Friday night

Charlie's hair is getting so curly! Where does this curly hair come from? (BB) :) And he's getting so big he's getting closer to Tucker's size- they are really starting to look alike-



The big kids wanted to camp out tonight, but Daddy has too much work to do. So we compromised and let them camp out in the playroom. The playroom has skylights so you can see the stars outside and they took the "star" ladybug in there and it's projecting stars on the inside of the room. We've got the nature sounds playing and they are just reading for a while. Such a sweet time.



Night night sweet angels....

Overheard

Mommy to Tucker:  "You are a cutie patootie."
Tucker:  "Don't say that- it's potty talk."  :)

Tucker after riding his bike into the fence: "Oh the indignity!" 

You're gonna need an ocean...

...of Calamine Lotion! Yes, Poison Ivy has hit Marky and I. We weeded the yard together on Sunday afternoon and must have come across poison oak, sumac, or poison ivy. Poor little guy has it all on his face, chest and hands. I only have a tiny bit.  And the doctor gave us pills that he has to swallow- like 6 a day. Asking my children to swallow a pill is like asking them to stand on nails. It is sooooo hard!
Update:  After day one of having to choke down pills, Marc is now an expert at it and does it lickety split no problem.  :)

 We went this morning for a Little Flowers tea at a friends house. Julia had the best time. They had muffins, cookies and treats and sweet tea in fancy tea cups. We reviewed all the saints we'd learned about this year and the memory verses we learned as well. While the girls did our girly things, the big brothers were out playing star wars and running around with a variety of weapons. A super fun day for my sweet girl. I wish I'd taken pictures of the tea party!


And now for an odd story-
After the tea party and the visit to the doctor's office, I took the two big kids to Cracker Barrel for lunch (we'd gotten a sitter for the babies). We were sitting there and a sweet older lady came up and started talking to Julia about how much she liked her hair bow. She said, "how old are you?" and Julia said "six". And she said, 'You are kidding- wow! How old is your LITTLE brother?" And Marky said, "eight." And she said, "You are eight? You are older than her? Wow- you guys must be very SMALL for your age. I guess you take after your momma."   WHAT?  (Insert confused faces all round).  I was literally speechless. I just smiled.  Here's my "TINY six year old with her LITTLE brother."  It must be because I'm so tiny! Ha!

Taste of Birmingham.....

Tonight I went to "The Club" to the annual Taste of Birmingham event.  They had several local restaurants and wineries giving samples of their wares.  What a view-




And what a handsome date I had!



Little Buddy and I had a great time on our Mother/Son date. He was very happy to try new foods he'd never tasted (even if he didn't like them). And he loved the ice cream and bread pudding....

The Choir was AMAZING- they did a beautiful job. They sang a set that included "Stars Fell on Alabama" and "When Somebody Loves You", which was so touching. It's apparently from Toy Story 2- I hadn't heard it, but loved it.



The night ended with everyone on the balcony watching fireworks. Such a nice night with my sweet boy.

Back to school....back to the zoo...

Well the schools started this week, which means the crowds have thinned down at our favorite things to do and we are back in business.   (I promised we'd go back when school started).  :)  My poor kids didn't go to the zoo at all during the summer- I just don't do crowds or chaos.  I realized that Julia has picked that up as today as we pulled in and there were several cars and Julia said, "this is going to be too crowded- we just can't do this."  Wonder where she's heard that?  :)  Fortunately she was wrong and there was no crowd at all and the weather was beautiful!

Watching the sea lions frolic-












Charlie "on the phone"-


Marky's taller than an orangutan....


Charlie in a 'toy' termite mound-  :)


I have to say, I still love homeschooling so much.  Before we left to have lunch at the zoo we did math, handwriting, grammar, writing, reading, Latin, science, poetry and Religion.  Then we did the zoo, came home and read from our history books, and now they are in the driveway with the neighborhood kids riding bikes and scooters, while Charlie and Tucker can take long naps.  No homework, no stress.  I don't know how long we'll do it- but for now it's working great.

Sunday Pictures

...the "Charlie was teething and went right to sleep when we got home and is not in the pictures" edition....



Sissy is wearing one of MY old dresses- I'm so glad Mom saved them!

Friday with my Sweeties

My law school roommate and her family came to stay with us this weekend and I spent the day cooking, cleaning and getting ready.  I cannot express how helpful Marky is now.  I looked at him tonight and said, "do you want to make a fruit salad?"  and he was actually excited and got right to it.  I love this little boy with all my heart.



And no, I don't recommend asking your child to "look up" when they are chopping food with sharp knives... :)
 

We got everything set up, food on the table, candles lit, etc. and when I looked for the kids I saw them waiting on the front step. They were acting out with their Popsicle stick puppets. Ever since my art cart revamp we are arts and crafting up in here all day long.


Meanwhile, Charlie was enjoying some floor time with Daddy... his favorite part of the day.

"Okay, Daddy, I just put dis cube in dis hole?"

"Hey- where'd it go?"