June Flashback: Anticipation.....

Dear Logan,

There is nothing quite like the anticipation of your first child's birth. It's such a unique time of your life, filled with amazement and wonder, planning and dreaming, anxiety and awe...

I took these pictures of your nursery just about a month before you were due. Little did I know that in just 6 short days I would be holding you in my arms!

I spent so much time in your little room. Daddy and Pappy helped with the background paint, and I did the rest. I loved this "safari" theme. I always wanted you to have a love of animals and the outdoors.

I hoped this silly sunshine would make you happy.

Here we are, six days later! The day began so normally - it was a Friday. I went to work and left a little bit early for what I thought would be a regular prenatal checkup. But, there was trouble brewing. It didn't come as any huge surprise. I had already been on and off bedrest for half of my pregnancy, and had developed pre-eclampsia along the way as well. Between the water retention and my voracious appetite, I was seriously about to pop! That Friday when I went in my blood pressure had shot up to a dangerous level. My doctor actually walked me from her office to the hospital front desk and checked me right in.

Here we are, waiting for them to come and take you! Naturally, you were breach - never conventional, that's you! The doctor said you were sitting there on my hip bones with your legs crossed like a little Indian, so there was no way you were going to come out the "normal way".

Grammy and Pappy were there, too. No one wanted to miss this!

Love,

Mama

How Does Your Garden Grow?

There are lots of life lessons in gardening. To most people a bed of flowers is probably unremarkable. At most, fleetingly eye-catching. Quickly forgotten.

But to some, the ones who are in the know, a garden is a living, breathing organism. A wondrous world of color and possibility. An ever-changing realm of life and death, challenge and perseverance, potential and strength. A garden is a great place to learn, to dream, to explore...

I love my garden. I am constantly amazed by it. I walk the perimeter of it several times a day. It takes a lot of passion to memorize every bud, every bit of new growth...every nip from a bunny's teeth.

Hydrangea

In a garden, you will learn patience...

how to be a problem-solver...

appreciation for hard work...

love of beauty and color...

A garden forces one to take things at a slower pace...

These things just don't spring up overnight, you know...

Day Lillies and Hollyhock

It may take years to accomplish the "look" you want to achieve...

Day Lilly and Monarda

A gardener knows that any one look won't last for long, though...

Day Lilly, Monarda and Dahlia

That's why it's so important to appreciate your garden, every day, for whatever special thing is happening at that particular moment...

Dahlia

It takes a tender hand, gentle guidance, and sometimes you have to add some firm support...

Our driveway - a work in progress for five years running

You can learn a lot about life from tending a garden.

Love,
Mama

Logan Turns Six!

Logan's big day came last week, and it just happened to be the very same day that Toy Story 3 came out! We in this household are big fans of the Toy Story franchise, so this coincidence was too good to pass up! We booked a party room at the theatre around the corner and brought our friends!

The neighborhood boys...

Cheese!

We ate pizza and fruit kabobs before the cake. Of course the pizza and the fruit were not huge hits with the kids!

Really, we could have just brought the cake out first thing!

Make a wish, Logan! You looked so cool with your orange spiked hair!

Yay! Present time! Also, it looks like you got a piece of cake with a bunch of blue frosting!

This would be me reminding you that it's rude to just dive in for the presents - read the card, Logan. Read the card.

Nathan

Reagan, our former next door neighbor, and her little brother, Louis.

Holy cow! A slinky dog!

YES!

And now, time for a little Toy Story bingo before the show!

Reagan and her little brother Cooper have their eye on the prize!

Mackenzie, Colin and Logan are concentrating on the call!

Someone is getting close!

Colin, Jacob and Mackenzie

Uh oh....looks like someone didn't win. Now, now, we went over the party rules before we even got in the car to come over. I even made you repeat them. They were: no fighting, no crying, no whining, if someone wins be happy for them - you still get to bring home all the presents, after all! My, my, how quickly rules go out the window!

Sadly, Logan, I had to throw you out of your own party. Sorry, but you weren't going to ruin my [expensive] fun! I worked hard on those Toy Story bingo cards and violated a lot of copyright laws to make them, I'm sure!

Here we are, lining up in the hall to go in and see the show! You are all showing off your glow in the dark bracelets which the theatre management was nice enough to let us wear!

Reserved seating! On premier night! What fun!

Happy birthday, pal.

Please learn to be a good sport.

Someday.

Alright?

Love,

Mama

Olde Tyme Photo

Well now here's something a little different - a family portrait of my parents and me. No, I'm not THAT old. If I were to venture a guess, I'd put this somewhere around circa 1976. I'm not sure what inspired my parents to get us all gussied up in our fancy antique duds, but we make a cute old-fashioned family. I think I look like a mini version of my dad in this picture.

Phil, Kathy and Heather

Rough Start

Meanwhile, Claire, I'm sure your father had no idea what an accurate premonition this Mother's Day card from this year would turn out to be, but your first gymnastics lesson pretty much mirrored the card's sentiment:

On the outside it says "Look on the bright side, Mom."

Inside it says "You never had to worry about me following the crowd!"

Pretty much. (No photos to share - guess which mom was too busy chasing her 2 year old around the room anyway?)

Oh boy.

Mama

Show Week at The Little Gym

Last week was show week at The Little Gym, and that means that the parents get to come inside the gym area to video and take pictures instead of having to sit behind the glass. Logan has been losing focus with class here lately so I was a little bit relieved to come to the end of the semester. See? Here he is during circle time - no focus.

He did manage to gallop in a circle pretty well...

and it's hard to get into too much trouble when you're stuck to the teacher...

*sigh*

Look at this perfect handstand. If he would only concentrate his energy on the activities at hand instead of acting silly and wanting to run around wild the whole time, he could be so good! He even pointed his little feet, bless him.

Sure, this may not look like much - but lemme tell ya, he had the best cartwheels in the whole class.

Sorry, I'm taking a moment to congratulate myself on this cool "action shot."

See? No time for seriousness. Silly, silly kid.

By this time Mr. Mark was losing patience with Logan and had already gotten on to him several times. Man. My kids are so embarrassing in public sometimes. Or, most times...

Trust me, Mr. Mark is only smiling because I have a camera aimed at his face. If you look closely it's quite obvious he's digging his fingernails into Logan's ankle.

Logan snatched the camera away from me to take a picture of his little gymnastics girlfriend, Cadence. Do not let that adorable smile fool you - these two are in constant trouble together!

Most of the time Claire sat outside the glass with Daddy while I handled the camera, but she peeked in for just a second - it didn't last long, however.

Finally! Medal time!

Here is the class! Actually, the little pouty boy in blue is someone's little brother who wanted in on the action. I think he's mad because he didn't get a medal! Mom had to come wrangle him out of the shot.

Okay, now HERE's the shot. Whew. Glad that's over.

And now we're on to swimming lessons. Last time we did those we ended up with a life saving technique and an incident report. Logan, please please please, just act like a normal kid this time?

Appreciate it.

Love,

Mama