PE

David is now in 5th grade. He likes school, but mostly for the social aspect of it. He doesn't complain much, goes to school, does his work, but I think tolerates it due to the fact that all his friends are there with him. He is a good student and gets good grades, but frankly doesn't put a lot of effort into it and school comes pretty easy for him. For the longest time, he has said that PE is one of his favorite parts of the day, b/c they get to play basketball, football and other games. Well, I guess 5th grade is the time to get serious about physical education--no more fun and games. One day he came home from school and said that they ran the ENTIRE hour!! Then today he came home and said that PE is child abuse!!! Cracks me up. I would love to be a fly on that wall.

Halloween 09

The Loot

Luminos!!

My cute little clowns

I'm a bit late, but thought I would show off my little clowns! We had gotten these clown outfits awhile ago from Dan's aunt and I thought "perfect!--Halloween costumes for free!" The girls were excited to dress up as clowns. Although at one point, (after the novelty had worn off and she started to talk to friends and see other possibilities) Kaylee (8) said, "why can't we pick what we want to be?" I said, "oh you will love being a clown and will be so cute!"--and was able to avoid answering the question. I didn't want to have to say, "you will be a clown, b/c it was free and that's that!" Anyway, it turned out well and they had a blast, ending up with WAY too much candy.

David, has been reading the Harry Potter series and watching the movies, so he was Harry Potter. There were costumes out there to buy, but I have such a hard time paying 25 bucks for a thin little robe that he will wear ONCE! So I went to goodwill, found a graduation gown, added a hood and a Hogwarts school emblem to it, threw on some glasses, added a scar on his forehead and it worked perfect! His best friend dressed up as Ron Weasley, and they ran around Malcolm together casting spells and gobbling up candy!

Veterinarian's Day

While taking Kaylee to her piano lessons yesterday, I was asking how her day went and what she did. She said she learned about veterinarian's day. I giggled and said "you mean veterans day?" and then explained the difference. I think she was a little embarrassed, b/c she had messed it up, but I thought it was cute.

Natalie--the master chef

So Natalie is 3 and 1/2 and absolutely loves to help me in the kitchen. Any time I am in there, she is right by my side or on the counter or chair, insisting on helping. I've been thinking for some time that she has to grow up to be a great chef, with as much as she is in the kitchen, helping and learning. Well, one of the things she is learning to master is breaking eggs. She does pretty well, with only a shell or two in the bowl or pan. Well today, I was busy on facebook, I mean, doing laundry and dusting and cleaning toilets :) while Natalie was busy doing this......

Yes, I came in to the kitchen to find 2 dozen eggs in the pan, all ready to be fried up!! I couldn't believe it. We will have our bellies full of eggs tonight! I have to say, I was impressed--barely a shell to be found, with most of the eggs yolks unbroken and really no mess!

Catching a frog!

Got him!


I took Natalie to the library today to check out some books and to go to story time. The theme for the day was frogs. The teacher was talking about frogs and asking the kids questions. She had a little stuffed frog and asked what color are frogs and the kids all yelled "green!" and then she asked where do frogs live. There were different answers like "in the forest", "by the pond", etc. Well, Natalie yells out loud and clear right away with "in the hot tub!" I was cracking up. To the rest of the world this makes no sense at all, but at our house, we go on a daily search for frogs in the hot tub:) You see, we have a hot tub that was given to us, some time ago. It was free and we were soooo excited to have a hot tub. Well, it has been sitting on our patio for, I think almost a year now with some collection of rain water, muck and is the perfect environment for frogs!

Natalie--ready to travel the world

We recently bought a ginormous mail box, so the mailman can leave packages and large things even if we aren't home. From the moment Natalie wakes up in the morning she wants to go check the chicken coop for eggs and check the mailbox for mail. Neither one gets any results until at least mid-morning, so I am always having to say, "not yet" and "it's not time yet", etc. Well, after lots of requests today, we finally went out to get the mail and I had a funny thought--she could fit in this mailbox. So that's what we did. Now I wonder how much it would be to ship her:)

David being a goofball

heaven

Today, we were headed to the library.  Natalie was giving me a really hard time about getting in her car seat and buckling up.  She was crying and fighting me and carrying on.  I was explaining to her that she had to sit in her car seat and be buckled so she would be safe and not get hurt.  She kept crying and saying," I won't get hurt, I don't want to buckle"-- over and over.  I was trying to explain that we could get in a car accident and she could go flying out of the window and die.  (I know, nice mom -huh?) Well, her response was --"but I'll go to heaven".  I couldn't believe it-- a 3 year old--talking about going to heaven.  But I then told her that I didn't want her to go to heaven YET!  

nudist

One of my first ever entries on this blog was about Lauren the nudist--I think she was 3 at the time!  I thought it was just a phase...  well the naked phase has lasted 2 years!  Yes, she still likes being naked--summer, winter, spring, fall--it doesn't matter--to her naked is good.  And if she's not naked, she will be wearing her most comfy jammies or a fuzzy dress up  animal costume.

The other day, David had a friend over for the day.  Lauren was dressed and playing, (she knows she has to wear clothes when people are over) but kept coming up to me and asking "is Jon still here?", "how long will Jon be here?", then later again- "is Jon here?".  This went on all day -on and off -until finally she comes up to me and says in an exasperated tone "when is Jon going home"?  I told her that he would be going home soon.  She was at her wits end and finally said -like she just might die if she had to wait one more second---"I just WANT to be naked!!!"  Wow, that girl really likes being naked.  Hopefully, this will get better soon.  She starts kindergarten in the fall and wearing clothes all the time might just kill her and I don't think there are any nudist kindergarten classes out there.

Here is a picture of Kaylee reading to Lauren--of course- in her birthday suit!

lost tooth

Several months ago, Lauren had a run in with her cousin's head and knocked her mouth and tooth pretty good.  We called the dentist and were told it might turn a little grey, it might feel a bit loose and to call if anything else appeared.  Well, all went fine as told, it turned a bit grey, it felt a bit loose, but no other problems... until now. IT was my weekend to work, I hadn't spent much time with the kids, but happened to be talking to Lauren and noticed that her lip and mouth were swollen like she had a fat lip.  I asked her if she had fallen or hurt herself---no, no she said, but last night my tooth was hurting and I was crying for you.  I tried to touch it and she jumped away.  I immediately  was concerned, but had to head to work and had Dan call the dentist.  After explaining the story and details,  the dentist said it sounded like an abscessed tooth and wanted us to get her on antibiotics right away and to call in the morning.  By the next morning, Lauren's face on the left side was swollen up into her cheek and  both eyes looked swollen and puffy.  She had a HUGE fat lip and looked like a little monkey!  We got her in to the dentist, they inspected it, did x-rays and sure enough--abscessed tooth.  We had to do antibiotics for a week, then the tooth had to come out!   The antibiotics worked, the swelling went down and we headed in to get a tooth pulled.  I was sooooo nervous.  I had heard horror stories about how bad it was for little kids--like hearing them yell way out in the waiting room.   I debated asking about getting some laughing gas for her.   I didn't want her to be so traumatized from the whole ordeal and never want to step foot into a dentist office again.  At this point, my kids like the dentist--mostly b/c of the prizes they always get to pick after their appt, but needless to say, the dentist is just no big deal.   In the end, I didn't get gas for her, but it ended up being just fine.  She did amazing!  Not even one tear or whimper or grimace.  A little numbing rub on stuff, three shots  and a little pulling and it was done!  I couldn't believe it!  I think I would have cried a little.  

So my now 5 year old is missing her first tooth.  She was soooo excited!  She took it to preschool to show off and then put it under her pillow for the tooth fairy.  She had been talking non-stop about what she was going to buy with her dollar from the tooth fairy.  The very next day, we HAD to go to a store!  And since it WAS just a dollar, Dollar General seemed her best best.  But a dollar seems like sooo much when you are five.  We ended up spending about 45 minutes in the store while she changed her mind a million times--there was just sooo much to pick from- it was sooo hard.  In the end, she picked a little chick that you wind up and it hops around.

never a dull moment

Well, I have been a terrible blogger--what with my introduction to facebook and all--it has been hard to keep up with it all.

ugh!!--just typed a bunch, didn't save it, lost it--will type more later--ugh!!

Natalie's idea

I was out on a walk today--the weather has finally warmed up a little. It's almost 40 degrees and feels balmy. I took Natalie with me-- I pulled her in the sled some and made her walk some, since the snow was patchy. Anyway, on one of the areas where she was walking, she picked up some long sticks with many branches and said--"I have an idea--I am a deer" and then put both sticks on top of her head like a big buck. So cute.... I love those little moments.

Well, David turned 10 in December, so as promised he got to go hunting with Daddy! He was soooo excited! He had gotten a BB gun for Christmas, so had been busy, shooting targets, and practicing on aiming at squirrels, birds, rabbits, etc. Finally, the weekend arrived that he got to go. The first day was a bit of a dud, it was bitter cold and windy and they didn't see much, so they got to hang out in the deer blind and do some daddy/ son bonding. The second day, he woke up feeling icky and not much later was in the bathroom throwing up. I went up to comfort him, rub his back and see how he was. After throwing up several times, he started crying and saying "Now I don't get to go hunting!". If he could have stood up and walked far, he would have gone. He was so upset to be missing a day. In the end, he went the next day and they got a deer! They had a great time--which included belly crawling across a field to get close to a big buck, who then snorted at them and then ran off. He will have great memories of his first hunt with Daddy!

Christmas in Kansas--08

After we had our own little Christmas here at home, we headed down to my parents to celebrate with the whole family. There was snow on the ground and perfectly white--beautiful!
My whole family was at my parents house--15 children under the age of 12 and 12 adults. The big people were definitely outnumbered, the place was cramped and loud, but we all had a blast! My parents have 3 bedrooms and a bath upstairs--so Ben and his family (pregnant wife and 2 kids) were in one room, Joy and her family (husband and 4 kids) were in one room, and Jeremy and his family (wife and 5 kids) were in one room. Then Dan and I with the kids were in the office area downstairs. Fortunately, my one brother has an RV that's been parked at my parents house and the older kids and my youngest brothers--Michael and Daniel (in college) got to sleep and hang out in it! It became the hang out--thank goodness--otherwise we all might have lost our minds:) Everyone had a great time. It's been quite awhile since we have all been together under one roof. My dad was beaming the whole time. He loves it. We were all there for about 3 days, ate a lot, laughed a lot and were happy to be together.

some Christmas pics

Before we headed down to Kansas to be with all my family for Christmas, we had our own little Christmas here on Christmas eve morning. The kids were up before the sun, soooo excited and waiting for Daddy to get up was KILLING them. Finally, Dan gave the ok and they all got to open presents. It was a fun morning for just our family. Kaylee got her American Girl, David got his spy car, Lauren got her big stuffed bear and Natalie got some Moon Sand--so it will be lots of fun at our house for Christmas break!