Photo Snub Trauma & Singing in the Rain

For all those hundreds of times that Tate has wanted nothing to do with my excessive photo-taking ways, he's now officially a camera hog.  Dare to snub him with a camera in your hand, and irreversible childhood emotional trauma will linger: 

How could they??  So this is one of those posts that's going to get me in trouble one day, but I can't help it... I'm so aware of these major milestones, I have to record them!  I bought Anna Kate her very first bra last Sunday (9/20), and she carefully laid it out on the ironing board with the clothes she picked out for the next day.  I'm not really sure she needs one yet, but she was very insistent.  A couple of time she has worn a dress with thin fabric where you could detect her nipple (but it was more the fabric as frankly, Carigan was wearing the same dress and you could detect hers too).  Nonetheless, I apparently made an off-hand comment about the day coming when Anna Kate would need a bra.  Well she didn't let that one slide... She's been doing her research and informed me that we needed to go to Justice, where her informants tell her the perfect bra can be found.  I told her if we were in the area one day we would go.  Sunday we had lunch at Longhorn, right there at Lakeside Village.  So after eating, we ran over to Justice.  Not a place I ever really plan to do any shopping, but I had no idea where to go to get a training bra, thus my first Justice trip.  Sure enough, there on the back wall was a nice little assortment of training bras.  We tried one on and found the right size, and settled on a 2-pack with one white and one black bra.  Which after tax ran me nearly $25 (!!) but whatever, adolescence calls:
 

I may or may not have whispered to both YaYa and Erin Emry that Anna Kate was wearing a bra for the very first time as we helped out with a science experiment in the Wonder Room Monday morning.^ 

Tuesday I decided to let Anna Kate stay home because she had a pretty yucky cough.  Her asthma makes just a typical cough sound horrible, and even though I know she's fine, I hate to send her to school to be met with the disapproving glances of those that think she must have bronchitis or something.  But she was fine so I decided to go ahead with my morning walk around Hollingsworth.  We did the sunny side first, wanting to get it out of the way, but AK whined and lamented as if she would die of heat stroke.  Once we got into the shady part she was happy as a clam.  She started climbing trees so I had to let Tate out of his stroller.  Sweet sweet Bubby & Sis.^  I know I shouldn't acknowledge this, but Anna Kate is definitely Tate's favorite right now.  She's such a little mama, and it's obvious he gravitates towards her.  Especially when he needs comfort.  He immediately runs to her for coddling if I spank him. 

I promised Anna Kate I would take her to Crisper's as a reward for walking the lake with me in the midday heat, so we went home and showered and headed back out.  After eating we had just a little time to kill before carline, so we ducked into the Children's Museum for a bit.  We had the place to ourselves.  Rocking on the front porch.^ Tate's favorite thing to do is to open & shut the latch to that gate again and again.  Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Teacher has such an attentive student:

Thursday I had lunch with Toshia, my beloved photographer who captured ALL the sweet portraits of all my kids from the time Wesley was 6 months old!  She has some pretty significant nerve damage in her neck as the result of a fall, and had to walk away from her job.  I am devastated.  The Miss Toshia Portraits Era has come to an end.  :-(  Anytime we went to have portraits done, we called it "Going to see Miss Toshia."  The kids loved seeing her, and she is the most skilled photographer I've ever seen at interacting with kids and calming babies.  She always gets the amazing smiles.  We've missed her so much!  Toshia and I have been emailing for awhile about needing to get together for lunch, and we finally made it happen.  She got a full dose of Tate... Especially when she got to make a mad dash to the front door to retrieve him when I had no idea he had made a break for it!  We stood talking for a few minutes after standing up to leave and I thought Tate was blocked in behind me.  Apparently not.  He took the long way around.  Oh this kid... Doing his darnedest to ensure his rightful spot as my last baby!  Thanks for the save, Toshia!  We loved seeing you!!

Friday evening Wesley was at a birthday sleepover and I bribed convinced Anna Kate and Michael to take a family walk.  I get really really tired of walking it by myself at night.  My kingdom for a night time walking buddy!!  So off we went, the first time we attempted to walk all 3.1 miles around the lake together as a family since Christmas break!  Evening makes such a huge difference... Anna Kate & Carigan ran most of the time with boundless energy.  This time we walked the shady side first, just to shake it up.  We saw Emma standing in her yard and she came running across the street to see us.  So we let Tate out and let them climb trees on the shady side near the Galbraith's house.  Turns out, it would have been much smarter to save the shady side for the second half of the walk!  Because out of nowhere the skies opened up and it monsooned on us.  Thankfully there was no thunder or lightning, but a thick steady drenching rain.  It started about the time we were passing the roundabout, and I tried to make light of it. The girls and I belted out "Singing in the Rain" and they jumped and splashed and giggled the entire time we were passing the campus of Florida Southern.  Tate curled up into his stroller and Michael just kept his head down.  He was not in a singing mood.  And by the time we rounded the corner for the home stretch, neither were the girls.  We were so drenched, our fingers were puckered and the slight breeze felt like an icy wind.  We were freezing, which was such a bizarre sensation!  We don't get freezing much down here in Florida, especially in September when it's still a sweltering 90 degrees most days!  I kept Anna Kate's spirits up by telling her she was a true warrior (to which she charged down the sidewalk yelling, "I'M A WARRIOR!!!!").  But poor skinny Carigan finally succumbed to the misery and started to cry.  I made Michael push the stroller and put her on my back and told them to go on.  Riding on my back cheered her up enough that after awhile I put her down and we sprinted to catch up with Michael and Anna Kate, right as we (mercifully!) reached the parking lot.  What an adventure!!!  I can honestly only remember one other time that it has down-poured on us while walking Hollingsworth, and it was with Tony and Susan probably eight or more years ago.  Of ALL the times, it happens again the FIRST time I have my family with me in over 8 months!!  I wanted Michael to take a picture as we were walking in the deluge, but he didn't want to ruin his phone.  So he snapped one as we stood under the tailgate of the van as we were preparing to load up (below).  Lesson learned:  If you leave a granola bar on the tray of the stroller and it gets rained on, it turns into very realistic-looking chunky vomit.  SO gross!!!  

Tate started crying to take his drenched clothes off the second he got in the car.  This is how we looked when we finally made it home.  We were some wet puppies!  We put the kids in a warm bath and Michael and I took warm showers in other bathrooms.  We finally got all warm and dry!  Oh me oh my.  Two days later I got around to checking my voicemail as I do every 3 to 4 days, and I had a voicemail from Khaysy offering to come pick us up.  Ha! I texted Michael and said, "Just got a voicemail from Khaysy offering to come pick us up from waling the lake."  He replied, "Sure, tell her we're standing under the palm tree!"  Actually, I knew I could call Khaysy and she would come pick us up, but I would never to do that to her nice brand new leather interior van... It's been a few days now and our van still has a funky smell from us soaking it in rainwater as we dropped all over it riding home!

When we were all finally warm and dry, I had to make good on my promise to Anna Kate that we would make double doozies if she walked the lake with me.  So we stayed up another hour and a half baking.  The girls excitedly set up their double doozie feasting area in the living room, complete with plates, napkins, cups of milk, etc.  Poor Carigan never got to eat her double doozie that night.  She fell asleep on the sofa with Daddy around 11:30.  It was a late night!  Then Tate woke up around 4 a.m. with a fever.  I hope the rain didn't do it to him!!  He ended up staying in bed with us the rest of the night.  The next day we had planned to leave the kids with Mimi & Grandpa so Michael and I could go research the history of our house at the library, but we found out that Special Collections is closed on weekends.  We were super bummed, but I needed a snuggly day home with a sweet baby.  He ended up falling asleep on my bed while watching Pocoyo with Carigan:

Feeling sorry for his pitiful little self, I caved and gave him the Pocoyo toys I ordered for him awhile back.  He talks about Pocoyou morning noon & night.  He can say Pocoyo and Ellie and Pato and Lula.  We started pulling up Pocoyo videos on YouTube when we weren't near a TV with access to AmazonPrime (If you have AmazonPrime and a toddler, you have to check it out!).  That led to us stumbling across these YouTube videos of people showcasing Pocoyo toys.  They're Tate's favorite thing to watch. He can sit and watch a faceless stranger's hands playing with plastic Pocoyo toys all day long.  Pocoyo toys are not available in the U.S. but I ordered some online and they came from China.  Like literally, in a package from China.  I got an email when it cleared customs.  When it arrived I felt like I should save these momentous toys for Christmas, but I never really thought I'd make it... Saturday was the perfect opportunity to wrap them up and give them to him.  He was overjoyed.  He immediately took them to the front room and pulled out a play house and got to playing.  Now he loves to take Anna Kate & Carigan by the hand and drag them in there to play Pocoyo with him. It's the cutest thing ever. 

Tate was feeling better Sunday but I kept him home since 24 hours had not yet passed since he had a fever.  However this does not excuse me from not including him in a spontaneous Sunday morning photo.  Sorry, Bud!

School Days School Days

Labor Day, Walk for Winnie, & Baby Harper

We had planned to go to Tarpon Springs on Labor Day, starting with a day at the beach and ending with an amazing Greek dinner.  But the threat of rain derailed those plans, and faced with the disappointment of no spanakopita or tzatziki, only Cheesecake Factory could cheer me.  Even better, Mimi & Grandpa watched Tate so we could enjoy eating out toddler-free!  

Michael's consolation was Bass Pro Shops, his shopping happy place.  He's been eager to make a trip to Brandon since one opened there recently.  I plopped down on the leather sofa by the entrance and the girls played a whole game of checkers before we decided to attempt to hunt down Michael and Wesley.  We found them in the archery section.  Then we went to my shopping happy place... Homegoods! 

We bought lampshades for the living room, and a new rug for the girls' room.  Which means the rug took up the entire right side of the car, forcing Carigan into Tate's seat, and Anna Kate into Carigan's seat.  Carigan tapped her little feet and didn't mind a bit, but AK had a meltdown that we made her sit in Carigan's seat. 

Wesley played piano in chapel the next morning (September 8).  He played "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In" over and over and over again for over 10 minutes while classes were arriving.  He did such a great job - He never messed up once!  -BELOW- Picture Day!  9/9/15 

Saturday the 12th Carigan and I got up eaaaaaarrrrrlllly to join sweet Hadley in the Walk for Winnie at Sea World.  The walk takes place prior to the park opening, so we had to leave the house around 5:30.  My plan was to just pick Carigan up from her bed and let her sleep in the car, assuming she would perk up when we got to the park and she saw Hadley.  But kids being typically unpredictable, C did just the opposite.  Her little eyes popped open as I carried her into the bathroom before putting her in the car, and immediately as she sat on the potty, she was talking my ear off. She was so excited about our "middle of the night" adventure.  She just chatted away the entire drive to Orlando, and marveled at watching the skyline slowly turning lighter.  It was still pretty dark when we arrived at Sea World.  But as soon as we got inside the park and found (a very awake, very bubbly Hadley), Carigan crawled back inside the stroller and would hardly look up.  That's when the lack of sleep officially kicked in, just in time for the walk.  She was a grumpus and refused to interact with Hadley at all until she finally started to perk up again near the end of the walk.

Finally emerging from her grumpy state enough to disembark the stroller!  Hadley was sweet and excited the whole way, and never really acknowledged Carigan's grumpiness at all.  Which is absolutely the smartest thing to do to get Carigan to quit being grumpy!

Walking through Sea World brought a surprising surge of emotions for me.  Sea World was our very first Florida theme park annual pass after having kids.  Grandpa and Mimi took us to Sea World when they came for Anna Kate's 1st birthday way back in 2008, and we paid the fee to upgrade them to annual passes.  I have many memories of my little tiny #1 and #2 on those little rides... so much so that I actually teared up walking through the kiddie area!  We used to meet up with the Abrams Family there, and I remember Anna Kate taking steps holding on to our hands for the first times right outside of Shamu Stadium!  I had to go through my facebook photos and search for some oldies to post, because back then I didn't blog every single thing we ever did. What was I thinking??  Just look at those sweet little Wesley/Kendall babies!  Anna Kate walking around Shamu Stadium.^  And then of course there's my favorite blog post of all time:  Sea World hath no fury like an Anna Kate Scorned!  The Walk for Winnie raised money for Winnie Palmer Children's Hospital's world class Neonatology Center, and served as a reunion for its NICU graduates, like our very own wonder girl Hadley!  Everywhere I looked, people were wearing t-shirts proudly stating how many weeks their baby had been born at, and how little they weighed.  Like this dad wearing a shirt in honor of Hannah (below), who weighed only 1 pound, 1 ounce when she was born at 26 weeks.  And there's little Hannah herself on the hula hoop!  Just amazing.  It really does drive home the reality of "fetal" life and the absolute terror you feel when you allow yourself to acknowledge the horror of abortion practices in America.  I don't like to get political on my blog, but this isn't politics, it's people.  Little, defenseless, tiny people.  I think in the past I've allowed myself to "accept" the defeat of the Pro Life movement in this country.  As much as it pained me, I reached a point where I felt the nation had very little hope of ever ending the atrocities.  But spending this early morning with scores of funny, loving, hilarious, joyous, once-tiny people like Hadley and Hannah really renewed my passion to pray with expectation over this true holocaust taking place in America.  We can't just turn our back on these precious babies.  Thanks for letting us be a part of this special day, Deanne & Hadley!

Carigan and I stopped at Chick-fil-A for some final Mommy/Daughter time on the way home, and then we had the Rodda girls over for a playdate that afternoon.  Ila is one of Anna Kate's best friends, and it's been so fun in the past month to see Carigan and Evelyn becoming big buddies in Kindergarten.  I love families that "match" ours so closely!  The girls made a fort, made movies with the iPad, and had a big time.  Now every Rogers child has their own Rodda.  :-) 

Carigan was so proud to show Evelyn her new rug.  We had a nice, sophisticated non-plush rug in there, but ever since we got the softer rug for the front room downstairs, the girls have been begging for a super soft rug in their room.  We found this one at Homegoods and I could just hear my mom in my ear lamenting its horrid throwback to 1970s shag.  But let me just tell you that this rug feels. like. heaven.  It's paradise in a rug!  When you live in a historic house with all hardwood floors, the kids tend to complain that the floors are very... hard.  The girls play for hours on the floor in their bedroom, so we indulged them in this shagalicious splurge.  Even I can't help but stop drop & make a rug angel when I'm in there!  -BELOW- My Sunday sweeties, ready for church:

April had her precious baby Harper Kate on Sunday!  I couldn't wait to go love on her the next day!  She's absolutely beautiful with a headful of dark hair (just like Selah when she was tiny).  April looks amazing.  I can't wait for playdates with all three beautiful Clements sisters!  -BELOW- Tate hanging with Mommy in the exam room during my appointment with the dermatologist.  Tate is frighteningly adept at playing the iPad.  I heavily restrict use at home, but am outright guilty of using the iPad as a babysitter in moments such as these.  I've relied on it frequently while helping paint, etc. on the set for Mary Poppins a couple days a week at LCS.  It never fails that kids walk by, look down and exclaim, "The baby's playing Minecraft!"  Why yes... yes he is.  Welcome to 2015.

They are building this building right next to Grace Manor on Lime, one block behind our house.  I assume it's an addition for Grace Manor, but I'm not sure.  There are not any signs posted stating what it's going to be.  But I pass this every time I leave the house and I have watched men repelling down that turret (roof workers are all in harnesses, thank goodness!) framing it up.  I decided to be camera-read with my phone the next time I drove by so I could photo-document.  I'm such a sentimental history nerd that it has definitely occurred to me that one day I will tell my grandkids that I remember them building that building, and that I remember it was just an empty lot when we moved into our house waaaaaaaay back in 2014.  So now I can show them.  :-)

Michael is in the process of hiring several additional faculty members, so he's been gone several evenings over the past few weeks attending the candidate socials as part of their interview process.  Which has left me flying solo on quite a few school nights.  This is what happens when you try to get them settled down for bed and you are greatly outnumbered.  "Look, Mom, we're having a bullfight!"  Somehow this is not what I had in mind when I said to start winding down for bed.  And as my dad always said in such rough-housing moments throughout my childhood, "Someone's gonna end up crying!"  Yep.  The bull got a horn.  Or at least a giant bump on the noggin.  I hope the matador is happy.