Eric's Birthday

Eric turned 33 on March 31st. The girls went to my parents' house the previous weekend so we planned a night with friends for his birthday. We went to a great pizza place in Nashville and then came back for ice cream cake! yum-o! That ice cream cake was the devil though! It kept calling my name EVERY SINGLE night until it was gone! I HAD to answer the call each and every night so it would shut up and go away. Ice cream is one of my favorite treats. I wish I could eat it every day. Anyway, we put candles on the half eaten cake a couple of nights later for his actual birthday with the girls.

As a side note, the color and lighting on the pictures above are way off, I know. I've been trying out different settings on my camera and it's just not working for me.

The Rockport Park

Jim's Surprise Party

Jim's 60th birthday was a couple of weeks ago. Peggy and the other kids planned a surprise party for him. Evidently, he figured out what was going on though. Some returned invitations in the mail and Peggy carrying dish after dish to Michele's house gave away the surprise. He played along though and smiled big when the came in the building. He seemed to have a good time and enjoy talking to all of the friends and family that showed up. I didn't get very good pictures though, which I regret. They were moving so fast when they came in that they came out blurred. Oh well, you get the idea.

Momtessori

Everyone should go check out this blog....http://momtessori.blogspot.com/. It is by a girl I went to college with. She taught Montessori before having her children. She dragging out all of her school stuff and using it with her son now. She's sharing all of these great activities that we can do with our children at home!

Happy Birthday Reesi!

Reesi's had her 5th birthday this week! The family celebrated on Friday night. They played kickball in the backyard with Jason, Julie's husband, and had a great time. Reesi insisted on being the cheerleader. She's a great cheerleader too! She never stops cheering. Lyla and Grace kicked the ball and attempted to run bases. They never quite got the concept of running the bases though. I think Grace did more spinning and dancing then kicking.

The girls all love Jason. He is pretty sweet with them. Here's Grace giving Jason some lovin'.


As we were going in, Reesi got poked in the eye on accident. She was sad for a little while but got better. Right after her boo-boo, Grace fell going up the stairs and bit her bottom lip and made it bleed. So we had too with ice packs at the same time. I didn't get a picture of Grace though. We can't make it through an event with out a boo-boo or two.

Happy Birthday Reesi! I'm glad you're old enough to wipe your own booty now!

Playing outside with Papoo

Mom and Dad came on Friday for Reesi's birthday. Lyla always wants to play outside when Papoo is here. They spent most of the afternoon in the backyard swinging, playing tag and climbing trees. I was playing with my camera and got some cute pictures of Lyla. She is in her Spiderman pajamas, of course.

Look at those blue eyes! She got those from the Gardner side!

Look at those round cheeks! So cute! I'm dreading the day that she doesn't have that little girl look...you know...those cheeks, those little fingers and little round toes, and especially her little girl pronunciation of words. It's just so cute.

This is Lyla and Papoo playing tag.

It has begun!

Grace lost her first tooth on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. Tuesday evening she was trying to wiggle her tooth. She has been "wiggling" it for about a year now. It had actually gotten a little loose over the last month or so. But Tuesday night it turned a corner. She asked Eric to feel it, like she has many times before. But this time when Eric wiggled it he pulled back quickly and said "it popped". It was a major change. It was really, really wiggling now. She was so excited she wouldn't leave it alone long enough to eat dinner. The next morning I went to work in her kindergarten classroom. The whole time I was there she was doing her work with one hand and wiggling her tooth with the other hand. When I picked her up from school that afternoon the tooth was gone! She said she pulled it herself at the lunch table! She said she saw blood on her finger and they sent her to the nurse. The nurse lets the kids pick out what color treasure box they want to take their tooth home in. Grace has talked about these treasure boxes since the beginning of the school year! She was so excited. We did have a little scare later that afternoon when Lyla lost the tooth in the car! There was some yelling and maybe a few tears, but luckily, we found the tooth! The tooth fairy left 8 quarters under her pillow that night.

We had actually just gone to the dentist on Tuesday afternoon. They pointed out that her 6 year molars were coming in. I hadn't even noticed. So, it's official, she's beginning the process of growing in the big teeth and shedding the remaining baby parts. She's already lost the baby fingers and toes, the round baby belly, the wispy baby hair, and the baby voice. Now she losing her baby teeth. It's kind of sad. She's going to be driving before we know it!