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...