choir performance

 Miller's been involved in 4 year old choir on Wednesday evenings at our church this year. Really, he's been going strong since the 3's program last year. The highlight to Miller man is playing instruments and getting to move around the room.
 As the year wore on this year, he definitely lost some interest in warming up his vocal chords for corporate singing every week. But, it was a great teaching opportunity this year to let our guy know that when you make a commitment to get involved in something, you stick it out until the end no matter what your emotions feel like on the day of practice. Stick-to-it- tiveness is an important character quality that I hope we are instilling in Miller. Teaching him to be faithful in the little things carry over to much BIGGER decisions later in life. I could get carried away on this one.....Anyhoo-I'm thankful that these little situations come about to help us mold him into one faithful man who is able to  be counted on.

The highlight of the 4's program is the May choir performance during a Sunday evening service. It was Miller's first experience singing on the stage of our church. For the dress rehearsal, he was gobsmacked and in shock of his surroundings.This was my opportunity to grab some oh-so-precious pictures while he was singing his sincere best.  As you can imagine, he was too busy taking everything in and participating to goof off up there. My momma heart melted listening to him sing the song, "Promises Promises...God Keeps His Promises". An awesome truth that I needed to be reminded of, for sure.

One of my friend's commented that I've got this boy trained to pose. He sure has had some practice;)

See what I mean about poised? His uncontrollable hands were stuffed into his shorts to help him with self control.
 We learned a valuable lesson about our young 5 year old on this night. It turns out that our Miller man doesn't need a warm up period. Since he had 30 minutes to soak in the lime light, our guy was really feeling at home & cozy on stage. For the actual performance during the service he discovered the jumbo tron screen behind the risers and all we viewed was the back on his mop head of hair while he sang away. He commented that he was staring at himself singing on the big screen but all he could see was his hair. OH MY!! Landon calmly explained that if you face the camera, it will project your face. The camera can only capture what is directly in front of it....
Big ah-ha's for Miller on the car ride home!
I am hanging on the fact that at least he wasn't the kid turned around making large hand motions to the screen or funny faces for that matter.

I'm just one happy momma, that I have fond dress rehearsal memories to hang onto. I foresee many more  adorable performances in this little guy's future....

Look Who's Two!

 Our little Elmo lover just had to celebrate turning 2 with her favorite fuzzy faced friend. She's just a tad bit obsessed with all things Elmo. Her whole face lights up as soon as she spots Elmo anywhere. Her joy is usually followed with an exuberant announcement of "Eeeellllmo"!

  We celebrated 2 with just family {a slower pace} from last year's Garden Party and it was a sweet time focusing on our little lady. I still obsess about all the little details with a smaller crowd, but I am a much more relaxed party planner. Call me sentimental, but I look forward to sharing these pictures with Eliza Kate & reflecting on her birthday in future years as she probably won't remember our little celebration at a mere two. I loved pulling in the girly shades of pink & kid friendly polka dots to make Elmo a touch more feminine.

Ok, so you might need to step in and rescue me from my slight polka dot obsession. All of our parties are starting to look the same as I can't get enough of the cuteness pulling in the dots.  I stumbled upon a free printable Elmo party pack on Pinterest and Kinkos helped me with all the little Elmo cut-outs. Besides the balloons, I re purposed other party decorations to pull everything together. You should have heard EK squeal with delight on the party day as she spotted her favorite red friend while coming down the stairs. I saved the final reveal for her actual birthday.

There were moments her colors reminded me of Valentine's Day;) Landon marveled at my late night adventure standing on the table using push pins to hang upside down balloons from our dining room fixture. I kept adding little touches here and there restless & excited to share it all with my darling girl.

So there were a few "two year old" tantrums  moments during our family celebration. EK is showing more of her feisty side these days. Made me thankful that family had to endure her party girl demands. How would you feel if your beauty sleep was interrupted by a room full of party goers giving you attention? Hmm...And, isn't there a decorator's rule that decorating with red causes anxiety?

But, I must say that these two year old smiles made all of my hard work worthwhile. She melts me with those sweet grins. Fingers in her mouth = a dash of shyness.  We dined on BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and all the fixens' {southern word for sides}. Miller could hardly concentrate on the birthday dinner with the prospect of watching little sister open her gifts. He previewed the gift table and even shook a few boxes to make a few guesses.

Gift time was so much fun to witness. We leave the spoiling to the grandparents. Since, we're not into gift giving year round, we love to see the joy of present opening with our kiddos. Miller was EK's right hand man for all her package opening needs. Her new bubble machine brought lots of fun her way. The grocery cart was a hit complete with wooden food. Of course, Bitty Baby found a front row seat secure for the shopping.

It's amazing for me to watch her mimic mommy behavior with baby. She uses a much higher pitch tone to communicate.

Eliza Kate offered baby a plastic cookie from her tea set while baby was out shopping at Publix. That's her favorite part of our shared mommy and me shopping excursions.

Bitty Baby now has a plush baby bed with straps that can be carried to ball field.

Miller predicted that one of her larger gifts would be a pink Barbie car to drive dolls around. I think it's great that his little brain combined a boy/girl gift to make both parties happy. Too bad little sister isn't into Barbie yet.

The cupcakes were a hit as always after our present opening intermission.

And, EK entertained us all with her frosted pink mustache.

Finally, it was her turn to receive the Birthday Chorus after months of singing it to lovey and every other member of our family. Our girl has a thing for the birthday song.

She a cake girl...saving the frosting for last just like her mommy.

The frosting gets used as finger paint instead

Posing with Omi and Papa after cupcake time

And, testing out her karaoke Elmo microphone with her Poppy.

Then she enjoyed herding and bouncing all the party balloons after the party was over. Happy 2nd Birthday Eliza Kate. God made all our "girl dreams" come true with your joyful entrance two years ago. Birthday blessings to you my dear....XOXO!

game ball & fan club

 I'm baaack in "full swing" blogging mode. Hopefully we can play "catch" up over the next few days.  On April 14th, Miller was presented with the Upward Game Ball of the day. Chasing my aforementioned two year old girly around the field made me absent from watching him receive this award post game. I felt a part of the action though, when Miller restated Coach Brian's speech and attaboys verbatim. I just never know when my boy has his listening ears on.  For this team huddle, he was soaking in each and every word.

We're proud of our little slugger. Miller is really learning the game. His strength so far is hitting the ball. We're still focusing on fielding and paying attention. These boys can only go so long before kicking the dirt and distractions pop up. Oh, and we're teaching him how to eagerly run to the bases. I coached him to pretend that a googly eyed monster is chasing him...seemed to do the trick!

The family  fan club met up for another game in late April. Miller has no idea just how blessed he is to have both sets of grandparent's cheering him on from the bleachers.

Eliza Kate was protesting the group picture, but baby Stella made her way into the shot. Miller was proudly showing off his snacks from the concession stand. These after game snacks are a huge highlight and reward for a game well played.

Cheerleader sister {with brows furrowed}-her classic look.... had to have her own sample of game day snacks! Go Miller & Gooo Mets!

superheros & princesses

We partied it up five year old style at Jack & Sophia's double birthday party. The boys were superheros and the girl's were glamorous in their perfectly princess attire. Loving Miller's proud Batman pose.  He zoomed into the party with a special Batman accent announcing his presence...ha!You can see his full confidence in his superhero power with hands on his hips. "Batman ready" is the posture he was assuming. I think the padded muscles give him an extra ego boost. The flying cape help him fully assume character. It was an unusually cool spring day, so the Halloween costume made it's second appearance.

There's birthday boy Jack. He started the day as Batman and with a flip of the cape became Superman for his special day.

Our party princess jumped from girly activity to activity. We don't own any princess dresses yet, so the tutu and crown was our best attempt at dress up. Princesses get thirsty you know. I let her try to sip her water bottle like a lady....Lady Elizabeth Katherine that is.

Bubbles and sidewalk chalk captured her princess heart.

She loved the cardboard castle. Every princess needs a castle.

Miller was jumping away in superhero bliss for most of the party while I shadowed the little miss. Miller doesn't need me as much these days at events like these until lunchtime. But, little sister steals all of my attention with her two year old ways. There's a reason there are books written about two year olds. I'm trying not to meet her immediate demands right away. She voices a lot of requests...That's what princesses do, right?

There's the party queen, Sophia. Five candles for these two.

Right at home in the castle waiting to let down her hair;)

Batman enjoyed playing hooky from school. Now that it's spring, he's assumed the five day a week schedule. Since, he is still in preschool,  we are a little more flexible with absences for special events like these. You can't dress up as a superhero everyday to celebrate with friends.

Tutu cute girly swinging the afternoon away. A rare mommy and me shot thanks to Miss Kristen. Happy Birthday to Sophia and Jack.

Easter Sunday

Forgive us for our little blog-cation .Disney blogging wore this momma out.Not to mention, spring has sprung our family into lots of dramatic adventures & I've been overwhelmed to be quite honest. More on that later.

Here are my two southern dah-lins all dolled up in their Easter best. Hand in hand down the stairs anxiously wondering just what hopped into their baskets is how they started the day. Landon added to the excitement by singing our favorite hymn "Christ the Lord has risen today"...the kids get a kick out of his operatic touches to the Hallelujah part. It's always a performance of some kind around here. Eliza Kate shouted, "again."

This was an after shot with all their basket hoopla spread out around the family room. They each got some pretty cool bath toys to jazz up that end of the day scrub up time. This stressed out momma gathered all their basket goodies the day before Easter. {sigh} Another, tiny detail overlooked;) But, I do have to laugh at the craziness I've put myself through planning out their goodies a month in advance in the past. These details really don't matter in the scheme of things. But, I do have fun with the details.  Having a two year old who clings to me at all hours of the day has a way of slowing this momma down. I do appreciate that girly's love for her momma!

At the cross, is where we meet up every year for our family photos. It really IS what Easter is all about. We tried to focus on the greatest gift Jesus gave us on this day. The goodies & matching clothes & egg hunts add to the festiveness of the day, but it really is about salvation and the cross. I always feel like meeting at the cross refocuses the kiddos about the real meaning of Easter.

The belt...Miller's belt caused me so much grief. I finally found just what I was looking for at a little consignment store for 3.00...sold! After searching high and low for canvas, I was relieved to check that tiny detail of my to-do list. I managed to pull off coordinating outfits with accessories (which almost didn't happen). It all hinged on finding a canvas belt for Miller man. It all came down to the night before the Easter morning deadline. That's how I've rolled these past couple of months....last minute and feeling like a frazzled mess on most weeks.  Minus the bruised shins, I can clean him up pretty nicely... sweet boy of mine.

Loving how she gazes at her big bro. I hope he learns how to protect her when he's a little older. Moments like these are precious and are rewarding. It definitely makes the hard days easier to witness such affection between this pair.

Grandmama and Poppy joined us after a wonderful Easter dinner at their house. We ate on the back porch overlooking the lake.

We tried a mommy & kids shot...{tried}

Here's the family shot with Miller pulling out a contorted curtsy. Oh yeah, he knows how to command attention.

This one just makes me laugh. They were running around the flowers. It shows how Miller keeps our Eliza Kate in stitches.

Cheek to cheek. She surely has her daddy's heart. Happy Resurrection Day! Thankful for the cross.

flashlight hunt

The traditional egg grabbing this year was replaced with a nigh time challenge. We grabbed our flashlights and baskets for a fun hunt across the street. Now that the kids are getting older, they need more of a fun game hunting for eggs to hold their interest. The Holmans hosted several families for a pre-hunt cookout. We are truly blessed by their family's friendship and how perfect that Miller has a built in playmate. We don't take these things for granted. But {sigh} both of our families have our houses on the market, so we know more than ever that the golden days of Islandora are numbered. And, they have been just that...golden.That's exactly why we are counting each day as a gift while our boys can be across the street playmates.  Can't handle the cuteness of what looks like a double date with these preschoolers.

 Grant and Miller up to their cupcake shenanigans. We have pictures of these boys riding their trikes at two. They even rode in a wagon to our neighborhood Easter egg hunt at two years old in their handsome polos. They get a kick out of seeing the beginnings of their friendship in pictures.

This girly heard cupcakes and obediently took a seat to pick out a pink one.

Here's the whole  backyard gang minus Eliza Kate and baby Harper & the Pierce fam. The Holman's have the perfect yard for gatherings like these.

The boys enjoyed this fun game of Monkey Toss while the daddy's played our game of  corn hole out front.

The eggs were numbered 1-10 and each child was assigned a number to hunt for in the dark. Since we put Eliza Kate to sleep across the street, Miller had numbers 8 and 10 to collect.

He got too excited wondering what treasures were inside the plastic. There's no rush to collect your eggs once you discover that your number will still be there waiting.

Landon & Nate quickly left the hunt laughing hysterically. I knew they had something up their sleeves.  When Nate came back, he brought his hippity hop friend. Yes, Landon hopped along to be the surprise bunny. And, all the kids ran to greet him when his white furry self. What a dad! The kids had no idea that it was Mr. Landon.

Miller finagled a headgear flashlight.

 

Carter was the basket checker to make sure the younger crowd had their correct numbers. Miller politely showed him his accuracy. These details are important when candy is involved.