Clyde turns 11

We're still in January...I'm still playing catch-up!!

Clyde, predictably, chose for us to all go to PFChang's for his birthday dinner :)  A boy after my own heart.

I had to get my pic of our family's token sushi eater!!

Group shot, minus Papa...since he took the pic.

Iris got Clyde one of those blobby finger thingys.  She saw him  playing with it at the aquarium gift-shop and had to buy it for him.

Lu got him a spirograph set....he's kind of obsessed with patterns :)

Nena and Papa gave him geodes that you crack open yourself.  He has LOVED these and exercised great restraint by cracking only two a day to spread the fun.

Aunt Rita sent money!  Thanks Rita & Allen!

This is the first ever year that I've given my kids money for their birthday.  It makes me feel old.

This kid is SOOOO irresistibly huggable, it's unreal.  Sherry just can't resist here.  Happens to me all the time.

Sherry and David gave him books that he had been wanting!

Dessert!!  Banana Spring Rolls ALL TO HIMSELF!!

 My enormous boy!!

First Snow!!

We were at Nena's getting ready to go to Clyde's b-day dinner and this happened!

Movie Night On Iris

Iris got a movie gift card and promptly treated us all to Annie.

Here she is buying our tickets...

Quite proud of feeling so grown-up methinks...

Previews!  We had the theater all to ourselves :)

 Annie was great!  Different, but great.  We own it on DVD now :)

Hello, Aquarium, It's Been Awhile

Dad & Janet got us all passes to the aquarium for Christmas.  We've already been twice.  Mom & Paul decided to get their own passes.  Sherry got in as our guest.  Here's just a few highlights since I already have TONS of aquarium pics on this blog...just not recently.  These are condensed from two trips.

Mom and girls counting seahorses.

Sherry & Clyde admiring starfish.

Kids made friends with this fish.  They watched him, drew him, talked to him, studied his habits.  Gave us adults time to sit and chill.

 Look at Iris compared to the giant sting ray!!  We got to watch the divers feed them.

All the kids next to him!

Kids next to an old turtle shell...

Kids petting rays...  (notice Stephen holding the girls' long hair)

Lu and Iris with penguins :)

Progress Reports

Cracked me up, cause I couldn't have said it better myself....

Lucy only took math at the co-op kind of school this year...

Clyde only took drama....

Bittersweet Wedding Dress Pics

I recently pulled out my wedding dress to see if a friend wanted to borrow it.  She didn't, but my girls BEGGED to try it on.

They are itty bitty girls and I was NOT an itty bitty bride.  So for the pics, they had to stand behind each other and pinch the back of the dress tightly for it to stay up.

They're both cute pics, but guess which one made Daddy want to cry...

These kids...when did they get so big???

Bye-bye Trees!

I DESPISE the cutting down of mature trees!  There are just not enough of them anymore and they're always getting cut down, while taking so long to replace.

That said, we had 3 or 4, that were threatening to fall down on our house during storms.  One, in particular, was constantly dropping branches for no reason making it too dangerous for the kids to go in the backyard.  Lucy was so allergic to another, that the pollen from it made her skin break out in huge hives...I couldn't imagine what it was doing to her lungs. 

So, sadly, they had to go.  Though we were sad, it was still impressive to watch them fall.  They were mighty trees, so they had mighty falls!!  It felt like the neighborhood shook.

Those bottom two pics dont' look like it, but they are of two different trees.

My Girls are 13 and 9!!

The girls agreed they'd like to have a joint birthday dinner at the American Girl Cafe sometime between their birthdays.

So, one Saturday in January, Nena, Papa, Sherry, Stephen, the three kiddos, and myself drove to Atlanta and had lunch at the Cafe.

No big group picture, but one side of the table had Nena, Papa, Clyde, and Iris...

The other side had Lucy, Sherry, Stephen and me.

Here are the girls and their dolls.  Lucy brought Josephina and Iris brought Octavia.

Dinner was AWESOME!  I always really enjoy the food there for some reason...not every body does, but I think it's scrumptious!!

Since the American Girl store was our party location, Nena & Papa, Uncle Allen & Aunt Rita, and Stephen & I all decided to give them money so they could spend it there.  They were blown away!

Clyde gave both girls Frozen charm bracelets.

Sherry and David gave Iris jewelry...so appropriate!

And they gave Lucy one of the wrap-around skirts she always wants to look at when we go to the mall :)

Lucy gave Iris a fashion sketching notebook, and Iris gave her a necklace.

Sherry, once again, proved she's the most awesome aunt ever by bringing dessert down for Lu in a cooler.  Two flavors of sorbet from Menchies and seperately bought milk-free toppings!  Lu loved!

Iris's dessert sampler!

They went on to have an awesome, though crowded and hot shopping experience.  Since Uncle Allen and Aunt Rita haven't seen yet, here's what Lucy bought... (just the outfit from the right pic)

And here's what Iris bought...

So, thank you Nena and Papa for the gifts and dinner!  Thank you Sherry for dessert and gifts!  Thank you Rita and Allen for the exciting presents!

And most of all, Thank you, Almighty God, for these precious gifts, our girls and their marvelously beautiful 9 and 13 years!!