Insomniacs

Must have been the sleep deprivation getting to me... I forgot to blog two of the main stories yesterday. They were my REASON for blogging in the first place. Oy.

Yesterday morning at 5:45 I woke with a start because I heard a door snick shut. I headed down the hall to investigate and sure enough, Liam's light was on. I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could, opened his door, switched off his light, and admonished in a whisper that it is WAY too early and that he needed to go back to sleep. I closed his door behind me, began to head back to my bedroom, and realized that it was still too bright. So then I headed downstairs and there were two more lights on. Next, I saw that once again the Halloween candy is out on the table. There were no wrappers anywhere in sight, not even in the garbage can. So I closed them up and put the containers up high where, hopefully, he couldn't get into them once again. I went back upstairs and thought for a second in the hallway. I opened his door, in the dark this time, and asked if he had eaten any candy. A little voice answered, "just this" and he waved a lollipop into my hand. I told him that candy is for dessert and to go back to sleep. Then I went back to bed. We all got a little more sleep, but I still can't figure out why he woke up early and then what prompted the need for candy. I have a notorious sweet tooth, but I've never gotten out of bed while it is still dark to get a candy fix! =/

The day BEFORE, I woke up early to have my quiet time in peace. I always head downstairs for this time, so I can turn on the fireplace (yes, you read that right) and maybe have coffee, curl up in a blanket and read my Bible and whatever moms' group book we're working on. If I don't get up before everyone else, this kind of quiet time doesn't usually appear anywhere else in the day. Now I understand the Proverbs 31 woman a little better... it says she rises before the dawn... well, no wonder. If her house is anything like mine with the noise level, I've figured out why she gets up before the dawn, too!

Anyway, like I said, the day before Liam's sugar rush, I'd gotten up early as usual. I noticed that Carrie's door was open and she wasn't in bed. I checked the bathroom thinking maybe she was in there but I didn't see her. I didn't turn any lights on as I made my way downstairs. There weren't any on downstairs either. I found her snuggled under the dog's blanket and on top of the dog, sound asleep. Triskal let out a huge sigh, just like Jackson used to do (he was my aunt & uncle's beloved Rottie who was incredibly patient with all of us kids) and it made me wonder if it was a "please get this kid offa me" or a "I'm so pleased my girl is snuggling with me" sigh. I left the girls be and took my Bible back upstairs, grinning the whole time. No idea why she was up so early either. I don't know if they are hearing something outside that I'm not or what, but they've been keeping me guessing!

Today he was up early again, but I'd beat him downstairs. He just started breakfast earlier. No harm, no foul ;)

Grah

Okay, I'm totally procrastinating. I've just checked the links to the right and they seem to be working. For those of you who pay close attention to this, you'll notice right away there are a few new links. I hope you enjoy them. I'm trying to keep links on here that are funny, helpful, or thought provoking. Enough playing around.

I am retarded in that I can't figure out how to blog my photos from photoshop. I'd always used picasa and now we have both and I'm having trouble. It's not a lack of pictures to choose from trouble, far from it; it is a loading and sorting and how-do-I-get-them-from-a-to-b trouble. Any help would be appreciated. Or I could just trip over it myself.

So the stories. Today Liam was reading Carrie's handwritten name off the back of one of her school papers. "C-A-R-R-J-E. That spells "bear." " Hehe. And when I asked her if hippos are gray or brown, she told me she thought they were both. Then she elaborated, "hippos in the zoo are brown. Hippos at the North Pole are gray." So now you know ;)

They played in the snow this afternoon as school was cancelled because of it. We attempted a snowman, but it is all powdery ice, so we humped a few humps together and called it a snow caterpillar. We even used dead lily stalks for his antennae. And she made a snow angel. Then they traipsed to the back yard and decided to use all their bats, frisbees, and sand toys to play. And we tossed snow all over Triskal. Then we came in, had hot cocoa with mini marshmallows, had tantrums, and went to bed for naps.

This has nothing at all to do with the kids, but I have so much Hawaii info, websites, photos, etc. that it is going to take another blog to do all that. I don't want to put it here because this one is for the kids. Keep an eye on the Links List and then you'll be pleasantly surprised when it makes an appearance. I journaled while we were there, so I have a rough idea of where we were and when, but there are SO many stories and such that I can't email everyone w/ them. I figure a blog will show it much better than any other means. Thanks for being so patient! I know a lot of you are eagerly awaiting details. It's hard to find time to do it w/ the kids, the Wii Fit, and quiet time. I refuse to give up my long winter naps (as in sleep... I rarely get good naps anymore) but will do the best I can to do it all justice. If you ever get the opportunity to go, GO! I can't stress that enough. =)

I'm going to cuss some more at the programs for photos and will try to be much more regular w/ blogging. It is a New Year, after all! Take care and stay warm!

Back!

Gonna blog today- just gotta get the kids in from the snow and down for naps. Been trying all morning to figure out how to do pictures, but am having some incompatibility issues (read: the computer refuses to read my mind). Hopefully photos by the end of day, but stories at least! =D