Mommy’s Birthday

Today is Mommy's birthday, but it's everyone else around here who has been given a gift.  Happy birthday to a loving wife, wonderful mother and lifelong friend.  We're so blessed to have you in our lives. 

Mommy deserves credit for the thousands of things she does for our family that never get noticed outside these four walls.  She's responsible for all the picture taking, DVD making and blogging that I've come to appreciate so much more this past month.  Those things mean more and more every year, especially as the girls get older, grow up, and change.  She does all the shopping for the entire house - groceries, Christmas, weddings, birthdays, household items, clothing, everything - and she keeps the finances and pays the bills.  She can literally tell you every penny we spent last year.  She handles the family Christmas card, the process for which justifies a blog post of its own most years.  You know what I mean. 

She does the cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring, and caretaking of animals.  She does the dishes and laundry.  She does the potty training.  The list goes on. 

Mommy sleeps on the "stairs" side of the bed and she keeps the monitor, which means she's the first one up the stairs when Sarah Ellen falls out of bed or Lily throws up.  At least once a night, she's the one who tells Lily, "it's still dark out, now go back to bed!"  She hand-knits hats and sweaters that our children can actually wear, and she makes those things for our friends' kids as well.  How awesome is that?  She teaches our girls letters, numbers, colors and shapes, and she actually has Lily reading short words (and a couple of long ones) at age 4.  More important than all that, she raises our girls with firm but caring discipline, and she does it almost entirely on her own.  Daddy's discipline stinks, but Mommy is caring and firm with him too.  Most important, she teaches our girls about Jesus, and the love she shows to us is a reflection of His love, forgiving, accepting, endless and unconditional.  Despite our many attempts to test her in that, she delivers. 

Mommy is the best, and we love her very much.  Happy birthday, Mommy. 

The Preschool Prom

Lily loves to play dress up and it’s apparently wearing off on her friends.  That or Lily has mastered the art of persuasion because those are striped tights and fairy slippers.   In this series of photos, Porter got caught somewhere between the pumpkin fairy and one of Robin Hood’s merry men. 

These two play so well together, and I love it that Porter joins in the “dress up” fun. 

What’s the reverse of déjà vu?  I’m picturing these two in the same spot 12 years from now just before the junior prom.  That would suit me just fine. 

Kitty Cat Slippers

Our friends Monica and Lee periodically pass down clothes from their own two girls, Gabby and Maggie.  One day, Lily dug out a pair of kitty cat slippers and she hasn’t put them down since.  Now she insists on sleeping in them.  I used to take them off during the final tuck-in, after she was asleep, but she would wake in the middle of the night and scream for them until we came.  It took precisely one trip up the stairs at 2:00 am to decide we should just let her sleep in them.

Now she’s threatening to make a sign for her door, to remind me that I’m not supposed to remove the slippers.  Under any circumstances.  Here’s a close-up:

Lily must be dreaming of a future line of Nike Air Jordan Kitty Cat slippers. 

Who wants to go to bed decked out in Kitty Cat slippers with no audience?  This group of spectators must have been cold, right up to the tops of their heads.   

Meeeeow! 

Snow Day in Charleston

It wasn’t even cold enough to snow, but there must have been a few flakes somewhere in the northern reaches of Charleston County near Georgetown because Charleston County schools were on a two-hour delay.  Since our preschool would have been over by the time school really got started, that meant school was canceled. 

Always ready, the mommies arranged for a play day at church. 

Gotta Love Some Dress Up

What. A. Blessing.  The girls have finally started to play well together.  Taryn and I get nice breaks occasionally and they each really love having a constant playmate.  Among their favorite games is “dress up.” 

Usually dress up is mixed in with “mommy & kid”, “doctor” or “princess”, but this day Taryn got a full-fledged fashion show. 

I hope and pray you girls are best friends for the rest of your lives.