Love

Royanne woke up crying the other night,

so I got up and rocked her a while. I was thinking

about her as I looked down on her

peaceful face in the dim light.

I was thinking about the miracle of

babies, how we carry them and nourish them, how

we feel them move inside us.

I was thinking about the depth of

love I have for her, and I got a

little weepy and she opened her eyes and

she said, "Mommy? Sad?"

She reached up and touched my face.

What a precious girl!

Happy Birthday, Little Lamb!

Never thought I'd do a character birthday

cake! For months I'd been tearing ideas

out of magazines. But her love of ELMO came

through, and a craft store had a cake

pan, so we got it and with some red sugar, made our

own Elmo (and it looked MUCH better than

what was offered at the grocery store!)

I made the cake and all day kept finding excuses

to not ice it. I must have been chicken!

When Bruce called from work to see if I'd

done it, I said, "No, not yet..." & he

said he would. I said, "OK!"

I put Royanne down for a late nap

so she'd be asleep when he got home

to decorate.

The finished product! The nose is a piece

of orange rind. The eyes are half of a cupcake -

really frosted up big -

and then mini Oreo cookies. The mouth is chocolate

sprinkles.

I did a little pre-decorating that night,

(from the chandelier)

and she climbed up on a chair!

Normally we eat in the kitchen and the dining

room chairs are in the garage

because she is such a climber!

But I had brought in the chairs and

pulled out the table to accommodate more

people. Not such a good idea!

I can't wait for gymnastics class, or

SOMETHING!!

Royanne in her ELMO hat, showing her

bat for "FOUL BALL!"

Don't you try on your jewelry

right before bedtime?

She grabbed my glasses from when we were

reading.

Tomorrow is your birthday,

my soon to be BIG GIRL!

Royanne went home with mom after church because

I wanted her to enter the house and see the

decorations all at once, not watch me do it.

Mom called right before they got here and I went

outside and covered Annie's eyes.

I wouldn't say she was impressed, exactly,

but she did take notice of the

chandelier decorations! We had three

dozen helium balloons, Elmo table

covers, plates and hats.

She really liked the Elmo balloon, fashioned

by the traveling balloon artist that goes to

Denny's on the weekends.

Getting ready for blowing the candles, her mood was

still pretty good.

She was really impressed by the cake, but

I don't have a good picture from when she

first saw it. Maybe Craig's dad, Lin, got one, I

don't know.

Cake and ice cream!

At present opening time, her stress level

was high and she had a momentary

meltdown; over stimulation and all!

Here she was starting to be back to her

old self.

She got a lot of help from Liam and

Abby.

Another doll. She loves them so!

Puzzles, books, Wonder Colors and drawing

tablets!

Wooden puzzle alphabet book! Too cool!

CHEESE!

MY JOY!

July 4th weekend

I am a little behind on my blogging

because my computer's hard drive

had major issues and had to go

to the computer hospital.

Catch up time!

Abby and Liam came over for swimming.

I had seen these glasses at Party City and couldn't

resist, knowing they had the potential for

a cute picture of the three monkeys.

Here you'll see Liam in his pjs again.

He l-o-v-e-s pjs. He wears them everywhere!

Mimi, Abby and Liam came over after

attending the Round Rock area July 4th parade.

We went to the park and found a petting

zoo!

Royanne was so excited seeing this

squealing baby pig, the picture caught

her covering her face with glee!

She exclaimed, "I'm so exciting!"

(we're still working on -ing and -ed!)

When I held a piglet for her to pet,

it pooped on me! Worst foul

smelling stuff, ever!

These rabbits were very tame and

we all held one.
Abby had a blast.


Ever see ducklings and rabbits socializing?

Royanne really liked the rabbits.

She wasn't afraid of any of the animals.

Carrying a baby duckie.

Another rabbit goes for a cruise.

She wasn't sure what this was:

"What that, momma?"

She liked being face to face!

At Aunt Janice's she runs after them. These

chickens were lazy! She kept saying,

"Run, cock-a-doodle-do!"

Tree climber!

On this airplane ride, Annie was skeptical and

it wasn't until it started I realized she'd be the one

going backwards! Her eyes were real big.
She was holding on real tight.

Still apprehensive, but not crying!

All throughout the ride, no matter how

silly I acted- waving, jumping up and down,

she never smiled. Kaybe she was

trying not to puke?

At some point she threw up her hands like

she was on a roller coaster!

Climbing around the crevices with Mimi.

After we got home, we showered and ate.

Royanne has discovered powder and

she loves it! I tried taking a picture of

us by holding the camera far away. Didn't

turn out too bad.

Then we went back in the bedroom and

she playing in the powder more. She took a

good nap, exhausted, clean and sweet

smelling!

Swimmin' In Her Clothes!

My birthday dinner was at Craig's, Kay's & Mimi's.

Annie and Liam entertained themselves

outside, unsupervised, it seems..................

Both of them, in, with their clothes on. Liam was

wearing socks, but Royanne wore her sandles - for

who knows how long - and I have had to glue

them. I hope the glue stays!

Royanne was filling up a Longhorn hat with

water and dumping it on her own head.

I guess that was fun (?)

Wrestling over the hat. Like I said, she's

lost some of her fear of the water.

The sides are bowed, I was waiting for

them to fall over.



Water was splashing high!



Royanne showing me the card she
made me for my birthday.

She snagged my glasses.

BAA-HAA-HAA!!!

Trippin' to Ft. Worth

We went to Ft. Worth for a few days over my

birthday, and I discovered that Connor

and Kayleigh like sunglasses as much as

Annie does. I took about 20 pics

but only a few had them all looking at

the camera at the same time!

Kayleigh kept looking over her shoulder.


Water air guns in the pool were a big hit!
Connor got Bruce in the face....they shoot
real far!


Tricky.......wait til she turns her back!

Lovely ladies!

(Kayleigh and Royanne)

Annie found some old makeup of Heather's.....

I'm afraid she will have to rely on her older sisters

and her aunts for makeup tips, since I don't

use much makeup.

Hanging out on the counter.

Connor really hams it up for the camera!

Next, we went to Joe's and Janice's for

dinner and swimming. Bruce joked the

kids would have to wait an hour between

eating and swimming.

Connor learning how to feed the horses.

Horses Fancy and Zoe.

Bruce and Royanne learning how to pet

the horses.

Eyeore the donkey!

Annie got brave and touched the horse on the

nose. She was quite proud of herself!

She especially liked the "hair".

Connor, here with Sarah, was amazed at

the size of the nostrils!

Sarah and Annie in the pool. Memories of

being dunked last year?........

Dare Devil Connor!

Bruce urging her to jump.

(Update: since going to Ft. Worth, Ro has been

to the local pool several times. She's been

wearing her ring but requested to shed it and

went under the water a few times, didn't

breathe the water, and was very brave! She

has graduated to water wings! She jumps

off the side!)

Wasn't quite ready for jumping off

from this high!

Trying, trying......

Whooped on the ride home!