Happy Birthday, Sara :)

Yesterday Sara turned 22, its a big deal for her, its her birthday...but its a big deal for me too because on August 29, twenty-two years ago I became a mom, and that is a very special day to me too. Sara was a happy, sunny baby, she's a happy, sunny person. Not everything goes her way (as that is life) but she always makes the best of whatever is happening and that is why she is good at whatever she does. And she will make a great mom. Chuck is going to be a great dad, too, both of them are naturals with children.

Emilee wanted to give Sara some sort of baby shower so we invited our family's females to a lunch..it was held at this neat old farmhouse that has been converted into a bakery/cafe. The setting was wonderful, the food good, the company so appreciated (the service not so great, but hey, we'll overlook that for now). Sara got some really nice things for Penny Jean, we celebrated her birthday Saturday night over pizza and cake and icecream.

Then on Sunday, we let Taylor have a bit of an accelerated birthday party because Sara and Chuck cannot come back in on her birthday. They gave her curlers for her hair, lip gloss, nail appliques and polish. Sara curled Taylor's hair and she wore them around for hours, wanting big loopy curls. It did not happen as dramatically as hoped for as we need to get some 'product' to help the curls stay in but this child is willing to go to any lengths for glamour and she so loved having Sara work on her hair.

Counting down the weeks til Penny Jean arrives. Taylor walked by Sara on Sunday, paused to talk to Penny, and said "someday, you will be beautiful"..we've already bought Penny an outfit to give her when we meet her, and we know she will be beautiful in it :)

First Day of School

Taylor and Jennifer's first day of school at Timberlake..

Our conversation on the way to school - The car is quiet which is very unusual -
Taylor says, sooo, I have to go to school...
me: um, yeah, for a long, long, time, years
silence...
Taylor, sighs and says to herself, "doggone it" - this kid just cracks me up

Jennifer was all excited to start, hope that feeling continues!

Penny Jean

OK, this is the official Penny Jean blog now :) We went to China, we brought home our 4th daughter, she is a delight. She is the little smiley you post when you are blogging, she is just so sweet. and she is settling in like she's been here forever.

So now its Penny Jean, center stage! I can't really put into words how happy I am to be the grandmother of Penny. Sara and Chuck will be amazing parents. They are sooo good with kids. Its natural for them. And Sara does her research, she will be a profoundly good mom. So now the clock ticks. Sara says she feels like a walrus. I think she is beautiful, she is like an earth mother. Or as sara says, a hippy throwback mom lol.

Anyone looking at this blog will pretty much be getting Penny Jean updates from now on. I am marking off the calendar and I'll be lurking around in Goochland at the end of October....

Family Traditions

All families have traditions. One of my favorite is Sara's ability to weasel her birthday presents and Christmas presents from me early. She's been able to do this since she was a little kid. There's always a reason she needs them early :) Sara's birthday is not til August 29th...but she needs this t-shirt nowwww. lol. So tonight I ordered it to be drop shipped to her home..Happy Birthday Sara! You can wear your new shirt to your dad's family reunion! I'll bring the boca burgers!

Summer fun

I don't post very often..I think I've finally figured out why. I have a very good friend whose pictures are always so good they border on spectacular. I come on to post, look at hr photography, and say, oh well, mine just need to stay hidden on my little Picassa file for me lol.

But this week end we went camping. My mom and dad, who brought along my nephew, Jesse. Chuck and Sara came. The four of us, all met at the James River and had a true camping week end with fishing, swimming in the river, s'mores. Best part of the week end was Chuck cooking breakfast on Sunday morning, as far as I'm concerned :) Taylor's favorite part was the water balloon war that pitted she and Chuck against Emilee and Jesse.

It was hot, but everyone did their best to stay cool and share some good times.

Sara called us this afternoon....and we are awaiting the birth of Penny Jean Brown!! I can't wait to go out and look at little girl baby stuff, I had just made myself wait til I knew whether to look at little boy things or little girl things but now we know! Taylor is beside herself with joy and plans on throwing a party tonight to celebrate..wish we could be with Sara and Chuck so we could celebrate with them, but we'll get somthing pink (sorry, Chuck) and see them soon!

Camping with Yogi

Taylor was very brave about the waterslide but was scared to death of Yogi, BooBoo & Cindy!

Scroll down to see her shooting out of the big yellow tube :)