Hilton Head Redux

Well- just so I won't forget it- I'm going to post some pics from my wonderful girl trip to Hilton Head. It was a quick trip- but so much fun. Here are Catherine and Christy-we drove up Friday night and stayed on the beach and spent Saturday SLEEPING IN and then walking on the beach and reading books and talking about everything you can imagine. We spent Saturday night eating outside and getting ice cream and staying up late talking.

Sunday we drove to Savanah and went to church at the Cathedral. Oh my goodness- it was like heaven on earth- SO BEAUTIFUL and the choir was gorgeous as well.

Why do we not build more beautiful things now that we have the technology to do it so much easier? Savanah was gorgeous- even the old fences, homes, sidewalks, and fountains were nicer than what we make today. It is worth it to make something beautiful.

The priest was so kind and offered to pray a prayer of blessing for Catherine who is 9 months pregnant- yes, I said 9 months. :)

A wonderful, quick trip. But I'm glad to be home.

My mom and her sister, my Aunt Judy, came to stay with us Monday and Tuesday. They were doing a sisters trip of Alabama and going to all the old homes and cemeteries and towns that meant something to them. They went to Dothan, Headland, Opelika, Montgomery, Evergreen and Birmingham. I think they had a blast. I loved having them here, we went to the art museum and an antique store and one night we went out for Mexican and Marc watched the kids (I know...the man is a saint).
In other news Marky and Julia had their 5 and 3 year check-ups respectively. Marky is still two years ahead on size and Julia is TOO! The doctor predicted she could be 6 feet tall. She is the size of an "average" 5-year-old. Goodness. She is such a baby to me, I don't realize how tall she is. Alright- no time to read blogs tonight- but I hope I can tomorrow night- I want to know what everyone has been up to!

Hilton Head

Just got in from a girl's weekend to Hilton Head.....so wonderful! Catch up soon! P.S. Yes, my husband kept ALL THREE bambinos for me to go!

To Blog or not to Blog

...I chose not to. At least for this past week- we were very busy. I've had so many interesting things I wanted to talk about and just no time to get to a computer. We keep our computer downstairs, which is the basement, but we live upstairs most of the time so I almost never get on the computer until late at night when the kids are in bed and then I'm too tired to do too much. Where do you keep your computer? I can't decide where the best place is. I don't want to be tempted to be on it too much- but at the same time I'd like Marky to use it more often and I'd like to use it for recipes and stuff. Anyway...

This week I went to this:

... and was amazed at the talent on the stage. The voices of the lead characters filled the theater.


While I was at that- Marc and the kids went to this:



because we believe in freedom of speech and freedom to dissent, unlike some major news networks we know of.

Then my inlaws got here Thursday-Tuesday to finally meet baby Tucker! We haven't seen them since August. On Friday we went to Anniston to the museum of natural history and the Berman museum of world history which my father-in-law especially loved. Then on Saturday we went to Tannehill State Park and went to their flea market thingy and rode the train, ate ice cream at a old-fashioned candy place and then played on a playground in the woods. It was wonderful. I took almost no pictures of the entire weekend.

They left this morning and now I'm running to the movies for an intervention. As I talked to a close, close friend of mine (whom you likely know) tonight, she let me know that she was at the grocery store getting cupcakes and icecream and a magazine and I said, "what's going on?!" and she said, "it's one of those nights." So I'm running out to cheer up the day and we are going to see 17 Again. Good times!

Update: I figured out a sure fire way to get her out of the blues was to match her t-shirt with mine so we could laugh hysterically as we walked around. We raced to see who could buy tickets and get inside first and then cackled through the movie. Then we went back to her house so she could show me funny, fat pictures of me that she had found. I hope she feels better....I mean, a little self-deprecation for the good of another person is noble, right?

Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! I hope you had a good day!

Our kids slept to a decent hour (yay!) and then woke to find their Easter baskets filled with candy, a coloring book, bubbles, chalk and a paddle ball. I got a paddle ball in everyone of my Easter baskets, so my kids will too. (Yes, they were broken by lunch time).

Then we made our "empty tomb" biscuits and they turned out great (although many of mine split open, but they were still "empty" so it worked).

Here are the babies dipping buttered marshmallows into Cinnamon sugar. They understood the marshmallow represented Jesus, pure and white and that the sugar and all were how they prepared the body and the biscuit was the tomb and as I put it in the oven I said, "and they closed the tomb and had to wait three days" and Marky said, "while the tomb cooked Jesus?" Um, no.

Tucker just lounged around with his happy footy-pajama-self! Right on! Then off to church. Here is baby girl after church-

And my boys....

After church we rested and then spent the evening with several friends and had a yummy supper. We all sat on their back porch and ate our Easter dinner while the kids played in the yard and had a picnic on a blanket. What a wonderful Easter- now back to reality!

Saturday on the Mountain

This past Saturday has to go down as one of my favorite days as a mother. We had the best family day. We woke up and went to the t-ball game and then out to lunch at the tip-top grill- which is on top of a mountain and has a great view. Then we drove out to the state park to enjoy the day. First we stopped off at the petting zoo- this goat was asking them to "ease up out my face".

Julia found a "horsey" just her size and hugged and kissed it a million times (then mommy would slather her with sanitizer).


Then we went to the lake area and flew a kite for a long time. Marky is really good at kite-flying- here he is showing his skills....

After kite flying we walked up a mountain trail to the wildlife center. Julia WALKED- I would say over the day and all the trails she probably walked over 2 miles- we were amazed at her endurance. Baby boy rode on daddy's back and had a blast! He never cried once while he was in the backpack so we are definitely going to use it again. He even got a little nap in.

Marky, of course, loved hiking since he likes any adventure. He even wore a rope around his chest like Indiana Jones (just in case, he said). After walking up and down the first trail we drove up to the top of the mountain and walked down to a waterfall. It was gorgeous, but I was nervous having the kids on top of rocks overlooking a waterfall so I have no pics of it.

I entitle this next pic "Real men haul kids". Isn't my hubby strong? We were going up steep embankments and he would have T in the backpack and be carrying Julia in his arms. No, I didn't carry anyone...although I did hold the dog's leash. :)

Afterwards we had a nice steak supper and dyed easter eggs. It was so relaxing and just a wonderful time. Thank you Lord for my precious family!

Hope you have a wonderful Easter!

Getting Ready for Easter

So we are preparing for Easter now and I thought I'd share a few ideas I'm trying this year. Tomorrow, Good Friday, we are going to make hot cross buns. Here's a good recipe here. Saturday we will be dying eggs getting ready for Easter and baking our Easter desserts. I want to make a cross cake this year so we will see how that goes. Saturday night we are going to do the Easter Story cookies for the first time. I remember hearing about these when I was pregnant with Marky and I've just never gotten around to doing them. Here is a good recipe for them with the scripture references.

Easter Sunday morning we are going to have "Resurrection Buns" for breakfast. It's a biscuit that you place a large marshmallow in the middle and it melts during baking and ends up looking like an empty tomb. I think the kids will love that. Here is a recipe for that. We are also going to color this coloring page and try to learn this poem. I am trying to make Easter morning as exciting as Christmas. During lent we took the flower centerpieces off the dining and kitchen tables and replaced them with plainer plants and there was a lot of purple. We had a plain grapevine wreath in the kitchen window with purple ribbon. Easter morning there will be lots of flowers and colors and eggs and crosses. We made a beautiful "Alleluia" sign before lent that we hid during lent (b/c in our church that word isn't said during lent). That will be sitting out and I know Marky is going to be so excited.

In other news, would you pay $12 for this foolishness?
Every year when we are in the mall we see the bunny or Santa and we have to stop by and take a quick picture (cheapest one is $12) and EVERY time it turns out awful. Julia cried again and wouldn't sit with the bunny...and unlike at Christmas, mommy was unwilling to sit in EB's lap. So Sissy got to stand beside them. And if you look close you can see the 'real' Mr. Bunny's nose peeking through the costume. Sheesh!

Oh- and I forgot to tell you that baby boy went to the doc for his 2-month checkup (at 3 mos- I'm busy) and is in the 95% for height and 90% for weight. So he's big....but then I checked the baby books and saw that he is 3 inches shorter than Marky was and 3 lbs less. Now remember he's in the 95%. Marky was just huge- bigger than I even realized. He still is- see him at his Spring concert today- he is younger than the boys he is standing by: Juliabug had her spring concert as well and then an "art show". Here she is showing daddy her art. "I color diss". Her class had an egg-hunt Tuesday. I wish they would wait until after Easter. 1.) Because it's not Easter season yet, it's still lent and 2.) Because I have to already get out her Easter basket and she fills it up with candy and play dough and gift bags, etc. It's kind of taking the steam out of Sunday's Easter basket that will be filled with candy, play dough, etc. Maybe I should get a different "Sunday" basket so it's a little more exciting than "oh- didn't I see this all filled up on Tuesday?"
Marc's wearing a b'day hat. By the way, his name is Marc. I realize I call him Marky on the blog a lot- it's my pet name and it just comes out. But at school and church they call him Marc. However, at swim lessons today his teacher said, "what's your name boy" and he said, "Marky" and the coach said, "what?" and he said, "Marky". I was almost embarassed. Have I taken this too far?! It could be worse. When he had just turned three someone asked him what his baby sister's name was and he said, "Hamhock". Mommy and her pet names.......

Holy Thursday

“I give you a new commandment: Love one another as I have loved you.” John 13:34

These are the words of Jesus Christ at the last supper. Our pastor says all the time that love is sacrifice and that if you want to know how much someone loves you, see how they sacrifice for you. By this standard, we can surely we can be certain of Christ's love for us, but how can we be certain we are loving God and others as we are supposed to? We can sacrifice our time, energy and money, but can we sacrifice our pride, selfishness, greed, and bitterness? I have been thinking of this a lot lately. I want to be a tender, forgiving and humble wife, mother, daughter and friend. And our precious Lord has made that possible. To put on gentleness I have to "sacrifice" selfishness, but that's what you do when you love someone. Love is sacrifice.

Happy Birthday Marky

What can I say about my sweet Markyboy? You really broke me into this mommy gig. With your broken collar bone, reflux and colic we had a busy first year, but I have adored you every minute of your sweet little life. We say you were never really a baby, you seemed to be born with a mature little personality- and you were SO big and still are! You have been such a JOY to raise. You are funny, sensitive, smart, handsome and athletic, but most of all you are so spiritual and you love Jesus. I don't know how I'd make it without you. You are my best friend at home during the day. You love to learn and love to go on any adventure I can come up with. You help your brother and sister so much- they really depend on you, just like me. You have loved books since infancy. You remember everything you ever hear. You just amaze Daddy and me all the time. I can't believe my little chubby baby boy is a thin, tall mature 5-year-old. Thank you for being such a rule-follower and a leader... and for putting up with mommy as I figure out this parenting stuff by practicing on you. We are growing together. You are a wonderful son and you have blessed my life beyone measure. I love, love, love you angelboy.

I love you Juliabug

Happy Birthday to my sweet, angelgirl. You are three years old now and you are the sunshine of our lives. You are always, always, always happy and in a joyful mood. You light up the room with your sweet, innocent spirit. You say thank you for anything we do. You are the sweetest little cuddlebug and love to give us spontaneous hugs and kisses. You were the easiest newborn baby that I've ever seen and you are our precious gift. Thank you for showing us how to be joyful in all things and saying "i have fun day" every night as we put you to bed. We love you so much!