Big-Year-Old, and Beyond

David and I were in the car, talking about his play date tomorrow at Chase's house.

Me: Chase has a brother named Charlie too!
D: Yeah, I know. Except Chase's Charlie is a baby and my Charlie is a big kid.
Me: Yeah.
D: But when Chase's Charlie is a big-year-old, then he can be friends with my Charlie.
Me: Well, by that time your Charlie will be a teenager.
D: Yep, he sure will. ... Mommy, how old is a teenager?
Me: Any age that ends in -teen: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Like that.
D: Is 18 a teenager?
Me: Yep.
D: I want to be 18 when I'm a teenager.
Me: Yeah, 18 is a fun age. That's when you get to go to college.
D: I want to go to college. And then I'm gonna gradulate.
Me: I know you will graduate from college, because you're a smart guy.
D: And then after I gradulate, then I'm gonna go to State.
Me: To where?
D: State.
Me: What does that mean?
D: I don't know.

My Teacher Is a Jedi Warrior

I was going through Charlie's school papers (4th grade) and found a math worksheet that he got a very bad grade on. He's never struggled with math, so I looked carefully at it to figure out what they're doing in math that he didn't understand. It was just notebook paper with his responses on it, and he had left all of Section 2 blank.

Me: Charlie! What happened on this math?
C: Um, I don't know.
Me: Did you not understand how to do Section 2?
C: No, I did.
Me: Then did you run out of time?
C: No.
Me: Then what happened? You left the whole thing blank.
C (very earnestly): The instructions said, "Solve mentally."

You Call That An Adventure?

Dinnertime conversation:

Sarah: Guess what! Daddy signed me and Charlie up for camp again this year! I can't wait!

Me: Terrific! I know you'll have fun.

Allison: Am I old enough to go to camp this year?

Me: No, but you're going to have a special vacation too. Gran Gran invited you to come visit her when church camp is going on. Won't that be great?

Allison: Yeah! And last year when I visited her guess what: we saw "Kit Kittridge"! And we got to go on these rides that went up in the air!

David: Am I going to visit Gran Gran too?

Me: No, but want to know what you're doing for your special vacation? Daddy is taking you to visit cousin Rowan and baby Sam! And you're going to go on an airplane to visit them!

D: Cool!

Me: Yeah, you're going to have a great trip with Daddy.

D: (Pause) But how will I get out of the airplane up in the sky? Will I have a parachute?!

Me: No, honey, you're not going sky-diving. The pilot will land the plane and everyone will get off on the ground.

D: Oh.

Almost Famous

Allison, at the dinner table: Is Uncle famous?
Me: Yeah, I guess he is.
A: So are WE famous?
Me: No, we're not famous.
A: But Uncle can give us piggy-back rides, right?
Me: Yes, he can.
A: Is Uncle older than you or younger?
Me: Older. He's my big brother.
A: Then he can give YOU a piggy-back ride too.

The Adoration of Taylor Swift

Allison, a few months ago: Daddy, is Taylor Swift a teenager?
Bryant: Yes.
A: Then can you call her to baby-sit us sometime?


Tonight when I came home she was sitting in a chair by the iPod speakers listening to Taylor Swift songs and singing every word to most of them.
A: I love Taylor Swift!
Me: I know you do.
A: I mean, I love her more than anybody else in the world!
Me: I'm not so sure about that. What about her mom?
A: Well, OK, maybe not more than her mom. But probably a little bit more than her dad... No, maybe not more than anyone in her family ... No, I think I do love her even more than her family. Even more than her mom and dad.
Me: Wow. That's a lot.

5 minutes later...
A: Do you think if I was a country music singer that I'd know Taylor Swift AND Miley Cyrus?
Me: Yeah, I guess you would.
A: Wow, that's cool.

1 minute later ...
A: But do you think by the time I'm a singer they'd be grown-ups already?
Me: No. ... Well, maybe. ... Actually they're both pretty young. ... But yeah, by the time you're a singer I guess they'd be grown-ups.
A: Yeah, that's what I thought.

5 minutes later, during "Love Story"...
A: Do you think this song has music in it?
Me: Music? Yeah. Can't you hear it?
A: Well in the video they don't show any music, I just see her.
Me: No, there's music playing.

5 minutes later ...
A: I love Taylor Swift. I want to marry her.
Sarah walked into the room: You can't marry her. You're a girl.
A: So? Cole has two mommies!
S: Cole has two mommies?
A: Yes. Cole has two mommies and no dad, so I could marry Taylor Swift.
S: Well then she's too old for you. She'd be the grandma while you'd be the mom.
A: She's not that much older.
Me: Allison, you can't marry Taylor Swift.
A: Oh, all right.

The six of us are going to the Taylor Swift/Keith Urban concert in June. So I think my little girl is going to be the one holding a "Marry me, Taylor Swift!" sign.

Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt

Some friends of ours from church hosted their second annual Easter brunch after 9:00 Mass. We had a great time.

The children gather for an Easter photo while the dads hide the eggs in the playing fields across the street:

Sweet girls: Sarah, Elise, Kate, Samantha, Autumn, Sydney, Bailey, and Ellie

The children wait in the yard for the egg hunt to begin

My friend Ellie gets her basket ready:

On your mark, get set, go!

Run, Forest, run!The kids full of sugar (Allison on far right):

Allison goes straight for the good stuff:

Sarah finds bubbles in one of her eggs:

Sarah and Mommy after we've both had a little chocolate:

Easter Morning

Here are some shots of Easter morning at the Mackey house:

Waking up with high hopes that the bunny came. We have a long-standing tradition on Christmas and Easter that we all go downstairs together, so here they are eagerly waiting to head down:David finds his Easter basket under the comforter in the guest room. Silly rabbit!

Sarah: hanging with my Peeps

Allison: I'm not sure what it is, but if it's sugar and marshmallow I'm all over it!

Cleaned and dressed for church

4 sweet children Easter morning

Allison Grace, in her beautiful dress made by Gran Gran

Sarah Mack - in HER beautiful dress made by Gran Gran

This is the way David eats his chocolate bunny: it's a multi-sensory experience.

This is the way Charlie eats his chocolate bunny: chew absently while reading a book.

Georgia On My Mind, But Not In My Ears

Daddy put the kids to bed, then I went up to kiss them.

David: I didn't really like the song Daddy sang me. Will you sing another one?
Me: Sure I will. What do you want to hear?
David: Ummm... do you know any songs about Georgia State?
Me: About what?
David: Georgia State.
Me: Georgia, the state?
David: Yeah.
Me: Uhhhh [blanking, but then suddenly thinking of "Georgia On My Mind"] - yes! I do know a song about Georgia.
David: Well that's not what I want to hear.
Me: You don't?
David: No.
Me: Do you want me to sing you a little of it, just so you can learn it?
David: No thanks.
Me: Well what do you want to hear?
David: It's a Small, Tired World.

Getting Ready for an Egg-cellent Easter

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Cousin Derek Visits from Dublin

We were so excited to have a visit from Cousin Derek, who was in Atlanta for a few days. We had a lovely dinner and a bit of a sing-song from Allison, who, for the record, is not shy. In fact, she did a song (Taylor Swift's "Love Story"), a poetry recitation (Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat"), and an interpretive dance (original) until she was ordered to stop by her daddy. If she makes it on "American Idol" or "Dancing with the Stars," her daddy is going to be sorry he squelched her budding talent.

Nonetheless, despite the homespun entertainment, we all enjoyed ourselves and got caught up on news from across the pond. We tried to talk him into getting the Irish cousins all on Facebook, but we don't think we convinced him. We did get ourselves geared up to see the rest of the family at the next Irish reunion, whenever that will be.

Derek begs for mercy: "No mas!"

Spring Break - The Aftermath

We left the lake on a cold rainy day -- in fact, it was hailing as we actually left the house. The clean up process was painless.

Some children actually argued over who "got" to vacuum (it was a cute little thing) ...
... while the "older and wiser" set played a game of War that went on for about an hour and a half and eventually ended in a draw.
During the course of our spring break we experienced all four seasons, with snow, wind, hail, rain, and beautiful, balmy sunshine!

Spring Break Hiking - Tallulah Gorge

OK so these pictures got out of order but here we are hiking Tallulah Gorge in North Georgia. Despite the order shown here, we started at the top of the gorge, hiked down, crossed a scary suspension bridge, and got to some gorgeous falls at the bottom. Then we had to climb back up. Charlie counted over 1,000 stairs (up and down). Pretty good for little legs and for out-of-shape mommy legs too! Thank goodness for the Reese's pieces or we may not have made it!

Heather, Bryant and Tracey -- self-portrait at the bottom of the gorge