Celebration

Grace and Joey are learning to read.  We have these little books that they work on every night.  Grace is on the third book.  We have been introducing different punctuation marks - question marks, exclamation points, periods, quotations, etc.  The second book had one exclamation point in it, and as we were reading the third book last night, the last sentence read:

The cap fit Pig Wig!

Grace read it like this:

"The cap fit Pig Wig celebration"

After I finished laughing, I decided that from now on, exclamation marks will be known as "celebration" in our house.

Furniture Swap

Since we decided not to move, I've been busy re-arranging the house.

Since Ben hurt his back really badly, Haley and I did all the lifting, moving, constructing.  We took apart and moved four beds, up and down stairs, and put them all back together.  We were exhausted, but we didn't have to do any weight training that day!

Haley's bed is now in Matt's room, so she finally removed her tae kwon do stickers from all of her advancement tests.  They slap a number on your uniform when you're testing for a higher belt.  She had quite a few.

Matt and Grace are now sharing a room so that I can have my long awaited music room.  I still have to find many burly men to move my piano downstairs before it's complete.

We moved all the little people toys into this room, and they've been busy ever since.  Isn't it amazing how long they can play with toys they forgot about?

We'll be painting their rooms shortly.  That will be a treat.  Can't wait until it's done.

My New Toys

After eleven and a half years of doing laundry, I once again have new machines!

Ta Daaaa:

I love them.  They're so pretty.  Haley and I loaded the thing up, and learned to turn it on.  Then we couldn't take our eyes off of it.  We were mesmerized.  And it's so quiet!

I loaded this entire hamper in 1 LOAD!!!  I can't wait to wash everybody's sheets!  But I can't today because I have Opera tonight, and Ben's back hurts too much to be making everybody's beds.  But Monday, watch out!

Haley and I turned the lights out, and we think it looks cool in the dark, too.  Kind of like a spaceship.

I had to include one of Grace's potato people.  She doesn't mean for it to be a potato.  It's just how she draws people, but we think they look like potatoes.  They are all over the house.  She cuts them out and tapes them on everybody's walls as gifts.  She is so cute.  And pretty good for a 3-year-old, eh?

Tubbie Conversation

Gracie and I were taking a shower this morning.  I was shaving my legs, and her face lit up when she saw the razor. 
She said, "I want one of those for my birthday when I'm older!" 
I said, "Sure, you can have one when you're ten." 
She said, "Are you ten right now?" 
I confessed, "No, I'm 31." 
Her eyes got really big, and she said, "Wow!  I can't even count to 31!"  Don't remind me. 
Then she said, "Is Daddy 31?" 
"No, he's 33."
(Eyes as big as saucers again) "He's had 33 birthdays?!!  That's a lot."
Yep, wow.

Mom Fun Weekend

Wow!  I haven't posted for a long time.  Mostly because I've been AWAY on a Mom Fun Weekend with my favorite friend, Melissa.  Yep, just the two of us!  No kids, no dishes, no laundry!  Look: we didn't even have to make our beds!

Although I think our maid had it pretty good.  Here's our view of the beautiful mountains from our window:

And the inside of the hotel was equally nice, complete with a water feature:

We went to work immediately upon arrival, and stopped at the mall.  I bought a nice new skirt, and we got smoothies.  We went to dinner on Thursday night at a great restaurant that I recommend to everyone.  It's called the Montana Ale House.  It's in the old railroad station, and the food and service was spectacular.  If you go on Thursday night, they have the best soup I've ever tasted.

The next day we spent the morning window shopping in downtown Bozeman.  Who knew it would be so fun?!  My favorite store was this one:

They had the cutest stuff, and I found myself wanting to own a store like that!  Everyone should go.  It's super cute.  We went to a movie -- in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday!  Although we didn't end up staying for the entire thing, because the father ended up dying, and it hit too close to home.  Besides, we didn't want to be thrown out for bawling.  We went to Burger Bob's for dinner.  We did more shopping on Saturday, and went to another great restaurant, Bozeman Bistro, for lunch.  They had gourmet food at regular prices, in a neat old building.  We also stopped at the Pioneer Museum, which was in the old jail.  It was creepy and fascinating at the same time.  Then, we saw Bill Cosby perform that night.  He was so funny!  I was disappointed when it was over, thinking it had only been a one-hour show, but when Melissa looked at her watch, it had been over two hours!  What an entertainer!

Every mom needs to have a Mom Fun Weekend.  We were gone for three days, and I am completely refreshed.  We'll go again very soon.

And here's a picture I thought was just too cute.  All four of the little kids were stuffed in the sandbox together, enjoying the beautiful weather.

Funny Grace Trilogy

As we were riding in the car on the way back from the doctor, Grace said this:

"I just need to tell you that I'm going to scratch my booty."

Then, a few moments later, she said:

"My booty is my leg."

Then:

"I love you, babe!"

Wow.

Hanging Around

The kids really wanted to go to the park after dinner last night.  It was really cold, I thought, but they wanted to anyway.  Kids don't feel the cold the same as adults do.  So here are some pictures of the boys hanging from various things, Gracie pouting about something (I can't remember) -- complete with her black eye (compliments of Joey).  Matt had a great time, of course, and we had to drag him out of there. 

We were glad for the distraction from the boxes, Opera music practice (I need to remember to practice more often because my hands and back are aching), and new home searching -- among all the other things we have to accomplish every day.  One of these days life is going to be a little more boring.  I hope.

Really Funny

Andrew posted this "wanted poster" on our refrigerator.  It had been there for a day or so, and we have so many of these drawings laying about the house, that I hadn't really paid attention.  But last night I really took a look at it.

Just take a look at the name and crime of this fugitive.  I asked Andrew if he had caught him yet, and he said "No.  And he's killed a lot of our guys!"

Good luck with your hunt of the "Asunater", buddy!

Easter Morning

The Easter Bunny ate the carrots!

See?

A basket filled with allergy-free candy, a notebook for church, and a cup for collecting the chocolate eggs!

Gracie found lots of eggs.

Matt found them and ate them all at the same time.

Some were pretty high.

Andrew's were the hardest to find, but he got them all!

Fun at the Park

My kids sometimes do really weird things.  For example, Joey takes his socks off every time he goes #2 in the bathroom.  He doesn't know why he does it, but he does it.  Haley used to hide coins in her sock drawer.  Andrew used to stand in the trash can, and sit in the cupboards.  Grace licks things.  And Matt gets an orange to sit with Daddy.  We don't quite understand this tradition that he's made up, but it works for him.  He grabs an orange, and that's how Daddy knows he wants to sit on the couch with him.  He does not want to eat the orange, and if Daddy peels it, he gets very upset.  He just wants to sit with dad, with the orange.  Weird.

We took advantage of a break in the weather to go to our favorite park with the cousins.  Matt is very excited to be able to do all the big kid stuff by himself.  He only tried to run away once or twice.

Here's a group pic.  The only one missing is Zach -- and Haley was there, but was too mature to be in the picture with the little kids.

We love to swing!

"I'm so thirsty!"

Up in the tree, Andrew found out that sap is very sticky and doesn't wash off very well.

April Fools' Day

Ben and I had fun rigging our house the night before April Fools' Day.  We put plastic wrap on the kids' doors, so they walked into it in the morning.  Trust me, that's a lot less messy than putting it on the toilet.  Who wants to clean up that mess?  I clean up enough bodily functions every day -- I don't want to add more.

Andrew thought it was funny, Haley did not.  She still can't believe how dumb we are.

I also turned the milk blue.  The boys thought that was hilarious.  They were a little afraid to try it, but it they found out it didn't taste any different.

Later in the day, we had everybody over for dinner -- enchiladas.  We also made cookies to decorate, since we can't do eggs.  Cookies were just as fun, but pretty messy.

This is the sugar crash.  He just plopped down on the floor, and then he was up until 10:00 PM.  Fun.