Total Blackmail

Today I decided it was time to sort out my pictures for 2009 and get them printed.I found this little gem that I am sure will come in handy in the future!
(In case you didn't know, that's Amelia in 3 pairs of pajamas and card board glasses that she made and decorated herself.)

The Short Sale Shimmy (Part 3)

< The Short Sale Shimmy (Part 2)

Good news! Both banks have verbally approved our purchase of the home. I'm not going to rejoice too much until we see something on paper, but unless someone's flaming trousers are suspended from a telecommunications cable, we are going to own this house. Huzzah!

Christmas Greetings!

I remembered how well things went when I tried to take a nice picture of the kids for a Christmas card, so this year, I thought I'd get each one individually.

Merry Christmas, from the kiddodiddos to each one of you! We love and miss you!

Simon wanted to sing "go, go Joseph" because he made up his own words. Also because he was Joseph for the Joy School Christmas program and got confused on which biblical Joseph he was. He actually got the other Joy Schoolers to sing "Joseph, Joseph is it really you?" over and over during rehearsals. Maybe next year he'll get it sorted out.

What you see here is take 18 and that's as close as it got. When we were done, she shook her head and said "I tried my best." I think she improved it.

The videos turned out cute, so I thought I'd try all the kids together. Here's what happened, the kids insisted I put this one on too :

Yep. That's Simon punching Jonny in the face because he started saying "cheese" before he was ready.

Long live the king!

Last week, we had an ultrasound to check on the health of our new baby. The baby is healthy, growing well and scheduled to be born in mid May. I am grateful for the news.
We did also happen to find out the gender of the baby and here's what our kids had guessed:
Simon: girl
Jonny: boy
Amelia: boy (but I really want it to be a girl)
James: boy
Jonny and Simon were at a friend's house during the ultrasound, so they didn't find out right away. When Gary and I picked them up, we talked about the baby for a little. Jonny said "if it's a boy, I will play with it and if it's a girl, I will take care of it" (actually he may have said that earlier in the day.) So when we told him the news, he was prepared to be happy either way.
In order to tell the big kids, Jonny and I made and frosted cupcakes for a special snack, with the frosting color being the clue as to which gender the baby is. He had fun with that, especially licking the knife when we were done.
The kids were a little late coming home from school, because the stopped to play on the way home from the stop. They were trying to chip off an icy patch on the side walk, but they only had pencils for tools. It took a while. When they came in, they took the cupcakes, but were more interested in telling me their adventures with the ice patch than anything else.
I told them, that their cupcakes were a clue to something Daddy and I learned today, and Amelia said "that's nice" and kept eatting. James got huge eyes, looked at his pink cupcake and announced "it's a girl." He was right and he kept munching. Amelia started screaming and jumping up and down excitedly. When she was done, Jonny said "I have more exciting news: we bought King Vitamin (breakfast cereal) at the store!" That cleared the table. Suddenly, all the boys were jumping up and down and screaming for love of the King and his crunchy goodness. Amelia was equally excited.

Here she is!

I liked this shot best because you could see the whole profile, including lips. And check out that arm... I think she'll give Popeye a run for his money!

The Future

Yesterday, I asked the kids to tell me 5 things they would like to do in the future. They didn't come up with 5, but here's what they said.
Here is what they said
James: don't know
Amelia: invent a time machine, learn a foreign language, invent a new kind of food
Jonny: be a turtle with weapons... and a blue mask
James: yeah- I'm with Amelia building a time machine. That would be cool.

Kid Speech

There are a few sounds Jonny hasn't figured out yet. /r/ mainly, but /ch/ and /sh/ also give him some trouble. Normally I think it's pretty cute, unless he's asking for Chex cereal at the store (you can use your imagination.) Today I had to grin when he asked me what a "wino" is. I had to stop myself before answering "It's looks like a hippo with a tusk on it's nose."

One I Haven't Heard Before

When you are big and fat like a termite mound, then the baby will be born!
- Jonny, age4

I am Thankful for Sharing

I thought my 300th post would be profound or thoughtful, but I guess that's not really the KiddoDiddo Way. Because Gary is blogging from the library and I am at home, it turns out that my 300th post is this:

I am thankful for children who are learning to share. After breakfast last week, I found Simon's pal Chicky's beak stuffed with Wheat Chex and raisins and I was glad that he was caring for his little friend.

PS The kids did get over the Swine Flu. Glad that's done!

Google StreetView at Hersheypark

The Google StreetView trike has photographed one of our favorite places: Hersheypark! Check it out!