Taking Pics

Since we got back from Asheville this past weekend, the camera has been lying around, just asking to be used.  So, I have managed to pick it up and use it a few times!  Here are the magic moments I have captured:

Jacob and friends did another pottery class and so, we went with the younger ones to the park to wait on them to finish their creations.  Here are James, Thomas, Karis and Jonathan livin' it up:

The token "Karis and James" picture.  Karis is like the sister James has always wanted!

Meanwhile, back at the pottery studio...

This was a funny little afternoon...James and I were in my room when he heard Jacob and his friend playing in the boys' room over the monitor.  James was enthralled with that thing for the next 30 minutes, just carrying it with him, yelling at it, and listening to all the chatter!

I kind of LOVE the way pudgy little baby hands hold things!

 Ughhhhh, it's been a long year, and finally seeing a happy baby after many months of fussiness and frowny faces, I just can't explain how happy it makes me! 

Look! He has an elbow dimple!

It all started out so innocently...

And then James tried to pull Thomas' thumb out of his mouth...

And then tried to rip off Thomas' ear...

And then Thomas tries to give James a hug...after all that abuse he took! And this is how James reacts! The nerve of that Tommy!

A family picture from our weekend in Asheville celebrating Papa's 80th birthday:

Grandma and Papa with the wee little ones

My grandparents with Mom and her offspring

The waiter, James (not the baby), taught Jacob how to fold several different things with his napkin...and Jacob may have crawled under the table (which was set up in a square) to stand in the middle and showcase his talent.  He may have finally taken an empty bread dish and passed it around asking for tips...

Tom, the sneaky little snake.  And bread lover.  

The cream of the crop:

On our way home we decided to detour off (it was only 15 minutes out of the way) to Cherokee, NC.  Jacob has been quite into Indians and we've been reading a lot about them over the past month or two, so stopping by the Museum of the Cherokee Indian was a fun bonus!

The boys and giant Sequoyah

Video Dump

Two little Indians

Lovely Little Friday and Saturday

Yesterday was a beautiful day ( as was every day last week, with low temperatures and low humidity) to head to the Etowah Indian Mounds! We have been learning about Georgia history this month, and native Americans are a big part of this state's early history...hence the trip! Our kids and the Longs are an outdoorsy bunch, with big imaginations, so I think running up and down the mounds, exploring the museum and then attempting to recreate their own miniature versions of the mounds out by the river was a swell day for them!

James did quite well...he enjoyed crawling around the grass area where we ate lunch and the kids played.  He enjoyed crawling so much, in fact, that when we got home he was passed out in his seat like this and was so limp that he stayed asleep when I moved him to his bed...where he slept for 3 hours! 

Visiting our native ancestors place yesterday lit a fire under me to work on the teepee I had started making for the boys back over the winter!

Jacob was just fiddling around with some leaves out in his teepee and he figured out some "ancient sewing" technique, as he said.

Meanwhile, indoors, Jeff was being Mr. Handy man and checking things off on my list:) I made this clothespin light several weeks ago and he got it all hung up nice and purty today! 

For the past few weeks I have also been redoing some of the kitchen. I painted a couple weeks ago, recovered our cornice boxes, and we kind of designed a billy bookcase ( Billy from ikea, of course) wall thing with white board in the middle.  Its only been up for the past week, but so far I LOVE it!! Having all of our books and the BIG board right there together with the kitchen table next to it is so nice!

More pictures from Jenny's camera at the Indian Mounds: