I Lost My Heart to a Cartoon Character

We just watched the movie "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," which was hilarious. At least, the parts I got to see and hear around the shouts and mayhem of wrestling boys were hilarious. I plan to watch the movie on my own later to catch all the stuff I missed the first time.

Anyway, as I watched, I was immediately struck by the resemblance between these two guys:

Adam, age 2

Young Flint Lockwood, main character in CWACOM

Big, googly blue eyes. Crazy hedgehog hair. Earnest little expression. Sweet little muppet mouth. Propensity for blowing stuff up and causing huge commotions. The similarities are eerie.

I found myself wanting to snuggle Flint Lockwood, cartoon character, and give him lots of Eskimo kisses. Is that weird?

Shady Acres

I've always joked about how we keep nursing home hours here -- up at dawn, dinner at 5:oo pm, bedtime at 7:00 pm. But here is further proof that we are not so much running a household of young children as a residence for old folks:

It's 92 degrees outside. It's June. In North Carolina.

Oh, and that's not apple juice on the floor.

"Two-Two's" and Tiaras

Today was Libby's birthday party! Friends Ella, Grace, Molly, and Adah came to celebrate, eat snacks, and just be generally precious.

Each of the girls had a tutu, a tiara, and a sippy cup.


And what princess would be complete without a wand?

Party preparations were so much fun. Gangee helped a lot. So did Poppa. Here he is making tutus. Yes, really. I do have the best father-in-law in the world.

Libby could hardly wait for her friends to arrive.

Finally the party was in full swing.

We had yummy food!

"Princess Dino-Gator" put her own special twist on her outfit.

Everyone was sooooooo adorable.

So Long, Kindergarten

Andrew has had the most wonderful year in kindergarten with the most wonderful teacher. Yesterday we all (including Poppa and Gangee, in town for a visit) got to attend Andrew's kindergarten graduation. Happily, this was more of an end-of-the-year get-together in the classroom, not a ceremony with caps and gowns and all. However, the day before graduation, Andrew came home and told me he had to wear "wedding clothes" to graduation. Ha! And here I was planning on sending him in a polo and nice shorts. But he was very insistent. Fortunately he had a set of "wedding clothes" from Aunt Lindsay's wedding last summer. So Andrew went off to school wearing this:

And no sharp-dressed man is complete without a Shrek pocket watch (compliments of McDonald's):

Andrew's teacher later told me that when he arrived at school, all the girls in his class decided he was "the most handsome man they'd ever seen." I always thought those girls had good taste.

Here is Andrew with his fabulous kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Millett. I didn't cry during the class video, but I got a little misty looking at all the pictures of her shepherding Andrew's sweet little class throughout the year. What a wonderful, caring teacher Andrew was blessed with this year!


It was not a sad day. It was happy and cute and tender and funny...made even funnier when I realized that Andrew's buddy also accessorized with his best watch for this important occasion. Look at these two sporting their Happy Meal finest:

Yes, from start to finish, this was kindergarten at its best.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Libby!

Miss Libby, you're two today! What are you up to these days?


You're talking! You've started making three- and four-word sentences: "Mommy, here remote!" "Mommy, Daddy home!" "Mommy, Aba (Adam) hit me!" (Busted, Adam.)

You are riding your three-wheeled Radio Flyer scooter with surprising agility. I have a feeling that in a couple years those boys will have nothing on you. You love your little pink helmet.

You love to wipe your nose. It's not runny. You just want to wipe it. Constantly. I have to hide the baby wipes and napkins, or you would go through them all in an hour. If you had a wristwatch, I am pretty sure you'd keep a tissue in the band...

Which leads me to believe that you have inherited my "I'm really a ninety-year-old deep down" gene. Andrew has it, too. I'm sorry. You may expect a lifetime of being cold in a 75-degree house and wanting to take a lot of naps. Other than that, it's not so bad.

Instead of "Carry me" and "Hold me" you say "Carry you" and "Hold you" and reach up your arms. I heart this.

You are developing a sneaky little obsession with a green RoseArt marker. Fortunately it's washable. I don't know how you keep getting a hold of this particular marker, but this week you have used it to scribble on the walls, the fireplace, the carpet, your rocking chair, and, of course, yourself. In fact, I had to pause in my writing of this post to pry the green marker (again) out of your grasping little hand and wipe the marks off the kitchen table and chairs.

You love books! This makes Mommy sooooooo very happy. "Read! Read! Read!" you demand, waving books in our faces. If they're Sesame Street books, so much the better, in your opinion.

You finally have all your teeth...except those two-year-old molars. I have a suspicion they're lurking right below the surface because, to be honest, you've been a bit of a grouch the past week or two. And that is not at all like you!

You are super-adorable. Daddy and I can't decide if it's your sweet little face, your hysterical little personality, or your funny little outfits. (Mommy has a slight obsession with dressing you and is unashamedly going to continue to put you in the pinkest, girliest stuff I can find until you are old enough to object.)

Two years ago, we did not think you could get any sweeter than this:

We were wrong. Happy birthday, little two-year-old girl!