Funny. . .

I imagine Peyton Manning as the silly middle brother in a family of boys. His personality is so cute!!! Erik and I loved this when we watched it last night on SportsCenter!! So glad that I could find it on good old youtube!!! Peyton is Erik's favorite quarterback, so he would be happy if the Colts won next Sunday. But, Erik grew up in New Orleans, so he would be happy if the Saints won, too!! It is a win-win situation for us!! Here is the fun little link!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjPsnV4KfuI

Late Afternoon Play. . .

I love siblings. I think they are such a gift!

I was beginning to gather things together to make dinner last night when I glanced out the kitchen window and saw this. . .I could hear laughter and squeals and rustling leaves, and I could not help but think how wonderful it is that my boys have built in friends. . .

In case you cannot tell, this is Tim Tebow attempting to tackle Drew Brees.

And, now Timmy T has the ball. . .

We have two trees that sit about 20 feet apart, and they are usually the end zones. Sometimes they are on the same team ~ quarterback and receiver. Sometimes they are on opposing teams, and they take turns trying to get around each other and to the end zone tree to score a touchdown before being tackled! Either way, they have so much fun!

He is wishing that he was old enough to join in. . .

Or, maybe he is wishing that his partner (Eriky D) was old enough to play on his team. . .Or, maybe he is just thinking about what he needs to do next. . .

water the gardenias!!!

It's For the Birds. . .

We actually did this months ago and last year and the year before, but this particular post is overdue. Here goes. . .

We love to feed the birds this special little treat! Here are our supplies. . .


And, here are sweet hands preparing bird gifts. . .

And, here is the finished products ready to hang on the tree outside our kitchen window. . .

And, here is a CRAZY child outside, in winter, wearing short sleeves, and no coat. . .

My Goodness, I love that silly, silly boy!!!!!

Life As I Know It

Four Little Monkeys Sitting on the Couch. . .

Just recently Erik Daniel has started climbing up on the couch and sitting with his big brothers to watch a movie. And, to be honest, it usually doesn't last long!! He usually gets bored and quickly moves to the floor to resume playing with toys. So, when I saw all four of them sitting there watching the movie Buzby, I had to grab my camera quickly before Smiley over there got restless!! Man, I love these little guys!!!

Elvis and James Brown

Joshua loves Elvis. I've mentioned this before. Loves Elvis, loves Elvis, loves Elvis. So, when I took the four boys to get their hair cut yesterday, and I saw Joshua whisper something into Mrs. Ann's ear, I was pretty sure I knew what he was saying. And, when Ann let out a huge, hearty laugh after hearing him, my assumption was confirmed!! He said something like this. . .

"Can you make my hair look like Elvis'?"

And, this is what my little man looked like after Ann got through with him. . .

Check out the sideburns. . .


Okay, now the story gets better!!! JCT was next in line, and he asked if he could have hair like James Brown!! Ann said that she didn't think she could do that because James Brown had longer hair than JCT's. But, he persisted, "Can you make my hair look like James Brown's hair when he was a kid?" She laughed and agreed. And, this is what JCT looked like when we left the salon. . .

A close up of those beautiful curls. . .And, then we had another Elvis. . .And, this little man. . .He was okay with just looking like himself!!!!Cute!

But, I have to say it was quite funny walking out of the salon with four little boys ultra-worried about the wind messing up their hair as we walked to the van. And, of course we had to go by Daddy's office to show Daddy and Uncle Sean. They need a good laugh in the middle of a stressful day, you know?

So, fun!

A Common Finding These Days. . .

Our one year old on top of the kitchen table. . .

Everytime I turn around, he climbs back up there!

Let's zoom in for a closer look at his face. . .

Looks happy, doesn't he?

Who Does This To Their Son. . .

Who in their right mind gives their sweet helpless newborn a name like James Christofer Truett?

Not only does he have 3 names instead of 2, but also, we expect him to go by his first two names put together. Yes, he does go by the shortened version, JCT, at times, but his name is James Christofer, not JCT, just ask his father.

I used to always wonder how old he would be he learned to spell his entire name out without asking or copying it. I began when he was very young to sing the letters of his name to him to help him. The little song I made up goes to the tune of B-I-N-G-O. Except his song goes a little something like this. . . (I really have to sing it for you because I have to run the letters at the end together very fast in order to get them all in!) J-A-M-E-S, J-A-M-E-S, J-A-M-E-S CHRISTOFER!!" He caught on to the song about a year ago, and he could sing all the letters in the correct order. But, it wasn't until sometime in the middle of the first semester of this year that he began writing his name without copying it. Now he often brings home papers that look like this. . . (He wrote "JCT" before and after "James Christofer." Don't let that confuse you!)

The first time he brought a paper like this home I laughed out loud, and my first thought was, "Who does this to an innocent child??" It still makes me laugh every time he does it because it always looks the same ~ with the letters trailing down the side of his paper. He tends to go with just writing JCT most days, so it is a special treat when he comes home with a paper like this one! Here is another one just for kicks. . . He brought this one home today, and I don't think the letters go quite as far down the side of the page! I'll count that as improvement!!!!

Snow Peaceful ~ a Lesson in Peace. . .

After this post I should officially be caught up, I think? The week before last was amazingly wonderful. Peace fell upon our home in the form of beautiful white flakes of snow. I love rainy days because they are peaceful to me, but snow, oh, sweet snow, it is in a peace class all its own. There is nothing like looking out your window and seeing snowflakes slowly falling and blowing about in a gentle wind. It makes me want to run to my coffee pot and start brewing!!!!



In the stage of life that I am in, peace moments are few and far between. And, because life feels chaotic most days, I crave the peace like never before. I yearn for it. I work for it. I attempt to schedule nap times to make room for it. I conjure up the mood with candles, coffee, calm music, a good book, a soft warm throw, and a fire in the fireplace. And, many of the moments that I try to "make peace," end up with a crying baby who woke up early from a nap, a four year old who needs help with something, or a two year old who just had another "accident." Thus, what was meant for peace actually becomes frustration.


Sometime in December Erik and I were on a date, and we stopped at Barnes and Noble to get Starbucks. While I was waiting on my latte, I saw a quote on a mug that resonated with me, and I took a pencil and the back of a receipt and wrote it down. And, this is what it said. . .

peace.

It does not mean to be in a place where there

is no noise, trouble, or hard work.

It means to be in the midst of those things

and still be calm in your heart.

Can I just say, "Amen."

For years I have made futile attempts at "peace" all along knowing within myself that peace doesn't come from my environment but rather from my state of heart, mind, and soul. So, after the sweet reminder on that silly little mug, I have been attempting to look at peace differently. And, I am becoming aware of peace in moments that I used to simply overlook.

The week before last was full of these peace moments for me. . .

It began with Joshua having Monday off (teacher work-day). This was a sweet day with lots of brother-love. Here is Joshua reading Frog and Toad to JCT.

And, here are the littles watching the Velveteen Rabbit. . .

In this picture the big "Bubbas," as Eriky D calls them, are quizzing him on what sounds various animals say!!!! They love to do this! Poor kid looks like he is being interrogated!!!

At this point in the week our pond looked like this. . .But, as the week went on, the top of the water froze completely. And, on Thursday when the snow began falling, the pond looked like this. . .

Joshua's school was cancelled both Thursday and Friday!! Woo hoo!!! On Thursday I wrote this in the snow where Joshua could see it out the front door windows when he came downstairs from playing in his room.

We ate french toast with "snow" sprinkled on top for breakfast!! Yum!

Here are some pictures of the boys playing on Thursday. . . Joshua just wanted to go outside and throw the football! He wanted to be like those NFL players who play in the snow!!!! Here is JCT-rex. . .
Lijah was just flat cute. . .And, I was excited that we all had another excuse to wear the boots we bought at Christmas! Here are mine! I love them!The boys threw sticks on the pond to see how frozen it was. The sticks just lay there, so we decided to get down by the pond and hit the ice with sticks and see if we could break it. We couldn't!!! The boys loved it. Later when I tucked Joshua in, he told me that throwing sticks on the pond was his favorite part of the day!!! :-) I was surprised his favorite part wasn't pelting me over and over with snowballs!!!! He seemed to get a kick out of that!!! :-)

JCT ready to throw the first stick. . .

The boys playing with the ice on top of the pond. . .
I love this picture because you can almost see the snowflakes individually. . .


And, I made a discovery on this day. I noticed for the first time that snowflakes are, in fact, beautiful. They look just like they do in pictures and on t-shirts. But, you really have to take time to seek them out and look for them in order to see their beauty. Snow falls in clumps ~ lots of snowflakes grouped together. So, you have to stare into a clump and look hard to see an individual and amazingly beautiful snowflake.

Isn't life like that? If we look at the entire day or even at an hour a time, life seems chaotic and busy. But, if we live life moment by moment we see the beauty of the moment, or for me, we see the peace of the moment ~ because it is there. Yes, it is there ~ if I will relax and stop trying so hard to "make peace" and rather live it in the everyday moments. In case that is confusing or doesn't make sense, here is an example. . .

God whispered this to me one day the week before last. I took the boys outside while it was still snowing so that they could catch snowflakes on their tongues. It was not quiet, or warm, or free from wild activity. I didn't have a cup of warm creamy coffee in my hand ~ nor was there soft music playing in the background. There was no throw to wrap myself in nor a book to read nor a comfy chair to sit in, for that matter. On the contrary, there was a lot of squealing and giggling and loud talking. There were four little ones to watch closely. There was ice on the brick walkway out back, and a one year old who easily loses his balance. There were gloves not yet on cold fingers, and impatient little boys ready to play. There was dancing and singing and yelling and all matter of fun. But, somehow in the midst of it all there was peace. And, God whispered to my hard head that this is what He has been trying to teach me! I didn't have to go seeking after peace. It has been here all along! Peace, Himself, lives inside me! Even though my life looks at first glance like a clump of chaos, if I look closely, if I abide in Him, then I am able to see my life through His eyes and I am able to live out His peace. And, that is as precious and as breathtaking as a single beautiful snowflake!!!!

Peace.

And, as wonderful as external "peace" is ~ a hot cup of coffee, a quiet house, and a good book, internal peace ~ the peace that comes from knowing the Prince of Peace, is far greater!!!!!

Christmas Back at the Homestead. . .

After 4 posts about Christmas at Kelly and Cecilia's house, I figured I might as well record the little belated Christmas celebration we had when we returned home! We returned home on the Saturday after Christmas - sometime in the evening. We unloaded the car and quickly put our little ones to sleep. They knew that our gifts to each other would be exchanged the next day, and they were eager to sleep so that they could wake up to Christmas once again!!!! Erik and I had to get up before the boys on Sunday morning to make sure everything was ready, and that means getting up before 6! I took a picture of the tree in the early morning light. . .And, the stuffed stockings. . .Shortly after we got everything ready, we heard the pitter patter of little feet on the steps. Erik insisted that we wait in our bed for them. So, we just listened and smiled as we heard each one announce with pride their gifts that sat by the tree unwrapped. They ran into our room excitedly and jumped on our bed!! Then, we all headed to the living room to open gifts ~ after a pot of coffee was made, of course!!!! :-)

Joshua was most excited about his football gloves. I'm sure there is a better name for them, but I do not know it, so football gloves will have to do!!!Lijah got an awesome new "motorcycle" all his own!!!JCT, oh, JCT, words cannot describe how excited he was about his dragon chair. And, 2 weeks later, he is still just as excited about it!!! He named it Elvis. Doesn't he look good sitting in it??Erik Daniel wasn't too interested in his presents. He was more interested in the balls on the tree. "Bahh. Bahhh." I think he took every one of our balls, within his reach, off the tree!!Joshua made some gifts for all of us and wrapped them in boxes he stole from our recycling bin outside!!! Isn't he clever??My gift was the heart picture. The t-rex picture was for JCT, and the "Teckses" Longhorn picture was for Elijah, I think. And, that other little circle picture, yeah, I can't remember what that was or who it was for ~ it's the thought that counts, right?Okay, now for the big finale. . . We took them out and opened the garage, and guess what was behind Door Number One. . .They destroyed their first gator by getting sand in the motor. So, after 2 years, we bought them some more riding vehicles!!! They were tickled!!They had races. . .They drove around the yard like it was a little town. They drove for hours and hours until their batteries were nearly exhausted ~ not to mention their parents!!! They took turns giving each other rides! Erik Daniel, who remained a pedestrian much of the day, even tagged along for some of the fun every now and then! Now, some might find this next photo alarming. . . But, he actually did quite well for a 2 year old!!! It was a fun day!!! It was definitely one of those days where Erik and I smiled and thought about how fleeting time is, and how we won't have enough of these Christmases where the boys are young and wide-eyed. . . Happy memories!