Birthday Wishes

I love that this post will one day make my children feel old and dated.
In the car tonight, John said, "Mom, for my birthday I want an i-pad."  Without hesitation I said, "no".  "I mean, I want something I can play music on like Scotty has." "An i-pod?"  "Yes.  I want an i-pod."  At which point Eve chimed in, "I want an eye-patch!"  She wasn't misprounouncing.  She meant what she said.  Cracked me up!

The Little Things

 Today we enjoyed the first of our garden harvest!  We've got TONS of lettuce and some spinach.  Eve ate a whole leaf of each!  In the interest of full disclosure, the rest of the sandwich came from the grocery store, but the green stuff came from the seeds we planted!

Today we got to talk to Daddy!  These are two very excited girls (and one more behind the camera).  Unfortunately we had the time a little confused and it was just before John got home rather than just after.  Bummer.  Still it was good for the rest of us to hear his voice.  We are so fortunate that a week out of town is a BIG deal.

Unexpected

I've been around the block enough times, I should know better.  I should know to expect God to do awesome things.  Instead, I've been a bit...not nervous, but on the road to nervous, apprehensive maybe?...about how things would go while Buck is gone.  Granted, we're only on our third day, and Mom had the kids a good portion of the first two days, but I can only explain what it's been like so far as the answer to an army of people praying for us.  Today, for instance, was the first time I've ever taken all 4 to the grocery store.  I had a rather long list.  Not only did we make it out without any screaming or threats, but the kids were even complimented on their manners!  Now, they do often have good manners, but to do all that with all of them and not experience any frustration is nothing shy of a miracle and answer to prayer.  A trip to the grocery store seems like such a small thing, but I think it's often in the small things that I see God most, and I love that he's even concerned with the small things.
Yesterday after the mud run we showered up and had a little "quiet" time.  Afterward I was preparing dinner.  While I was inside getting things ready for the grill, with no prompting from me, John was outside reading the Bible to his sisters as they listened intently, and Jake was taking a nap.  Seriously?  Just awesome.

Mud Puppies

 Friday Buck left for Kenya.  So, while the cat is away, the mice will play...in the MUD!  Mom was gracious enough to keep the kids while I ran a mud run with some friends Saturday morning.  There was a mini mud run area for the kids, so when we were done, Mom brought the kids to have some fun.  And boy, did they have FUN!  Well, two of them.

 John jumped right in.  He was so excited.  He had actually taken several laps already by this point.  Eve was a little more skeptical.  It took her a while to get out there, I think mostly because she didn't want to go by herself.

 John couldn't have been happier

 Eve got closer...closer...and then was all in and loving it!

It took a really long time for me to get Ellie to even climb on the tire.  For some reason, the child that always has something on her face, and is definitely no stranger to mud, wanted NOTHING to do with the mud!  It even took some coaxing to get her to get in the same car with me because I was muddy.  She was even skeptical of getting near me after I had showered.  Too bad.  She would've loved it.  I think mostly she was tired.

 

I did the responsibe Mom thing and put a stop to it, but really, how can stomp around in a mud puddle and not throw some at your brother.  Don't feel too sorry for him...he started it.

I tried to get a good picture of the two of them muddy, but they were too busy dancing.  There was a DJ with really loud speakers.  I love that they had the most fun with "No Diggity".

They were very proud of their medals and how dirty they were, and they had so much fun!

Trick

We call pacifiers "chupas".  It's a Buckingham thing.  Anyway, I can't remember John having a particular thing with his chupa except that it was a bear to take it away (i.e., it was awful, and we put it in a bear).  Eve was known to suck on 2 at the same time.  That was after me fighting her with her thumb, and my dad said, "Katie, I don't think you're going to win this one."  Ellie, after the same fight, enjoyed her chupa upside down.  Not to be outdone, Jake developed a trick.  I haven't seen him do it again, but the night we took these pictures he did it several times.  It's a fun trick, so I hope he keeps it up.

 In progress.  We gave it to him in the "normal" position.

He ended up with it this way, with the nipple and plastic edge both in his mouth.  He kept it that way for a bit, then spit it out.  Mind you, he practices his raspberries so much (and is so very good at it, especially into his chubby little arm), when he spits his chupa out, he gets some good distance on that sucker.  That's my talented boy!  By the way, notice how much more hair he's getting!

Snaggle Tooth

 Last Monday I took this picture and was going to post with the caption, "You might be a redneck if..."  John's other top front tooth was so loose, again it looked like he'd already lost it with the gap it left to the side.  With Buck preparing for his trip to Kenya as a "dental assistant" (they said by the end of the week he will likely have pulled some teeth...ewwwww!), we joked that John should let him get some practice to get ready for his trip.  John wisely said, "Maybe I'll just keep it until you get back from Kenya and have had more practice."  Have I ever said how smart that boy is?  Anyway, he may be smart, but we outsmarted him a little.  The last tooth he lost just a few days after his friends Madelyn (he was born a few days after her, too, so I thought he was bound to just live life a few days behind her).  So, I called and talked to her mom and confirmed she hadn't lost her 2nd top front tooth yet.  The race was on!

 Tuesday John got off the bus with a giant grin and immediately asked, "Has Maddie lost her tooth yet???"  We called when we got home to confirm she had not lost her tooth yet (I didn't tell him it's not even really loose yet...shhh).

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE that toothless grin.  So cute!  I'm just not ready for those big ones to come in.

John was so excited to have lost his tooth at school.  Wouldn't you know he lost it just a few minutes after they took the kindergarted cap and gown pictures.  Anyway, he was so very proud of his tooth box.  He now wants to lose all of his teeth at school so he can have a full set of teeth in tooth boxes.  So fun.

Yard Work

We did some clean-up in the back yard so I could send the kids out to enjoy the beautiful spring weather and still get some things done in the house.  This is what we found.  (I promise John has shorts on!)

Life Is Great When You Don't Know Any Different

The night of the Daddy Daughter Dance, John and I had our nice dinner at the Japanese steakhouse, then came home for dessert and fun.  We had borrowed a wii, and John was really excited (as was I), but unfortunately it was missing a critical piece and we couldn't use it.  He was very gracious, and I promised him we'd borrow all the pieces some other time.  We watched some TV, then I had to send him to bed fairly early.  He and Buck left really early the next morning for the Georgia mountains.  Buck was leading worship at the middle school church retreat and took John along.  They had a really special time bonding.  Anyway, my cute story is this.  Since John had to go to bed fairly early, and Buck had to tear down after the dance and didn't get the girls home until really late, John was the only one in his room.  Currently John, Eve, and Ellie share a room.  They love it, and it only rarely causes trouble.  I think it's given them a special bond.  In fact, I know it has because not knowing any other way of life, John came out of his room after a few minutes and said, "Mom, there's nobody in my room to keep me company."  Now, understand, John is the one that most always dutifully goes to sleep, and he was really excited about the retreat, so it wasn't a stalling tactic.  He wasn't looking for anyone to chat with either.  He just missed having their presence in the room. I assured him they'd be in shortly, and he managed to get to sleep just fine.  I thought it was so sweet.

Egg Hunt

Due to the crud, we weren't able to have Easter at Mom's with Amy, Bella, and Marco.  We were really disappointed.  We did manage to have a little egg hunt of our own, though.  This year was a little more serious than years past.

 Yes, that's a Batman mask.  Just for fun.  On your mark.......Get set.......

 GO!  See what I mean, it was so serious we even had a wipeout.

Our Easter Best

Easter hasn't been our best family holiday this year.  As you'll notice, Buck is missing from the pictures.  Poor thing spent the day sick and in bed.  It's not often, though, that 5 out of 6 of us have bathed and are nicely dressed, so we still had to snap a few quick pictures.

 We had some cute photobombers join us :)

 I had so many sweet pictures from the Daddy Daughter Dance of the girls in their dresses, I had to take some of the boys looking so handsome.

I also couldn't help but post this fabulous picture of Jake's thighs!  Poor thing, his outfit almost cut off the circulation to his legs.  They are so adorably chunky!  I love it!

Easter Eggs

We had a beautiful Saturday before Easter...perfect for dying eggs!

 This year we had one kit to dye the standard way, and one to paint a candy apple finish.  Both were lots of fun!

 HULK HANDS!

Jake's first Easter Egg
All in all, the process was rather surprisingly calm.  I think it's the first time we pretty much just sat back and took pictures and oohed and ahhed as they enjoyed themselves.  They worked hard and made some really pretty eggs...and just a tiny bit of a mess :)

Another Tooth Gone

John's top right tooth has been loose FOREVER!

 He used to have pretty even spacing between his teeth.  I took this picture because, for a while, it looked like he had already lost the tooth...it was SO far over to the center.  Gross!

He finally lost it just a few days before Easter.  I can't get enough of his cute grin without that tooth.  3 down!  The next one is already loose.

Musical Cars / Epic Joyride

Last week we played musical cars.  For a few short hours, we were a 4-car family.  I have to chronicle this so the kids can look at it later and make fun of the cars we had way back when.  So, you can see the minivan (2005 Odessey) and the 2001 Accord (the car I was given the summer I graduated college, and gave us over 240,000 miles).  In the street you can see the "new" 2010 Accord we bought last week, and the '98 Jeep, which Buck bought right as we started "hanging out" (I knew he must like me when he let me drive it, i.e. taught me to drive standard on it, the day he bought it...we went to Sonic...oh the memories in that Jeep).  Anyway, shortly after this was taken, we sold the '01 Accord.  Note that the Jeep is on a tow truck.  It's been sitting idle in the driveway for about 2 years. 

 I'm going to have to take a picture of John with the new Accord.  I realized that if things go as planned, no wrecks etc., this will likely be John's first "clunker" car!  What?!

So, turns out repairs to the Jeep were a lot cheaper than we expected, so we got it fixed!  It was the beginning of spring break, and the weather was beautiful, so we took the top down and went on an EPIC JOYRIDE...through the neighborhood.  The only way we fit is without seatbelts or high chairs and booster seats.  Jake was in my lap.  We were breaking all sorts of rules, but stayed in the neighborhood to be safe.  The kids HAD A BLAST!!!  They absolutely loved it.  They were giggling, squealing with glee, and waving like they were on parade the whole time.  Buckinghams gone wild!