Just when you think you have it all together......

You get sent a little comic relief to remind you that you can't do one little thing without Him! Tuesday night, I had the house all picked up, a nice gardenia candle burning to fill the whole house (really to cover the dog smell), the kids bathed, laundry folded, dinner made, I had actually showered before 8:00 pm, and to top it all off I had make-up on! I thought I had created a little Norman Rockwell moment for Michael when he arrived home. I didn't think much about little Red running back and forth to our bedroom with a mischevious and delighted look on his face as I was bringing dinner to the table. Yes, I am a mother of three and definitely should know by now that when you see that look you investigate, but you see I was caught up in "creating" or should I say manufactoring a moment. Evidently, as the water was draining out of the tub, B was frantically trying to find anything he could get his hands on to throw overboard to take a plunge-pretty fun game for a twenty month old! As I thought about how even though I have never told him not to throw things into the tub, you could tell by his face that he knew he was disobeying, and that is exactly what made it so fun! I realized how similar are hearts really are, he and I. You see just saturday night I told Michael over dinner that it is by the grace of God that our children are alive at the end of each day. Then Sunday night, a friend and I talked about the same thing. There are so many moments something could happen; the fragility of our time here. I was recognizing then how "hands-on" God is with us every single moment of every day, but by Tuesday night, I was puffing myself up on my own pride. How easily, both B and I turn to the sin in our hearts, the only difference is he is twenty months, I am almost thirty-two; he is super cute and can be downright funny when he sins, me not so much. So, the story ends with Michael walking back to our bathroom to change. Then asking me what exactly happened at bath time grinning like the Chesire cat from ear to ear. Me confidently saying, "What are you talking about?" His response as he barely stifles laughter, "Come back here. I have to see the look on your face when you see this!" Me coming around the corner to find the above little surprise, then both of us laughing so hard our sides hurt. It is always nice when God decides to teach you a lesson and give you laughter all at the same time. And, yes that is a broom you see in there. Maybe, the house wasn't as tidy as I thought.

They love him, but....

The only downside from our trip to Maui was that somewhere during our flight to the island Bruce went from a complete Momma's boy to only wanting Daddy. I cannot believe how quickly this change happened; it was like someone just flipped a switch. My baby went from being my human barnacle to looking at me saying, "NO, DADDY!!!!!" while shaking his head back and forth in the no gesture just for extra emphasis. Sure, I am great for wiping hands, face, and bottom, but anything fun has to be with Daddy. And, as much as I love watching our kids look up and adore their daddy, I must admit that this "daddy conversion" has a double-edged sword effect on me. Although I have experienced it twice before, my heart and ego took a little larger blow this time since Bruce is the last baby and it happened so fast, no time to prepare myself.

So, I now have three little ones who are completely under the daddy spell. Whitt tells me at least a thousand trillion times (his words) a day that he misses daddy whenever Michael is away for work or play, and when Michael was away on business this week and texted a picture to my phone for the kids, I actually watched as Mae kissed the screen of my phone and said, "I love you, Daddy!" (yes, my heart did melt)

And, here's the kicker, this little spell is just going to get stronger and stronger the more years they spend with him-I know from experience. Yes, there is no doubt about it, they love him, but I really, really LOVE him!!!

Happy Birthday, love!

SHARKS, again!!!

Proud to say, my second little guy loves sharks just like his big brother and momma...Shark week is going to be three times the fun this July. And, I know there is a very proud Dupree out there as well!

Go BIG or Go Home....

seems to be Whitt's life motto.

Our beautiful blue-eyed boy turned four yesterday, and ever since day one in utero, this little man of ours has been full of surprises for us. His imagination seems limitless these days. He does everything full on, and all that enthusiasim and energy which challenges me as a parent at times is also the quality that I absolutely adore most in him. He loves others bodly with an open heart and without expectations, and to be honest, most days I pray that I see the sin in my own heart more clearly so that I can love like that. He has started to learn how to focus his energy without stifling the natural joy that seems to spring out of his every pore, and I am loving watching this growth in him. He never ceases to shock and also amaze me!

How thankful Michael and I are that God has much bigger plans than our simple minds do, and as Michael said yesterday, Happy Birthday to the best surprise of our lives!

PS-Imagination at work even in cake making...he requested a monster truck/ hot wheels cake with a track, tunnel, and a firepit! I did my best to accomodate, but cake decorating is clearly not a gift of mine. At least, he thought it was "cool," and really that is all that matters!

Sparkle and Shine...

So we got back from Maui on Saturday (more to come later on that, I promise! I haven't quite figured out how to squeeze all of the fun/ memories of it into one blog, and don't have much time right now).

And, while we were there Aunt Lauren got engaged to (as Whitt calls him) Awesome Austin!!!

To be completely honest, I wasn't sure if there was ever going to be a guy that could hold a candle to Katie's husband David (Michael's other sister). I mean my in-laws told me when Katie and David first got together at the end of college that they knew David was the perfect match for Katie all the way back in kindergarten when they first started school. They were elated when the two finally became an official item, and rightly so, David is one of those laidback guys who is easy to be with and he just so happens to be an uber-athlete (we are talking ran a marathon in three hours that had six elevation changes-crazy!). Those are some serious shoes to fill, right!?!

But, then Austin came along, and what is there not to love about this guy! He has a boxer dog named Jackson with a nub of a tail that our kids constantly chase (They chase the nub which happens to be attached to Jackson. Not sure why, but they are infatuated with the nub); he spent an hour and a half making a racing track out of sand on the beach for Whitt's cars, complete with giant tunnel and car wash; he is kind, thoughtful, hard-working, generous and all those other qualities that make up a really great guy; he is head over heels crazy for Lauren; but what I love most about him is that he makes Michael's baby sister who I feel like and claim as my own baby sister SHINE! She is truly her full beautiful self with him.

Congrats, again!

We love you, Katie, David, Lauren and Austin! miss you already!

The obsession starts early...

With all things electronic, Bruce is following in the very proud footsteps of his father although those larger footsteps are slightly annoyed that Bruce is attempting to play with his "toys."

There are also some proud grandfather footsteps with Popsie and Grandaddy.

And, we found the remote control in our toilet two days ago. Although we have found many things in our potties in the past, this is the first electronic. B was just trying to help me along in my mission to get the TV out of Michael and my bedroom.

On the homefront...

Not much blogging time, but here are a few highlights from the past two weeks...

A fairy princess birthday party for our baby girl, these pictures of our Miss Mae make me smile from the inside out. Oh, I just love all that comes with little girls, especially my little girl. Michael really captured her in these. It amazes me that she always looks so graceful even when she is bubbling over with excitement. I love it when she bubbles over!

And, of course, as a friend said to me about a year ago, "Whitt really knows how to party!" Yes, he does even if it is with twenty-five girls and it means wearing blue fairy wings! Really, it is genius. He is already getting in good with the ladies a year older than him.

Just to let you know my stud husband walked around with blue fairy wings over his suit for an hour and a half because his baby girl requested that he wear them. Now, that is a real man!

Back to the subject of Whitt, he had his first choir performance. He ANNOUNCED (all caps on announced because of the boisterous voice that came with it) that his favorite part was that he was able to see EVERYBODY from up there!!!! I am fairly certain that his response doesn't surprise any of you who know our little man. Between his energy and love of the spotlight and God-willing, we could quite possibly have a very charismatic preacher/ missionary on our hands.

Then , there is poor little B. I am trying to get my act together, and we have started Time Out. This is only after I picked up Whitt from a friend's house, and Whitt had asked his friend's mother if their baby brother hit like ours does : )

First time, not so bad. Second, definitely didn't like it! I DEFINITELY didn't like it either, especially since he only hit me because he was angry that I was leaving him which in a way is really just showing me how much he loves me, but I did pull my rambling emotions together and placed him in time out. I found Mae explaining very seriously to Bruce what time out is all about as if it was a rite of passage in this family.