Happy 2nd Birthday Evan!

Saturday, we went to Memphis to the Children's museum to celebrate Evan's 2nd birthday. Julia had a blast! Here is a group shot.

Here is a picture from Evan's birthday last year of Julia, Soloman, and Parker. It's amazing how much they change in a year!

Julia and Daddy ringing the doorbells at the museum.

Hanging out by the fire truck. I decided that I am going to bring John with me to every children's event that I can force him into from now on. I could actually have a conversation with some of the other Mom and Dad's while there instead of spending the entire party chasing Miss Julia.

Julia shakin' it in the disco room

Gone fishin.....

Favorites.....

Things That I Loved Today.........

Mary Katherine and little Daniel Carey came to stay with us this weekend and we had a blast! Daniel is less than a month younger than Julia and it is so much fun to watch them. We spent Saturday in Memphis and drug the babies around everywhere. They did amazingly well and Mary Katherine and I just took turns sitting in the car with them while they napped. Julia only had a couple of "meltdowns." These meltdowns are most common when she has been let out of the stroller to walk and has gotten a taste of freedom and then loses her freedom to be put back in the stroller or carseat. She gets SO mad and arches her back and screams LOUD! She ended up sliding straight through her stroller and landed flat on the floor in the JCrew dressing room during one of her hissies. I just smile and try to make a quick exit!

We found a delicious sushi restaurant called Edo's. It's my new favorite! It's been around forever, but we just discovered it after it was recommended by some friends and by some Japanese men who own a company here in Wynne.

This picture is a good example of what happened when we tried to get these very busy babies to pose for a picture.....LOL!

Julia looks so thrilled in this one too...don't you think?

This is another reason that I love living in Wynne. Julia and I have been walking everyday after I get off work. We park in the driveway of a very sweet lady who is in her mid 80's that I have known all of my life. Yesterday after our walk, I got in my car to find this.....a bag full of warm, fresh cooked spaghetti and some delicious homemade Chex mix.

Both were a gift from this sweet lady. Tell me....in what other town could we live in where dinner would magically appear in our car after a walk?

Another thing that I loved today.....I heard loud screaming (screams of excitement, that is) twice yesterday in the neighborhood where we walk. A senior from Wynne High School got his acceptance letter to HARVARD and was sharing his news with friends and teachers. He may be the first Wynne High School graduate ever to attend Harvard!

Children's Museum

I am posting this picture first because this was pretty much the view that I had of Julia (the back of her head, that is!) the entire time we were at the Children's museum in Memphis! She is a girl on the go! I tried at first, with no success, to guide her activities while there. She reminded me very quickly who was the boss. I finally relented and just decided to follow her around and let her explore on her own!

Our original plan was to head to the zoo and see Jane Goodall, but a cold and rainy day just did not feel like the best day to be outside at the zoo. Instead, we headed to the Children's museum with Tara and Emmy.

We had a great time with our girls.

Emmy and Julia playing with the tooth puzzle.

Little Missy playing the drums.

Our little moviestars on stage performing

Emmy and Julia in the back of the police car at the museum.

Thank you Emmy and Tara for a fun and memorable day in Memphis and for Julia's first time at the Children's museum!

One Sunday Afternoon

Yippeeee! The Easter decorations are up at Eldridge Court! I thought Julia was going to faint from the sheer joy she experienced when we turned the corner on our stroll yesterday and saw these decorations. The first thing she said was, "GOOSE!" while pointing to the large chicken that you see below.

That little finger pointing at "Pooh" is almost more than I can take!

We ran into the Jackson family at the park yesterday.
Isn't this a postcard!

Sweet Soloman holding Julia's hand.

Ahhhh, the brilliance!

Julia is getting smarter everyday! She knows what almost every animal says/does. The only one she doesn't know is pig. For some reason, she refuses to say oink! The lions (ROAR!) and the bird (tweet, tweet) are the latest ones that she has learned. Her favorite songs are "Row,row," and "si, si (that means ency weencie spider, in case you didn't know), and "Baaa, baaa ba sh." I took her to see Annie Friday night because it was this year's Wynne High School drama club musical. There were over 800 people there and we sat on the very back row. I knew it was all over when Sandy (Annie's dog) came on stage with Annie and she sang Tomorrow. Julia started pointing at the dog and loudly saying, "woooo, wooo!" I had to sneak out the back door quickly! We never recovered and only made it through the first two songs of the show.

This little girl loves her blankie! She wags it around everywhere. It has become a challenge to wash it and dry it because she can hardly make it without it for the hour and half it takes to clean it! As a result, it stays filthy dirty most of the time.

Julia being silly. She loves a sticker and its a great way to learn our body parts. This is where the sticker went when I said, "Julia, can you put the sticker on your hair?" Close enough.

I had to post this picture because of those juicy legs. I don't ever want to forget that little fat line right above her knee.

Julia enjoying her first corn on the cob.


This is what my front yard looks like right now! We are finally having some dirt work done and should have a new driveway, fixed drainage problems, a new retaining wall, new shutters, a new walkway and steps to the front porch, some garage doors (finally!) and maybe even some plants when its all said and done.

Julia Learns to Walk!

Julia finally decided, one day after her 15 month old birthday, that she wanted to walk full time. She had been walking part time for almost a month, but never would commit to being upright most of the time! I took her to the library last Monday night where she had wide open spaces to roam and she took off! She resembles Frankenstein when she walked because her arms were straight out in front of her! Before that, she held them straight above her head. It's been over a week since that night and she is walking EVERYWHERE now. And her vocabulary....my goodness! Yesterday John was wearing a shirt that had a moose on it and he told her one time that it was a moose. She pointed at it and called it a moose on her own several hours after he told her about it the first time. He was amazed! I saw her baby doll on the floor yesterday and said, "Hi little baby!" and the next thing I hear was, "Hi little baby" from Julia, plain as day. She is brilliant, juicy, beautiful, and a sweet little angel....she's got the whole package working for her!

Speaking of smart and juicy...this is Julia's new 2nd cousin, baby Elliot James. His mom and dad are Anna and Brian who live in Portland, Oregon. Anna is my Dad's brother, Uncle Jim's, and Aunt Amy's daughter. Can't wait to get my hands on this baby boy!

This past weekend we went to Rogers to hang out with the Vandiver family. They have Mattie Pace who is 6 and little Daniel who is a few days younger than Julia! We had a blast and it was so much fun to see these babies play!

This is Julia's art work that she drew on Mattie's chalkboard easel.

Us curled up on the couch with Mattie Pace reading books.

Julia and Mattie drawing some pictures.

Look at that sweet face!

"Please read me this book!"

A sweet smile!