Thursday, July 26, 2012

5 Years....Finally

The day that Taryn has been waiting literally an entire year for was finally here yesterday.
She turned FIVE!!

She came up to my room in the morning and I said "Happy birthday sweet girl!" And she said excitedly, "Finally! I'm five!!"  It cracked me up. All of her dreams could be wrapped up in this one day. That's a lot of pressure for me to pull off the best day ever!  I think we did pretty good though!


She opened her presents from us early before daddy went to work. She had asked for a razor scooter of her own b/c she always borrows her friend, London's. We found this pink one and she was thrilled that it had pink wheels.  Brecken had fun trying it out too.



We also got her some TOMS (doubling up on back-to-school stuff with birthday shopping),



what she calls "Stompers" that are really just a simple stilt and has been asking for forever (I'm not really sure where she heard of them or how she knew she wanted them),


and a Lite Brite.  I remember my sis and I playing with hers a ton growing up so I wanted to get one for Taryn. After reading the reviews on Amazon for the new style versions I just couldn't make myself get one. There wasn't a single person who had anything good to say about them now. How is it that a company managed to ruin a perfectly good toy??  So, I clicked over to EBay instead and got her a "vintage" (I have a hard time calling anything from my childhood vintage but that's how it was labeled in the search!) Lite Brite and it works just great! I see hours of quiet play in my future...



These new things kept her happily busy during the morning then we met up with friends at McDonalds for a happy meal and a little time in the germ incubator play place.  Now, I'm not normally a germa-phob mom. I embrace a little dirty time, understand the importance of being exposed to the world's germs, etc., but there is just something about that place that gets to me. Ugh. I don't even want to talk about it. Just assume she's up-to-date on her shots, view this cute picture of 5 year old bliss and lets move on...


In the afternoon Taryn and I watched a movie while the little two napped. At one point in the movie, T popped her head up off my chest and gushed out, "I love this day!" My heart melted. : )

After a small scare with some thunder (seriously, God!?! The first thunder in 2 months and it has to be when my baby girl has a pool party planned?!?), a prayer made with two little girls for the pool to stay open and lot of calling to our local pool we were able to load up! She had a blast swimming with family and friends followed by some pizza, cake and some great gifts!



Derek spent a lot of time tossing, wrestling, throwing cousins nephews and friends.















 


 I think it was a great day for her. And she was up bright and early this morning to begin trying out all her fun new stuff. She's one blessed little girl and she's got a sensitive enough heart to recognize it. She was so grateful and was full of thank-you's all day. The last 5 years have not always been the easiest (more on that later) and as my first born and most strong-willed little girl (hopefully!) she has had me on my knees praying to God for guidance daily. We've survived to 5 though, I'm so proud of who she is becoming and can't wait to see what the Lord has planned for year 5!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

These Girls

 These girls are in my heart. Like they're really, really in there. And every time I glance over and see their friendship developing I have to stop what I'm doing and watch. It's just that cute.








These are blury b/c I was across the room trying not to disturb their loving. : )

Be still my heart.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

An Evening at the Farm

We got the heads-up from the farm the other day that sweet corn was ready. We can eat that stuff by the truck-load so we grabbed some friends and headed out there. The weather was surprisingly not 1,000 degrees and the farm is always a beautiful place to explore. It was nice evening with some of our favorite people!


B could wander for hours. With her "treasures" in her hand of course.

10 months and still no teeth. Still such a sweet smile though!

Grandpa in his element.

She was much more interested in what the world had to offer off of the blanket. : )



She could have picked all night.


There were also opportunities for *ahem* educational moments.  The farm grows crops and hogs so we visited the nursery barn to check in on the baby pigs. One of the sows was in labor and had had 2 of her litter already. I think our crew got her a little unsettled so she didn't deliver any while were were in there but the girls definitely still had questions! : ) 

That's a lot of mommas waiting for their time!

Welcome to the world little guy!

Cousin Clark works on the farm with his daddy and enjoyed showing everyone the in's and out's of farm life. Here he's showing us the feed for the sows.

We left the delivering room and checked out some of the piggies that were a tad bit older.





To think those sweet little guys turn into this...



Of course after all that picking we just had to sample our home-grown corn. So a special bedtime snack of corn was in order!


Yum! Thanks Glenwood Farms!
Brecken got to try her first ear the next day and I was impressed with her dedication! No kernel left behind was her motto! 



Corn season success!