Libba Came to Play!

April has started off a little nuts here in Jackson...


The week began really pretty, and the kids spent most of their afternoons outside. Mia Morgan learned to swing, so Cooper & her stay outside and play forever. It's really cute...

But eventually, they get bored and find other things to do.

For instance, shooting things. Cooper has a bajillion guns, but always seems to shoot with sticks he finds in the yard.

That's cool. Sticks are free and you can leave them outside and the tornadoes won't blow them away...

Bringing me to my next point...we had a few tornadoes blow through here Friday.
Jimbo was at lunch right where the first one hit, had to climb under tables at the restaurant-without power-and just pray! He called to tell me what was going on, and we spent about 30 minutes in the tub with pillows and blankets.
It really would have been fine, except Mia Morgan decides to fill up her diaper and Cooper's nose starts to bleed. So between the smell and the blood, I was really hoping that whatever was going to happen would just happen so I could get them out of there.

But, we were fine, THANK YOU GOD! Jimbo got a free lunch out of the deal. We got out of the bathtub-I cleaned everyone up, and waited for Libba to get here.

As usual...she brought joy & happiness to our home (along with gifts of course!)

She had Cooper in stitches and Mia Morgan in giggles the whole weekend. They LOVE her and so do we :)

Click on this video of the two girls...in their matching pink hoodies!

Sometimes they surprise you...

Just a quick story and funny photo here.
Moma told me I needed to record this one because it's one many of us may identify with...

A couple days ago we were at McDonalds. Big treat, because we were INSIDE McD's. Cooper & Jack got to play for an hour before we went to pick up Mia Morgan.

There was a young mother there with her baby girl, and she was watching the play area and calling out to her other child to "be careful"-"be nice" -- you know the regular stuff you yell at them. Her other child happened to be a little boy.
And he had Down Syndrome. He was in there playing and laughing, but more by himself than with the few other kids that were there.

I asked her how old he was, she said 4. I told here so were Cooper & Jack. She told me his name was Tyler, then I told her that my Uncle had Downs and that he was 50 years old. She seemed a little surprised at that. I guess because that is unusual...

Ok, so Cooper & Jack come and eat, and I tell Cooper to look over at Tyler...I tell him Tyler is 4 years old like him, and that he's special like Corky, and that Corky looked just like him when he was 4.

That was all he needed to hear...He went over to him and kept saying "Hey Taylor--Hey Taylor--Hey Taylor" of course TYLER wasn't paying attention to him b/c his name wasn't TAYLOR. Anyway, I remind Cooper of his name, and he then continues to stalk him a little bit until he says Hey back. Next Jack came up and they all three start to chase each other all around the play thing.

A few minutes later, I hear Cooper yelling "Jackie...Jackie...up here"
I said "Cooper - call him Jack - not Jackie that's not his name"
He looks at me through the plastic netting and says, "Moma, I'm TALKING to Tyler--I named him JACKIE instead. That way it's Jack and Jackie that I'm playing with..."

Oh. Excuse Me.

Point is: Corky is so loved by my boy-that ANYONE who resembles Corky in anyway--is going to be an instant friend...no matter what they look like.

And it just made me a little proud that he was able to look past someone's difference and invite him to play.
I know kids are cruel, but every once in awhile they can surprise you.

And continuing with the theme of kindness...check out this picture in action.
Mia Morgan leans over to hug her brother, and he gently rubs her back thinkng she wants to just love on him. But check out her hands...she had another thing on her mind...FROOT LOOPS. And she knew she couldn't just walk up and get them...so she figured out a way to sneak some.
I'm telling you this girl is one step ahead of all of us...

Playtime (for Kids & GrownUps)

Last week was eventful.
Jimbo & I went on our "grown-up" trip to San Antonio, and the kids had PawPaw and Miss Linda come to stay with them.


As you can see from the pictures, they had a blast...They went all over town-visiting the Museum, the park, Pizza Inn, TJ Maxx...that would be where the Extra-Large duck came from.
Supposedly, she HAD to have it. And so PaPa HAD to buy it...of course :)

And while they were doing their thing, me & Jimbo were doing ours. We picked San Antonio because it's somewhere we have never been. But we will DEFINITELY be going back. I've been all over, and this was probably one of my top three favorite vacations.

And trust me...after the sick babies, black-eyes, school stuff, etc., it COULD NOT have come at a better time.

If you want to see I'm attaching just a few pics here...