The Baby, The Camera, and the Wardrobe

eight months.

I'm more tired than you
As I reach down to tuck you into bed
I've got to find your bear and the tiger
That sleep beside your head
This love that I feel is ferocious as a lion
So brave and so gentle that I almost feel like crying

It's a great big world
It's a great big moon
It's a great big sky
And a great big love for you

Then I tell you a story of a lion who's your best friend
He gets you into trouble but he brings you home safe in the end
Some day all these stories may come to life as true
When a child of your own can wake that lion in you

It's a great big world
It's a great big moon
It's a great big sky
And a great big love for you

(David Wilcox, Pierce Pettis)

"All dogs go to heaven....but Saint Bernards go to hell."

-Grayson

my little arteest

ART CAMP!
This was G's special week-long activity this summer just for him. S went to VBS for his week long activity and G wasn't quite old enough to attend, so this was his special treat. They'll both get to attend soon at a community church with some friends.

As for Art Camp, he loved it! And I love watching him enjoy being creative. His favorite piece was the crab on canvas, but I loved these blossoms!
His canvas is now on display in his room, where he proudly gazes up on it :-)

Get-Away

a few weeks ago we took a get-away trip to chattanooga. we had tons of fun...it's one of the boys'

favorite cities. of course, my animal lovers wanted to hit the aquarium first.

i know it doesn't hurt to have the mighty tennessee running through the middle of your city, but jamie and i again wished our city council could get their act together and learn a thing or two from chattanooga. but that's another post for another day!

on the walking bridge

i love this one of my little men

another hit was coolidge park. they have a super fun water fountain and a beautiful carousel, which the boys rode twice ( and would have many more times had the fountains not been calling)! the boys made sure not to let baby brother feel left out. they would run in and out of the fountains towards him to make him giggle. above is a photo of g running back to make silly faces.

on one of the stone animals that encircle the fountains

m's first carousel ride...he's holding on for dear life!

after that day of fun, we headed up to the bluff view art district (mommy and daddy's pick) where we hit some of our favorite haunts like tony's. we could live on their calamari, wine and bread alone! and then, it was off to rembrandt's for yummy treats!
we highly recommend it if you are planning a trip!

good and good for you

the other day i got stuck in Anthro during a rainstorm. not a bad place to get stuck during a shower, if you ask me. while there i was perusing one of their many interesting cookbooks and one in particular on superfoods. a salmon recipe jumped out at me because i'm always trying to find better fish recipes. i had not yet found one for salmon that i just loved...until now.

this is mostly from memory of what i read and a couple of other things filed away from previous recipes...and it's not exact, sorry! but if you love salmon, try it!

you'll need: 1 lg. lemon, extra virgin olive oil, capers, red pepper flakes, chardonnay, kosher salt and pepper, and of course, salmon.

with a microplane, zest one large lemon into a bowl, then add the juice from that lemon.
after that, whisk in extra virgin olive oil. i really have no idea how much, just did this until it tasted right.
then i added a hearty dash of crushed red pepper flakes and a splash of some Chardonnay we had on hand.

i purchased a large filet of salmon (skin removed) at costco and just cut it into 1-2 inch slices for this. put the salmon in a dish, sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper, and pour lemon mixture over and let it sit for a while. i maybe let it sit for 10 minutes.

heat an iron skillet over medium high with about 1 T of evoo along with 1-2 T of butter. once the butter is melted, place the salmon in the skillet.
fish cooks extremely fast so watch this closely! i let them hang out on one side about 2-3 minutes, then flipped them, poured in the remaining juices from the marinade along with 1 T. capers and then placed them in a 425 degree oven (still in iron skillet) for about 5 minutes (checking often to make sure not to overcook).

it was divine! i served it w/ Alexia Oven Fries with Olive Oil, Rosemary and Garlic (which conveniently cooked at the same temperature), because they are all natural and quicker than washing and chopping baby reds myself...and a mesclun salad with feta and pecans.

oh and sorry...the photographer forgot to take a picture of the finished product ;(

enjoy!

Congratulations to my man!

i'm a little behind in posting this...but then that's at least consistent with other areas of my life! ha! an update on our family...hubby has a new job!
his last day at the old company was a couple of weeks ago. yea for him!...and us! after nearly a decade with a big corporation he has been offered a new and better opportunity and has decided to move on. among the many great things about this move is that he'll be working for a smaller, but well established company. working for a large corporation that doesn't value family, to say the least, can wear on a man. i'm really proud of him and thrilled that he can now have a more fulfilling job that uses his talents! also, he'll be working both with and for friends. and, another added bonus, the office is a mile from our house! we really want to minimize our footprint, so to speak, and get even more plugged into our community, so we're thankful for the added blessing of working where we live. the only down-side we can possibly see is not being able to work with this friend (who recently moved). so... this post is dedicated to the man who works so hard and does such a great job of providing for and supporting our family. congratulations! we love you!

seven.

oh my. i love this boy.
what you are about at 7 months...you have 2 little bottom teeth, you are sitting up...and diving for things, you LOVE to splash in the water, you have the funniest fake laugh and a really terrible fake cough, you do everything "full out", you are quite loud, which fits right in this household! i think you are going to be quite the gregarious one. i've never seen a child smile so much in just 7 short months. you are along for the ride, you sweet boy. no day is ever the same except that it's always crazy, but you still make us keep you up too late, because we just can't get enough of your sweetness.
more cuteness here.

helping the boys write their names in hieroglyphic

checking out the fish

with grandaddy

showing me the benjamins-the pretend bank is his favorite place in the whole museum

building a train

last week while jamie was swamped w/ work and projects, the boys and i headed to my hometown to visit family and friends. we went to imagination place, which is one of their favorite places to pretend play. we even got to see aunt ginny at her new job at the museum. the boys love ginny! thanks for the tour, friend!

what we've been up to....

wearing their fireman hats from R & R's b'day party

1st trip to the pool. is there anything cuter than a baby in the pool? i love it! apparently we wore him out!

playdate at the zoo w/ baby G

one morning while S was at VBS we played in the zoo fountains w/ Amanda and her kiddos

watching the giraffes

looking for the tiger

well we've survived the first couple of weeks of summer. honestly, i was pretty scared the day school got out about having all 3 boys home all day every day! it's full throttle all the time and i go to bed exhausted, but it is nice not having to be up and ready for school every morning. at least we can take a more leisurely pace, to some extent!

Baptism

the invitation

in his fancy christening duds from nerny

the 5 of us

all the family that attended

we heart pastor tom

cousins



On May 25th our sweet third boy was baptized at our church. It was a very special service officiated by Pastor Tom. The big boys did so good standing up there with us! We sang one of the boys' favorite hymns just prior to time to go up for the baptism and Grayson sang his little heart out! Between that and the congregation singing I am Jesus' Little Lamb for M, it was all I could do not to turn on the waterworks! We are so thankful for the Body of believers God has given us. Thanks to all our family and friends who could be there and for your prayers for our son!

*Thank you to my sweet friend Mindy for taking photos for us!

memorial day

it's been a whirlwind week or so here. we celebrated meade's baptism (more photos to come), celebrated memorial day with friends, had a community cookout the day after memorial day (the big boys went~i sadly had to miss due to a nasty bout of strep throat---at the end of May, no less!). i'm feeling much better now and we're gearing up for summer! the calendar has already filled up quickly and we're excited about a lot of fun things going on. for now, here are a few photos from the backyard...

S playing the battle victim. G is scrambling down to care for the wounded.

meade's buddy~isn't he beautiful?

JD is very serious about his armor and weaponry

this is the "don't mess with me" look.

six months.

a sleepy morning shot

all wrapped up in our bed is one of your favorite places to be

with two of your sweet buddies

at six months you have one tooth broken through and another on the way,
you are working on sitting up,
you give big, wet kisses that you put your whole body into,
your "attack hugs" are simply one of the best things in life.

we love all 18 pounds and 10 ounces of you, precious boy!

hearts, crickets and strawberries

Sumner and Grayson were fighting over something and I told them they needed to take a break from playing with that particular toy and ask Jesus to help their hearts be kind to each other.
About 5 minutes later, Grayson came out of his room and assumed he could take the toy from the time out spot, because... "my heart thinked about niceness now."

Grayson, our resident cricket catcher, gets so excited about catching one mid jump that often not enough gentleness is shown the poor creatures. Today, we had an unfortunate incident where some cricket blood got on his hand. I said, "Grayson we need to go wash your hands because you have a little cricket blood on you." (ick, i know)
To which Sumner said, "Which is just about the nastiest thing in the world."

And in case you would like some strawberries this summer, Grayson can tell you how to make them:

"you just get a wittle bit of sugar, get a wittle bit of weaves, and get a wittle ice and get some fedders and a wittle bit of water and a wittle bit of green dots. and you get some wed gatowade."

Edit: Forgot this one!
The other day I nearly broke my toe by running into something in the master bath. I was dancing around because it hurt so bad. And then because it was the end of the day and I was nearly crazy (as I am at the end of every day) I got tickled, so I was alternately laughing and crying. Sumner looked at me with that look, like "Man, is she gone." and said under his breath, "Self control." Which made me only laugh harder and then he said, "You need some."

New and Improved

Well...the real new and improved photography website is due this summer. Man! These business steps take time! But, in the mean time I made a few changes to the current site to give it a face lift...it needed one! I like this look better...for the time being, anyway! Check out the new links...

What do you think?

four.

happy birthday sweet boy!

with your arrival, we learned to relax, to not take everything so seriously.

you taught me the importance of enjoying the crazy chaos that is life with little ones, because while it is nutty, it sure is sweet...and it goes by oh so fast.


at 4 you are the reason i can never find a ponytail holder or bobby pin (until i'm straightening your toys and come across one), why the springy toilet paper holder thingy is missing in both bathrooms (who knows where you've hidden them), you are the independent dresser who makes artful clothing decisions, the little engineer who is always looking at how things work and how to do it yourself, the resident cricket keeper, and the curly headed snuggle bug who still isn't too big to give mommy lots of hugs and kisses.

you define STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES

you like to be with people, you like to try new things, you are adventurous and in the moment

your sheer joy in the smallest of things is so contagious

and oh that voice. there's just not another like it. if you could keep it forever...
like those curls that frame your face...

you are a blessing that has taught this mom so much.

may 12, 2004 made life even sweeter.

you have our hearts, g love.