Sunday pics, etc.

This week was fun. On Thursday, Marc and Marky went to see Peter and the Wolf with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the Children's theater puppeteers. They seemed to enjoy it. Friday we took a little field trip with friends to Chuck E Cheese (germ-a-phobes might want to skip the next pics)-



No way to know how many times Julia rode this horse, but it was a lot! (And there was a "field trip" there- don't get me onto my field trip soapbox and how I don't think they are helpful usually b/c the kids are usually BUCK WILD and crazy). Anyway- the kids kept coming up to Sissy and saying "give me your coins". And Sissy would. She asked me first if she could- and I was so torn. Yes, I want her to learn to be generous of spirit and possessions, but also- they had used up their coins and she had not and I wanted her to enjoy herself. So I went to the moochers instead of Sissy and said, "please quit asking her for coins." :)



Tucker's at an age where he's pretty independent here-





And since I'd like to throw these away- I'll post them for posterity-





I LOVE this pic- it is what I see everyday- laughing Sissybug-





Charlie continues to be the sweetest baby- we find him in his little front room after breakfast playing some tunes-



"Oh, hi Mommy! I didn't hear you come in!"



"Maybe I should crawl over and give you my sweety smile..."


"Now I'm distracted again...I can make my self sit up all by myself and play with a toy-"



We caught Tucker giving HIMSElF reading lessons yesterday morning...he got the book out by himself and was working on the next lesson!





Tried to get kids to pose for pics this morning- to get them all to be still is impossible, but here's what we got!





Marc is tickling Charlie's thigh to make him laugh-







He had his first backpack ride today (and I know it won't be his last- all our babies love this thing!



Daddy pulled Tuck and Sissy around the driveway with Charlie on his back a million times, reminding me of my slogan, "real men haul kids."

Overheard

This and that from this week-

1) Tucker is crazy. He's totally oppositional defiant and fighting me at every turn lately. Today at lunch he said, "I will NOT eat this grilled cheese!" I said, "good- I didn't want you to- now DO NOT touch it". He just looked at me and started to put his hand on it. I said, "No- don't touch it I want to save it for Julia." Then he said, "but I HAVE TO EAT this grilled cheese!" Mission Accomplished. (And Shana saw this whole transaction go down so she can confirm my veracity). He was SO EXTRA PRECIOUS his first several years- I can't believe he's doing this to me. But we are doing "Operation Love Tank" and spending lots of extra time reading and cuddling with him to fill his love tank and I think it is working. This too shall pass. :) (And Marc says I have to add- he's not oppositional all day every day- just maybe 20-25% of the day- which seems like a lot to me! The rest of the time he's still a sweetie pie)

2.) Marky was printing a ton of documents the other day from his online religion course. I walked by and said, "hey- what are all these documents doing- you are using up all our ink!" He said, "Oh, I'm sorry- I just saw this verse and wanted to print it." He showed me, "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." Corinthians 6:18."
He said, "I like this verse so I printed it. Then I found other verses I liked and printed them- I'm going to put them in a binder and use them as a prayer journal."

I promise this is a true story. I was floored. "Go ahead son- use up the ink."

3.) Charlie can say "hey there". It's "hay deh". Precious angel.

4.) Tonight in the car we were playing I spy- here's how it went down-
Julia: I spy something green.

All of us guess several things.

Julia: No, No, it's green with bits of red- they are really like red rectangles, but they are small.

We keep guessing. Green cars with red lights? Your outfit? This book?

Julia: Keep trying- it's kind of hard, but it's easy. (Whatever that means)

Finally we say, "We give up- what is it?"

Julia: Ummmm.....YOU have to tell ME.

Us: We tried and we can't- tell us what it was....

Julia smiling big, "I guess it can never be known! Wow, that was a hard one!"

I mean, we guessed at this thing for over 10 minutes- we had to retrain her in the rules of I Spy- you know, first you SPY SOMETHING- something tangible! :)

And 5) This one was more seen than heard, but my husband was published in Birmingham Magazine's Top Lawyers edition again as a top appellate lawyer. Way to go Sweetie!

Freezing for my baby

Today we had to drive to HUNTSVILLE- yes- that's 2 hours away- for my SEVEN-year-old to play an HOUR-long game of Lacrosse. No, they didn't mention during sign up that we would travel out of town- but at least you only have to do it once. The rest of our games are local. So after church, we changed into our play clothes in the family life center and hit the road. We had a nice lunch and got there right on time. I think it was in the 50s, but the wind was whipping like crazy and we were freezing! But I did it for my baby- here he is- #18- he's usually on defense b/c he's so tall and it's hard to shoot over or around him-



Go big red (on the far right)!



Marky's frozen fan club- they go up and down the bleachers and dig in the dirt- get in trouble for doing both of those then repeat.



Sissy, of course, found a dog- she fed him leaves and he ate them-



Little Charliehorse was an angel. I seriously had planned to drive around with him and not watch the game because I thought he wouldn't sit through it, but once I got him warm (with cordoroy overalls, a sweater and hood, fleece blanket and larger blanket on top of it all)- he didn't move for an hour and a 1/2. Just sat there and stared at me with the occassional smile- SWEETY PIE HONEY BUNCH!





The biggest treat was seeing Hillary and her family for about 10 minutes. They came out and met us in the parking lot- she and I just pick up like we've been talking everyday when I see her. I LOVE friends like that.

When we got back to town Daddy took us out to Outback to reward us all for being so good on the long road trip and in the freezing cold. Daddy knows Mommy perks right up with a little Alice Springs Chicken. :)

Firetrucks and Farms

Today started out attending a birthday party at the fire station by the house- what a treat!



See Tuck and Sissy- they hold hands 80% of the time- he is her security blanket and she is his guide to the world- (and that's Marky answering a question)-



"Yay Sissy, it's a wonderful firetruck!"



The firemen were so sweet and thorough and showed the kids every detail of the truck-





They lifted the ladder all the way up!



And they got to climb in the driver's seat!







Tucker chatting up a fireman- he told him his truck was "cute!"


This is evidence that Charliehorse was there- he just kept warm in the stroller most of the time-




After the party we met up with BB and Poppy and helped them move some furniture out to their new farm. What a treat this place is for the kids- they immediately hopped in the wagon and Daddy pulled them around with the mower-





They also played in the playroom, fed the fish in the lake and Tucker and Sissy spent an hour sitting here in the sandbox filling and dumping buckets. Then we were all treated to a homecooked meal by BB- bbq chicken, mashed potatos, peas- YUMMY! Thanks for having us out BB and Poppy- we are so happy you are here!

Zoo Day

Today was SO BEAUTIFUL! High of 77, nice breeze- just awesome. We decided to take advantage of the beauty and head to the zoo after art class. I just love this little crew-



We had lunch outside- the place was almost empty-



Sissy loves animals so, so much-







Tuck Tuck would not go in the petting zoo, which shocked me-



Say Cheese Tuckerboy. You forgot to smile with your eyes. :)



This is what I saw most of the day- big brown eyes over a "sassy".



But if the sassy falls out we get super sweety smiles!



I could eat this baby up! He is just the sweetest!



Digging for dinos-



"I fill dis bucket"-



Buddies-



We met up with several other families and went to the sea lion show, which was cute. The sea lion recycles- they showed him putting old milk jugs in a recycling bin. Also- there is up-front parking at the zoo for hybrid cars. Also- every class they offer for homeschoolers seems to have something to do with lowering your carbon footprint, not that they would take a side in the climate change debate-



We walked all over everywhere and finally gave out.



One of my favoite parts of this sunny day- Tucker's hair. When it gets hot outside little man's hair curls up so cute!





P.S. Sissy lost her first tooth! She lost it somewhere in the car during a grocery run. Bye bye baby smile.....