How You Doin'?

Since my last post...

...Jack called you on his banana phone...

...and Owen said that he could smell you all the way from Colorado.

Nick and I sold our house...

...and spent many weekends at Leah and Jeremy's looking for a new house. (We found one, but more on that later.)Owen trimmed his grass-caterpiller's fro...

...and Jovie got a haircut too!

MagnaDoodle Insights

Owen has been drawing on his MagnaDoodle alot lately. I have started taking pictures of his creations because I am rebelling against the temporary nature of the MagnaDoodle, whose essence it is to erase and create anew. Blah Blah Blah.

Here is how Owen describes each of his works.

"This is a superhero. See his cape?"

"This is a cat. A guy on Yo Gabba Gabba showed me how to draw a cat like this."

(Apparently, that show really is whack. I mean, I always suspected it, but now we have proof in the form of a seven-legged cat.)

"This is me in a car going to Harry's house to see Nana."

Enough said.

SNOW!

Jack laughed gleefully the entire time we were outside!

Owen and I ate lots and lots of snow.

My brothers Jake and Michael provided a demonstration for my kids on the proper way to execute a snowball fight.

See, we thought Mike was making a snowman, but it turned out to be a really big snowball. This one was made for Jake, but we all ended up with snow down our backs eventually!

The biggest kid of all! My Valentine! Both our boys have fever, and he had to go out of town today anyway, so we will be celebrating next weekend. I did get a present today though from here: www.Starfish-Project.com an amazing cause, that happens to result in really cute jewelry!

If you try to make silhouettes of your kids and your dog...

...your dog will not cooperate.

She'll pose pretty, alright...just not in profile.
Then she'll roll over so you can scratch her belly......and so will your son.
So you'll try again...

...and again...

...and you'll end up scratching bellies again.
So you'll give up on the dog silhouette. You'll use a random scrap of cardboard as a cutting mat. Then your oldest son will ask, "Why is Jack wearing a girl belt?"

And you'll say, "Oh! Good eye, Owen!"

When you're finished, you'll step back and think, "Who are these little boys, and where did my babies go?"

Christmas Morning

They boys had a great Christmas, but I think they enjoyed their "Swirly Pops" most of all. Actually, they are still enjoying them. They keep them on plates on our counter (safely under clear plastic wrap, thankyouverymuch) where they can grab a taste every now and then, which is wise considering the package says there are 11 servings per lolly.
They also got instruments, games, pirates, and so much other stuff. We went to my dad's, my mom's, Nick's parents, and had Santa here. The rest of our Christmas break has been spent sorting toys for babies (Owen has had fun picking out which toys are "baby toys" and need to be given away - it's all in what you call it).

We have tons of games to play now (note the stack behind Jack). It is so fun now that the boys are big enough to really get into Christmas! They were so nervous on Christmas Eve. Owen started trying to go to bed at 5:30 p.m.!

What I did when I should have been cleaning...

I'm almost finished with my Christmas decorating. It takes me forever to do it because I'm so indecisive. I do love my branches with the boys' pictures on them. My sister-in-law Leah made the ornaments, and they are adorable! She used my very favorite picture of Jack; he is making the weirdest face!

I had black crows on these branches for Halloween - probably should post a picture of that too sometime.

I can't figure out if I should hang something over the fireplace or not. It looks kind of neat without anything - Swedish or something.

I'm really on the fence about this. I'm considering painting the inside of this cabinet some sort of saffron maybe. I don't think the pink is really me. Plus, it is the reason I'm trying to make pink work in the dining/kitchen area. If it weren't for this, I could just go crazy with the red. This will only be the 4th time I've painted it!

Sweet little boys. Jack hates his puffer vest. Nick and I tried to show him that Owen had one on too, but he just pouted, "It's not the same!" In the end, we won, and he wore it to church. It's the small victories, people.

My 23rd Birthday - Revisited!

Ancient footage of a party held six years ago has emerged. The pictures were made on something called "film." These pictures have been converted into a more convenient format for the sake of this communication. These are the pictures.

My 23rd birthday was one of my very best birthdays ever! I planned a surprise party for myself only to discover that my mother-in-law and sister-and-law actually filled my requests! We had ice cream cake, a Strawberry Shortcake theme, and wedding punch. That was way back when my BFF Rachel still lived here! The only thing missing was Nick. He was at Niagra Falls that day with his band. Were we babies then, or what?!