior Prom.....and note the magic carpet below that looks very oriental ruggish to me.

When 1995 rolled around I still thought the sequins were a great idea, along with the updo. This year, however, I threw in the dyed shoes from Payless. Apparently I wasn't the seasoned shoe lover I am now because those are not cute in any way, shape, or form. Surely I wasn't going for comfort? How ridiculous. Bobby pretty much played it safe in the exact outfit from the year before. The tux didn't evolve much in the 90's.

Ahhh, 1996. My senior year. The year Bobby and I like to recall the unfortunate mishap with his tux (which, again, is exactly the same) and the picture prop. His coat was caught on the column behind him and increased the appearance of his derriere by at least 3 pant sizes. This is one moment when the bootie was, well, too juicy.

I just kept with tradition and rocked the sequins, updo, and dyed shoes. I also must note that I left the curling iron on the bang a little too long giving that nice "I-just-curled-my-bang-under" perfectly placed turd roll. But I do have danglies on the side that I still find nice.

Prom. I loved it. Dance hard young people.....next thing you know you'll turn around and have 4 kids, a mortgage, and sun damage from tanning for prom. Memories. I love them!

Kids Rock!

For the third year in a row Cade donned his Nikes to take on the INGKid's Marathon (formerly known as the Country Music Kid's Marathon). Grant finally decided he was good to join this year and pounded the pavement with him. We got a late start this year and had to double up many days and run 2 miles. I could never get the boys running good on the same day....there was always one complainer. But, alas, we got 25.2 miles in and were ready to go on race day!

The drive to Nashville was completely stressful this year given the insane amount of traffic. I was pretty sure we were going to miss the whole thing but the good Lord rolled us in the parking lot just in time to hoof it to find our team waiting right at the front of the start line. (That was first! Usually we're WAY, WAY in the back.)

I only had a few minutes to get ready to take pictures. Bobby headed to the finish line area and I had grand aspirations of getting myself settled somewhere nice to get a few action shots of the boys running. Didn't happen. After only one minute of working through the crowd my pits were sweating and I found that I was only a few steps ahead of the runners. Durn that 'being in the front of the start line' stuff. I did manage one of Cade...
And I caught the rear end of Grant speeding by:
It was at this point in the race that I laughed at myself (it happens every year) because I was being that mom......sprinting, jumping over chain fences, ducking under tree branches, weaving in and out of helpless, slow people, just to catch a second glimpse of my little runners.
This is when Grant kicked it into high gear. He ran as fast as his little legs would go and he was right on Cade's heels. (We let Grant run with Cade instead of running in his age group to save time.)
I missed the crossing the finish line shots because I was stuck behind a goofy barrier thing and a lot of crazy parents....not counting myself. I found Cade in the kid crowd packing in some after race goodies.
He and Grant went straight for the ice cream.

These brothers worked hard to get to the end of this race! I was so proud of their perseverance (though it was sometimes highly encouraged...oftentimes with threats).
A pic with the dad:
Way to go, boys!! I'm already looking forward to next year. Grant? Not so much. Cade? Undecided. I can almost guarantee come February Cade will get the itch again. Grant's a wild card that only time will reveal. I can't wait!

Hunting with Cousins

After the big hunt at church we headed home for a quick round of baby napping and then we loaded all of our egg loot and went to Bobby's parent's house for our annual hunt with the cousins.

As seems pretty standard, Elaina took up much of the camera time. She's so cute it's just really hard not to follow her around like a paparazzo!
She's doing a little nose scrunch thing lately. This is a subdued version of it. Rest assured that it's pretty much adorable.
This is also adorable.
Elaina would not keep her little blue bow in....but Bob had no problem sticking it in his own hair. If she weren't so busy trying to scoot around the yard she'd have pulled it out of his head as well.
I love having two perfectly beautiful mocha girls in this family!

The best thing about the hunt at the Morgan's is the money eggs. Counting all the change I think all my boys ended up with moola in the double digits. Crazy! If I had known the prize was that big I'd have been whackin' some kids in the shins and elbowing my way through that yard to collect some for myself. The pay scale for stay-at-home moms is struggling, you know.
G made out pretty well finding one of the big bills in an egg. Five bucks!
Rhett didn't do bad himself but Bobby had some teaching to do. He'd trade 10 quarters for one paper dollar in a heartbeat.
We had a great time hanging with our cousins and with our great planning, we didn't even have to come home with more candy! Egg recycling is genius!

My Lovelies

I always love seeing the boys all spiffed up at Easter. This year I decided to get my money's worth out of Rhett's suit from the wedding and let him re-wear it for Easter Sunday. I lucked out and found Grant a suit with a vest but it didn't happen for Cade. I wasn't about to drop the required coin for something he was going to wear once on Sunday. Here's my crew looking dapper (and beautiful!) for church:

I had purchased Lanie's dress this time last year. I was so pleased that the fit was good and it turned out just yummy with my friend, Leigh, monogramming it for me. I may go bonzo with this monogramming thing. It's just so cute!
I took individuals of everyone: Here's my future financial advisor/accountant:
Here's my future boy-band member:
And my future lawyer/comedian. Can you be both?
Bobby got a shot with Elaina but somehow ended up not getting one with the boys. Boo on that.
And lastly, me and my girl.
I praise the Lord that we have something to celebrate this time of year. Christ's birth at Christmas is always worth celebrating, but without His death and resurrection we'd have no hope! Thank you, Lord for your free gift of salvation!

Easter Eggstravaganza 2011

Our church had it's (mostly) annual Easter egg hunt and Lanie was thrilled to be able to take part for the first time. Really she didn't have a clue what was going on but I found it very cute to sit her with her basket and make her dad walk around and put eggs in it.

She was quite the patient waiter.

It was totally hilarious to her to be in that grass.....or it may have been the wind. As I've stated before, gal can't keep her mouth closed when the wind blows.
She scooted on the ground but was too preoccupied to even pick up an egg.
This is what she had her eye on:
Then, just as she had expected, that crazy preacher bunny hopped over to her neck of the woods and there hasn't been a time in her life yet that she wanted to run more than this very moment.
She was mad at that bunny for being so terrifying and she sat in waiting, watching to see if he'd return.
Then I moved her over to get a picture with her friend Macie and the mood lightened somewhat.....until she poked Macie's face repeatedly and made her cry.
This next picture cracks me up. Caption: "Ugghhh......can you even believe the nerve of that bunny guy, Garrison? Just look at him scaring all the kids."
"Whaa? Look buddy, I wasn't fond of you 10 minutes ago and I'm still not fond of you now. I like you better in your preacher suit."
Lanie and her daddy:
Grandma was there, too, and helped keep her occupied while we waited for the boys to hunt eggs. She did lots of walking and lots of tossing in the air.
The boys met up with their best buds and I was able to snap a quickie. How did these peeps get so big? I miss their fat little baby faces.....sigh.
If there were ever a time to be scared at church this would definitely be one of those times. Do not even think about stepping out into this field while these children are released for hunting. Danger. Danger!!
Rhett made out with a bucket full of loot. That's one thing he needs is a bucket full of sugar.......as if God hadn't already made him with a permanent sugar high.
He saw his buddy, Micah, and that always makes him happy!
All three boys had a great time hunting their eggs. This is Cade's official last year at the church hunt being that he's a big, bad third grader. Apparently you age out once you move up to fourth.
Another great year of egg hunting! Now I'm stuck with the task of monitoring the candy intake which isn't easy when you still have a kid that isn't above hiding and eating his fill. I'll let you figure out which out of control one that is......and just a hint, his hair is neither brown nor straight.

Happy Hunting!