A party and some torture

This past weekend the kids and I were without James. He went to Tellico Plains, TN, where he and some four-wheelin' friends camped for the weekend and went off-roading/trail riding/rock crawling in their Jeeps. Tellico is highly regarded within the off-road community and is apparently a terrific place to have some adventurous fun...and tear up your Jeep. Fixing it is at least half the fun anyway. I'll have to get James to give me some pictures of him in action so you can see for yourself what his new hobby entails.

Saturday we went to Caleb Raffray's 3rd birthday party. He turned three last month but they were in Florida for the birth of Sophia, his new sister, during that time. The party was at the Lollipop store in Dawsonville, which is a fun place. It's a toy store where they let you play with the stuff (wow), and it has a neat party area complete with a giant slide and some other bouncy things. Some of the pictures I took aren't very clear because my camera was confused by the lack of light and the speed at which the kids were flying down the slide. We may visit the Lollipop store again sometime just for fun. (They have prayed each night since Saturday that we will. Really.)


Avery looks kind of terrified, but he was having a blast. At the bottom he always face planted and went head over heels, got up laughing, and scooted up to the top again.


Shannon and Elliott


Caleb had a pirate party, complete with a double decker pirate ship cake. Shannon got Happy Birthday sung to him and got to blow out his own candles too, since it was his actual birthday that day. (Thanks, Erin!)

Here's Erin and sweet little Sophie.

Sunday Shannon made his debut in front of the church. His preschool choir sang during the service for the first time since he's been in it. He's funny about singing, especially in front of people. At home he sings and makes up his own songs. During choir, apparently, singing is some sort of little boy torture. The pictures are again not clear and because the kids are on the risers there are plants and mic stands in front of them, but you'll get the idea of how it went.


Aren't they cute? Shannon is on the back row, behind a mic stand. They did three songs, and in the first one they were supposed to crouch down and then slowly "grow, grow, grow," then "shrink, shrink, shrink." He stood the entire time, NOT singing, oblivious to what everyone else was doing. In the second service they had the kids sitting so they started from the crouched position. He sat through the entire song. At least he doesn't cave to peer pressure.

Here's a pretty good representation of how he felt about the whole thing. During the second service he even threw in a loud, "I gotta go potty!" between songs. Precious. Makes a mama proud.
Yep, he loves it.

I was thinking after the two "performances" how I was glad I could think it was funny and not be embarrassed. With the first kid you're thinking how you hope she behaves herself and does everything just right so others will know you're a great parent and have taught your kid right. I'm now coming to appreciate them as individuals with individual preferences and personalities. So what if he hates singing in front of people? I pray that if there's one thing we can do for our kids it's help them discover who God made them to be, since He had a purpose for making them that way. Shannon didn't throw a tantrum or act ugly, he just didn't join in and sing. I might have to work with him on not announcing his personal needs to the entire congregation, however. I also think he'll end up thinking singing is pretty cool, since his Daddy loves to do it, even in front of people. Shannon just hasn't had the opportunity to see that yet. But he does think that everything his Daddy likes is worth liking too.

After we got home from church it was such a beautiful afternoon we ended up playing outside for most of it. Avery and Elizabeth napped and the other two practiced their driving on the little Jeep.

James got home mid-afternoon, then I went to the barn for a riding lesson. I made a lot of progress this week, and am truly enjoying having someone instruct me. A lot of folks have kidded me that after 26 years of riding don't I know how to stay on already? I'm even a certified riding instructor. I just haven't had someone teach me higher level stuff, particularly in dressage (Google "dressage," if you want to learn more). It's been awesome and very enjoyable. One day I'll try to take some pictures during a lesson, and show you sweet Jasmine, my mount of choice lately. She was given to camp last year by a lady who knows my friend and riding instructor, Susan. The cool thing is that Susan trained Jasmine years ago, so she has a lot of training on her. The horse definetely knew more about dressage than I did when I started riding her.

Monday and today have been spent entirely at home. I've officially been nowhere since Sunday morning. You'd think I could have knocked about 50 things off of my to-do list. I think I accomplished three. I often wish I had a video camera running all day so I could do one of those fast forward views to see just what goes on in a day around here. I probably walk 20 miles in my own home, bend over 3,406 times to pick stuff up, and carry at least 158 pounds of laundry up and down the steps. I'm glad God is always quick to remind me that if I wasn't doing these things it would be because there weren't little people (and another big person) living here. So for the years I get to enjoy them, I'll choose to embrace and love the lived in look my house has. Thanks, God!

And here are two of the sweeties now. Amelia wanted to hold Elizabeth, so for about 20 minutes the two of the vegged in front of a movie. Elizabeth never fails to smile for Amelia and laughs at things she does all the time.





I love that God gave Amelia a sister. And with two girls in the family, perhaps James and I will be taken care of in our old age as well! :)

One last random picture before I sign off. This was from one day last week when Alison took Elliott to the dentist and left the younger two with us for a little while. Elizabeth is a month older than Tozer, which makes them four and three months old in this picture.