Glitzy Gals... and a guy

One of my family's Christmas traditions is for the girls to lunch at The Glitz. Yes, that's the actual name of the restaurant. Tacky, huh? The decor is as over-the-top as the name, but I love it! The restaurant is in the basement of a fancy (read: expensive) antique store in Woodford County, about 30 minutes south of my parents' house. The building used to be a school... it stands all by itself in the midst of a bunch of Thoroughbred farms. It's a beautiful drive and a fun girly outing!





The girls usually go at Christmas-time, but the Rogers clan unfortunately will not be making the 32-hour-round-trip trek back to Kentucky for Christmas, so we went over the Thanksgiving holiday. Michael and Andrew stayed home with the older kids, and my dad had to work. But Nathan came with us and treated us all to lunch (now that's the kind of guy you always want to bring with you!). Nathan's that chivalrous gentleman type that always springs for the check. I told him he's welcome to join Michael and me on ALL our future dates.





The Glamorous Rhodes Girls: My sister-in-law Angel, my sister Erin, my Mom, Anna Kate, and me (the only one we were missing was Abby, but The Glitz is not a great place for 2-year-olds). Anna Kate had to sleep on the seat, because The Glitz does not allow infant carriers or high chairs. I think it's their way of discouraging people from bringing their children, but it's never stopped me! I brought Wesley when he was the exact same age and he slept like an angel on the bench the entire time!





Annual Sister Pic. I told Erin she didn't look happy enough in the photo above... so here she is looking REALLY happy with Mom and Angel:





Mom, Erin, Angel, and I were all cooing at Anna Kate and making faces trying to get her smile. This is my brother's, "I don't know these scary women" face.

(below) Taking pictures in the parking lot (yes, this is the parking lot... cars pull right up to the stone wall). What a view! I truly took it for granted growing up in Kentucky. Everywhere I went I was surrounded by horse farms (even our house is surrounded by horse farms, so the view from our house is much like this), so this was just the way I thought landscapes were supposed to look. Then I went to college in Arkansas. The flat, barren part of Arkansas. Then I moved to Florida. The central, flat, swampy part of Florida. Now I have a much greater appreciation for the beauty of my "homeland."









My sister always has to have a silly pic... it's an Erin-Requirement. No matter where we are or who's in the photo, she always says, "Okay, now be silly!" Pictures taken November 20, 2007





Anna Kate being very lady-like and crossing her legs like the rest of us in the group pic. Now we're ready for Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We got to celebrate Thanksgiving in Lexington with my entire family. This is usually the only time each year that my parents get all 4 kiddos home at the same time. From top, clockwise: My sister Erin, Mom, Anna Kate, me, Michael, Grandmother, Granddaddy, Dad, my little brother Corey, my big brother Nathan, his wife Angel, Granny, and my nephew Caleb. Oh, and Wesley's hiding behind the flowers between Mom and Anna Kate.





My brother-in-law Andrew pouting because he didn't get to sit at "the big table." (below) Ernie and Gabe. (Wesley says "Ernie" for "Aunt Erin." He also says "Fluffy" for Michael's brother Jonathan. It's kind of like "Jah-fee," but it does sound like Fluffy. So the kid has an Aunt Ernie and an Uncle Fluffy).









The one thing I'm most thankful for this Thanksgiving: Anna Kate! As many of you know, this time last year I was suffering a miscarriage. I lost Anna Kate's twin, and my doctor gave Anna Kate only a 50/50 chance of surviving (since losing a baby creates an unstable environment in the uterus). My memories of last Thanksgiving are of praying fervently for this child... and here she is! THANK YOU, God, for your faithfulness!!!



Michael faking sleep with Anna Kate (he likes to fake sleep when he's holding her, because 1.) it frequently gets him out of helping me with Wes, and 2.) he's cute and he knows it! And check out those thighs on Anna Kate! Can't imagine who she got those from!





Granddaddy's required pit stop with the grandkids: Gatti Town. Wesley loves it. This was the day before Thanksgiving. Wesley waved at Granddaddy every single time we went around on the carousel and kept saying, "Yay!!!" and "Wooo-hooooooo!"





Wesley, Caleb, & Gabe hopping a ride on Abby's Jeep. Anna Kate's in the trunk. (just kidding!)





My sister making Anna Kate laugh... she really gets to cackling when she's sleepy!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Early Taste of Christmas

We're in Columbus, Georgia, visiting Michael's parents. Last night we went to Callaway Gardens and Wesley and Anna Kate both had their very first picture with Santa! Actually, it's just the first picture with Santa that I had to pay for... my dad dresses as Santa for my mom's preschool every year, and Wesley has had his picture taken with him. And while Dad's fake beard is no match for this great Santa, I've got to say that Dad's jolly "Ho! Ho! Ho!" still beats them all!

As you can see, Wesley was neither scared nor fascinated by Santa. He was mostly interested in the candy he gave him... thus Wesley's current response to any mention of Santa is, "Candy?" Every single woman and child in line behind us was calling and waving and cooing at Anna Kate to get her to look in this photo!





Taking the trolley through Callaway Garden's Festival in Lights... A Rogers Family tradition!

This is the first genuine Christmas tradition that Michael and I have established together since we got married. Wesley has done it every year of his life (including the year he was in my tummy!). Ralph always treats us to a fun night of holiday memories, and Patricia always buys us a new Christmas ornament for our tree. We decided to go early this year because we froze our tushies off last year in late December!





This is what Anna Kate did most of the ride... took a snooze in Mimi's lap. By the way, it really wasn't that cold. I think we over-compensated for last year in the bundling department!





This year was a lot of fun, because the previous two years, Wesley just sat quietly and stared at the lights until he fell asleep. This year he exclaimed over everything... he'd point and say, "Look, Mommy! A horse! Look, Mommy! Tinkerbell! Look Mommy! Flowers!" He loved it! The poor guy didn't know what snow was, though. He didn't know what to call the snowflakes when we were done passing through the other seasons. Poor deprived Florida boy!

There was a 4-year-old boy sitting behind us wearing a cowboy hat and a leather fringed vest (he refused to wear his coat). He was toting a big cowboy pistol, and upon boarding the trolley, he immediately informed his grandparents that he wanted to sit on the end so he could "shoot the bad guys." The entire hour-long ride, he saved us from every evil nutcracker, elf, and fairy. He'd go down the row shouting, "Bam! Got 'em! Bam! Bam! Bam! I got 'em all!" At the end of the ride, I said, "Thanks for keeping us safe, Cowboy!" He said, "You're welcome," like it was just another day at the office.

For those of you that remember the Easter Bunny Meltdown of '07, I was afraid we were going to have a repeat experience with the gingerbread man. He ran straight to him with open arms and did not want to leave. This picture is kind of spooky... I guess the flash on my camera lit up the face of the person in the suit. You can tell it's a woman. It makes me want to take my camera to Disney World at night and reveal the secret identity of The Mouse himself. Bet'cha Mickey's a girl.





Here the snowman is erroneously assuming that Wesley wants to see him since Wes had such love for the gingerbread man. Wesley would have nothing to do with the nutcracker or the snowman. His face here reads, "Get lost, Snowman, you're wasting my time... now where'd that Gingerbread Man go?"



Before we left for Columbus on Friday, we got a visit from Mike and Erin! They are the closest thing to family we ever had in Florida, but they left us in June of 2006. They had not seen Wesley since he was 9 1/2 months old, and they had never seen Anna Kate. They were just passing through on business Friday, but Erin promised me she'll be back with the girls (twins Rachel and Julia) in January for a real visit. Here's Erin holding Anna Kate. Wesley was not in the mood to pose. surprise, surprise. It was so great to see Mike and Erin. We miss them terribly! We still have not found another family to "adopt" us in Florida. If you'd like to move here and be our adoptive family, we're currently taking applications! Tomorrow we continue our holiday trek up I-75... on to Lexington!

My Son is a Preacher Man

Okay, so last week I put Anna Kate in the Bumbo so I could do some much-needed cleaning. I went to the laundry room to deposit some dirty clothes, and when I returned, I saw this:





My son evangelizing my baby girl! Wesley had apparently pulled my Bible out of my diaper bag and decided that the time had come for him to share the gospel with his sister! I found him plopped down in front of her, flipping through the pages, and babbling emphatically (every few words being "Bible"). I immediately sneaked off to grab my camera. Wes had no idea I was watching him.

The kid must be destined to be a preacher! Even though I know that Wesley was just imitating, I've got to say it still made my heart swell. I realized that he already recognizes that the Bible is special, and something that we treasure above all other books. He also seems to understand that whatever that book says, it's exciting and worth sharing!

On a completely different note, this is a great shot of Anna Kate's current hairdo. I realize she just looks bald in most photos, but she does in fact still have some of that thick black hair she was born with... in a nice male-pattern-balding-style patch in the back! She has such thick hair at the nape of her neck, and then it ends so abruptly that it seriously looks like I took a razor to the back of her head! But I love to kiss her on that big soft bald spot, and I do it so frequently that I doubt hair will ever be able to grow there again!



Wesley finally spotted me and my camera-wielding in that last shot. As you can see, Anna Kate was very receptive to Wesley's message. There's a tender heart there if I ever saw one! Dear Lord, keep them this close to you always!

Four Months Old!

My sweet baby girl is 4-months old today! It feels like I just did the 3-months old post yesterday... she's growing up fast! These photos were actually taken yesterday, because she had shots this morning and I just want to let her rest today.







She weighed over 13 pounds today at her appointment! I didn't commit her exact weight to memory, because I thought the nurse would write it down for me. But she just wrote down the percentages. I want to say it was 13 pounds, 10 ounces. Anna Kate is in the 50th percentile for weight, the 20th percentile for length, and the 60th percentile for head size. So she's short and has a slightly large noggin, but ooooh she's CUTE!

She's met every milestone they asked me about, except I couldn't answer whether she can roll from her tummy to her back, because I never make her lay on her tummy. She hates it! I know some doctors are big on the tummy time thing, but I never made Wesley do it either and he turned out just fine. I was honest with AK's doctor today about her lack of tummy time, and she wasn't concerned. Anna Kate's doing great, despite her lack of parental-inflicted torture!

I couldn't find a photo of Wesley the exact day he turned 4-months (I didn't have my own digital camera back then and always had to wait for Michael to bring his big fancy one home from work). But here's a photo of Wesley on December 10, 2005... only six days before he turned 4-months old.





Wesley one week before turning 4-months old. December 9, 2005. He had more hair than Anna Kate on top (AK still has a thick dark band of hair in the back), but he didn't smile quite as easily as Anna Kate does now. She's my smiley, smiley girl! She smiles at just the sound of my voice or at the sight of me walking into the room.





Sweet Rogers babies, November 11, 2007. Every day I ask Wesley, "Where's my baby boy?" He points to himself and says "Here's your baby boy!" Then I ask, "Where's my baby girl?" and he points to Anna Kate and says, "K-k-Kate's your baby girl!" I really don't even have to ask about her anymore... we've done it for so long that now Wesley immediately identifies Anna Kate as my baby girl right after he tells me he's my baby boy.

Wesley getting tired of the photo shoot.





Mommy whipping out the bribery!

We had so much fun trunk-or-treating with Wesley on Halloween, but as we drove home that night with him sitting in his carseat tearing through his candy-filled pumpkin, I realized that I was not excited about him having all that candy! When we got home, I put the pumpkin high on the top shelf of the pantry. I was afraid the out-of-reach pumpkin and its treasure trove of candy would become a daily issue, but I've got to say I'm proud of my little boy's self-control!

Every day before we leave for our stroll through the neighborhood, I let Wesley pick one piece of candy out of his pumpkin. He holds his finger up and says, "One candy, pumpkin?" Throughout the day he will hold up a finger and say, "One more candy, please?" I always say, "Yes, when Daddy comes home, you can pick a piece of candy from your pumpkin." It's amazing how this actually works. It's like a "no" in disguise as a "yes." But he accepts it. If I just said, "No, you can't have a piece of candy," he'd probably throw a fit! Some days Wesley's running for the pantry the second he hears the door knob jangle before Michael can even get through the door! But other days he's forgotten all about candy by the time Daddy gets home. And being the nurturing, attentive mother that I am, I have also taken it upon myself to gradually deplete the contents of the pumpkin via personal consumption, so as not to jeopardize my son's health. I'm just a real giver when it comes to stuff like that.

Wesley's Two-Year Portraits

Portraits taken October, 2007
(Two months late, but we were busy with Anna Kate!)