Uno, Dos, Tres...

I don't think our dinner could ever be complete without a few burps, farts or bathroom talk. Tonight was no exception. Paige was speaking Spanish (what few words she knows). Try to imagine a little Mexican girl speaking to you - complete with the rolling of the R's. That is Paige. She was counting 1, 2, 3, 4 in Spanish and asking me to translate.

"Mom, what does this say?
UNO, DOS, TRES, CROTCH-O

It didn't take long for the older kids to start busting out laughing. Soon we were all laughing. That encouraged Paige who repeated #4 quatorce times, until Madre put an end to it.

Update

For MLK Day we took the kids to Skateland! Boy was that a trip to the past. I don't think roller rinks will ever change - dirty, grimy and creepy men skating by themselves for hours at a time. But, I must say we had a terrific time. None of my kids had really skated before and they were real troopers. They stuck with it for two hours straight, bumped their tailbones and few times and got hot and sweaty. My girls started off hanging on my arms, but after a 1/2 hour they were skating by themselves. When it was time to go they said they definitely wanted to go there again. I'm all for it - that was a fun family activity.

The week of January 9th we went to Pinetop with my parents, Reed and Melissa and their girls, and Phil and Heather. We had an amazing time. It was FFF-RRRR-EEEE-EEEE-zing, but tons of fun. There was so much snow. I really thought my kids would play for a few minutes and then be back inside to get warm. I was wrong. They played until they were frozen; that wouldn't be an exageration for Kyle. His pants literally froze and his boots rubbed a raw spot on his calf. He played until it hurt. They went sledding, threw snowballs at each other, ate snow and licked icesicles. The last two activities probably weren't such a great idea; but, oh well.

We love to go to the cabin, especially when there's lots of family there to enjoy it with. We hope to go again before the snow is gone for the season.

Tight Tushy

The other day I squeezed Paige's cute little bum. I said, "Paige, you have a tight little tushy." She laughed and said, "That's because I have on tight underwear."

The Project

I've decided that instead of calling my house my home, I'm going to start calling it "the project". But, I'm enjoying the process. I'm grateful for each small thing that is accomplished (thanks to Steve) and I always look forward to the next thing. I don't think our house will ever be "completed", but maybe that's the fun of it.

This is Steve's latest accomplishment. This massive wall is in our family room. The wood used to be a 1980's honey-colored oak (just like our kitchen cabinets still are). At one time we had our TV mounted above the fireplace. My aunt convinced us that that was the wrong look for that room. She was right, as she has been about everything. Steve took out the cabinets, sanded them and re-stained them. He put a new backing on them and painted them green. My father-in-law made most of the picture frame before he passed away. Steve finished it. Needless to say, that frame is extremely important to our family. Now that it's finished I'm afraid to put anything on the shelves. I don't want to mess it up. I guess it's time to give Aunt Kay another call.

Life is Good

I haven't posted for a while and looking at my Halloween background motivated me to do something.

Yesterday my sister-in-law, Heather, took our family pictures. She is very talented and you can see some of her work on her blog - http://heathergunnellphotography.blogspot.com/. We bribed the kids to cooperate by promising them a treat. We took them out to dinner at Tasty Joes (chinese). They didn't like it, and it cost us $40 to take our family. We ate the leftovers for lunch today. They were not happy to see rice on their plates for a second day in a row. But I told them I am not throwing $40 in the garbage. We WILL eat it - we just won't take them there again. We should have just taken them to Wendy's.

Paige has been sick again but is getting better. She is getting her six year molars, has two canker sores in her mouth and a croupy cough. Poor thing. She is a sweety when she is sick, though. There is very little yelling and fighting when Paige is out of the mix. She is feeling much better now and so she is back at peak performance. I said, "It's amazing how there is not fighting when you are sick, Paige." In her very irate voice she says, "WELL, NO ONE IS MEAN TO ME WHEN I AM SICK!"

Steve has been working on our family room this weekend. He sanded and restained the bookshelf and mantle. I love it. We want to get as much done as possible before company comes for Thanksgiving. He works so hard. I feel like a real bum next to him. He works all day at his job, comes home and helps me with the kids, does paperwork, works on our house, goes to church meetings. His list never ends, and he never acts out of sorts with me about it. He is patient and obedient. I am so grateful for him.

I Pledge Allegiance

I wanted to write this down so that I can remember it forever.

Paige: Mom, want to hear me say the Pledge of Allegiance?

Mom: Sure.

Paige: I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all a moment of silence please.

Fall Break

We spent our Fall Break in Pinetop with my mom and dad. We always have a great time there. It's nice to relax in the cool weather, be with family and eat my mom's cooking. These are someof the things we did while we were there:

We picked raspberries from Grandma's raspberry patch. Grandma bought Paige and Jenna some press on nails. Paige had hers on the first hour we were there. She soon discovered it was difficult to do things with them on, especially suck her fingers.

The girls are always working on a craft. They love to get into the craft box. They have quite an imagination.

Taryn loved to be outside. She was a happy little sweetheart.

Taryn sure knows how to make her grandma and grandpa feel loved.

The boys had fun target shooting in the backyard.

We even had fun watching the squirrels. Oh, no, that's not a squirrel - it's Grandpa's hair!!!

Thanks for the great time up at the cabin, Mom and Dad!