Mondays with Crosby and Jane Claire

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 4 years and 12 weeks old!!!  At 1:03 pm, Jane Claire turned 51 weeks old!!!  In one short week, seven short days, my baby girl will be ONE!!! O.N.E.  I can hardly stand it.  It seriously hurts my heart to think about it.  So I will just stop.

This week was full of events.  Spring events.  Events that should take place in nice, pleasantly warm weather.  Not in jackets and hats!!!  Where is the warm Spring weather hiding???  I sort of thought it might be warm on Wednesday.  So I put Jane Claire in the wagon and walked to the neighbors house to pick up my new toothbrush (oh how I LOVE the Sonicare...).  Blake had Crosby on his bike.  Needless to say, we didn't make it too far before Jane Claire's nose started to turn pink...

At least we got to be outdoors for a few minutes...

Which my sweet, slobbery baby girl didn't mind!

On Thursday, Crosby had his Spring Program at school.  Once again, it was tricky to find something for him to wear.  His Easter outfit is shorts/short sleeve shirt.  The weather is freezing!! So I managed to borrow a pair of seersuckerish pants, tan and navy belt and way to short white shirt for the occasion.  My poor little ragamuffin!!  Of course it doesn't really matter.  He had a good ole time up on the stage singing He is the 4th from the left...

Excuse the strange auditorium (or is it sanctuary?!?  ;-) ) lighting.   These two cousins were in an exceptional photo taking mood!

LOVE these faces...

Had to throw the littles in for a group cousin shot!  Not the greatest but it is the best one I got!

And one of the littles!  Most definitely not great!

I just love that our kiddos are being blessed by the Otter Creek School. I am so very thankful Crosby is surrounded with teachers and assistants that love him, his friends and most importantly, the Lord.  It truly is the most precious place.  Even more special that they will experience Otter Creek School with their cousins.  Such wonderful memories in the making for our children.  Oh my heart rejoices! 

We had a major event happen Thursday afternoon.  MAJOR.  Here is a little hint...

Crosby had his very first soccer practice EVER!!!  Blake even took off early for the occasion.  He could not miss our little man's first go at team sports!  Of course we have been talking it up.  But you never know how they are going to respond. Will they listen to the coach?  Will they stare up at the sky, spinning in circles?  Will they sit on the field picking a blades of grass?  It was a toss up...

I am happy to say Crosby loved his first soccer practice! He attempted everything the coach said and required no encouragement from mom to participate!  At the end of practice, he proclaimed his love for the sport!  Let's hope he feels that way in a few weeks...

For now, I would say we are off to a good start!

It helps when you have a best buddy on your team!!  These two boys should have a great time this season...

I am afraid this whole soccer mom business is going to require some major juggling!  School drop off, school pick up, carpool drop off, home to get ready for practice and then back out the door.  We may have forgotten water but at least he was clothed in proper attire!  Jane Claire may have to learn to sleep in the car on Thursdays because we are going to spend a lot of time driving around it seems!  Fun times!

Saturday mornings.  You gotta love a Saturday morning.

Especially when your baby sister likes to sleep late...

And you have the downstairs all to yourself!

Peace, quiet and Color Wonder!

And of course there are the PJs and bed head!!

This boy loves some PJs.  He asks if he can wear then all day long.  And some days, he does.  He also loves to color right now.  He is extremely intense when doing so.  Coloring is to be taken very seriously!

And to think there was a day he could hardly sit long enough to pick UP a crayon...

 Now he could (and does) sit and do this for hours!!!

Meanwhile, I got to sit and watch.  Taking him in.  Watching his facial expressions as he decided which color to use.  Watching him grip his marker, without thought, the way I taught him to a few years ago.  I got to encourage him to keep on going when the color got a little out of line.  I got to give him a big "high five" when the page was completed.  Ahhh.  My little boy.  What a sweet thing he is!

Saturday was our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt.  I am pretty sure this is the first year we have ever been able to attend the hunt.  Once again, it was freezing.  It is so bizarre to hunt eggs in cords, a sweater, coat and knit hat!!!  At least it covered the bead head!?!  ;-) The cold weather didn't stop him...

He managed to get a basket full...

Or at lease half a basket full anyway!  And you may be able to see something peeping out of the very bottom of the picture...

Crosby got a golden egg!!!  That meant a gift card to Sweet CiCi's!!!  Totally worth the 15 minutes Jane Claire and I stood in the cold watching him run!!

She definitely enjoyed watching him open his eggs...

He was kind enough to give her all of the empty ones!

"Did you eat my candy???"

Jane Claire at 51 weeks...

She is really starting to LOOK 51 weeks...

Sigh.

Mondays with Crosby and Jane Claire

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 4 years and 11 weeks old!!!  At 1:03 pm, Jane Claire turned 50 weeks old!!!  Fifty.  F.I.F.T.Y.  Sigh.  To top that off, I hit a milestone myself this week.  Talk about emotional roller coaster.  Man have I been on one.

Jane Claire is a lot like her brother.  She loves black bean quesadillias just like he did.  And still does.

She make just as big of a mess as he did.  And still does...

And she looks so cute eating them!!!  Speaking of cute.  It was my Thursday to take the kiddos too and from school on Thursday.  I decided to take all 3 kiddos to the grocery story on our way to Addy's house.  No.  I am not crazy.  It truly is easy to take all 3 than it is to take my 2.  Addy was built in Crosby entertainment and it was lovely.  See...

I LOVE these kids!!  And to see them walking into Kroger, hand in hand.  Too cute.  They could pass for twins.  Same height.  Same hair color.  Same volume!! ;-)  Same sweet spirits and adorable faces...

Same amount of silliness for sure!

Friday was the big day.  They day the calendar added one more year to my age.  My morning started with a 4 year old with a Toy Story card in hand, jumping on the bed to wish me a happy birthday.  He had a new pair of Toms for me, too.  I suppose even he was embarrassed by the gray pair I continued to wear despite a hole in the toe of the right one!! ;-)  Crosby asked me if I wanted a princess cake, a fairy cake or a ballerina cake.  I smiled and said he could decide, knowing he was envisioning a themed party at Monkey Joe's later that afternoon.  Little did I know, Blake would get off work early and walk in the door with this in hand...

A fairy cake!!!  Crosby was oh so excited about it.  I must admit, I was pretty excited about it to!  What a fun surprise from my sweet boys.

We decided to head out to the park with the kiddos for the afternoon.  Crosby was being so very sweet.  He picked this lovely flower and gave it to me.  He picked another and I put it in Jane Claire's hair...

The Woottens were free and decided to join us outdoors.  We walked along the water's edge and threw in a few rocks...

Jane Claire just observed from her seat!

Love these two.  They are bestest buds...

My little man looking through the rails of the bridge...

We headed back to our house for an impromptu dinner and cake.  Of course the kiddos were thrilled to sing Happy Birthday and blow out candles...

My little helpers.  Thankfully there was only one candle.  Thirty five may have taken a while to light AND blow out!

It was a great birthday with my little family.  The thought the boys put into the day was so appreciated. 

On Saturday morning, I snapped a (not so great) picture of Jane Claire performing one of her new tricks...

She kisses on command now!!!  It is the cutest thing ever.  It is open mouthed.  It is slobbery.  We get all wet.  But my, oh my, is it worth it!!

That afternoon, Blake had a soccer game and we attended.  I didn't take too many picture for fear of balls hitting my children in the head.  I did manage to snap this one of my little cheerleader...

Only she had her back to the field. Maybe she was cheering for the fans?!?  ;-)  Meanwhile, Crosby met another little fella who was eager to show off his DS (Nintendo??) skills.   They couldn't see the screen due to the bright sun so they came up with this idea...

The could see much better with a towel over their heads!  Silly boys!  That night we headed to dinner with my family.  So much celebrating to do!!  Fun times.  We planned on Carabas but ended up at Macaroni Grille.  We managed to snap a few pictures...

Sweet baby girl and her Pop..

Would you look at this boy?!?  Is he a mess or what...

One with my parents!  They were quick to tell me this has been the best 35 years of their life... Or did I make that part up?

I managed to stretch out my birthday celebration over the course of a week!  It is fun to be the birthday girl for a week!

Here is my sweet girl in her weekly spot.  Jane Claire at 50 weeks...

She is happy about it...

Or wait...

She just wanted to make me think she was happy...

Before she tried to make her break for it!!!

Too bad she didn't get very far!!!

Good try, Little Girl!!  Mommy may be old but she is still faster than you are.  And she can even take pictures along the way!

I am not sure what it is.  Jane Claire's approaching birthday and my birthday past, is doing me in.  35 years gone by in a blink.  Elementary school, middle school, high school, college, marriage, more college, moving, jobs, baby, baby, baby, baby.  Flown.  Maybe it is just me and I have issues to deal with.  Or maybe we all grieve life gone by too quickly.  Wishing for a moment to turn back the hands of time and savor once again the highlights along the way.  Being done with an era is a hard pill to swallow.  Knowing that I will never be Dr. B's OB patient again.  I will never have an ultrasound to find the flickering heartbeat.  I will never feel a baby move from within.  I will never walk into Baptist Hospital with swollen belly and leave with full arms.  I will never breath in my new baby scent or feel the brush of its hair on my cheek.  I was created female and given the ability to carry new life.  Though it was far different than the way I imagined it would be, it is a gift I will always treasure.  Now that my baby girl is almost one, I am left wondering if I will ever be rid of the longing to experience it just one more time.  From what others have said, I am not sure it will...