Presbyterians know how to party...

We sat down for dinner tonight when Michael called and said he was running a few minutes behind. Since it was already a little later than we normally eat, I decided to get the big kids started, and I would wait and eat with Michael while they ate dessert. As I was waiting, I decided the combination of the wonderful spring weather and it being the end of the week welcomed an ice cold Corona. As I sat at the table relaxing with my adult beverage, Mae looked over at me. You could see the "wheels" turning, and then she spoke, M: Mommy, why are you having a beer? J: I just decided to have one while we waited for Daddy. M: Beer isn't good for you. J: Well, if you have one every once in awhile and you are a grown-up, it isn't bad. M: Beer is a starch, isn't it? (She loves figuring out the different food groups: protein, fruit, veggie, starch, dairy, etc.) J: Well, I guess you could call it a starch. Where did you learn about beer being a starch? M: Sunday School! J: Oh, of course you did.

Well, Jesus did turn water into wine, and our God does love a good celebration! I just know He was laughing right along with me as I listened to our precious/ precocious little girl.

Junk...

That is how Michael affectionately refers to the many "treasures" our two oldest "must" have to go to sleep. Recently, the little piles have taken on a life of their own, so last night as I was putting them to bed, I just had to take a picture. Seriously, it is unreal!! We are obviously raising two little hoarders over here. Notice, Whitt has his perfectly lined up, all staring at him, his own personal audience. He has been doing this (lining things up) since he was fourteen months. Mae on the other hand prefers to make one giant, messy pile so that she is almost squeezed out of the bed by it. And, yes, that is "lovie" right by her face. If you know Mae, you know "lovie". So, here's a nod to a bit of materialism that has snuck into the Stockburger household. Just look at how proud their sweet little faces are over their mounds. I admit I crack up every time I look at these pictures. Let's just hope they grow out of this by adulthood, and we don't find them on a TLC hoarding special one day. Just in case you were wondering, yes, those are snuggies in the picture. Mae's is Disney princesses; Whitt's is Lightning McQueen, and Whitt likes to wear his backwards like a cape. Christmas gifts from the cousins. Yet, another sleeping requirement!

All boy....

I realized that in just the past week over half a dozen people have referred to Whitt as being "all boy." I actually hear this quite a bit about him, but the comment has been made a little more than usual as of late.

Last Thursday when I was walking down the hall of Whitt's school, another mother stopped me. She said, "You would be proud of your son in there. He is torturing some earthworms. He is all boy isn't he?!" (Yes, they had a bucket of real live earthworms at school that day. They are learning all about the Earth and insects.) I turned the corner into Whitt's classroom only to find him bejeweled in worms. He had three different worms coiled around various fingers like beautiful, brown wriggling rings. Just then, he reached in the bucket to grab another and started to shove it in his mouth a la Anthony Bourdain/ Andrew Zimmern style. On Friday, he ran into a little girl at My Big Backyard that is in his class. Wanting to charm her, he pulled out the big guns. He went, dug in the dirt for a few minutes, pulled out a worm, and handed it to her. Who needs a bouquet of flowers when there are earthworms, right!?! Once again, he got an "all boy" comment from the little girl's mother. The culmination was this Wednesday afternoon while playing at a friend's house. He was splashing and throwing water at an outdoor water table, of course soaking himself in the process. After he had his fun, he decided he didn't like being wet. The only thing that would make him happy was to strip down completely and put on his spare pair of underwear (I always have an "accident" pair of undies in my bag). He spent the rest of the afternoon running around, going down slides on his stomach, and swinging baseball bats in only "Bert and Ernie" underwear and his frog rainboots. There was a symphony of "he is all-boy" throughout the backyard.

Yes, he is "all boy" and I wouldn't have it any other way, but I do need a nap every now and then to keep up. PS-He was wearing his frog rainboots on a perfectly sunny day, not a raincloud in sight. He just really "needed" to wear them, and he will swear to you that they are lizards not frogs.

Boys will be boys...

This has been going on every night at bath time for the past three months without fail. Even for the second time around, it amazes me how quickly baby boys find their own little built-in "toy." And, yes, I know he is going to kill me one day for having these pictures!

A taste of the good life.....

Michael, Bruce, and I went to NOLA for a wedding this weekend. We were able to get a special rate at the Ritz last minute, so we switched hotels. Bruce loved it! He loved the gold elevator door (he loved both seeing his reflection and how they opened and closed). He loved the little rubber ducky they gave him upon arrival. He loved the giant bathtub, the plush carpet, and especially the giant king size bed. He relished having all of our attention, being the only child for the weekend, and we loved our time with him. He was quite the charmer, all smiles and giggles plus the red hair (red heads really do have more fun). They couldn't keep their hands off him. It was short, but oh so sweet! Our little buddy got the royal treatment. check out the video: Seriously, the voice of angels has to sound something like this.

Let the games begin...

These were the sounds down our back hall at 7:45 this morning.... W: Don't catch me little buddy! (giggle, giggle). B: swish, thump, swish, thump (he has an interesting crawl-one knee scoots, the other leg bear crawls around) B: (sits up with a huge sucking-in of air laugh) W: You can't have my shopping cart. Don't catch me little buddy! (giggling he pushes the cart a little bit further) Bruce has become much faster the past week or so, and he is doing a pretty good job keeping up with the other two. It is like three little ducks in a row at times. He is so pleased with himself when he knocks over a tower that Whitt just built or grabs a paper from Mae as she colors (payback for the havoc that is always around him). And, although the older two get annoyed with Bruce's exploration at times, they seem pretty enamored with the little guy, and he in turn thinks they hung the moon. I imagine there will be quite a bit of rough-housing in our future between the boys, and all the while, Mae will be acting like their second mother telling them to settle down and what to do (her favorite role). But, the natural bond that these three share make "my cup runneth over" with love.

A love note to my ladies...

This is for all my family and friends who are mothers now and my family and friends who will be wonderful mothers in the future. I was reading a book tonight and the following quote was in it: "To be Queen Elizabeth within a definite area, deciding sales, banquets, labors, and holidays; to be Whitely within a certain area, providing toys, boots, cakes, and books; to be Aristotle within a certain area, teaching morals, manners, theology, and hygiene; I can understand how this might exhaust the mind, but I cannot imagine how it could narrow it. How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone and narrow to be everything to someone? No, a woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute." AMEN to that, right!!! What a privilege God granted me with Mae, Whitt, and Bruce. I love you, ladies and I am proud of you! Ps-To my man: Thank you for going out there everyday so that I can have my most challenging and by far most rewarding job. I don't say it nearly enough. Love you.

The farmer and the dell and Tank

We decided to do a little "no-dig" garden this year, very small 4' x 6'. We started our seedlings a month ago. We layered our straw, fertilizer, and compost over Easter so that it would be all ready to plant this weekend. I woke up this morning to perfect weather, so as soon as Bruce went down for his morning nap, I was outside planting while Mae and Whitt played. All of a sudden, it was noticeably quieter, so I took a break and looked up to see Whitt curled up in Tank's chest. I once read that joy is "peace smiling." Well, it must look something like this. They were both so content just soaking one another in along with the sunshine. A little bit later, Mae noticed and just couldn't resist becoming part of the Tank lovefest as well. The man is out of town this weekend, but instead of feeling slightly envious, all I could think was, "I am the lucky one. This is exactly where I want to be." I was sad Michael was missing out. I knew he would love it, so I took half a dozen pictures for him (They are not as good as his, but they aren't bad either if I do say so myself).

A little side note on Tank: Our sweet big dog is not the brightest star in the sky (I say that with all love and affection). You see that teeny tiny bump on top of his head. That is his brain. We brought him home right when we were married. He received all of our attention. Then came Ernie (our other dog) and then the real "trouble-makers" to his world, Mae, Whitt, and Bruce. With each new addition coupled with the continuing increase in daily noise level, he has become more and more neurotic, licking the carpet, floor, his paws over and over and over compulsively. He occasionally stops the licking to snap at imaginary "flies" that constantly seem to be pestering him and flying around his head. But, for what he lacks in brain power and mental health, he makes up with heart. He moves from room to room to be right where we are and watches over our little ones diligently, all the while patiently taking in their antics. A dog with a heart of gold!

I am a sucker for....

a little girl in pigtails..... a blue-eyed boy in frog boots.... a sweet smiling baby with a curly tongue.... Just had to share these pics that the man captured over the weekend. I was pretty impressed with them! Happy Easter and as Whitt has been enthusiastically saying all day, "Jesus is alive!!"

Skyrockets in flight, afternoon delight....

Well, actually it was a morning delight. This past Tuesday, I loaded up both boys, pulled out of the drive, and we were on our way to take Whitt to school when we spotted not one, but two fire trucks on our street.

Now, all of you who know my boy are well aware of the fact that he is a wheel-man, big-time wheel-man! In fact, he calls school, "Tow-mater." Within a half hour of being there the first day he found a tiny Tow-mater figurine. Tow-mater now watches everything Whitt does at school. All of Whitt's school friends know it is Whitt's tow-mater, and when he missed two days of school to go to the beach, he made sure that one of the other boys in his class knew how to "watch" tow-mater and gave him very specific instructions until his return. Back to the fire engines....Whitt's eyes got as big as saucers at the sight, so we pulled over and decided we would just have to be a little late to school that morning. He had a blast! He walked around both of them multiple times, taking in every square inch of the huge wheels and big trucks. You would have thought he was looking at the David. The firemen were so friendly and sweet. They let Whitt climb in one of the trucks and "drive" it. They turned on the lights for him, and they even gave him a little plastic helmet. It was absolute heaven to him, and heaven for me to watch his excitement. I just love that God carved out this little "stop everything" moment for my boy and I. After a hectic morning, He put my focus right back where it belonged, from tasks and "getting things done" to moments and blessings.

Ps-For any of you wondering, tow-mater is the tow truck in the movie "Cars." Big favorite around here.

Now for the skyrockets in flight. This is for Katie (my sister-in-law). She and my brother-in-law David sent Whitt a rocket-launcher for his birthday. I was telling her how high he was able to send the rockets, and she requested a video. Here it is. Do you think he likes it!?! Great gift!