Princess Party

August 24 was Eleanor's second birthday!  Saturday morning, Grace had some girls over to her house for a princess 'tea party', as Avery calls it.  She was sooooooo excited to get all princessed up (and Mommy tried to act the part and put her hair up in a bun... this is the department where I need GG!!).  

We arrived at the Sturdivant house and the sun room was literally a fairy tale!  Avery rounded the corner and screamed out "oh wow!" when she saw all of the pink ruffles, sparkles, dress up clothes... The girls were precious and were in heaven!

We enjoyed brunch, cupcakes, bubbles.....

And Sleeping Beauty even made an appearance! She read a story to the princesses and each gladly obliged for pictures.

So, what does a boy do during a princess party??  Bass Pro, of course!  I think he picked out a few things for his wish list... 

Little Cap'n.

New Life!

On the eve of little Garnett's arrival, we all enjoyed a big birthday party for Eleanor (Aug 24), Silas and Avery (Sept 1), and Poppy (Aug 11)!  The three kiddos had so much fun and had no idea what was to occur the next day... 

Silas got a tool set with a powered screwdriver/drill... this guy was HAPPY with that and worked and worked with his tools all night... 

Meanwhile Avery was beside herself with her 'tea party'... 

Oh, and her new clothes:-)

Avery was Poppy's little helper putting together Eleanor's baby high chair...

These little musicians entertained us with their ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle...

Somebody LOVED singing with both microphones. What a show we had!

Look at this cool big truck!

And wrapping up the night with one more picture as a family of three........

As in true Arnold, Gore, Sturdivant fashion... we were all piled into the waiting room at Baptist hospital and trying not to make a ruckus... we couldn't hide our excitement about new baby Garnett!  Born at 12:06pm (thank you, sis, for waiting until my lunch break so I could be there!), Garnett Carruthers Sturdivant weighed in at a healthy 8 lb, 6 oz and is so sweet, cute, healthy, couldn't ask for anything more.

Love this picture.  Eleanor thought about it...

Then ... was excited to meet her little sister!

Later that afternoon, Silas and Avery were able to meet her... at first they weren't so sure...

Avery quickly inspected the 'real bee-bee" - she couldn't keep herself from touching her...

 and kissing her....

 Silas was sweet too... he wanted to see her hair...

Avery and Eleanor wanted to see her toes...

 And count them...

Another great-grandchild.  What a blessing.  I'll never forget what Mop has said about brand spankin new babies:  "Nothing makes me feel closer to God than holding a baby straight out of the arms of Jesus."  So true, Mop...

I love this one of Mop and Pop's hands holding Garnett's feet...

I just realized I had pictures of everyone except Gay Gay... glad you were here too Gay Gay!  Where are our pictures of you? 

Aaaannnndddddd here's what they think:   (no caption needed).

(Maybe we need to get Silas a buddy.)

July 2013

Yes, Tempus Fugit.  Time Flies. Too quickly. I can't believe our two little munchkins will be 3 years old September 1st!  It sure seems like yesterday I was sitting in this very chair blogging about their impending arrival... and time seemed to pass so sllllooooowwwwlllyyyy, and while there's nothing we can do to speed it up, there's nothing we can do slow it down either!  Silas and Avery are so much fun... I wish we could freeze them and stay in this stage a little longer!  

(Oh, and a funny aside:  This was Silas' first time with a bow tie... and he looked sooooo cute in it - after the 5 minute battle convincing him the bow tie did NOT go in his hair.)

Here they are learning how to button and unbutton... and now it takes 30 minutes to get dressed:-)  They repeat incessantly, "my do it, no mommy, my do it"!

This one has one speed.  Full throttle.

One of our best friends, Jack, has the coolest, biggest, water slide I've ever seen!  Miss Dare Devil (a.k.a Avery) and Jack are having a blast...

...while Silas hangs next to me watching... he loves to slide, but couldn't bring himself to try the scary climbing wall (the only way to get onto this slide)

Then, after everyone ate dinner and was changing into dry clothes, Silas (careful that no one was watching) conquered the wall!!   Atta boy, little buddy!

One Tuesday, Henry, Kelly, and Aunt Debra were in town and all our schedules happened to allow a fun lunch at GG and Eleanor's house!  These 4 loved playing... and I think it was Kelly who pointed out:  she, Caleb, Grace and I had a picture made very similar to this one about 30 years ago!  So fun. 

More haircuts... here's my BIG boy sitting all by himself in the chair for a trim (this is the first time I haven't had to sit with him:-)...

With the longer days of summer, we love to take a walk after supper around the neighborhood (when it's not "too hot" (as Avery says)).  So, who's protecting whom in the picture below?  I'll let you decide.

We've also enjoyed having family movie nights upstairs!  Silas and Avery are just now getting to the point that they'll sit (for longer than 20 minutes at a time) to watch a movie.  Dumbo, Finding Nemo, Toy Story are the favorites as of now...  not to overshadow Dora and Diego of course, the sitcoms of choice. 

July also brings around another birthday for the guy in the middle of this picture... Happy Birthday Bruce!  As I said in a recent social media post, it's a good thing you're good looking... because our kids are your twins!  (pun intended)

And July 17-18 marked the quarterly trek to Houston for check ups.  Praise God, all was good news and we return in 3 months.  Next time, I'll be at the "2-year" mark:-)  We will continue every 3 months until next November, then I think it'll go to every 6 months until after 5 years.  We are so blessed with amazing family and friends who support us through prayer and encouragement each time we go - we couldn't thank everyone enough!  Every 3 months that passes makes me a little closer to that "5 year" mark... but I sure don't want to rush that... lest Silas and Avery be that much older... time flies.