Mammal madness

November 24, 2015 | Stacy

Normally Hanny sits in on Tab’s science, but when we got to the end of the chapter and I wanted to do the review questions she bailed. The idea of just droning on and on about what kind of mammal each creature was seemed boring to me, and would NOT have held Tabitha’s attention. Enter siblings. Literally. Two of them entered the room on their way outside to play ball. I asked them to grab markers and do an exercise with us. For reasons known only to God they didn’t balk or ask questions; but, indeed, they each found a marker.

And we had fun. I think Nigel won? Maybe it was Tab. It didn’t matter.

Instagram fun

November 17, 2015 | Stacy

My new favorite thing is Instagram.
When you have so many awesome subjects, it is easy to see why.

Brothers are wonderful

November 1, 2015 | Stacy

Hanny woke up with croup.
She and I had to miss church.
Thankfully, we still have Stewart’s nebulizer and unexpired Albuterol.
But it sure is boring sitting there for a treatment.

Unless you have a big brother.

Some Sunday!

October 11, 2015 | Stacy

Three months of the year Nigel ushers each Sunday.
About 4 times a year Marie and Tabitha sing on the Praise Team.
On random days throughout the year, Stewart sings with the choir.
On OCCASION the choir sings WITH the Praise Team.

Somehow. SOMEHOW. It came to be that all four of them would be participating this Sunday.

Our row was EMPTY until sermon time. But in the best possible way.

It was nothing but a FLUKE that my girls weren’t wearing pink, or orange, or floral! The fact that they blended in was just cool. The music was what stood out. And it was delightful.

Because four of them were dressed up, I thought to throw the little girls in matchy dresses and threw my camera in the car. As we left the church and walked to the grassy area, I decided to do the photos on the bench that was placed to remember Pastor Jeff. I first just intended to grab some shots of the kids, but ended up calling over a friend to have him take some of the whole family. I don’t know if we will do Christmas cards this year, but if we do – act surprised!

Movie moments

September 20, 2015 | Stacy

I did not get very many hours at work for the month of September. It ended up making for some fun (but – gulp – expensive) weekends.
After my dinner with Marie at Red Lobster, we headed home to watch the movie Cinderella with the family. We let the little girls stay up to watch it, and Katriel even dressed for the occasion.

The movie didn’t end until almost 10! I can’t believe they little girlies managed to stay awake for the whole thing. But it was such a lovely movie, I don’t blame them for working hard at it.

The next night, the boys, Kelly, and I went to Tinseltown to see Everest in 3D. I’m not super big on 3D but I figured a mountain climbing movie was a lot safer than, say, a dinosaur movie. This movie was pretty good, if you didn’t mind the lack of a feel-good ending.

And it did feel good to get out with my fellas. Can you see us?

New ties…

August 29, 2015 | Stacy

Some friends of ours unloaded 7 or 8 Disney ties on the boys.
The cheesy pictures are to show another dad just how groovy they clean up.

A Monster Among Us

August 24, 2015 | Stacy

The boys worked on new script over the winter/spring. I was SUPPOSED to proofread it as we drove to Oregon, but I hadn’t not yet (and still have not) loaded Microsoft Office onto the laptop. (Oops.) I quickly read it after we got home and they went about with casting and costumes.

On August 20th they managed to do most of the filming, with a small bit left for the 22nd.

Within a week they had it edited.
And I must say, I am quite tickled by their production.

Nigel is 13

July 2, 2015 | Stacy

All my kids’ birthdays are special – but I always get choked up at Nigel’s. My former preemie is a teenager today.
We assembled in the hall in the morning to head in to wake him with a birthday song. Nigel is pretty fortunate that Daddy ends up with his birthday off more years than not.

Like last year, Nigel made a request to have a mystery date with Daddy in lieu of regular gifting. This was the fourth year in a row, and honestly, this works SO well for us. Stuff is stuff. But time together is a treasure. I’m sure that it is even more so in a larger family. The one-on-one time for fun means a lot to us.

Daddy isn’t a blogger, nor is he equipped with a smart phone. So we have to just envision the good time that they had.
Mini-golf. Grand China Buffet. Batting cages. Go Karts. Other stuff I don’t remember.
They took it easy on dessert because Nigel was home in time for his requested dinner of angel hair pasta with Alfredo sauce. I had not been able to score a decent price on shrimp, but Nan came through with some from her freezer.
After dinner we had some cards, gifts, and cake.

And when I say, “Cake,” I mean, “CAKE!!!!!!”

HIs new suit. And Moms who slack off.

May 10, 2015 | Stacy

This is a cool story.
A few months ago Stewart got a new suit.
Nigel was also hoping for a suit. He wanted to be an usher at church. Even though we assured him he could do that even without a suit, he really did want one. We’d occasionally look at Goodwill and find nothing. The slam-dunk I’d had with finding Stewart’s new suit on Amazon for $30 was not happening. Since he didn’t really NEED a new suit, it truly went to the back burner.
Well, when the warmer weather hit and I cleaned out the boys’ closet, I found a number of dress shirts that they had outgrown. Some friends of ours also dress up for the services at their church. They have three sons younger than our boys, and many church friends with sons, as well. After work I dropped by their house with the bags of clothes and she off-handedly asked if Stewart needed a suit. I shared we’d just found him one a few months ago, but mentioned Nigel wanted one. She handed me two suits she’d just bought that day at the Ronald McDonald sale, and can you believe one of them fit Nigel like it was made for him! He was tickled. And despite the temperatures hovering around 90, he donned his new suit with joyfulness. AND he secured a position on the Ushering team that same day.

Isn’t he handsome?

Oh – and since it is Mother’s Day and all…. I got a new chair. And they let me use it.
After about 90 minutes of on and off heat-seeking (liberal sunscreen had been applied), the girls and I went to buy paint for their upcoming bedroom project!