More Man Crush

Don't want to feel like I'm cheating on my man crush, but I have another. Here's Lecrae:

Proceeds to Churches Helping Churches.

Museum Journey

The Madison Children's Museum was just re-located and renovated, so we decided to check it out this week. We loved it! Lots to enjoy - a water room, art room, levers to pull, buttons to push, a shadow wall - and Trey's favorite part (Phoebe's too), a music hut.

He played the bongos most of the time, and gave the adult onlookers a laugh when he announced that he had been playing "Don't Stop Believin'!"

Happy Birthday, Bobo!

You are such a blessing in our lives, and in our kids' lives. Trey adores you, and do do we. So glad you're visiting this weekend so we can celebrate together with gluten/soy/dairy-free, horribly decorated brownies! (Results of the frosting packet bursting...) We love you!

Our Little Pistol

Gone Fishin'

First catch!!!

Slowin' Down

Moving has been hard. Packing, cleaning, good-bye-ing, moving, unpacking, re-cleaning, meeting, organizing, processing - it can add up to one big mess. Especially one big mess of a mama. I've been trying to get a hold of myself lately - which can be a bit of a feat. I don't want my kids to suffer as I'm stressing out and trying to get everything done... for months.

So as I've been reading For the Children's Sake (recommended by my friend Caron at my request for some books on schooling), I've been helped by a few passages:

"Six-year-old children are pressurized as executives. Children are being 'fitted into' a streamlined schedule designed for the parents so they can cope with their pressures... And so, overentertained, pushed, pulled, and tidied up, often the child of today has the rich creative play-response crushed out. Sometimes the only thing his dulled eyes focus on is a premature adolescence which will release him from childhood."

"Grown-ups need time if their life is to support this kind of play, The children have to matter more than the furniture (but the children don't mind at all sticking to the boundaries). This means saying no to too many time-consuming activities for adults and children."

So here we are. I'm trying not to push and pull and hurry and stress out about the moving-in process (and life in general around here). I'm hopeful for at least a bit of success, and grateful for the lesson (and for grace!). There's so much to enjoy about (and with) these little ones.

Gettin' Closer...

... to the move date. Sad and excited... a little more sad than excited so far, but I know it will be great.

Two of my good friends here threw us a surprise going away party on Friday night - the first time (I think?) I cried about moving! The ruse was... Carli and Sarah decided that we'd have a little Friday evening hangout at the park with our three families, just so we could chat and let the kiddos play a bit. Little did we know.... we were almost a half an hour late for our surprise going away party! You guys are too much, thank you thank you. (We decided that the downpour made it even memorable! :) Thank goodness for shelters!)





It was SO hot yesterday (today, too), and our air conditioner decided to stop working. We were trying to pack up our upstairs in the sweltering heat, but had to take a break and make a Dairy Queen run to cool off!

Jay hooked up our bike trailer for the first time (which I got at a garage sale two years ago), and we put the kiddos in for a test ride.


The birds nest in my bike: (yeah, it's been awhile...)


This little one looooved her first taste of ice cream!


No air conditioning = sleeping in the basement!


Hope they're this happy when I'm trying to pack up this week!

Happy Mother's Day

I decided I wanted to enjoy Mother's Day outside, so we walked along the river. It was beautiful!

There was a little Parkour:

A little daredevil riding:

A little more daredevil riding:

And then this. For the rest of the afternoon/evening. Bedtime was an hour early - none too soon. And an extra glass of wine for me.

Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all you moms!

Squeeeeee

Applesauce was a little tart, Ma!

My Man Crush, pt. 2

My man crush has a brain tumor. He had a seizure on Thanksgiving morning. I just wanted to share this video from shortly after his initial work-up.



He is doing well and they post weekly updates on their church's blog.
For old time's sake, here's the clip that sealed my man crush:

Treycial Expressions

Happy Easter!

Lately...

Since I haven't blogged for awhile, here is a quick update of what's been going on lately in the Tuck house:

We put our house up for sale, and it was under contract in three weeks! Good thing - prep for an open house is no fun. Especially with two kids! Carol and Hazen came to visit and worked long hours to help us get the house ready - SO grateful to them! I'm sure it would have taken us at least a month longer without them. Of course, Bobo was here for hours helping me clean, too!

While they were here, Poppie took Trey to the Children's Museum, gave him his first taste of McDonalds (we avoided it as long as we could, I guess!), and taught Trey how to shave:

Trey has become quite the drummer, since Jay bought him a "drum set" and drum sticks for Christmas. But the drum set is not the only place he drums... he drums the air, his sister, and anything else he can find:

Here's the ever-growing drum set. If I'm missing something in the kitchen, I know where to find it. I recently went downstairs to claim the top to one of my pots, and Trey exclaimed, "HEY! My cymbals!"

(The stickers have been helpful in getting through potty training.... a story in itself.)

And sweet Phoebe.... she is such a happy baby, now that the colic is over! (Whew.) Trey fed Phoebe her first rice cereal:

Peas are her favorite:

As for the kids together, Trey adores his sister... and sometimes smothers her with a little too much affection:

Usually she adores him right back, though.

Hymnody

Just in case you didn't catch the lyrics ;)

Vanity and Solemnity...

... a screen shot from my Twitter page.



(Troy Livesay is a missionary who lives in Haiti)

Speaking of Bobo...

She crocheted blankets for my kids. Who does that?!?

Happy Kiddos

The kids are always happy when Bobo is around. Thanks for the pic!

Bedtime Elf

Trey isn't supposed to get out of bed after we tuck him in, but when we hear footsteps and open the door to the stairs we usually find him sitting on the steps eavesdropping. (Stinker!)

This time we opened the door to this little guy:

Kinda hard to scold when snickering...

"Trey, that was naughty. Now hold still while I take a picture."

Getting Away

While Auntie Bobo was watching the kids for me so I could get out to the gym for a bit (love that girl!), Trey was taking pictures with her camera and captured these beauties!

Birthday Boy

It's been over 3 weeks (sorry, Trey!), but our boy turned three! We had a great time celebrating in Galena...

Topping off a great birthday with a dip in the bathtub "pool" in Galena!