Granddaddy Frank

www.star-telegram.com/obituaries/story/432045.html

(Sorry. I just realized this is right above the weird picture of the Wind Up Sushi. Sorry Frank)

Weird things WalMart sells

There are no words.

Weekend with Pappy and MoMo

Here is a picture of Aidan and his Pappy sharing some donut holes.

We took an unexpected trip to MoMo and Pappy (my parents) house this weekend while Brandon was on a Youth Guys' Retreat. (More on the weekend later). Dane and Aidan were very busy boys these last few days. A quick run down on some of their weekend highlights:

1. Chasing Aunt Lindy's kitty cats around the house and "showing" the cats their toys by throwing them at the cats' faces.

2. Eating popcicles on a towel in the game room when MoMo wasn't home.

3. Eating donuts for breakfast 2 out of the 3 mornings. This morning, Dane was given a chocolate donut to eat, and he said "Wow! I've always wanted a grown-up donut." (He usually has donut holes when he has donuts...who knew his aspiration was for a "grown up donut". I wonder if he thinks the donut itself is grown up, or if he thinks he is a grown up for eating it. Interesting.)

4. Juice boxes. I am too cheap to keep them at our house.

5. Dane waking Lindy's boyfriend, Andy up this morning by kissing him on the forehead. That's what you get for falling asleep on the couch. Good morning, Andy!

6. Aidan sticking Andy's toy sword (please don't ask why my sister's boyfriend owns a toy sword) into the side of his diaper and calling it his "pocket".

7. Dane sticking 2 stretchy rubber lizards into the back of his underwear and saying "I got my nunchucks in my pocket". (Are you seeing a trend here? Maybe I should start insisting my children wear clothes...Nah. Then they would have use toys for their intended purposes. This way provides many more stories to embarrass them with later.)


More on the weekend later.

Money Well Spent

Dane and Aidan go to a wonderful little Christian preschool twice a week which usually I love. Here's how today's school recap with Dane went:

Me: What did you learn at school today?

Dane: I learned about the letter W and Christmas songs and Joshua threw up. But he got it all in the trash can. And Elijah brought some oil for the widow.

Money well spent folks, money well spent.

Dane has known about the letter W for a year and a half now, Christmas songs in January, seriously?? And I'm so happy to learn that our little family can be expecting a stomach virus over the next few days. The Elijah story didn't even make the top 3 in Dane's recap, and I'm pretty sure he missed the point regarding the oil.

At least Aidan brought a craft home. Nothing beats animal cookies glued to a piece of paper. He's only tried to eat them off twice.

My children are gifted.

12/07 pictures

Still figuring out this blogger thing...I can't figure out how to make pictures appear in a certain order, so these are backwards. Here are a few of the pictures from our December. The above picture is the "Super Hero Super Fighters" in their new capes. They are ready to protect the dining room from Swiper and the evil Shredder. And, yes, Aidan is wearing underwear over his diaper. That's an entirely different post of it's own.

Here is a shot of Dane, Grammy, and Aunt Val on Christmas Eve upon the completion of their Gingerbread House. They were so proud! No, we did not eat the Gingerbread House. It wasn't lookin' too fresh after a few days of display in our kitchen.

Christmas morning: Santa made it down our chimney and the stockings were filled. It was such a fun year, and Dane and Aidan had a great time. They must have been very good boys last year. (Or, Santa may not have been watching TOO closely. Maybe he's nearsighted :)

We love seeing the local Christmas light display, and here are a couple of my favorites of all my boys. Dane was ignoring the "do not touch the lights" sign. Maybe that was merely a suggestion.

Christmas Saturday at Aunt Val and Uncle Izzy's house. I don't know who enjoyed Cousin Joel's new wagon more. My vote is Aidan.

Sundays at our House

Sunday mornings at our house have been an adventure the past few weeks.

I should explain...a few weeks ago, we moved "Crazy Aidan" from his crib in his room to a twin bed in the Brother Room. He did great. Except at about 5:30 am (EVERY MORNING) when he feels it necessary to not just get up, but get up, jump on Dane's bed, and turn on the light. They procede to have super-fun brother time until they either wake up Mom and Dad, or Brandon's Ambien wears off. (usually about 7am).

Enter: The Sunday Morning Challenge.

Sunday mornings, Brandon leaves the house at about 6:30 am, and he tries to put a movie on for the boys and get them something for breakfast before he leaves. I have the task of getting both myself and the boys ready for church on time.

Perhaps not such a daunting task for mothers of less resourceful children.

2 weeks ago: Dane comes into my bathroom while I am attempting to finish doing the hair thing. "Mom, smell my breath". Interesting...Dane appears to have chocolate stuck in his teeth at 7:45 in the morning. Where are this child's parents? Oh, yeah. "Mom, me and Aidan ate all your cinnamints". I don't have any cinnamints. Could he be referring to the party size mint chocolate holiday M&Ms that I had just bought on Christmas clearance? The ones that were UNOPENED? My apologies to Dane and Aidan's Sunday school teachers.

1 week ago: I come downstairs to find Aidan yielding Brandon's samurai sword. The real one that made me the Coolest Girlfriend Ever when I gave it to Brandon a while back ago. The one that is kept 8 feet off the ground on top of the bookshelf upstairs. I look at Dane with the questioning look, and how does my acrobatic 4 year old respond? "Aidan got Daddy's sword down." My apologies to Dane and Aidan's Sunday school teachers.

Today: No chocolate was eaten. No swords were confiscated. No hair was fixed. Problem solved. My apologies to the people who had to look at my hair today.

Jumping on the bandwagon...

And I've started my own blog. Am I the only person who has not had one? This blog is a way for me to record the events and funny happenings in the life of our little family, and to provide a way to share stories about my ninjas (by the way, this is a reference to the current obsession with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in my household...I don't actually believe that my children are ninjas) with my bigger family. So enjoy!