Happy Birthday, Fox!

Recently, we had the joy of attending a party to celebrate the 1^st birthday of our sweet little guy, Fox.  He’s Lolee’s little buddy:

Mandy, ever the clever party planner,  knew that this was probably the only year that she could get by with doing a woodland animal theme, and I think that she did the most incredible job!  Her decorations were just as cute as could be:

And, truly, there were woodland animals everywhere:

Even the food made me feel like I was in a wooded wonderland:

Of course, there were presents, and Fox really got into opening them.  He had a great time:

There was birthday cake…

…Which my little buddy certainly enjoyed!

We can’t believe that a whole year has gone by…Fox certainly has grown.  He’s walking now, which means that his mother spends most of her days just trying to keep him from jumping off of the hearth and chairs and such.  He can say a few words, including “book” – he finally likes to have someone read to him.  He’s all boy – climbing curtains, banging things on the furniture, and roaring and screeching and generally being noisy.  He even roars and screeches when he is perfectly happy.  I have an idea that rearing him over the next several years is going to be quite the adventure for Mandy and Jeromy. ..

But with a face like this…

…They can’t help but love every minute of it!

Bluebonnet Beauties

In Texas, spring time is heralded by the arrival of the bluebonnets.  Families everywhere park on the side of the road or search to find some little patch of those beautiful flowers so that they can take family pictures.  It’s almost like a rite of passage, and lucky for me, Mandy and her little family is no exception.

In fact, this is one of my favorite pictures of the kids together – not just because of the flowers, but because it shows each of the kids as I have come to know them.  Paisley:  Oh-so-quiet, oh-so-serious, oh-so-obedient.  Fox:  Not-so-quiet, not-so-serious, not-so-obedient!  (So very different, yet we all adore them both!)

Here are a few more pictures of all that’s beautiful:

Happy spring, ya’ll!

A Lesson in Egg Shaking…

In addition to the butterfly exhibit and general hanging out, Alan and I accompanied Mandy and the kids to an event, just before Easter, at the local mall.  Each month the mall has some little activity for the kids and this event was all about Easter.  Apparently, Paisley hadn’t been all that excited about going, but when she learned that the Easter Bunny was going to be there, she decided it might be pretty fun after all!

I have to say, this thing wasn’t some cheap little thing…it was quite nice, especially for a “freebie”.  There were little baskets with a stuffed animal for each of the kids, and one of the activities was decorating a little planter with a face, after which each of the kids received their own plant.

Paisley did pretty well with that…and then came the activities.

A really sweet young woman in a striped shirt did all that she could to make sure the kids had a good time.  She sang, she danced, and she led the kids through a whole string of “follow-me” activities (whatever they pay her an hour, it isn’t enough!).  Paisley needed a little nudge to get out there, but she finally did go and gave it her best shot:

The Lady in the Striped Shirt passed out Easter eggs filled with rice (taped shut, of course) and led the kids in shaking their eggs to music.  She was even nice enough to give one to Boyfriend!  Paisley shook her egg for a small bit.  However, after a while, she came back to sit with us.  No amount of nudging or coaxing would get her to go back out and play with the other kids.

We couldn’t figure out what the problem was.  Was she scared?  Was she shy?  No…as it turned out, the problem was that all she could focus on was seeing the Easter Bunny.   All of that dancing and singing and egg shaking wasn’t what she came for…where was the Easter Bunny?

Finally, it was time for the Easter bunny!  Hooray!  Paisley’s face lit up with anticipation…and then promptly fell.  It seems that it was not the Easter Bunny who was visiting (he was still busy in the workshop, I guess); instead, it was Mrs. Easter Bunny, and Paisley could tell the difference, and Paisley didn’t really like the difference.  All of that wanting, and all of that waiting, and when it finally came…it was a total letdown.  Paisley didn’t even want to go see that bunny, but we talked her into it.  Her enthusiasm is evident:

Do you want to know who actually did have fun?  In fact, the most fun of anyone there?  That would be Fox:

That kid had the greatest time!  He smiled, he giggled, he flat-out laughed out loud!  And snuggled and cuddled and cooed with Uncle-Vinnie-Who’s-Never-Even-Changed-A-Diaper-Nor-Made-A-Bottle (yuck!).  Oh, and Fox shook his egg….and shook his egg…and shook his egg.  He didn’t care about the Easter Bunny, nor Easter baskets, nor any of that.  He was just having fun in the moment...shaking his egg.

Mandy and I were having one of our daily phone chats and discovered we had both been thinking the same thing:   How many times do we miss out on all kinds of fun because we are so fixated on the Easter Bunny coming?  How many simple joys of today are we missing because we are waiting for some future event?  In my desire to move to the mountains and pines, am I missing the forest for the trees?  And even when my Easter Bunny comes, if it’s not exactly what I’m expecting, will I be crushed?  What would happen if I quit fixating on the bunny and just followed the girl in the striped shirt and shook my egg?  A little something to think about…

Catching Up – Now!

If you’re wondering how I finally found the time to catch up with my blog posts, the answer is:  the weather!  As I stated earlier, Alan left for Montana on Thursday, and within a few hours we were hit with the worst winter storm that we’ve had in quite some time.  If he had scheduled his flight for late afternoon or early evening, he would have been stuck here.  It’s true that Texans are quite wimpy when it comes to winter weather, but this was really something!  The pictures below are not of snow…that is sleet that has been compacted and is now pretty much ice!

Here’s an overview looking out of our front door:

Here’s a picture I took of the road that runs in front of the house (Pretty slippery!):

In a weird (and lucky) twist of fate, our heater went out just a couple of days before the cold snap.  We had a new unit installed about 6 or 7(?) years ago, and it was a total lemon from the day we got it.  I’ve lost count how many times we have had it repaired, and this time it was going to cost quite a bit (again!).  It seems they quit making that model (I wonder why?), and parts are hard to find, and this fact makes them cost a lot.  So a command decision was made to just replace the whole unit.  We got a Lennox this time instead of Amana and are hoping it lasts much longer.  Even though it hit our purse pretty hard, at least we are warm, and ever so grateful that things were fixed up before it got so very cold.

I used the first couple of days of our “snow days” to catch up on some laundry and general housework.  Church was cancelled today (quite unusual), and I didn’t want to do regular chores, so I decided to catch up on the blog.  I also fired up my bread machine.  My mother-in-law gave it to me many, many years ago, and it’s still working!  The bread turned out so well, and it was so easy, I found myself asking, “Why don’t I use it more often?”  Just dumb!  I will certainly crank it up more often in the future.  Here’s the recipe I used for the bread I made today.  I really like it because I have quite a few cans of potato flakes in my food storage arsenal, and I need as many uses for them as I can get!  It’s also just plain good!

Crusty Potato Bread

3-1/4 cups bread flour

1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes

1 tablespoon white sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons butter

1-1/4 cups water

2 teaspoons instant yeast

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select White Bread Cycle; press Start.

Note:  This recipe was originally found on the “All Recipes” website – to visit the site, clickhere. 

Since I didn’t want to break my neck trotting back and forth to the chicken coop, Opal Chicken has been sleeping in her dog crate in the craft room.  I have taken her outside a few times to let her stretch her legs, as well as to show her that it really is awful out there and she should be glad to be inside!  She also has spent some time in the mud room (the floor is covered in newspaper) so that she can eat and drink and stretch some more.  Nestlé Bunny has also been stranded inside, but she has so much fun chasing Toffee around the house that she doesn’t care.

That’s pretty much my life:  keeping fur and feathers alive, aside from doing yard work and such.  I am hoping it clears up soon because I have a date this week with this little girl:

Paisley (aka:  “Stink-A-Tha”) is growing to be quite a little lady.  She loves going and doing things, and is definitely into her weekly dance lessons.  Since Fox has been born, she has also gone to an event to meet Doc McStuffins, and she went to a little theatre play showing “Blue’s Clues” and got to have her picture made with Blue.  In an effort to make sure that her events are not spoiled by her baby brother melting down, I actually have spent more of my time with Fox (aka:  “Boyfriend”), keeping him home while Stink-A-Tha goes out with her parents.  Even though it has been for her benefit, I think she might be feeling a little neglected by her Old Lolee.  Therefore, I am looking forward to picking her up some morning this week, doing a little shopping, and then taking her to lunch.  I never want my girl to feel less than wonderful in her Old Lolee’s heart!

As for Boyfriend, he’s growing bigger and wants to walk so badly that he can’t stand it!  He has already been scooching across the floor (that was last month), and I anticipate that he will be quite the go-getter.  Mandy says that he will be the one who destroys her house.  But here’s the thing: He has this crazy little crooked smile that he flashes that just melts your heart.  I have a feeling that it won’t matter what he does, or how much destruction he causes -- he will get out of all kinds of trouble with that little crooked smile and those big, blue eyes.

So that’s it!  Pretty much caught up for now!  The Christmas season is upon us, and there will be fun times ahead!

Catching Up - A Blessing for Fox

Blessing Day for Fox came a little later than it does for most babies, mostly because he had been so uncomfortable/sick/fussy with reflux and/or colic.  But it finally came, and it was a special day for the family.  In our church, a blessing is somewhat like a christening for a baby in other churches, although it isn’t exactly like a christening.  At a baby’s blessing, their name is officially stated, and then a prayer is said over the child (Jeromy did the honors), with some sort of blessing pronounced.

Fox looked quite dapper on his special day:

Afterwards, we went to Mandy and Jeromy’s to take some pictures (and eat some food!):

We were quite happy that Robert’s mother, Grandma Lynda, was able to come, too:

In fact, it was Grandma Lynda who made the beautiful little outfit that Fox was wearing:

It was Grandma Lynda who also made the beautiful dress that Paisley wore on her Blessing Day:

Mandy is going to have them treated and preserved so that each of her grandchildren will have a special outfit to wear on their blessing day…One of those family heirlooms to be treasured forever!

Fox at Home

Fox has been a different “Grandma” experience for me than Paisley was.  I think part of that is due to the fact that Paisley was the first grandchild (and child for her parents), and also because I stayed over at the Lackey house for a couple of nights or so in my effort to help out.  The Fox experience was complicated by the fact that I was okay for a few days after he was born, but then I got sick.  While I felt like helping, we all knew that a sick baby and/or toddler was the last thing they needed over there, so I stayed home until  we didn’t think I was contagious.  Even at that, most of my “helping” has consisted of taking Paisley for little outings or hanging out with her at home, in an effort to provide her with a little special attention and to give her mother a chance to concentrate on Fox.  Poor Fox has had problems with “colic” – later diagnosed as reflux – and just some general digestive issues which have been causing distress for him and loss of sleep for his family.  All of the pictures I have are pictures which I have pilfered from Mandy; however, it’s probably good since she takes much better pictures than I do!

Paisley has been generally taken with her new brother – except for the part where he keeps everyone awake at night.  Paisley found it a little hard having to share her parents' attention at first, but she has been a real trooper as of late.  I believe these pictures were taken when they first brought Fox home:

 

Mandy has taken quite a few pictures, as time has allowed.  I had really thought that Fox would simply look like a male version of Paisley.  Not so.  So far, he reminds me of Mandy when she was this age.  But really, he just looks like his own little person:

 

He has the most incredible feet, and I find myself “gobbling” and kissing them every chance I get (although I don’t know how many years that will last!):

 

The family had a photographer come to their house not too long ago and take pictures.  They are beautiful:

 

 

I guess the thing that has surprised me the most is how much I love this little guy.  I had worried that there would be no way that I could love another one as much as I love the World’s Most Beautiful Girl, but somehow… it happened!   He is wonderful!