Who needs a security system

When you live with



Real-life
Super Heroes?

You don't raise sons, you raise heroes.

And if you treat them likes sons,


They'll turn out to be heroes,


Even if it's just in your own eyes.
~Walter M. Schirra, Jr.

'sno days like a snow days!

yes, they are putting their faces in the snow and eating it.

What doesn't kill them only makes them stronger, right?

the lighting in this picture gives him an almost angelic look.

Or, maybe I am just biased






As is life with a dad and his sons, there was a lot of snowball throwing going on.




ACT(Ava Claire T.) and her mommy(my big sis) came to play in the snow. I wish Teagan could've joined too. Soon enough, right aunt Jenny!



Snow angels are something the boys have been talking about for quite a while now. We are members of Dolly Pardon's imagination library which I highly recommend everyone with children ages 0-5 sign up for. You (or someone you know) have to have a Jefferson County address, and you get a different free book every month until they turn 5. It's sponsored by The Junior League of Alabama. It's great. Anyway, they have a book called The Snowy Day where a little boy plays in the snow and makes snow angels, so they finally got their big chance!






I love to see the world through their eyes



Mikey's the biggest kid of all. And I was the innocent victim in all of their snowball attacks.








Of course, I had to get Charlie Bucket out in the snow, but just for a few minutes. He didn't seemed to mind the cold, but I doubt he could even feel it because Mikey bundled him up so tight! Good Daddy!





It was all too much for him and about 10 minutes after he came inside, he passed out in his swing

My feeble attempt at a group picture

This one didn't fare much better. Mikey looks like a mix between Lloyd Christmas, Paul Bunyan, and Cousin Eddie.

This one went better.

This picture is from the snow in 2009.
You can see a glimpse of Sam's long hair, and they both have chubbier cheeks. In 2011, we'll have to squeeze Charlie in there somewhere.

Snow angels in action

this was the first picture of the day. I kept telling them, "Just let me get a few pictures of you and then I'll leave you alone and you can do whatever you want." So once I got those pictures, everytime I'd randomly call Huett's name to snap a picture of him, he kept saying, "You said you were going to leave me alone." So I did.

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Now for story time...
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Like every other blogger in the greater southeast, I have posted the obligatory snow pictures of us. Every time it has snowed (or has supposed to snow)this year, I've been at work. This last winter weather advisory was no exception. The first time James Spann said it might snow this year, the administration at UAB was Johnny on the spot. They put the winter weather plan into effect and told us all to pack our bags and plan to stay because, hey, nothing makes a pregnant woman go into labor faster than knowing there is no sane way to get them and their unborn child to the hospital like a snow storm. Just one of God's funny little jokes I guess. We all want to be at home, but the patients just keep pouring in. Even ones who probably logically know they aren't in labor, but are so afraid to be stuck at home that they come on in anyway. And then, what can we do? Nothing, because the roads are closed and iced over. This time though, the time when it actually snows a lot they never batted an eye. I never once heard anyone talk about staying over. It was really strange as I sat on the 10th floor and watched the snow come down blizzard-style for hours, yet no one seemed to think it mattered. So I get off work to head home, and on my way, there are 3 wrecks on the northbound side of I-65 in the first 1/2 mile alone. I am on edge immediately. I usually stay on this interstate for a few miles until I exit, so I take an alternate route and head for Highway 78. I exit and realize that it isn't moving either so I hang a left and jump back on the interstate, headed for yet another alternate route. So far so good, I think, until the main bridge that accesses Minor Parkway is completely shut down. Now if any of you know where I am talking about, lets just say this isn't particularly prime real-estate, and it was late. So I called my dad, a veritable walking talking navigational system, and he says he knows another way without me getting back on the interstate. He says he will stay on the phone with me until I get to a familiar place. That sounded off some alarms, but hey, it was my dad, he wouldn't put me in danger, right? So, off I go,into the bowels of downtown Wylam. I never knew there was more to this old town than Alabama's only 5-way stop. Well, I was wrong but not by much. Dad proceeded to direct me though this frightening run-down old main-street of a town that you could tell was once bustling. No more. It looked like something off of a horror movie, or a movie with the plot of a drug deal going down. The windows were boarded up, only a few of the street lamps worked, and the roads were winding. Dad's still on the phone, thank goodness, because, seriously, this felt like some kind of weird alternate universe like I had just stepped into a murder mystery novel and I was about to approach the scene of a crime. Well, I made it back to the famous aforementioned 5-way stop, clinging to my life, and was all turned around because I had never approached it from this direction, but Dad directed me, and once I passed the weird giant dome church, I knew I was home free! Well, then I tried to get back on highway 78 and there was another wreck blocking the entrance ramp so I took another back road. This one in a town I was a little more comfortable with so I navigated myself back home. I bet, in all, I saw 12+ wrecks and what is normally a 30 minute drive, took me 75. I made it home and was thrilled to see my yard, untouched and ready to play in the next morning. We suited up and were off! Thanks to our own personal advances in snow gear and waterproof equipment(thanks to gran gran) our time in the snow lasts longer and is more enjoyable. I can't say enough about galoshes and waterproof gloves. By 2:00, when they were up from their naps, it was gone, just the way I like it, because as much fun as the snow is, I don't think I could stomach suiting them up two times in one day. These kids can't hang like we did in the blizzard of '93. I know they say that we'll never see the likes of that blizzard again in our lifetime, and I feel truly grateful that my brother and sister and I were at such a perfect age to enjoy that blizzard to the fullest( with my dads help of course, but that is a whole other post within itself), but is it selfish of me to hope in about 10 years we can get another one of those? Those are some of the fondest memories I have. So fun! I guess global warming will put a stop to that...seeing as this is the coldest winter on record in several years...yep we sure are heating up, right? Now, spring, where are you. Around here, if we don't look fast,we'll miss it altogether and it'll be 90 degrees before you know it. Such is the Alabama weather!

Sleeping Babes

Why is it that children can contort their bodies into unimaginable positions, and yet, when you try to straighten them out, they act like you are hurting them? All I am asking is that they let me put their little bodies back into naturally occurring positions. These pictures were actually taken during nap time, but on any given night, you can find Mikey and myself caught up in this tangled web of appendages. It makes for some interesting mornings on the rare occasion that Mikey and I are both off work, and they have both wandered into our bedroom in the night. They share a bed in their own room, Thank God. They absolutely do not start out the night in the bed with us. That is one thing that we have been particularly adamant about since they were babies, and Charlie is no exception, but I digress. Anyway, they wake up so silly. I can't wait until Charlie is big enough to do the same thing. Of course, at the rate they are all going, our king size bed ( which is already almost too small) will be a joke, and we'll have to upgrade to a California King, or maybe one of those ridiculous round beds like Hugh Hefner or Shaq. I can see us now. I wonder how I will manage to clothe them, feed them, keep their big clothes washed? When they are 14, 16, and 17 and probably 6 foot + if our heights are any indication...It is both intimidating and exciting. Boy this post went a lot further than I intended...now I have got to go and get my eldest two sons to settle down. I think they are seldom as excited throughout the day as they are at bedtime when the lights go out and they are left to their own devices...and there is a real sleeping babe in the next room, so off I go to restore order to that end of the house!

As requested...

More photo editing fun!!

Photo editing breakthrough

I always scout out photography blogs.

I am so envious of how pretty they are able to make their pictures through editing.

Well...I have been doing some tinkering while at work

(don't worry my patients are well taken care of) on

www.photobucket.com

and I have finally figured out how to make black and white(or any other toned photo) with small items in color. I have two examples below.

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This first picture of Ava is the original

You can see the difference in this picture.

You'll notice only her eyes, shirt, and hair bow are in color.
This is an original pic of the boys this Christmas.

Here is the edited version

Notice their shirts and some Christmas ornaments are the only things showing.

The possibilities are endless! A lot of Ava's pictures are cuter because I guess maybe this is kinda a girly thing, but if I had just the right pic, it will work good for the boys too. If you are interested in learning how to do it, post a comment. I can give a blog tutorial if anyone else thinks this is as neat as i do! Professional looking effects done for free!! Yay me(and photobucket)

charlie eats

Charlie is 5 months old, and we just started feeding him baby food. We started with rice cereal, and have slowly progressed to a few vegetables.

This was his first taste of carrots. Judging from this face, he may be more like Huett in this area, because I'm pretty sure when we started feeding Sam, he didn't let even one drop leave his mouth. Sam sure didn't wince when we were feeding him like this. But I guess maybe it is too early to judge.



I promise his cheeks are not full of acorns or marshmallows, even though he does look like a chipmunk!


Sometimes I think he'd rather eat his hands, or a handful of my hair which he often tries to do, instead of food.

He went for his 4 month check-up when he turned five months(some things just slip when it's your 3rd baby 4 and under).
Anyway, he was 26 3/4 inches and weighed 17 pounds exactly! Not too shabby!
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Sam went for his 3 year checkup(a month late) and he weighs 40 pounds and is 3 feet 3 inches tall.
Doctor Gleason says they are both on the tall side, but he said he wasn't surprised.

In Huett news, he can routinely pick out all the letters of the alphabet, knows the whole alphabet in sign language, knows what sounds the letters make, and can recognize several simple words when he sees them, so I guess in the simplest form, my oldest son knows how to read!
He seems to be much more mature(as mature as a 4 year old can be) in these last few weeks.
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My babies are growing up. Can I honestly say, for the first time, I am not sad about the fact that we won't be having any more kids.
When I see a pregnant woman I don't think," oh I wish it were me"
I just think,"bless her heart".
I think I have finally gotten my fill of babies(baby boys anyway)
Now if someone promised me a girl, then it would be on,
but in case you haven't noticed, you can't just pick one up at Wal-mart.
Anyway, I am excited about the near(and distant) future with my three sons!
(and their daddy)!
There is a light at the end of the baby tunnel!

abh

One day last week, a little boy showed up my door. Had the bluest eyes I'd ever seen!

He told me he needed to do some work on my computer, so of course, I obliged.


What are you looking at lady, Can't I get a little privacy!

Next thing I know, things are going south. He couldn't log onto facebook or something. I'm sure he has over 1,000 friends. Anyway, he started banging the keyboard...and then

He went to ask Charlie if he knew what went wrong!

Charlie gave it his best shot with some sound advice, but nothing worked!

That's when Archer started banging his head on the swing.

I said, "Archer, don't get so upset, but he was too far gone!

It's just facebook, I told him! There are more important things in life!

And then just like something off of reality TV, he tried to steal away my camera.

When I put up a fight, he started throwing up his hands!

GET YOUR CAMERA OUTTA MY FACE LADY!

he was so upset, his hands were swollen**! And he said...

"I think I need a drink!"

A nice tall one, and he was cool and calm Archer once again!

**his hands weren't really swollen, he just has the chubbiest hands I've ever seen, and I see a lot of babies...

Can anyone guess what I just realized?

Really, don't even try because it is so random that you'll never get it right.

I was just wishing for summer, and I realized that I think my oldest son Huett ( 5 this summer) and my oldest niece Ava(4 & 3/4 this summer) ,and maybe my middle son Sam(3 & 1/2 this summer) will be just the right age to play Marco Polo in the pool.

It's so much fun to introduce new things to them and I think (hope) they'll find this one particularly silly and fun!!

Excitement for all things summer is mounting!

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Maybe it is these cute swim trunks that my sister(also known by the boys as Trisha wish or Trish Trash) bought on her shopping spree this weekend that has me yearning for warm weather! Aren't they soooooo cute! They will look so tan in them.

If anyone sees a similar pair in 6-12 months,

I need something that will coordinate for Charlie Bear

who is 0.5 now and will be almost 1 this summer!

It'll be here before we know it!!