Family Picture May 2012

Happy Birthday To Our Three Year Old Girl...

Miss Little Bitty 

celebrated her birthday on Monday 

at the beach...

cupcakes

sand

a new tea party set

sea shells

You are becoming such a big girl...

We love your smile...your giggles...your playfulness

You are a ray of sunshine in our day!

Beach Trip 2012

After a ten hour trip...well ten for us anyway

and it could have been a lot longer without the little potty in the van...

cause something about being strapped in the carseat makes little girls have to go potty,

we arrived at the beach!

Someone please tell me that you also have a 15 month old who wants to run and dive into the waves...

or is she too brave for her own good?

going...going...gone

and the only way for me to keep my sanity...

life jackets on everyone else...

although when you are a big girl your not as brave and you want daddy to take you out into the water...

the boys are in heaven...finding shells...catching minnows...crab hunting...wave riding

they would stay out all day long!

Water Fun...

Here is the all new Stouts Mountain Water Slide...

Introducing...

A new little brother...

arriving in September!

"I was preparing for another sister after having three in a row"...Bo 8 years

I am from...

I am from dirty dishes

from homemade bread and fresh eggs.

I am from the tiny house 

swelling with people I love.

I am from lizards and toads in the aquarium.

The pecan trees whose long gone limbs I remember as if they were my own.

I'm from dinner together and campfires...roasting marshmallows under the stars.

I'm from adventurous boys and giggly girls.

I'm from movie time before bed and bible verses at breakfast

and from picnics on pretty days.

I'm from stories of the wild west and boys in creeks 

and momma singing praises while she washed the dishes.

I'm from church on Sundays 

I'm from small town and seven grandmothers 

milkshakes with hamburgers and roast and gravy on Sundays

From my love overcoming the odds

losing mother and father as a boy...

that oldest son reading books in his bed and the other one asking his daddy question after question

that oldest girl so proud that she can make her bed and wearing headbands everyday, that little blonde with hands that get into every thing and a smile to make up for it all and their baby sister who loves to play with her bubbas on the pillows on the floor...these memories hidden in my heart.

From frog races on rainy days

and little girls spinning in tire swings 

and matching dresses and pretty hair with homemade bows

and big brothers with legos in one hand and swords in another

and a daddy who works hard every single day and my heart still pounding when I see his truck coming home

That is where I am from .

inspired by "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon