Ainsley's Memorial Day Visit and Macy's and Marshall's Birthday Party!

Eighteen months old, and very talkative, Ainsley, her mom and dad, and her other grandmother, "Gigi," came to San Antonio from Houston to spend the long weekend with us and to attend Macy's and Marshall's birthday party. She learned the word "airplane" this weekend and everytime she saw one out our window, she'd say, "airplane" and point. She had been practicing the names "Macy" and "Marshall" and she had both names down really well, but "Macy" is just a little harder to say, so she said, "Marshall" hundreds of times. She pronounced it, "March-all." Saturday night, she was about to go to bed, and she was lying on the sofa on a pillow between Colleen and me. Drowsily, she'd lift her head and say, "March-all?" Then her head would go down. She'd say it again, and each time, Colleen would say, "Yes, we're going to see Marshall tomorrow," or "Yes, we're going to Marshall's birthday party tomorrow." Then she'd put her head back down, lift it again, and say, "March-all?" This went on about 20-30 times. Like all toddlers, she loves any game with repetition. Here she is saying "Marshall" about 5 times the next evening. Turn your sound all the way up....

Here she is at Macy's and Marshall's birthday party at Pump It Up yesterday afternoon. She was not happy at all. She had fallen asleep in the car and they had to wake her up. When she walked into the "party room," the music was loud, and there were tons of kids yelling, screaming and laughing. It took a long time for her to get used to it all, and finally, she decided to try out the little car, but she was clinging tightly to her baby for security! Later, she went into one of the "bouncies" with her mom and warmed up to the action and noise!


Macy and Marshall had a blast at their birthday party. Julie managed one more year to have a "joint party," since Macy's 6th birthday was May 3 and Marshall's 5th birthday is June 22. Every year, she thinks they will protest and want their own party, but so far, this has worked, and it definitely saves time and energy! They each invited all the kids in their classes, and since they are so close in age, many of them all know each other.


Macy had a "High School Musical" cupcake cake. If you look closely, you can see the cupcakes underneath. This made it easy to serve without having to cut the cake!


Marshall had "Transformer" cupcakes with "Transformer rings" on top for all the boys!

As always, Macy and Marshall had a "no gifts" birthday party, and had their friends bring some items for a worthy cause. This year, they brought swim/water toys for the Muscular Dystrophe "Camp For All" which is a cause very dear to Aunt Colleen's heart. She has been working with this group since she was in high school, and every summer, she gives a week of her time to work at the camp. They collected a ton of neat water toys which will bring smiles to lots of faces this summer.
I have to include these funny pictures of Ainsley. She had just gotten out of the bathtub, and John had brushed her wet hair straight back. Her grandmother, Carolyn, Larry and I were sitting out on the back deck, when she came out to join us. We laughed at her, and Larry said, "That's just the way I combed my hair in the sixth grade!"

Our house is eerily quiet now, and we miss our funny little girl. Ainsley, we are so glad you came for the birthday party and to bring laughs to our family! Mimi will see you in three weeks! Keep your mom and dad on their toes!

Squash Books for my Teachers

Every school year, for the past four years, I've made "squash books" for my teacher/interns. A "squash book" is what scrapbook people call a "mini-album." It's three pieces of square paper, glued together, folded a certain way, so that if you pick it up and push the top and bottom piece together, you have what looks like a little square book. It is tied together with ribbon and then opens out to reveal pictures, stickers, phrases and whatever you want. It is my way of reflecting on my teachers and my gift to them at the end of the year. Here are three of them:

I Want To Be Just Like My Cousin, Macy!

(Ainsley, age 17 months, Macy, age six)

I want to swim in the big pool, just like Macy!

I want to watch the same movies she watches!

I want to play with Mr. Potato Head, just like she does!

I want to play with a Leapster, just like she does!

I want to color, like her too---but I may use my left hand, instead of my right one!

...and I want my baby doll to sit in a chair just like her doll!!

The Blue-Eyed Wonder Boy

Marshall is almost five years old, and he just amazes me. He has become extremely inquisitive about all kinds of things and his observations about where things are and how things work are astonishing sometimes. Every Monday, I keep him all day and we usually stay at his house or run errands, or go someplace for fun. Today, he helped me wash my car since I drove to the beach this past weekend. I decided it would be fun to go to a "do-it-yourself" car wash, so he could really help. For some reason, he always likes to "help" do everything. He got pretty good with the car wash nozzle, although it almost knocked him off his feet when he pushed the nozzle for the high-powered rinse! He loved putting the dollars in the coin machine and easily kept track of how many quarters we had. His favorite phrase is "I can do it all by myself!" He helped vacuum, throw away trash, dry off the car, clean the floor mats, and became friends with the maintainance man hosing off the driveways. When I was putting the floor mat in on the driver's side, all of a sudden, Marshall's head appeared, and he began asking, "Mimi, where is the brake? Where is the gas pedal? How do you make the car go backwards? What is this for?" He began repeating everything I told him. It almost sounded like he was getting ready to take my car and go on a trip!

When we got back to his house, he wanted to play with his new hermit crab, Pitcher, and he and I built a Lincoln Log cabin for him. When I stepped out of the room, however, Marshall put the hermit crab on the back of a truck, and then got busy doing something else. The crab took this as his chance of a lifetime, and took off! Who knew they could move so fast? When I came back in the room, I said, "Where is Pitcher?" Marshall said, "I don't know." Well, we looked and looked for him in the kitchen, where we last saw him, and he was not to be found! I said, "We need a flashlight." Marshall said, "I know where there are some flashlights, Mom keeps them in a tub in the utility room." (Julie is very big on organizing things in Rubbermaid boxes and tubs.) Sure enough, we went in there, and Marshall knew just which tub, out of about 20, had the flashlights! After searching high and low for the crab luckily, about three hours later, we found him walking across the kitchen floor like he was out for a stroll!

Later in the day, we needed a vase for a flower he picked in the back yard. I began looking for a little glass to put it in, and he said, "I know where Mom keeps the vases," and he took me to the cabinet that was full of vases. He always knows where things are when I need them.

When we were in Port Aransas this weekend, it got late, and instead of going out to dinner (we were very sandy and tired), we decided to go to the grocery store and just buy a frozen pizza---but Julie and I looked at each other and said, "Did our cabin have an oven?" Neither of us could remember anything but a microwave being in there---we had spent all of about ten minutes there, just to change clothes and unpack the car. (Macy was only interested in how cute her swimsuit and cover-up looked when she was dressing!) Marshall said, "YES, it had an oven!!" We questioned him and he sounded so sure, so we bought the pizza. We got back to the cabin, and happily, there was a stove to cook our pizza in! He said, "I told you there was an oven!!"

His vocabulary increases every day also. Today, he used the word, "apparently" several times. He said, "The hermit crab is apparently in a dark damp place, because that is what they like to do." He is reading small words and can tell you what letter any word starts with. His coloring and writing are not very good yet, but he loves cutting paper and putting together pretty hard jigsaw puzzles. Today, he was playing with a bucket of little cars, about a hundred of them, and he was sorting them into catagories of "Matchbox Cars," "Hot-Wheels," "John Deere things," motorcycles, etc.

I cannot believe how fast the past five years have gone by. Only yesterday, he was a little blue-eyed baby, who loved to snuggle and be rocked to sleep. In a few months, he will be in kindergarten---and then---what will I do on Mondays?

Trip to Port Aransas for the Sand Fest

I have wonderful childhood memories of going to the coast as a child, every summer. My parents loved it there, particularly in Rockport-Fulton. In the late 60's, they eventually bought a vacation house there and had it for many years. The beach in Rockport was much prettier then, and had real sand, not the rocky stuff that hurts your feet now. When I was young, we used to always stay at Oak Shore Cabins, which have long been blown down by a hurricane. They were un-air-conditioned, and I can remember how the afternoon breeze blew through the windows off the beach. We didn't know it was hot. Everyone came in during the heat of the day and relaxed. One of my favorite memories was when my dad would take me out on the pier---the water was only about three-feet deep, and he would bait my little cane fishing pole with about a third of a shrimp. I'd throw it in, and he would praise me when I caught a little perch, I'd bring it in, and he'd take it off the hook and put it on a big string. After a couple of hours, I'd have about twenty fish and then we'd go back to the cabin to show my mother and brother. Dad would always take a picture, and he'd say, "Now, hold the string way out in front of you, so the fish will look bigger." I loved having my dad all to myself for these special times, and he made me feel like the luckiest daughter in the world. So....when Julie suggested that she and I take Macy and Marshall to the beach this past weekend---Sean had to work---I said, "Yes!" She found a great little cabin for us to stay in, and we took M&M across to Port Aransas to the Sand Fest. It was really awesome. Among other things, we played in the cold surf, caught hermit crabs, fed the seagulls tortillas, released the hermit crabs, and overall had many laughs. I am not going to blog all the events because Julie did a fantastic job on her blog. Go to http://www.seanandjuliemetcalf.blogspot.com/

The sand sculptures were awesome. This is an unfinished one!

Prayer Quilt

This is the beautiful quilt made by my church's Prayer Quilt Ministry for my friend, Mary. Our bible study class tied all the knots on it, as we each said a prayer for Mary to be healed. This photo doesn't do it justice---it really is very pretty! It reminds me of a Monet painting.

This is the label on the back of the quilt.

Ainsley, Marshall, and Sean

Daddy's Girl

Having fun in the backyard---Ainsley has only been walking about six months and walking in our very sloping backyard was a challenge for her. She had everyone laughing as she lost her balance over and over again. Macy and Marshall loved to run up and down the hilly areas, but she just couldn't keep up.

She enjoyed being outdoors at Cousin Marshall's t-ball game--of course, the game wasn't interesting, but watching all the candy other kids were eating was mind-boggling.

Ainsley does a lot of funny things, but one of the funniest is the way she runs. She throws her arms out behind her like this, as if she had a "Super-Girl" cape! This is her at church on Saturday night.Getting ready for the road trip home, back to Houston. It was a great visit, Ainsley--we will see you in three weeks!

This is Marshall in the batting cage getting ready to go up to bat for his t-ball gave. He did a great job and made several points for his team (they don't actually keep score at this age.)

Here he is, playing shortstop.

At this age (4 and 5), most of the kids have their dads with them on the field or helping in some capacity. Here is Sean taking him to bat. He also stood near him when he was out in the field.

Here is Sean, Super Dad, who helped with Marshall's baseball game, then five hours later, gave a beautiful sermon at their church, which made the family very proud.