Fun with the Featherstons

Some sweet friends moved into our neighborhood this semester and we’ve been able to get together a few times.

We were supposed to meet at the pool this day, but the weather didn’t appear to be cooperating so we decided to stay in instead. It turned out to be a really sunny day anyway, as evidenced by the kids requesting sunglasses during dinner.


These little guys are too cute.


The best part of the night was the fresh corn on the cob that I cooked. Oh, wait. No. We didn't have the corn because I shucked it, cleaned it, cooked it (to perfection, I'm sure), buttered each piece, salt & peppered it, and then placed it in the oven to keep warm. There it remained for a day and a half. Hostess of the year, folks.

Oh well... yay for friend/neighbors (freighbors?) that still love you even after you forget the corn. :)

Gracie is 4!

Quick Stats:
31.8 pounds
3 feet 2 inches tall


Birthday Questionnaire:

1. What is your favorite color?
Purple

2. What is your favorite toy?
My Little Ponies – Princess Celestia

3. What is your favorite fruit?
Peanut Butter Apples

4. What is your favorite T.V. show?
Dora the Explorer

5. What is your favorite food?
Purple Pancakes

6. What is your favorite snack
Fruit Snacks

7. What is your favorite animal?
A lion

8. What is your favorite song?
“A” Your Adorable

9. What is your favorite book?
Mouse Soup

10. Who is your best friend?
Avery, Tanner, & Addison

11. What is your favorite cereal?
Dora Cereal & “Blueberry Cereal” (Special K Blueberry)

12. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A princess and take care of animals in a pet store


 My sweet Peanut – you are four today. Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR. You are so grown up and still so little at the same time. You have taken to heart my request to stop growing and you often pray for Jesus to keep you little. You have also assured me, on more than one occasion, that you will stop having birthdays when you’re 89. I’m not sure why you think that is a comfort to me. :)

The best word I can think of to describe you is sweet. I know that sounds generic, but that’s just who you are. Your little voice, the way you play with others, your sensitivity, the things you love to do and talk about… it’s all just sweet. Two examples just from today: you rushed downstairs this morning to make sure I knew you wanted a birthday DINNER instead of a lunch because you wanted to be sure Ben could come (he had school today). Also, you asked, because it was “your day”, if Ben could sleep in your bed with you tonight. As I write this ya’ll are squished in there together, snug as two bugs.


You are also VERY sensitive and you wear your heart on your sleeve. I know kids say crazy things in passing that they don’t think about or even mean, but it breaks my heart to watch you get crushed by words. “So and so doesn’t want to be my friend” or “so and so laughed at my dress”. I pray that God will guard your sweet heart as you grow up and that he will use your sensitivity and compassion in a mighty, mighty way to serve and care for others!

While you are super sweet 90% of the time, you are also sharp as a tack and you don’t let things go very easily. Daddy thought it would be funny to put the fake tattoo that you got at school on himself a couple weeks ago. You are STILL talking about it. You reminded me today that “Daddy took my tattoo.” I explained, again, that you needed to forgive Daddy and forget about it. You answered, “I’m not mad at Daddy, Mommy, I’m not. I’m just SAD at him. That was my only tattoo ever.” A tad bit dramatic. You sure can construct a pretty solid argument, too. I guess the apple didn’t fall far from the tree there. Your poor Daddy… he has to deal with BOTH of us.


You are my velcro baby, my partner in crime. When the boys are doing their thing your favorite past time is to hang out with me. You are so affirming and loving. You are as girly as they come. You are snuggly. You love to present me with hypothetical situations that would result in you ending up in my bed… just to see if I’ll take the bait. I’ll let you in on a little secret… I will almost always take the bait! You’ve got me wrapped around that little finger of yours!

You still have most of the same interests as last year: Care Bears, My Little Ponies, animals, princesses (especially dressing up in your costumes), Dora, reading books, & playing with friends. You LOVE our little neighbor, Addison, and ask to play with her every day. You also love Avery and you bring her up often. The Collins called to wish you a Happy Birthday today and you said, “I love you, Avery!” as soon as you got her on the phone (or maybe it was after you told her about your presents and said “I’m FOUR!”)


You still LOVE LOVE LOVE music. You and I have to take turns choosing music in the car. Today you got to pick all the songs because it was your day (as you kept reminding us). It was a pretty eclectic mix on the way to Bible Study:

1) “A You’re Adorable”
(Your dance recital song – from the 50’s)

2) “Gracie” by Ben Folds

3) “Beat it” by Michael Jackson

4) “Thriller” by Michael Jackson (you and Ben are on a bit of an MJ kick lately – so much so that Noah is more adept at singing “Beat it” than he is the ABC’s)

5) The wedding song from Twilight

6) “We are never getting back together” by Taylor Swift

Speaking of your dance recital, your first ever performance is next month. I’m so excited to see how you do. You know EVERY SINGLE WORD to your song and you sing along as though you’re on Broadway. Watching you rehearse is the cutest thing ever. You cracked me up the other day when you said, “Ben, I’m going to sing my song, and then you should clap for me.” I hope that you don’t get nervous and clam up because you sure know your stuff!


My sweet teeny Gracie Belle – you are such a joy. You bring the perfect amount of spunky girly drama to our crazy clan. You can be wearing a Snow White dress one minute, and wrestling and tumbling (ROUGHLY) with the boys the next ~ usually still wearing the dress and heels. I watched you kick a soccer ball around for the first time the other day and you might be quite the little athlete, too. You are outgoing, loud, friendly, loud, talkative and a little loud. I wish I could bottle up everything about the little girl you and keep it forever… except for maybe the loud part. I am so proud of you and I think you are so beautiful inside and outside. I am so glad God picked me to be your Mommy!


Happy Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!
I love you as big as the sky!

Gracie’s Day

Gracie has been asking each day, for a little over a week, “which day is my birthday?” When Wednesday finally rolled around, she was over the moon. She continued to remind us throughout the day that it was “her” day. I don’t know where she gets his from. Ahem.

Anyway, we started our day with BSF ~ it was the last class of the year. It’s about a 25 minute drive so, in honor of “her day”, Grace had the privilege of being the DJ the whole way there. (Normally we take turns). Her playlist was well thought out and eclectic (as always). :)

When we got home from bible study, Brian had flowers and a special present for her.


Admiring her first set of pearls.


Daddy’s little girl!


After lunch we played until it was time to get Ben from school. My favorite part of the day came when Grace showed Ben her new necklace.

Ben: Are those REAL pearls, Daddy?

Brian: Yep

Ben: WOW! Congratulations, Gracie! You’re wearing a necklace of old parasites.

Oh my gosh, that kid.

Ben, Grace & the parasites came home and everyone rested while I worked a bit. When they woke up, we headed to Gracie’s favorite restaurant for her dinner of choice. In her words, “ALAMO CAFÉ IT IS!”

I tried to get a few pics of her outside the restaurant, but she was over me & my camera.


We had another little surprise for her in the restaurant:


Our neighbors came to meet us – Addison is one of Gracie’s favorite friends! We had a yummy dinner and then sang “Happy Birthday”. Gracie was all ready to blow out her FOUR candles.


Until she realized that her Daddy had bought trick candles. Poor girl. She huffed and puffed and blew each of those candles out at least three times. So I guess that makes her 12.


Lauren also stopped by to say “hi” and give Gracie a present. She was stick-her-tongue out excited.


After dinner we headed home to open a few small presents. Her favorite was a Dora the Explorer backpack and a Dora camera & set of keys. She’s been exploring all over the house ever since.

I hope “your day” was super special, Gracie! You are the cutest, most fun 4 year old that I know! Love you!

Unusual Visitors

We were surprised to see this in our side yard yesterday…


In case you can’t spot them, it wasn’t just one duck… she had a clutch of ducklings waddling behind.


Actually, there were TWO big ducks plus all the littles. One of the adults immediately started flying around and quacking at me when I stepped outside. I grabbed a few pictures and then left them to themselves – I could tell they were totally freaked out.


I’m assuming they wandered over from the wooded area that backs up to the street next to ours. I think they’re Black Bellied Whistling Ducks – which are a type of tree duck that nests in hollowed out trees or on the ground. (Thank you, Wikipedia.) Also, both parents share in the duckling-raising duties. Way to be present, Daddy Duck. Sorry for giving you such a fright. Feel free to come back to visit anytime. :)

Mom Failure

Oh my word, I have been on the ball with the kids this week. And by on the ball, I mean failing in every possible way on multiple fronts. I’m not talking about my normal, every day mom failures (voice raising, patience losing, etc). Those are a constant struggle. I’m talking about the ones where you forget things that are going on at your kids' school or activities. If you ask sweet Ben, he will tell you that I am EXCELLING in this department lately.

 

This brings me to an important point. If you’re going to be a failure, just do it all out. Own it. If you forget something that you were supposed to do or prepare on day 1, don’t tell yourself, “Oh, well, I’ll just make up for it tomorrow.” That kind of thinking is for sissies. Fail big or go home… that’s my motto.

 

So, without further adieu, a brief recap of the week’s failures thus far:

 

Monday – “Stuffed Animal Reading Day”

 

Instructions – Please bring your favorite book and stuffed animal to school for our reading day.

What we did – NOTHING. Totally forgot about the whole “Week of the Young Child” thing at school.

 

Ben’s take on things when I apologized for Monday’s shortcomings: “That’s Ok, Mom. Mrs. Mancias let me borrow one of her stuffed animals.”

 

 

Tuesday– “Scarf or Tie Tuesday”

 

Instructions – Dress for success by wearing your favorite scarf or tie.

 

What we did – NADA. Forgot. Again.

 

Bonus points – It was 90º and Ben went to school wearing long pants and a long sleeve thermal shirt.

 

 

Wednesday – “Crazy Sock Day”

 

Instructions – Wear a pair of your craziest socks because we are CRAZY about reading.

 

What we did – Ok… I didn’t forget today’s activity. However, the closest thing Ben has to crazy socks is a brown/orange/blue argyle pair that match his Christmas sweater from year before last. So we just changed it from “Crazy Sock Day” to “Distinguished Grandpa Sock Day”.

 

The grandpa socks seemed to appease Ben because when I picked him up from school he said, “Thanks for reminding me to wear these socks so I didn’t have to feel left out.” Ouch.

 

What most kids were wearing at school:

 

 

What Paw Paw Ben wore to sock day:

 

 

Nailed it.

 

Bonus Points: On top of it being crazy sock day at school, it was also crazy hair night at Awana. Ben has a crew cut. I didn’t have the forethought to buy a can of that spray hair dye.

 

At drop off Ben says, “I guess my hair is too short for crazy hair day. Too bad… I think we get bonus points if we do things like crazy hair night.”

 

Double ouch. Let’s move on to…

 

Thursday– “Fiesta Flair Day”

 

Instructions – Kick off the San Antonio Fiesta by wearing your fiesta flair. Viva Fiesta!

 

“What is Fiesta?” you ask. Good luck figuring that out… I’ve lived here nearly 12 years and I still don’t understand it. It’s some sort of San Antonio holiday, similar in some ways to Mardi Gras (parades, carnivals, parties, etc). The kids get a day off of school because at some point in the city's history some people gathered together at the Alamo and threw flowers at each other. You can read all about it here.

 

Anyway, your guess is as good as mine as to what constitutes Fiesta flair… I asked some friends and these are the tips I got:

 

1. Dress him up in bright fun colors, wear those colored beads… or get him a sombrero, moustache, bright shirt, black slacks, and a sarape to put over his shirt.

 

2. I think a guayabera is what boys would wear.

 

3. Run by the fiesta store on main... They have lots of fiesta flair!

 

I love these dear friends, but who are they kidding… I couldn’t be trusted to spray Ben’s hair green or send him to school with an ALREADY OWNED stuffed animal. I can’t even PROUNOUNCE Guayaberas, and there was certainly not going to be any “running by the Fiesta Store”- which happens to be downtown - to pick up Sarapes, Sombreros, & Moustaches.

 

So, this is how Ben when to school.

 

 

I sure hope “guayabera” can be loosely translated to mean “blue plaid shirt from your closet.” Oh, and the headwear is a party favor cowboy hat with the sheriff’s star yanked off. I call it the “Faux-brero”.

 

Anyhoo – that’s how things are going around here. Tomorrow is Spirit Day and Ben is supposed to wear his school t-shirt. There is a 50% chance said shirt is in the dirty clothes basket. I should double check and stick it in there even if it’s not dirty. No sense ruining my track record with some sort of mini success tomorrow.

Ben’s Baptism

This past summer was a huge time of growth for Ben’s faith. In July, he aged out of the children’s wing and started coming with us to “big church” (as he calls it). His routine is to stand on a chair or in the aisle during praise & worship so that he can read the words on the screen and sing along – it’s so awesome to watch him! Then he settles in with the children’s bulletin (which has word puzzles and scripture lessons in it) while Max or Randy are delivering the message. I’ve wondered if I should ask him to put his colors down and listen, but he apparently can do two things at once because he usually has a few great questions or comments for us after each service. The messages seemed to be really stirring things in his heart and encouraging him.

At the end of the summer, I was baptized, and Ben’s attention was captured by the whole experience. A few nights later, at bedtime, he told his Daddy that he wanted to ask Jesus into his heart. Bri and I sat with him and talked and then prayed together. I am so grateful that the Holy Spirit moved in my sweet boy’s heart and that he feels called to know and walk with Jesus!

Since then, Ben’s asked about being baptized a few times and we honestly just haven’t gotten around to making it happen. God is good and He knows Ben’s heart better than we do, so on Good Friday he took away any and all road blocks. We were in church for the Easter service and Randy was speaking about baptism. Brian was sitting in between me and Ben when Ben whispered something to him and he whispered back. Then, because we’re so well-behaved in church, this happened.

Me: What did Ben say?

Bri: He wants to be baptized.

Me: What did YOU say?

Bri: I said that was really good,
 and we would talk about it.

Me: There are a ton of ministers outside today to talk with people that want to be baptized.
We should just do it.

Brian: OK.

And that was that. Brian took Ben outside to meet with one of the ministers and I went down to the children’s wing to pick up Grace & Noah.

While we were waiting, Ben told me that he was jittery on the inside. He was all smiles and so excited. I am grateful that I happened to have the camera with us (I’d just taken pics of the kids in their Easter clothes) so we were able to capture the whole thing.


All smiles! Love him!


I wish I could have heard what he was saying. (We were mostly trying to keep Noah & Grace from going for a swim.)


I was able to get a brief video. It’s a little jumpy since I only had one free hand. (Again, other hand was restraining Noah).

Congratulations, Ben!


One of the elders who baptized Ben encouraged us to go home and have him talk about or write down what he thought and how he felt. He had a Bible and a journal in his Easter basket, so I wrote a scripture and a couple questions for him on the first page.

This was the scripture I asked him to look up:

1 Peter 3: 18-22 Christ died for sins once and for all time. The One who did what is right died for those who don’t do right. He died to bring you to God. His body was put to death. But the Holy Spirit brought him back to life. By means of the spirit, Christ went and preached to the spirits in prison. Long ago they did not obey. God was patient while Noah was building the ark. He waited, but only a few people went into the ark. A total of eight were saved by means of water. The water of the flood is a picture of the baptism that now saves you also. The baptism I’m talking about has nothing to do with removing dirt from your body. Instead, it promises God that you will keep a clear sense of what is right and wrong. Jesus Christ has saved you by rising from the dead. He has gone into heaven. He is at God’s right hand. Angels, authorities and powers are under his control.

I asked him to write two things that he learned from reading that and he wrote:

1. Christ died for our sins, and

2. He was risen by the Holy Spirit.

I also asked him to write about what he felt like when he was baptized and he wrote:

“When I was baptized, it felt like the Holy Spirit was rushing through me like a whirlwind! It felt good.”

I am SOOO glad that we were given the idea to have Ben record his own thoughts… I hope it helps him to remember the experience as he grows.


Thank you, Jesus, for our Ben. Thank you for loving him even more than we do, which is so hard to understand, but so awesome at the same time!

Congratulations, Benji! We are so proud of you!

Their Easter Best

There’s not much cuter than little bitties in Easter clothes. It just takes some ruffles and a couple neck ties to convert my gremlins into cherubs! Here they are in their Sunday Friday finest and ready for church.
 

 

Ben can really rock a tie – this is a skill that his handsome Daddy has passed down. :)

 

 

Our future President. Vote for Ben.

 

 

Gracie is just getting too big too fast. 

 

 

She is such a little lady... 

 

 

and she is pleased as can be to let me dress her up!

 

 

Noah is happy to report that every girl’s crazy ‘bout a sharp dressed man.

 

 

Happy Easter!!!