Growing Up Tobias

As I’ve said so many times I can’t count, time flies!

Tobias . . .

. . . is growing up.  That’s kinda what they’re good at . . . well, that and getting amazingly dirty in an amazingly short period of time, eating anything sugar laden, and being so adorable I want to cry.

Tob starts preschool in one week.  We went and replaced his worn out summertime shoes and got him a few pieces of clothing . . . because he’s outgrown all 4T clothing, especially pants, from last year.  Interesting what happens while they’re running around in shorts for 3 months.

We go and meet his teacher and check out his school on Friday.  And Tuesday he rides their little bus to school.  They welcome parents on the bus with them . . . so I’ve officially elected Justin to ride with him the first time (if not the first week) . . . I would but I’m, um, what they refer to as “emotional”.  I don’t think I’d be much of a calming agent whilst accompanying my kid.

I put in Tob’s height and weight and found out he’s tall.  44 inches tall. Yeah, I used one of those converter things online to come up with 3′7″ (no math problems until after coffee is consumed).  Height averages . . . granted I don’t know what is a legit site and what is not . . . but this was written out very plainly for me to see, so I’m using it.  You know you can roughly try to figure out how tall your kid is gonna be but its based on the parent’s height.  That only works so good . . . don’t you take into consideration how tall the mammoths are on the momma’s side? Check it out here

These are 2 of my 3 brothers . . . and my dad.  My dad is 6′4″ . . . Bill is 6′7″ . . . . Jon is around 6′3″ or so.  Not out there tall but definitely taller than the 5′11″ I was given based on mine and Justin’s height.

Um, not sure why I’m going on and on about this.  Obviously there is more important things than the height of your child, now or at 22 years old . . . but I find it interesting.

Ope, speaking of the tots . . . I hear them, finally arising from slumber.

Nothin’ to do and Nowhere to go

Justin has been home for two days now, from school stuff, and it has been a time of just hanging out soaking up some good old family time.  We don’t have extra money to do anything, necessarily, so we’ve just been at home and on walks and on the local playground, etc.  The norm for me and the tots but so much funner with dad.  

I forgot how different the household dynamic is when we’re all together . . . I think I might really like it!!  

Really nothing new here . . . besides that.  

I wanna to get to church this weekend . . . and we have plan for a few things next week.  Watch out Tiff, here we come.

Hope your weekends are full of good things!

God Bless!

This picture cracks me up.  How guilty can you possibly look??

Two of My Favorite Guys

My dad has been there for me, loved me and helped to nurture dreams and my faith . . . he pretty much wins the dad-of-the-year award from the likes of me.

Justin loves me unconditionally.  I have tested this unconditional bit pretty good (or bad) and he comes back, always, with acceptance. We, as they say, are meant for each other . . . and deserve each other. Small joke.

All joking aside . . . there was something pretty cool about seeing my dad and Justin hang out this past two weeks in Vegas-land.  They carried on easy conversations and Justin helped with my dad’s to-do list . . . mostly yard work . . . my dad got him into his gym while we were there; going several times together . . . amongst other stuff.

And, of course, we went hiking . . . ok, Justin only went once.  But it was a great experience.

My dad makes Justin look really short.    Not that J is tall . . . but my dad is 6′4″.

Thats all . . . thats what was going through my pea-brain as I downloaded some more of my Vegas photographs and thought I’d share the thoughts of Mother Tucker with your thoughtful selves.

God bless!

ps, this is one of my favorite photos . . . not for the color, clarity or any of the technical reasons . . . it just speaks something of family and generations, to my soul.

Train Ride

We went on a train ride Sunday mid-morning.  The boys absolutely enjoyed it.  I now space on what the name of it all was. Southern . . . something . . . Pacific, maybe. I don’t remember.  Anyhoo . . . it was enjoyable because the boys were in awe of the movement, noise and then being able to get up and walk about, to the different cars, etc. 

All the folks renovating and running the place were volunteers, mostly older folks, that were very very friendly and engaged the kiddos frequently.  Here were getting ready to load.

Father and son.

The boys love my parents.  Sorry for the blurry pic.  

We’re in the outdoor car here . . . the both boys enjoyed that one!

Making our way through the outdoor car.

The very end car . . . not much but a bunch of windows.  

Fun with Granny and Papa!

God Bless!

Workin’ The 9 -5

My parents work still. They had a nice long weekend with us but they are back to their own grind, as of yesterday.  

So, today I had a bit of time to do a quick upload of photos taken so far and a bit of editing too . . . craaazzy!  Anyhoo, I’m gonna pass some along, if you don’t mind. 

Here are the Tucker boys watching Cars at the airport terminal.  Our plan was nearly 2 hours late.  Ugh!  The boys ended doing just fine . . . in the terminal and on the plane! Thank you, Jesus!

Granny’s christmas tree . . . so freaking gorgeous!  I was told my loverly designer sister, Amy, helped with this get up.  I’m hiring Amy next year.

My dad and I have walked every day, but one, since I’ve been here.  This is one of the regular trails we’ve visited, near their home in Henderson.  And, uh, thats my dad . . . if clarification was necessary.

 

My brother, Billy, and his wife, Megan.  They were pulling out, in their large moving truck, the very next day that this photo was taken, for Seattle, Washington.  Big move, but they seemed more than ready. Billy looks mighty annoyed here . . . he’s not, just not a great pic.

This is one of my other brothers, Jonathan (Seattle bound, as well) . . . then my dad and my mom, who’s snoozing and will probably skin me alive when she sees this blog post.

That was our first two days here.  Just reconnecting, opening Christmas presents, shopping and walking with my dad.  I’ll post more later. 

God Bless!

Daddy Antics

One thing I’ve had to get used to be with being a mom of two rough and tumble boys and being married to the manly man of a dad is that they are just that . . . rough and tumble. Both boys love to wrestle, pick on each other and play wrestle with dad. I have had to purposely lower my blood pressure a few time amidst the dad antics.

No, the above picture is not one of a whimpering little toddler walking hesitantly into the grasp of his crazed father . . . quite the opposite. I believe Tobias ran into dad’s arms and proceeded to beg to be tossed, haphazardly, onto the well-cushioned couch behind him.

This is where I tend to start praying.

When the laughter erupts after the landing bit . . . well, its the only thing that allows me to consider it is ok to be tossing a 3 year old up and onto the couch by quite some distance (3 or 4 ft away).

Now Samuel has always been a bit hesitant when it comes to the rough housing of dad and Tobias (two peas in a pod, Justin and Tob). In fact he would protest even when Justin toned it down a bit. So I stood up for him, I told Justin there are different personalities . . . different likes and dislikes . . . and Sam didn’t like the rough and tumble bit. I say this as Samuel is curled in my arms, such a Momma’s boy and I’m milking that for all its worth!

But most, if not all, of that has changed in the past few months. He picks the wrestling matches with Tobias and he jumps on dad in hopes of a good hard tickling . . . he’s starting it and I’m now having to adjust to three rough and tumblers in the house.

He joins right in. Flying through the air with the greatest of ease . . .

Landing in a pile of pillows and cushy couch. What a face though, eh.

Yeah . . . for some reason I missed, with pictures, the laughing . . . oh so much laughing!

Another of the dad antics . . . because there are quite a few, is THE BOX . . . not always the same box, but a box nonetheless.

This has happened numerous times and the boys always react the same. At first they are scared of the “live” box and then, once assured by Mother Tucker, they proceed to pounce it.

Eventually the big one, namely dad, gets bored (and a bit bruised) and abandons his post as the Great Box Entertainer of ‘08.  The above pic is of our eldest son attempting to feed the captured dad a nourishing Hot Wheel car.

No worries though . . . the box proved to be hours (well, at least half an hour) of toddler play hard equipment . . . even without the dad.

Boxes are awesome and so is the dad!

God Bless!

clearing

Its clearing!! Oh, thank you Jesus!  I was dreading doing the workout videos today . . . they do get old, especially the same 8 or so that I use consistently.  The boys will enjoy the jaunt as well as I’m sure . . . the short bursts of time outside don’t seem to squelch their amazing energy levels. Now the sun is shining!! Yippeee for me!

Energy levels I wish they would share with me today since my coffee canister is empty as empty can be.  I didn’t realize J had to be at school right away this morning so I figured I could just go out pick some up before he left . . . . oh no! Nope, he had to be there, pretty much, right after he woke up.  He’s getting groceries tonight, which I appreciate, but I will have to wait until tomorrow for my loving and addictive cup of joe.  This has happened too many times in the last couple of months . . . one should not have to endure such hardships as this more than once every few years! Catastrophe, there’s a word for it . . .

Ah well . . . hey, my dad is doing really good.  They have a park about 15 minutes (walk) from their house and he’s been trekking that twice a day.  The doc said do if he can and he has. I’m so thankful to God for the surgery going good and a quick recovery! I won’t be going down until later in the summer. Finances are always playing a part, aren’t they?! Ugh!

Well, I’m getting off this thang . . . sure sucks the life-blood right out of you . . . kind of like watching tv. 

God Bless and have a great rest of the week!

home again home again

My dad’s surgery went fantastic, for all who are interested.  He also has began to heal quickly.  The doctor warned him he would, most likely, be in the hospital for about week afterwards to begin the 3, or so, months of regaining strength and stamina.

God is good, as we all know . . . all the time.  But prayer works and my dad is already home . . . as of yesterday!! 4 days, folks . . . 2-3 days sooner than expected!!  He says he feels fantastic and was pleasantly surprised that there wasn’t as much pain as originally communicated by docs and nurses.

I give honor to God, cuz I know better.  Thank you so much, everyone, for your prayers and support!!  Please keep doing so for quick and complete recovery!

God Bless!!!

Dysfunction of Sorts

Communication. I know you wouldn’t guess, by how much I write here, that I’m not a good communicator . . . but that’s also why I write so often on my blog. I write when my day slows enough for me to empty thoughts that would otherwise go unrecognized. I am absolutely horrible about calling people, making dates and keeping them, and just plain contacting people that I love. Out of sight, out of mind is very much how my brain functions. I’m not proud of this. Some of the most important relationships get overlooked because I’m blind to maintaining them. And when I finally do get to meet and hang out with my friends (the ones that will still claim me) I find my line of thought and conversation differs from most.

I inherited this Conversation Dysfunction gene from father. He is the same way. Love ya, dad, but this is neither of our strong suites! So he’s going on 62 this year and, if anything, the phenomenon of C-D (Conversation Dysfunction) is getting stronger . . . so I’m not sure there is much hope for me.

I love beautiful weather . . . just this morning the boys and I got out into the sunshine . . . and oh boy, it was nice . . . fresh air . . . what? Oh, what was I talking about again? Crap. Oh yeah, the recessive C-D gene . . . back to it

One other sign of having the genetic disorder is that, while having a regular conversation with someone, on a subject both of you are interested, you will suddenly interject something random that, either comes to mind or that you see out the vehicle window or crack a joke that really doesn’t have anything to do with what you are discussing. You will know the interjected phrase/joke was improper due to the awkward silence and quizzical look of the 2nd party. The subject of conversation is interrupted, most of the time, so badly that it is forgotten and minutes later a completely different subject matter will come up . . . sometimes following the lead of the C-D random thought.

The only time I am not aware, so much, of the C-D is when I’m hanging with family. I believe this is so because we all, for one are carrying the dysfunctional gene, and for two we are so used to C-D we can’t even pinpoint when it happens. Subjects of conversation change on a dime and no one gets too invested in a subject matter to avoid feeling hurt when someone mentions how funny the news cast lady looks with her new hair do . . . as though they are oblivious to the passion on which you referred to the plight of starving children in Ethiopia.

We are not an uncaring bunch, we are just suffering from C-D. So if you are getting to know any of us, my blood relations, just be aware of what you are dealing with. Be fully alert for sudden subject changes in conversation and random thoughts . . . oh and the distraction due to shiny objects will make us completely forget what we are talking about and, yet, change subjects again. Just gently lead us back to the subject at hand, as though we are ’special people’ and we then will happily talk, yet again, of whatever was the conversation topic.

This is frustrating at times, I know, just be patient with us.

God Bless!

Blah

I’m gonna complain . . . just a forewarning.

We got our tax return, thats what we were to live on and get caught up with, including our vehicles insured.  It was not nearly the amount we were expecting . . . I still can’t figure out where the breakdown in communication in figuring all that out happened but it was considerably less than expected. Soooooo, life will go on as usual . . . pretty much home-bound for awhile longer.  I’m frustrated and irritated and disappointed. I miss my church, my family, my friends and just plain being able to get around without a double stroller and waiting for weather to clear enough so we don’t contract pneumonia.  I can’t seem to bring my spirits up today but I keep praying for understanding and insight into why I am where I am . . . right now.

I know God is bigger and has a bigger plan than my view of my hand in front of my face.  I think it might boil down to just plain trusting in HIM.  Who do I think I am to challenge the plans of such a God that has love deeper than I’ll ever experience in this lifetime . . . and has my best interest at heart . . . not to mention wisdom beyond the ages and the all knowing thing that HE possesses?   I know one thing, I am absolutely in love with my God and nothing in this life, because of the sacrifice of Jesus, will ever separate me from that love.  No matter how isolated I feel or anxious about life . . . HE holds the prominent spot in my heart and life.  He has seen to my needs and wants thus far . . . I trust HE will continue to do so.

Oh, on the positive, trusting God note.  My dad is doing awesome!! He said he’s not as in as much pain as they lead him to believe prior to the surgery.  He’s sitting up for several hours at a time and says he already feels a difference in the way he feels . . . for the better!!!  Thank you, thank you, thank you God!!!! God is good, so very good and faithful  . . .  not as humans are faithful but only as God can be faithful . . . unchanging!  Thank you God!

Now I’m smiling.  Its good to recount the blessings and goodness of God to counteract the negativity that attacks sometimes.  So I thank you God and I trust you with our immediate future, as well as our long-term future . . . all is in YOUR hands!!

Thought: I don’t need to understand what God’s doing, I just need to get humble under HIS hand and stay there to see it through.  I choose to be abandoned to the ONE who loved me out of my pit and my despair! 

God Bless!