Ventures through space... for the geeks.

I don't know if you can see the fine detail in this picture or not, but that is Jango Fett attempting to assassinate Anakin Skywalker:

Collin was playing with the boys whilst I was napping, and this is the result: The Millenium Falcon Photo Shoot. They took tons of pictures, but I will spare you, for the most part. And I get a big fat F for not taking pictures of my kiddos as of late. And probably for letting Jacob sit on the floor with a dry erase marker while I do this. He is probably coloring his pants.

Jacob controls the sounds. It's the only thing the older boys will allow.

As you can see, Luke is sunbathing, while flying through space. It's amazing.

Point being this: Did my 7 and 3 year old think to do this all alone? Doubtful. I think Collin had just as much fun as they did. Santa sure is good at picking gifts the whole family will love!
(That nap shouldn't even count toward my tally.)

By the way! The Star Wars Imagination exhibit is coming to Huntsville in June!

Thankyou Mr. Weatherman!

I know that many of my dear friends are so deep in snow and freezing temperatures that they could only dream of being in our part of Alabama, where it simply will not snow. To be certain it is cold here, but pleasantly so.
I have a 7 year old who is desperate for snow. All week we talked listened about the possibility of snow on the news. Samuel trusts these weathermen more than me, apparently, for he would not believe that it simply wasn't going to snow! And now, we have had no snow, and he is crushed! Okay, he got over it rather quickly, but he has inherited one of his parent's dramatic instinct. I will let you guess from whom he got it.
For the record, the weather folks did say it was only chance, but some of us only hear what we wish to hear!

Idealism: Out. Optimism Tinged with Realism: In.

What an idealist I was at the age of 13. I remember telling Tara Taylor that I was going to have 10 kids (and all kinds of other VERY ambitious things that I am sure I will not accomplish). She replied by stating that I would be pregnant for 8 years. I was sure that I wold love the pregnant state of being and therefore, no problem! I was going to be a baby factory! How naive I was. On so many levels. Don't mistake me, I think my 3 are great, and I look forward to the girl child coming to our family in April, as well as any others that may like to come after an extended period of time. I just don't see 1) me mothering 10, or having 10 c-sections, and 2) me being sane and kind and domestic about it all. I truly admire such women! That being said, I have had the pleasure and misfortune of having 3 soon to be 4 children without a labor pain. I didn't opt for it to be this way, but finding the perks in an undesirable situation is good, right? C-sections work for me (and I will thank a very distant ancestor of an ancestor, Ephraim McDowell, for performing the first successful abdominal surgery in 1809).

Back to being an idealist! I am sure many can relate to making a to do list with 600 things for the morning alone. For a while, I was really good at making REASONABLE lists. Unfortunately, I got doused with that super human feeling that I could accomplish it all and made myself some pretty ambitious goals for the week. Lucky for me, I caught whatever my kid brought home from the nursery on Sunday, and had a great excuse for not getting it all done. Which I am sure I totally would have otherwise (wink wink).

In my attempt to ditch this former line of thinking, I present the aforementioned Optimism Tinged with Reality. Clever? I know. I stole that from the dictionary. I have tried to set reasonable goals for the year (do more family history, have the guts to take Jacob's pacifier away, be an 8 cow wife, etc), and feel that I can accomplish them with great effort along with great help (having 10 children, NOT being one of them).