Rome again, Rome again, jiggity jig

Well, tomorrow Julia, Tucker and I leave with a group from our parish for the beautiful Eternal City- Rome!  While there we will also see Florence, Siena, Assisi, Umbria, and Norcia.  I hope to be able to blog as we are there, but who knows how that will work.

When I went to Rome last time I was 16 weeks pregnant with Charlie.  This time I will be 21 weeks pregnant with baby girl.  I started to cancel the trip, but my doctor insisted it would be fine and that I should seize the moment before having a newborn to see these things with my children.  I thank God for this opportunity to make a pilgrimage. 

In the meantime, Buona Sera and please pray for safe travels!  Grazie!

This and that and the art museum

On the way down to Florida we were able to stop by our favorite, Country's BBQ, in Montgomery.  :)

The morning before the wedding Big Grandpa took Marc, Marky and Poppy shooting as his club's gun range.  They had so much fun.

And the Marcs got to ride on the back of Grandpa's friend's truck.

While the men went shooting, BB and I took the two little guys to the mall to play.  :)  They had a playground and a whole airwalk area with tons of jump castles.  

We are forever fans of MagnaTiles in this house!

I always have a little boy helping me in the kitchen- lately it's been Tuck Tuck-

We are home and back in the swing of things.  Julia and Tucker are in the Children's Schola at Church.  They are preparing to sing this Sunday.  They are singing "Alma Redemptoris Mater" and "Brother James' Air."  

I heard them rehearse Wednesday and it was just lovely!

Julia had an awards ceremony Wednesday for American Heritage girls and received the badges that she earned in the fall.  She was especially proud of her horsemanship and swimming badges.  :)

We are back in our homeschool co-op.  I am teaching Alabama History to 3rd and 4th graders and Church History to 5th-8th.  I really love teaching- I love seeing children light up with wonder.

Today in Alabama History we learned about Julia Tutwiler, Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver- all famous people who served the least of these.  We studied the 14th and 15th centuries in Church History, which brought us in touch with Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Botticelli, and Raphael.  We talked about the markings of great art- how art should be warm and life giving not cold and lifeless.

It was a nice juxtaposition for us as we went to a field trip to the art museum this afternoon that focused on "modern art".  We got their early enough to have a nice lunch in the café.

Our docent even said before we went on our tour, "Usually you think of art as beautiful, but what we will see today is not really beautiful because it's focus is on giving us a message not being lovely."

After the tour we went to the classroom and worked on "sound sleeves," inspired by the sound suits done by Nick Cave.  The children enjoyed working on them.

Charlie did a lot of stenciling and made his orange and blue for Auburn!

Tucker- surprise-surprise- made our solar system and used silver bells as stars.  :)

Sissy's naturally had a horse.  Such a fun day with my sweeties.  :)

Tim and Amber's beautiful wedding!

This weekend Aunt Amber and our new Uncle Tim got married!!!!  It was the most beautiful, joyful wedding.  She had the nieces and nephews be the groomsmen and bridesmaids.  Charlie was the ring bearer.  It was a precious day!

Tucker held Noah's favorite animal, Woof, so Noah would be a part of the ceremony as well.

Zaza curled Julia's hair for the first time ever.  It was beautiful!

Marc did the Bible readings-

They were married at the gorgeous Bok Tower gardens.

After the ceremony the boys were running wide open!  They had been sitting still and keeping clean for too long!  :)

BB and Poppy drove down for the wedding too!

Tim is a body builder so this was a perfect cake for him!  :)

A table for sweet Noah and others we have lost.

Amber figured out early on she wanted a clear tent- I had never seen one, but it was magnificent!  You could still see the garden and then later the stars.

One of the most fun suprises of the night was that Tucker LOVES to dance!  He and Tim's nephew danced the ENTIRE night.  Tucker was wearing his fitbit and had 23,000 steps!

Charlie was too shy to dance.  He watched most of the evening until the very end when he finally went out and had fun.

The best man at our wedding, Marc's college roommate, was there!

"Go Tucker, Go Tucker, Go Tucker......"

It took A LOT of convincing, but Daddy finally got out there and did a little break dancing!   He's really good!   :)

Tucker finally, finally crashed after hours of constant dancing.  :)

My beautiful in-laws!

I would say like father like son, but it's also like mother like son- I LOVE to dance.  If I hadn't been pregnant I would have never left the floor.   :)

Such a wonderful night for a gorgeous couple and their family and friends!