WHOOOO is out there?

Occasionally we glimpse owls around here. A few months ago, we spotted an owl hanging out on our shed. Last night Matt ran to the store late so we'd have milk in the morning and was amazed to find a huge owl perched on top of our house when we got back. We tried to get a picture, but being 10 o'clock at night, we weren't able to.

The novelty quickly wore off when we had to listen to it for the next hour and a half. WHOOOO knew owls were so annoying? or so loud? For those Harry Potter fans out there, I immediately felt sorry for Uncle Vernon, who had many owls plague his house over the course of a week or two. What noisy creatures they are! I can understand how someone would become unhinged listening to that day in and day out.

Please forgive the really bad use of the word"WHO", I just couldn't help myself!

A Glimpse at the Future...

For Christmas ALL my boys, (Matt included), got brand new razors. Whereas Matt's is of the expensive electric variety, the boys got squeaky tub toy razors, complete with "face foam", as Aaron puts it.
Matt declined a photo, but the boys were all too happy to pose!
Here's hoping they still like shaving in a few years when they have to do it for real!

Caleb's Sleepy Stickers

I have a four year old who has decided bedtime is (and I quote) "not fun". It doesn't seem to matter whether he has napped or not during the day, if he is really tired or not - he just has started to be a real pain in the tushie at bedtimes.

After several weeks of crying (us not him), begging (again, us, not him), threatening (mostly us, a few from him). and generally fighting the whole routine, I have devised a new system.

Caleb now has Sleepy Stickers. Every morning, if he has gone to bed without whines and fits and tantrums then he gets to put a sticker on his Sleepy Sticker page. After 10 stickers, he gets a surprise (to be determined by mom and dad.)

We tried it last night with much success! Noticeably less fighting and whining. He was so excited to put his sticker on the page today. Wish Caleb lots of luck and sweet dreams from now on! ( I hope...)

(Thanks for the idea Aunt Janice....)

Girl Stuff

The consequence of having two boys before we got a girl is that most of our toys are very "BOY" oriented.

Today, I looked over at Kellie and realized that she had a construction worker toy in one hand and Tuck (the WonderPets turtle) in the other hand. She was making kissy noises and having them hold hands as she marched them around the room together, or having them smooch.

She doesn't know the difference between 'boy stuff' and 'girl stuff'- but I have to say I feel a little bad. I might just have to break down and get that girl a Barbie...

sigh...

A Conversation with Caleb

Caleb: I want a drink mom.

Mom: In a minute, Caleb, I'm busy right now.

Caleb: But I want it NOW, Mom.

Mom: I said I'd get in it a minute. Hold on.

Caleb: But waiting isn't fun.

Mom: I'm sorry to hear that, I'll get it soon- just hang on a minute.

Caleb: But" soon" takes too long. I want it NOW.

Mom: Caleb, just knock it off, I'll get to it in a minute.

Caleb: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA(kick, wail, hit) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA(kick, scream, whine)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Instead of a drink, he gets Time Out. Upon calming down and being released from time out, he responds with the following:

Caleb: This wouldn't happen to me if you'd just do what I say and let me be boss.

Heaven help me...

Spelling Words/ Confessions of a "Bad Mother"

I have to say that I have had a lot of "Aaron posts" lately- I am not trying to pick him out as a favorite- he has just been on a roll lately. :)

Every week Aaron has a list of Spelling Words. He has to write each word in a sentence for homework.

Here's my 'bad mother' confession of the week: I don't always check my son's homework. Most of Aaron's homework is brainless. He could finish it with his eyes closed. He reads exceptionally well and even he has picked up on the fact that most of the worksheets are exactly the same week after week. I mean how many variations of the same piece of homework can they give? It is routine by now. I get it- he gets it- it's just time consuming. I digress.

Anyway, Aaron wrote his sentences last night. This morning as I was cramming kids into the car and gathering his papers, I happened to read one of these sentences.

The word is "SO".

Aaron's sentence: I am so never going to pet a snake.

Thank you Hannah Montana, for teaching my son that lovely INCORRECT use of the word "so". Disney should be so proud!

Of course, I did not have time to make him redo it- (bad mother- should have checked it last night) and when I tried to tell him that it was incorrect he didn't understand why. Ever on a time crunch, I did the only thing I could do. I put the paper in his backpack- sent him to school, knowing that it will be marked wrong, and left it up to his teacher to sort out.

I am such a homework wimp. I don't check his work and then I knowingly send him off with wrong answers. Way to go mom!

The Mind of my 7 year old Boy...

A few days ago I was talking to Aaron, and he was telling me all the places all over the world he wants to go see. He wants to go to Japan and Africa and Canada (?) and Hawaii and wanted to know when he could get a passport.

I told him that he could get one as soon as he had enough money to go visit all those places.

To which he said that he thought he would go as soon as he was bigger and was a dad.

I asked him if he was traveling all the time, then who was going to work and make the money to support his wife and kids so they would have a nice place to live and food to eat.

He told me that he thought his wife wouldn't mind working since he would be so busy travelling.

I asked him who would watch the kids if his wife was working.

He told me that he would watch them until he had to get on the plane, and then maybe Grandma (me?) would take them.

He then wanted to know if I had a passport.

No, I don't. But Daddy used to, when he went to Australia- and Uncle John had one when he went to South Africa for his mission.

At this point Aaron starts giggling uncontrollably.

I ask him what's so funny.

He tells me that I must be joking-that they don't need missionaries in Africa.

I asked him why not.

Between giggles he answers: "Because everybody knows that everyone in Africa is naked- and you can't go to church naked, so they must not have churches in Africa. "

What do you say to that? Evidently he has all the answers to every problem. (even if they are crazy...)

Heaven help his future bride, and heaven help me prepare him...

Letter to Santa

This is Aaron's letter to Santa that he made in school. I thought it was pretty cute.

Click on the pictures to see them larger...

Holiday Catch-up

It's time to play photo catch-up, since not all of these pictures made it on our blog last month. Here goes:

Aaron's Holiday Concert

All of the 1st graders, 2nd graders and Kindergarteners from Aaron's School.
This concert is kind of a big deal because the entire school is involved and they hold it at the Union Colony Civic Center, which is a local theater. it is free, but you have to reserve the tickets, which sold out this year, about 1800 seats.


Kellie and Grandpa J waiting at the box office.

Kellie and Grandma. "When is the show going to start?

Aaron looking good.

TUMBLEWEEDS

Because a Bug went Kachoo (all over our yard...)

Aaron has a Dr. Seuss book called "Because a Little Bug Went Ka-choo!" It is all about how a little bug sneezes, which causes a seed to drop, which hits a worm, which makes the worm mad, so he hits a coconut tree, which causes the coconut to fall, which bops a turtle in the head and makes him fall into a lake, which splashes a chicken who kicks a bucket, which flys through the air and lands on the farmers head, who causes his wife to call the paramedics, etc., etc., etc.

We have had our own "Little Bug that went Ka-choo" this week in the form of very big, VERY unwanted, VERY UNDESIRABLE tumbleweeds.
Our story goes like this:

We bought a house in Colorado,
Because we live in Colorado,
We sometimes get a lot of wind and
Because things fly in the wind,
Things land in our yard.
We live next to an open field
Which is not well maintained by the city or the land owners.

Because it is not well maintained,
Large quantities of tumbleweeds accumulate on the other side of our fence,
Which causes us to call the city to complain.
Because they are not quick to act,
The field stays messy.
And when a large windstorm (like we had on Monday night) occurs,
We get a pile of tumbleweeds in our yard.

Which causes us to call the city to complain, again.
Because the tumbleweeds are on our property now,
We are told it is now our problem.
Because throwing them over the fence is pointless (they just come right back over),
And because the city will do nothing to help,
We have to dispose of them ourselves.

Because we have to do it ourselves,
Matt got to buy a new toy.
The new toy is shiny and red and is called a "chipper".
(Who ever thought we'd buy one of those?)
Because he bought a new toy,
We will have lots of bags to dispose of,
and because (to quote the city) "it is our problem,"
We will have to pay Waste Management$1.75 per bag to haul it off.
(Yeah. Can you feel our excitement yet?)

Let's raise a sarcastic toast to windy nights, unwanted tumbleweeds, expensive 'toys', "compassionate" city workers, and pricey trash. Enjoy the photos.

It's Julie's Birthday!

Since I know Julie won't do this herself, I thought I'd take a few moments to reflect on a few things about Julie in honor of her 29th birthday. Here goes!

1) Julie loves her kids, even though they drive her crazy some (most?) of the time. At the end of the day, her love for our children is always evident, no matter how difficult the day may have been.
2) Julie loves her family. She works to have a relationship with each and every one of her brothers and sisters and her parents, and is always concerned for their physical and spiritual well-being.
3) Julie is a great example of compassion and service to others. She is always willing to give of herself to help those in need, and will often go out of her way to do so.
4) She loves books. I never thought anyone could read a Harry Potter book in less than two days, but I have seen Julie do it frequently. She has introduced me to some of the best books I've read (even if it does take me two months to read them).
5) Julie enjoys cooking, as long as it's not cookies because they take too long to bake when you have to keep going back and forth to the oven.
6) Julie is not particularly fond of math, which is odd because she's worked as a cashier and a bank teller. I guess you just can't escape it.
7) When we were first married, Julie didn't like to drive our car. Of course, she got used to it rather quickly. Later, when her parents let us borrow the Nissan, she wouldn't drive that either - she was too attached to the other car!
8) When Julie was a little girl, she shared a bed with her sister. Julie would frequently end up with her feet on the pillow, and often entwined her toes in Janice's hair. Thank goodness she broke that habit!
9) Julie loves holidays and always makes our home a very festive place to be.
10) Julie loves her crazy dog, although I don't think she loves the dog quite as much as she loved her cat, Morgan. I mean, really, has she ever taken a bath with the dog?

We love you Julie. Hope you day is great!

Graham Cracker Houses

Some families make gingerbread houses. In our family we make graham cracker houses!

We made these houses the day after Christmas while visiting Grandma and Poppa J. We split up in to teams to help the smaller kids get the job done. Here they are:

Matt and Kellie's house.
(Kellie was all about the eat and run approach, which left Matt to build with relatively little interference.)

Aaron and Julie's house
(Note the red Santa hat on our enormous snowman out front!)

Caleb and Grandma's masterpiece.
(Grandma should get a gold star for bravery for helping the sprinkle- happy 4 year old. Bless her!)

Christmas Day 2008

Tickly, Heartwarming Lyrics

In our family, it is not unusual to change the lyrics of our favorite songs. sometimes it is just something silly, occasionally it's indecent, but it is always brings either a smile or the roll of the eyes.

This morning we were singing "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!"

Before long our lyrics were changed to " She's the Most Beautiful Girl in the World!" Which brought a giggle from Kellie.

After a few rounds of this, Aaron (my sweet little guy), turned to me and said, "Kellie is not the only beautiful girl in the world. You're beautiful, too, Mom!" (Don't you just love that?)

You would think the story could end there, but there is more. The lyrics changed again to "Matt's the most TICKLY guy in the world!"

As you can imagine, you can't sing a lyric like that without the accompanying choreography...
So, Aaron and I ganged up on my very extra tickly, very sensitive husband. hee! hee!

I've got to say it was the most fun morning I've had in quite a while. (Even though Matt might not agree...) :)

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

To school today Aaron wore the following:

socks and underwear

pants

undershirt

turtleneck

t-shirt over turtleneck

heavy coat, zipped up all the way, with hood up

scarf, under coat and around face and neck

gloves

hat, under hood

boots

If I had thermal underwear his size, I probably would have put that on him too!

It is SO COLD here in Colorado today. When Matt left for work about 7:30 am the temperature read -19 degrees. By the time we left a bit later, it had warmed up to a whooping -9 degrees.

Our high today is not supposed to be above 15 degrees in the heat of the day, with a chance of more snow this evening and tomorrow. I guess it's time to break out the hot cocoa again!

Cute Quotes...

My Mom and Dad came and spent the night last night so that Matt and I could attend his Christmas Party at work. (Thank you!) As always, the kids are extra cute when some of their favorite people are around. Here's some highlights from the last two days...

Caleb (singing): "You better watch out! You better not not scream! You better not cry! You better obey! Cuz' Santa Claus is coming to Town!" (I did NOT teach him these lyrics, by the way...)

Aaron: "Come play with our Baby Jesus playset!" ( I laugh because the kids refuse to call it a Nativity set, and insist it is their 'Jesus set'.)

Kellie: Making kissy sounds at Grandpa and shoving her stuffed dog relentlessly in his face for him to kiss over and over again.
Grandpa's response: "No, Kellie, I don't know where that dog has been- I don't want to kiss it!"

Caleb: (upon hearing that Grandma was going to make cookies with him while I took Kellie for her check- up) "I better go get my cookie shirt on, because it says COOKIE INSPECTOR on it and that means I get to eat them all!"

Christmas for "Little People"

For the last several years I have wanted to buy the Fisher Price Little People Nativity set for our kids. It was always just a little more than our budget could handle, so I never got it, even though I really, really wanted it. This year, I finally budgeted for, and bought it. We opened it a little early, so the the kids could enjoy it all month long.

The kids were fascinated with it. We presented it to them at FHE tonight, and I honestly don't know the last time we had a FHE that everyone sat quietly and paid attention to every word of the story. I'm glad we finally bought it!

(The star on the top lights up and sings "Away In a Manger.")

They love it!

I have a cute story to tell...

After FHE, we let the kids get down and play with the nativity set until bedtime. It was so cute watching them retell the story to each other.

At the end of the story, Aaron said "That's it, we're through," and Caleb corrected him.

"It's not over, silly! I think the baby Jesus wants to go for a ride now!"

He then put the baby Jesus in the donkey's cart and took him for a stroll through Bethlehem, introducing Him to everyone. I'm pretty sure that part isn't in the scriptures, but I thought it was pretty sweet!

Baby Jesus "going for a ride!"

My Favorite Christmas Things

I mentioned earlier that we got our Christmas tree up last Saturday. What I forgot to mention is that everything else was still in boxes, piled in our living room. I decided that today is the day to get it all up and the boxes put away. I always love pulling out the familiar decorations, remembering where they came from and making our house look extra special.

Maybe it's the 5 inches of snow out there, but I am just really starting to feel all Christmasy inside. Here's some pictures of a few of my favorite things...

I bought this Nativity at JC Penney's the first year we were married. It is a complete set, including the shepherds, wise men, animals and angels, but I don't always set the whole thing up, because the kids tend to get into it.
I love our stockings. Matt's mom spent many hours making all of these needlepoint stockings for us. Every one has a different Santa scene. (Matt's stocking is actually behind Kellie's- I need to get more hooks!)
Caleb. When I was taking pictures he told me to take a picture of him because "HE must be" one of my most favorite things ever! Our decorated light. Actually, this is not really one of my favorites, but I love watching the kids get all excited during dinner when they look up at the light. I love it because my kids seem to love it.

Santa Brought My Toys Back!

On Saturday, we pulled out the Christmas tree and started decorating. Normally, we would probably wait a week or two, but our schedule is so hectic that when we looked at the calendar, we realized it was now- or the week before Christmas, which is a little too late in my book.

We put the kids to bed and we started cleaning house. A few months ago I took ALL the kids toys away because they were so rude and nasty about helping me clean up. (They even told me it was MY job to clean up after them!) They have been earning them back, slowly. In the mess, I decided it was time to bring the toys back out and put them away properly.

When Caleb woke up Sunday morning, he ran downstairs to see all his toys back on their shelves. He ran up to our bedroom, burst in through the door and yelled, "Momma, momma! Santa came last night- EARLY- and he gave me all my toys back!"