I'm BACK -- With a Birthday!

I won't spend too much time on where I've been. The most important thing, for now, is that I'm back And I'm back BIG...Because SOMEONE is turning 5 tomorrow! What an amazing five years it's been with Kendall Lee! I was asked tonight by my friend "what were you doing 5 years ago at this time?" I had to think a little bit. I think there's a good chance that I was staring into Cooper's crib, wondering how in the world I would ever love someone as much as I loved him. And then I may have went on to wonder about how we were all four going to survive our new life!

But survive we have.

Kendall, Kendall, Kendall. You are absolutely hilarious. You are amazingly fun and you are more than precious and perfect. You have a mind of your own and a heart of gold. You cry when you don't get your way and shed tears when your friends are sad. You love to make up rules to games and you love to draw pictures for your friends. You have 3 boyfriends (that we know of) but your Daddy is the love of your life. You absolutely brighten every minute of every day and you absolutely make our dinnertimes much longer than they ever should be! You're as frustrating as an old mule when it comes to bedtime and you melt our hearts with your sweet "I Love You's" (even if they come at 9PM when you should be sleeping).

Thanks for making us laugh and giggle and find the funny in everything we do each day. Your smile makes my heart warm and fuzzy and I love that you would do anything in the world for me to give you a backrub. I'm sad that you're growing out of "Dora"(ok, not really, but what it symbolizes) but thrilled you still sleep with your tiny flannel blankets. I love that you tell me I'm your best friend and I pray you'll still feel even a tiny bit of that in 10 years. You are completely enjoyable to be around and we love, love, love every tiny little girly, stubborn, silly thing about you.

Rapunzel Comes to Our House

For those of you not familiar with the Tangled plotline... after about an hour and a half of running from her evil "mother," Rapunzel and her soon-to-be-even-though-they-don't-know-it-yet Prince finally find her long-lost parents, the King and Queen of Wherever, who lost their baby to the evil woman 18 years earlier. So, none of that part of the story is playing out in our house (thank goodness, right? I'm sure I had you worried.). However, in the very end where Rapunzel chops a significant amount of hair off her beautiful long locks to reveal a splendid, adorable, shaggy (awfully trendy for those times, I must add) bob... that's more like what happened a week ago here.

Kendall has been asking for over a month to cut her hair. I think it had something to do with desperately needing at least a 4 inch "trim" and not being able to get through it in the mornings without half a bottle of leave-in conditioner and about 30 minutes with the hairbrush. But that's just a guess. She had to wear a headband and a ponytail when she brushed her teeth just to keep from spitting into her hair. I tried to find a picture of her with her hair down on my phone for my hairdresser and I couldn't find one. Because she is always wearing braids, a ponytail or both. So, what's the point to having hair down to the middle of your back?? So, while Daddy ran away to play golf so that he didn't cry in public, Cooper and I brought Kendall into the salon for The Cut. We had been talking about it for a month to make sure she was really, really ready but I still thought there would be tears (from her, because I definitely knew there would be from me). I couldn't have been more wrong... My friends, meet Rapunzel Lee...

BEFORE. All smiles in the salon.

THE CUT. Mommy's heart was racing like crazy. I was laughing hysterically as a defense against crying infront of all the nice ladies in the salon.

Look who had to get in on the action. Kendall got so much attention from everyone else in the room that I think Brother needed a little bit of it, too.

AFTER. Boy was I pleasantly surprised... Mommy did NOT cry, it looked ADORABLE, and Kendall LOVED IT!!!!

She has worn a bow exactly ONE time in the past week. She won't let me try to put it in pigtails, a braid down the side or anything. No hairclip. No bow. No headband. She wants everyone to see it down and she loves it. Her part lays better and she no longer looks like Cousin It when she doesn't have it pulled back.

Her 11 inches of hair are safely tucked into a ziploc back waiting to be mailed off for donation. This after they were not-so-safely tucked into the palm of her hand for the entire day and she was slowly losing a good chunk every time she moved. I'm proud of my little girl for understanding about donating her hair. She remembers our sweet friend Lydia losing her hair last year and we've discussed at great length why other children need her hair. On that note, please continue to pray for Lucy Krull (remember the blog over to the right, 3 Kids, a Minivan and a Mortgage) who started her 4 months of chemo this week. Sweet Lucy is fighting like a grown woman at the tender age of 5. It puts things in perspective for us, for sure.

6 Years and First Grade

You're supposed to cry when Kindergarten starts, right? I mean, I definitely did that. To the extreme, in my personal opinion. It was gutwrenching and difficult and sad and lifechanging all wrapped up into one cute little red Foothills Elementary tote bag and new shoes. I quickly blogged that day about how many tears I shed the first day of school... no thanks to a poem that Cooper's sweet teacher gave each of us as we left our kids in the hands of perfect strangers and strange walls and a brand spanking new routine that involved all sorts of wonderful new things, but absolutely nothing to do with Mommy or Daddy.

So, most people cry (maybe not in public and I know a lot of people that pretend that they never shed a tear, but let me say one thing to those people... I'm on to you. There's absolutely no way on God's green earth you didn't shed a single tear that day, so don't give me any of that.) on the first day of kindergarten. Gotcha. But. What about the last day of kindergarten??? Yup. I was the one crying in the car line that day. Actually, I think I started on the Monday of the last week of school. During the car line for pick-up, you have a lot of time to sit in your car by yourself and think. I reflected on the days after kindergarten first started, all the days that followed that Cooper came home telling me of a new friend or using some big word he learned. I thought about what a true blessing and what a great decision it was to send Cooper on to kindergarten knowing he may be one of the youngest and possibly one of the smallest. It never came up once, his size or age and I think that most of that had to do with his teacher. I can't believe I'm admitting this, but I'm getting kind-of teary just typing about her. Honestly. She's the definition of "blessing." I fear for all of the rest of our teachers during our entire educational career in the Maryville City School system. Seriously. I'm absolutely not kidding here. How can anyone live up to what our very first year in school has been like? So, I'm sorry to tell all you future teachers of both of our kiddos... I just don't see how you can ever be up to this lady's snuff. I will love you, no doubt. I will appreciate your time and effort and abilities when it comes to how you educate and appreciate and love my children. I promise I will never, ever say this to your face and I promise to treat you like you're the most amazing teacher on the planet.

On the first day of kindergarten, Mrs. Johnson gave us that poem that I have read often. It makes me cry every darn time, too! I wish I could come up with words to express to her what she means to our family, but instead, I hope that the proof is in the pudding... Cooper has grown so much this year, more than we could have ever hoped or wished or even was forwarned about. He is a bright little boy who can read, check out a library book, count to 100 by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's without hesitation, buy his own lunch and give his classmates compliments without prompting. Do you think I taught him any of that?

Flashback: August 2010, first day of kindergarten
May 13, 2011. Last day of kindergarten (there I go again! Anyone have any tissues??)
And it just wouldn't be a birthday post without a baby picture. That's right. Within a week of each other, my sweet baby boy has walked out of his school as a (almost--) first grader, blew kisses to his precious teacher as we drove off for the last time this year and now on Thursday he'll turn 6 whole huge, wonderful years old.

I admit, finally and painfully, my wonderfully wonderful baby boy is now a big kid. It was hard to watch and it felt like it happened with the speed of lightening, but all year I've watched him grow (literally and figuratively) into a kid. Like, a real kid that responds to cool things I say (I know, I can't believe it either) by saying "SWEET!" and officially thinks that girls are just TOO girly and making farting noises is hysterically funny. The boys in our neighborhood, regardless of their age, welcome him with open arms, he can hit a baseball off a pitch not a tee, make the basketball in an actual basket. He can brush his own teeth and wash himself up. He can open those stupid little plastic packages without my help and I trust him with scissors (unlike when he was 3 and cut his sister's hair).

Happy Birthday my *sweet* Cooper (sorry, I had to do it. I promise when you turn 7 I won't use that word to describe you anymore!!). You are a true joy, an absolute blessing and the most fun boy I can ever imagine being around. Your kind heart makes me sure that you'll be an amazing friend to many, the way you make us all laugh makes me confident you'll enjoy your life and always be happy, and the way you return the love we give you makes me absolutely positive that you will always, always be my sweet, sweet Cooper forever (there, I said it, just one more time). Happy 6th Birthday, Cooper!!!

Deja Vu

Here we go again. I have absolutely no idea where to begin. I've honestly started to feel so overwhelmed by the obligation to blog and where to start that I've honestly considered taking an "official" break. But, much like that famous Ross and Rachel "break" it wasn't for real and I'm back. Hopefully for good this time because at this point, I'm pretty much over my own empty promises.

Although, much like last fall when I stopped blogging for a good 3 weeks (and subsequently thought that was just AWFUL), I'm going to give you another good old fashioned teaser. There are too many pictures and too much to write about to know where to start, so I'll begin with a little foreshadowing.

Those on Facebook have seen it before, but I can't help but repost an adorable little girl in pink cowgirl boots! This is what came of a postponed photo shoot... two photographers with a free afternoon, 2 kids and few "ideas."

And afternoon feeding the ducks ended in an odd show of affection.

Ahhh, fresh, salty air in March. I LOVE spring breaks in Alabama. It was a much, much-needed break from the dreariness of our Tennessee winter.

Umm, yup. That's our kid dressed out in his catchers finest. He quickly decided all the garb wasn't worth the actual work that was expected out of that position. And, well, having to pay attention kinda ruined it for him, too.

I've been doing a few photo sessions here and there. I've decided that if I ever do want to do this FOR REAL, I might as well start now and start building some bit of a portfolio. I've gotten to do some awfully cute shoots with 1 year olds, families and newborns. This little fella was born a month early and was absolutely, wonderfully fine and got to come home like any other full-term rock star after only a couple of days. At under 5 pounds, he'll hold the record for my smallest newborn to shoot for a while (I hope).

Ahhhhh, my sweet friend Darby. How love those cheeks and those eyes and that adorable little mouth. This was from her 3 month shoot, which proved to be a little difficult with it being the Awake-But-Can't-Sit-Up stage but so fun nonetheless. Just the thought of her makes me smile.

Excuses, Excuses

Earlier this winter, I had many excuses for not blogging. We were too busy at the end of the year to blog because we needed to make sure we used all our energy to kick 2010 out the door with all the gusto we could muster.

So, I set aside a few hours one week and blogged. And blogged and blogged and blogged. I was so excited and so proud of myself that I posted a blog per week for several weeks thinking, surely I will take more pictures and the kids will say and do interesting things. Surely I'll keep up this amazing post-a-week stage I was in. Well, I haven't posted in about 3 weeks but I swear I have another great reason! Spring is here!! I don't know if it's here to stay, but I'm thinking my glass is half-full on this topic. I have to believe it. I've been too busy to blog this time because we've been outside basking in the glorious sunshine. We're back to that fabulously dirty routine of playing outside until dinner and taking an arms/face/hands-only bath in hopes that the teacher's the next day won't notice the kids haven't bathed in 3 days. We have no time to do dishes or laundry or sweep the floor. By Friday we have no clean socks, our dishes are clean in the dishwasher and dirty in the sink, and there are remnants of breakfasts in the couch cushions and trails of snack crumbs that lead from the pantry to the garage door.

And. I love it. It's my favorite time of the year. It's not too hot to stay outside for 4 hours at a time. We don't need gobs of sunscreen or buckets of water to cool us off. I still need a sweatshirt if I'm standing still and a t-shirt if I'm playing tag. We have more dirty laundry this time of year than any other because the kids can't decide if they're hot or cold and change clothes 3 times within the day. We get inside just in time for me to realize I didn't defrost the chicken or my dinner plans are going to take approximately one hour to create and we have about 20 minutes until bedtime. I pack the next day's lunches around 10PM instead of 4PM. I have no idea what's on TV and the kids don't have a favorite movie anymore or even remember what the tv is used for other than cartoons in the morning. Friday is Grocery Day and Sunday is Laundry Day. There's no more doing it here and there throughout the week. It's difficult to do laundry when you've got a baseball game going on in the front yard. I get on Facebook on my phone when the kids are busy with friends and my laptop stays at work. I get so much LESS accomplished it's amazing I don't lose my mind from the stress of it.

It's absolutely marvelous.

So, here's what we've been up to on the weekends when I got my camera out...

I went on a photo shoot with My-Photography-Friend-Jen (as she's so appropriately named) and her friend's daughter at Norris Dam. Less than an hour from my house and I'd never been! I loved it... and this sweet little girl, even if she didn't want to stand still for even 3 seconds!
We did stay inside one rainy afternoon a couple of weeks ago. We played a little dress-up and had a tea party, at Kendall's request. Fancy Nancy and Darth Vader... Hmmm. I've always wanted to write a children's book, maybe this could give me some ideas...

I've yet to see this particular Star Wars movie!

February was Children's Dental Health Month. Chip spoke to Kendall's school (and Sam's class, too!) about the importance of brushing your teeth. I like this picture because it looks like he's surrendering to the 4 year olds...a wise move! We also got to speak to Cooper's class and a pre-k class at another elementary school. SO FUN to teach kids about their precious little teeth!

We enjoyed a few days in the mountains in February. We always enjoy our hikes and we especially enjoyed sharing this particular trail with about 7 deer!

We did a little frolicking in Cades Cove. The world's greatest place to frolick, if you ask me!

Loved this little guy. The males were so tiny without much meat on their bones yet. We tried to explain to Cooper that they were young, like him. He got a kick out of them being "5 years old, too." Photo by Chip Webb!!

On a sidenote, please take a look at my blog list to the right of your screen. If you have a few seconds, pray for the family from "3 Kids, a Minivan and a Mortgage." If you have a few minutes instead of seconds, take that time to read through the blogs. The dad, Erik, is a friend of ours from high school and they are going through the most horrific experience parents can face. They've been on my mind and my heart the past week as I read about their sweet little Lucy. I've learned so much from Lucy's mom as she writes about her amazing little baby girl. I'm so amazed by her strength and her faith. I don't know what I would do in their situation, but I can only hope that I would react the way she has. They need prayers. Lucy needs them, the parents need them and their entire family needs them to get through the battle Lucy is facing.

Spring? Is That You?

The groundhog had not even been given the opportunity to see its shadow yet and with the first hint of spring and warm weather, the Webbs were off the mountains in search of a good hike. We found it with one I had done when I was about 6 months pregnant with Cooper. We figure the math worked out, whether you're 6 months preggo or 4 or 5 years old, your legs, heart and lungs work just about the same. We parked at Metcalf Bottoms picnic area and ate our lunch along the river before we packed our backpacks with snacks, water and the hiking essentials such as Smarties and suckers to keep the kids busy when they have a little spot of boredom. Kendall began the hike with her typical whining about 30 yards in, but once we made it a little further, she was all skips and giggles as usual.

The sunshine was not only good for the skin and our spirits, but our souls as well. It has already been a long and cold winter for us Tennesseans. We're not used to a January without at least a few days in the 50's and we are definitely not used to any snow "storms" in December to start us off. And to boot, I've missed my camera. There just aren't a lot of opportunities to bring it out in the cold winter months and I need that hobby like my kids need that candy... I just get plain ole grumpy without it.

The other thing that makes the kids love to hike is the frequent stops we make along the streams to throw rocks, float leaf boats and look for fish and salamanders. Cooper found a perfect resting spot at this pitstop.
At the Walker Sisters cabin, we drew a few odd looks from other visitors with our rousing game of Hide and Seek. Kendall found a perfect spot along a bush, blending in nicely with her green shirt. I love this picture. If she weren't so darn adorable she'd almost look evil. It was accompanied with "Shhhhh Mommy!! Don't tell them where I am!! Hehehehe (yes, that IS my version of her evil little witch laugh)"

Another stop along the stream... And an apparent wardrobe exchange.

There were many bridges along this hike to the Walker Sisters' cabin and the Little Greenbriar Schoolhouse. The kids LOVE bridges and to have several along one hike keeps the suckers and Smarties securely in the backpack.

Over 3 miles of beautiful scenery, warm sunshine and unmatched family time made for a perfect pre-spring day (who likes that "w" word anyway?). We've since been on another hike and are currently enjoying a week full of 60 degree weather. So, in short, it's a GOOD week at the Webb house. Hope you can say the same wherever you are!

SnOw Many Snow Days!!

We should have known that if we had snow in early December and had the first white Christmas in several decades that something was up with Mother Nature. She was trying to tell us something in December and it was probably something like "kids, get ready, you'll have a few days off from school this winter." I've laughed at a few posts on Facebook. So, so many parents are complaining by how many days we've missed already in a row and how bored they are and ready for their kids to go back to school. I've also seen the other folks posting the opposite... angry with those posting about how ready they are to be seperated from their kids because THEY would do anything to be at home with their babies. I laugh at both and I proudly take the middle ground here.

Chip and I enjoyed a very, very late celebration of our 10 year anniversary (which, for those that are counting, was in December 2009) at a cabin in Gatlinburg earlier in January. What started as a planned carribean vacation ended up as a 4 night stay less than an hour from home in the coldest month of the year. To be fair, we chose not to go to the carribean. We're crazy, you say? We know, but it's been quite an ending to 2010 and we were ready for pure laziness. Said laziness does not include shopping, packing, planning, and making reservations then all the fuss of flying out of the country. Our long weekend was everything we wanted it to be, which was, quite plainly, a weekend of splendid nothingness. We brought games and puzzles, movies and computers. We had internet access and excellent cell service. We had an air hockey table, fooseball table and an Xbox. However, we didn't finish the puzzle we started. We played air hockey once (8-6, Chip, if you must know), I never caught up on blogging like I had planned. We watched 3 of 5 movies we brought. Mainly, we layed around and did nothing and in between all that we sat in the hot tub while inches and inches of snow fell around us all weekend. We watched really bad 90's movies and went to bed early. We ate meals whenever we wanted and snacked like we were getting ready to hibernate for the winter. It was absolute heaven.

We had to come home a night early though because of the threat of worse weather, which actually turned out to BE something for once. A whole 7 inches of something, actually. School was closed for 3 days and at the end of those 3 days, I was definitely ready for the kids to go back to school, for many reasons. Like, for example: They need a routine. Running around the house getting out every single toy we own while staying in your pj's until your 5:00 bathtime, only to put on more, cleaner pj's is not exactly the "structure" we're going for these days. Also, I miss work. I need my structure and my routine, too. I love spending time with the kids, making cookies, eating cinnemon rolls or pancakes for breakfast because we actually have time in the mornings, playing in the snow for hours at a time, having the time to make ice cream from playdough and race cars all day long because we have no where to be! I also love that we can do ALL of those things and so much more, all while also having time to start and finish all my laundry, clean the kitchen and cook dinner every night. However, there's a fine line between the need for fun and quality time and the need for structure and normalcy. After the weekend then 3 snow days, it's time for Mother Nature to allow Mr. Structure to take over our lives again.

Meanwhile though...

The kid can make a sled out of anything, including the ultra-safe 4-wheel drive from the garage.

White Christmas

It was a record breaking Christmas day here in East Tennessee, and no, it had nothing to do with the amount of new toys we were able to pack into our house. For the first time in, well I don't remember... a really long time, we saw significant snow fall on Christmas Day. It happened quite surprisingly, rather quickly, and in a pretty good amount (again, for East Tennessee!). We were able to enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of it on Christmas but then we got to enjoy the FEEL of it in the couple of days following. I never thought anything in this world could pull our kids from their "new" playroom the day after Christmas, but by-golly, 4 inches of snow can do it and do it quickly!

If I photoshop a really cute family on the front step, I could have our 2011 Christmas card finished by June.
I don't know. I really don't. I can tell you that no, your eyes do not deceive you. This is broccoli on his head, radishes as his eyes and carrots as both the mouth and nose. Oddly enough, he has real buttons down his midsection. Meet "Mr. Vegetable Snowman." And, that's all I'll say about that.I just can't ever seem to get Cooper to sit still long enough to pose, but it sure leaves some grand opportunities for awfully adorable daddy-daughter pictures!

Kendall in action!

He ended this ride down the hill in uncontrollable giggles and some pretty big "woo-HOO's."

Cooper has enjoyed sledding with all the big neighborhood kids this year. We're lucky in that we have the steepest hill in the neighborhood and don't have to walk or drive anywhere to let the kids sled (or, more importantly, watch all the big kids sled as fast as possible into our fence).

I know. I know. I can hear my mother, my grandmother, my mother-in-law... all of you, I hear you. But look, their outfits WITHOUT coats were much cuter for photos than with their big bulky jackets. It was only for a few minutes and then I promise I got them quickly bundled back up, hats, gloves and all.

Christmas Day during a break in the snowfall

That "fog" you see in the background is actually the snow-covered mountains!

Although this is very, very late, The Wild Webbs hope your Christmas was as splendidly wonderful as you deserve... And we know you deserved quite a bit! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I feel like that may have been my title for last year's Christmas blog, but Mr. Blogger let me do it, so I'm going with it. It was definitely a different feeling this year than years' past. A big link was missing to our chain of events for the days surrounding Christmas. We always go to Vovo and Eddie's on Christmas Eve and it was a bittersweet visit this year. There was definitely a big piece of our tradition missing at the dinner table and during the gift-opening. It was the first time in as long as I can remember that no one opened Old Spice as his gift! We got a little crazy with our traditional gingerbread house and decided to venture into the gingerbread VILLAGE this year. There was a little too much construction experience needed for my liking but it turned out well and the kids enjoyed eating the candy off the village just as much as they do off of just the house (in other words, they couldn't have cared less whether we had 1 building or 120, just as long as there was candy involved).

The Christmas Eve kids photo. It'll never be perfect and it'll never turn out with all people looking at the camera with smiles on their faces at the same time. But there are just some photos that are better than others, even if they aren't "perfect." My apologies to Ashlynn, who may or may not like this photo being on the internet!!!

Minus Ashlynn, this could be a contender for the framable Christmas Eve pic. I love Sam's lips, even though I have no idea what he's doing, and Cooper's Ironman helmet is a nice touch as well.

I'm digging Sam's new look.

Ahhh, the Kids Table!

We loved the pj's from Kori and Kali so much that we had to change into them at 1PM! Makes total sense to me!

The Christmas Day cousin photo, Sam not pictured. He was happily napping when this photo was taken.

There may have been a few things missing during our Christmas festivities this year, but that doesn't make it any less meaningful and special. We missed Vovo A LOT during the holidays but Christmas is always about counting your blessings (in my opinion) and with all that can go wrong in your life, I promise we still have lots to be grateful for. It would have been easy to crawl in a private little hole in our own house this year and not come out until 2011. By doing that, though, we would have missed out on all the amazing friends and family that we still have in our lives. We would have missed so much fun, love and laughter in addition to the warm, fuzzy feeling in our hearts that we get from being surrounded by such love. What fun is that?