Thanksgiving, Sleep-overs, and Naughty Little Boy

We had a great Thanksgiving.  Uncle Sam came over in the morning with his dog, and Shoji was so excited to have a playdate!  Then we went over to the Kazmierski's house for Thanksgiving lunch.  Matt had a great time on Grandma Bertha's lap.  He's such a snuggler!  It almost makes up for all his antics....I'll talk about that later. 

Grace had a great time playing with cousins.

Grandma Nan did a special lesson for us.  She gave each family a jar with "warm fuzzies" so that we could fill our jar when we do acts of service.  They will be visiting Emily and Ryan in Texas for Christmas, so we were glad to have them for Thanksgiving!

Mr. No Teeth.  I think I have another picture like this somewhere...

Hiram is getting rich with his teeth!

The boys always like to hang out with Uncle Sam.  Joey is sitting with Lita.

After we got home, Ben and I were having a conversation in our room.  After about 2 minutes, I said, "I better go see what that kid is doing."  Well, this is where I found him.  Notice he's got it in his hair.  What was I thinking leaving this kid alone for 2 minutes?  I thought he followed the other kids downstairs, but I guess that's what I get for thinking.

We went to my mom's after we were at Nan and Fred's.  Lindsey and Eric were both here.  Finally, the babies tuckered out.  They managed to fall asleep at the same time.

A few nights ago, Emma had her first sleepover with us.  She did very good.  The kids had fun playing, drawing, and avoiding the dog.  Emma is very afraid of dogs, and sent Grace out of the bedroom in the morning to check if the dog was in the house or out.  She wouldn't get out of bed unless the dog was out.

The girls slept on Joey's big bed, and Joey slept on Andrew's top bunk.  Andrew slept at Grandma's house with Brenlee.

This is Joey teaching Emma how to draw the letter "A".

He Strikes Again

The Steward has struck again.  While management was making a work-related phone call (trying to make a doctor's appointment for Grace), the tricky Steward came into the room carrying not one, but two steak knives.  The other Union members had left the dishwasher open, and he had chosen those two knives out of a rack full of about 30 other possible choices of sliverware.  Management screamed and took the knives.

Later, as management was trying to do good by taking the recycling out to the garage, the Steward requested cheese.  Management filled his request for cheese and took the recycling out.  When management came back in, the steward was trying to cut his own slice of cheese, again, with a knife.  He plunged the knife into the cheese and then tried to put it in his mouth.  Management screamed loud enough for him to pay attention, and then threw the knife across the room.

We no longer have knives.

Cheese Boy

Last night I was making dinner and Ben came home.  As we stood in the kitchen having a conversation with Haley, we didn't notice Mister Busy three feet away with his mouth on the huge block of Costco cheese taking great big chunks out.  He was pretty proud of himself.  We had to rescue the cheese, though.  Notice the teeth marks.  Well done, Mister Busy, well done!

What's Going On Up There?

Sometimes we wonder what's going on in that pretty little head of hers.  She is a special one for sure.  We call her "Our little Phoebe" because she makes up songs of her own, grabs a guitar, and starts singing.  Instead of Phoebe's "Smelly Cat" (from "Friends", remember?), she sings things titled, "Monkey Eating a Cracker" or "I Like Potatoes" and other Grace-originals like that.  Lately she's been playing her little piano in bed and singing her own compositions.  Ben and I sometimes just listen and laugh.

Yesterday we went to pick up Andrew from school, and she told me that she had a secret for me.  She said, "When Jesus and Heavenly Father were painting the moon and the sun, they fell off a train."  What???  I guess I haven't yet figured out how that brain of hers works!

Bowling Fun

Finally, we had a Saturday with a little extra time.  We had most of our chores done, so we decided to go bowling.  Matthew was in ball-heaven.  Grace, Andrew, and Joey all loved it and can't wait to go back.  Grace even won the kid game by one point!  It took a really long time for Joey and Grace's balls to make it all the way down to the pins, but they waited in anticipation the whole time.  Matthew just kept saying "Ball!  Ball!  Ball!"  He was pretty mad that he couldn't pull all those pretty balls off the shelf.  He also had a loaded diaper upon arrival, and as soon as I had it changed, he opened the door himself and started running at lightspeed down the hallway while I was still trying to wash my hands.  That kid is going to give me a heart attack.

Everyone survived, and we had a great time!

Please enjoy the pictures of our butts.

Gem of the Day

Andrew took Grandpa Jerry out to lunch, and Joey was a little upset about that.  So I decided to take him to Taco Bell, just the two of us.  It was fun because we could see Grandpa's Jeep across the street at Wendy's.  We made sure that we beat them home (we did!)  As we were leaving, I said to Joey, "I had so much fun with you.  I'm glad we went to lunch, just the two of us!  I love spending time with you."  Joey said, "Yep.  That's because I'm the cutest."

Bold Move by the Union

The Union made a bold move yesterday by trying to cut communications to management's office.  They sent their steward to locate one of the phones, answer a call from Aunt Jill, and then leave it on for two hours.  No calls could come in or out for that time.  Management then found the problem, and it has since been resolved.  All phones will now be kept out of reach of said steward, which could be hard, since there aren't many places out of his reach.

We have a winner!

Grandpa Jerry brought us a coloring contest sheet for one of our local news stations.  Andrew drew a picture of the weather (I would have put a picture of it, but we turned it in and I don't think we'll get it back).  Anyway, it was a beautiful picture of a rainbow, a house with a star on it, the sun, a big backyard, and a blue sky.  And he won!  He just got his $25 gift certificate in the mail today.  We're so proud of him!  I think his dream is to be an artist.  He draws all day long -- to the point of me telling him he has to put it away and go to bed.

He'll be taking Grandpa out to eat tommorrow - his treat!

Great job buddy!

Tonight's Prayers

Tonight Gracie was thankful for:

"Having a great cowoby hat."
and
"Having water in your room."

Grace's Prayers

I just have to write some of the things Grace says in her prayers.  She says them very seriously. 

"Thank you for eating wiggly things."
"Thank you for not bumping into anybody and making them fall down."
"Thank you for eating eggs or whatever."
"Thank you for going for rides on cows or moos or horses or something."
"Thank you for going to a future."

I'm sure there will be more super Gracie prayers to come!

Joey's Second Gem of the Day

Two gems in one day!  Way to go Joey!

Here is how our conversation went.  It happened when I was doing the laundry and Joey climbed on my bed behind me and started rubbing my shoulders because he had earlier heard me say that my neck hurt.  Then he noticed something on my back.

Joey: "What's this gooey thing?"
Mom: "It's a mole."
Joey: "Moles are wiggly?  And jobbly?  And gooey?"
Mom: "Wow."

Gem of the Day

This one is courtesy of Joey.  We were getting into the car after preschool, and Grace accidentally bumped Joey.  He said, "Gracie!  I'm very dissapointed of you!"

Bandaids and Time with Friends!

I was cleaning the bathroom the other day, and I turned around and saw this:

She had an "owie" on her lip, so she did this by herself.  I love how she didn't take off the outside of the bandaid.  This lasted for about three minutes.

We had our favorite family over last night for music lessons and fun.  Best of all, Melissa got to run errands kid free!  Here are some pics of the fun.

Joey was corrupting Ryan, who wanted to be just like the big boys (all six of them!)

We always play the Wii, of course.  It gets a little messy.

Lydia and I spent a lot of time on the piano.

And Rachel was content just to draw.

Union Update

The Union has been trying to oust management this week.  Just yesterday alone, they sent their Steward on a mission to make the on-call manager lose her marbles.  Some of his actions of sabotage include climbing on the top bunk in the Union's quarters and trying to jump off, sitting on the stove top trying to turn on the buttons (I think he was trying to give management a heart attack), taking dirty diapers out of the trash can and spreading them around the house in various places, throwing away various important documents and perfectly good food, tripping an adult stranger, running away down the street, ear-shattering screams, and smearing tooth paste all over the bathroom.  At the end of her shift, this manager came close to running to the looney barn.

To better acquaint yourself with the Union and its Steward, please read posts titled "The Union" and "The Union Acts" in August of this year.

Halloween

This was a busy Halloween!  The kids got to dress up in their costumes three times.  On Thursday, we went to the church's annual Trunk-or-Treat and carnival.  We were blessed with great weather.  Then the boys went to a Halloween party and dressed up again.  They had such a great time, and Joey was so happy to have treats that he wasn't allergic to!  He wasn't left out of anything!  Thank you Kelly:)

Here are the kids posing before we left for the church.  Notice Grace decided to be a Power Ranger.  I don't think there will be any princess costumes in our future.  Andrew was a ninja, Joey was a knight, and Matt wore the warm Simba outfit (every child of ours has worn that one!).

Isn't that little lion face the cutest?!

On Halloween, we had to stop at Grandma's so she could get a picture.

Then we had to stop at Sister Harris's house because she's our favorite person in the world.  What would I do without her on Sundays?  Since Ben sits on the stand, it's not easy with five little ones.  But she usually has more of my kids with her than I do with me.

She gave the kids lots of treats, and Matthew was intrigued.  Ring the door and get candy?   Awesome!  I wonder if he'll always expect that.

This is our neighbor's house.  They always make a special bag of treats for the kids.

I thought this was just so cute, I had to take a picture.  Matthew would not put his candy in his trick or treat bag.  Everytime I tried to take it away, he screamed at me.  So he just carried it around to each house.  He tried to go into several of the houses, but he got it figured out.  After awhile, he was just happy to walk with daddy.