Family Night Olympics

So I told the kids to each come up with an Olympic event tonight for family night. They somehow each involved racing cars (boys!), and we had a great time. C was so excited that he made all of the medals himself. He found yellow, silver, and brown paper and cut them into circles and taped them to a ribbon with a piece of candy.

Miraculously, we kept the peace because the boys each won gold once (and silver once and bronze once) Yeah for no major fights during family night.

Snow Caves

Just when you have almost lost all faith in children's ability to play with something that isn't plugged in, they do something to surprise you. B and his friend L from across the street decided they wanted to build a snow tunnel.
They have spent the last couple days working hard at it and today you can see all the way through to the other side. Victory! Great job guys. And a bonus picture of miss cutie pie.

Mr. T turns 4!

I don't know why my kids are always born during major sporting event times. T is SuperBowl time, B is March Madness and Mr. C is the National Spelling Bee time. Or maybe when you are married to a sports nut, something will always interfere! But, thank goodness for DVR, the party must go on!

Anyway, we love having my T in our family. Besides teaching patience, T is still very innocent and is a very good player with a good imagination. He also loves learning and is good at puzzles. We love you T!

His cool new race track:

Spirit Week

Fake an injury day:Crazy Hair Day:B wanted to borrow some of his baby sisters bows. He said he was only going to wear them in class because he doesn't really like being made fun of on the playground.Wacky Tacky Day:
To my kids it meant a bunch of layers. B was in heaven because he got to wear his beloved robe to school!

Growing up

My baby is growing up so fast. She is crawling all over and pulling herself up on chairs. I left her last night for a date and everyone at Chilis seemed to have their babies with them. I have to say I missed her a little bit! Does that mean I'm not done having kids if I am already baby hungry?

You're gong to miss this...

Why does it seem like whenever you are having a "day" or "week, month, or year" for that matter, with small children that something you reminds you to enjoy the moments, for soon it will all be gone.

Quotes like this are a good reminder:
"Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: 'The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less' (Loud and Clear [1004], 10-11)." from Rusell M. Ballard.

And this song by Trace Adkins. Watch it you feel like hearing the song. It's not an amazing video, it's just picture of Trace Adkins, but playlist didn't have it.



Anyway, here are some things I am going to miss:

The sound of kids giggling with their siblings
The sound of babies babbling
Having babies pat your shoulder when you hold them
The smell of babies
Seeing kids get excited when they succeed
Having my kids tell me that they love me before they go to sleep or leave for school
Seeing kids joy when they experience something for the first time on a vacation or something
All the cute things kids say, and even their mispronunciations
Seeing kids play outside on a warm summer day

Things I probably won't miss too much:

Fighting
Pee on the bathroom floor seconds after I cleaned the bathroom
Whining
Dirty socks on the floor
Making kids eat dinner that they hate during tax season by myself

My Family

Before Christmas my family had a party and took some pics. I just got finished editing them. We are getting big. The original 9 in our family has now turned to 28 people (13 grandkids)