From Texas

The Mullins’ came in town this week, and Helen Grace was so excited to see THOMAS! “From Texas!” (Btw, trying to teach a three year old about cities, states, and countries is REALLY hard.) We really squeezed in the quality time while they were here. We met the Mullins and Egners for dinner at Avellinos on Tuesday night and then ate dinner with the Mullins and Browns at Windy City Cafe on Wednesday night. The kiddos were really well behaved, but we knew it was time to go when they started running circles around our table!

Gabriella, Thomas, HG, and Isaiah HG loves to hold Gabriella’s hand She didn’t know I took this pic of her, but the girl is all smiles (most of the time).

Seafood Junction Cowboy

Tonight was yet another example of you just don’t know what you’re going to get when you go to Seafood Junction in Byhalia on Thursday nights. There was an authentic COWBOY there tonight- hat, vest, chaps, boots with spurs, leather cuffs, gun in his holster (I am betting it was real)- the whole nine yards. Helen Grace kept pretending to circle a lasso and yelling, “Yeehaw, partner!” The best part was that the cowboy was sitting against the wall and playing a harmonica. Helen Grace was enthralled, and of course, when the girl hears music, she’s gotta dance!

My dad was gracious enough to take her over to “dance” several times throughout our meal. At one point, one of the other local characters came up and sat with the cowboy on the bench. The other guy asked the cowboy which songs HG liked. The cowboy responded "She ain't too particular."

In the clip below, I love how she says, “Dance with me, Granddaddy!”

Toohig Tidbits

Lunching ladies: HG and Jane Roman sharing laughs over chicken nuggets

Auntie Emmy came to spend the weekend with us. Of course, we had to go to Gracie Bleu!

Who would have thought that our little girl could have slept through a Chick-fil-A visit?! She hadn’t had much of a nap, so she fell asleep on the way there. I brought her inside asleep, she slept on my lap all of dinner, I put her back in the car, and I was able to carry her upstairs and get her into bed without her waking up. Unbelievable!

Our sweet little almost-birthday-twinkie (her bday is May 26), Finley, turned ONE recently! Callum and HG had a blast playing in the backyard with all their buddies and thought it was HILARIOUS to “snore” in the hammock!

Cool in the Pool

We spent Memorial Day (and actually part of Sunday too) in the Browns’ pool (Nini and Teddy to HG). It was a very nice way to recover from the craziness of the past week, especially when it was too hot to do anything but stand in the cool water.

Helen Grace was a little hesitant of the pool yesterday and mostly stayed on the steps, refusing her life jacket, but was jumping to us off the side by the end of Sunday. She and I were standing on the steps near the end of the day, and she was hanging from the hand rail and slipped off. I was right there to grab her up, but her face did go under water. She didn’t panic, kept her mouth closed and held her breath, and got her feet under her. Afterward when she realized what happened, she panicked a little bit, but we all encouraged her that she responded well. As the day wore on, her confidence grew, along with her war story of survival, and she started telling people that she even held her nose as she went under. If only she had Pinocchio's nose to tell the true story! :)

Needless to say, today she was even more brave. She sat on the steps with Isaiah for a while, and all it took was Isaiah pointing at the boat in the deep end to make her want to ride in it. And that was that. She spent most of the rest of the day being pulled and pushed around the pool in that thing by any willing family member- Daddy, CB, Emmy, Teddy, etc. Later in the day, after taking a nap and shedding her swim suit, she took another dip in her swim diaper, gave corn hole a try, and fished for a big one (no luck, unfortunately).

A big time was had by all!

Soaking in the sun with Isaiah Uncle CB and Daddy pulling her around Grandma, HG, CB, Teddy, Emmy, Peg Cheesing with Emmy Nearing 6:30 p.m. on Monday…how am I ever going to get her out? Patiently waiting for the big one  

Also, this morning, she started asking me to “drive her to Spiffer’s house” waaaayyy before Spiffer was actually awake, but by 9:30 a.m., we were on our way to Granddaddy and Spiffer’s house to play for a bit before heading to the pool. HG had asked me earlier if I was going to work today, and I explained that I wasn’t going in because it was a holiday. Well, when we got to GD and S’s, she turned to me and said, “Don’t you have to go to work today, Mama? Go. Bye bye.” What?! Like, ‘Don’t let the door hit ya’! Wow. So I went to get gas and walked around a store for a while to let them have some time to play. I guess the mommy magic wore off after a long weekend?? The good news is that when I got back, she was happy to see me and ready for the pool. Although it totally threw me off guard at first, I am very grateful she wanted some one on one time with her grandparents!

A WILD Third Birthday

We celebrated Helen Grace’s third birthday with friends and family at the zoo on Saturday morning. What an obvious choice of location, right? Our girl loves the zoo! The temps spiked into the mid-90s this weekend, so we were glad to have chosen the early party slot at 9 a.m., although that was EARLY to get to the zoo and ready to entertain. We loved the air conditioned Jungle Room though, and our party hostess made the load-in so easy. We colored, ate Chick-n-Minis and fruit, and cut the cake- without blowing out candles or singing Happy Birthday, per the birthday girl’s request. Around 10:15, we headed over to the Once Upon a Farm exhibit and had a blast petting and feeding the goats, pigs, donkeys, and sheep. I think the kids and grown ups alike enjoyed the farm experience. There were lots of squeals and laughter and running, although we doled out a ton of hand sanitizer afterward.

Everyone went their separate ways after the farm, but our cousins stayed to explore the zoo. Helen Grace specifically requested- in this order- a rainbow sucker (which she licked about five times and then handed to me), a visit to see the dinosaurs, ‘nilla Dippin’ Dots, a romp on the playground (of course), and trip to see the birds and the giraffes. We let her plan her day, and although the temps continued to rise, we had a lot of fun. She could have stayed for hours more, but we finally got her to the car around 1:30. She obviously conked out on the car ride home after such a WILD, friend- and fun-filled day!

Happy birthday to our precious little miracle, Helen Grace, and thanks to our family and friends for celebrating with us!

Ready to party! Helen Grace was basically attached to Grace Ann. Spiffer getting in a squeeze Hayes, Hanley, Cam, Hastings, Aunt GloriaGranddaddy caught her fixing herself a plate of Goldfish and sitting down at a table, so he swooped in with a plate of fruit and chicken and helped her get some breakfast in her tummy. The Mattice girls:  Daily, Frankie, Remle John, Hayley, Will, and Davis Hudson Gabriella Mullins, Lawson and Melissa Eldred, Haney Harris, and Sarah and Isaiah Egner The Englands:  Taylor, Griffin, and Robbye Courtlyn and Rachel Anglin, Mariella Shumaker and HG She wanted to cut the cake all by herself. This knife was given to HG by Rebecca on her first birthday, and we’ll use it for every birthday and then on her wedding day. Sniff, sniff. She LOVED this piece with her name on it and pretty much ate it clean! John caught a sweet moment. She just stopped me for a hug.ANIMALS!  All the grown ups in the shade- the heat was getting tough! Peggy, Spiffer, Mama, HG, GrandmaThe worn out birthday girl needed a piggy back ride. A little juice break after the Farm. No smiles allowed. And she had to have one last piece of cake before we left the Jungle Room. Courtlyn talked her into riding the boat ride in a nanosecond flat. Wish we had had her with us on Halloween!Sleeping Beauty wanted to hold hands too. We had to take our stuff out to the car after the party but were planning on going right back into the zoo. Helen Grace didn’t get the memo though and thought we were leaving. She was NOT happy and wanted to go back in ASAP.     After her party, her first request was to get a rainbow sucker and to see the dinosaurs, so off we went! I made the comment that it was so hot that I might let the dinosaur spit water at me this time, so in the bottom right pic, she’s pushing me into the wet zone and cackling! {For comparison sake, here’s one in the same place on her second birthday.}Pretending to be a monster Two of the Graces…GG was there with us in spirit. Little girl cousins:  Hastings, Hayes, HG, Grace Ann Big girl cousins with the little girls

Thank goodness for Granddaddy. He captured video of everyone during the party and even HG standing in the corner afterward shoving cake in her face. Too funny!