funnies to kick off the new year

No, no, no, your computer is not playing tricks on you.  This is actually a new blog post for the new year.  I know that a certain set of grandparents are becoming slightly impatient to see Disney pictures, but it's harder than you think to go through, rotate, organize and pick from over 500 pictures.  So...I wanted to get something up here to motivate me to post more often.

Every morning before school the kids and I say a prayer - thanking God, asking for Him to help us be a good example, etc.  This was Ethan's prayer today:
"Dear God, thank you for this day.  Thank you for mommy and daddy and Ray-Ray.  And myself.  Help me to be good at school today and do good things.  And PLEASE help me to get a strike at Alley Cats tonight.  Amen"
We're all about keeping our priorities straight around here.

Rachel got a couple of sparkly body sprays in her stocking this year.  One is cupcake flavored and the other is ice cream.  They were definitely on her top 5 Chrsitmas gifts list.  This is what went down in the bathroom a few mornings ago (and this conversation was held out loud to herself):
"I really need some bafume on."
"Hmmm...which one should I pick - ice cream or cupcake?"
"Oh, I know, I'll eenie-meenie-miney-mo them."
(She sets both of them on the counter in front of her)
"Eenie, meenie, miney, mo.  Catch a tiger...Oh, I REALLY hope it's the ice cream one.  ...by it's toe..."

Of course, this is the same child who asked me yesterday why Rapunzel never had to go to the potty.

Now I'm back to organizing pictures...I promise.

remember

This conversation often goes through my head:  "Oooohhhh...I need to write that down somewhere so I won't forget what she/he said."  And then someone is starving and needs a snack and I forget.  Or, "That was the funniest thing he's/she's ever said, I have to write that down."  And then the phone rings and I forget.  You get the pattern.  I was looking through some pictures tonight and came across a couple of videos I took of the kids trick-or-treating on Halloween this year.  My first thought was just to skip over them because I knew they weren't of anything important.  And then I went back to watch them and I was SO glad I took videos of just the kids - not at a birthday party, not a soccer game, not posing for anything, not singing a rehearsed song, not performing at preschool...just a couple of videos of the kids being themselves running around outside laughing.  I know without a doubt that these are the videos Clay and I will be watching when they're both in college and we're just missing them.  A friend at church recently told me that her teenage kids would actually request to watch old home movies in the car when they went on vacation (Ann - thank you for always helping me to keep perspective!).  So, just an encouragement to my mom friends out there to write down the every day memories, take pictures of the same old weekly routine, and to switch the camera over to video every once in a while.

My favorite memory of the entire weekend - and it was a great one - happened just a couple of hours ago.  Rachel came downstairs asking if Clay had found her bear that she sleeps with.  I'll admit that I'm not always the most pleasant and patient person when they get out of bed.  However, I actually knew where the bear was so I went upstairs to get it and then tucked her in.  We whispered secrets to each other for a couple of minutes and then I told her goodnight.  When I got to the hall I heard her say to her bear, "I love my mommy so much.  She's the best mommy in the whole world."  I am truly blessed beyond measure.

fuzzy wuzzy wuz a ...

Since all of the posts lately seem to be about Ethan, I needed to throw in something about Ray-Ray.  I took her to a friend's house this morning to play, and she immediately picked out this bear costume.  It was the mom's dance costume circa 1984.  If this doesn't make you laugh then there's something wrong with you.  Seriously wrong.

toothless

The pictoral process of losing your first tooth: (documented Wed., Sept. 22)

Unfortunately, the losing of the 2nd tooth didn't have quite as much fanfare as the first, but I did get some "after" pictures (documented Wed., Oct. 6)

I think Maroon 5 would be proud

If this doesn't make you laugh then you need to watch it again!

You know it's going to be a good Sunday...

...when everyone is dressed and ready to go for church and there's still enough time for one story.  I'll admit this doesn't happen very often (Ethan has been known to say, "Mom - why do we always have to go so fast on Sundays?"), but it sure is nice when it does happen. 

And I just want to brag on my mom for a minute.  A couple of weeks ago we went over to her house and she pulled this little number out for Rachel that she had just whipped up the day before:

I know with 100% certainty that I didn't appreciate the clothes she made for me when I was growing up, but I really do appreciate the ones she makes for Rachel.  Thanks, Mom - you're the best.

Snack seat

This is how I found my children while they were eating a snack a couple of days ago -

A sincere apology

Ah, the holidays.  A time full of hustle and bustle and all things wonderfully Christmas.  I think I've previously mentioned my unnatural love for checking the mail - sadly enough it really is one of the highlights of my day.  And it doesn't get any better than checking the mail during December because the mailbox always has Christmas cards!  I love opening them up and showing them to the kids and we proudly display all of them on the piano.  Well, I am sincerely apologizing to my cousin Glenn and his family, Clay's cousin Daniel and his family, Clay's Aunt Jeanne and Uncle David, and our friends the Louis'.  Here's how it all went down:

4 p.m. - took the kids outside to ride bikes and play
4:05 - checked the mail and was thrilled to get 4 Christmas cards
4:07 - neighbors come outside to talk and play
4:20 - tired of helping Ethan ride his bike while trying to hold the mail, I put it on top of the car
5:30 - go inside to get dinner ready
6:45 - give the kids a shower and get them in their pjs
7:30 - Clay gets home from work
7:35 - we're all in the car ready to drive around looking at Christmas lights
8:25 - I remember I have a prescription to pick up at CVS
8:30 - drop Clay and the kids off at home to get ready for bed while I run to CVS
8:30 1/2 - OH NO!  realize that I never took the mail inside!
8:31 - drive around the entire neighborhood at about 2 mph with my bright lights on scouring the streets for our mail
8:31-9:00 - find above mentioned Christmas cards with tire marks, dirt, leaves, etc. covering them...also find the Target ad, zoo membership renewal form, Mylanta coupon, Clay's corporate AMEX bill and a credit card application...unfortunately, I also picked up a disgusting smushed cigarette package, an old receipt, a used napkin and a ribbon

In closing, I apologize to the unsuspecting families who lovingly mailed us Christmas cards on Friday/Saturday because they arrived at our house on Monday and went through a lot before ending up mangled on our piano.  The end.

A typical Sunday

A couple of months ago I read an article in a magazine about a mom who hired a photographer to follow her family around for an entire day to capture a true day in the life for their family.  While I'm pretty sure that I don't want a stranger following me around for an entire day with a camera (especially not into my laundry room or a couple of closets around here), I do think the idea is interesting.  I think it would be fun now to look at pictures of a day in the life when I was five years old.  I really don't remember anything about being five years old except that I tortured my poor mother by insisting that I ride the bus on the first day of kindergarten (and every day after that) and kept waving at her from the back of the bus while she followed us to school in her car (if either of my children do this I think I will crawl in a hole and stay there for a very, very long time - mom, I really am sorry about that!).  Anyway, I'm thinking I'll start trying to capture some more day in the life-type moments around here, and unfortunately, you're going to be subjected to them! 

So, here's a look into a typical Sunday afternoon around here:

Clay and Ethan spend it doing boy things like watching episodes of the 1965 Batman tv show on the computer after they've played a few levels of Lego Batman on the PS3


I spend a chunk of my Sunday afternoon clipping coupons from the paper


And Rachel spends part of her Sunday afternoon recovering from her 5:30 a.m. wakeup that she feels is necessary after the time change