Soccer Season

Marshall had a blast playing soccer this fall. It only lasted 6 weeks, so Mom was glad of that. But basketball starts this week, and we're so very excited!

This post is mostly pics with some comments. I just posted a LOT more photos on my Shutterfly site, so check those out, too!

Making a goal! Not many of those, but he improved a lot, and made 3 in the very last game of the season.

They don't have goalies at this age, but apparently Marshall thought they needed one, and so appointed himself. Spent a lot of time "guarding" the goal; meanwhile, the other players were at the other end of the field.

Here's what he spent a great deal of time doing: playing with his jersey. Hmmm.

And here's what he spent most of the rest of the time doing: standing around talking.

Audra loves balls of any sort, especially those too big for her, so she was pretty excited when she got her hands on one during a game.

Playin' soccer with Charlie (our neighbor).

And here is what kind of pictures we usually get of Hunter these days. This, or him screaming not to take his picture. Takes after his Mama and Grandmom, there!

Audra's 1st Birthday

Audra's first year just flew by. She's no longer a baby, but a little girl, and she certainly acts like it, too. Wants to be just like big brothers - if they can do it, so can she! Here are some pictures from her party. (More at my shutterfly site!) Can you tell she really likes balloons?

And here is her cake. Three tiers of Caramel Cream cake with Vanilla-Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting (my new favorite frosting, by the way!) Chocolate transfer butterflies and a LOT of royal icing flowers. (There are a ton more pictures from all different angles on Shutterfly.)

This next one was her own personal little cake.

This entry is actually a forwarded email that I received. Now, I hate, hate, hate, forwarding email, in fact I usually don't even read those that are forwarded to me. But my Dad sent me this one, and he doesn't usually forward, so I figured it was worth reading. I decided to share it here instead of by forwarding so that I don't contribute to overloaded Inboxes! It's pretty awesome that someone put so much time and effort into this project. I hope you enjoy it.

This is about 70 miles from Amarillo outside of town called Groom, TX (This must have been
an awesome labor of love.)
Read message at the end of the pictures!

These are the pictures of the crucifixion of Christ
sculptured from metal by a man near Amarillo, TX.

The crosses are made of metal also. The man did
this out of the kindness of his heart.
Someone donated the land
On which to erect them.

Who is Jesus?

IN CHEMISTRY, HE TURNED WATER TO WINE.

IN BIOLOGY, HE WAS BORN WITHOUT THE NORMAL CONCEPTION;

IN PHYSICS, HE DISPROVED THE LAW OF GRAVITY WHEN HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN;

IN ECONOMICS, HE DISPROVED THE LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURN BY FEEDING 5000 MEN WITH TWO FISHES & 5 LOAVES OF BREAD;

IN MEDICINE, HE CURED THE SICK AND THE BLIND WITHOUT ADMINISTERING A SINGLE DOSE OF DRUGS,

IN HISTORY, HE IS THE BEGINNING AND THE END;

IN GOVERNMENT, HE SAID THAT HE SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, PRINCE OF PEACE

IN RELIGION, HE SAID NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH HIM;

SO, WHO IS HE? HE IS JESUS!

JOIN ME AND LET'S CELEBRATE HIM;
HE IS WORTHY.

THE EYES BEHOLDING THIS MESSAGE SHALL NOT BEHOLD EVIL,

THE HAND THAT WILL SEND THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYBODY SHALL NOT LABOR IN VAIN,

AND THE MOUTH SAYING AMEN
TO THIS PRAYER SHALL SMILE FOREVER

REMAIN IN GOD AND SEEK HIS FACE ALWAYS. AMEN

IN GOD I'VE FOUND EVERYTHING!

The Greatest Man in History Jesus had no servants, yet they called Him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer

He had no army, yet kings feared Him..

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

I feel honored to serve such a Leader who loves us! If you believe in God and in Jesus Christ His Son .. Send this to all on Your buddy list.
If not just ignore it.
If you ignore it, just remember that Jesus said. 'If you deny me before man, I will deny you before my Father in Heaven.
Louis H. O'Bannon

Well, we're in the middle of week number two of school. Marshall is doing GREAT! He's so excited every day, and loves doing his schoolwork. He's on the verge of reading: we're doing 1 to 2 phonics lessons per day, whereas a typical schedule is 3 lessons per week with the program we're using. And he's having no trouble retaining any of it! I could probably do 3 or 4 lessons per day, but we do have other things going on, you know. Here he is on his first day. Monumental stuff in our lives!

As for me, although it is amazing to watch him learn, I was taken aback at how tiring it can be to teach a kindergartener! We get all of his lessons done in about 2 hours a day, 99% of which I am talking and trying to keep him focused. Not to mention, since Audra is such an attention hog, we're having to do this during her naptime, which was formerly when I would get stuff done. So now my days are much busier, and I am more tired at the end of them. But it's worth it when I see how much he is learning.

The boys had a fun-filled weekend. This past Friday Marshall, Hunter and Daddy got to "camp" in our backyard. We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores for dinner, then Mommy and Audra got to go back inside for bed, while the boys "slept" in the tent (I'm not sure there was too much actual sleeping going on). They were very tired the next day, but Daddy was brave, and took both of them up to Fenton Lake to go fishing. He didn't think they were paying much attention to his instructions, but they've been practicing every day since, and are actually getting pretty darn good at casting.

Of course, Audra can't be left out of anything, so we have to let her carry around a pole, too.

She is now officially a toddler, I think. We've been very struck this past week or so what a big girl she's become. It won't be long before she's talking!

Don't forget: I've added new pictures to my Shutterfly site this week!

Marshall is 5!!

I can't believe my baby is 5 years old!! And starting school. Wow. I'm just speechless. Here are some photos of his Wall-E birthday party, and a few of him from years past.

Baby Marshall, just one week old!

His first birthday.

Marshall and friend, Ethan Reed, at Marshall's 2nd birthday party. This was right after we moved to Tennessee, and little did we know what good friends these two would be!

Birthday number three.

Fourth birthday party. Arrr, matey!

Back row: Katyana and Sydney Reed

Middle Row: Ethan Reed, Hunter (none too happy about taking a picture), Dmitri

Front Row: Nathaniel and Marshall

(I'm not even going to try to spell Dmitri and Nathaniel's last name, because apparently I don't have it written down anywhere, and I'm sure to get it wrong...sorry!!)

And finally, here's a couple of pictures of the Wall-E cake I made, which I am rather proud of. It's definitely the most elaborate cake I've done to date. It was 3D, and consisted of 6 layers (that's 3 whole cake mixes!). The eyes, arms, wheels, etc. were made from carved styrofoam covered with fondant icing. The body was cake. The cake flavors were Triple Chocolate, Decadent Strawberry, and Caramel-Vanilla-White Chocolate. The icing was Vanilla Bean, flavored with real vanilla beans. Yum! (If I do say so myself). My cake philosophy: If you're going to eat cake, and all the calories therein, it may as well be very good cake!! Otherwise, why bother?

To see more cakes I've done, visit the My Photos link on the left. I've also added more NEW pictures from Marshall's party and from the last few months. It's about time, isn't it?

Still busy busy busy!

Yay! We're finally moved back into our bathroom. Thank goodness. Not that it's the end of the world all of us having to share a small bathroom, but the disorganization was driving me crazy! And, despite having everything in our bedroom shrouded in plastic (which is pleasant in and of itself, may I say), there is drywall dust covering all of it. Ever try to clean that stuff up? Not easy.

Marshall started playing soccer this week, and after one practice has decided he likes it better than track & field. One of his teammates is our neighbor, who we've gotten together with a few times, so I'm sure having a friend there helped. He actually surprised me with how good he was for never having played before. The coach had them dribbling the ball across the field at one point, and he was the first kid across every time.

Public school started here this week, so I finally got my act together and ordered some curriculum for Marshall. Oops. I hadn't planned on starting until September, anyway, but ordering it ahead of time sure might be helpful, don't ya think? Both of us are pretty excited to start. I should say all three of us; Hunter likes sitting with us while we're doing lessons, so I got some curriculum for him, too. I think he'll enjoy having his very own lessons to do.

Speaking of Hunter, we had some fun last week. On Thursday he was having some fairly bad abdominal pains, so the doctor wanted to see him right away. Hunter is a tough guy, and only complains about something when it REALLY hurts. (Even his ear infections get really bad before he even says anything to me!) Luckily, some friends were in town visiting family, and said they'd watch the other two (thanks Kay and Jennifer!!), because I was afraid I'd end up spending the entire day running around getting x-rays and blood work. So, after all of this, the doctor says it's just constipation. Well, thank goodness, because you never know with abdominal pain, but I'm so glad we wasted an entire day for THAT! Not that I'd rather it be anything else, mind. He was fine, by the way, by the time we got back to pick up the other two. Joys of motherhood.

(Incidentally, I should never have said anything last week, because it came back to bite me: Hunter has now officially entered "The Phase." Arguing and telling us no for everything, throwing fits, mostly in public, of course. Man, that kid has some lungs! He screams at the top of them when he doesn't get his way. Kerry, no laughing! I know you're thinking of Marshall in "The Phase"! I'm not looking forward to this!)

Here's a little movie of Audra walking. She doesn't do it much anymore, but you can kinda see how she moves her arms like a locomotive when she's walking.

Ok, the next couple of weeks will be busy with Marshall's party coming up and starting school, so don't expect much from me until next month! Sorry!

Busy Busy Busy

We've been so busy lately I can hardly keep up with myself! Recently we started remodeling our bathroom, and what started out as a weeklong (max!) project has turned into THREE WEEKS! Millions of little problems and a few big ones contributed, but mostly it was little miss Audra, who couldn't stand not being back here with us while we were working and pretty much screamed the whole time! We were reduced to two hour workdays many times - naptime for Audra. So, we've been making do with some of our things in the hall bath, but with most of the power in there turned off because it was on the same breaker as the Master Bath! Anyhow, the power is back on, and I am hopeful that our bathroom will be in use again by the end of the weekend. Luckily, this is the biggest home improvement project we intend to tackle all by our lonesome.

And some big news: Audra is walking!! Not great at it yet, but she won't take long to master it. I can hardly believe my ten-month-old is walking. It's nice; all of my kids were so much happier once they started, but so early! Amazing baby girl!

This bathroom project has delayed me somewhat, but hopefully next week we can start gearing up to start homeschooling Marshall. He's very excited! So am I, if also a bit apprehensive. I'm not entirely sure how we'll find the time, but I'm sure once we get started everything will fall into place. Luckily he's a pretty smart boy and eager to learn. He also gets to start soccer next week, which will be good because he starts turning into a grump if we stick around the house too much.

Hunter is up to some cute things. I've been trying to get this on video, but can never manage it. He says the cutest prayers when he's in the mood. We came up with a prayer for the boys to say at dinner time: Dear God, Thank you for today. Thank you for our food. Thank you for Mommy, and Daddy, and Marshall, and Hunter, and Audra. In Jesus name, Amen. Here is what Hunter says: Dear God the food. Dear God the milk. Dear God the (specific food items on the plate). Dear God the plates. Dear God the forks. Dear God the trees. Dear God the... and he goes on naming anything he can see. Sometimes the content varies, but you get the idea. Bedtime is much the same, with different items, such as his bear, his bed, the books, the light, the walls (and he calls the ceiling the "sky wall"). I know that soon he will enter that phase that makes you wonder why anyone has children, ever (Oh man, Marshall had a complete personality change for, like, six months!), so I'm trying to store up the sweet and adorable stuff to get me through. He supplies so much, thankfully! For example: He won't touch red tomatoes; Marshall loves the cherry and grape varieties, so I'm growing several kinds this summer. Can't get Hunter to eat them. A green one fell off the other day, and he tried that. Loved it. What a kook! I'm afraid to let him eat them much, though, since I'll get to deal with any, um, fallout.

Here are some of what we call Hunterisms:
Buh-scuse me (Excuse me)
Buh-tach (Attach)
Buh-cross (Across)
Barella..actually pronounced bawewa (Umbrella)

And a couple of Marshallisms:
"I can't believe my mind!"
and
"That's amazing!" Everything is amazing to this kid.

Can't wait for some Aduraisms! She does say "Do'h", although she doesn't really know what it means. Still, Daddy is awfully proud. (And if I have to explain it, you probably won't think it's funny).