Mmmmm!

From the journal:

Speaking of hungry, today we sat quietly during the beginning of sacrament meeting. The kids were quiet and well behaved. The Priesthood boys got up and as they said the prayer, Zane perked right up. When the bread was uncovered, Zane started bouncing up and down in my lap. “Mmmmmmm!!!” he happily growled in my lap. With eager abandoned he loudly smacked his lips four or five times. “MmmmmMMMMM! Mmm! Mmm! *Smack!* *Smack!*” This boy was ready for snacktime! A big eager smile cracked his face as he bounced on the pew. “MMMMMMM!!! YUMMMMMMM!!! *SMACK!* *SMACK!* *SMACK!*” Giggling madly, I finally shoved a piece of bread in his mouth. He moaned happily “Mmmmm!” Yum! Sacrament!

Watching Dad

Little Zany waits at the door, watching Daddy mow the lawn. Every time Dad drives past, he gives Zane a big smile and a wave.

Zane Meets the Baby Chicks!

We bought baby chicks again this year, and they are hands down the greatest child-entertainment known to mankind.  We have the chicks safely esconced in a box on top of a table, but we've set up chairs so the older kids can look in and giggle and coo at their antics.  Zane can only peek in through a little hold in the side of hte box, though, so Mommy got out a chick he could touch himself.

Cozy cabin in the Smokeys

For our Great SMokey Mountains Vacation, we decided to rent a "cozy camping cabin" perched on the edge of a hill overlooking pigeon forge.  It came with double bed, bunk beds, a mini-fridge, and a microwave.  This was jus tabout perfect for our "camping" aspirations.  Jed was utterly captivated by the "little treehouse" in the trees.  Even though we were right there along the highway in town, you couldn't see anything but leafy trees and mountains peeking in the distance.  Any sort of practically-in-the-city camping where you cna still run around naked on the deck is pretty much fantastic to me.

The morning view was epseiclalyl fantastic.  Look at those happy rumpled faces.

Here are the kids ready to move in. Going on vacation while everyone else is still in school is AWESOME.  We were at this huge RV/Cabin park and there were several hundred empty camping spots and cabins surrounding us in every direction.  We didn't see anyone at all in the bathroom until the last day, and when I walked in we both jumped and screeched a little bit -- under the illusion that we were the only people in town!  Everything was quiet, empty, and the weather couldn't have been more cool and lovely.

A cool, beautiful mountain morning complete with hot pancakes, hot cocoa, card games, and a darling competitors. One thing I am especially proud of: I prepared all our meals in advance.  It worked out perfectly, I had all our meals ready to be either tossed on the griddle, cooked over the fire, or dumped in the crockpot.  Pancakes, homemade granola, sweet potato quesadillas, lentil sausage soup, hobo dinners, chocolate volcano cake... We ate like kings and I figure we saved several hundred dollars that way.

She's a card shark, as is family tradition.

Live bluegrass musicians wandering around downtown Gatlinburg.  The darling little girl in front got up to dance, making all who watched swoon with her cuteness.  Well, all who watched except my children, who scowled, deeply disapproving of all such "cute" antics.

My darling husband, toting all three kids in an incredibly masculine manner.

The RV park we stayed in had both a perfectly-sized pool and a playground, which the kids enjoyed thoroughly.  In this photo, I imagine you can guess who just got booted off the teeter-totter.  But baby bro's havin' a blast!

One thing to be most grateful for: Zane slept like a little angel.  Or maybe a dead dog.  Either way, an unconscious toddler is a beautiful thing.

Jed's helicopter

Jed built this amazing helicopter from leftover boxes and notebook paper. He is our budding engineer!

Sunday morning (with doggie and bows)

Sunday morning

Falcony

Jed+Bertha=Love

"I'm going to teach her to be a falcony!"

Big boy in an little car

Man of Means

Lately, Jed's been interested in making money. So I've given him some extra chores he can do to earn a few quarters here and there. The great thing about having a boy is that he is absolutely thrilled to buy a little hotwheels car, which only takes five quarters. So after just a couple of chores, he has enough to go to the store! Usually Dad takes him, but this week I got a turn.
It turns out Walmart stocks about seven thousand hot wheels at any given time. And naturally, since Jed is his father's clone, he wanted something specific: a rally car. So mom dug through seven thousand cars and I am proud to say I am an informed enough Stanfill Wife that I knew what make/models we were looking for. I found six acceptable options, and he happily hemmmed and hawwwwed for about twenty minutes before making his choice.
Here he is going through the line -- putting his car on the conveyor belt, handing his money to the checker, getting his receipt and change... it was all so exciting.

And look at that cute little Mini Rally car!

Still a fashion plate

Not much has changed over the last few years...

Picturing

Jed drew me this photo of Jesus today, which seems at once entirely accurate and yet somehow wrong.

Zane Running

We were out on a family Easter walk..... Zane just kept on truckin!

Zane at the park

Easter

Zoe is wearing a beautiful embroidered bunny dress my mommy made for me when I was a little girl.