Where does the time go?

Time really does fly, doesn't it? I'm amazed that my little girl is almost one, and my oldest boy is almost 8! I swear it was yesterday that I took James on a flight by himself back home to visit my family! Now 8 years later, I'll be embarking on the same journey with my 4th child... where does the time go? But honestly, other than slowing time down a little, I wouldn't change it all for the world.

I love watching them all grow up... interacting with

each other as a family, with their peers, watching their little mind work, making connections, connecting dots, and just loving life. I'm not going to have this opportunity forever... they will grow up not needing/wanting my help in connecting my dots. So, until that moment, I'm trying to catch every moment that I can.

I've got a ton of pictures from the past few weeks, so hope you don't mind! They were just too cute to pass up! So, here they all are in their glory! The first picture is one I am DEFINITELY keeping for blackmail! When she becomes a teenager, and starts to become moody, I'm pulling this picture out and telling her that she better shape up or I'll show this picture to her friends! It's such a classic, isn't it?! Can't you see her process... "Huh, look at this interesting hole!"

The next picture of her, I wish I could say was chocolate all over her mouth... but not a chance. Glenn had been a big help, and had swept the floor for me! And the nice pile of dirt was right in the middle of the floor. While I was doing something else, and Glenn was trying to find the dustpan, she crawled right over, and started an eating fest on dirt! Yum, yum! As you can see, she loved it! Just great... she's going to be the type that will eat worms!

And then in the same breath, I LOVE this outfit, and the hat especially is so cute on her. Thankfully she enjoys having it on! I still love Sunday mornings, to decide what outfit will look the best for the day! She's so bright an happy!

Next on my list is Alex. He came up to me with Buzz Lightyear and said, "Look at his guarding stance." So, here is a picture of Alex and Buzz doing their guarding stance together! Alex never ceases to amaze me. I can feel like stringing him by his toenails, and then the other moment be as sweet as sugar, and just makes me melt. I do feel like his sweeter moments are becoming more frequent, and I do pray that they will continue to do so as he moves out of his two's! But I'm not holding my breath. I do feel like he is going to be the child that teaches Todd and me the most about patience!

The boys and I headed over the the coast last week for Homeschool Days at the Aquarium. They give you a phenomenal deal on tickets, and give you free reign to roam with lots of learning stations set up around the place. And they have classes offered that you can pay for, and others that are free. I noticed that they had a class titled "Shark Dissection." It was free, and the kids LOVE sharks, so we headed over there. I had no idea what to expect, but thought it must be where they just show you different parts of the shark, that have already been cut up, preserved, etc. I was wrong!

If you click on the picture to blow it up, you'll see that he completely cut up a fresh shark. In this picture he's showing us his heart! It was fascinating! James and Glenn had front center seats. I was off to the side with the others. I thought it was spectacular! There was one part that I was sweating buckets... the man asked if anyone knew the difference between male and female sharks. James' hand went up instantly. Now, if you know James, you know that he's not afraid to speak what he thinks... not shy at all... and you never know what is going to come out of his mouth! The guy never did call on him, which I was saying "Whew..." and turns out it had to do with the fins. But anyway, I asked James what he was going to say, and he actually was just going to say that he thought it was about their different electronic signals that they send... ok, James, that would have been a good guess. I was so worried it would be about something else anatomical! It was an excellent class, and my boys stayed as long as they could afterwards, touching every part of the shark they were allowed to touch! Thank goodness for baby wipes!

The other most fascinating exhibit at the aquarium, was called "Oddwater" and had to do with odd animals from the bottom of the ocean. The fish were spectacular, but the blown glass artwork that were in every one of the displays were incredible! They had seaweed, fishhouses, platters, bulbs... it really was incredible! The touchpool that they had here to the right was full of glass starfish, but also these platters, that if you look closely at the picture, there were skate rays that loved to just lay in them! It was fascinating!

They had Nemo in one exhibit which Alex kept pointing to and saying, "Look Mama, Nemo!" Over and over, and over again! He loved it! They also had a Dora from Finding Nemo in another tank, and she was beautiful! I had never seen on so large before!

This is a picture of little Ellie, who was in front of the large picture window that looked into the huge immense shark tank with thousands of other fish in there as well. The window was from floor to ceiling, and about 20 feet wide. She crawled from one end to another, back to the other end, and then back the other way. She couldn't get enough of it! Sometimes she'd stop and stand up against the glass... she LOVED watching all the fish! And since there was an art project in this room that the boys were taking their sweet time on, I was happy that she was so entertained!

I included these last pictures of Alex and Glenn crawling up into the diver's helmet, because when I look at Alex's eyes in his picture, they are so GLENN! So, click on that picture and see the resemblance!

Oh yeah, and one last thing... we went to the beach after the Aquarium fun, and we brought our kite Opie. Now Opie is Very light, and flies at the tiniest wind... and wouldn't you know... there actually was NO wind at the coast... ever heard of such a thing??? So, Alex pulled Opie around in the sand! Oh well, better luck next time!

Well, sorry this is so long! Hope you enjoy the pictures at least! Take care, and we miss you all!