Wednesday, July 24, 2013

About Zack



Yes, another post about Zack.  He is just such good fodder!  He keeps us either laughing or pulling out our hair all day long.


He wants so much to be a big people.  Anything we do, he wants to do too.


That motorcycle he's on there?  He climbed up on that licketty split.  No problem.  Knew just what to do once he was up there, too.


Yep.


And Yep, again.

He loves to mow.  LOVES.

He also loves M&Ms.  Caught him in the car doing this on one of our pit stops this summer...

Caught 'cha.
 
He did surprisingly good in the car.  I brought along my old Cabbage Patch kid...his first "baby".  He loves baby dolls.  It watched videos with him...

He was a lot of work...but I did get a few breaks.

Here's some highlights from our trip:

Hiking on Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina:

Walking the dog:  (Yes, that's a little dog...the same one I walked when I was his size...)


Flying airplanes on the computer with Great Grandpa:

Swinging--like a big boy:

Playing with the cat:

And hanging out with the big boys:

His vocabulary is coming right along.  Some of our favorites are:  Yat = Zack; Menf (said through the nose) = mess; and Heo = help--as in, I want to help you stir that, Mommy...or I want to help you pour that, Mommy...or I want to help you wash that, Mommy...or clean, or bake, or carry, or any number of other things that are SO much easier without a "helper"!

Most of his words are just the first syllable, so we do a lot of guessing.  But some he says just right...with just the right inflection and timing:  Wel-ll and Hmm make us laugh every time.



Sunday, May 12, 2013

It's Mother's Day again!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  You know you are 75% of the reason I blog, so how could I skip posting one on Mom's Day???

We've been busy. Here's a dump of photos to remember what we've been up to. You've probably seen all these pictures already, but it's still fun to see them all together...

We took the kids to a rock and gem show. That was a big hit. It was so fun to observe the boys checking out rocks. They knew what tons of them were. I was quite impressed. They came home loaded down with purchases. 


Zack has been busy getting into things as usual. He has finally started talking a little. He can say Mama!, Dada!, fish (ish!), ice!, cheese (eese!), choo choo!, boo boo, and no no. Yes, most of those he says with energy, hence the ! marks. Boo boo and no no are more serious words for him :)

He got a hair cut, but still has lots of curls. 

Tim and I took a much-needed trip to the lake (by ourselves) to celebrate our 12th anniversary. We read, watched a couple movies and canoed. 

(I love you, Tim. Thanks for taking me out!)

More Zack pictures. He has discovered the garden hose, and he loves it. BTW, that is one of those pocket hoses. I got mine at Walmart and really like it. I'm pretty sure you can get them cheaper through that tv offer. 


Tim is teaching Zack to grill...

We had our first-ever-sleepover. It was a success, I guess!  The kids had a blast, even though they only slept from 12-5 a.m.  Tim and I are still recovering. We picked up donuts in the morning--what a treat. This was like zacks second donut ever. 


We went and had a picnic at the botanical gardens today. It was so nice. 

Thank you, God, for my delightful children!!  (Well, delightful most of the time...:). It is such a blessing to be a mother!

Saturday, April 20, 2013

10th Annual Legends & Lore

Today we went to the Legends & Lore festival in Chipley, FL. We had the nicest time. The weather was unexpectedly perfect, the boys all had fun, and so did Tim and I.

After waiting in a line of cars for 20 minutes, we finally got into the state park where the festival was. We paid $5 to get in, which was the suggested donation. Not bad. We parked the car, and were aparently one of the last cars to fit in the park. Cars were parked all alongside of every road we could see, and they started having cars park OUTside the park. We waited maybe 10 mins for a trolley to come get us and take us up to the festival.

We started our little "tour" at the first thing we came to: (well, actually we passed by a snow cone stand first...but whatever) it was a booth with owls and snakes and a few other things. The kids loved it. A lady had the cutest little owl perched on her hand, and Zack was really interested. He recently learned to say "oo, oo, oo" like an owl. Another lady had a small crocodile out and was holding it in her arms. We got to pet it, and see how soft its underside was. Zack liked that, too.

We tore ourselves away from that and found some lunch: hotdogs for everyone. Zack ate his bun first. He loves bread!

After a really pleasant al fresco meal, we wandered around, checking out all the old-fashioned activities: wood carving, chicken raising, butter churning, corn grinding, blacksmithing, and I can't remember what else. It was so fun! Almost all the booths had something to taste or try out. The boys loved using the primitive wood working tools. Tim is still raving about the fresh fried cornbread we tasted, and I'm relishing the fun pictures I got along the way!

When we had sampled all the fun (sampled, but not filled up on) we headed to another set of activities: "civil war re-enactment"...it was really more of a living portrait of camp life. We watched a demonstration of "cannon firing"...can't remember the real name if the weapon. It was a nice demonstration with lots of information.

We rode horses (well, actually we paid $3 each to be led around a small corral about 3 times, but it was worth it! When I asked who wanted to ride Zack started pounding his chest. He was EAGER to get on the horse with me, and cried when we got off. Samuel also rode. )

We took a nice walk and saw "the tallest waterfall in Florida". It was very pretty, with lots of ferns and greenery.

To top it off, we went back to the reptile booth where Trevor and I both held a corn snake All By Ourselves. Trevor was in heaven. He's talking about it right now out in the kitchen.

When we were thoroughly tuckered out we headed back to the car. Zack was asleep by the time we left the park.

The day was so unexpectedly nice. What a blessing. Thank you, Father! Our family needed that.