Tate is addicted to tags... tags of any sort on any type of thing. He calls any tag a "lovey." And you know when he spots one because two fingers on his left hand immediately go into his mouth and he begins to make a purposeful advance. He will try out any tag, but it appears that not all tags are equal. For whatever reason, he loves the tags on the girls' matching watermelon nightgowns so much that I can't let them wear them anymore because Tate chases them screaming "My lovey! My lovey!" He usually keeps both of them stuffed in his little Dora Backpack, which by the way, goes everywhere he goes. Tate also spent a good week wearing this purple plastic key around his neck that opens Anna Kate's little Rapunzel jewelry box. He has a thing for keys right now. And Little Einsteins. Always must be watching Little Einsteins. -BELOW- Carigan was so excited about Daddy Centers that she could hardly stand it! She insisted on wearing her cowgirl boots, because that's just what you do on a special day. Even though boots aren't allowed, but Daddy was there to put her tennis shoes on before he left. This is the part of the blog where we won't mention that Michael completely forgot about Daddy Centers when Anna Kate was in Mrs. Henry's class, was a total no show, leaving AK the only daddyless child in Kindergarten. Thankfully, he remembered to show for Daddy Centers her first year of Kindergarten in Mrs. Latimer's class, and AK doesn't appear to carry the permanent scarring that I do over the incident. Michael came home with flowers and Anna Kate has never brought it up since. Just like I never bring it up. Especially not in my blog.
It may be February, but someone is still a big fan of his glow-in-the-dark Halloween pajamas!^ -BELOW- Amazon boxes... like having a spanking new toy delivered to your door on a weekly basis. Back in my day, we had to wait until Christmas to get a shiny new box. (The sweet thing is I didn't stage this. Mailman came, Carigan commandeered the box, dragged it outside with Tate on her heels and 20 minutes later they were still just chattering away snuggled together in their box).
The day before we left for the cruise it would have been a really great idea for me to be home packing, but instead I was with my whole crew at Chuck E. Cheese. Packing would have normally trumped birthday party, but this was a Varnum birthday party, and all Varnum birthdays must be observed in this house. So says Anna Kate. ;-) It was a surprise party for Isabel, and as you can see, she was really surprised! It's been a long long time since I've been to Chuck E. Cheese and I don't think Tate had any memory of it. He was intrigued by the giant rat.
The kids were off school the Monday after the cruise and we really struggled to find a free weekend to go visit Grandma at her beach condo. So we got home from the cruise Saturday morning, dropped all eight pieces of luggage on my bedroom floor, and pointed our car back to the beach. Michael was heading out of town the next day and we had to leave Wesley with Hyatt because he had a required four hour OM practice on Monday. Thanks to Khaysy for being backup mom for me! The kids got to spend the weekend at Mom's condo while Michael and I were traveling to Steve's funeral in Tennessee, so they were thrilled to be back and acted like they owned the joint. Sunday was Valentine's Day. Michael was in Gainesville. Wesley was with Hyatt. Tate wasn't feeling great so we had a Carigan & Anna Kate-run church service, where were were instructed to make valentines during "children's church." But we went to Chili's for lunch and Grandma had a giant heart that said Happy Valentine's Day. So it was all good. (This photo demonstrated Tate learning that valuable lesson: Whining is effective).^
Better yet, Aunt Cynto, Uncle Pete & Duncan arrived Sunday afternoon! They flew in from Denver for a few days to get some sunshine. I inexplicably failed to get a photo of them, but the girls were all. over. them all day Sunday and Monday. Waving up at the cuties watching me from the balcony as I returned from my walk on the beach. At sunset. On Valentine's Day. If only Michael had been there, it would have been really romantic. Carigan was very proud of making Aunt Cynto's grocery list for her:
We had to head home Monday night, but Aunt Cynto & Uncle Pete drove over to see us on Tuesday. We drove around looking at houses (daydreaming that they may retire here!) and picked up dinner from Palace Pizza. And I finally remembered to get a picture.^
Carigan has been taking dance classes at Grant me Grace Studios since January. We skipped dance last year with all the stress with the move, and I had hoped to find a studio closer to our new house. Well that worked by all of like two blocks, since the new studio is just a couple blocks closer than our old dance studio, but this one is a Christian studio and they dance to Christian music and I don't have to worry about immodest costumes or booty shaking! Anna Kate had no desire to do dance this year (cue the my-baby-is-getting-too-big tears), but Carigan is all about it. I'm usually busy corralling Tate in the lobby, but I did go snap a few pictures of Carigan dancing a few weeks ago. Notice she insisted on wearing her white tap shoes, even though she does have black shoes. She likes to switch it up.
Michael was in Gainesville and Apopka the week after the cruise, only coming home for the LCS Gala on Thursday night. Then he was in DC the next week. It was pretty brutal. I was in survival mode most of that second week. I had defrosted chicken but then we had dance and basketball on Monday and we were with Wesley at an archery tournament on Tuesday, and I teach on Wednesday nights but I really had to cook the chicken that had been in the fridge for two days. So I started cooking when we got home from school on Wednesday and we ate dinner at 4:30 so we could get to church on time. I had been rushing so hard that I stopped for one second and realized this is one of those every day moments that I never think to photograph. So here it is for posterity... my kids eating dinner, spacing out their requests for refills and texture removal just right so that it's really not worth me sitting down. I tend to eat after the kids go to bed. Which is why I'm not skinny. I blame them.^
Anna Kate and Henry had arranged (graciously informing us moms so we could chauffeur) to have lunch together at Panera after their olympics. Sherry had to head back to LCS to watch Emmy in the 5th grade olymics, so Henry got to come over for a play date. He taught Anna Kate how to knit with her toes and they taught Tate how to paint your tongue blue or green with a popsicle:
Friday was Women of Compassion and I was so desperate for a sitter that I let my mom offer to check out of her condo two days early to come to my rescue. I really really really needed some time away, even just a few hours! So thankful I got to go! I got to spend some time in worship, see most of our Guatemala crew and enjoy lunch with Christina and Gretchen. So great to see all the amazing work going on with Orphan's Heart, The Porch Light, and especially Florida Baptist Children's Homes. Such powerful ways to serve, right here in Lakeland, literally minutes away. Such a blessing to get involved. It was a Guatemala trip reunion! Melissa, me, Laura, Jeanne, Lizette, Toni, Sandee, Christina, Erica and Wendi (below). Brenda and Kristen were there too, but they left before we got a group photo. So great to be together again!
