He's Nine!

A big happy birthday to our best boy on his ninth birthday.

You're growing up awful fast, buddy.  Slow down, would ya!  Thank goodness we have photographs to remind us how you used to be so little.

Like this one, when you're four, tuckered out, and sunburned, sitting with your dad and Uncle Pat, on Pawleys Island.  

And this one when you're two, on Dewees Island, giving the photographer what-for.

And this one when you're three, and trying very, very hard to sit still.

And this one, when you're five, working on your camera smile.

And this one at three, at the Knoxville Zoo, plainly tickled about it.

Another one when you're three, with your sister, right before bed.

Four, at your birthday party.  You and your dad have always been good friends.

I love this one, when you're two, dressed up for Halloween and a bit uncertain about it.

And this one, when you're six, hiking at Glacier National Park.

This is your third birthday party, a festival of trucks.  Now you love Legos like you used to love trucks.

But you still like to ham it up, like you did at two.

You can be serious, too.  Five, on the beach in Tulum, Mexico.

Not quite one, having dinner out with your family.

Eight, with a new Christmas present.

We love you, buddy!  Happy birthday!

Not Exactly

On seeing the Knoxville Opera's billboard for an upcoming version of Romeo and Juliette:

Boy Wonder:  Mom, what's Romeo and Juliet?

Me:  Well, it's a tragic love story about two young people.  They're in love, but their families hate each other, and the young people end up dying because their families can't get along.  Then their families are really torn up.  It's a famous play, by William Shakespeare.

Boy Wonder:  Oh, so exactly like Gnomeo and Juliet then.

Me:  . . . 

Me:  NOT EXACTLY.

Youthquake!

Farm Girls (Christmas 2011)

A picture of Miss M and her besty first cousin, Laura, on a hike this past Christmas at the family farm.

Here they are at the beach several years ago.  The girls are growing up!

On the Fence