Happy Halloween!

from those meddling kids!

Egg 2012

We may not be anywhere near family.  We may be far, far away from any Egg Celebrations.  At least those involving throwing eggs at loved ones and over three-story houses.  But we can still Egg.    

 Just not over the house.  The golf course is behind the house.  And the old men might be alert for stray golf balls, but I don't think they're looking out for the wayward egg.  Plus, I would never remember to yell, "fore."

But who am I kidding, the closest I've ever come to getting an egg over the house was the time I smashed it right into the front wall.  Yep.  True story.

Anyway, we had a blast throwing eggs at each other on Easter.  And I'm pretty sure the neighbors had a blast watching us through the slits in their blinds.  We're nothing if not entertaining.

Both big boys chose their daddy as partner for the egg toss.  This probably had something to do with the whole "egg into the front of the house" incident, but I can't be sure.  I like to think maybe they just wanted to make sure we got good pictures of the event.

So I took lots of pictures.  I couldn't let my boys down, you know.  

Also, they make cute faces when they catch flying eggs.  

And they're mighty handsome, too.  Somehow, without my encouragement or permission, these boys keep growing up.  I don't get it.  It's like overnight they went from cute little chubby-wristed toddlers to big, handsome long-legged boys.  Huh?  

Oh, and just so you know.  We don't really "toss" the eggs.  We huck, launch, and pitch the eggs.  Our method may not win any Egg Tosses if you're looking for unbroken eggs, but we like it.  We did end the day with a winning egg.  And spent the next three days carrying it around Key West.  It's gone now.  But don't mention anything to Camden.  It went away while he was sleeping.

And in case you were wondering about the oldest and youngest children...

They were both on the sidelines, hoping we'd give them a chance to put an egg in their mouths.  One of them ended up eating about half a dozen eggs.  (No worries grandmas.  It wasn't the youngest.)

Easter was good.  We missed being with the family, but had a sweet day together, celebrating Christ's gift to us.  And chucking eggs at each other.

What I Didn't Post

It's 3 am on December 31st.  I'm nursing my baby.  And I've decided I have to catch up on the ol' blog before the new year.  It's been a while.  And I've got a lot to share.  But I haven't edited a photo in two months (coincidentally, that's how old my baby is!) I'm typing one-handed, and I can't see the keyboard (a challenge for anyone, but for those of us who never bothered  to learn typing it's really fun...).  So what I'm trying to say is, here's what I wanted to tell you but didn't.

We had a baby.  I guess I did tell you that.  But it was kind of a big deal.  I love him.

His brothers and his Daddy love him, too.  What is it about seeing your big kids with your new baby?  Pure bliss.  And your husband with his new little one?  Swoon.

 My brother is an artist.  And thank goodness for that, since we had a boy who needed to be Darth Maul for Halloween.  

My house has been taken over by Pokemon.  Camden was having some, let's call them "discipline issues," and needed an "incentive.  He worked hard on his behavior and finally earned the pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards he'd been wanting.  Upon getting to the store - and figuring out he could get either ten pokemon cards for the price of five yu-gi-oh... we've become a pokemon family.  Mandisa doesn't quite get it.  But she's willing to give it a try for her boys.

I took photos of my sweet little one-week-old Nick.

Then I took pictures of my sweet little two-week-old Nick.

Speaking of two-week-old babies, how many do you know that were already smiling?  Because mine was!  Have you ever seen anything so cute in your whole entire life?  

I kinda like my siblings.  Just a little bit.

Camden played soccer.  He is awesome.  If I do say so myself.  His biggest problem this fall was that sometimes he played too well.  And then his coach would tell him to hold back.  No need to run up the score in U8 soccer...

Jake's class gave a concert.  There is absolutely nothing more entertaining than watching a bunch of third gators stand in front of a crowd.

Twenty-five cents a bag and the chance to use "power tools" means Mommy gets an almost clean yard.

Move over Michaelangelo.  Nick's discovered ceiling fans.  Your Sistine Chapel's got nothing on these things.

Twelve years ago, as I was getting ready to go out one evening, my grandmommy asked me where I was going.  I told her I was going to be Mary at the Temple.  She looked a little shocked and asked, "With who?"  "Dan."  She thought I had said I was going to be married at the Temple, and was just a little surprised since at that point I had only been out with this guy once.  No worries, Grandmommy.  I was just going to freeze my bum off being Mary in the live Nativity.  But I got to look at those pretty blue eyes while freezing my bum off.  And went to be married at the Temple - with Dan - the next Christmas.

This year we got to hold a real live baby.  And we were inside, so no freezing bums.  But he's still got those pretty blue eyes.  And I think his new baby might be lucky enough to have them, too.  Maybe...

Jake turned NINE.  We celebrated with a Harry Potter party.  It was pretty much the coolest party ever.

Camden is - hands down - the best, most attentive big brother ever.  I'm so glad he gets to be one!

And then there's Mandisa, who takes her responsibilities very seriously.

Okay, the baby is going back to bed, and so must I.

Egg 2011 - Part One

The annual EGG-stravaganza makes us all pretty happy.

Game faces on, we race to find the hidden eggs.

Sometimes we're more successful than others.

And sometimes we all spot them at the same time.

Once the kids have found all the eggs, they do the hiding.

They hide very well.

And they think they're so clever.

The grown-up hunt can get pretty brutal.

(And we wonder where the kids get it.)

Some of us find more eggs than others.

And don't hesitate to rub it in.

Thoughts on Valentine's Day

My Valentine.

He's cute.  And fun.

I totally lucked out.

This morning (3:45 am to be exact), I sent him off to catch a plane.
Maybe not our most romantic Valentine's Day.
But when I remember that two years ago I didn't get to see him - or even talk to him - at all, I figure packing his socks and underwear is better than nothing!

Mother Nature gave me a beautiful Valentine today...  My daffodils are popping up!  It'll be a while before they do much more than that, and they'll probably be covered in snow again before they get to do anything exciting, but it's so nice to know that Spring is indeed on its way! 

Another gift from my friend Mother Nature (that's right, she's my friend today)...  It was over 60 degrees today!

It was also super windy.  As in, "blow the just-cleaned-up dog poop back all over the yard" windy.  You think I'm exagerating, but I'm not.  Until today, I never would have believed it, either.

Don't worry, though.  I cleaned it all back up.  Doesn't it just make you want a dog?

And then I sent the children out to play.  In case you were wondering what one does with a heavy winter coat that was most definitely needed yesterday - and will most definitely be needed tomorrow - but is most definitely not needed today...  You use it as a cape.  Just thought you might want to know that.

Thank goodness for Valentine's Day!  Our Halloween candy was almost gone.  The candy jar was dangerously close to empty.  But not anymore!  Thank you St. Valentine for being martyred and lending your name to a pagan holiday so we Christians can celebrate it in good conscience.  I truly appreciate the opportunity to refill the candy jar, especially with Easter coming so late this year.

Finally...

Knock Knock

Who's there?

Stopwatch!

Stopwatch who?

Stopwatch-you're doin' and give me a smooch!

Yeah, I thought that was a good one, too.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

...Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Memorial Day

On this (unofficial) first day of Summer,

enjoy your picnics

and barbecues.

Enjoy your day at the pool

or the park.

(I know we will!)

But remember to take a moment

to think about what this day is

really about.

And to thank -

if only in your heart -

those who have given

their lives

for your freedom.

And those

who are still willing to.

Three Things

One

My boys just had a mid-day bath because their feet (and legs, and hands, and arms... and Camden's head) looked like this. We are really enjoying Spring Break.

Two

Despite our best efforts (Granny and I placed some extremely well hidden eggs in that forsythia bush), those kiddos found all the Easter eggs this year. I think they're getting too smart for us.

Three

Just a quick shout-out to the undisputed winners of Egg 2010. John and Maria won with this incredible, bare-hands catch by Maria. That egg went all the way over the house before it came hurtling down at her. Oh, and that egg? Turns out it was raw. Oops.

P.S.

Don't be fooled by Camden's pouty face. Easter really was a fun and happy day. Even for Camden.

I guess I should have made that four things.