He mows!

Now we're talkin'.....



Yes, yes- I've been waiting for this (b/c I mow A LOT myself)-



Lest you worry about child labor- he only went back and forth about four times and Daddy did the rest of the yard- but he is still such a helpful little boy. After the hard work he came and sat with me in the swing to watch the kids play in the muddy sandbox. I love this little guy so much-



And let this be a warning about leaving your sandbox lid off during the rain- there's a good chance your kids will love it-



Goodness Tucker- what a mess!



But he's having a blast-



Especially because he has his partner in crime-



And here's a left over picture from our trip to Florida that I found on the camera. Sweet angel boy-



Happy Saturday!

This week...

This week, while Marky has been in chess camp the babies and I have spent leisurely mornings at home- and the two of them play SO WELL together. I cleaned all the bathrooms well and did a ton of laundry this week b/c they just go off and get into pretend world together. Tucker is such a gift for Sissy- she loves to have someone play the way she wants to.



Today was the end of chess camp and Marky had gotten his head back in the game and did very well today. He got a "band" (they get wrist bands as rewards) for getting a guy into checkmate, a band for getting another boy into checkmate in less than 4 moves, and won one of his two tournament games. I LOVE the tournament- it's adorable. They shake hands and are very quiet and quick- it's move- hit the clock- move- hit the clock- back and forth and I have no idea what they are doing. See him 4th down on the left-



Thinking, plotting...



Shake hands-



Coach breaks it down for them at the end-



Meanwhile Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee toddled around looking at the library guinea pigs-



Little buddy fell asleep on the way home from the tourney and amazingly let me hold and rock him for a long time after we got home. I thanked God for this blessing- I believe He knows how much I love holding a baby and gives me these little moments of joy-



I'm in the middle of ordering all our homeschool materials for next year and it's like Christmas around here- we got Marky's history program in the mail today- I think Marc and I are more excited than the kids-



These are the two "core" books and they are AWESOME (I think Marc is reading one right now)-



I also ordered a bunch of DVD's that were on sale- the kids are watching the one about Christopher Columbus right now-



I just love educating my kids the way I want to- it's a blessing and a gift.

Tuesday

Interesting week- Marky started chess camp and Julia started gymnastics. They have both shocked me- Marky had forgotten a lot of the chess moves he had learned back when he used to play it all the time and is like starting over and Julia (who can't sit in a chair without falling out) is very coordinated and can do the basic gymnastics (although after every move she says to her teacher and class "I DID IT! Did you see me! AWESOME!")

The mixed reactions to my family size is always interesting. Yesterday while checking out at Homegoods with ONLY Julia and Tucker (who were behaving well) the lady said, "whoa....oh my goodness...pregnant?! You have your HANDS FULL sister!" and I said, "Thank you so much, we are SO VERY BLESSED."

Then, twice lately I've had elderly people stop me and say how "precious and delightful" my family was and how it "warmed their heart" to see us. You love it or hate it I guess.

Well, I've got kids dying to go swimming and I'm going to try to take them by myself for the first time. Lord give me strength and a happy heart and a slimming swimsuit. Amen.

As he paints....

As he paints Daddy has to wear a light saber and a walkie talkie just like the boy does. There's no off time from playing with babies. The little girl is a kitty cat and is meowing all through the house on her knees and the baby is saying "get bathing suit go swimming" about 50 times. Still, Daddy stays focused. Could it be b/c Mommy has a light saber as well and says no one leaves the kitchen til it's done?

A Quagmire...

A quagmire is a good word for how my kitchen has been this past week. SO.....remember what color my kitchen USED to be?



It was kind of an off-white-beige neutral that literally every single room in my house is painted (except Marc's and Julia's rooms). The previous owners very kindly covered up all their nail holes and old paint colors with this lovely Sherman Williams neutral, but Mama can only have so much beige in a house. And ever since I saw behind a light switch plate that the kitchen used to be a pretty sage green I decided I wanted that color. Bring in my precious, servant husband LAST weekend and viola- we have a green kitchen.



He stayed up until 3 in the morning one night painting, took the tape off, put up new light switch plates- all for the love of his wife who woke up and said, "um....about that green...." Yes, it's awful of me, but I just could not live with the green- it turned out too mossy and I decided that with dark cabinets a lighter color was the trick. What to do. I send Marc an e-mail offering to pay someone to paint over it, or help do it myself or anything if he will fix it and he says, "don't worry I'll retape it tonight."

That ladies and gentlemen is the kind of man I married- a servant. Bit by bit this week and this weekend he has repainted the kitchen (and this time we had to PRIME it b/c we were covering a dark color). It's now a light neutral blue color and I'm much happier. We aren't completely done, but 80% there- here's the trio my poor kitchen walls have been subject to this week-



Even the little ones tried to help solve mommy's color crisis-



And we are also finally getting rid of the white blinds with their dangerous pull cords and putting up new shades- I'm so excited to have my kitchen the way I want it.

Today was a good day. We swam at our neighborhood pool in the morning, painted in the afternoon, and spent the evening celebrating Julia's baptism anniversary with her Godparents. They invited us over and made Julia a precious cake-



We had a yummy supper and our kids enjoyed their kids-



And they got her a sweet present which makes her "so exciting" ("Oh, I so exciting!")



So all in all, a wonderful weekend of nesting and celebrating. Hope you have a restful, restoring Sunday!

I'm melting...

If the highs are 98 and 99 the first week in June- what does that tell us about July and August? I got in my car today after lugging out bags of Publix groceries with three "helpers" and the car temperature said 102 degrees. How can an 8-months-pregnant lady survive in this?

At least the guy at McAlistairs Deli called me "Miss" today instead of "Ma'am". It's the little things that keep you going.

Wild at Heart

I'm reading John Eldridge's Wild at Heart (finally!). I really, really like it so far. I figure a mom with three sons (or "a" son, or just a husband) should know about these things.