Just Keeping Up

Since this blog is my way of keeping up with our lives and the kids as they grow, I wanted to do just kind of a catch up entry.

The kids on the train at the Jackson Zoo. We went with some friends and they had such fun!!!

We have stayed too busy this summer. I keep saying things like "once we make it through this week, we'll settle down" but I have realized that settling down will have to be a choice. Though busy, things have been good for the most part. The kids are thriving on lots of sunshine and we are upping our trips to the pool.

Daniel was away at the Graduate School of Banking at LSU and while he was gone, Addie started piano lessons. She has been begging to take, so we decided to let her give it a try. She has had so much fun with "Mrs. High" the past few weeks. She has also begun to show a talent for photography. I think the best part of seeing what she takes is seeing things from her perspective. I get really tickled with her, but she takes great pics for a four-year-old. Here are three pictures she took:

One of our favorites -- her perspective of her Daddy. He is 5'10 but in this pic, he looks like he's up by the ceiling! And this is how he really appears to her...

My mom and dad/her Nana and Papaw.

Her own sweet little hand.

When Daniel returned from LSU, Carter had a piano recital and we also celebrated my Daniel's 32nd birthday. Aw, man. Can that be right? We're aging around here... :)

Here is the video of Carter's recital. As you can see, he is a HAM. He got very tickled on his way up there, and if you can't hear it, he says "I know, I'm hilarious," right before the first song, which is what set the man in the front row off before his second song, in turn setting Carter off. I wish we had been on the other side of the piano because my mom and dad said he kept looking out at the audience as he played and making eye contact with people. He was so tickled I'm surprised he made it through... He is an entertainer at heart, and that scares me a little bit, but if a child has a certain bent, the best I believe we can do is allow him to develop that gift and try our best to teach him about God's glory in giving us certain gifts. I will say, though, that as his mother, I felt my face heating up. We NEVER go anywhere without him making new friends or being noticed. He's just exuberant -- ALL the time.

** You may want to click on the video and watch it ON youtube. I couldn't get it the right size so the right half of the screen is cut off on my blog.

Carter thanks you for watching his recital performance.

The Funfetti cake that Daniel requests every year. I make so many homemade cakes and used to sell them, have even done a wedding cake. But THIS man LOVES his Funfetti. It used to offend me but now I'm just glad that I get to make such an easy cake and the kids absolutely love helping with it.

Carter has discovered the joy of Legos. Yes, he's a bit old to just now be discovering this. He is a smart little boy, gifted in many things, but fine motor skills came late to this young man. I noticed him playing around with the old "baby" Duplo blocks though and said, "You need some Legos!" He LOVES them and won't quit building things. That's all he wants now -- more Legos.

Our Arts and Sports Camp (a VBS where they get to choose their activities like a day camp but are still taught the word like a VBS) was last week and Addie got to sign up with the 5K's since she's too old for nursery and there weren't any specific 4K activities. She did cooking and dance and had a BLAST! Carter did crafts and basketball. I think the exposure was good for both kids. And they learned a huge chunk of Philippians 2 (Ladybird's age group learned verses 10-11 and Carter's learned 5-11). I was really excited for Addie because she won awards in both of her activities and they only gave out two for each activity. She was very excited as well. We're not big on competition just for the sake of competition around here and I try to tell the kids that I expect the same behavior from them when they're not competing for awards as when they are ("Work heartily as unto the Lord..." behavior, if you will).

The kids on "green day". I ran out of green hairspray on his hair so she settled for white. Won't she make a great old lady some day??

I have been studying up on some curriculum changes I'd like to make. We had a whirlwind of a first semester and I was pleased with some things but not with others. When all is said and done, I think we're changing everything we did! I guess maybe I wasn't that pleased... I have just been exposed to some things that seem a bit more well-ordered than what I was trying to do. There are so many good curricula out there, it's hard to know what to choose, but I believe I have found most of what is going to work with our philosophies on what education should be and what we want for our family...

The garden is growing CRAZILY! We have had giant cucumbers and yesterday my first tomato turned red. There is corn on Carter's corn stalks. When it is ripe, we will FEAST! And Addie's watermelon vine has one medium watermelon and several babies. I have had a fiasco with keeping our homemade cages upright. We are learning lots of "what not to do" lessons for next summer's garden!

Addie's watermelon three days ago. Today, it is twice that size (about the size of a NERF football). We cannot WAIT to eat it!

Well, that's all for now. Happy early Father's Day to any man who may glimpse this (and especially to YOU, 'Rie -- I look forward to hearing what gifts "the Maxter" grants to you).

Couldn't resist one more pic of my sweet kiddos -- at the zoo, pretending to be SUPER scared of the 'gator.