What? We have a 1 year old?!

A post featuring our latest Birthday Girl, Cassie Hope Morris. She's changed a lot since this.
She's a sweet, smiley girl, ever eager to get others to smile or laugh with her. Thank you Lord for little Cassie.

She loves that little bunny.

Got it in reverse order, but this was after the cake eating episode.
Serious business

That was one happy baby after her birthday cupcake.

Before it all started.

"You have how many kids? Don't you know how that happens by now?"

Yeah, we grow 'em ourselves....in our kindergarden.

Mom gave a mother-daughter tea at her house. These are some of the beauties who were there.

Easter 2010
(Yes, that's a goatee on Matt and yes, I'm blonder.)

At Mom's Cassie found Caroline's sippy cup. She would reach for it, yank her hand back and grin. Here is a series of pictures of it:

" Hmm. I wonder if I can have that sippy."

"Uncle Neil, is this yours?"

"Hello sippy!"

(Notice Caroline inching up.)

I love this one. She was "talking" to the water.

Alllllmost there

" Hey, What do you think you're doing, little girl?"

"Oh, just looking at your sippy. That's all. Not drinking from it. No way."

Easter at Mam's

Watching Daddy and big kids make chocolate cupcakes.

Swinging at the park

More Ego-busters :)

The kids and I were discussing what child was born in what year. After going through "2004, 2005, 2007, and 2009, " I added, "And I was born in 1980."
Camie exclaimed, "1980!? Wasn't that when Jesus was born? (and she was serious).
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Camie to Daddy this morning while looking at his goatee (is that how it's spelled?): "Daddy, you need to go look in the mirror. You have LOTS of fur on your chin this morning."

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Micah had on his motorcycle helmet (red bike helmet) and was riding his motorcycle (Lissy's pink bike). Camie was the policeman and pulled him over for speeding. She told me as I walked past them, "I gave him a ticket. He was going 80 miles per hour, and the speed limit was 4." I think Micah was proud that he had gotten a ticket, since his only experience with tickets gets him into fun places and earns prizes. :)

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I've told Matt that when Micah speaks, it often sounds like a literal translation from another language. Examples:
"Can I wear this on?" (can I wear this and can I put this on)

"I did that in a minute ago."

When I'm doing something: "Why you don't do that?" instead of "Why are you doing that?" (I guess that's from me saying things like, "Why don't we all go outside?" and then we do it. So when I'm DOing something, he uses DON'T.)

"What year was I born ago?"

I'm sure there'll be more soon. Age 3 is so fun. Mom always told me it was one of her favorite kid ages, and I have to agree with her.


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Oh, big accomplishment today: I organized and rearranged the girls' room. It looks really good. I need to get pics before it gets messy again. I also organized the bathroom shelves of towels, meds.etc, and added some storage bins. Next I hope to tackle mine and Matt's room, or Micah's and Cassie's. Ooo. Maybe even the downstairs closet under the stairs. Yikes. Watch out clutter, here I come.

Rose

Micah-isms

Micah dashed through the house this morning and excitedly told me, "I saw a bird outside that was red and I thought it was a PEACOCK! But then I saw it was just a redbird." I told him that another name for a redbird is a cardinal. He ran outside and yelled to Camie, "It's a carnal bird, Cam!"

We have several big stump holes full of water (as in holes Matt dug trying to get some old pine stumps out. Those things may as well be anchored in concrete. They ain't movin'.) across the driveway from the front yard. We discovered tadpoles in them the other day, and that has been the outdoor entertainment for the week. The kids take old buckets and dip the little things out, catch them, play with them, lose them in the grass (oops). Today we were all 5 out there showing Cassie the tadpoles. Micah kept catching them out of the bucket, then accidentally dropping them in the tall grass. He'd get so excited when he'd manage to catch one, yelling in my ear as he stood beside me. It would then wriggle out of his palm. Once he said, "I got one! Oh no, it dropped! Oh well. It's dead." Then off he went to snag another one. Later he was throwing a dog leash into the water and told me he was trying to catch tadpoles. I guess they were supposed to suck onto the big metal clip at the end. He was getting a little exasperated at his lack of success. Matt appropriately now calls them tattered-poles.

Matt's home from his weekend class. Goodnight.
Rose

This and That, but no pictures yet

So many things I've wanted to blog about lately, but by the time my turn comes at the computer (as in no kids at my elbows) I'm too tired and uninspired (nice rhyme) to do it. I've got lots of pictures I'd like to upload, but they take so long. Right now I'm waiting my turn for a shower and then I'm going to read McManus aloud for Matt and me. It's nice to do something together that makes us laugh. We've read pretty much all McManus's stories, but still laugh till we hurt on some of them.

My sister-in-law Jessica decided to grow a garden again this year, except this time she has THREE of them. She started her plants from seed indoors and is being overrun with tomato plants. We've inherited 12 of them, for which Matt made a beautiful bed this afternoon beside the house. I commented that at one point I came outside and he had the holes dug (and each of the three kids in their own like little plants; our own "kindergarten".) and after I finished cooking supper I came back out and he was spreading mulch around a perfect looking garden. Looked like the tomato fairies had come. One moment, dirt and ugly holes, the next, thriving green plants all tucked in their bed. He's an amazing man. Just hope I can keep these plants alive. It falls to me to remember to water them everyday. Yikes.

Tuesday I played the violin at church for a senior citizen's luncheon. Ronnie Davis from church played the guitar to accompany me. It went well; glad it was a relaxed setting because I messed up some, but had fun.

Camie and I are trying a lap book for school this week. It's basically a re-folded filefolder in which you attach lots of mini-books about a topic. I think some people call this type of study a unit study. We're using a book called Officer Buckle and Gloria and are mainly doing things about saftey, as that is the basic theme of the book. But there's also things we'll do like writing simple words from the book (he, she, it, sits, etc.), a Humpty Dumpty rhyme booklet, learning our phone number and address, learning about "dog jobs" (seeing eye, police, etc.). It's been fun. Lissy and Micah are eager to be a part of it, so I'm trying to be a good Mommy and include them somewhat.

First Baptist now has a full-time youth minister, so Matt is no longer in that position. He feels like he's done with that for now, that school is his main focus for a while, but neither of us feels like he's/we're done with ministry.

Little Cassie Hope will be a year on the 19th. It's amazing to me how each baby turns a year before a full 12 months have gone by. Because surely that's the only way to explain it. She can't really be 12 months old yet, can she? Maybe 9 months? Ten at the most? I think our baby is getting robbed a few months somewhere. :) She crawls full speed so as not to miss what the big kids are doing, thinks Micah is the most hilarious kid around, pops her thumb in her mouth and lays her head on my chest almost anytime I hold her, clinches her fists and grins when Daddy comes in the room, laughs a fake little (loud) laugh when others are laughing, cruises along the sofa, and hasn't given up on the hope that maybe, just maybe, one day Mamma will let her rob and lick all the raw potatoes from the potato bin that she wants. She is a very smiley baby, still cries very loud though when upset, and is generally happy.

Don't go to your children for complements. These conversations occured this week here:


kid: "Are you going to have another baby?"
me: "No; I don't know when the Lord will give us another baby. Why do you ask?"
kid: "Your tummy just looks like there might be a baby in it."
(Then an explanation of "baby fat" and 'don't ever say that to any another lady because it could hurt her feelings'. But I reassured them I'd rather have four sweet little kids anyday than a skinny tummy. Immediately there was a fight about something and I loudly reminded them I said SWEET kids. :)

Naming everyone's ages around the table:
kid: "Camie, 6, Micah 3, Lissy 4, Cassie, almost a year."
me: "How old do you think I am?"
kid: "80?"

me:"How old do you think Daddy is?"
kid: "10?"


Lauren and Camie were playing a game they made up the other day: "Well you're a. . . " They make up silly things that really make no sense. Mom and I were laughing till we hurt.

La: "You're a screen door with the letter 'M' on it.
Camie: Well if I'm that, then you're the United States without a President." (WHAT?!)
La: "Well, if I'm that, then you're a venus flytrap that eats peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."
And so on and on and on. :)
Well, reading time is here. Maybe soon I'll post pictures, since I won't feel it so necessary to write a post with them.
Rose