Sandy's Half Birthday!

To the most adorable little girl in "Our Little Piece of the World,"

Today is your half birthday!  That means that you are six months old!  My how the first half of the year flew by.  I love you in so many ways.

I love how you stare at me from across the room.
I love the moments we share lying in my bed, just the two of us in the middle of the day with the sun shining through the window.
I love that you have discovered how to hold your own bottle.
I love it when you fall asleep in my arms.
I love how you are curious and wanting to grab at everything.
I love that you inspire me to sew.
I love to have you model all the baby clothes that I create.
I love to take your picture.
I love all the squeaks and squeals you make.
I love to watch you roll from your back to your tummy.
I love to watch you sleep in your bed.  You look so tiny curled up in your big bed.
I love that you have an amazing big brother who loves you unconditionally.
I love it when you reach your tiny little fingers to touch my face.
I love to watch you smile at your daddy when he comes home from work.
I love how you stick out your tongue and make funny faces.
I love the sandy blonde hair on the top of your head.  It's beautiful in the sunlight.
I love your bright blue eyes.
I love all fourteen pounds of you.
I love to anticipate all the fun things we will do together as you grow.
I love how you stop crying and look up and smile at me when I begin to sing to you at night.

I could go on and on about all the ways I love you.  But most of all I just love the fact that YOU are my daughter.  Happy Half Birthday, Sandy!

                                                                                       Love,
                                                                                       Mommy

The Most Adorable Six Month Old in "Our Little Piece of the World"

The Amazing Big Brother

Scoot the Turtle

About a month ago while Matt was mowing the yard, he found a small turtle.  He came inside to tell everyone and wanted us to go outside to see it.  So Mommy, Brazos and Sandy all headed outside to see the little fella. 

When Matt had said "little" I hadn't imagined it to be as little as it actually was.  It could fit in the palm of my hand!  I made the suggestion that we keep it as a pet for Brazos, and Matt must have agreed with me because before I knew it, he dashed into the attic to pull down an empty aquarium.  We filled it with some small rocks and a lid with water.

The next day we searched on the internet what kind of turtle it could be and we discovered that it was an aquatic turtle.  So we dumped out all the tiny rocks and filled the aquarium with water and large rocks for him to crawl onto. 

I'm a name fanatic so of course I couldn't wait to name the turtle.  I tried teaching Brazos to say "Indiana" but that was a bit hard for him.  Daddy blurted out "Scoot," and Brazos shouted "Scoot" with ease, so Scoot it was.

Turtles aren't so slow you know.  Scoot can be standing on his rock sunbathing in the lights, and as soon as I walk into Brazos's room, that little turtle scurries and dives into the water as fast as he can.

We feed Scoot every night and it's pretty amazing to watch the little guy eat.  He'll swim right up to the pellets and eat them right out of your fingers.  Also, if a pellet is too big for his mouth, he'll grab it with his mouth and then push the rest of it off with his little feet, just to make the perfect little piece for him to swallow.

When we clean Scoots water every now and then, he gets the thrill of his life.  We put Scoot in a box for safe keeping {not sure how safe it is...} and Brazos shakes the box like an earthquake.  

Another thrill came from being chased by a flyswatter.  One afternoon I found Brazos standing on a stool with Scoot's aquarium top open and a little boy with a flyswatter dipped in the water and waving it around like crazy.  Never a dull moment!

About a week after we had Scoot, Daddy forgot to put Scoot's food up, so in the middle of the night Brazos decided Scoot was hungry.  The next morning I looked at Scoot's tank and thought, "Wow, Scoot must of had diarreah."  The water was green and I couldn't even see Scoot.  As I got closer I noticed a few pellets still floating in the water and lying on the floor of the aquarium.  Brazos fed Scoot the entire bottle!

I'm hoping Brazos has great memories of his childhood pet, Scoot the Turtle.  I'm thinking he will.

After a Rainy Day

So a few days after I found Brazos at the water trough, I found him here.

I guess the boy just loves water!

We had just gotten home from running errands and Brazos had seen the puddle in the driveway.  He quickly ran over to it and said, "Water!"  Then he knelt down in the mud and took a big ole' gulp - not just one, but several, time and time again.

Maybe it taste better from this puddle.

Next he discovered the joy of running through the muddy muck and letting the mud drip through his fingers.

Next he went pickin' wildflowers.

 

Here's what Sandy thought of the day:

Ewwww!

Boy...you've lost your mind!



Boring!