Favors

Last week, I went out for a girls night out. It was to a class taught by a friend on how to make hairbows. Here's Amelia with the final result. Yes, it's a bit large, but it does match the skirt.

While I was out, Gary fixed the Roomba, did a mountain of dishes AND cleaned a half gallon of spilled milk out of the carpet. WHAT A MAN!!!!

(for those of you at the class, this is why I was anxious to crank out the bows- I had to show SOMETHING for my time out- I knew what I had left behind)

So, the next day I thought I would return the favor. I would take care of a project while he was at work for a surprise. We were expecting visitors in town for Jimmy's baptism and needed to move the loveseat from the basement to the living room to provide enough seating for our guests. I took a photo to document the sad results of my effort:

About half way up the flight of stairs, the edge of the loveseat got caught on the wall and you can plainly see that it got stuck tight. Yeah- Gary ended up finishing that project too. I love that man!

Photo Catch Up

Since Gary is home, he showed me how to get the photos off of my phone, so here's a catch up from the winter months:

Here's Jonny in his Ka Potty head band and black belt! He is really great at the potty now. This picture was taken after he had exhausted himself with his cool moves.

Ah- the key lime pie that was supposed to go to the teacher appreciation lunch. Thanks, Simon for spilling it on the floor. It was delicious! (What we could salvage, that is.)

Jimmy and his friends played this candy bar game at his party. It's the one where you have to wear the coat and socks and eat a candy bar with a knife and fork. They loved the game and spent 35 minutes at it!

Here's that birthday cake that I told you about in an earlier post! Sigh.

Jimmy turned 8 and here's the photo proof! I sure love this little guy!

I always hear about worthwhile causes after the event (march for life being one) and think "I would have gone to that, if only I had known." Well, this time I knew! It was the Tea Party in Washington DC, to protest out of control stimulus spending. Here's Amelia holding my sign (don't tread on me) and Simon who had been playing with the snake prop we brought.

Here's Gary, Jonny and Simon at the protest too! Don't they look cute. Amelia is hiding behing the sign in the stroller.

If you look carefully, you will see tiny icicles of bubble stuff on the tiger's chin. I guess it really was too cold to blow bubbles outside that day.

Hmm. I guess I'll have to figure out how to flip this one later. This is our traditional ugly cake party to celebrate Uncle Arthur's birthday, he would have been 37.

Here's one of my favorite memories: the day the kids set up a store in the parking lot and sold rocks to the neighbors. I think I made up a thousand different posts about this one, but I don't remember what actually got published. They had a great time going in to business for themselves and the neighbors got a good laugh. Our next door neighbor Priscilla was still laughing a week later. (Jonny knocked on her door and gave her one for free.)

Look at me! I can still wear my Halloween costume from when I was 2!

A Walk Around the Block

Today we went for a walk around the block. Amelia wanted me to stop and photograph each flower we passed. I was a little annoyed at the request because I thought she meant I was supposed to photograph each one individually (okay, I think that was just the last straw as 3 fights had broken out between the front door and the sidewalk and I just didn't want anymore whining or requests.) It turned out she meant that I should photograph one of each variety. It also turned out to be a very pleasant stroll and the company of my children could not be beat. I really enjoyed their excitement at each new bloom . So here's a photo documentary of our journey. Please excuse my poor photography skills in advance

Sweet Hearts

Here's a photo from Amelia's girl scout daddy daughter dance. It melted my heart!

Big Kid Update

I scrolled down the last few posts and realized I've really given the bigger kids the shaft. They just don't say as many outragous/silly/strange things anymore. But they are still great and I should mention their many accomplishments.

Jimmy just finished a 6 week hockey club, an afterschool activity put on by a few of the teachers. Jimmy's team put forth a great effort and had a lot of fun. Jimmy also recently joined the cub scouts and earned his bobcat and has done a few elective activities (including 3 we were able to work into his birthday party.) He told me he wants to be a scout leader when he grows up "so he can do fun stuff with his scouts, like take nature walks." He will be getting baptized on Saturday.



Amelia has made a wonderful transition to school and got the "exceptional explorer" award (citizenship) for her class for the month of February. This isn't an award that the kids take turns getting. Some kids get it twice, some kids don't get it at all. So I was thrilled when she brought home the certificate. She also enjoys being a daisy scout and has earned about half of her daisy petals and a lot of fun patches including one for a Daddy/Daughter dance (now that was adorable!)



Here are a few things Jimmy and Amelia have done together. One sunny day last month, they set up a "nature store" in the parking lot and sold rocks and sticks to the neighbors. They only got $2 so they decided to go door to door and earned $5 more. When it was done, Jimmy complained that one guy ripped him off "he only gave me $2 for an $80 rock!" I could not afford any rocks from their store, but my balcony is covered with their surplus rocks. They can't be put back on the driveway until the price tags are removed.

To help Amelia get out of bed in the morning, I bought these really loud alarm clocks for the kids rooms. Amelia was excited because they looked cartoony (the kind with the bells on top.) She loved how WIDE awake they made her feel when she woke up. The excitement wore off after a few days and one of the clocks broke. So Jimmy and Amelia now have a wake up contest in the morning. The alarm clock that works gets left in the hall between their rooms. When it goes off, it is a race and who ever gets there first can put it in the other kids room. I love to hear those feet pounding out of bed when it goes off. The reactions are hilarious.

Oh yeah- and guess who's a big kid now- Jonny earned his black belt at Ka Potty! But this post is supposed to make up for all of the Jonny posts as of late, so pretend I didn't say that.

family relationships

Here's a question Jonathan (age 3) asked me:
When I grow up, can I be a brother?
I explained that he is already a brother for Jimmy, Amelia and Simon and isn't that great that he can be a brother now, with no waiting!
A few days later, he followed up with:
When I grow up, can I be a brother and share the bed with you and Dad?
(Sorry pal- not gonna happen!)
Deeper into the conversation, I started to understand: he wants to be MY brother when he grows up. How sweet!

Readers

I think it's funny when words from books slips into everyday speech. I have been hearing a lot of "erm" (Jimmy) and "phew"(Amelia) lately. They are so carefully pronounced, it makes me grin.

okay- must vent! Gary's on jury duty, so I can't call and whine.

Jonny just licked the frosting off of Jimmy's birthday cake- before the party.

Terror in the Bathtub

Saturday night, Jimmy (age 7) and Jonathan (age 3) were taking a bath together downstairs while Gary and I cleaned up dinner. Suddenly, we heard shouting "Help! HELP! Somebody stop Simon! HELP!" Gary ran downstairs as fast as he could and a few minutes later emerged with a tale. When he arrived, Simon was waving Jonny's underpants in the air, mid throw. He caught them just before they landed in the tub. Jonny was near hysteria when Jimmy announced "he already threw mine in." I thought that perhaps Jonny's hysteria was unusual. He's a pretty mellow guy. Then I had a flash back to Valentine's Day and I understood.

Valentine's Day Flashback
Gary and I gave the kids dinner early that night and were planning to have a dinner date of our own once they were in bed. I was "helping" Jonny and Simon in the tub. I put that in quotation marks because what I was really doing was applying make up and watching them in the mirror. Suddenly, Jonny announces in a very weepy voice "Something howibble is happening in the tub" I turned around and saw him cowering in the corner of the tub. Simon was slowly walking across the tub in the manner of a monster in a bad horror movie. Now for the "howibble" part: in each hand he was wielding a fistful of poop. Definately enough to strike terror in the heart of our recently potty trained Jonathan.

So when Jonny saw Simon flinging underpants into the tub, he couldn't be sure what would come next.