First Quarter

Well, Karen called me out on my absence. And since she has managed a few posts while planning a wedding, I really can find no worthy excuse any longer.

However, this little project in the living room had me tied up for a while:

We added a little pizzazz to an otherwise plain room. We cheaped out and did it the more time-consuming way to save some $$$. It meant more cutting, sanding and priming, but we had a good helper:

Owen prides himself on being a hands-on foreman and was underfoot every step of the way, from sanding to choosing paint color.

All that hard work deserved some chocolate frosting.

And then we moved on to the dining room for some more of this same kind of special torture. 

At this point, Owen gave up helping and capitalized on the obvious lack of parental supervision with candy... or a marker. Who knows? I wasn't watching.

At first he loved having his parents so preoccupied. It gave him the freedom to do things like this:

But even he got tired of being ignored. He tried calling Grandma to come save him.

When he didn't get though, he tried a conference call.  

The other kids you ask? They've been busy too.

Ethan played Rooster in the 5th grade production of the musical "Annie." He was awesome! It was one of the best moments of the past few months.

The kids did a really cute job. We were so proud of him!

He was also very busy with basketball and earning his Webelo in Cub Scouts (Pictures of neither. Boo on me.)  

Adelaide played basketball this year too. It was hard for her, but she never gave up and tried her little heart out. It's not easy being the only girl on your team. We were so proud of her for giving it her very best.

The most exciting thing for her was turning eight. And she will gladly attest that being eight is GREAT!

She had a Nancy Drew birthday party with friends. A lot of friends. It just kinda worked out that way. And although I was exhausted afterward, she had a wonderful time. 

She has been slowly loosing her teeth. It has been traumatic. She is s tough girl so I have been surprised at the anxiety she has been feeling over her teeth. She doesn't trust Randal or I to take care of it, so most of the time she has been walking around like Nanny McPhee with a some tooth hanging by a thread. 

But as you can see, she is a darling regardless of a nasty tooth flapping in her mouth.

Let's see, this quarter brought a few holidays. Like St. Patrick's Day. I put this in only as a cautionary tale to young parents out there. If you begin one of these crazy, bonus traditions because all those perfect people on Facebook make the extra work seem easy, just remember: YOU MUST HAVE STAMINA because you will need to do it year in, and year out from that point on.

Case in point: the Leprechauns began to visit our house a few years ago. Oh, it's really no big. A few tricks, some messed up furniture, Rolos and some Lucky Charms cereal.

Well, this year St. Patrick's landed on a Monday. Sunday night I hadn't remembered and had neither Rolos nor Lucky Charms on hand. So I thought of the best trick of all, I'd leave the kids guessing. The "Leprechauns" left a poem (it rhymed and everything) telling them things were going to get changed up this year when they least expected it. Later that evening, after having a chance to get to the store, I sneakily blocked the front door with a balloon avalanche. (Which, by the way, nearly gave me an brain aneurism trying to blow up all those dang balloons.) 

Long story short, the kids were surprised. However, I heard them say to one another going up the stairs that they wondered what the Leprechauns meant in the letter when they said they were going to play an exciting and different trick this year and maybe that trick would come when they went to sleep. Even Ethan who doesn't believe in Leprechauns didn't get that that WAS the big trick. 

Now this little trick I played on April Fool's was far more successful. The kids got a kick out of it.

And then there was Easter. 

Our friends from church invited us to an Easter Egg hunt and picnic that weekend. The kids also looked so cute in their Easter clothes, but they stripped them off before I got a picture. I'll try again another Sunday. 

Lastly, I have a prize for anyone who can name the item Owen has here: 

Good luck guessing!

Have a great day!

Little Man

Over the Christmas break, Owen lost his locks. 

He was called a girl one too many times for Randal's liking.

Me, I didn't care who thought he was a girl. I liked his curls and hated to see them go.

But when you have an amazing hair stylist visiting for a week...

Now just look at him.

He is no longer a baby.

He's cute for sure.

But I miss his curls.

Christmas 2013

December?

What happened to it?

We were so busy, it feels like a blur now.

Thank goodness there's pictures!

So we can remember Adelaide in her super cute, 2nd grade concert. 

And remember just how excited we were waiting for our cousins to come. We squeezed in hair treatments for all. No dry, itchy scalp for the holidays!

Jordan's family came from Houston, TX. Christmas Eve we continued the tradition of "Minute to Win It" games with them. (Hey, I have no idea what you mean with that innuendo! I'm apalled!)

Our family was schooled by Team Houston.

So I stepped in to show us how it's done...

Then Kendra won.

This is my cute niece, the clear winner of this game: 

Then came the tradition of trying to attempt a peaceful nativity scene with a bunch of kids worked up into a sugared frenzy. 

(Jordan was a good sport.)

Ahhh, Christmas morning.

The kids were happy.

Especially Owen with this ball-pop toy. He was interested in nothing more.

But then nobody was happier than Ethan, the beneficiary of Santa's clear lapse in sanity, evidenced by the gift of a hamster. Ethan named him Jack. 

We decorated cookies.

(I bet you're thinking, "Why don't these people have blinds yet?")

It's laziness.

Amy and Rich came from Virginia.

We played on a gigantic Orange tree. The "unofficial" oldest and largest in the US. It is great for climbing.

And for looking cute and adorable with your cousin.

We decorated "gingerbread" houses.

And played lots of games. 

In spite of ear infections, colds and chaos we had a wonderful Christmas. We hope you and your family did too! 

Here's to an even better 2014!

Bessie

I've been sewing nativity costumes with fabric that belonged to Aunt Bessie. It has made me think of all the Christmases we spent with her.

On Christmas Eve we kids excitedly waited for her to come to stay. It seemed like she would never come. When she did, Christmas officially began. She often slept in my room which really felt like an honor. Socks, Santa, gifts all waited until Bessie had her morning shower. (She didn't always run on kid time which just intensified the anticipation.) She would join us in her shower cap and give us all kinds of love and attention with each present we opened. She brought ties for the boys, perfume gift packs for Mom and I, and Brut for Dad. Every year. Remember that? 

She made my childhood Christmas. Later came Uncle George and Grandma Rimington who made it even better.

I miss them.

Merry Christmas.

Laundry and Pie

We hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving. We sure did. We had some friends over. And, of course, we stuffed ourselves. We cooked a local, free-range, Kentucky Tom turkey. And boy was he delicious!

The pies were delicious too. Ethan made the pumpkins all on his own. (He's been practicing for weeks now. We've been eating a lot of pumpkin pie lately.)

Addie helped with the apple. She did a great job! It is fun to have help in the kitchen.

And Owen tried to get in on the action, or at least get some scraps thrown his way. 

Some of you have been asking for picture of our new house. And I would be happy to oblige if I felt we were settled in. But with boxes still in our bedroom and the card table set up in the dining room, it really isn't worth taking pictures yet. 

We've been working hard to get shelving in all the closets. We opted to do this ourselves because we knew we could do it better, and for much less than the contractor would charge. It is taking more time than we had hoped.

But the laundry room is done. And I love it.

It was empty of cupboards and shelves when we moved in, except for this sink which was a lot less dirty at the time. The sink has been moved into Randal's work area in the basement. And as you can see by its filthiness, he has been busy!

To keep cost down, we used the unfinished cabinets from Lowe's and painted them gray. The only thing missing on them is some crown moulding. Randal and I are in a great debate over that. I think it would be a nice touch. Randal says only if it's free, because it's a laundry room for heaven's sake. 

I'm biding my time until I can wear him down or the mouldings do, in fact, get marked down to nothing. 

Randal built this unit. We so indelicately call these "crap baskets". They are used for things like keys, hats, gloves, stuff like that. They are working out well. 

Except they were meant to eliminate the need for this embarrassing display in our kitchen. But the only time this counter has been 100% clear was Thanksgiving Day. And that is because we threw it all into a box and stuffed it aways in the office until our guests left. I'm working on it, but trust me when I say, IT. IS. A. DAILY. STRUGGLE.

Enough about laundry and junk, just look at our adorable, chubby princess. We are trying to get things done around here, but this little guy and his two siblings are making it difficult. We'd much rather be spending the time with them.

Fun to be One

These are a little past-due, but should not be forgotten. Owen is such a lovable one-year-old. He has taken his first few steps and will likely be walking by Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, I hear him terrorizing the tree. Just a minute...

Where was I?...

Owen loves to haul around socks (usually in his mouth like a baby kitten). He finds socks anywhere. We've had to retrain everyone to not leave dirty ones lying around because he will find them. And put them in his mouth. You're disgusted, I know. I was too until I found him eating a lady bug.  

Owen likes to be silly. When he's trying to be funny he laughs like George Bush. And when he "talks" we see he is trying to tell us the most interesting stories. It comes out as gibberish, but we know his little mind has tales to tell. 

I think it may be time to cut the curls. He is mistaken for a girl more often now. I don't really want to cut them. I know he will look less like a baby when we do. Plus, I like them. But I may not have a choice, I don't think I will be able to distract Randal from finding the hair-cutting scissors much longer. 

And this is the final photo of Owen's big year.

If he could talk, the picture makes me think he would say, "Peace, out!"

Halloween

We kicked off Halloween a little early this year with Ethan's Entrepreneur Fair at school. He worked hard with his friend to promote his booth and earn business. It was a fun family activity to attend and a great learning experience for the 5th graders. It has, however, fueled his dream of starting a business. He has been passing out flyers down the street for his new leaf raking business. (I hope someone hires him. It would make his year.)

Ethan trick-or-treated with a friend. It felt strange not having him around that evening. But boy did he clean up without us slow-pokes dragging him down--loads of candy, full-size candy bars, and even cold, hard cash. He was in heaven. And I am in h-e-double-hockey-sticks because now it is all here staring me in the face, and I want to eat it. 

Trick-or-treating was actually postponed by the city until the following day because of bad weather. it felt weird because I've always considered trick-or-treating a spontaneous activity and not one that is "organized". But it was great because the weather on November 1 was beautiful. Addie was thrilled she didn't even have to wear a coat over her Jesse costume.

And here are a couple more pictures. One of the kids playing "poker" in a made-up candy exchange game:

And one of our Chunky Monkey:

Now that Halloween is over we can now enjoy the pleasure of listening to Christmas music wherever we go. Let the games begin!

What? Thanksgiving?

Never heard of it.