4 years ago today!

This cute little button decided to show up while I was shopping at Dillards! No, I didn't have her at Dillard's but my water broke there...alone! This is one of the rare pictures of my little baby not crying.

Then this is her at her 1 year birthday party! Her sweet "razorback" birthmark has nearly faded to nothing now.

Now she's two! I love those cubby cheeks. They have left us for now :(

These were from her 2nd birthday party. She's such a dare-devil!!

This was her at her 3rd year bday party. She's about to make some serious tie-dye!

This is her not too long ago. We will have pictures of her posted from today soon!

Funk

Let's see if I can remember how to do this! Sorry for my absence, I've been boycotting blogging for quite some time now! Just for 2 main reasons: 1. Takes too much time out of my day and time has become very precious in our household lately and 2. I feel like you need a talent or something interesting to really be a good blog and I feel I lack in both categories. I guess if absent-mindedness is a talent than I'm really good at that! Oh and let me add 3. My writing abilities are let's say below average and eventually lowers my self-esteem.

Just wanted to apologize to the 3 people that used to read my blog and hope you eventually come back to read again! I thought I would get that all off my chest before I had to blog for Lynlee's birthday which is tomorrow!

I will end with a picture of what our summer has looked like so far! Sorry back-door neighbors!

World's Best and Worst

This could turn out terrible.

I used to get nervous before middle school basketball games. The first stall in the men's restroom was MY locker. Unfortunately, my efforts in that stall never untied the knots in my stomach. My first missed shot always did.

That same feeling resides as I attempt to write about my bride, the mother of my children, and my #1 fan. If I could admit a shortcoming before continuing, I think that I could proceed with a little more freedom.

I am the world's worst giver of gifts. I put Scrooge to shame. I'm pretty sure that Lynlee quickly unwraps her gifts and throws them into her closet, fearing that I would take them back to the store if given the chance. I've definitely missed it.

Somehow, (maybe divine appointment) this world's worst giver of gifts fell upon the world's best.

I love that Sarah is such an impressive giver. I often wish the world could see the depth of her generosity. Specifically, her generosity with TIME.

I'm reminded, almost daily, of the sacrifices that she makes for Lynlee and Owen. More than that, though, I stand impressed by the generosity she shows in spite of raising two kids. What a model our kids will have! They will have no doubt that mom loves them. They will also know that the love and generosity that we show each other is not reserved for each other.

Sarah, you are amazing! I love you! Happy Mother's Day.

Pat

I'm still not so sure that you are going to get a great gift. I may have to work with Matt on that. He seems to have the market cornered.

Look who's 1!!!!

So I know I've been a real slacker lately, but I just can't seem to catch up with life so some things have to be put on the back-burner. But a statement about this occasion had to happen!

My baby (and as of now, last baby as far as 'our' plans go!) has turned 1. Man where did life go?

He is such an amazing child and I can't wait to see the man he grows into. I have not found a person that doesn't fall in love with him immediately!

He's pretty much a walker now. Within the last few weeks he's been taking 10-14 steps everywhere. He's about to show his sister who's boss also, since she still attempts to carry him around the house.

Owie, happy 1st birthday! We love you so much!

Oh and if you are wondering about a party...well I'm sort of slacking on that too. I did order a cake today! I haven't really called anybody yet to invite them, so lets hope some people besides his parents show up to watch him eat his cake! Sorry for all those moms who find that disappointing. We do make him feel special in other ways....I think :)!

Family Photos

So I know I've been gone for a LOOOOONG time, but you have to check out our family photos. Rachel did an AWESOME job! I cried when I looked at them.

Click here to go to her blog.

She actually gives me a lot of credit for the outfits which is really sweet, but we all know better than that. Kirsten had absolutely everything to do with it and I'm forever grateful to her. She's definitely got it!

Thanks so much Rachel. We think you are so talented. God bless you!

Oh Honey!

If you haven't figured it out yet Lynlee was a honey-bee and Owen was honeycomb! Last year I made Lynlee's peacock costume, so this year I made it easy on myself and ordered one from Gymboree. It was a great idea I might add! I did make Owen's costume, but it wasn't too time consuming. I just took some old khaki clothes and painted hexagons with honey on them with fabric paint.

I can't look at this picture without cracking up! Notice under that extremely large chin of Owen's is a turtle neck. We have a family joke that it's hard to wear turtle necks or collars if you don't have a neck! Point proven.

Now poor Owen can relate to me when I wear Spanx! I searched for tan clothes for about 2 months and couldn't find a shirt to save my life. So poor guy had to SQUEEZE into 3-6 month clothes. Notice the hexagon pattern is really stretched out around the tummy area and the pants are almost capris!

All the grandkids! Belle and Dru were darling cats and Jeb was a rock star. Owen loved his guitar. Side note: Jeb lived up to his costume! That booger was so hard to get in a picture even though you can't tell here!

If you look closely, you can see his "piercings." He had one on his nose and a variety on his ears. He even had a sweet tat on his arm!

The whole trick-or-treat gang! The Kennedy kids were the Wizard of Oz clan! I can't believe Erin had enough time to get the cutest outfits for all 4 of the kids since they have only been home from Africa a few weeks.

Here are Gi and Papa with their Fries' great-grandkids! We have gone to visit them before trick-or-treating for several years now.

Don't those tights just make the outfit? She had a great time with Halloween. She was a little confused because if you asked her where she was about to go, she would answer "I'm going Halloween" instead of trick-or-treating. She just thought trick-or-treat was what she said to get candy! I spent 20 minutes trying to explain it and just gave up! I need Pat's logic, but he was too busy cheering on the Hogs at the game!

The honeycomb crawling away from all the crazy people! Don't worry he didn't have any candy. Or at least not while I was around...he stayed with GiGi and G-pops while Lynlee and I went trick-or-treating!

Creativity??

Okay, I know most of you have seen the movie Big Daddy with Adam Sandler. If you are anything like me you loved when the little boy dressed himself. He was so creative and his crazy attire choices made him even more adorable. I always thought that Adam's character handled it so well and pretty much went with whatever the boy put on. Plus, I thought I would handle my children's clothing wishes in a similar manner. Then it happened to me...THIS happened to me:

I know what you are thinking. "Sarah it is not that bad. She looks adorable." And all I have to say to you is that you didn't see her in person. Her polka dot dress is size 24 months (barely hits her thighs and looks 3/4 length), her purple leggings do not match a single dot in her dress, her leggings are too short, her pink socks are rolled below her purple leggings, her shoes are glittery silver which is another color not found in her polka dot dress, her polka dot jacket totally does not match her dress, and her shiny NAVY blue head band looks so dorky and did I mention it was navy? Whew, that was a lot and who knows if I even got it all!

Is it just me or is it so much cuter when someone else's child is dressing like a crazy child?