Catch up

Well, I’m back after another long hiatus and I have lots of stories to tell! Lawson & Bella are growing like weeds! Lawson will be 5 in May and Bella Grace will be 2 & I am mesmerized by how quickly time flies when you are watching your children grow. Lawson was recently tested for Kindergarten and when the teacher walked out she said “Wow, he’s a talker!” He tested very well and had lots of great answers to her questions like when she asked what his Daddy does rather than responding with his usual “Mingledorffs” answer he said “he cuts grass & bushes and he bees my best friend” She loved that answer though it did leave her thinking Lawson’s daddy is a landscaper He apparently also told her about his Daddy’s dog who is in Heaven and then as we pulled out of the parking lot he realized he didn’t tell her about his Granddaddy so he wanted to go back but we convinced him he could do that next time. She must have been showing him pictures of happy, sad, angry, etc. and she said when she got to the angry picture Lawson said “I don’t think he’s angry, he’s just grumpy!” The teacher also wrote on his evaluation “loads of personality” several times. That’s no surprise to those of us who have loved and known Lawson over his last 5 years! All went well and when I asked him about it afterwards he said “Mom, I liked her berry much and wish I could stay with her everyday” Wow, what a blessing that was to hear! I am sure that might change when school starts but it blessed my heart for the time being. Almost every night after devotion he asks me to lay down with him and I can’t always honor that request because if I do I will fall asleep leaving no time for me and Brad so whenever I decline he will tell me that I am breaking his heart and he usually ends up calling me in his room a few times to further negotiate and those conversations are always pretty good & I always end our conversations by “I love you” and he says “if you loved me, you would lay down with me.” He has always been a sweet little thing in that he always makes a big fuss over whatever people give him so for Valentine’s his Daddy picked him up three little tee shirts at Target that cost next to nothing and he LOVES them in typical Lawson fashion! When he puts something on that he knows his friends at school will like he will often say “they are gonna love this cool baby!” Thus, was this the case when he put on his favorite T-Rex shirt this morning. Poor thing had been waiting on it to get clean all week and you would have thought I handed him a lifetime pass to Disney world when I handed him that shirt this morning. As soon as we entered the doors of his school he ripped his jacket off to show off his new shirt to everyone in his path! One thing he has started doing that I love and always makes us smile is during devotion is when he is praying for whoever he is praying for he will pray for all sorts of things like “please help Sally to mind her parents & teachers and please help her to not pitch a fit when it is time to go to bed & bless her family & Lord, bless her heart, dear Lord we pray, Amen.” He has started asking the Lord to bless people’s hearts probably because he hears me and all the Southern women he is around blessing folks’ hearts all the time! Bless his little heart

Bella is just growing and coming into her own. She has the cutest little personality & can definitely hold her own against her big brother. They tell me at daycare that it is evident that she has a big brother because she tends to be a little rough with the other kids and can definitely stick up for herself. She and Lawson had a battle of wills at the dinner table the other night and if I thought I could slip away and grab the video camera without interrupting their discussion I so would have! Lawson sits at one table end and BG at the other & Bella had just been reprimanded by me for telling me “no” in her snappiest little tone & it is a constant battle to teach Lawson that Brad and I are the parents Bella so he doesn’t always have to set her straight so this night he said “Bella, you better not talk back to your Momma young lady” and she started fussing at him or actually just cutting him off. Each time he would begin a sentence to tell her something she would kind of just make a loud noise and cut him off and for those of you who know Lawson he isn’t stopping until he has been heard so he continued trying to talk until he got so frustrated at being cut off that he just roared like a lion at her to which she responded with an even louder roar. It was hysterical to watch! So after that we all ended up laughing at it One last sweet story about our baby girl…..one of my husband’s daily practices for the last several years is to hit his knees and pray to God before doing anything else in the morning so he literally rolls out of bed, hits his knees and says his prayers before heading to the shower so one particular morning recently Bella Grace ended up in our bed and I headed off to work early so Brad was on daycare duty that day. He said he did his usual routine and rolled off the bed and hit his knees but this day was different because when he turned to get up he looked to his left and there was this precious baby girl with blonde curls kneeled right beside him with her head bowed, eyes closed and elbows propped on the bed just like her Daddy. It melted his heart and mine too when he told me. Wish I could have captured that moment on film! Lawson has never known any other way to pray because he has always seen his Daddy pray that way so when we started praying and doing devotions with him a couple of years ago he didn’t know any other way to pray so now you can find all three of us on our knees every night about 9 p.m. I think BG might have been telling us she is ready to join in on the devotions. Until next time…..blessings to your and yours!