Full Circle

Back in the day, there was a little onion head in Alabama who found great happiness and joy in the simple things in life. Her daily ritual of emptying her mother's dresser drawers brought smiles to her face and became another chore to her loving mother! But how could you deny a little one such as this a simple joy?! Thirty years ago, this was the scene...

Flashforward to 2009 and this is the scene! This weekend, I questioned myself was there really a point to picking up the contents of the t-shirt drawer for the tenth time in a day or should I just let it be and pick another battle to fight.

Regardless, you may be curious and wonder, just who was the precious little love behind this act of simple and shear joy and happiness...

My little organizer herself... Wylie Marie!

Happy as a lark she was! Totally content on pulling out every last t-shirt and replacing them back in the drawer from which they came!

In and out. In and out. Never a peep did she make ! So focused and "busy"!

Until... her apparently diligent efforts at organizing were slightly off target and the drawer would not close. My how upset my little organizer became!

Now friends, I attempted to be a good and loving mother and help remedy the problem but Wylie was going to have NONE of that. This was a project she was going to do all by herself!

Sadly, I must report, her little project was abandoned due to frustration and tears. Therefore leaving me with another chore for my day. I couldn't help but feel like my mom at that moment and realize a full circle had happened, right before my eyes!

I imagine I have many more days of t-shirt drawer fun with my little organizer to look forward to.

A Heart Full of Thanks!

You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing... that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!

Psalm 30: 11 & 12

The Project Was Rated "EASY"

All week long, I have been so excited about the Turkey Handprint Cookies I was going to make with Charlie, Wylie and Bess. I had all the necessities gathered, I had already premixed a few things just to speed up the process of cookie making from scratch! I was prepared with a capital P! Family Fun gave this little afternoon project an "easy" rating... hmmm... maybe I should have asked myself what part of handprint cookies with 2 toddlers was going to be easy. Alas my friends, I fought through the meltdowns over dirty hands, the crying over spatulas and the balls of dough that were hurled at me in a quick game of "ball" that Charlie decided was totally appropriate for the occasion.

I started with Wylie. Girls are usually the behind the scenes people in these events. So, together we prepared the dry ingredients before Charlie awoke from his nap!

The Little Chef was quite enthralled with this step in our cookie adventure and kept asking for "mo" flour!

Then, in a moment that would have made Paula Deen proud, I completely and totally whipped out the 4 sticks of butter this scratch recipe called for and proceeded to soften them for my little love to mix! PS- I will be calling the 5 pounds I add to my hips from these cookies "Butter"!

Look, even Wylie was excited about what was to come!



Next, it was on to the mixing! Very gently, I aided Wylie in her attempt to get as much into the mixer as possible. Surprisingly, she did fairly well!

Brother Bear awoke and I should have seen this coming! Who doesn't love a whisk of cookie dough!!! This is so my child!!! The scary part was, at this point in the "project", I had forgotten the sugar in the recipe. Can't have sugar cookies without sugar can we now?! Luckily, Charlie was totally unphased!



I couldn't resist! I am a sucker for batter!

To break up the "project", I decided pajamas would be fitting! I could already tell from the lovely moods that were surfacing, early bedtimes were in our future!

I look at a ball of dough and see potential for a beautiful cookie. What does my little man look at it and see... you guessed it... a "ball" to throw! So, although the "project" didn't call for a break here, I took a brief pause to throw dough with my little love!

Neat freak on the other hand, was not as impressed by the feeling of the dough! Look at this face. She ended up using a butter knife to play with her dough!

No butter knife here. Charlie chose to go face first into the flour!

Despite the floured faces, the messy hands and banging butter knives, I was bound and determined to make at least 2 sets of these adorable handprint cookies. It's a memory I kept telling myself! I personally enjoy our kitchen visitor Elmo. I must say, he did not fair so well in the kitchen. He left quite "white". Bless his heart!

Finally, despite many casualties and repaired "feathers", the masterpiece was completed! Somehow out of a batch that was intended to make 3 dozen, I wound up with this! So would I rate this project easy... not so much!

In the end, I wound up with only 3 little turkey handprint cookies. I suppose that is perfect considering I am completely in love with 3 of the most adorable little turkeys around!

Behind Closed Doors

Behind the closed nursery door, there SHOULD be two precious little loves covering up with warm blankets, clutching Bunny Foo Foos, sleeping peacefully and dreaming of balloons and slides. That's what SHOULD be going on behind closed nursery doors!

However, to my surprise, I attempted to open the door to Charlie and Wylie's room tonight and could not get it to open but only slightly! Hmmm, I said to myself. I bet the "Drake" stuffed animal is blocking the door. Nope... guess again.

Instead, once I was able to open the door to get only my head in, this is what I saw.

Empty Crib that belongs to Charlie! That can't be good.

So where was my little darling sweet precious wild man?

That's right!

He was the "bump" blocking the door.

Charlie climbs out of his crib nightly. He usually doesn't leave the room (or attempt) to leave the room more than once. When he realizes we are standing at the door waiting and anticipating this little nightly escape, he entertains himself with a little game of hide and seek, or plays interior decorator and redecorates his room for me. If all else fails, he lays in the floor and looks at the light from under the door. Pitiful I know.

Pitiful but precious!

Night Night my little love!

What Are Dinosaurs Good For?

There I was, standing in the checkout counter of BiLo today when I saw a bag full of dinosaur figurines. Charlie's name was written all over this!!! He loves dinosaurs. Many of our Target trips consist of watching the big dinosaur in the plastic box. It is a safe bet to say Charlie Loves Dinosaurs. So, I went home and anxiously awaited him waking up from his nap this afternoon! I knew he would love his new figurines. I could already see him lining them up on the bathtub ledge and "roaring" at them only then to knock them down into the water and laugh!

But my dear sweet Charlie, he saw much greater potential in dinosaur figurines!

Prehistoric Photo Pose!

Charlie did what any other boy with plastic dinosaur figurines would do at first. He sat them up and took the biggest one and knocked them over. No surprise. This is exactly what I had anticipated. He was so proud everytime he knocked the little guys down. He clapped and said "Ah Right" or alright!

For Wylie, who is a very precise and particular child, lining up the dinosaurs was right up her alley. It was the destruction of her neatly ordered dinosaur lineup and the mess created from the "attack" that was WAY too much for her!

Charlie also believes that all living creatures have a desire to be ridden like a horsey! This goes for dogs, (small and large!, people and his sister!) Why should this rule not apply for plastic dinosaurs also? This is Charlie "riding" the dinosaur!

Charlie also feels strongly that his dinosaurs should be able to ride one another and not fall off! It was very disturbing to him that they kept leaning sideways!

Through all this, both Charlie and Wylie had been asking for a "nack" or snack. On the menu...fruit snacks...what else!



I glanced over to discover my precious little son laughing at this.

So why should he feed himself when Dino Dan can do it for him! He cackled each time he ate a fruit snack. It's the simple things in life I suppose!

And like all good brothers, Charlie honored his unspoken big brother duties by teaching his little sister!

So, for all you visitors to 709... Beware...Our house is full of dangerous creatures these days who clearly serve more than one purpose in this house!

On A Roll!

Hello up there! Yes you, Mommy...with the camera! We need to talk! For quite sometime now, I have been laying on this traveling pallet somewhere in this house. Each and everyday without fail, you stand over me and oooh and ahhh as I grab my toes and hold onto them for what you say is "forever"! I can only imagine how adorable I must look as I kick my limbs all over this pallet! You stand over me or lay beside me so we can chat and giggle. You never seem to be too far away from that small little silver box that flashes either! I am so glad to see you have it with you today because watch this...

Hold on, let me fling my arms around for a little momentum. I don't have "junk in the trunk", I have "junk in the belly!" It takes me a minute so be patient...

Okay... now we are on a roll!

Just a little wiggle of these little arms of mine and we are all set!

And Success!

Now, everybody say "Yeah For Bess!"

Mom, I decided my five month birthday was the perfect day for this! I can't let my big sister Wylie show me up! I want to be just like her! Plus, I figured by now, you have a million and one pictures of me from standing above me. Now you can practice taking pictures from a new pose!

Leroy Comes to Play...

Meet Leroy the Lizard. Leroy awoke this morning expecting to have a beutiful day of walking through leaves, crawling over sticks, hiding under shrubs. The thing Leroy didn't plan for as his day began was being spotted by dear ol' dad or being handed off to...

one excited little boy!

This is probably where Leroy's day started to go south! While Charlie was in pure excitement over meeing Leroy, I am pretty sure Leroy had other feelings!

However, Charlie is a kind soul and he only wanted the best for his new friend! So safe to the top of his "um ble la la" or umbrella, Charlie carried his new little buddy!



Home Sweet Home!


Leroy was pulled off of this post and put back on this post numerous times! All the while, dad was right beside him to give him words of encouragement!

Charlie was a natural with Leroy. He held it in his hand, picked it up by its head to place him on objects. Maybe this is one of the innate traits boys are born with... lizard handling!


On. Off. On. Off.
Poor Leroy!

But this little man, was full of excitement for Leroy, his new best friend!!

But poor Leroy had had enough of the on off game and decided to take matters into his own teeth! Little man never expected sweet Leroy to bite and attach himself to his finger! This was quite upsetting! How could his new friend be so rude?!

So to be kind to our new friend, we conviced Charlie to set Leroy the Lizard loose! He was returned happily to the nearby leaves where he hopefully is living... happily ever after!