Create a Caption

I'm certain you are the smartest and best looking readers around. And I think you are the funniest, too!
So, what would you caption this picture from the vault {1 year ago}?

Click on comments to leave your caption!

Henry's Birthday "Party" and Announcement!

Lest you think I would go and throw a huge birthday party for my four year old and then not do the same thing for my second son, I'll have you know we did have a party. But, you should also know that this is not a communist house-ocracy and things aren't always equal. And they won't always have to be. I think that's a pretty good lesson for life and high school.

So, since Henry turned 2 and doesn't quite realize the intent behind a party {other than the fact that he intended on eating some cake}, we had a family party at the beach then a special day on his birthday.

We measured his height on the back of our door {do you do that? You should! Just be sure to take the door when you move...} and he has grown 5 1/2 inches this year!

Then we met Jason for an after lunch treat at GiGi's Cupcakes. They are based out of Nashville, but just opened up a store here and are slap-your-mama good.
The cupcakes look like this

And the happy boys look like this.

Then we took off to the park to take some crackers to our favorite ducks and fish.
Henry noted that the animals were looking a little "well- fed" and decided to eat all the crackers himself.

Only one duck snubbed him for this decision.


I loved this picture so much in my head. I wanted them both to look at me and smile with postcard- worthy, angelic charm. I even tried to get Ollie to put him arm around his brother.

It was only when I saw one headed for the water that I realized I was the mommy and not the photographer.

So I put down the camera to rescue one child from the lake. {He did not make it in, but that was the last shot before he was about 2 inches from learning to swim the hard way.}

All in a day's work.

One the way back to the car, when we were all worn out and had eaten thrown all our crackers, Henry decided there is only one thing more fun than chasing ducks.

And that is chasing ducks with your brother.


** No ducks were harmed in the making of this blog post {or birthday outing for that matter}, so please save your duck love e-mail. Thank you.**

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On to the announcement!
This Wednesday, I'll be hosting a "Crazy Things" Link Party/ Blog Hop. Do you have crazy things in your car? Crazy things your kids say? Top 5 craziest outfits you've ever worn? Craziest lunch you've ever consumed in a pinch? Any crazy or fun thing goes!
Just write a post about it and link up here!

At She Speaks, I met some wonderful women in my speaker evalution group and we have stayed connected through e-mails. And we recently put 2 and 2 together that most of us blogged. So, we want to way to introduce our friends to our other friends. Won't you be friendly and play along? I feel like I'm in Mr. Rogers Neighborhood...

This Wednesday the 14th {late Tuesday night the 13th} be here to MckLinky up to some crazy fun! I'm excited!!

Happy Birthday, Henry!

Call me crazy, {this is where you yell, "CRAZY" to the computer}, but I have no idea what Henry's due date was. Do you know how most moms can say, "Well, your due date was the 20th, but you didn't get here until the 43rd" or something like that? Somewhere in the depths of my brain with the Dewey decimal system, that original date has been lost. And I feel a little bit less mother-ish.

What I do remember is that Henry was born today two years ago! He entered this world through scheduled C-section {not my original plan, but I had a few complications that mandated that} and that was so weird! We showed up at the hospital and said, "We're here to have a baby, please. Would you mind cutting this thing out of me this morning?"
It really felt odd that the whole staff said, "okay".

I was a little nervous at the major surgery and got a bit chatty in pre-op and I remember Jason laughing and telling the nurse that I am a bit talkative when I'm anxious. This was before any anesthesia, people and my poor hubs was making excuses for me. Thankfully the anesthesia portion came soon.

Besides the whole major surgery, cutting me open portion, everything went really smoothly. {I don't want people to think C-sections are easy- they are hard, too- but in a different way. A way that doesn't include sweating, pushing or labor, but the recovery is not a breeze.}

Henry kicked the ENTIRE time in my belly and that should have given us an idea about our little man. He has been on the go ever since! He's actually been two in his mind/ actions for a while now and has garnered the nickname "Captain Destructo" for his amazing super power to get anywhere he needs to be instantly and destroy whatever is in his path. But he makes up for it with cuteness.

The whole family adores this little brother. He is at the stage where everything he does is cute. Pulling the dog's tale? Cute. Coloring on the table? Tolerable and cute. Saying "I wub ooo, Mommy" after he tears apart the vacuum cleaner? Acceptable. And cute, danggit.

As much as I try not to compare my children, Henry is only himself because of what makes up his world and Ollie is a big part of that. He loves his brother- absolutely follows, mimics and wants to do everything Ollie is doing. Oh, how I pray that his big brother is a good leader.

Here's to a happy 2nd birthday and to a wonderful 3rd year, Henry!
May you continue to grow and learn more and more about this big world. You are so smart- scary smart- and I know you are learning so quickly; we're just trying to keep up.
We're enamored with you and so happy you are part of our family. Can we bottle your energy and enthusiasm? You are just a joy to be around and everyone you meet knows the same thing. You are constantly moving, always talking, always wanting to play. You are the life of the party.

And we are so glad you're here.

We love you, big guy! Happy Birthday!

Dear Beach,

Dear Beach,
You were so lovely. It's not the same since we've been apart.

Why did we have to leave you so soon? I'm sure you're missing us, too.

What with us carving out your shoreline

So focused and intent.

And tossing your waves around like we own the place.


We did have a few good times, though. We played solitaire frisbee into your wind.

And had some good laughs. Let's just remember the happy times, okay, Beach?

And let's just pretend we didn't upset your natural habitat. Who really cares about sand fleas anyway? Especially humongous ones. They don't do anything for your rep.

And that crab... well... he was hungry. And so were we.


Speaking of natural habitat, we really owe you for that dolphin show. You really outdid yourself there and secured my lasting devotion.

Dolphins Cheerleaders, Part Deux from The Other Mama on Vimeo.

But we both know that I'll never stray from our love. I know you will be there when I return with my big cooler, too fair skin and sucked in tummy.
And you know that I will always return.

Until next time.

Xoxo,

This post is linked to Things I Love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries. Go check out some other loved things- including her newest addition!

Dolphins Cheerleaders

How is it possible to be sunburned on Fall Break? I'll never understand how it ALWAYS happens to me, but- forget the burn- the best part of our little Saint George Island getaway happened today on a quick boat ride. {FYI: I really try not to mention when we/ I are/ am out of town because of the crazies that might be out there and want to steal my snuggie and who knows what else? Dust bunnies, maybe? But we have house and doggy sitters, so you wouldn't get very far, Crazies. Thank you.}

We saw about a hundred million gajillion porpoises {a.k.a. "dolphins" to anyone under 4 feet tall} on our trip in the bay.

It was amazing. Enter your own spiritual/ natural/ tree-hugging verbiage here, but it was just COOL.

This crew looked like a traveling Sea World show and included flips, out of water dives, directed nose squirts {at my SIL, Carrie} and I am pretty sure there was a choreographed high five with their fins in there.

Here's a snippet for you:
Ignore the wind, pretty please.
And my use of the word "WOW" over and over again.
That's all. Enjoy.

Dolphins Cheerleaders from The Other Mama on Vimeo.

This "dolphin" act {including jumps and spins not shown} went on for about 20 minutes until they went to their next scheduled show.

We tipped them with our applause and they all took a bow at the end {not really; only in my mind}.
I don't know what we can do tomorrow can top that, but I'm going to put in a call to the Blue Angels to see if they can come on over and put on a little show of their own. And then I'm calling Sea World to see if they were missing any animals.