school's out... well, for the day

we packed a picnic lunch, picked up ms. lisa and went for a bike ride.  parking at 43rd street we hit the boardwalk for a long bike ride.  the older two were able to ride ahead since lisa was with them while i stayed back with m2.  we played for a while on the beach play set and then continued down to dairy queen.  after eating our packed lunch, we got sweet treats.  yummy!  lisa, little man and m1 rode all the way down to the end of the boardwalk.  m2 and i turned back and played while waiting for them to return.  super fun day! 

it snowed, they went outside

how to make your sisters scream ~ by little man

change the wallpaper on the laptop, and don't tell them.

overheard ~

m1: "m2 can you hand me another grape?"
m2: "yeah, and this time i wont suck on it before i give it to you".
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m1: "hey momma, my granola bar left crumbs on the kitchen floor, i am going to quickly vacuum that up for you okay?"
momma: "yes, please and thank you very much!"

LOVE that girl!
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m2: "the rord (lord) is my helper.  rebews 13:6" (we are not adding books to the bible it's just how she says hebrews).
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m2:  "little man, can you get this booger off my finger?"
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pj's in the grocery store



with 20 minutes to spare before john david walked through the door expecting dinner, i could not get the home-made empanada dough to roll out properly.  frustrating!  the girls were freshly bathed and jammied up for the evening when i asked the children to grab their shoes, coats and head to the car.  little man was still in real clothes and i had a sweatshirt on inside out.  of course at 5:50 the grocery store around the corner is packed.  two boxes of refrigerated pie crust were picked up quickly then we had to wait in line.  did the children get funny looks?  nope, i don't think anyone even noticed!

first day of school

m2,  pre-k 4

m1, 3rd grade

 little man, 4th grade 

can you tell mommy is not really thrilled?



the long bike ride

little man and m1 had a random wednesday off school, so we loaded up the bikes and headed to the oceanfront.  we parked at 42nd street and rode on the boardwalk until we reached the park at 31st street. 

this is such a great spot to play this time of year.  during the summer it is much too crowded and too hot!  there are monkey bars and things to climb on and the slides end right on the sand.  all three had a fun time climbing and sliding and running around.  we even ran into the strickland family (grandma and her young ones) which was nice. 

 

 

 we walked down to the beach to look for shells but had no pockets to put them in.  aww, shucks! the highlight was seeing pods of dolphins right up close to the shoreline.  there were so many of them!

after we finished playing the ride continued down until we reached the dairy queen at 27th street.  so of course we had to stop for a treat!  m2 enjoyed her "oreo lizzard" as she called it. 

the children all wanted to continue farther down the boardwalk but i knew we had the long trek back to 42nd street.  m2 started to get tired around 35th street but she was such a trooper!  after getting the bikes loaded up and m2 strapped in we started home.  she was asleep within three minutes. 

snow skiing with mommy

my family grew up skiing ~ we started around age six and went every year until college.  it's something i have always wanted to teach our children.  wednesday morning after breakfast john david and i helped little man into his first pair of boots and skis from the rental shop.  after a rough 15 minutes we got on the lift and headed to the top.  the slopes were nearly empty!  little man fell getting off the lift but he had a great attitude.  after a few instructions we started slowly down ~ he fell about five times ~ but we laughed and i kept it upbeat.  the third and fourth time down he was moving along great!  we graduated to the harder beginner slope and even went down the intermediate several times before his half day session was up.  john david and the girls called on their way to the lodge; we stopped and waved half way down so they could see his improvement from the morning. 

after lunch at the lodge it was sweet m1's turn on the slopes.  instead of a quick lesson on the flat ground at the bottom (i learned my lesson from the morning) we headed straight to the lift and talked about what to do while riding up.  m1 fell also her first time off the lift.  she struggled a bit at the top so i let her put her skis between mine and hang on to my waist from the back.  luckily we made it down without falling!  instead of the nice big *s* turns that little man learned quickly, she just wanted her skis pointing down and decided that falling when she got going too fast was her better option.  she got upset because i would not immediately take her to the intermediate slopes.  finally she learned how to make some turns and more importantly stop so i thought she was ready for a harder slope.  just like little man she did great by the end of our time.   john david and the children showed up a few minutes before the slopes closed so they could see how she was doing.  they both want to go again next year! 

it was so fun spending undivided attention with each child!  i was able to do one black diamond run before the day ended which was nice after spending all day on the easier slopes.  but it was a little scary also since i had not been on skis since little man was born. 

twister

have you ever made up a twister move because it was more creative than the actual spinner call? nah, me neither.

what the children do while i am painting

the past few months i have been painting a lot. so, how do the children entertain themselves while i am in project mode?

overheard

just some random overheard statements made in our house over the last few months...

mommy this song is stuck in my hair ~ m2, age 2

whaths the nexth ingredienth in the rethipe mommy ~ m1, 6 with two missing front teeth

hey, stop noyying me ~ m2, 2

carolina stinks so bad i can smell them from here ~ little man, 8, trash talking during the ncaa tourney

i just passed two gasses ~ m2, 2

can i move the clouds with a bulldozer so i can see the sun ~ little man, 8

what just happened?!?

we had a family meeting at dinner... the children are just not completing their daily chores and we needed to re-set guidelines. they are responsible for their spaces ~ making up the beds, laundry to the laundry room (not outside the laundry room), putting their clean laundry away, and keeping their bathroom and playroom tidy. there are additional things they do beyond that when requested ~ emptying dishwasher, vacuuming, dusting. earlier today i had asked them to straighten the playroom ~ it did not happen. when they asked for dessert after eating dinner, that did not happen. then the family meeting started. afterwards, they were asked again to straighten the playroom "yes ma'am" was the reply. as they were cleaning, they started singing, as they were singing they got more and more things put away.  m2 was even helping. i snapped to attention when i heard the vacuum. the vacuum got louder... they were doing the hallway. "wow, that looks good" said m1. "hey, let's vacuum mommy and daddy's room too". i think they have earned their dessert.

the children's tree

last saturday the children and i (john david was in richmond testing ~ more on that later) pulled out the trees. little man was a huge help going down the stairs. we started with re-stringing some burned-out strands on the children's tree and then put on the colorful chain we made several years ago.

i am happy to say that our angel decorations have improved drastically ~ amazing the difference several years makes with art projects! the stained glass look of the nativity and angels just melts my heart. i love old churches with stained glass windows. m1's simple nativity with popsicle sticks, foam shapes and a tissue paper baby jesus is sweet!

the following picture was taken by m1...

the final product.

two more trees to go... although i might decide that ONE more is enough!