Memorial Day 2010

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you and yours didn't have to work and could relax today! We spent the day at the American Village. We had originally planned for Marc to work today, and then last night we watched a series on WWII and were so impacted by the horror of war that we felt we HAD to remember our vets today. It was so worth it- and Hal Moore was there to speak!
(Mel Gibson played him in "We Were Soldiers")

It had the typical "Williamsburgy" things- cannon demonstrations, marching parades, lots of actors...

Husband-training equipment...

Marky was able to learn the difference between enlisted soldiers and militia...

We went into George Washington Hall and learned all about him...

After all, he was there!

And the kids even got to sit in a replica of the rising sun chair.

By far, my favorite part of the day was having Washington's "granddaughter" teach us how to dance like they do in Pride and Prejudice. They showed us all the different types of dances and described typical American balls (so wonderful!). At one point they practically begged Marky to dance with them and he REFUSED! He pulled a Mr. Darcy! As I explained that the girls needed partners, I pictured him saying to me, "I am in no humor to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men." Ha!

And now a snack break with Mr. T., "Coookaaaaay!! Whoop Whoop!"

Marky loved seeing the real weapons- the Marines explained what everything was and let him try on their gear. And they let him climb in the jeeps...

We wanted them to know that freedom isn't free. After we left we drove to the veteran's cemetery and paid our respects.

Then we came home and relaxed, ordered pizza for dinner and stayed outside. Such a fun, family day.

Happy Memorial Day! We are so grateful for all the men and women who have served- and for their selfless families who carry on without them.

P.S. Noah has a big MRI in the morning- please pray!

Skrawny's B'day

Shana and I finally got to celebrate her birthday last night. We always take each other to dinner and a movie- last night was Brio and "Letters to Juliet" (precious!). I know what you are thinking, how is this precious gal still on the market? It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle. So Skrawny this song is for you- and here's to 2010- in your flirty thirtys!

Look what we did!

Our new house has this giant playroom upstairs (that we LOVE) and before we even moved in I knew I wanted a big wall of rain gutter bookshelves. I'd seen it on another blog and thought it was such a great idea. The books are put covers-out so that they are much more inviting for kids to read. So tonight after supper we jumped in the car and ran to Home Depot to get 'er done. Of course, Marky was daddy's helper...
Julia and Tucker? Not so much....
This picture cracks me up. While Marc was screwing in the brackets- Tucker crawled over with his toy and sat right down in this perilous position. "Daddy, is this a bad spot? Are you busy? Move? No thanks...I'm good."

One shelf up- time to load... Two shelves up- and it immediately had the effect I hoped for. They found books they'd forgotten about- many of which had been right on the shelf for years.

Isn't this a happy way to see your favorite books?

And cheap and easy too! Yay!

Nueve

Yesterday was the anniversary of 9 years of marriage to my real knight in shining armor. I know I don't deserve him, but I'm so so grateful for him. Happy Anniversary Sweetie!

Ain't no party like a Pentacost party....

So you may know that Sunday was Pentacost Sunday and ended our Easter Season. In Liturgical churches, Easter is celebrated for 50 days- it really is the biggest feast of the year. We celebrated this year with this sticker calendar and added a sticker every day until Pentacost.

Today we had a Pentacost co-op with other homeschoolers whose oldest child is in Kindergarten. We read a story about what happened at Pentacost and how God shares His Holy Spirit with us too!

We made tongues of fire to wear-

And they colored a sheet with the disciples and the fire, a sheet with the fruits of the Spirit and did a word search.

Then we let the kids play and have a lunch on the porch...

They day ended with our Pentacost Cake. 12 small candles for the Apostles, 1 big candle to represent Christ, seven strawberries on top for the 7 gifts of the Spirit and 12 strawberries on bottom for the 12 fruits of the Spirit. As we lit the 12 candles we tried to name the 12 Apostles. Then, we all sang Happy Birthday to the Church.

Afterwards we tried memorizing the first lines of the Holy Spirit prayer. It was a wonderful day.

Weekend with the Family

It was so great to see Marc's parents this weekend- it'd been almost a year since they'd come up here and they'd never seen our new house. We call them Zaza and Big Grandpa.

Saturday Marc, Marky and Big Grandpa went to a friend's farm to shoot BB guns and other stuff. They had a blast doing "guy" stuff! Zaza, the little ones and I went to the Art Museum. Julia loves the little kiddie exhibit they have.

Tucker was comic relief the whole weekend- you cannot look at this funny baby and not laugh.

Who me?

And I'm not going to name names- but one of the children completely stole Zaza's heart-

Zaza is a wonderful hairdresser and cut Marc, Marky and Julia's hair. Marky didn't mind...

Sissy did NOT want her hair trimmed. She did stop crying after a few minutes...

We stayed outside a lot- I've already said I LOVE the outside of our new home....

So many places to play...and think....

Sunday we spent the day at the house and the kids played in the baby pool and sprinkler. And by baby pool, I mean Baby pool- could this thing be any smaller? :)

Somehow they make it work.

Of course the big kids mainly jumped around the wacky sprinkler.

Mr. T sat there for at least an hour.

Such a content baby.

Yesterday we went to Johnny Rockets and Bass Pro Shop. Then last night the kids and Marc took Zaza and Grandpa exploring to see the woods behind the house. Here's Grandpa surveying the property....

And here they are exploring the creek- they had to break up a dam that Marky had made earlier.

It was such a wonderful weekend. Today we were back to normal and I have to write this story down so I can remember. This morning we went to the YMCA and Tucker cried a little when I dropped him in the playroom. They said that after I left he crawled (while crying) over to Marky and climbed up into his lap and stopped crying while Marky held him a while. So precious. After the Y we went to the mall and while I was getting some clothes for the kids at Crazy 8's they watched the show on TV with Tucker in the stroller. When I went back there- this is what I saw- Tucker back in his favorite spot- big brother's lap. I love that they love each other so much and that big brother can bring so much comfort to little guy.

Grace to notice...

This week has been so wonderful and I should have taken tons of pictures and videos and posted about it so I wouldn't forget all the little blessings God has given me the grace to notice. Little blessings like celebrating with precious friends for my Godson's first birthday. The blessing of realizing that yes, my house could accomodate 15 people in the den for our couple's Bible study. The blessing of having a dear priest friend (who is younger than me!) bless every room in our home with Holy Water and dedicate our home to God.

The blessing of having my kids finally be able to ride bikes and scooters outside everyday for HOURS (we couldn't do that in our old home). The blessing of waking up to find the kids already on the porch sitting in the rocking chairs with bird field guides watching our bird feeder. Marky even made a chart of the different types of birds and put checks under them- totally on his own. The blessing of doing homeschool on the porch with me doing reading with Julia in the swing, Marky in the yellow desk doing math, and Tucker on the water table.

The blessing of peeking in the playroom to see Julia and all her dolls seated in chairs around the wooden table while Marky, the "waiter", served them a tea party. The blessing of picnic in the park today on a total whim. The blessing of Julia falling in love with Benjamin Bunny and all the Beatrix Potter characters. The blessing of Tucker and his sweet cuddly self. The blessing of my hardworking hubby who comes home and keeps going 90 to nothing to help me. I don't know if things are more precious around here than usual or if I've just slowed down enough to take notice. Either way, I'm so grateful and wish I'd taken pictures. Now we get ready for my inlaws to come this weekend. And that's my week!

Picture Day 2010

Every year around this time I go get the kids professional pictures made. It takes all the strength and courage I can muster to do it. I know it's going to be hard. So hard. And every time I'm exhausted afterwards and sure I didn't get one good shot in the bunch. And every year I'm wrong. :) I give you- our kids 2010: (p.s. this is a sampling- for every pic there are about three other poses in the same outfit that I bought! ha!)

Is this kid grown up or what?

Julia in her Easter dress...

Little guy LOVED this rocker!

When they put out the cheezy beach scene I almost said something- I REALLY didn't want it as a background, but I'm a sissy and never confront people so here they are. And now that it's done I don't mind.

P.S. When taking this picture Tucker took his first step. Yes, I said FIRST. Yes, he's 16 months old. When your mommy holds you all day it's hard to practice. :)