Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Scarlet Pimpernel

My awesome sister Celeste wrote about the show that became a family event for the Cummings clan at large. You can read her recap here. Good times, great memories...also good to have a little down time in the wake of all that fun.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

My baby turns 1

Still in denial about this one, but tomorrow (Cinco de Mayo), my baby John turns into a one-year-old boy. He is the most delightful little guy. Seriously. This baby is nothing if not good-natured. He's a smart fellow, too. Lately, there have been several demonstrations that show me he understands everything that is being said. He follows verbal instruction to chase after a brother or sister (favorite activity), and yesterday he took great offense when he offered a goldfish to a friend of mine, and she replied in a very sweet, upbeat tone that she didn't like goldfish even as she accepted the offering. He was totally distraught, so he must have understood the words.

John is a great stander. He excels at getting to a standing position without the aid of any furniture to pull up on. It still thrills me to watch. He likes to say "uh-oh", is a SUPERB morning snuggler, loves his mom, loves his dad, loves his big brother, loves his big sister, enjoys a good chase, thrills at a round of wrestling, crawls around with a container of spices in each hand that he swipes from the pantry while I make dinner, enjoys going on walks or runs in the stroller, only complains if he is tired or hungry, grunts emphatically (instead of screaming) when he wants more or needs help because he has stranded himself on an upper floor by climbing up the stairs, and really likes unloading the dishwasher one utensil at a time. Oh, and he likes to eat dirt (or so we assume since he is often found getting into the potted plants).

To celebrate this little man, we started tonight. The missionaries came over for dinner, helped us sing to John-John, and cheered with us when he blew out his tank candle all by himself. We were feeling a little caked-out after our string of birthdays, so we got a little creative with dessert. Keeping in mind John's affinity for eating dirt, we had mud (chocolate pudding) and dirt (crushed oreos) with gummy worms as our treat.

John thought this worked quite nicely as a birthday treat, as evidenced by the photos...




After dinner and a bubble bath in the kitchen sink, he was back to making a mess of the real dirt.



With this third baby, those messes that used to be so stressful now strike me as being funny. Might have something to do with the grin this little lad can muster. We love you, Johnny!


And...the sink bath photo, requested and provided by Adam...just so John knows who to blame later in life when he reads this post. :0)

Emma is 4!

Birthday season continues at our house. We celebrated Emma's arrival to the life of a 4-year-old on April 18th. It began, as has become tradition, with a birthday breakfast. We believe in having as many opportunities to blow out candles and make birthday wishes as possible. It seemed that on birthday morning, folks were sleeping in, so the parents were hanging out with John-John (who had risen early), trying not to make too much noise, and taking their time getting down to the kitchen to start cooking. Spencer came in with a disapproving tone. "What are you guys doing? You're supposed to be making Emma's birthday breakfast." Well, we snapped to it after that! Your brother sure loves you, Em. Both brothers do, in fact. John lights up with a big smile every time he sees you.

Some things I love about 4-year-old Emma: You have a best friend named R___, and having a best friend has taught you so much how to be a kind, loving and generous person. You are a fashionista, demanding skirts and dresses as daily wear, unless it is time to play soccer. You are one SMART little lovie; at your birthday party, you impressed the parents by "reading" the names of your guests based on the first letter of their names because you know the sounds the letters make. You are responsible, spreading your blankets many mornings without a reminder. You are musical and love going to concerts and plays, especially in what you have dubbed your "concert dress" (right now, that one is the polka dot dress with the floofy skirt). You still love to snuggle, will entertain John to help Mom, enjoy making "recipes" (ones I am working on or those of your own creation), like to hang out on Dad's lap while he works at the computer, and are Spencer's ready playmate and friend. We are so glad to have our very own Emma.

Emma at birthday breakfast time


Emma and BFF R___


Emma decorating her own cake. Spencer had the good idea of using oreos as the center of flowers, and Emma took it from there using pink frosting for petals and lots of sparkly sprinkles. The perfect cake for our beautiful lovie.


Birthday celebrations: preschool snack time, birthday breakfast, family party, and friend birthday party