Fiesta Dancing

Lucy (in pigtails) dancing with her classmates

Field Day

Yesterday was Field Day for S and L at school.  They were super excited and seemed to have a great day.  Much has changed since my Field Days at Madison Academy - now in elementary school "everyone is a winner" so no one came in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place but they did have fun, played some games and got wet!  I forgot the camera for Lucy's games but went home and came back for Samuel's with the camera.  Samuel's competitive, intense personality shone through as they raced and Lucy's encouraging personality came out as she started cheers for her teammates as they raced.  They have both had a good year with sweet children in their classes.  Here are some of the pictures with Samuel and his class.

 Samuel's best classmates - Matthew and J'Martino

Potty Training

This is how we potty train - an eager participant, jelly beans, a silly song "Pee-pee in the potty, pee-pee in the potty" and the Economist for reading material.

Saying Goodbye

The children playing today with friends while moving vans are packed!

Our dear neighbors - and our kiddos' EVERY day playmates - are moving today.  We are usually the ones to leave and this is a first for us to have others move on and leave us here in this place with the silence left by their absence.  Almost every day Mary Hannah and Hans play with Lucy and Samuel out the back - I listen through open doors and windows at their play, at their stories and laughter and adventures and I love it.  I am really going to miss this sweet friendship between those kiddos.

Last night there were tears and today more play as the vans are packed.  We love their family and will miss them and pray for their next endeavors.  We'll also be playing more with the great kids down the road!

The blessings of a mother

I love you Mama and wish I was there to give you a hug and share a cup of coffee.  I'm so grateful for all the years of faithful love to me and Casey - you are a wonderful Mama!  I wish I had a scanner to scan some of those old pics of you but all I have is the now...

Lucy made a booklet at school about me - here are a few of the pages
Even my daughter knows where I'd rather be...

 Her favorite place to go is "her mom's house" (she even drew the screened porch!)

 Wow - I have some awesome fingers!

While I'm at school, she "works" - (I'm working on a guy who's been shot while smiling!)

Mama

For all of my dear friends who are in the trenches of motherhood - you know who you are
-you're the ones who have been to the pediatrician more in the last few years than the movies,
-the ones who are drowning in clothes - dirty, hand-me-downs, clean - of all sizes and seasons,
-the ones who wonder how many times you can feed macaroni and cheese to your kids before they get scurvy,
-the ones who wonder how will I make it through dinner and bath again tonight let alone the next 16 years and then are amazed at how fast the time goes - too quickly,
-the ones who laugh at the conversations of dreams and imaginations and try to remember what they say to share it with dad later,
-the ones who well up with joy and laughter at the simplest pleasures or the profoundest of truths from little lips,
-the ones who can recite favorite books from memory and often do with eyes closed so that you get a little rest while the kiddos sit quietly
- the ones that have given up dreams of spa treatments for fantasies of clean homes
-the ones who are so much more grateful for their own mothers and wonder how did they do it?
-the ones who wonder - am I doing this thing called mothering right? Is there even a right?
-the ones who thank the LORD for His grace and love to cover their sins and the messiness of motherhood.

I was greatly encouraged by Ann Voskamp's post about mothering today on her website I loved the quote "we’re not the Hallmark mother, just the Velveteen Mothers"  - check it out and enjoy your weekend full of dust, diapers, dirt and diligence with your little ones.  I am truly blessed to have wonderful friends who are mothers to walk this journey with AND an amazing woman I call Mama - I love you!

Teacher Appreciation week

Samuel stuck some flowers in his backpack to take to his teachers this morning and Lucy carefully wrapped some flowers in paper towels and stuck them in a yogurt tub to take to school.  If heart matters - these kids are grateful for their teachers.  And I'm grateful for teachers - those at home and at school - THANKS for all you do to help make the next generation a little brighter!

PS - I took an apple to my favorite teacher earlier this week (I think he ignored the bite mark from a little snot-nosed curly redheaded kid and ate it :)

Tower building

Mama - "Lydia, can you put some toilet paper in the bathroom while Mommy puts the groceries up?"
Lydia - "K"

My sweet helper - let me know if you need a toilet paper tower at your house - I know a good stacker!

2 - I love it!

Lydia at 2 with Lucy 6 and Samuel 7 1/2

Lucy at 2 with Samuel 3 1/2


Samuel at 2 with Lucy 3 months

Spring check-ups

Samuel and Lucy had dentist appointments last week and did great - still no loose teeth for Lucy and Samuel's got a handful that are still waiting to fall out - they just need to work on their flossing!

At their joint well-check ups for Lucy and Lydia they checked out fine.

- Lucy measured 44 inches tall (38%) and weighs 44 lbs. (45%)

 - Lydia measured 32 1/4 inches (13%), weighed 23.1 lbs (8%) with head circumference 49.5 cm (92%) - I think its the curls!

The spring Artist

Enjoying the brisk morning on the porch with my budding artist, a cup of coffee while reading a little refreshment for my soul from His Word.

Watering

Lydia helped me in the yard yesterday. She loves to help and watering the flowers is her new favorite thing. A teapot works great for a little watering and she enjoyed watering the flowers Lucy helped me plant last week.

AND then when she got thirsty while watering - what is a girl to do but take a sip herself?

Questions

While riding home from the dentist today Samuel says from the backseat - "if I could have one music lesson with any musician it would be (OK - I'm immediately wondering what instrument he wants lessons in and what rock star he wants lessons from when he continues)...hum, let me think...Probably Mozart, no it would be Handel - definitely Handel - I really like his music"

We went to "TWO taco Tuesdays" at Moe's after the dentist and the kids saw a question on the bag - "If you could eat Moe's with anyone living or dead - who would it be?"

Samuel's choice - Handel, Mozart and Davy Crockett.

Lucy's choice - Granny - because she is in heaven, a mermaid, and Davy Crockett.

Hangin on the porch

Enjoying the sky on a beautiful spring day...ahh, the carefree life of a 2 year old, a third born, a girl who is enjoying life.

Birthday dance

Dances to the beat of her own music!  I love that creative dancing

Punkin is 2!

 Lydia's present from Brudder and Cissy!

 So sad I didn't get pictures with Lydia's bestest friends in the whole world - Regan and Kinzie, Boo and Honey - but I did get one shot from our dinner with these great friends after church.  Grandpa Noonan came too and Lydia got a Elmo and Big Bird stuffed animals - Lydia has played with them ALL day!

 Lydia's birthday brownie for breakfast and one after dinner!  It was a two brownie day!

 Lucy and Lydia making birthday cards for Lydia

 We each love this little punkin and took time sharing stories during dinner - Samuel says he loves Lydia's funny faces and funny sounds

 Lucy loves having a sister to play and laugh with

 Daddy loves to see Lydia enjoying books and talking to them.

Mama loves to see Lydia dance and groove AND she loves the way Lydia calls Samuel and Lucy "Cissy and Brudder"

And since she's not the best at interviews yet the brother and sister helped out.

Favorite TV show - Curious George and Little People
Favorite Book - The Big Red Barn - or any book about animals
Favorite food - any of them - especially Oat squares cereal and chocolate
Favorite song - ABC's
Best friends - Regan, Mary Hannah, Reace

Caterpillar dance

The new pastime of my children is caterpillar collecting.  The caterpillars are everywhere in the yard and the children are enjoying playing with them and making homes for them in hopes that they will form chrysalids and eventually the children will find out if they are moths or butterflies.  Lydia loves to have them crawl on her and play with them. 

She has combined her new found joy in caterpillars and her love of dance in a new artistic expression.  Here is her first attempt at interpretive dance - "The dance of the caterpillar"  by Lydia Joy

Spring Camping

Last week we took a short three-day camping trip to Stone Mountain and enjoyed the great outdoors as a family. We had a beautiful site near the lake and the children played in the lake(you're not really swimming if you are up to your knees - right?), cooked hotdogs on the fire and enjoyed the day at Stone Mountain park petting animals, climbing ropes course, playing in a foam ball fight, petting a baby hedgehog, a brief Geyser Tower wetting and fireworks. We laughed and played and waded through the pollen on a pretty spring day and then headed back to the campsite.

Now we knew there would be some rain showers but we weren't 'skeered'. We had endured rain before - it sounds nice on the tent in a little shower but we weren't ready for the storms and wind and downpour. The rain set in around 7:30 and we hunkered down in our PJ's and read and sang and eventually went off to sleep.

Around 11:30 I woke up to the tent blowing around and rain coming down in buckets outside. Jeremy and I held down the tent while the wind blew and the rain began to drip a little in the tent(I had left the ventilation flap up) - and our three precious children slept soundly through it all. We were up for the next hour or more holding down the tent, stopping the dripping and even made a short trip out in the rain to fix the tarp that was pooling water under the tent rather than helping. All was fixed and fine and we were back asleep until morning. The next morning the wind was still blowing the weather was not letting up so we broke camp a few hours early and headed to see the Aunts, cousin and Big Papa. (Thanks for letting the dirty campers invade the house for the afternoon - we enjoyed seeing you)

All in all a great trip - loads of fun with the family.

 Lydia and Daddy dancing one morning

 Our campsite on the shores of Stone Mountain Lake

 Lucy making peanut butter and banana/jelly sandwiches for our lunch

 Crazy hair Lydia - morning hair is great, even at 3 in the afternoon

 Putt-Putt golf at Stone Mountain

 Sky Hike ropes course

Lydia getting in on some putt-putt action (FYI - one kid way past nap on an 18 hole putt-putt course does not make for a good time after about hole 7)

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What an adventure the outdoors can be! Simple fun with sticks, lots of water, walking, birds chirping...and TIME. Time, the one thing that seems to elude me on a normal day when I run from my bed to the bathroom to the kitchen to the car to the school to work to the house again and back to my bed. In my inside world - the world I think I control - it seems like someone else's time, a time that is controlled and fixed and one that outruns me everyday.

But outside it's different. Yes, there are demands that orient me to the passing of time - hungry bellies and fading light but there is also a world that doesn't seem to run on my clock, doesn't run on my time, isn't controlled by my influence (except sometimes my weeds and grass are subdued by my diligent husband). A reminder that 'This is my Father's World' and that He takes care of even the smallest details - the bumblebees flitting in and out of the vines, the slug on the side of the tent, the earthworms wriggling with glee in the moist earth, the pollen hanging thick in the air like a fog machine, the twinkling stars millions of miles away. It can be messy but there is order and beauty and life.

And I long to be able to live everyday with my inside world like the outside world - trusting completely that it is controlled by ONE who loves me and knows all things rather than for me thinking I must hold all things together. I imagine I would be more like my sweet precious children who slept through the storm, at peace and trusting in their parents to care for them rather than worry and be frightened. I know the peace of trusting my heavenly Father but I forget - I so easily forget and get overwhelmed in the storms of life and the ticking clock of time that leave me feeling desperate to get ahead (ahead of the laundry, the dirty floors, the homework, the grocery shopping, the next birthday, the next project, the next workday).  I know that when I remember who really holds all things together that my inside world becomes more beautiful, ordered and full of life just like the outside.

I'm so grateful for time this past week to remember the important things in life and to enjoy them with my precious family in the great outdoors.  Now home to the pollen covered porch and the adventures in my backyard with this family of mine.

______________
This adventure reminded me of a passage I recently read to our children with some dear friends -

Jesus is in a boat on the Sea of Galilee with his closest friends.  They are headed across the sea when a uncharacteristically severe storm hits and they are tossed about to the point of despair, feeling as if they will drown.  Jesus is asleep through the whole storm until the friends wake him up.

'But the storm wasn't too big for Jesus.
"HELP!" they screamed.  "Wake up!  Quick, Jesus!"
Jesus opened his eyes.

"Rescue us! Save us!" they shrieked.  "Don't you care?"(Of course Jesus cared, and this was the very reason he had come - to rescue them and to save them.)
Jesus stood up and spoke to the storm.
"Hush!" he said.  That's all.

And the strangest thing happened...The wind and the waves recognized Jesus' voice. (They had heard it before, of course - it was the same voice that made them, in the very beginning). They listened to Jesus and they did what he said.

Immediately the wind stopped. The water calmed down.  It glittered innocently in the moonlight and lapped quietly against the side of the boat, as if nothing had happened.

The little boat bobbed gently up and down.  There was a deep stillness and a great quiet all around.

Then Jesus turned to his wind-torn friends. "Why were you scared?" he asked. "Did you forget who I AM?  Did you believe your fears instead of me?"

Jesus' friend were quiet.  As quiet as the wind and waves. And into their hearts came a different kind of storm.

"What kind of man is this?"  they asked themselves anxiously.  "Even the wind and the waves obey him!" they said, because they didn't understand.  They didn't realize yet that Jesus was the Son of God.

Jesus' friends had been so afraid, they had only seen the big waves.  They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, then they had nothing to be afraid of.

No matter how small their boat - of how big the storm.'

taken from The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every story whispers his name by Sally Lloyd-Jones with illustrations by Jago p.242

Dearest Friends

 The happy gang!

 Commander 1, Commander 2, commander 3, etc. in their forts on some Star Wars planet (I think the chairs where some kind of pod racer)

 Time whizzed by too fast...can't wait for another visit!

My dearest friend in the whole world, Sarah, and her precious family minus Bailey(Jerel, Nolan and Elliott) came and spent the day with us during their spring break a couple of week ago.  What a treat for me!  Sweet Jerel helped fix a few things around the house, Sarah helped me with the décor and the children played - instruments and Star Wars forts.  I think time passes quickly when I see my own children but when I see friend's children it seems even faster.  Thanks so much for coming and enjoying the cold and rain - so grateful for you Friends!!

6

With some freeze dance, hide-n-seek, "zookeeper may I?" and cupcakes with friends - we celebrated Lucy's 6th birthday.  It was a playdate-ish sort of party after school with sweet friends. Thanks so much for joining us to party!

Sample work - kindergarden

Lucy's reading and writing have taken off this year.  She's writing and reading in Spanish and English - here are a couple of her recent independent writing samples from kindergarden.