MoseleyWorld

Time is flying.  This summer, Samantha will celebrate her first birthday and Saxon will turn three.

Slowly, but surely seeming to getting caught up, while actually falling more behind in the documenting of stories from the land o’ Moseley. The first set of photographs were taken during a visit to my parents (who are know known by their aliases, Gran and Yaya). We visited at the end of March. East Texas, with its dogwoods and azaleas in full bloom, is always prettiest in the spring.

Sister entertaining themselves on a mini-trampoline.

mom joins in on the fun.

and, of course, Saxon wanted to stay in the car, even after a 2 1/2 hour ride.

The following photographs were taken a week or two later, at the Dallas Arboretum, with Gran.

Saxon loves to have books read to her. And, I love how she wants to understand everything that’s happening on each & every page. Saxon has figured out most of the facial expressions she sees in books, but when she sees one that is not an obvious happy smile or sad frown, we get asked, "What’s her mouth doing? "

Seeing the photograph of her Aunt Teresa (her current Facebook profile pic) would DEFINITELY elicit a quick "What’s her mouth doing?" or "What’s Aunt Teresa doing with her mouth." Saxon really wants to know. So, we guess. For Aunt Teresa, I’d make the same face and say, "She’s saying ‘Hmm…I don’t know about that.’" Try it. It’s not as easy as it sounds, and Saxon can smell a bluff a mile away.

Samantha, who is 8 months old, really enjoys being read to as well. In fact, she’s progressed from trying to eat the book to smiling and laughing each time a new page is turned. Another future reader.

SaxonSpeak
At 2.5, Saxon has a good vocabulary, but has recently decided to supplement it with a peppering of made up words like cronconk (or is it spelled kronkonk?). The other day, Saxon burst into the bathroom. Tying the sash from a bathrobe around her head, Saxon announced, "This is my shonshrake, it protects me from monsters…I’m going to go in there," pointing toward the closet.

Playing along, I said, "Is that your castle, Saxon?" She looked at me and deadpanned, "Uh, no Dada, that’s a closet."

Samantha Update
This morning, Samantha stood, on her on, for about 6 or 7 seconds. Those first steps are going to come any day now. Carey reports from Atlanta, where she and the girls are spending the weekend with the Fassnachts (older girl cousins are almost like princesses, says Saxon), that Samantha’s third tooth - the first one on top - has finally broken through. Oh, and this week, Samantha decided to start practicing her words. So far, I can make out: ma ma ma ma ma, ba ba ba ba ba and my favorite blah blah blah blah…

Family Additions
Saxon and Samantha have a new cousin. Patrick Reed arrived April 17. Congratulations to Carey’s sister, Ashley and her husband Michael.

Some random photographs taken in the last couple of months to share with you.

samantha is seven months old now. last month, she began crawling. like her big sister, samantha completely skipped the “potted plant” (can sit up but can’t go any where) stage and is always on the go, quite frustrated that she cannot walk unassisted like the rest of us.

cutie pies

saxon with mimi

samantha  with gran

samantha

It took a while, but Saxon is finally understanding her mom and dad (a) were little babies and little kids just like her and (b) may have looked any different than they do today.  I found a photograph of Carey, circa late 80’s (big hair and all) and showed it to Saxon, who had a puzzled look on her face when I asked if she knew who that person was.

When I told her who it was, Saxon immediately replied, “That’s not my mommy, her hair is too furry.” Later when I showed it to her in front of Carey, Saxon said, “that’s not you mommy, her hair is too big.”

The other day, Saxon looked at me and said, “Daddy, you don’t have any hair. Samantha doesn’t have any hair. Mommy has hair and I have hair, but you, Daddy, don’t have any hair.” I heard her the first time.

By popular request, here’s a picture of Saxon and Yadi, her nanny. Saxon’s wearing her “white princess dress” made by her Aunt Christy and her “slippers.”

Saxon is just shy of being 30 months. Carey says I can stop quoting Saxon’s age in months now. So, since Saxon is almost 2.5 years old, I thought we should post some current photos.

Carey took these photographs of Saxon trying on her mom’s cowboy hat (yes, Saxon is trying it on backwards  - she’s just two and doesn’t live on a ranch, so cut her a little slack).