I agree.

When Rick was seeing geriatric patients, he had to give them some sort of cognitive evaluation. One of the requirements was that the patient had to write a simple sentence. This is what one of the older ladies wrote for her sentence. I might be worried if she were 40 years younger!

Just Playing.

Just playing.

Playing with vacuum attachments. (Ew.)

Playing with bubbles.

Playing on St. Patrick's Day. (Before he got super mad that someone ran in front of him when he was supposed to be the leader of the parade.)

Playing with Gracie.

Playing with dirt. (Not as cute as Gracie.)

Playing on her tummy.

Oops. (Does anyone have any laundry tips for spit-up stains? I am not very good at treating them right away, and all my clothes look like they have grease stains on them from this girl.)

Playing together.

Playing is fun, but I'm glad everyone is asleep for the night! The silence is lovely.

Things I made today.

I made stir-fry and rice for dinner.
I made12 dollars grading Spanish tests.
I made a meal for a friend.
I made a St. Patrick's Day rainbow craft with Carson.
I made whole wheat buttermilk muffins.
I made the kitchen clean again.
I made my bed.
I made up a story to tell the boys before bed.
I made my library account clear by paying a late fee. (oops.)
I made Carson's day by taking him to the library.
I made my husband's lunch for tomorrow.

All those things are nice, but let's be honest. The best thing that happened today was that I made this pretty little girl smile.

A few more pictures from today.

Carson actually makes her smile way more than anyone.

He was pretty pleased with the weather yesterday.

It was a beautiful Sunday. 70 degrees! Everett is my outdoors boy and sure enjoyed it yesterday. He has also recently decided that he is a big boy. I can still hear him saying, "I do it!" since that was his most common declaration today. This is particularly entertaining for me, since my first born still doesn't show much of a desire to do things on his own. Everett is showing me what an independent streak is.

Everett has also recently decided to potty train himself, and when I let him wear the beloved Thomas the Train underwear around the house he does very well. He is still a baby to me, and it seems funny to see him sitting on the potty. Oh well, I guess he really is growing up!

Faye's Fan Club, Part 3.

Faye's most recent visitors were two of her aunts. These boys had SO much fun playing with Suzette and Jeanel. Watching Everett and Suzette play hide-and-seek was one of my favorite things. Carson's excitement about his "date" with Jeanel was a close second. The aunts took the boys to the library one day and to the Children's Museum another, allowing me to have some quality time with just my baby girl. Now THAT might be my favorite thing!

Had to re-create this picture from 4.5 years ago!

We all had so much fun with these sisters. We will have to keep having babies so they come out to see us. :)

Faye's Fan Club, Part 2.

Grandma GJ came all the way from Utah to meet our sweet baby. Faye is grandchild number 20 for her and Grandpa Sam, and after 6 boy grandchildren in a row, I think they were ready for a little girl!


For Carson, the highlight of her visit was the Un-Birthday Party. Carson and his Grandma planned all the details of the party together and decided on yellow cupcakes with yellow frosting, a pin-the-tail game, and a bowling game. They went shopping at the dollar store, put up decorations, etc. What a fun Grandma!


The boys, ready for the bowling game.


This was a pretty fun game, too. I can't remember what it was though; maybe see how many toys you can balance on daddy?


Everett loves singing happy birthday and pretending to blow out candles. The other day he had my hairbrush and decided it looked like a bunch of candles, so of course he sang and tried to blow them out.


This boy was very happy with his yellow cupcake and yellow frosting. He really enjoyed his time with his Grandma!

Faye's Fan Club, Part 1.

Shortly after this little thing was born, she hosted a whole slew of visitors! First up, Grandmama and Pappy. Grandmama took a whole week off of work, and we got to see Pappy on the weekends when he drove her back and forth.


Grandmama adoring her grandkids.


Grandmama always gives the first bath at home.


Getting ready to do sparklers.


Yeah right, like he's going to hold that thing!


Faye's not so snuggly like this anymore!

Thanks to my parents for making Faye's first week at home a wonderful time! Especially to my mom for somehow getting Everett to sit in his chair and eat dinner, and for taking Faye at 3 a.m. a couple of times when she was figuring out how to sleep at night and wake up during the day.

This boy has a hard time napping on Mondays.

(Here he's pictured looking at Jeanel's iPad. Carson is scared of or cautious about most things. Reading The Monster at the End of This Book on the iPad was particularly suspenseful for him.)

Monday is library day. And a bag full of new books sitting in his room makes it really difficult for our Carson to fall asleep during nap time. I could take the books, of course, but I sort of like hearing his little voice in there, and it means an early bed time for sure! We sure love new library books around here.

Sometimes she just can't fight it.

There's still usually one time between feedings during the day when Faye just can't stay awake. It's so funny to do everything possible to entertain and wake her up, and inevitably those eyelids just get heavy and we lose her. The boys think it's so funny when she does this; we pretend she's talking to us by moving her lower lip, and then suddenly she drops off to sleep. (Here she's snoozing on Aunt Jeanel's lap.)

"Making a Faye Sandwich."

At least he agreed to leave her on the side instead of squishing her in the middle.

We are really good at naming our kids.

We like to use our kids' middle names to name them after someone in the family. Looks like we might be three for three on their names matching their looks.

First, there is our Carson Samuel James. He is pretty much a miniature of his daddy, Richard Samuel James, and also looks like his Grandpa, the original Samuel James. 

Then there's sweet little Everett Dickson, and this kid is a Dickson for sure. There are some pictures of me at Everett's age that look exactly like him.

And our Faye girl. Looks like she's got dimples, just like Aunt Jeanel!

We are feeling grateful for good families these days and hope these three will honor their great middle names.