Guns and...Tigers??

There is just no way to avoid that Sam is all things rough and tough at a young age! He is so sweet and mild in so many ways, but with two big brothers and three boy neighbors to play with everyday, all he knows is guns, swords, and light sabres. He loves to run in a room with a gun in hand ready for attack and....he growls like a tiger. I'm not sure why he thinks growling goes with shooting, but it sure is cute!

Sleepy Heads

I think Marcus planned to teach them about the game of football. It really is boring, huh? Don't you love those matching pj's Luke has on? Notice the blue bears that Ben has....they have been around a while. There started off being just one, but eventually we realized we needed a back up in case he lost one. So now he likes both of them. One is called "Dirty Blue Bear" and the other is "Clean Blue Bear". Neither is ever really clean, but to him it has to do with eye color. One's eyes are stitched grey, and one brown. Only he knows the difference! He just might be taking the Blue Bears with him to college, but that is just fine with me!

Big Sister

This is only a glimpse of what is so special about having a big sister! This was taken on the way into an MSU football game this fall. Sarah Caroline is so great with her brothers, but especially Sam!

Happy 10th Anniversary to Us!


Labor Day weekend Marcus and I spent a fabulous weekend in Boston celebrating ten years of marriage. We had such a wonderful time together, and of course it was a treat to get away from our normal routine (which includes four busy children)! Boston is a great city to visit! We loved the restaurants, the history, the shopping, and the weather! It was a nice break from the heat in Mississippi, although I am not sure we would enjoy it in the winter time! We did most of the tourist attractions - a trolley tour of the city, the Freedom Trail, Fenway Park, walking through Beacon Hill, and shopping ("window" shopping, that is) on Newbury St. We took a tour of Harvard one day, and my grandmother got suspicious that Marcus wanted to go back to school. My mother had to explain to her that we just went there as tourists! We also spent a day touring Cape Cod/Hyannisport, and saw the Kennedy Compound from water. All of the food was fabulous! For future reference, our favorite restuarants were Mama Maria's, Stephanie's on Newbury, Boushee, and the Parish Cafe'. And thanks to our neighbors' suggestion we didn't miss the cannoli from Mike's Pastry in the North End (Little Italy). You just should not go to Boston and miss the cannoli!! One night we walked into Little Italy not realizing that it was the Feast of St. Anthony. And wow, it was quite a feast and festivity! There were Italian people everywhere, with beautiful heavy accents and lots of food and parades. It was like nothing I have ever seen, but it was so much fun walking into it not knowing what to expect. We loved this trip to Boston and would love to one day go back! We are so thankful to God blessing us with ten wonderful years together!

Excuses, Excuses

Procrastination is my specialty, I think! Yes, it has been a long time since anything has been posted. It all started in late August, when we unhooked our computer to have a desk and bookcases/cabinets built in. It was supposed to take only "two weeks" (every contractors famous last words). Marcus and I thought we surely could survive a two week interruption from technology. After four weeks, we thought it would only be another day or two, etc. The next thing you know it was early November! We finally got it all back in place, then we had some connection issues. Then I got really busy planning a trip to Disney, which I will be sure to post many pictures of later! Then it was Thanksgiving and Christmas, and here we are! I am sure I have missed recording some exciting times in the Ueltschey home, but I will do my best to catch us up.

Sunday Stitches

This Sunday we added a little excitement to church - Luke busted his head open on a pew! Well, thankfully church was over and many people had already gone home. We were gathering everyone together, and as usual, he was running around and chasing some other kids. Thankfully my parents were home and live close to church, so we dropped the other kids off at their house and went to Marcus' office for stitches (thirteen to be exact). He did really well sitting still, and Marcus did a great job, too!! We were back at my parents by 1:00 and Luke was bouncing off the walls (well, literally, jumping on chairs) in minutes.

Thankfully, this incidence was less traumatic than the first set of stitches for the Ueltschey boys. The first round, over a year ago, we had a babysitter while we were going out for dinner. Before we got two blocks from home, we received a call from our frantic sounding sitter (who is usually very calm!). She said Ben had fallen and hurt himself, and indeed he had! When we pulled up Ben was standing in the door screaming, with blood everywhere and his ear halfway off. The other kids and sweet sitter were standing there as pale as a ghost and eyes wide open! I yelled to Marcus that he better leave the car running, that we needed to go to the ER fast! He calmly proceeded to remind me that he does do stitches on a regular basis as part of his career, and that it would be quicker, easier and cheaper to go to his office. I reluctantly agreed, not becuase I questioned his skills, but could he work on his own son? Well, Ben's ear now looks wonderful and you can hardly tell his ear was ever cut in half! Needless to say, this time I gladly went to the clinic rather than the hospital!

New School Year, New Haircut


Sarah Caroline was a little hesitant to start school this year, but how can you have a bad day when you have a teacher calling you "honey" and "sweetie-pie"? We are really looking forward to a great year with sweet Mrs. Allen. I think that having a new hairstyle helped her get excited about seeing her friends from school! Such a girl thing! She has adjusted just fine, and has actually made it to school early every day, with no tardies on her record - yet!

Pickwick with the Nichols

We had so much fun on our last trip before school started!! We met our wonderful friends, The Nichols, at Pickwick Lake. We first met Jim and Shelley about 9 years ago, when their son Jonathan was a baby. We had just moved to Greenville, SC for residency, and met them in Sunday School. After all these years they still want to be our friends, and we are so thankful they drove 8 hours to spend a vacation with us!! They also have precious twin boys (Jim wouldn't appreciate me calling them "precious") Will and Jacob. We all had such a good time, and our kids loved hanging out with them.
Jonathan and Will? or Jacob?
Not the best picture, but the only time we could get all of them, (excluding Sam) to be still long enough for a picture together.

"I'm Driving!!"

A huge accomplishment - Sarah Caroline knee-boarding. Marcus and I traumatized Sarah Caroline last summer by trying to "make" her learn to ski. We ended that day with her threatening to go live with Sally Grace and let Mr. Kurt and Miss Jane Clair be her daddy and momma. Needless to say, we will never force that issue again, but this trip she did get brave enough to try a new watersport!

This is a shot of the highlight of our trip - a "show" put on by the kids!! They danced and did the train, and showed several breakdance moves to "We are Family" and other fun songs!
I attempted to put a video on here, but I think it was too long. Maybe later I'll figure it out. It was pretty entertaining!
I just realized I didn't have any pictures of the grownups! This is a picture from January of Shelley and me together in Chattanooga. Our husbands got together and surprised us with a trip to see each other - aren't they great husbands?!!

Birmingham Blast!




In July we had a special treat to spend the weekend in Birmingham. We stayed at a beautiful resort, Ross Bridge, and enjoyed every minute. Well, except for the minutes that Luke was coughing during the night. They have a great pool with a fun water slide, and that alone kept us entertained for hours. On Saturday we visited the zoo, which as you can see we met some birds up close and personal. The kids thought we had really gone on a big trip, although we weren't far from home. A great treat for mid-summer fun!

Really Behind

I do realize I am so behind with my blogging. Not that anyone is just tapping their fingers waiting on an update, but here I go with six weeks worth of action in the Ueltschey Family!!