chocolate air freshener

Our house smells like chocolate. Not because I am baking.
Last week there was another incident. I had put Natalie down for a nap and Lauren was in her room for rest time. I worked that night and needed a little nap also. All was well, until I heard little voices. I laid there for awhile, saying to myself, I need to get up and see what they are doing, but it took a few minutes, b/c I knew it would be bad. Lauren had gotten Natalie out of her room and I think woke her up. I came out to find a large pile of hot cocoa spilled on the carpet. In the piles were little holes, where I assume the licking was taking place. Of course, she had gotten the economy size cocoa from Sam's Club down from the cabinet, thinking it would be a good snack?? Where/How do they think of these things? Not only was the cocoa spilled, but there was ground in areas where they had licked it down to the carpet and the wetness from their tongues got it nice and ground in to the fibers. So I vacuumed up lots of cocoa and scrubbed the carpet.

Now every time I vacuum I get the nice aroma of chocolate, which would be nice, except it brings back the memories.

computers!!!

Yes, I know the next pictures are upside down and sideways. I have them straight on my computer and they come out crazy here. I'll have to wait for Dan to fix it.

mommy- the photographer

Well, I have been meaning to get a picture of the kids together for a Christmas card photo. And the timing was perfect. A friend of Dan's at work let us borrow his nice Nikon SLR and Saturday was the most beautiful day--in the 50's in December!! So I got the kids all washed and pretty--which they loved-ha! and headed down the road to a friend's acreage that has a barn. I have been eyeing this place for months, thinking it could be a perfect photo spot. It was perfect in everyway, except the kids don't like getting their pictures taken, especially for mom. Dan helped- we pleaded, bribed and threatened. I kept saying- let's try one more, ok one more...I did NOT get the photo I was hoping for. Out of the four, there was always someone smiling weird or looking away or mad or sad or just being goofy or naughty. I think even Dan was ready to throw the camera. We were however able to get some single shots--enjoy.

my little monkeys

The day after Thanksgiving, Dan was gone all day helping a friend move and then went to the NU/CU football game. I wanted to get out of the house, so we did something spontaneous and decided to go to the zoo. The zoo in November??? Well, it was cold, but the Henry Doorly Zoo has so many indoor exhibits, so it was not a problem. We were there for four hours!! I was exhausted the kids had a blast and the day flew by. At the end of the tour, the kids wanted to go to the gift shop. The two oldest have had some allowance money burning a hole in their pockets:) So Kaylee and David bought their favorite zoo animal and then David let Natalie and Lauren pick out a stuffed animal also. How sweet of him. He said it made him feel good--me too.