Quote of the day!

From my 4, almost 5, year old:

Mom, I'm hot. Moooommmm, I said that I AM HOT. Mom, I'm hot... but not hot like a girl is hot.

Where did my not-quite-five year old learn that girls are hot?

Snow day and THE VISITOR

Today was a snow day, for those of you that don't know, that means: No school! This normally would be nice for me, if it meant getting to sleep in, but the kids were up at normal time, which meant, so was I. By 7:15, we were all downstairs eating breakfast. The snow is pretty and I love watching it come down, but it also means the kids want to play in it. Last winter, I posted this post about getting dressed for the snow. The time frames are about the same as last year. It still takes 20 minutes to get each one dressed, only now, I did it for 3 instead of 2. Also, this year, Spencer stayed out for 2 hours the first time, Carter for about 10 minutes (then back out a second time for about 30 minutes) and Miana was out for a full 5 minutes. Spencer put Miana on the sled and pulled her on the sidewalk, but she didn't really like it very much, but he was sweet to take care of her!

She seemed to like the snow for a few minutes.

All snow playing ends the same way:

After lunch, Dave went into the dining room to continue working and this is what he said, "Um, we have a bird in the house." Huh? We are still not sure how it got in, but here it is, our Snow Day Visitor. Here it is under the dining room table, and on the chain for the light in the kitchen.

A quick quote from Friday night...

We don't give the kids big birthday parties every year (Spencer is friends with the whole neighborhood, primary, and school... we would have to have at least 100 kids here to satisfy him). However, we compromised for this year by letting him choose 2 friends, which turned into 3 part way through the evening, to join us for dinner, cake/ice cream, and a DVD. I don't have time to post pictures right now, but I do have a conversation that I wanted to share.

Me: We have cake and ice cream. Who wants both?
Kid 1: I want cake with Rocky Road ice cream.
Me: I only have Vanilla ice cream. We have chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.
Kid 1: I really want Rocky Road, do you have Rocky Road.
Me: Nope. I only have vanilla.
Kid 2: Oh! Do you have Butter Pecan ice cream? That's the best. I want Butter Pecan.
Me: We only have Vanilla. Do you want ice cream with your cake? If you want ice cream, it will be vanilla, just vanilla. You can have cake with vanilla ice cream, just cake alone, or just Vanilla ice cream. Which do you want?
Kids: cake and ice cream!
Spencer: Just ice cream.

It was exhausting...

7 years, really? I am NOT that old!

Today marks a 7 year anniversary for me. No, not my wedding (that was 9 years ago!) 7 years ago today, I became a mother... yes, today, my baby is 7. Happy Birthday, Spence, Mommy loves you!

Final Vacation Post... Finally!

On Monday, December 29th, we took the kids to an indoor moonbounce place. It was a large open area with several different moonbounces all different levels (there was even an area for toddlers 18 months-3 years) The first picture isn't that great, but it shows a bit of how big the place was and how tall some of the slides were in the background. The second picture is Spencer at the top of the biggest slide.

Miana loved the area for toddlers and we had a hard time getting her off when it was time to go. Spencer is a goof.

All of the kids had a great time!


On Tuesday, December 30, we took the Metro (subway train) into DC to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. It was really crowded and my pictures didn't turn out so great but here are a few...

After the museum, we ate lunch out on the back steps and then went back to the Metro.
The Metro, on the way home (Spencer was next to Danielle, we were in the first car so he was trying to see the driver through the glass)

Dave and I also celebrated our 9th anniversary that day by him leaving me at his parents house to go to a Cubscout meeting... Happy Anniversary!!

On Wednesday, December 31 we went back over to Dave's parents house for dinner and spent the night again. We celebrated the New Year at 6pm, Geneva time, in honor of Nana and Papa who are there and also so we didn't have to make the kids wait. Some of the adults stayed up until midnight to ring in the new year, most of us went to bed shortly afterwards. I guess we are getting old...

On Thursday, we just had fun together and we went home, saying goodbye to Donald and Christina who left early the next day. It was a great vacation and we were glad that our kids got to spend so much time with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents!!!!

On Friday I found out that a friend of mine had a baby that morning (in her car, out front of the hospital!!). On Saturday, we took her other 2 kids for the day so her husband could be at the hospital with her. It was a great ending to our 2 weeks off from school.

Another vacation post... but not the end, sorry this is taking so long...

On Friday, December 26, we did some shopping and just had a pleasant afternoon. On Saturday, the men took the 4 boys golfing. Sunday was a very emotional day for me... I was released from my calling as Primary President. Some say that being released is bitter-sweet, and for me sometimes it is, but not from this calling. I loved it and am extremely sad to be out of Primary. That night, we took the kids up to the Temple to see the lights and Christmas displays in the Visitor's Center. Here are some pictures of Grandma with all of the kids...

more vacation... Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2009: We did some clean up at home, packed an overnight bag and packed Christmas presents into the car. Spencer and Carter played with a couple of friends, we had lunch, and then we loaded up in the car, off to Grandma and Grandpa's house again! We had a nice evening and then the boys had a sleep over in the rec room with Andrew and Brendan (Miana slept in the pack and play in the room with Dave and I).

Thursday, Dec. 25, Christmas Day: The kids woke up about 7am, we waited down in the basement until about 7:15 for Danielle to get there and then we let the kids come up to see what Santa had brought. It's funny to watch the different reactions of the different ages... Spencer was most excited to hurry up the stairs, Carter and Andrew understood what was going on, but were not quite as excited as Spencer, Brendan knew he was supposed to be excited, but didn't quite know why, and Miana and Hallie didn't much care. Miana didn't want to look at her stocking, she just wanted to play with other people's stuff. After Santa stuff, we opened gifts and then had breakfast. The rest of the day was spent playing with toys, playing games, cooking, eating, and eating and playing some more. It was a nice day.

Santa came

and brought bikes for the boys and a new head band and doll set for Miana

Spencer's favorite gift was a Webkinz dog from Aunt Christina and Uncle Donald...