Happy Birthday Sydney! Mega Gymnastics Party

One of her favorite things was when the birthday girl got to sit in the middle of the parachute :)

Happy 4th Birthday my sweet and sassy Sydney!

Danielle Davis Pics

Since my 81 year old grandmother is threatening me, here are some pics :) Snow Days and Sock Hopping!

This is Miss Sydney heading out in the snow. Nan brought over Aunt Whitney's snow suit and goggles, and she insisted on wearing them!

Miss Kate enjoyed getting lots of snuggle time inside and exploring her toys

Sydney's Junior Class at preschool celebrated Valentines Day with a "Sock Hop" and she loved getting to dress up in a "swirling poodle skirt" as she called it :)

Frustration with blogspot!

Is anyone else having trouble loading pictures to blogspot????

Sydney-isms

- My mother in law said "Sydney you are so funny." Sydney said "No I'm not." "Yes you are! You are funny and beautiful." To which Sydney replied "Well, I am beautiful but I'm not funny."
- She was crying this morning when I left her school (I stay and see several kids for speech therapy so she had been playing with friends in her class). I said "What's wrong??" and she said between dramatic sobs "Kindle said I didn't have a big "S" in my name, that I have a little "s" and I told her 'Nicholas has a little "s" but I have a big "S" and she said nuh uh."
- Kate was crying and Sydney to Brent "Daddy, you can play the guitar for her, and I'll dance"
- We were watching the razorback basketball game, and Sydney announced "We don't like the white team." I said "Well, we like them as people, we just want the razorbacks to win" and she thought and paused, and finally said "I don't like the white team Momma."
- The other day at school she was upset (aka dramatically crying) and she told her teachers "Sydney Callahoun said her birthday was after Valentine's Day and mine is!"
- She spent the night with Aunt Jamie and Uncle Rodney called to check on them. Jamie said into the phone "Sydney is getting ready for bed." Rodney heard Sydney say in the background "Nuh uh, I am running around!"
- After swim lessons we called Gigi and Grandaddy to tell them thank you, and she grabbed my phone and said "Hey Gigi. I just got done with swim lessons and I did AWESOME!!!"

If y'all aren't praying for me EVERY DAY then you ought to be ashamed of yourself!! :)

Kate Emerson- 4 months!

Who wouldn't love this smile? Even at 6:15 am!

Oh my sweet baby Kate!!! I am crazy about you!!!

You are 4 months old, and LOVE to talk and laugh and grin!

(Since I print my blog into books and I need to remember these things) You love bath time, playing on a blanket in the floor, swinging, rolling over from tummy to back, and being carried around facing out. You are wearing size 1 diapers, 3 month clothes, and you are settling into a nice little daily routine. You wake up between 6:15-7:00, nap around 9:00 and 1:00 and again for a short nap late afternoon, then bedtime around 7:30. Woo hoo you are consistently sleeping 11-12 hours at night! My main concern is still your spit up issues, and we took you to a GI pediatric specialist yesterday. It is clear you have reflux, so we are changing medication and adding more rice cereal to your bottles to see if that helps. But the dr also wants you to go to Childrens Hospital to have an upper gi and ultrasound of your abdomen to rule out that anything is wrong with your spleen, liver, kidneys, etc. Of course, I am anxious to get that scheduled and over with, but I am pretty confident that everything is fine. Please keep growing and learning my sweet girl! Your official check up is next week, but yesterday you weighed 12 pounds finally! I am proud of you!!!

The future of American swimming

Sydney started Safety Before Skill swim lessons again today, and she was loving life. She called my mom on the way home and said "Hey Gigi. I just finished swim lessons and I did awesome!". The swim cap is required, and I am thankful because I don't think she could see with those crazy curls in her eyes!

These are a few of our favorite things...

We had a wonderful and relaxing weekend at home!
The girls love reading, swinging, dressing up...

being serenaded by their Daddy...

and soaking up some much needed vitamin D while available!

Invisible Mom

Lovin' some baby legs on these skinny little legs!
And lovin' some curls on Princess Sydney!

Sydney wanted to have "Scarf Thursday" last week so we sported our new Christmas scarfs to school together.

Corbin sent me this email this week, and it was such an encouragement to me as someone who at times feels "myself" fading away in the business and craziness of life. Hope you like it too.

Invisible Mother.....

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible.. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?, What's for dinner?'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!?

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe.

I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devoured - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work: 1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names. 2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. 3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit. 4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a
turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it there...'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.

The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.

To all the wonderful mothers out there!!
May God give you...
For every storm, a rainbow,
For every tear, a smile,
For every care, a promise,
And a blessing in each trial.
For every problem life sends,
A faithful friend to share,
For every sigh, a sweet song,
And an answer for each prayer.

Kate Emerson- 3 1/2 months already!

This sums Kate up- Spit up waiting to happen :)

Oh my sweet baby Kate!!! We have so much enjoyed getting to know you and watch you grow. You LOVE to talk and smile and coo. I can't believe it, but you actually are MORE verbal than Sydney was at this age, which is saying something! So I will remember, you are wearing size one diapers, 3 month clothing, and are sleeping really well, most nights from 7:30 or 8:00 til 5:00, then back down after a bottle until 7:00. The biggest challenge we have is that you are a MAJOR spit up baby. Syd calls you "Spit Up Princess" which is a title you have earned :)!
LOVE YOU SWEET BABY CAKES!!!!!!!!

Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes... These are a few of my favorite things!!!

We LOVED the 5 inches of snow we got!!!!!!!!