Archive for July, 2008

We are getting ready for the biggest vacation (so far) of our family's life: Disneyworld! We fly out of Memphis next Thursday, and will have a five-day whirlwind tour of everything Disneyworld has to offer. I am excited, but a little nervous at the same time. I want it to be perfect! It helps that my parents and most of my brothers and sisters are going, too. We can tag along with them, go off on our own, or better yet, send the kids with them! Most of the time I think we'll stay pretty close to them, but we will be celebrating our 8th(!) wedding anniversary while there, so hopefully Jay and I will be able to sneak away for a little bit.

We have been trying to prepare our kids for Disneyworld the last few weeks. They have been blissfully unaware of most of what Disney has to offer, as we don't have the Disney channel, and the only Disney movie we own is "The Fox and the Hound" (oh, yeah, and Eliza just got "Dumbo" for her birthday…thanks, Bridget!). Eliza has a Tinker Bell backpack, but really didn't even know who she was until yesterday, when I borrowed the "Peter Pan" movie from the library (I think we have watched it four times already!). We have also watched "Bambi II", which I got from the library last week (they didn't have the original "Bambi"), but I couldn't watch it more than once because I cried all the way through it. Maybe I was just feeling emotional, but it really is very sad. We have watched a few Disney movies at my parents' house, like "Toy Story" and "Cars", so hopefully they will be able to identify a few of the characters they see. I know they will have a blast either way, but I just thought it would be even more cool if they see things they recognize.

Last Sunday afternoon, we took the kids to Wild River Country. They had a great time riding down the smallest tube ride (designed just for kids), swimming in the wave pool, and playing in the kiddie pool. James got to go down one of the long slides, as well as one of the bigger tube rides with Daddy, and he really enjoyed feeling like a "big kid". We were able to get a few pictures.

I also took the kids to the doctor last week for their school checkups. James kept telling everyone he saw that he could count to one hundred (a newly acquired skill), and he answered all the questions the doctor asked him. They tested his eyes and ears, and although he had some trouble understanding the tests at first, they said his vision and hearing were fine. Eliza was upset that she didn't get to have her eyes and ears tested. James also had to get shots, which was traumatizing. He yelled out when they gave them, and cried for a few minutes afterward. I'm just glad we got it over with! Looking at the kids' charts, the doctor predicted that James would have a height of around 5'10", and Eliza 5'7". I know these aren't certain, but it is interesting to think about. I am only 5'4", and Jay is 6 feet tall. Our kids will most likely be somewhere in the middle. I guess I'm doomed to be the shortest in the family! Oh well, I'm getting used to it; I'm already the shortest of my siblings except for Gerald (who is 12), and I'll probably not be taller than him for much longer!

We traveled to Mississippi this weekend to visit with Jay's family. We got into Brandon, where Jay's mom lives, late Thursday night. Friday morning we visited a little with Mammaw, Jill, Robbie, and Hannah, and we let Eliza open her birthday presents from them. She got a doll cradle and carrier, and a cute outfit, stickers, a stamp set, and a foam bead necklace kit. She loves all of it! Then we drove down to Prentiss, where Jay's Mimi used to live before she had to go to a nursing home. Mimi's house is going to be sold soon, and so we went to get some things to take back to Arkansas, for ourselves and for Jay's aunt and cousins. We rented a big yellow truck and spent the afternoon looking through Mimi's things and loading the truck with furniture, including a piano. We found lots of little things that we wanted, mostly just old and interesting things, like Jay's grandfather's military hat, and a large wooden airplane propeller, as well as a set of wooden fruit on a tray and several photos. We drove back to Brandon Friday night, where we spent the rest of the weekend.

After relaxing Saturday morning from the hard work the day before, Saturday afternoon we got to go swimming with Jill, Robbie, and Hannah. Robbie's parents have a pool in their backyard, and they invited us over. We all had a great time, especially the kids. Hannah is getting so big! After supper back at Mammaw's, we took a walk around the nearby park, stopping to play on the playgrounds. We were pretty exhausted by the end of the day!

We made it back to Little Rock Sunday afternoon, Jay driving the big truck and me in the car with the kids. We stopped by my family's house to unload the furniture that they wanted, and then we took the truck over to Aunt Fran's so she could take it to Bald Knob, where Jay's cousin lives, to drop off the piano. Whew! It was a busy but good weekend, and it is good to be home!

Eliza just says some funny things sometimes. Early this morning (around 5:00) she came to the side of my bed to talk to me:

• ELIZA: Mama, I can't go to sleep.

• ME: Well, you can get in bed with me.

• Eliza: Thanks, Mama. You're so sweet.

I almost didn't hear it. It really sounded kind of strange coming out of the mouth of a just-turned-three-year-old. But Eliza talks that way often…she thinks she's so big! She talked to my Granny on the morning of her birthday, and she told Granny that she could come to her birthday party. I told Eliza that Granny lives too far away, but she was still very disappointed. She pouted for a little while, saying, "I wish Granny could come to my birthday party!" All this past week, she has reminded my family whenever we saw them: "Lydia, you're coming to my party! Mammy, you're coming to my party! Adrienne, you're bringing me a present!" (Adrienne had mentioned that she was bringing her a present, and Eliza does not forget.) I just shake my head and smile, because I love that silly sweet girl!

Yesterday was Eliza's birthday, and yes, I can hardly believe it…my baby is three! We had a little party for her yesterday with my family. The kids played in the sprinkler and our little pool, while the adults stayed inside where it was cool. I baked a cake, shaped it into a butterfly and frosted it, and then let Jay decorate it. It turned out really cute!

We had pizza for supper, but I also made some "party foods": velveeta/rotel cheese dip and cream cheese/marshmallow cream fruit dip for some strawberries and cantaloupe I bought. It was pretty yummy! After supper we let Eliza open her presents. She got the movie Dumbo, a bell and horn for her bike, a toy camera, a necklace, and a ballerina dress and shoes, as well as some sand toys. There was one last present that Jay had to get ready in the backyard, so while we waited we put Eliza's ballerina dress on her and watched as she danced around the kitchen. You should have seen her tiptoe around, raising her arms and a leg every now and then; she was very professional-looking! Then we took her outside to show her the present from us: a sandbox! She has been trying to play with some sand we have in our garage (our old sandbox broke to pieces, and I tried to salvage the sand by putting in a bag in a cardboard box). Now she can play in her new sandbox! We have already been out there having fun today; she loves it!

After opening presents and playing in the sandbox for a little while, we were ready for some cake. I did not let Eliza see the cake until it was time to sing and blow out the candles, because I wanted the butterfly to be a surprise. We all gathered around and I picked her up so she could see it, and I asked her what it looked like. She glanced at it, and the first thing she said was, "It's…a dog bone!" I told her to look at it more closely, and then she said, "It's a butterfly!" Success (almost)! She certainly enjoyed eating it. More pictures of the party can be found on Jay's flickr page.

We have another reason to celebrate: Eliza has not had a potty-training accident in two whole weeks! I was beginning to be a little concerned, because while she has been pee-peeing in the potty with no problem since mid-April, she simply could not make herself poo-poo in the potty until about three weeks ago (pardon my preschool language; it seemed more appropriate than technical terms). But now, she seems to finally have that down, and just in time for her third birthday! She does love her big-girl panties, and we even gave her some new ones for her birthday. I'm afraid my "baby" is no longer a baby!

I wish I could remember half of what my kids say…they are comedians, both of them! I made a point to remember something that James said yesterday, though. We were getting ready to leave my parents' house, where my kids had stayed while I was at choir. I was putting James' shoes on him, and I was asking him if he had been good:

• ME: James, have you been good? Were you polite?

• JAMES: Polite?

• ME: Yes, you know, did you say "please" and "thank you"?

(James thinks for a moment.)

• JAMES: (yelling at the top of his lungs) PLEEEASE! THAAANK YOOOU! (turns back to me and grins) Yep.

I'm so glad I have managed to teach my children some manners!

Friday we spent the afternoon at Jon and Adrienne's house in White Hall, AR. They had their slip-n-slide ready, and after we ate some yummy burgers, the kids had fun sliding down the hill and into the mud at the bottom. We had to go inside after a little while, though, because a thunderstorm was rolling in. We had been watching it get closer and closer, and when the wind picked up and started blowing the slip-n-slide away, we decided to call it quits. That was okay because we got to eat the flag cake that I made: it was a spice cake with cream cheese icing, topped with strawberries and blueberries. It turned out great!

Friday evening we went down to the Arkansas River to watch the sweet tea sip-off, which my mom had entered. Out of thirteen entries, my mom's sweet tea placed third! It was fun drinking the free sweet tea they had, and just before we got there, several of my siblings had competed in a contest to see who could sip tea out of a baby bottle the fastest. They didn't win, but they did get their names in the paper. There were musicians performing the whole time, and it was fun listening to them. We had a while before the fireworks started, so we explored Riverfront Park a little. An old railroad bridge across the river has just recently been converted into a pedestrian bridge, so we went up on that and got a good view of all the people that were there. Then we went to the new playground that they just finished building, and the kids loved it! It has a long slide going down into kind of a pit, and several tunnels connecting the play areas, as well as a climbing structure made out of ropes (I think that was the kids favorite part). When we got back to our spot in the grass, we listened to the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra play, which was very good. Then we watched the impressive fireworks display. This Fourth of July may not have been as exciting as last year when we were in New York, but it was very good! Jay has lots of pictures on his flickr page!

We have had a great week! Sunday was my solo in church, and except for the very beginning (I couldn't find my cue to come in!), it went very well. Monday I inflated our new swimming pool and let the kids play in it. It is a good bit bigger than our old one, and they had a great time! Monday night I had a softball game, and we almost won (we seem to be doing a lot of that lately.) Tuesday we went to the library for story time, and the kids made some cute red, white, and blue bug magnets. On Wednesday, we went to see Mimi, and brought her some little flags to decorate her walker for the holiday. Afterwards, several of my brothers and sisters (and Bridget) went with me and the kids down to the neighborhood swimming pool. I brought arm floaties for the kids, and they had a lot of fun floating around. Eliza was really unsure at first, and she did not trust the floaties to keep her up, so she played on the stairs or had someone hold her. But after some coaxing and practicing keeping her face out of the water, she was swimming around like James. Neither of them wanted to leave the pool!

Tomorrow we are going over to Jon and Adrienne's house for hamburgers and slip-and-slide fun. I may even make a cake. It should be fun! Then tomorrow evening we will go down to the river to watch the sweet tea sip-off, which my mom is entering with her famous sweet tea (at least it's famous with our family, which is a pretty large number of people!), and then we'll watch the fireworks that they have every year. It should be a great Fourth of July!