Precious Little Parts

This precious, sweet and radiant smile

will help her go the extra mile.

And deep inside, a soul and heart,

destined to special from the start.

America the Beautiful

My patriotic little girl knows the Pledge of Allegiance and when reciting it, she insists that everyone within hearing range place their hands over their hearts.

This evening, she followed it up with her own rendition of America the Beautiful.

In perfect pitch, she sang ...

"America, America, God shed His FACE on ME.

And crown THE good with brotherhood, from sea to shining SNEEZE."

Love this girl!

Happy Easter!

The weather may not have cooperated, and it wasn't the picture-perfect Easter I was hoping for, but it was beautiful, nonetheless. I had envisioned getting some great pictures of Oakley at her first Easter egg hunt, amidst the daffodils and budding trees, but it didn't happen this year. Easter came so early (MARCH?!?!) and we're still feeling the effects of winter weather around here.

Oakley actually got to participate in an egg hunt at school last week, and the weather just happened to be glorious that day. Unfortunately, it was one of the few occasions that I didn't have my camera in tow. She came home with lots of brightly colored Easter eggs, too much candy, and a chocolate smile a mile-wide!! My girl loves her chocolate!


We missed the neighborhood egg hunt yesterday because Sawyer had a soccer game in Louisville and Hagan had two games. Since Michael and I were forced to divide and conquer, Oakley went with me and Sawyer to Louisville and Mike took Hagan and Sullivan.

After the game we spent a little time at the mall in search of something new for Sawyer to wear to church today, and I honestly believe Oakley had more fun there than she would have had hunting eggs in thirty degree weather at 9:30am. After all, she lunched at Chick-Fil-A and she got to shop.

Along with chocolate, Chick-Fil-A and shopping at the mall are among her favorite things.

The kids all woke up this morning at about 8:30 (a nice reprieve) and bounded down the steps in search of their Easter baskets. The bunny was good to Oakley this year and she received a pink tiara and wand, some bubbles, the movie Enchanted, some bath toys, a sweet little bunny rabbit (that she's carried around all day), and more candy than she possibly needs.

The boys were just as thrilled with their finds and Sullivan (my sweet-tooth boy) has organized all of his candy in baggies! He takes his candy seriously, and he even wrote Oakley's name on her Peeps this afternoon just in case her brothers might mistake them for their own.


















Our Easter service at church was wonderful and Oakley was a gem. She sings every song and when she doesn't know the words, she just makes them up. I loved seeing all the children dressed in the Easter finery and Oakley was excited to wear her new dress. After church we came home, had lunch, and Oakley and I both fell asleep watching Enchanted. I woke up feeling refreshed and Mike and I prepared Easter dinner together.

We had a wonderful Easter and we're all really looking forward to warmer weather!

Is There a Doctor in the House?

On a recent trip to the Explorium, our local children's museum, Oakley happened upon the nursery area, complete with a baby doll, a scale and a big black doctor's bag!! And there she remained ... for a long time.

She put on her lab coat, hung the stethoscope around her neck, and she went to work.

I guess she thought that baby doll was due for a thorough exam. That poor baby was prodded, bathed, weighed, and given multiple vaccinations. Then she had her ears examined repeatedly and her heartbeat checked over and over and over again.
Oakley LOVED that doctor bag. She also really likes band-aids and she can see non-existent boo boos that need to be tended. And if she catches anyone in the house taking medicine, she immediately claims to be sick and insists that she needs some too.

I like to think that maybe she has a future in the medical profession.

But I guess she could just be a hypochondriac.