6

Six years ago today we were blessed with our sweet little Towns. I'm always wondering where the time has gone, today especially. She can laugh her way out of anything, she can talk us all silly, and she's got the biggest heart of any six year old I know. If anyone is upset about something, she's the one who's going to get a sheet of paper and a crayon and make sure they know just how much she loves them. Her favorite places are church, school, Hobby Lobby, the park, Point Mallard, and the beach. She loves to use her creativity, ride her bike, tumble, play hard, and eat lots of chocolate. She's extremely interested in what it means to ask Jesus into your heart. We've had lots of talks about it lately which is precious time for the two of us. She still tells me I'm her best friend, but deep down I know she's just being kind. Bethany has her heart, and I can't say that I blame her. Since she's got a field trip this morning, we pretended that yesterday was her birthday at school. We took a cookie cake to share with the class, and when it was time for them to sing to her she got the giggles...

Mrs. Lindsay and the (almost) birthday girl...
Mom's turn...
You can sort of see the hint of embarrassment - that's something I'm not ready for with a six year old!
She got six birthday spankings (plus one to grow on) which is a class tradition...
We topped it off with a picnic at the park with friends...
The best part? Today's her real birthday and we have a full day of celebrating ahead of us!
I'm thankful for so much, but being her mom is at the top of the list.
Happy 6th birthday, Townsy! We love you!!

Little Miss JV

You're looking at the newest JV cheerleader for D High...

Little Miss JV worked so hard, and it definitely paid off!
We're so proud of you, Bethany!!

I'll forever argue that these try out days are much harder on us adults than it is the cheerleaders. Waiting is the hardest part. The girls were already asking when try outs would be over this morning on the way to school...
{Side note: Cate carries around that Halloween decoration that's long since lots its head everywhere she goes. It has its hand up in the air which is the perfect height for her to hold and pretend like it's her baby walking beside her. I can't tell you how many times I've had to explain the headless skeleton when we're out and about.}

I knew it was going to be a long afternoon of more waiting, so I pulled out the big guns. Three dozen hard boiled eggs and neon food coloring...
They had a blast and only half the kitchen is semi-permanently dyed gorgeous shades of neon...
It's always a messy activity, but the fun far outweighs the clean up! Towns had to dress up an egg to take to school tomorrow for Show and Tell. We tossed around a few ideas before coming up with goldie...
Have you ever tried to figure out how to make an egg stand up? It's not easy. That's when the goldfish idea came into play!

We finished up right about the time B's mom and the boys rolled into town. Bring down the lights and cue the music, because when all of our kids get together it's party time. :) They played hard until it was time to go to the high school for more sitting and waiting. The minutes seem like hours when you're sitting in the parking lot staring at the gym door she'll run out of to tell us the news. We were oh so excited when she came out with a grin from ear to ear. We knew she had good news to report! And she had a fan club waiting to congratulate her...
I've said it once and I'll say it again...
Way to go, Bebby! We love you!!

Happy Easter weekend!

That's a Wrap!

Spring Break has officially wrapped. Play time is over, and now it's back to life, back to reality (as the song says). We had a nice week filled with lots of down time and game playing. With J in Orlando on business and Bethany at the beach, the girls and I had mucho quality time together. We played Zingo until we couldn't see straight. If you've never played it, you must. It's Bingo with a zing, or at least that's the way it's advertised. We also filled our time with plenty of rounds of Old Maid and Memory. Fun times! Friday morning I had to take my car to get serviced in Huntsville. This was less than a desirable outing according to my little princesses, but when I told them we'd spend the afternoon with Chuck E. Cheese they surely didn't mind cooperating. I'm not sure why, other than the fact that the girls love it, that I tend to think that going to Chuck E. Cheese is an inexpensive way to spend an afternoon. I'm quickly reminded once we get there and buy tokens that it's not. Prime example...

It took two hours and over $20 in tokens to earn enough tickets for Fun Dip and temporary tattoos...Tattoos that we had to put on in the bathroom before we left, mind you. As long as this is they only type of body art they ever have, I can handle it.

Saturday morning we went to a birthday party for one of Cate's friends. Buggy took to this car and put at least ten miles on it while we were there...
Her knees would barely fit under the steering wheel, but that didn't stop her. Then it was time to Mallard Farms to set up for our church's big Easter festivities that would take place the next day. The Stephensons are always so generous to offer their farm as a gorgeous backdrop. To say that their place is amazing is an understatement. When we got there, the girls wasted no time making friends with the 'mini horse' as they called it...
Also known as a pony! :)

My friend Amanda came to help, and while we were busy the kids had free reign to rip and romp and do just as they pleased. They had a ball. I'm convinced that if we ever lived on a farm they'd never leave home. Hmm, maybe we should look into that.
Towns, Parker and Cate found a few props which warranted a picture...
Just after that, Cate dropped the ceramic cat and his leg was amputated. She was certain a band-aid would fix it, but I was far more certain it would need super glue. It never fails...we leave our mark wherever we go!

It took several hours Saturday afternoon and a few more Sunday morning, but things came together nicely and we were ready for the crowd...
We kicked off the celebration with a picnic lunch. Food just tastes better when you're sitting on a picnic blanket in the sun, no doubt about it...
That was right about the time J and Bebby showed up, which was the first time we'd seen them in days. It's safe to say we made a scene. I had someone tell me that they loved how we were so excited to see each other. I had to confess that it wasn't because that was our usual greeting, but that it's because we'd been separated for far too long! After lunch, the first thing on the agenda was decorating and scarfing down sugar cookies...
I volunteered to bring the cookies. We originally talked about ordering them from a bakery, but since we were on a budget yours truly thought it would be far more thrifty to buy the bake-and-break kind to bake. After baking 29 dozen of them, I'm perfectly fine with never seeing or smelling another sugar cookie as long as I live!
These two didn't mind it, though...
Bethany had been asked to man the bubble table, and what a fine job she did...
If you ever need a professional bubble blower, she's your girl!
Cate had a blast chasing the bubbles around trying to pop them...
And apparently, you have to get your mouth just the right way when you're trying to catch them...

One thing is a given - there's never a shortage of things to do at Mallard Farms...
Like riding the horse train!
And giving the inflatables a run for their money...
Leave it to J to find a way to throw Towns over the top to make her bounce oh so high when she landed inside the obstacle course...
I was worried that it might start a trend, but thankfully no one else saw their horse playing!
The girls were having a blast, but they couldn't stay away from Bethany for too long. They were just a tad bit excited that she was finally home...
She's hands down the best big sister ever. She brought them both precious stuffed mermaids from the beach that they slept with last night and have yet to put down...
On another note, today is day one of cheer clinic with tryouts Thursday afternoon. This should be an exciting week!

Miss Sara had story time with all the children. She had such a neat way of retelling the Easter story. Why must the McClendon girls be the ones cutting up all the time? See below...
Somehow they got Parker to go along with it. He's the one with the green basket on his head. Goodness! While the little ones were occupied, B had a break from bubbles so she asked J to go with her to get a cookie. He tried to hold her hand which might have been the most embarrassing thing on the planet. I think she would have cut off her arm just to avoid holding his hand...
And I wonder why Towns and Cate were the only clowns with baskets on their heads.
There's my answer!

We couldn't end the afternoon fun without an egg hunt. After all, the name of the event was Hide and Hunt! When Miss Sara said the word, every child there took off as fast as they could in search of eggs...
Cate never has the sense of urgency that the other kids have. She took her dear, sweet time with her basket thrown over her shoulder...
And when she finally put a few eggs in her basket, she sat right down in the grass to count them...
She was perfectly fine that she only had six eggs while everyone else had baskets that were overflowing. It made no difference to her!

We rounded out the festivities by making a few goody bags which was the mission project for the day. Instead of filling the eggs our kids hunted with tons of candy and toys, we decided to spend the money on fun treats to take to a local school for children. Everyone got to fill the bags, drop in an Easter card from FBC, and pray for the child who would receive it...
It was neat to explain it to the girls and see them excited about doing something for other children. It's all a learning process! They were such troopers Saturday and Sunday. Most of the hours in the day were spent setting up, taking down and cleaning up at the farm. I found them a cool spot in the shade and gave them a Sprite to keep them happy while I finished up...

As if the Hide and Hunt wasn't enough fun for one day, the girls couldn't wait to get to the park to help Gray and Copeland celebrate their 6th birthday!
Towns played with her friends while Picaso was hard at work with the sidewalk chalk...
By the time the party was over, I had two bambinos who were ready to crash. I think we were in bed by 7 or so. But all is well because we have everyone under one roof again...
And that's just the way we like it!

Spring Break

Well, we saw Bethany off to the beach for the week on Saturday. Of course, we all miss her but there's one person in particular who hasn't taken to the idea of her spending Spring Break away from home so well...

That's the two of them before we went to drop B off at her friend Molly's house so they could head south. I won't tell you who wanted them to be twins. It's not who you think it would be, though. :) When we got to Molly's house, Towns hung on to Bebby's leg and wouldn't let go. She cried all the way home. They both spent the last few weeks begging us to buy Towns a go phone so they could text and talk to each other while they were apart. When we left B Saturday, a full 15 minutes hadn't passed before she texted me wondering how soon we could make the phone thing happen because she was missing Towns already. The two of them are so close, despite the age difference. It's so sweet! It's now Wednesday and we all agree that it feels like a month since she's been gone. By Saturday afternoon Towns was asking me how much longer Spring Break would last. She's beyond ready to get everything back to normal!

I, on the other hand, am not. I could get used to having nothing to do and nowhere to be!

You can most certainly bet that I've had to kick it into high gear to keep the girls entertained during all of our down time. I put in a phone call to my dad, and he was overly excited to help me out in that department. So for the past couple of days we've spent lots of time bouncing ourselves silly...
I took this next picture two seconds before Cate fell face first to the ground because she was so worried about making sure that huge bunny rabbit was safe...
When I picked her up she had a nose filled with dirt, a mouth full of grass, and a huge goose egg on her head. It was bound to happen eventually. Bless her heart!
We spent some quality time at the baseball field, too...
There's not much more in the world that makes me happier than watching baseball. The little ones passed the time by dancing on the bleachers and drawing pirate treasure maps on napkins...
They're such clowns...
The highlight of the game was Towns singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch without her even knowing it was coming. That's thanks to a recording of her singing it when she was 2. My dad's American Legion team was playing in the state championship game, and I desperately wanted to be there but was about 37 weeks pregnant with Cate. It wasn't really an option for us to make the trip. Naturally, my dad was disappointed but understood. The game had literally started already when I got the idea to record her singing the song and email it to the sound guy in the press box to play as a surprise after the 7th inning. The cherry on top was her saying, "I love you, Paw Paw" like it was the last four words of the song. He had no idea we'd collaborated to make it happen, but loved it. He had it put on a CD and plays it at all of his ballgames. Towns didn't know it, and it was priceless when she heard her voice over the sound system. She didn't know whether to laugh or be embarrassed, but it was too cute. The whole crowd stood up and clapped for her after it was over. And I would almost put money on the fact that my dad had a tear or two in his eyes.
We stopped by practice the next day on our way out of town where the girls got front row seats to watch the action...
With this crew there's never a shortage of good stories and belly laughs. Case in point...
My dad has used the same clip board to post line ups and such during baseball games for 22 years. That was until Norman, a JV player, punched it out of frustration during a game and broke it. He knew immediately what was coming. He thought he'd have the worst punishment known to man. No one wanted to be the one who broke that clip board. Instead, my dad made him build a coffin, dig a three ft. hole behind home plate and bury it. He had to officiate a ceremony in front of the entire JV and Varsity teams, and every Monday he has to bring flowers to put on home plate. Hysterical.
Possibly the worst punishment of all was me telling him in front of the whole team that I needed a picture of the person who laid the clip board to rest...
Can you say embarrassment?! He was such a sport about it.
Most of the players also play for American Legion in the summers so it's sort of become one big happy family. They're used to Towns and Cate riding the bus with them to games, making them sing along to "If You're Happy and You Know It" on the microphone on the bus, etc. Honestly, how many 17 and 18 year olds do you know who would so eagerly clap their hands and stomp their feet on cue just to make two little girls happy? Here they are with my girls...My dad requested that picture. He's had most of those players since they were about Towns' age. I think he's a bit sentimental, don't you? Ha!

We couldn't get away without seeing the infamous cows that live behind my dad's house (they're not his)...
It was a good idea in theory. But that big black bull was feeling territorial and let us know it. He walked right up, lowered his head, and started moving his foot as if he was about to charge the barbed wire fence. That's when we bowed out gracefully and made our way back to the house. I tend to think that wimpy fence wouldn't keep him from getting to us, and I'd rather not add "trampled by a bull" to our list of things we did during Spring Break.

We decided to stick to nicer, kinder animals that can't flatten you like a pancake. Like the Easter Bunny at the mall...
I had to laugh when I looked back at this picture. Towns is all smiles and loving life. Cate's got a temporary smile on her face, but has positioned herself so that she can bolt if need be. That's the first time she's ever agreed to a picture with a character (if you will) without J, Bethany or me right there with her. She's always been terrified of them. But she promised that this time she would be a big girl and wouldn't be scared. I'd say she halfway delivered on that promise, wouldn't you?

We're getting J ready to board a plane to Orlando on business this week. That requires making him lots of pictures and notes to hide in his suitcase, naturally. If only it was us tucked away in his suitcase instead. B tells me all the time that Disney has been her favorite vacation and is dying to go back. I say we need to capitalize on that while it lasts...right?!