Fourth of July

How do you start your 4th of July off right? With Group Baby Yoga. How do you start off a 4th of July Blog on July 23rd? By saying sorry. We're a little behind around here.

Hope all's well.

Northerly vacation

As I mentioned before, we headed North to Warren, Rhode Island and Boston, Mass to visit with some of our favorite folks in the world. We've all known each other for a very long time and enjoy staying up way too late, talking about old times and wondering how in the world it's possible that we're responsible for adding six little humans to the world. So, our vacations are a bit different than they used to be. Fewer bars, more zoos you get the picture. Here are some highlights. Thank you to the Pipers, Schofields and Morgans for reminding us why it doesn't get any better than y'all.

Pizza party overlooking the water at Asher, Erin, Flavia and Hazel's house.

Harper and George discussing whether or not this zoo was a good representation of the elephant's natural habitat. Millie (left) just being precious which is exactly how she is about 95% of the time.

Flavia and Harper catching some Z's

Harper enjoying a train ride. Something that she has asked to do every single day since we rode on this one.

Asher, Hazel and Flavia enjoying a walk on the Fisherman's Bridge



BP serenading us.
Asher and Harper playing dress-up. I promise this wasn't as disturbing as it looks here.


Safety first, Millie.


We even carved out some time for fishing.


Asher showing me why we have to get a scooter.

Doyle and Harper enjoying some waffles that he prepared for her. Well, I think Sam actually prepared them but Doyle talked about making them for her quite a lot. Very sweet.


Buster and Harper enjoying an exhibit at the truly awesome Boston Children's Museum



Millie and Harper enjoying a girls' lunch



Harper and Sam making spaghetti for our "cook out."



Me feeling like I need a vacation from my vacation.

Man, we already miss you guys so much.

The kids got a point...

I recently had to take something away from Harper because it was made of glass and she was acting as if she was going to throw it. I said, "Harper, please give that to me it's not for babies."

She then said as dead-pan as humanly possible, "Mommy, I not a baby I Harper."

Super Harper heads North!

We are taking some time off to go visit some dear friends. We'll take lots of pictures.

Super Harper says see you soon!

Recent Shots of Harper Taking a Load Off

Too much Dora?

Harper has recently fallen head-over-heals in love with Dora the Explorer.

Yesterday she called my purse my "rescue pack." Do you think that means she watching too much tv?

sigh...

Misc things I want to remember

Some things that are in these days...

Saying "Oh, gosh." As in, "Oh, gosh, Mommy I dropped my french fry" which is a great segue to the next thing that is really in, french fries. I tell her they are only special treats but it doesn't stop her for asking for them every single time I ask her what she wants to eat.

"Ummmmmmm (note prolonged Um, it's also very in) frenschh friesh." That's also my best attempt at capturing her unique pronunciation.

Just a cute pic of her and her favorite guy, Cousin Collin, enjoying some juice on the beach.

Summertime!

So, it's Summertime and we're spending as much time as possible outside, at the beach, at the zoo or having tea parties...hence the lack of blogging. We also had a computer problem that has since been rectified.

As you can probably guess, Harper's is blossoming into quite the young lady. She speaks in complete sentences now and can make my week in a heartbeat. Yesterday morning as I was strapping her in to go to school she said, "Mommy, have a great day." I mean, really.

We had a fabulous week in Destin with Ryan, Meghan, Collin & Aneliese. I know it doesn't look like AE is having fun in this picture, but she was on the inside.

Harper went "surfing" for the first time ever. She was a real pro. If this were a movie, you could tell how well she's perfected the ability to not move a muscle while surfing. Actually, a movie of her surfing would look almost exactly like this picture. As Ryan said to some people passing bye while she was surfing, "I swear it's a real kid."


Harper went to her first Kiddie Amusement Park. That's us riding the train.

That's Harper and Collin. You can't tell here but they are heading way up into the air. She loved every second of this incredibly scary and pretty unsafe kids' ride. If Nana had been with us, they wouldn't have been allowed to ride it.


More summer fun to come. Stay tuned.

Tiny Dancer

It's true what you've been hearing on the streets: There was a dance recital. And yes, there is footage. But I used a video "tape" -- a rarity, I know -- and haven't taken the time to figure out how to get that tape translated into ones and zeroes so you can all enjoy them here. In the meantime, here are some still shots from the "recital."

The routine was pretty rudimentary (mostly for the other kids, of course): raise your arms, touch the floor, wiggle. But you-know-who really nailed it.

If you want to see the full-length video, come visit. There are three screenings daily.

Dumb Ole Dad

Believe it or not, we don't take a picture of everything. So here's one of the few text-only posts.

As you'll see soon, Harper was the lucky recipient of her very own backyard playset recently. (Big thanks to Nonnie and Nana.) In the bottom of this is a little box that imagination has transformed into a storefront from which Harper serves us juice, turkey, milk, Cheerios and any other consumables for which she has the words. She loves it. And we play along cuz, you know, that's what you do.

So last week I'm bellied up to the counter ordering some "snacks" that Harper would go and get and pretend to serve me. On the third or fourth round of pretending to eat these things I ask for another order: turkey, juice, maybe some water. Harper scurried off, carefully picked out some rocks that would double as our pretend snacks.

When she got back she carefully laid them out and then, after careful consideration, presented to me one of the little gray rocks.

Playing along, I asked, full of animation, "MMMM! Thanks, Harper! And what is this?"

She looked at me a second, looked at the rock I was holding and said, like she was talking to a two-year-old, "a rock."

Birthday Girl

After a weekend of vigorous celebrating, our two-year-old girl is fast asleep. And we aren't far behind her. There's plenty to recap as of late, but while we catch our breath, here's a shot of the happiest little lady in Middle Tennessee. Stay tuned for more.

Bossy?

Some call it bossy, but I prefer to say she just knows exactly what she wants and she's not afraid to tell you exactly how to make it happen for her.

Tonight after accidentally dropping her pacifier on the floor she picked it up, handed it to me and said, "wash it."

Easter

Easter was a bit early this year so in protest, I am just now posting Easter pics.
Harper had a fantastic weekend. She discovered that she loves Easter crafts at Cheekwood, the Easter egg dying process and subsequent hunt and that she's still crazy about Cousin Collin.

School update

I am so pleased to report that Harper is absolutely loving her new school this week! We've had four consecutive drop-offs without any tears.

The first two weeks were so rough I was concerned that her teachers were going to think she was just a miserable little gal, which would inevitably result in her getting less attention and then blaming me for the rest of her life for how miserable her childhood was. (I am only slightly exaggerating how far I went with this in my head.) Anyway, it's all moot now because her lovely new director, Karen, has taken such a shine to Harper and vice-versa that when I picked her up this evening Harper was hanging out with Karen as her "special office helper." Harper was in charge of such chores as helping to lock the filing cabinet and putting the cordless phone on to its cradle. Needless to say, Harper was absolutely loving her new found responsibilities, and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief that they too have discovered her boundless charm.

P.S. Daddy, we miss you.

This morning...

So, this morning Harper walks out of her bedroom and says, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy (rarely is this word used if not in rapid succession) 'ook, cute coat!"

Every time she wears this precious Flavia hand-me-down, people tell her how cute she looks in it. Apparently, she's been listening. And, for the record, those pants are pedal pushers, not just too short.

Welcome to the world, Sweet Hazel

Hazel Suzette, The world is suddenly a sweeter place.

We love you.

Amanda, Buster & Harper

Hang in there, Harper

Harper's beloved "school" recently announced that they will be closing this summer. After an intense few weeks of searching for a new center, we found a wonderful new school called Holly Street. It's lovely. She's taking dance classes (she has a recital in May), she's working with new craft mediums like crepe paper, she's taking tumbling, she has a teacher who plays the guitar in class and her best friend, Ridge, has joined her there. It's wonderful, however, she's going through a bit of a rough time. When I drop her off in the mornings she acts as if I am dumping her at the gates of hell - I'm talking intense separation anxiety. Apparently, not even 10 minutes after I am gone she's laughing it up with the best of them. So, send her and us a little extra love right now.