Who?

Sammy and Jack were on the phone last week.  (Brian and Jack were gone for the week.  More on that later.)
After about 10 minutes on the phone, this is what I heard:
S:  "Are you my brother?"
Quiet
S:  "Are you my BROTHER?"
Quiet
S:  "Oh good.  I didn't know which Jack I was talking to."
(He does not know any other Jacks!)

Rainy Day

It was just the little ones and me for a while today.  We went outside after lunch.
They were swinging.  I was putzing around in the garden.  It was cloudy and dark for the middle of the day.
Then it was raining.
BIG drops. And lots of them.
Out of no where, it seemed.
So I grabbed Lucy and we all made a run for it, her laughing all the way as she bounced on my hip.

The darkness from the storm made it cozy in the living room so we got a pile of books and read.
Several books later I put Lucy down for her nap.
While I was still upstairs the door slammed shut.
Oh boy, I thought.  Sam's outside.
And do you know, he was having a great time.

Three Things

Just three things today:
1.  Today is National Chocolate Day.
2.  Tomorrow is National Sugar Cookie Day.
3.  Even more importantly, tomorrow is Cow Appreciation Day at Chik-Fil-A, which means free food if you put together some sort of cow costume.  And we will.

Crazy Morning

Three kids and I ventured out to the library and grocery store this morning.
Three.  Not four.
And it was about all I could handle.
Lucy has her own ideas about how things should go (for her) when we're out and about.
My ideas are a little different.
I did get a good stack of books for myself.  Several more Miss Read books and some education/parenting books: E.D. Hirsch and John Rosemond.  I'll see what they have to say.

The grocery store was a little crazy.  A hungry mama, an antsy toddler, and a rambunctious four year old did not make for a good combination.
Which must be why I bought things I NEVER buy, like Cheetos and Poptarts.
Thank goodness for free samples.
Also got lots of good fruit which was a good thing because that's about all Lucy wants to eat these days.

So, now for a quiet afternoon and then Geneva comes to babysit and I'm going out.
Alone.
(Can you hear me smiling?)

Lake Weekend

Does this picture speak summer to you?
It does to me.
We spent a better part of the weekend up at Claytor Lake with Brian's family, most of it in the water.
There's something about the kids laughing in the water that I loved.  Even while we're hollering at them to get back a little closer to the dock or trying to make sure Lucy didn't fall in.  My little birthday buddy Caroline has a great infectious giggle.  And that's what it is.  A giggle.  I'm sure she has a good belly laugh too but giggles are such happy sounds.  They just keep going.
We had several "firsts" that are worthy to remember.  And other things that might not have been firsts, but were still fun.

 Here's Caroleena Pastalina, aka the Giggler

Not Sammy's first time driving the boat but definitely one of his favorite things to do

Not Brian's first time water skiing but my first time watching him.  Pretty funny.

His sister skied, too.  Impressive.

First time tubing behind the boat.  Can you tell how Kayla is holding her breath, just in case she got knocked off?  I wasn't sure what she would think of this adventure but she loved it.

Jack went by himself then with cousin Mary.  He was hilarious back there.  I think I've got more of a comedian than I realized.

This picture just makes me smile.  

Sometimes you just need a break from it all.

Sammy's first time to hold baby Joel.  What a cutie.  Sam had so many questions about this little guy.  

He's a sweet baby.

Garden and Fireworks

The last week or so has been pretty busy around here!  Fun, but busy.  The little ones are wiped out and sleeping (hopefully) right now.  Posting will be backwards again because I want to get a few pictures up for the guys to see sooner rather than later.

Our garden is finally producing!  Maybe not a whole lot yet but we sure enjoyed this first cucumber of the season.

I think we will have squash coming out of our ears soon.

Doesn't everybody?  

We all enjoy the watching and then the spotting of something new.

Sometimes that can be hazardous- Lucy already plucked our first tiny watermelon from the vine.  Maybe we'll get more?

Fireworks were great last night.  Geneva came with us and was a huge help.  It doesn't hurt that the kids all love her!

Uh-Oh

This morning:
"Mom.  The tooth fairy didn't come last night."
Uh-oh.
I don't even know what to say.
I am scrambling to come up with a good explanation for this.
The funny thing is, I thought everyone here knew who is behind the tooth fairy.  We've been pretty clear.  It doesn't seem to matter right now.
Not sure how I'm going to get out of this one...