Overheard

Tucker:  Marky, please let me get in the hammock with you.
Marky:  No.
Mommy:  Marc, let Tucker get in there with you- it's a double hammock- it says it's made for two people.
Marky:  Mommy- it means two sensible people. :)

Art Show

Tonight we went to the children's annual art show.  I love their art class so much.  So many art classes want to expose children to tons of different mediums- watercolor, acrylic, mosaic, etc., but they never teach children to actually draw.  If you can't draw- you can't paint well.  I never learned to draw well- I would have loved a class like this.  

Marc's pictures- he also had his lion in the show, but I posted that earlier-

Julia's-

She hasn't finished her Mona Lisa- but I love it so far!

And crazy Tucker.  :)

Fred Lynch's Paul Revere's ride-

Van Gough's yellow house-

He had a good start- he just doesn't seem to have the patience to finish these things! :)

Self-portrait-

And the finale- the Mona Lisa.  It was a hit at the show.  Everyone said, "What is she holding?" and he said, "a pickle."  Of course.  :)

This and that

Thursday night Marc and Marky went to work at the shelter.  Marky loves, loves to do this and is really good at it- he's a workhorse.  One of the homeless men told him, "son, you need to be thanking God everyday for the life you have and the family you've been born into."  A person standing with him said, 'not me- I don't believe in God- I'm an atheist'.   Marky came home and we talked a long time about all of that.  It really impacted him.

Friday night was supposed to be the Troops of St. George camp out, but there was a 90% chance of severe thunderstorms so they had to cancel.  Several dads and 16 boys went to play laser tag and eat at Chick Fil A instead- they  had a blast.  

On Sunday the boys were "wittle match boys" and loved it.  :)

Today Marc and Tucker had a robotics lab at the science center from 2-4:30.  BB kept Julia and took her to horseback riding, and I spent 2 1/2 hours alone with my baby boy.  We had the best time- he is wonderful at entertaining himself. 

He poured water into these for 45 minutes.  He is so calm and independent.  He put his apron on by himself- worked for a long time- then hung the apron up and used the dryer to dry his hands and moved on.  Never asked me for anything. 

He loved playing grocery store and counting his food.  

He took his time to do this entire color matching thing.  I'm telling you- this boy has patience and gentleness down.   He also has my heart.  :)

The three amigos telling stories.  Tucker was a 'turtle', Charlie a 'lamb' and Julia the narrator.  

Marc was in Utah for a case for the past two days, and Julia is full-on grieving!  Sunday night she heard his voice on the answering machine and when he said, "I love you all" she started crying.  We called him to make it better.  This morning she said, "I don't like waking up without daddy fixing breakfast and hugging me and saying 'I love you'" and then she teared up.  Later when BB mentioned him Julia said, "please don't say his name."  This little girl loves her Daddy and doesn't feel right when he's not here.  I don't either.  

Marky was supposed to write a quick paragraph on the Roman general Pompey.  It was taking longer than usual and then I realized over half the time was spent on the title letters (and he ended up writing three paragraphs).  :) 

He is reading a great novel now called "Oliver Wiswell."  It is giant- like 800 pages or something.  He saw the size and said, "I don't want to read this" and I said, "Just start the first chapter then decide."  :)  Now he's up all night with his book light reading, reading, reading.  Apparently it is about the American Revolution written from the perspective of a Loyalist as he encounters famous people and battles.  We've had interesting conversations about it all- so much so that I may read it myself.

In the middle of reading this book I bought him the book, "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness," which is the first in the Wingfeather series of books.  They are supposed to be a bit Tolkienesque.  Anyway- it arrived around 5 p.m. one night and he said, "can I start it now?" and I said, "you are already reading a huge book- let's do one at at time," but he couldn't.  The next morning at breakfast he said, "I finished Edge of the Dark Sea can you get the rest of the series?"    He loved it and laughed out loud reading it.  There is a land called the "Land of Dang" and he said he calls it he "Land of Mommy" because apparently I say dang a lot.  :) 

So glad art and soccer are over this week.  Put a fork in me- I am done with these activities here, there and everywhere!  Tomorrow night we have an art show- the children are so excited. 

Tannehill Park day

Today we had the best day.  The children and I went to "homeschool day" at Tannehill State Park.   It is where iron was made in the large iron furnaces.  The land around Tannehill has the three things needed to make iron- coal, limestone and iron ore.  

 

We started the day with a docent-led tour of the awesome Iron and Steel Museum of Alabama.

I haven't used a stroller in almost a year, but I had a feeling I would need one today.  Little Charlie tends to wear out quickly.  He had a great time being pushed around- up the mountainside, across gravel- I'm so glad I got the stroller out of storage!

After the museum tour we went to the one-room schoolhouse where the school Marm told us all about games children would play, things they would learn,   It was a very interesting and thorough presentation.

After the school house we went to see the Tannehill Iron Forges along the river.  One was built in 1830- two others were built during the civil war to provide weapons for the South.

Sadly, Union troops burned down this and other iron forges during the civil war causing economic devastation in the area.

 \
The Sons of Vulcan blacksmiths gave a great lesson on the history and importance of blacksmiths-

Picnic time-

Then they worked on etching designs into molds that were later used for metal casting!

And we played for a long time in the creek- they love to jump from one side to the other-

I don't know why they were matching- it's just what I do sometimes.  :)

The Sons of Vulcan showed the children how to melt down old oxygen tanks in an oven-

Then they poured the liquid metal onto the molds-

Once they harden up in a few minutes- pop them out of the molds into a bucket of water-

Then sand down the rough edges-

Four happy campers!  A great day with my favorite babies!