Never One to Look Sissified

Paddy was not feeling so tip top at his baptism and there was never a good chance to take pictures of him in his pretty little Christening get up.  So I decided to dress him up the other day and attempt to take some sweet pictures.   So here here they are.   Let's just call this "Get off my lawn!", installment 2. 

Claudia wanted to put her "gown" on too and join in.  They are watching Dora the Explora over my shoulder.  Hence the blank stares.   Does Dora depress your children as much as it does mine?  Or as much as it does me?  No mas, Dora. No mas.  These two would be tv junkies if I let them. 

Sweet moment.  Sweet babies.  Love, love, love them.

Rain and Bubbles

Rain and bubbles go well together.  Especially for the purposes of this post.

  We couldn't resist running around in this humid, Texas afternoon storm.

I've noticed that rainstorms and Texas sized puddles bring out the kid in everyone.

Pawpaw enhanced the rain storm by activating the sprinklers. Big hit with this one.

This little man watched from the tailgate, high and dry.

This wet one eventually came over to dry off.

Someday soon you'll be able to play in the rain Paddy.

When the sun came out, Gram and Pawpaw equipped us with bubble guns.
This was good.

Poor Aunt T showed up when the weapons transfer was complete.
She made the perfect, unsuspecting target for Claudia.

But everyone knows that the biggest target is the surest target. 

Pawpaw, adorned with various wild animal stickers, faithfully protected Paddy from the ensuing bubble shoot out.

Claudia headed our tenants of bubble gun safety.  We were in Texas after all.
Everyone has guns.  Everyone must learn gun safety.  Even three year olds.

... and three year olds at heart.

Gram and Pawpaw, thank you for supplying the bubble guns.

I hope you enjoyed this Texas shoot out as much as I did.

Just Like Old Times

In our few weeks in the states we made it our mission to visit with as many of our friends as possible.  Although we grossly underestimated the difficulty level involved in toting around the toodler and the bebe, we managed to squeeze in some nice quality time with some of our nearest and dearest friends.  It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, we miss our friends and family.  It warmed our hearts to spend time with everyone and just catch up.    

I like to imagine that if my dear friend Avery and I were friends when we were little, we would be like Claudia and Molly... perfectly content to sit and chat, but predisposed to fits of jubilant giggling.   Sweet Avery is expecting this December!  I'm beyond thrilled and am on pins and needles waiting to see whether she will find out whether it is a girl or boy.  Oh, the suspense!

We threw a baby shower for our friends Cathy and Will in Houston.  Their baby girl was born last week... sweet Olivia!

Claudrey at the pool! Claudia and Audrey... best of friends since they were born. They pick back up where they left off when we come to town. When we move back, one of the things I most look forward to is getting these two silly girls back together.   And getting sweet Hayes and Paddy together too.

I miss my girls in Houston. 

And he doesn't really say it, but I know Russell misses his friends too!

I was SO happy to see my Amy!  Whenever we come in, Amy always goes out of her way to drive down from Siloam Springs (outside Fayetteville, Arkansas).  My best friend always makes me smile.  Ames had three girls in tow with her... THREE!  Together with Claudia, we had FOUR silly girls on our hands.  Paddy didn't know what to do with himself!  

The Kizer family came over from Lafayette.  We celebrated Aunt Francesca's birthday and CC's belated birthday... with every Rapunzel accessory known to man.  Claudia has worn her Rapunzel dress and waist length hair extension every day for the past three weeks, save a day or two where I managed to convince her that the food and dirt soiled dress needed to be washed.  She's taking a nap right now.  In the dress.   

Aunt Debbie has the magic touch.  Sweet Paddy fell asleep in her arms. Sweet little man!

Now, if you can believe it, I'm almost at the end of my Houston pics.  I've got some more fun ones from Gram and Pawpaw's house, then I'll be done!  700 pictures, remember?  700!

Girl with the Curl Gets a Trim

Somebody had her first haircut while in Houston.  Here's a before picture.

She was pretty emphatic about needing "Rapunzel hair."  She repeated this to the stylist, Amber, no less than twenty times.  Amber assured her that she was just trimming.  Bop was still a touch nervous. 

I can tell she's nervous when she doesn't speak.

She just sat perfectly still and didn't answer any of my questions.

Once she got that cape on, though, she was good to go.  She was thrilled that they had a "Darth Vadar cape", just for her!

True to her word, Miss Amber only took off about an inch of curls.

Little Miss Bop was so pleased with the final result.

Sweet Bop.

Can you see those curls?  I love Texas humidity.  It is better than any curl enhancer / controller you can buy in a store.

Her reward for being such a good girl:   4 marshmallows.  Happy girl.  Lots of curl.

By the way, if anyone in Houston has a curly haired child who needs a trim, go to Amber at Damsels and Blokes.  She was GREAT!

Get Well Soon, Memaw!

Here are some pics for my Memaw, who is not feeling well because we infected her and her house with germs on our visit.  I'm sorry, Memaw. 

Anyhoo, I spent gobs of time at my Memaw's house growing up, so its truly one of my favorite places to be.  Claudia now enjoys her time at Memaw's house... reading, running, jumping on beds, eating ice cream sandwiches, playing piano and dress up.   And what a treat, Aunt Josie came to visit too.  Aunt Josie and Memaw are sisters, and although they couldn't be any different, they have always been best friends.   Paddy enjoyed squirming around on Memaw's quilts and being cuddled by Memaw.  I'm already wishing I was back at Memaw's house right now!

Memaw and Josie enjoyed cuddling and chatting with Patrick.  Really, who wouldn't?  He's so huggable.  And this picture, I just want to poke that squishy belly of his.

Here is Claudia playing piano with Memaw.  She's dressed up in one of Memaw's old choral ensemble gowns and pearls. 

Sweet friends.

Patrick got lots of love and attention from Memaw.

And I got lots of sweet pictures.

Paddy loves his Great Memaw.

And lastly, some funny pics of Memaw and Josie.  I think they were discussing how much Patrick needed to eat.  I wish I could recall the exact conversation.  But sadly, I just heard a crash upstairs, which means Claudia is awake.  Gotta run before she heads to Paddy's crib to "check on him."

Patrick Wallace's Christening

On our trip back home we were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to have sweet Patrick Wallace baptized in Oak Ridge.  Because we were here in Budapest for all the time leading up to the Christening, Great Grandma, Irene McLendon, and Mama Kate graciously planned everything for the ceremony and the reception.  Everything was beautiful and it was a very sweet occasion.  Our sweet boy was sick for several days and felt pretty miserable the day of.  He was so tough, though and we were so proud and happy to have him baptized in the same church where Daddy and Claudia were baptized.   Here's some pictures from the special day.

We kept the paci in for the majority of the day.  He was getting over a cold and cutting his first tooth.  Definitely a paci day. 

We were so excited to see our family in Louisiana and were especially grateful to see Aunt Ginger and Cousin Lilly who drove in from Memphis, Aunt Kelly and Cousin Jackson who drove in from Jackson.

The magic of childhood... munching on a stack of three chocolate chip cookies at once!   Probably one of my favorite pictures of the day. 

Family pic... minus Claudia... she wasn't really up for taking pictures that day.

My sweet boy was really feeling puny.  It was tough to hand him over for the ceremony, but, all things considered, he did so well.

Russell with Paddy and his Aunt Daina

me with my sweet, tough baby boy

My favorite picture... four generations of McLendons.  Gerald Dufur McLendon (Great Grandad), Gerald Wallace McLendon (Paps), Russell Wallace McLendon (Daddy) and little Patrick Wallace McLendon.

It was a special day for our family and we are so proud of our baby boy.  We are grateful to our family who planned such a lovely Christening and reception.  We can't wait to bring our little famly back for Christmas.