smiling faces…
throwing leaves…
on a beautiful fall afternoon…
…chunky babies in cute Halloween shirts…
sitting in millions of leaves…
with chunky little wrists…
and the most beautiful blue eyes framed by the most yummy baby round cheeks…
…not having a care in the world…
…enjoying the most simple things in life…
…having endless ‘free’ fun….
with the most important people in the world…
Don’t you just love that? :-)
Well, Sawyer’s week of celebrity ended with me going to the class to read one of Sawyer’s favorite books to all her friends. I enter the room and gosh, how different my kids are. I remember going to Tuck’s class last year and as soon as I came in, Tucker lights up and yells, “Mommy!”. I go into Sawyer’s room yesterday and she looks at me … not really too excited … just acting like I come in there all of the time (which I don’t) … not a big deal. … She turns to the girl next to her because I’m sure the girl was wondering who I was and says, “That’s my mom.” She’s here … so what … not a big deal …
That’s ok. That’s one of the things that I respect most about my daughter. Her independence shines through just about every day. She’s very secure with herself and doesn’t let too many things overwhelm her. I have no idea where she get’s this but I sure hope she hangs onto it.
Anyway, I go into the classroom and Mrs. McCalla announces that “Mrs. Ross is here to read a book to us.” Mrs. Tucker is at the doorway when I enter and asks Sawyer what her last name is. I find this kind of odd being that Mrs. McCalla just announced me but whatever. Then Sawyer pipes up, “Sweetie Pie!” My daughter thinks her last name is SWEETIE PIE! Mrs. Tucker and I start laughing hysterically. I guess the teachers have been working on this with the kids and Sawyer is convinced that her last name is Sweetie Pie! Don’t try to tell her different. (this is where her determination shines through) I’m glad her teachers have a sense of humor about this. This is obviously her Papa Willey’s fault. He always calls her Sweetie Pie so evidently that’s her last name, right???
Do you notice how cute my little ‘Sweetie Pie” looks in these pictures? Isn’t she just adorable? She kept her hair pinned back in a barrett the entire day … so cute! Yeah, do you want to know why she kept her hair in a barrett the entire day???? Let me tell you! Right before we left for school … I’m saying RIGHT BEFORE, I notice the top of her head looking a little odd. ARRRGGGGG!!!!! She had gotten into the scissors and yes, you know what’s coming … a chunk of hair GONE from the TOP OF HER HEAD!!!! I could have just …. arrrrrhhhggggg!!! So, you want to know why she left her barrett in all day??? … I threatened ‘Miss Sweetie Pie’ within an inch of her life, that’s why!!!!
It has officially hit me. I am TOTALLY contributing to my middle child’s ‘middle child syndrome’. Sawyer was Star of the Week in her preschool class this week. When Tucker got this honor last year the week was filled with root beer floats, zoo trips, kite flying, etc., etc. … oh, and TONS of pictures. This is such an honor for these little guys. That is their special week at school.. getting to be line leader, bringing show-n-tell and treats. AND they get to bring home the class’s mascot. Last year with Tuck, it was Buddy the Bunny. This year with Sawyer it was Kaycee the Kangaroo. I captured every moment with Tucker and Buddy. I did not get one single picture of Sawyer with Kaycee….NOT ONE! June Cleaver, I am not! In fact, Sawyer brought home Kaycee on Thursday of last week and ended up spending the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. Thank Goodness she remembered to take Kaycee with her otherwise that poor poor Kangaroo would have had THE most boring, longest week ever! Lucky for Sawyer and Kaycee, Grandma Willey IS a typical June Cleaver and did lots of fun things….special lunches, tea parties, dress up – yes, my mom had dress up clothes for not only Sawyer but KAYCEE too! My mom IS June Cleaver. Not me! I got none of those genes. And - Grandma got a few pictures. Unfortunately I wasn’t organized enough to have Mom email them to me…..once again, June Cleaver – I am NOT!
I did manage to remember treats on Tuesday. Lucky for me, it’s Halloween season which means you can get just about anything in a snack pack size. Baby Oreos (as Sawyer calls them) it was. Unlucky for me, I TOTALLY forgot that she was also suppose to bring something for show-n-tell. June Cleaver, I am NOT! Lucky for me, the teacher is allowing Sawyer to bring 2 show-n-tells today….as if getting her to make up her mind on one wasn’t hard enough … yeah, yeah….June Cleaver? Nope…
I finally decided that I wasn’t taking this week nearly serious enough for my middle child so I saw a really cute idea for ‘decorated’ Candy Corn Cookies. I use the word ‘decorate’ VERY lightly here. It involves dipping a cookie (in the shape of a candy corn) in white chocolate and dark chocolate. I can do that….so I thought. Because I am NO June Cleaver, I just decided to buy the refrigerated cookie dough at the grocery store. Easy….uh huh? I bought several tubes because I knew my cookie cutter was huge and I needed to get 20 of those puppies done. I dyed the dough orange then went to roll it out. I must say that this is the VERY first time in my ADULT life that I have made ‘cut out’ cookies. I floured the surface, floured the rolling pin, went at it and…. had nothing but an orange sticky sticky mess. It looked like I was trying to roll out orange sherbet. Once I finally got it to quit sticking to the pin, I was excited to use the cookie cutter. Things were going great … I was getting so excited…. hmmmm…. getting them off the table onto the cookie sheet was a COMPLETELY different story. By this time I was really cussing out the blog lady (who I don’t even know … I just want to be as June Cleaver’ish’ as her) for telling me that these were Oh, soooo EASY and FAST! Fast??? Are you kidding me? What she claimed to whip up in just a few ‘minutes’ took me and ENTIRE day… yes, I said ENTIRE DAY! Hers were all perfectly shaped and looked just like big candy corns. Mine??? Nichole came home and thought they were ice cream cones!!! An ENTIRE DAY for ice cream cones!!!! Mine are deformed enough to resemble black, orange, and white ice cream cones… You go, June Cleaver!
Here are the ones that will actually go to Sawyer’s classroom….
And here are a few of the ‘rejects’. Poor, poor little candy corn cookies. You’re just not good enough for a classroom of 3 year olds…
But don’t you think they look nice in cello wrap and ribbon? (please, please say yes…. )
So, my dear Middle Child, Sawyer – I am so sorry that I didn’t make your very first ‘Star of the Week’ week more exciting for you! I know you don’t have a clue as to who June Cleaver is and I’m soooo glad you don’t. We’ll go out for root beer floats after school today:-)
Love you, Sweet Girl!
~Mom
This was one of the few weekends that Darrin had off so we decided to load up the kids and go to a pumpkin patch.
There were animals….
There were cold babies…
There were slides…
There were bikes…
There was teamwork…
There were big ginormous hair bows…
There was a little more teamwork…
There was corn…
There was the wonderful Brooke that came to visit along with Travis (who happens to be pretty wonderful too…) …
There were duck races…but please don’t steal the ducks…
There was still a cold baby but what a good, good, boy…
There was family on a trailer…
And there were PUMPKINS, gads upon gads of pumpkins…
She’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain…
…when she comes…
…she’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain when she comes…
My lil’ punkins… :-)
I just love. love. love. gourds! Tucker calls them squash. … Whatever they are, they are the most beautiful sign of fall….
The perfect ending to a perfectly ‘chilly’ day … they could actually care less about the hot cocoa…it’s drinking out of ‘big people’ coffee mugs that really floats their boats:-)
Who just turned 11 months old? Well, it’s this crazy haired little Rock Star….THAT’S WHO!!!!
This little guy is getting from this position….
…to this position with no assistance at all.
At his 10 month appointment (which was actually 2 weeks ago) he weighed in at a whopping 29 and 1/2 lbs. !!!! Yes, you heard me right … Basically, he’s about 3 lbs. lighter than his 3 year old sister. But really, did you expect anything less of him…my little overachiever:-)
For now, we will be rolling up lots of pant legs and sleeves this winter….
He’s still sportin’ just two teeth but couldn’t be any cuter…
This little guy is going to turn 1 year old in a month!!! How and why does time go so fast???
…and drumroll please……
Porter - man’s biggest accomplishment…
