Adam's Birthday/ Elynn's Dedication/ Mother's Day 2014

From the title alone can you tell what a big weekend we had? First let me say that no man should EVER have to share his birthday with Mother's Day. I recommended that we not celebrate Mother's Day this year since his birthday fell that day, but he wouldn't hear any of it. But then it didn't really matter anyway because he had to leave at 1:00 to catch a flight out of Atlanta for a work trip so we didn't have much of a chance to celebrate anything. So we started the birthday celebration off Friday afternoon by making strawberry cupcakes. Reese handled all the mixing, and bowl licking, and she even cleaned the dishes. (Do y'all remember licking the bowl as a kid? I just know that that was a better time in our society. Nowadays we can't even lick batter bowls without the fear of salmonella. Personally, I don't know of anyone that got sick when I was little from licking the bowl, and I don't intend to deprive my kids of such a delightful experience. Y'all remind me I said that when one of us gets sick.) 

 I love how she strips down to her panties and sparkle shoes to wash the dishes.

We let him open his presents on Saturday. So let me tell you about the presents. A few weeks ago Adam picked out a backpack tackle box that he wanted for his birthday. When it came in, I told Reese not to tell her daddy what came in the box. When he asked her that afternoon she wouldn't tell him. A few days later she apparently forgot that she wasn't supposed to tell because when he asked her again she proudly said "Ummm...a backpack to go fishin' wif!"

 Reese also did a little vacuuming for my Mother's Day.

 We had baby dedication at church on Mother's Day. Elynn was one of seven babies that were dedicated. Let me tell you what will cause a mother all sorts of stress on Mother's Day- standing up before the church with 2 small children. We bribed Reese with a trip to the pool if she was good, and Elynn went to sleep during the dedication, so all was well in my world.

 It's like a Mother's Day tradition for Reese to start acting out right about the time I try to get a picture with her. We gently reminded her about that trip to the pool that was hanging in the balance and she straightened up pretty quickly.

 Reese answered some questions for my Mother's Day and also picked me out some lovely new workout clothes. That girl knows the way to my heart. My favorite is the one about me being so smart that I feed baby sister. Which reminds me- I walked into the nursery where Reese was a few Sunday's ago and I was delighted to hear that Reese had been telling them all about me pumping breast milk. Motherhood is just precious.

 After the dedication all of our peeps went out for lunch.

 At least once a day Reese goes into silly mode and acts ridiculous for about 10 minutes. She chose the post lunch photo shoot to do just that....

And this is my favorite picture of the day. She nearly pulled the birthday boy's ear off and he looks it...

Poor Elynn. There is really no good way to tote 2 children while wearing a dress and heels. She's a real trooper.

I took her for her promised trip to the pool, and she came home asking for a snack: bananas with milk which she ate with potato chips. She has a very sophisticated palate.  

When Daddy is away they sleep here and I sleep somewhere in the middle. 

Elynn's First Easter: 2014

Our Easter festivities started off with the egg hunt at church. Tommy is Mrs. Liz's (the lady the girls stay with) son. Tommy loves to make my children cry and he is very good at it. 

Saturday morning before Easter I finally got around to monogramming the girls' dresses. Nothing good comes of me waiting till the last minute. I accidentally let the bottom of Reese's dress get sewed to the monogram at the top. I slowly walked to the bathroom where my dear husband was mopping the floors, and right when I was about to let loose on a rant that would go down in history he reminded me of the true meaning of Easter and it has nothing at all to do with my babies having matching monogrammed dresses. He then proceeded to sit down with his pocket knife and fix the mess I had made. I want to say again that God knew exactly what he was doing when he made our paths cross back in 2005. Adam is the calm in the mist of my hysteria. I can always count on him to right all of my wrongs including, but not limited to my sewing errors. 

After all the smoke cleared from the monogramming incident, we dyed eggs. Personally, I had no interest in having stained fingernails, so I opted for latex gloves. Reese tried them for about 2 seconds but they didn't last.

While we dyed eggs, Elynn caught up on her rest. She loves to snuggle her face up beside a pillow, or if somebody is willing to hold her while she sleeps, she will bury her face in their shirt.

The bunny came! They got matching swimsuits that also need a monogram, but I'm stepping away from the machine for a while or someone may get hurt (and it will probably be me).

She got fingernail polish and sparkle shoes. The more glitter something has, the more excited she gets.

She showed Elynn all of her goodies.

We then rushed around to get ready for sunrise service. Seeing how it was so early and all, momma needed herself a cup of coffee for the road. All was going well. There had yet to be an Easter meltdown... As Adam barreled through town like we were late to a house fire, he hit a bump in the road and my coffee poured down the front of my shirt. I never said a word, but Adam immediately said, "have I told you how beautiful you look today? You are just radiant. Seriously, and that vein that pops out on your head when you get mad is beautiful..."

After a wardrobe change for me, and a quick nap for Elynn and Daddy, we headed over to MeeMaw's for lunch.

Reese was much more interested in picking flowers than finding eggs.

That afternoon Adam took the top off of the Jeep and we went for a ride. Reese lasted about 2 minutes before this happened.

She woke up when we mentioned playing in the creek. (Anytime I allow her to pick her own clothes she goes straight for this dress. Even if it is 80 degrees outside.)

Shortly after that she broke out the nail polish the bunny brought. I adore that her feet don't touch the ground and she sticks her tongue out when she concentrates. I am going to need to be heavily medicated when these children grow up and leave home.