Probably not what she signed up for

My grandmother made a surprise visit to our house this weekend. My parents and sister came down for an early birthday celebration and so she decided to join the fun. As you view the rest of the pictures, please keep in mind this is my children's great-grandmother.

Here she is jumping on the trampoline with my niece.

Now the great-grandmother took a spill.

Here's she hanging out with Wingman in the trampoline. He is still learning to jump.

Next, she was a real trooper and climbed in the bouncey house with all those wild great-grandchildren of hers.

First, how many grandmothers or great-grandmothers can or would be willing to do such things. We are truly blessed to have her in our lives. We had fun visiting. She played trains, legos, and listened to the outrageous tales of those children. We had a great weekend with her. Thanks for the visit and we hope you come again.

Daddy's boy

Wingman is so excited when daddy comes home each evening. He loves to run out to the garage and give him a big hug around the knees.

He also gets quite selfish. He just assumes that daddy is now home to play exclusively with him. In Wingman's eyes, daddy doesn't need to talk to mommy or play with the other brothers. Just give him undivided attention.

One of his favorite activities is to assemble puzzles with dad. Granted the Captain does most of the organizing and tells Wingman where to put the pieces, but he loves it.

He's also becoming quite the mimic. I noticed he leans on his arm only if daddy leans on his arm. If daddy stretches out his arms so does Wingman. It's really cute.

Car progress

The race cars are all sanded, primed, and have the white base coat of paint on. We (by "we" I mean them) are ready to paint.

The Captain is trying to really understand what the test pilot wants on his car.

The test pilots want his car to have a layer of gold paint and then silver.

He wants the #100 on it. (We don't know the significance of the number.)

He wants the entire verse of John 3:16 on the car.

He wants the word "Christ" on his car inside the lightening bolt.

Can I remind you that these cars are 7 inches long and 1.5 inches wide?

I am not sure how all that will fit, but knowing the Captain he will make it work.

While mommy's away...

I worked last weekend and when I came home this was what was on the camera.

All the boys (all 4 of them) decided to have a lego-fest and spent the day rebuilding all their Power Miner legos. (It had something to do with the lego guys drilling for crystals and the rock monsters trying to take away the crystals.)

Then they spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the stone chopper, thunder driller, and mine mec. Who comes up with these names?

Anyhow, they were very proud of their accomplishments.

All 4 of them build well together. The Captain gives direction and helps out the younger ones as needed. The test pilot is assembles legos quite independently but he will come up with reasons he needs help simply for the social aspect of building together. Crash is doing quite well building with the bigger pieces. The small ones frustrate him still. Wingman can even do some building too, really he is more into destruction. Then Crash and Wingman enjoy playing with the creations that the test pilot has put together. It works out well for all.

Where have the curls gone?

It's been a sad time for mama. Crash's curls are going away. He started out with very little hair and certainly no curl.

Then a few months later we get lots of beautiful red curls.

I love watching his hair at the beach. It would really curl up tight and just blow in the wind.

He's quite the show stopper. I get stopped frequently for little old ladies to admire his red curly hair.

Alas, this is him today. The curl has all fallen out on the top. He still has some curl around the ears and the back, but I can tell it's loosening up too. I have tried cutting it shorter or using gel to bring back the curl but to no avail.

He's still awful cute though!

A new role

The Captain has embarked on a new role this semester. He was asked to teach a Sunday School class at church. He was initially nervous, because speaking in front of people is not something he does often. However, he took this step of faith and now is a Bible class teacher.

As a completely unbiased person, I think he is doing great. He is teaching a class called "Fundamentals of the Faith" using a book by John MacArthur.

It's a 13 week course working through this book. He has got a good class that so far has had some insightful discussions.

While I have always been proud because my husband is a very smart engineer, great with the kids, and super handy around the house. It really makes me beam to see him humbly take on this role as teacher of the Word. Thank you God for a husband that desires to serve you in all that he does!

2 going on 7

Wingman is having an identity crisis. You see he is only 2. In fact, he just turned 2, but you would have a hard time telling him that. He thinks he is at least 4 or maybe 7.

He just wants to do what his big brothers do- like riding their bikes. He does have a tricycle of his own, but no he wants to ride the test pilot's bike.

His feet don't even come close to hitting the pedals.

The funny part is that he was insisting on riding the test pilot's bike after he already fell off Crash's bike. He doesn't learn very well. He is trying to grow up way too fast.