my heart melts.

beach pictures, the first try

each year every momma who treks to the beach on their family vacation has but one desire. that desire is for the perfect beach picture of their children dressed in matching smocked clothes with sunkissed skin and glowing smiles to blow up to 24x36 and hang on their wall for others to ohhh and ahhh at and wish only their children had been so cooperative. i am that momma. last year was a reminder that each time you add another one to the mix, that desire is even less attainable. it is a more difficult reach when your husband is also the photographer and has less patience than usual with the subjects because they are also his offspring. and why oh why do we wait until the end of the trip to drag miller into the sand with his super sensitive, overly stimulated eczema laden skin. it only makes the situation worse-and this year was no different . . .

notice carter is alone already. hmmm . . . because miller preceded to have a monsterous melt down that woke everyone within a 15 mile radius. seriously. 

i could eat her up!

he is trying so hard to cooperate, but just can't do it without crying-bless his heart!

sweet, and you would never know how upset he just was!

a day at the pool

honestly, we spent every day at the pool. avery was not a fan of the sand and carter was not a fan of the ocean and miller's skin was not a fan of either the longer the week went on.

pure joy!

miller loved to jump off the side. he wanted to take swim lessons so bad! he would go completely under and come back up with the biggest grin on his face, laughing.

shivering as he waits for his turn to jump off and swim around with mommy.

this was such a funny moment as carter realized that david's head felt differently than she thought it should. she just kept patting his head and then began to rub it. the next picture in the series was cuter, but did not tell the story. sorry, david! 

a picture sequence of friendship

how sweet is this!

a day at the beach

miller had trouble understanding that you cannot use your sandy hand to wipe off your face or your mouth.

whose tooshie looks like this-seriously!

this wagon caused a lot of brotherly sisterly fighting during our week as they both wanted to be the one to pull the wagon. after the first trip to and from the beach with the wagon where screaming and crying and all out tantrum throwing commenced and the tillmans questioned their decision to have a second child, we came up with the solution that one child would bring it down and the other child would pull it back up. ahhh, it is amazing how a little parental insight can make the world a better place!

does miller have a twin?

the next morning we headed back over to destin and spent some time at the beach with all the family. if you haven't been to florida this summer, the jellyfish were horrible. they were everywhere. big, nasty blobs of stinging jelly everywhere. several of us got stung by the babies, but luckily we just buried the big ones in the sand as they washed ashore. 

papa joe, carter, grammie & miller

mommy, carter & grammie watching papa joe & miller play in the waves

and, miller and ramon playing in the sand. since miller was born, everyone says he looks like his daddy. i have always thought he looked like my daddy. not that i don't want him to look like josh, but there is just no photographic evidence of such a similarity-until this week at the beach. miller must look like his daddy because he looks just like the 6 month younger twin of his cousin, ramon. seriously, when i met ramon in person the first day i was struck by how much i thought he looked like miller. then his mother emily said the same thing. as the day progressed, they were mistaken for one another. it is not just their faces, but the shape of their heads (sorry, ramon!) and length of their necks. it was crazy! so much so that when we showed everyone pictures of the reunion, they would laugh or smile at something ramon was doing in the picture and i would say " umm, that's not miller. that's ramon." and they were stunned too. this is the best picture we got of the two of them-what do you expect they are 2 & 2 1/2. now, if only miller spoke spanglish like ramon! it is too cute! josh just wanted to sit and listen to him . . . and his father say ramon & tomas. (fyi: they live in panama-like the country, not the city!) 

a much needed vacation

after several summer weddings and our just ducky trunk show for fall, we were in need of a break before the chaos of august. so, we hit the beach with our favorite family. it is becoming an annual tradition. but, this time, we also went for a mini family reunion. that is, if you call 26 people "mini". it was a reunion of josh's maternal grandmother's children (3+3), grandchildren (6+5), and great grandchildren (8).

carter & g.g. (great grandmother)

savannah & carter-the only girl cousins

miller cooperating in a family picture and . . . 

carter cooperating in a different family picture, of course!

this was our first day in destin with the reunion. we spent the entire day at the house at the beach, taking family pictures and celebrating g.g.'s birthday. more to come . . .

in the classroom

carter's class reads a Bible story every day at the end of their quiet time. at the prompting of the children, they have begun to let the children pray if they feel led to do so. carter raised her hand today and said she would like to pray. her teachers said the following prayer was spoken from her heart:

"dear God,

thank you for the makeup in the stores.

amen."

if you know my child, you know these were passionate, heartfelt words of appreciation. 

why gigi's pool?

let me tell you a little something about my children. they gravitate to grandparents like bees to honey. we have 2 sets of grandparents of our own-mine: meme & papaw and josh's: grammie & papa joe. we also have many others that we love a lot. for example, boo, belongs to this sweet girl, but we claim her as our own too. since they moved into their own home last fall, we don't get to see boo as often, but she has not left their thoughts or hearts. as fall and halloween start to fill the aisles, my children do not understand the connected phrase "boo!" if someone says it to them or we read it somewhere, they laugh and say "noooo, that not boo." or "boo is avery's grandmother." they do not comprehend. 

so, meeting amelia's grandmother was no different. before long, the heat and sun were too much for miller and his super sensitive ghostly skin. and amelia was dying to go see her gigi. emily let them both in and, after a while, the other girls went in as well. when emily went to check on miller and amelia, miller was wearing a borrowed t-shirt (because he was cold) and sitting in gigi's lap reading books. he was in love. the following week when we pulled in the drive he was so excited to see gigi while at the pool, he would stand at the back door periodically longing to go visit. after a while, we let him in and gigi got his t-shirt back out and started reading from a stack of books she had set aside for him-precious!!

on friday, before escaping inside, miller found emily's sun hat. he totally reminds me of curious george in these pictures.

what a cute little mess! thanks girls for all the fun! we miss you gigi!

gigi's pool 07.25

the next day we went to emily's mom's pool. we love emily and amelia and share lots in common with them-they also live in east memphis, amelia and carter are two or the girliest girls i have ever met, they think davis kidd storytime is a great way to beat the summer heat, emily is a professional chef and preschool teacher and josh would love to be a professional chef and i am a preschool teacher-ha! 

sister finds a float

brother crashes float

the greatest thing about the pool-the girls can touch the bottom! they love it! this is precious amelia.

kaitlin loved to spit the water out and i got a great picture of the action.

who doesn't love watermelon on a hot summer day!

we had such a blast that we did it again the next week and lots more friends were able to come, but guess who didn't talk a single picture that time-wah, wah!

another trip to the pool 07.24

on the last day of swim lessons, our favorite pool buddies invited us to check out the water at the germantown center. it started off rough because the crazy water park area is a little much even for big kids. for a brief moment i thought we were going to have to pack up and go home. then, jennifer suggested popsicles and then a trip to the big pool. during all of this distraction we also ran into some other preschool friends. by the end, we were exhausted and way past naps. it is all this fun that caused carter to look a little like a zombie on the last day of swim lessons.

carter in the kid area

miller found this mask in our friends' beach toys and loved it

too funny!

finally enjoying the spraying water around the outside

another toy out of the brown's beach bag

note that the only pictures are of my own children. somehow this summer i have had either the best or worst luck with the camera. i know, i know, josh, if i would learn a few technical things this would not happen. somehow the only picture i had of emma was blurry and i didn't have any good pictures of amelia, scottie or west. if you check out jennifer's blog linked above, she has several cute ones of the girls "laying out" and miller feeding emma like a bird. we will miss our summer swim dates!

is it just me or did the closing ceremonies of the olympics look like bellevue's singing christmas tree goes to china??

bathtub theology

josh overheard carter proclaiming the following truths to her mermaid barbie in the bathtub tonight: 

"always put God first. no bowing to idols."

preach it, sister!

no picture required

each week after church we spend the last thirty minutes letting our children run wild with all the other young children. they wander up and down the children's end of the building, climb stairs to the second floor and so on. this week was no different. josh and i were talking to some friends. as emily and i talked about who baby taylor resembled more, emily noticed that miller was up to something. as i looked up, miller sat on the floor trying to get his shortall over his sandals. he had slipped it off his shoulders and was proceeding to completely remove it. of course the hilarity of it all caused me not to correct the situation but get josh's attention so he could see what HIS child was doing. josh proceeds to help with the first conundrum-the shortall wrapped around his sandal. as he gets it undone and continues to talk to trey before redressing HIS son, miller does what any child his age would do-darts down the hall to the main area. so, there goes miller running through the building in a diaper and sandals. josh calls for him. of course, he keeps running. and running. i inform josh he will have to run after him. so, there goes josh walking, walking quickly and now running, shortall in hand after diaper clad miller. josh grabs him once in the main area and asks "hey, buddy, what are you doing?" "i wanna be naked!" miller responds. of course you do, buddy! of course you do! 

miller was quickly redressed and remained dressed until arriving at home. he is now "naked" as he likes, but in a more appropriate location. boys! what a mess!

splash class

*warning: longest post ever, i needed to get it all down before i forgot.*

in july (07.14-17 & 07.21-24), carter took swim lessons for 2 weeks. it is quite possibly one of the best decisions and worst experiences i have lived through as a mother. all summer long when we went to the pool i would tell josh, "she is scared to death to be in the water." we knew we had to get her in lessons this year (she was too young for most places last year) and had been looking at available options. we were originally going to go to the ymca, but they have 20 children in a class and i wanted something more personal. i found a teacher online who teaches classes at pools in various locations throughout the city. splash class just happened to have a cancellation 2 weeks in a row at their germantown location in july. it would give us 2 weeks before we went to the beach. perfect!

now, if week 1 had gone as well as signing up to take the lessons this would not be such a long post. day 1 i tried to prepare her in advance by telling her we were going and looking at other blogs of friends whose children had taken lessons this summer. the terror set in immediately and she talked about it all day. meme tried to tell her how much she loved to swim and while we saw a brief glimpse of hope, she was not happy about the lessons. we got there and she sat on the top step but participated in everything. ms. shelley used positive reinforcement with all the children and did a great job of helping alleviate their fears. but, some fears are greater than others! carter whimpered through most of the first day expressing her dislike of the situation but still participated willingly when it was her turn. day 2 was not good from the second she asked me if she had to go back. she would cry every time she thought about it. when we talked about it, she explained that she was "scared" she would "go deep, deep in the water". i tried to explain that mommy and ms. shelley would never let this happen, but how do you calm such a rational fear. she cried though the entire class. she pulled the "i have to go poopoo" card to leave the pool area. she cried even harder when i made her go back. other parents started to stare and even comment out loud about her behavior. but, she still did everything willingly. that night, i was overwhelmed and apparently so was carter as she cried out hysterically several times in her sleep. josh and i discussed how i felt this was necessary to overcome the fear, but we didn't want her to be scarred for life. everyone we know has vivid memories of their own swim lessons experience, so apparently it is traumatic for all. let me also say she was not the only one who cried, or was scared, but she was the only one on week one of lessons and the only one who was hysterical. days 3 & 4 went similarly. i tried to focus my comments on the positive after each lesson and then before the next lesson would remind her of ways to improve the negative. i seriously stayed near miller most of the time while keeping an eye on my tearful child. she pulled the potty card everyday even though she went to the bathroom before we left home and everyday had a legitimate need to go. by friday, i was exhausted, cried every time i thought about the fear i saw on her face and how truly scared she was. the parents would openly talk about how they didn't understand her behavior until i couldn't take any more and calmly explained, "she is scared to death. literally . just look at her." the other mommies took notice rather than just judging her and they were stunned at how scared she obviously was. they all commented on the obvious fearful face and violent shaking and began to cheer her on when she did well. the next morning we went to the pool with friends and i got to work with carter on her new "skills". she wanted to do everything just like ms. shelley had taught her. and, she wasn't afraid. relief!!

week 2 she was excited to go-thank God! i didn't think i could take anymore. as a mother, forcing your child to face their fears is horrible. i was an emotional basketcase-so sad that she was afraid, wanting to console her, wanting to yell at the hysteria, encouraged at her accomplishments, upset at others' comments- the emotions were endless. her teacher even commented on how improved she was. all the pictures below are from week 2. i thought doing an afternoon class was a smart idea. but, we would go do things with friends in the morning, come home to take naps and i would have to wake up at least one if not 2 children to go the splash class. hmmm . . . maybe we will think that over better before next year.

picking up sticks in warm up.

longing to be in splash class too. he loves the water and wanted to be with "sister" so bad. next year, buddy!

waiting with her noodle on the side.

her favorite-the back stroke with noodle.

now, backstroke without noodle.

waiting at the steps after taking her turn.

waiting at the edge of the pool for her jump. she shivered every time because the deep end was in the shade-even in the ridiculous heat we were having.

putting her toes exactly where ms. shelley told her on the diving board.

walking out after finishing her jumps. she stuck her tongue out so much during the weeks. i guess it was to wipe the water off her face. i thought it was too funny!

greeted by daddy. she was so excited he got to come watch her! carter had asked josh to come that morning and it was the only day he could even try to make it. so he agreed. i had already planned on bringing the camera because he had an engagement session the next day and i was afraid to just take pictures the last day. i let him watch carter while i took pictures. we were able to stay and watch everyday because the pool was in a huge yard and the seating area, deck and playground were far enough away that it didn't bother the kids during the lesson. miller loved to play on the playground so what a blessing i didn't have to occupy him each day for two weeks.