Ballerina Girl

I just want to post that this week had been the most precious week. Everyday I get up and get to play dress up with my pretty girl and send her off with five other pretty girls to dance. She loves it- I love it- it's just so much fun! As you probably can tell, Sissy is a tough girl and doesn't especially like dolls or kitchen sets or girly things (although she has tons of girly toys). She'd much rather play with animals or Marky's swords (which is precious- because that's just who she is). But- to finally find a sweet, feminine past time that she LOVES is such a treat! I love you pretty Ballerina Girl!

Where are the good songs?

I am the type of person who cannot like a song if I don't know what it's about or can't relate to the lyrics in some way. Other folks like a catchy tune and can get past the lyrics. My hubby is one of those- I will hear him singing or humming a song and say, "what's the song about" and he will have no clue. I have googled more song lyrics in my day than I probably needed to. Anyway- a great song transcends time and is such a thing of beauty. And I think they are going out of style. I used to count on certain genres of music to be there with some soul-touching lyrics and it has all gotten so trite. I really think that country music writers sit in a room and say "add some death, some grandpa, some rocking chair" on their slow songs and expect us to weep even if it is completely cheesy. On their fast songs they throw in a "beer, truck, little money in my pocket" and I'm supposed to tap my toe. Enough already. Please songwriters of the world- in all genres- step up your game and lose the cliches. That goes for you too MTV and Christian music writers. And to prove my point- I'm putting Southern Cross on the playlist. I heard this in the car the other day and just loved it. I knew (from past lyric googling) that it was written after a divorce when the singer took his boat "Music" on a long trip to recover and sailed by the Southern Cross, which I think is a constellation or something. See...a real story...a nice tune...something timeless.

On a related note- we need more love songs about "staying together" not just falling in love. I think it perpetuates the myth that love is a heart-skipping-a-beat enthrallment and leads folks to dissatisfaction in their relationships. Soapbox ended. :)

It's camp time....

Well this year is the first year we've done 1/2 day camps for the kids. Julia is going to a princess ballerina class from 9-11 this week and she is absolutely in love with dancing. Today they opened the door and said, "okay- go find your mommies..." and all these little princesses came running out....but one. I waited and waited. Nothing. I get up and go in the dancing room and Julia is laying on the floor and won't get up. "I NOT GO HOME- I DANCE PWETTY." And she really does....
After getting sissy home and changed we ran to pick up Marc who is going to Zoo camp. He begged me to go last year and I thought he was too young- and he started begging me months ago to go this year and so here he is. He LOVES it and when I went to pick him up he said, "Nooo...can't we wait....can you just wait, please mommy?" What's the deal with these kids? I should have my feelings hurt- but I'm just glad they have so much fun.

Well at least I have Tuckerboy. He loves his mommy #1 special and will give me a chubby-baby-smile anytime I look at him. No camps for baby- unless you consider his one-on-one snuggle camp with mommy.

Off line

Did you hear that we had some awful storms the other night with crazy wind gusts? Out of nowhere we heard trees cracking and power line popping and our whole neighboorhood was in a bind. This tree from the lot next door uprooted and fell on the lines that run from the street to our house.

They pulled this off the roof of our hosue.

And tore up all the stuff on the side of the house. Then a power truck drove down the road and hit the line and later on a pulled the enire cable box off of the wall (after I took this picture).

Fortunately, we have a generator and could keep our refrigerators running and run some fans. But we were out of power for 2 1/2 days and had to sleep two nights in Tucker's room with no power! I'm also in the middle of taking a 7-day 9 to 5 training course to be a catechist at church so this week has been eventful. The good news is that the power company and the cable/phone company actually got us up and running BEFORE they said they would which was such a welcome surprise. We did have to pay a LOT to an electrician though. I'm just glad to be back online!

Is it the bad news bears?

That ragtag group of ringers is none other than the Sox! We have had so much fun at t-ball this year- almost every dad was a coach so we had tons of help. Here they are at practice tonight- this is as close as we got to a "team picture"- not everyone got the e-mail about wearing uniforms and a bunch of people were missing. My favorite thing about Marky getting into sports is the sportsmanship he has learned from it. He never gives up and is SO coachable and he hustles and stays focused (if you have kids in sports- you know that's a big deal). He gets better and better. He started this season actually "too young" for this division- you were supposed to be 5 and he was only 4, but we insisted that he play with the 5 to 7s- if he had played with 3 and 4-year-olds it would have looked crazy. Now he not only fits in- he is thriving.

In other news, Tuckerboy was a little fussy while we waited during practice tonight by the playground, but he got totally calm when I rolled him over to the field to watch the practice. He focused on the batting and didn't blink. I see a gamer in him already. Look at that big hand- ready for action!

As for little bit, she mainly stayed in dirt and mud puddles and kept asking big kids to lift her up to the monkey bars so she could just hang there. My third "boy"- don't let the dress/bow combo fool you- she can take you down.

You know how it is....

You get so busy you forget about your blog. Then you think- should I even have a blog? But then you remember you are awful at e-mailing and may never "see" anybody anymore if you quit blogging...so you keep blogging.... You know how it is. I'm around- just busy. With no more moms-day-out I don't have time to run my errands without kids so now we are ALL going to Publix and the cleaners and the bank- which is no small task with three tiny ones. We're also looking at a lot of houses and pondering moving again and working on the house some more. I'll blog soon- I keep having great ideas to talk about and then I get here and am too tired or I've forgotten them. Talk to you soon....

Coloring Pages

I just wanted to remind you all that the web is FILLED with coloring sheets of anything and everything you can imagine. It is so easy to find something "good" for your kids to work on. I turn to it more and more to find free coloring sheets for all the holidays, feast days, and other topics we talk about. Since Sunday was the Feast of Pentecost (and the official end to Easter season) we talked all about the Holy Spirit. I found several coloring sheets by googling "holy spirit coloring page" and printed them off and tada- an enriching afternoon with little man (Sissy wanted to color a koala bear). Here is one that Marky did: