Fun at BB and Poppy's

We had a great trip to visit BB and Poppy this weekend. You will not believe it- but the big kids SWAM IN THE POOL in FEBRUARY for over three hours! It was icy cold, but they jumped, splashed, giggled, and played for hours and were so happy. I got to see some of my best friends from my high school for the first time in three years (Melanie and Allison) and we shut the restaurant down talking all night, and then today we went to Pete's Playhouse and I ran into two of my great friends from college and go to meet their kids and talk homeschooling (Shay Steedly and Kim Baxter). BB schools Marky on the art of air hockey...

"It's Tuck Tuck's geen tactor"
The boys played the arcade games and played in the playground while Julia rode this about 10 times. She is the true baby of the family- such a happy, innocent soul.


I love this profile picture of my sweet boys.
Tucker's dream come true- a choo choo to ride.

He gets it....

The kids and I have been in Mobile to visit my parents- the drive down was okay, but the little kids kept dropping things they wanted and Marky would have to get them. At one point the noise level and demands on Marky were getting excessively high and Marky said, "That's it- stop- I can't do everything at one time- I'm NOT MOMMY!"



And there it is.

Last Game....

Today little brown eyes finished up his first basketball season- what a fun sport! For those that think they don't know what they are doing at this age- you would be surprised. They set up "picks" and do tricky passes- it is so much fun to watch!
In this league everyone takes a turn at point guard-even though Daddy thinks Marky should be a post because of his height...
Just made a big pass....
Good game, good game....
Sitting down to receive award stars....
So proud of you, sweet boy!And finally, finally Mommy had her camera on when Marky scored a basket! (At the beginning you will hear "go Bubba"- that's Tucker cheering on his favorite player).

Too soon to nest?

I don't know what's gotten into me, but I've got a strong urge to nest- already! We moved in this house in April and got it together very quickly and haven't really changed anything since. But now I'm noticing things I want done differently. For instance- this chair that we use at the desk in the kitchen. We got it used on a sidewalk sale and I always meant to recover it. You may not be able to tell it from here.....but trust me it was dirty and old......
I ran by JoAnn's Fabrics remnant bin and found this $4 fabric and it does the trick. I fell in love with a more pastel, floral pattern and another pretty toile fabric, but at the end of the day I knew I couldn't have a light background-- this feels like denim and will last a lot longer with Tucker and his messy hands.

Then on Thursday I ran by Schoolhouse Supply- a parent/teacher store that is closing this weekend. They had 8 Mary Engelbreit prints on sale for $4. I bought them and then ran to Walmart and got $5 picture frames and voila!The prints are all about reading and books so I put one set of four at the top of the stairs by our make-shift library.

And remember when we hung those rain-gutter bookshelves? I always had a big, blank wall above them, and now we have these pretty prints.

And I finally decided it was time for a new nightstand. The old one was my grandparents and we had it prop it up on things to keep it balanced and it squeaked and still leaned to one side and I had no place for books. I had like 15 books stacked on the floor by the bed b/c I didn't have any place to put them. Tonight we finally got a new one and I bought those two big baskets and they are already filled with books and things I like to have nearby. There is a drawer in it too for chapstick and pens. :) And since all of our furniture is heavy and dark I thought it was be fun to try a different color for the nightstand- and I love it. It goes right with our comforter.
And I've been meaning to post about an imposter living in our house. It's a little boy that looks a lot like my sweetheart Tuck Tuck, but acts more like a 2-year-old stinker. I can't be sure- but I think the twos have come and we now know how to say "No" to mommy and fall on the floor when we don't want to go somewhere. It's breaking mommy's heart.
But don't worry- he's still my sweet angel and I would say 80% of the time he is much like the baby we've all come to love. Let's hope these twos come and go and we learn quickly that mommy and daddy are the bosses. And this was taken right after his nap- he has to have his paci and bear to ease into waking up. I love this baby.

Noah needs our Shepherd

Pray for Noah, his hair is falling he out, he has a fever and he's in the hospital. We know that our Good Shepherd will leave his flock and seek out His lost little lamb and carry him on His great shoulders. Jesus, we trust in You.

The King of love my Shepherd is,

Whose goodness faileth never;

I nothing lack if I am His

And He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow,

My ransomed soul He leadeth

And, where the verdant pastures grow,

With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,

But yet in love He sought me

And on His shoulder gently laid

And home rejoicing brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill

With Thee, dear Lord, beside me,

Thy rod and staff my comfort still,

Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spredst a table in my sight;

Thine unction grace bestoweth;

And, oh, what transport of delight

From Thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days

Thy goodness faileth never.

Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise

Within Thy house forever.

A day at the "beach"....

Today started off with us going to the big kids' new swimming lessons. It went okay- Marky can basically swim- he's just fine tuning. Sissy acted like she'd never seen water before and clung to her teacher like a koala bear. Completely different from the girl who would jump off the wall and swim to me in the middle of the pool last summer. So we start back at square one. It was funny that the teacher used lots of "school" analogies to teach that were lost on Julia like "you know how you have to raise your hand at school?" or "you know how you have homework?" :)

I think it was being in the warm indoor pool and seeing on my car thermostat that it was 74 degrees today that got me in a "let's go to the beach on a whim" kind of mood. But I think I jumped the gun- I mean, it is February still. And I forgot about wind chill. Nevertheless, after swim lessons, I ran by the house and picked up towels, sand toys and a picnic and we headed out to the lake.
We had a great time- the kids explored and built sand castles. The beach was almost empty- I mean, it was chilly after all.

Julia and Tucker insisted on getting in the ICE cold water! Just up to their knees- but still- it was freezing!

Marky put piles of lake mud in the strainer and found treasures...

Here are the treasures...

The only way I could drag them away from the beach was to promise some yummy lunch at the pavilion- that got them moving towards land...

Mr. Cheesestick never sat down- he's always on the go....

So, while I don't advise going to the beach in February- I will say it was nice, and I got that "I need to feel like summer" feeling out of my system- as my trunk is full of sand and water-sogged bags and I've got to wash a load of towels now. :)

Now Mr. T is sleeping and the big kids are down at the creek in the woods behind the house and I'm keeping up with them with a walkie talkie. I love that they have all this free time to be out and about. I can't wait for spring!

Sunday after Church....

Guess which one makes it tough to get a good shot?

FINALLY!!!!!

Day at the Park

We had the best family day- we went to Marky's basketball game and then out to the outlets. On the way there we passed the coolest park I've ever seen and decided to stop on our way home. This thing is HUGE- that's 6 foot 4 Marc to the right there- see how it towers over him?!! I went down the top slide and let me tell you it was FAST!
And Tucker went up and down again....

and again...

and again!

He and brother crash landed at the bottom of this bullet side- if only mommy had been ready to catch them instead of taking pictures! No tears were shed though so no harm no foul. :)

And for the first time in ages I saw a Merry-Go-Round. I thought they didn't make these anymore- Julia and Marky never got off- they loved it! You can guess who rode the whole time and who did the hard work.

Weee!

Even little buddy talked Daddy into getting on with him....

As you can see- Tucker LOVES his new sunglasses. We got all three kids new sunglasses- but Tucker would not take his off. He wore them in the food court, in the car, in the house- he LOVES them! Here he is watching a movie on the way home....

I could kiss that chin and those cheeks a million times....

Keep it cool, ya'll.