A Snow (or should I say ice) Day!

It is almost 12:30 and I have to admit that all three of my children are still in their pajamas! Is it ok to admit that? They are currently taking every single book off of the bookshelf and packing them into 6 drawers (that they have already dumped all of the toys out of) and going on a trip to "another world" that is located upstairs. Braylee informed me that they are not going to live there, they are just going to spend the night there. And here I am, sitting on the computer. I guess I figure 30 minutes of them entertaining themselves and playing together without fighting is worth the hour it will take me (with their help, of course) to clean it all up later! :) We are planning on making some cookies a little bit later so maybe that will give them some motivation to pick it all up!

Brecca asked me this morning what happens when Santa dies. She acted really concerned about Santa's health and how he was able to survive delivering all of those presents to all of the kids througout the world. Then the truth came out - if Santa died, she was afraid she wouldn't get presents anymore! I explained to her that Santa is magic and lives forever. That satisfied her. She was no longer concerned about Santa or his health!

Braylee asked me a couple of days ago if I knew who her favorite person at Disneyworld was. I asked her if it was a princess. She said, "No, she is a mermaid." Hmmmm? Wonder who that could be? Maybe her clue may have been a little too helpful! She seemed suprised though when I guessed Ariel on the first guess!

Brax has a new word - probably. Except it comes out pwobley. I asked him today if he wanted jelly on his peanut butter sandwich and he said, "pwobley no." I asked him if he was going on the trip with the girls (to the other world!) and he said, "pwobley yes." Birth to 3 came to evaluate him the other day and were really impressed. She gave him some sort of speech assessment and he scored really well. She is going to call us with his actual results but neither one of them thought he would need more assisstance after he turns three. It was cute because she was showing him pictures in a book and asking him what they were. Anytime he wasn't sure what the picture was he would turn to me and say, "I want you to say it." It was like he already didn't want to admit he didn't know it and was like "I know what it is but I want you to tell them." There was a picture of a girl swimming and when they asked what she was doing he said she was laying down. It did look like she was laying down! Being Birth-3, they can only work with them from birth until the age of three (imagine that!) and since he will turn three in April, we need to determine if he will need speech services elsewhere. We can set up a meeting with the preschool and they will evaluate him and see where we go from there. He had all of the age appropriate speech sounds but our concern is what if he falls behind again and we aren't aware of it. It was just nice having them come every three months and reassure us that he was on target. So anyway, I guess the next step is setting up a meeting and seeing how they think we should proceed.

Well, the kids are upstairs visiting "another world" so I guess I better go check it out. It seems quieter there! Maybe I'll leave them there for awhile! :)

Does Brax need a haircut?

I put a poll on here to get opinions. I honestly wasn't meaning to let his hair grow out. He has just gone so long without a haircut that now I feel like he is halfway through the bad stage. I really have no idea so I am seeking opinions! Please vote!

You are warned!

Just wanted to warn you that although this post is funny, it might not be something that everyone wants to read! :) Braylee just came out of the bathroom and she said, " Hey Mommy, everytime I go to the bathroom and wipe, it kinda smells like that poop smell." I said "Well, did you go poop?" She says "Yeah, poop and pee." Well Bray, that explains why you smell the poop smell! :)

It was so nice out today! It really reminded me of Spring and made me wish it would hurry up! We took the kids out to Nate's parent's house and let them play outside. They played on the swingset, then rode their bikes, and hit some golf balls. It started getting dark and cooling off so we headed back into town. It was so nice to be able to get outside again though. I guess a day like today every now and then will get us through until we have nice weather every day!

The girls had an Open House at dance this week. Parents normally have to sit in a waiting room and can't see a thing so this week the instructor opened it up to parents. Their dances were so cute! Braylee did a really good job and knew all of the right moves. We also got to see pictures of their costumes and hers was adorable! I can't wait to see her in the recital. Brecca's dances were really cute too! Sadly though, I can't honestly say that Brecca knew all of the moves! :) I will admit that her danc is a lot more involved than Braylee's and that Brecca wasn't the only one who wasn't quite with the rest of them (ok, didn't have a clue!). I am keeping my fingers crossed that a lot will be gained in the next 5 months! For anyone who would like to put it on your calendar, the recital is the last weekend in May. I am sure it is going to be a night to remember!

As Nate was getting Brax out of the bathtub tonight, he (Brax, not Nate) said, " Hey Mommy, Daddy always call me buddy." It was cute. Maybe you had to be here to appreciate it!

Brecca lied to me tonight about who rode her bike out to the swingset. She said it wasn't her but everyone knew she had done it. I did a bad, bad thing! I told her that Grandma and Papa had a camera on their roof that recorded the swingset so they could see if anyone played on it when they weren't home and that I was going to go inside and watch the tape. She immediately admitted that it was her who had ridden the bike down there. As a punishment, she had to go up to bed at 7:30 instead of 8:00 tonight. It just so happened that Snow Dogs is on TV tonight and Braylee and Brax are watching it while Brecca screams from her bedroom. I feel really guilty but lying is definitely not something we want to happen around here and she needs to learn her lesson! I just have to keep telling myself that. Sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) I think the punishment is harder on Mom and Dad than it is on the kids!

A Sad Day!

Last week one night we were cleaning up after dinner. The kids were playing upstairs and the doorbell rings. It was a young couple who says to Nate, "Do you have a cat?" I knew immediately what they were going to tell him. I don't know how I knew but I just did. Nate followed them outside and came back in a few minutes later. Our cat had been hit by a car! Nate did his fatherly duties and took care of it. He buried him in the backyard. We were actually really upset by this. We had just gotten Max last summer but had gotten pretty attached to him. We decided to not tell the girls and to let them think he just ran away. I know, we took the easy way out! Except, it didn't turn out to be the easy way out! They kept searching for him and calling for him. They thought he ran away because he didn't like it here and because Brax was mean to him. We decided to go ahead and tell them so that maybe they could have some closure on the situation. I told Braylee on Friday while Brecca was at school. I explained to her that Max had been hit by a car. Apparently she didn't understand because she said, "Where is he?" "Well, he died Bray. I'm sorry," I said. She though about it for a minute and says, "Well, Mom, I think maybe we should have bought a smarter cat." She was as serious as she could be. She wasn't making a joke or anything like that. She just honestly though we should have gotten a smarter cat! You crack us up Bray!!!

Brecca didn't take it so well. We had decided to wait until Friday after school so maybe by Monday she wouldn't be so upset and it wouldn't affect her at school. To say she was upset would be an understatement! She cried and cried and cried.... for hours! She drew him a picture of her holding him and we took it out to the backyard and put it over where Nate had buried him. We explained to her that God loved cats too and he needed a nice cat in Heaven. She kept saying, "I know God needs nice cats in Heaven, but why did he have to take OUR cat?" It broke my heart to see her so upset! She went upstairs and curled up in her bed and cried. My mom came over and took her home with her and she cried all evening over there too. Poor girl. She has a slight sensitive side!

Football, Baseball, and Wrestling

I think Nate may have had his proudest moment as a father the other day! He was watching the National Championship FOOTBALL game as Brecca was taking her bath before bed. She gets out of the bathtub and comes into the living room, looks at the TV and says, "Awww, Dad, Why do we have to watch baseball?" Keep in mind, it was not baseball, but football that was on the TV. He says, "Brecca, look at the TV. Is that baseball?" She looks at the TV again and says, "Well, why do we have to watch wrestling?" Nate looks at me and says, "You can tell she's a real sports fanatic!"

A Few More Farm Pictures