some things never change

january 2010.......last night......
i wonder how often they sleep like this...i don't check on them very often, but did tonight for some reason. i hope they look back at these pics some day and smile. or maybe they will just look back and say 'look how skinny our legs were!'

School

The first couple weeks are done with homeschooling Adam. And while it's going ok, i don't think it's something he or I need to do in the future. So unless my feelings change (which is very possible!), we will be sending him to Kindergarten next year. Now the big decision is.... where?? I called the public school today and they do K every day for about 2 1/2 hours and you pick either morning or afternoon. I was kinda excited about that. 2 1/2 hours is not very long and we'd still have him home for a good portion of the day. Its funny, recently i had all 4 of them with me at Mcdonalds and a random person says to me "i bet you can't wait till their in school and you can have freedom!" That's not the case, i'm not ready to send them off. i like having them here! But if we are meant to send them to school v/s homeschool then i know God will give me the peace i need.
i enjoy the crafts involved with the school work and Adam does a nice job with it.

Clay & Kitty

"get out of my bumbo kitty!"....he's starting to sit for longer stretches. Enough where i was comfortable to let go and take his picture! He's been changing so much lately, (he's 5 1/2 months now).

alpacas

I love these animals!! A nearby farm had an open house yesterday and we went and checked out their alpacas.

Warming up to each other....

Alpacas are a lot like llamas, but much smaller. Other differences are their ears (llamas ears are taller, and curved like a banana), and the texture of their coat is a bit different.

They are generally pretty tame, these ones weren't as friendly as other ones we've seen in the past. But once they got used to us they were pretty calm. My camera died, so no cute ones of them feeding the alpacas.

They get shaved once a year, in the spring. Rod and I have talked many times about getting a few of these. But they are rather expensive. If we do, it'll be a long ways off. I think we'll start with a bunny :)

Clay's new thing

we found our voice!

He does this anytime of day, including 3:00am, 5:00am. doesn't matter to him!

quiet

i'm enjoying a quiet evening tonight. rod is doing some research on the computer at the moment, and i'm just sitting here, taking in the quietness. i need that sometimes!! this morning at breakfast i gave the boys some watermelon and adam asks:: "Mom were you just kidding when you said one time that watermelon tastes better if you eat it without talking?" haha! i don't even remember saying that but i'm sure i did! i'm not complaining about the constant chatter around the house. just saying it's nice to have the quiet times, and makes me appreciate the time i get to myself.

A visit to the Library to see Frog and Toad:

They had a jumping contest, of course those pics were blurry. Here's Adam before his jump. Ben and Brad figured out on the way to the library who was going to hug Frog and who was going to hug Toad. I think this is Ben hugging Toad.

Sunday morning "air show"

We missed the Air Show in Ocean City by one weekend, but we had our own little version this morning at home..

Rod flew his powered parachutte before church. i got the boys up and we watched daddy do fly bys and land.

Soon after he landed, a hot air balloon came from over the hill, We watched it for a little, then Rod and the boys followed it on the wheeler. It had already landed when they got there. The "driver" signaled for them to come over. Rod helped him with the balloon and listened as the driver and the passengers told him they just saw a parachutte in the air :)

We weren't even late for church!

5 months

Bubba is 5 months! Rod commented the other day that he might never know his name. We call him so many 'pet' names...Clay Bay, Bay, Old Bay, Old Bay seasoning. And it goes on.

He has the hugest smile! Not much sound comes out of that mouth though. He might be a late talker ? Or just won't have a chance to talk. Spend 10 minutes at our house and you'll know what i'm talking about!

I was reminded of something in a good mother's devotional i'm reading ("make your day count"), that we need to remember to pray in advance for our children, the things that they will run into in life. Preventative praying, if you will. instead of doing emergency praying when they face a situation, we should be praying in advance for them, for their decisions, salvation, future issues. Not that i don't pray for their future, but more often then not i pray for the present. The author encourages us to pray now for tomorrow's need. There is much planting we can do by praying for our children and their future.

Bubbles!

wow - there was no wind today. let's do bubbles! i've tried other recipes but this one i like best!

1 c. water

2 T Dawn

1 T corn syrup

(i doubled it and we used them all....but brad spilled some)

Vaca

We had an awesome vacation at the beach this past weekend. We had nice weather and took advantage of that. The boys skipped naps each day and enjoyed the beach. In the evenings we went out to the boardwalk. We loved having my mom come this year. She helped a lot w/ Clay which allowed me more beach time with Rod and the boys. She even gave Rod and I a date night, after the boys went to bed. Fun memories all around! ! !

The beach..... All i have to say is....they were BUSYWe had an embarrasing situation Saturday....The boys were down by the water playing with their trucks, when i looked up and saw both Ben and Brad with their suits down and they were peeing! Facing the people on the beach! It was too late for me to do anything, plus we were too far away. So i just pretended to look around for those boys parents, just like everyone else was doing :) - (we had a little chat later)

Clay's first beach experience. Rod laughed when my mom came out with him and said he looks like he's ready for a blizzard!

Boardwalk time!

Daddy went fast down the ramp!We found a nice collection of shells..

Boys were in bed by 7:30 tonight, time to catch up on sleep!!

We had a good month of August. It started with a fun extended Smoker gathering, and ended with a trip to the pool. This weekend was the wedding at our place. Other then the 30 MPH wind gusts, i think they were pleased with everything! Now this week we head to the beach. I'm excited, it looks like we won't be going during a hurricane this year, so that's an added plus :) I don't even know where to begin with planning and packing for myself and 4 little boys. Don't worry, i'll come up with a system and 3 or 4 different lists. My mom is coming along to hang out and help us. Last year was so fun watching the boys first experience at the beach. I'm hoping this year goes well with the baby. He's still not sleeping through the night, most times. And i can never count on a certain amount of time that he'll nap, so we'll just have to play by ear and be flexible!! Adam's school will start the Wednesday we get back. I'm planning to take it casually and maybe take 2 years to do Kindergarten, since he's not supposed to be in K yet this year. I think i will like the MFW curriculum. I think Awana starts that Wednesday also. We're planning on sending all 3 boys this year. They will all be Cubbie bears!

Our new gal is moving in today. She'll be here any minute actually. Never a dull moment!

Clay's 2nd wedding...he's so popular!

There was quite a diverse crowd in attendance at the wedding:

Adam does a good job with Clay, which surprises me to be quite honest. Clay will be 5 months old this week. Kids quote for the week. During prayer yesterday Ben thanked God for the spanking stick! Oh i love their innocence.

Enjoy this beautiful Labor Day!