Love, love, love is sunshine

The story goes: I was about 3 and misquoted my mom's frequent phrase "the joys of motherhood" as "the mothers of joyhood" - this picture made me feel that way. It's funny how special a little welcome can make you feel - thanx, sweet baby Jack!

JT's Shower The People

from the other direction

The long-haired elder son lost his third tooth on Sunday but forgot all about it until yesterday

when he decided he wanted to put this one in an safer spot, so he wrote the Tooth Fairy this new set of directions:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

My tooth will be on my dresser in front of fish tank.
I believe in you!
Love, Jack

It worked because he found his favorite Lady Liberty gold dollar coin in the very same cup where he left the tooth last nite!
Jimmy Buffett's Scarlet Begonias

so sweet in so many ways

The boys and I had breakfast last week, and they tried dipping their chicken in honey. While no one really liked it, it led to a 'sweet' discussion:

Jack: You know sweet can mean several different things: sweet, love sweet, sweet, sugar sweet, or sweet, awesome!

Harry: And it can mean suite, like a hotel!

It's been fun and crazy this summer, and I'm still digging through vacation pix - hope to get them up soon :-)

Happy Birthday to Dean's mom - good talking with you this morning, and Jack is in a better mood ;-)

Marvin's Gaye's How Sweet It Is

But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch!!

I took a picture, but it made me itch even more, so I'll spare you. I look like a leper, have tried everything anyone has suggested, but still it spreads. If this part on my eyelid gets into my eye, I'm getting a cortisone shot. Never had it before, don't want it again :(

Happy non-itchy weekend!

On a happier note, some recent love notes for Dean and me

Jack and Harry snuck special notes into Dean's bags for his recent trip

Their cards for my Mother's Day were so them ;-)

Harry's still working on the jokes - while his timing and inflection are great, he's not a writer at the moment.....but his heart's in it, don't ya think?!

Jack loves Star Wars, and me :-)

The Coaster's Poison Ivy

I See You

Dean's travel schedule has geared back up, so the boys have gotten to have a few video calls with him....can you see the love? While Jack's still a little enthralled with watching himself make silly faces, we're hoping the technology helps us miss each other a little less.

Leona Lewis - it's a beautiful song, especially if you can ignore all the blue weirdos in the video ;-)

I'll be there to raise you or to roost you

As an only child, I constantly marvel at the relationship ups and downs of these two. I pray that they will be there to raise or roost - these smiles give me hope!

The Muppets' A Friend Is A Friend

Mommy, daddy, you and I

Mother's Day was gorgeous and full of love from my three favorite men - I'm such a lucky mommy!

The boys are so silly and love to make goofy pix, posing here in front of the 'treasure' - they led me on a treasure hunt with sweet clues. Definitely worth the effort!

We went to see Soul Surfer and completely enjoyed it - they had read about Bethany Hamilton's run-in in one of their Shark books. Jack was into the attack, while Harry wanted to know all about how she learned to do everything again. The movie was a great family picture!

After the movie, they took me to one of our favorite restaurants to wrap up a fantastic day - thank you to all my men - love ya lotsa!

Talking Heads

Write About Love

The boys have been making use of the chalkboard in the kitchen, and it sure is a nice way to start a day....here they are posing, sweet and silly, with a note for Dean when he was traveling.

Belle and Sebastian

Love TrainS

Happy Valentine's Day

to you and the ones you love

The O'Jays

Just another night

Dean is home and all is right with our world tonite.
The boys enjoying their 'working dinner'. It seems like they come home with a whole new vocabulary of working types of phrases from school like this and 'finish-up folder' and a whole lotta others I can't remember at the moment. One of Harry's favorite is 'working ___' - he will seem to do just about anything if I phrase it just right ;-)

You may remember these Valentine's mailboxes that the boys made a few years ago. Jack came up with a brilliant, sweet idea this year. He and Harry put special notes and pictures in the mailboxes for us, and we do the same for them. You always know there's a little bit of love in the box when the flag is up....
......looks like a little sweet for our sweeties!

I try to keep things picked up, but I can't complain too much when the 'mess' is stacks of books they are enjoying. It's been a mix of fiction and non-fiction lately, and they are really enjoying their reading club at school. It's the first time they have been in a real learning environment together - we'll see how it goes. My hopes go out to their teachers that it goes well!

Jack has had a real struggle this week with being too talkative and interrupting. If have no idea where he gets that :blush:, let alone the fact that he gets a double dose! It's been quite a while since he's had a 'yellow day' which means his teacher had to warn him about his behavior....he's had TWO this week, so he wrote his teacher this email:

Let's hope the self-control kicks back in soon! He's awfully sweet, so I have faith
Cat Stevens

Signs, signs, everywhere signs

I took a nap the other day, and the boys found a set of paper stick-ups...still getting the sticky off, but not as much damage as it was fun for them and sweet for us ;-) Harry's were mostly pix, but Jack was all about helpful signs
Jack's Ode To Bullet

And his hawking of our fridge fare

and bedroom boasts

and cooking songs (can't remember if he drew this before or after I cut my hair) He even sang it for me ;-)

And the sweetest of all - he said he wanted this to be the last thing Dean and I saw before we left the house so we'd leave full of love :wub:

Tesla (originally 5 Man Electrical Band)

And the zookeeper is very fond of THEM

Jack's always had a thing for arranging his stuffed animals, and with the recent additions from fairs, he has spent the last two nites grouping and classifying and finding just the right spot for everyone. He assured me tonite that there was still room for him to sleep ;-)
Simon and Garfunkel's At The Zoo

I’m your buckaroo, I want to be like you.

Harry drew Dean a picture of riding bikes to the Ocracoke lighthouse to welcome him to Father's Day
And we gave him a little love

And had some fun at a beachy restaurant, including CHEERS all around

My boys love to bowl :-)

And I love to watch them growing up with their wonderful Daddy

We love you, babe - it was a beautiful day!

~Thank you for this life ~

Rodney Atkins' Watchin' You

I Love Everybody, especially you

Have I mentioned that they are a *little* enthusiastic? Lately the enthusiasm has been a lot more consistent than the drama, for which I am thankful.

This has been a long week, and Dean's been gone, and the days always drag ... tomorrow is the end, tho, and it's Field Day!

This morning was all snuggly and somehow we made it out the door with pleasant voices. Maybe it was Harry making us laugh when he told Jack "You're being so loud it disturbs the ENTIRE United State of America, EVEN Hawaii and Alaska!"

It's nice to get reminders of how lucky we are - a friend at the bus stop mentioned that she loves to watch them get on the bus because their feet just fly in an excited bounding thing. This morning, I was watching them and their friends happily greet Mrs. G and thinking about how lucky I was when I heard Alan Jackson's Sissy's Song and my heart squeezed a few tears.

Thanx to Sarah for being a wonderful hostess today and sharing her whole family with us - we're going to have a great adventure soon :-) Thanx to Christina and Brayden for sharing a great mid-morning. Did I mention that I'm one lucky mommy?

Happy week-ending everyone!

Lyle Lovett

It's Gonna Take A Lot Of Love

Harry sending Daddy a message during lunch last week - we missed him a LOT!

Jack has been picking me flowers - he chose these two because it represented our family - two boys and Mommy and Daddy (there was a fifth one which he said was Aunt Jackie)

Nicolette Larson

I believe old rockin' chair's got THEM

Lots of times when Dean travels, they gravitate toward his chair, like this afternoon....

...and about 5 1/2 years ago :wub:

The Band's Rockin' Chair

Lotta Love

Spring has sprung in all the good ways! The boys and I had a great day playing, Dean played golf with a couple of great old friends, then we all got to spend some time tonite enjoying the weather and time together. Looking forward to the rest of the week!

Neil Young

04/05/10 Harry: Tomorrow nite I will say "What a wonderful day we had!

I'm lucky just to linger in your light

(And, yes, that is blue marker up Harry's nose. I try not to ask!)

Uncle Kracker's Smile