the downtown splash pad

this morning we went to the sprinklers (as sam refers to them) for some outdoor fun. i let laney walk around in her walker; she seemed to have a good time as long as i periodically provided her with food to snack on. our time was uneventful, except for her attempt at freedom when she started racing down the steep sidewalk and i had to catch her.

luke had a blast, but then again he always does. he ran around and around. every now and then he'd come tell me "i got wet, mom". he loves life!


i didn't get any pictures of sam because he didn't join in on the fun. he doesn't like to get wet, so he sat next to me on the concrete wall for 45 minutes. i told him if he didn't want to play with his friends in the water, then he had to sit with me. i really thought he would have gotten up to play, but he didn't. he stayed put. and now i'm wondering what else i could have done to get him to play... i don't want to be mean to him, so i didn't threaten him with "you better get out there and play or else". i just wish he could get past these fears, or whatever you call them, and just have fun being a kid. any advice?

i had to get a picture of laney in her little swimsuit before changing her clothes. as you can tell by her thumb in her mouth, she was tired and ready to sleep.

Luke likes ice cream... sort of

Luke has never liked ice cream, yogurt, pudding or any other cold and wet food. But lately he's been enjoying ice cream sandwiches. He won't eat it any other way, but give him a "swam-ich" and he loves it.

a Bible story

sam wanted me to read from the Jesus Storybook Bible yesterday. i was reading the story where jairus goes to Jesus and begs him to heal his daughter. there's a picture on the page with jairus on his knees. sam pointed at the picture and said "mom, that's called pleading". i sinfully puffed up with pride and thought "i must be doing a good job. sam is so spiritual at such a young age." i asked sam if he learned that word from the bible and he said "no. alfalfa says it on the little rascals". after laughing out loud i thanked him for keeping me humble. he just smiled. ☺

new glasses

we had a little accident... sam broke his glasses. they lasted a lot longer than i thought they would. his new glasses are very similar. you can't tell by the picture, but they are bright teal on the under side. sam thinks they're cool. the doctor said he needed them for another year. maybe after that he'll be done with glasses. i actually missed the glasses while we were waiting for the replacements. he just looks so darn cute in them!

Baba Dee's surprise weekend

finally, my last post from our time away. i know it's been picture overload on here for the past few days, but i ended up taking over 300 pictures in the span of 2 weeks. i think i did a good job of weeding some out...

baba dee turned 80 on june 14th. christine planned a surprise party for her. everyone was to be at her house between 5 and 6 on friday night while she and webb were out to dinner. we got there, got the huge sign out, and waited for her arrival. she was shocked!!

christine was happy that it went off without a hitch. you can tell by the picture that she was relieved all the planning was over.

the party started off with the boys fighting over a toy

laney showed us her pat-a-cake skillz

ron flew in late friday night, so the next day he and the kids enjoyed some wrestling. i love this picture. ron is lovingly biting luke's ankle, laney is biting ron's wrist, and sam is stuck in the middle of it all.

sam found a great hiding spot during the kids' game of hide-and-seek

the boys wanted to go fishing, but no one took them out back to the river.

they took things into their own hands out at the pool

uncle renard enjoyed some time swinging with them

and luke slept the entire 2 1/2 hours on sunday as we drove back to clinton.

before heading to mississippi, laney and jackson decided how to solve the world's problems...

sam and luke had fun playing in grandee and pappy's back yard in the baby pool.

we visited with granny philley in acadia, la. sam and luke sat in her big chair and shared a sprite and a bag of m&m's.

laney loved pulling on granny's face

aunt marilyn even got some love

and luke was cracking us up as he pranced around in a doll hat

sam got to explore a little with granny's flashlight

and after a short visit of about an hour, we were in the car heading back to clinton.

the party

luke and laney had a shared birthday party a few weeks ago. it was a small event. we had close family and a few friends. grandee got luke dressed in his special outfit. here's laney after b got her dressed.

she rode around on pops' shoulders for quite a while.

she didn't like the cake that much. she especially didn't like the frosting on her fingers. she kept trying to flick off a big chunk of it that was dangling from her thumb.

as usual, luke enjoyed everything, especially the cheetos.

Visiting MPB

We enjoyed an extra special treat while we were visiting Grandee and Pappy in Clinton. Ron's mom works at the Department of Education. Using her connections, she set up a special tour for my kids. Sam LOVES "Between the Lions", so it was amazing to go see the studio where it was filmed. We toured the Mississippi Public Broadcasting building with the help of our guide, Ms. Nikki.

We got to see the Emmy Awards that the PBS shows had won. "Between the Lions" received a daytime Emmy beating out "Sesame Street" during their 40th anniversary.

We went into the executive producer's office for a visit. Ms. Judy even got down on the floor with the kids and Theo for a picture. What a good sport...

Down in the studio they were painting the set for their new show "Ed Says..." Christine actually helped with some of the scripts, so it was fun to see the show's stage. The kids even met Ed. They were fascinated!!

Later that night we went through the goody bags they had given us. They were so generous. The boys got a few stuffed animals and some great books... For Sam, I think these memories will last for a long time.

June 17th birthdays...

Laney and Anne Madison share the same birthday. So we met for dinner and had some great pizza. After a quick photo at the fountain, we went back to B and Pops' house for cake. Laney enjoyed the plate more than the cake.