Memorial Day Fun

Summer isn't quite here yet, but we certainly enjoyed having Derrick home for an extra day last weekend. Of course, the meaning of the holiday isn't about the beginning of summer and we were impressed on Monday morning when we asked Scott about the meaning of Memorial Day. His answer was "to honor those who have died in war." We do honor those who have fought and died. Thank you that there are those who are willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Monday morning, everyone enjoyed watching a movie with Daddy:

We also went to the strawberry farm to harvest our last bucket of the year. The highlight was swinging on the rope swing.


My favorite part of the weekend was eating our first watermelon of the year! YUM!

Eight Months

Amanda turned 8 months on Saturday. She is growing up so quickly (and wants to grow up even faster). She is so eager to do everything that her brothers are doing. While she is not yet crawling, she might as well be, as fast as she is able to move across the floor. She rolls and spins to get exactly where she wants to go.

She is also practicing her sounds. This week is the the "b" sound. All day, I hear "buh, buh, buh." She has mastered the "ahhhh" and the very loud "girl" squeal. She becomes louder the more tired she is.

Here are some current pictures of her showing off her newest skill - sitting up by herself!

field trips!

"We are so lucky to live so close to a big city, but not have to fight big city traffic every day."

Those were my thoughts as we drove home from Atlanta (in traffic) on Thursday, after having spent two nights with my parents. We had action-packed days.

We began Wednesday at the Center for Puppetry Arts to see "A Little Pirate Mermaid" and participate in a puppet workshop. Below you can see the first "puppets" we made - hand puppets!




The theme of the workshop was fish, and the boys made wonderful rod puppets.



Here we are working on the puppets. I love this picture of Amanda, as she is trying so desperately to see what is happening. She never wants to miss a thing! I'm carrying her in my Ergo carrier, which gives me the freedom to use both arms, but she would rather be free to roll around on the floor and explore.


The "Little Pirate Mermaid" was a wonderful show, using string puppets, shadow puppets and hand puppets. The voices were all live and the set was amazing. I'm planning to return for another show soon, as it was excellent.

Later that evening, after naps, an hour at the park and an early dinner, the boys insisted on testing the waters in the neighborhood pool. Never mind that the previous two nights had seen temperatures in the 40s and it was currently a cool 67 degrees, with gusty winds. They had a blast, especially with the borrowed goggles. We love the Lost & Found!




Thursday morning, bright and early, we headed to the Georgia Aquarium with folks from our Homeschool Co-op group.


At one point, I thought that the caption of the picture below might be "taken just before (insert name here) fell into the touch pool." I really don't see how more kids don't fall into these pools. The sides of the touch tanks are at least three feet high, so the kids have to dangle themselves over the side to reach the animals. Combine that with the fact I was trying to handle two kids and keep an eye on Amanda, and I was sure someone (i.e. Andrew) was going to get wet.

Here the boys are touching some coral and sea anemones. In other tanks, they touched Rays, small sharks, shrimp and horseshoe crabs.


The highlights for me were the huge tanks of fish, especially the tank with the whale sharks and other sharks. We read so many books about sharks that it was really exciting to see them in person.








This is Derrick's favorite picture. It looks as if Andrew is trying to touch the jellyfish. Thank goodness there was thick acrylic between him and the animal! I've been stung by one and it was no fun.


This is what happens after two action-packed days. Andrew did not make it to see the last 30 minutes of the aquarium. Scott and I were pretty tired as well.

In all, it was a great field trip! The only down side was Derrick had to stay home and work. But, we have the summer countdown going. Only nine more days with kids and two post-planning!

Preschool Graduation!

Although I think it is a little (or maybe even a lot) over the top to celebrate graduation from preschool with caps and gowns, Scott participated in his graduation ceremony on Wednesday. It was a cute program where they introduced each child individually. The classes then performed several songs and we enjoyed a nice reception following. Here are some cute pictures.

Scott's class: Kian, Frank, Eli, Scott, Briley, Payne, Emma Claire and Julia


Scott's two-day class wore yellow gowns. The three-day class wore blue and the five-day class wore red.

mommy phrases

Before I became a Mom, I think I expected that one day I would say some of those tried and true "Mommy phrases" that you hear about in books and movies. Sure enough, phrases like "because I said so" and "Don't do that! You may poke your eye out." are regulars in my vocabulary.

But, there are some phrases that are just as regular that I never dreamed I would say. For instance, this morning I caught myself saying to Andrew: "Don't chew on your sister's foot!" (This was while we were reading books and she was sleeping in my arms.) While the target is not always her foot, it is amazing what Andrew thinks he can do with Amanda.

I also never knew that sticks would be so important. We live on 1.5 acres, surrounded by trees, that drop PLENTY of sticks on our lawn. The most common phrase heard outside is me reminding the kids to "share your sticks." They love their sticks. (Derrick had to ban them from bringing sticks home from other places because he found one in the car that looked as if it had termite holes in it.) We have a stick box outside of our door for them to deposit their sticks and each child makes sure he knows which are his own sticks.

And, while "because I said so" is a favorite of mine, I don't allow the kids to answer "Because" when I ask them a question. Yesterday, Scott asked a Why... question and my answer was "Because." He looked directly at me and I could hear myself echoed in his voice as he said "Because is not an answer." Drat when those phrases are mirrored back to me!

A few of my favorite things...

Spring has definitely sprung and summer is quickly approaching. Last month, I starting thinking about all of the things that I love about the arrival of warmer weather:

*Open windows
*Playing outside
*Not having to wrestle with putting a kid in a carseat wearing a heavy, puffy jacket
*Not having to figure out what to do with said jacket (plus three others) once inside a building
*My new ceiling fan in the dining room, which makes dinner so pleasant

But my absolute favorite part of spring is the return of curls on Scott and Andrew.




And my least favorite part of spring is the fact that they want all those curls cut off, just like Daddy. I leave the haircuts to Derrick, as it makes me so sad to see those curls go. But, I have to admit, the boys look quite spiffy with their short cuts.




This spring, I have a new baby girl and a new favorite - dresses with cute matching bloomers (especially the ones with ruffles). And, as an added bonus, I finally get to enjoy those cute little toes that have been hiding under sleepers and socks all winter.

A Mother's Blessings

Here are the three (plus one) that I am thankful for this Mother's Day.