Friday, March 22, 2013

Picture this

TGIF!

That pretty much sums up this post. We are all SO GLAD it is finally Friday night. It seems like we've been on the run all week long. Dada was in town this week, which is always nice.

Monday night I went to the Y with just Liam. I can't tell you the last time that happened! Tuesday, his bowling league was cancelled and he was disappointed, but that also meant he got time to relax in the tub. Wednesday brought Carrie's spring concert and since she was in the oldest class, they went last and the kids got to bed late. Yesterday Liam had his pack meeting that started at 7 in the evening, so he didn't get home until close to 9. Care Bear had THREE tests/quizzes today so all week she was made to study every possible second. She seems to think it paid off and that she did "excellently" on all of them. We shall see.

So right this second, she is blasting her way through The Legend of Zelda video game, Liam is immersed in Angry Birds on the iPad, Dada is curled in the armchair with a novel, Damon is loose and loud, and here I am. Surveying the scene of a week when next to no cleaning got accomplished by the big kids. Papers from here to Goshen. Magazines and library books strewn across every horizontal surface, including the floor. The dishwasher is full of clean dishes and the sink is overflowing with used ones, including two skillets. There's a pile of crumbled pizza crusts waiting to be tossed outside for our bird friends. I can see Carrie's brand new shoes sitting by the front door; her brand new swim suit still on a hanger hanging on the back of her kitchen chair, along with her dress shirt from the concert two nights ago; my (wonder of wonders) empty coffee mug on the counter with the spoon still in it; a toy doctor's kit (or two) that have apparently exploded between the big chair and the coffee table; various plastic Spongebobs, balls, Snoopy in a pumpkin car, a wooden spoon, a jack o lantern felt mask, Cookie Monster, an etch a sketch, recipes, coupons, pencils, pens, sippy cups, my cell phone, Carrie's school folder, the envelope for her class picture, a Hawaiian nut necklace, and several escaped finger puppets... all from my vantage point in this chair. We are blessed. With mess. But blessed, nonetheless. 

We've had dinner, which was leftovers for the kids and fish from a fish fry for us grown ups. The big kids had some outside play time right after school until dinner. They seem to think since it's sunny that it must be warm and had to be told more than once to put their fleeces on while they were out. Damon had his second three-hour nap in two days. I have a sneaking suspicion he's ready to outgrow all the clothes he has in his drawers right now. This is not a problem as he has boxes and boxes waiting to replace the ones in his drawers, I just wish he'd wait longer than the month and a half he's been in the current size. ;)

It's already 10 to 7 and I can't get used to the amount of light there still is outside. These wiped out kids are going to give me 7 kinds of grief when I tell them to get ready for bed. I know better than to hope they'll sleep in. I'm hoping to steal Liam away in the morning for breakfast out, or at least donuts. Then maybe I'll get to do the same with Carrie on Sunday before I go snuggle babies at church.

Uncle Kelly will be ordained in April, so we will be ending our Easter break with a visit to their new house and join the celebration of all his hard work before we get back into the school routine. I'm hoping we have a fun, relaxing vacation with a night at the movies for all of us and a chance to enjoy our schedule instead of the rush-rush-rush we've had.

Have a wonderful weekend! I'm being informed, "I wiw get my joos, I wiw get my joos.." so I must go. Sure enough, he brought the entire container of Simply Orange juice to me....

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Spring concert 2013



Hehehehehe, this is me whispering. I love that this picture makes her look like she has alien antennae. *insert silly sci-fi music here* (They are actually the handles to open the pantry doors behind her.)
 


Our cute concert girl and her new kicks...
 


Dada's girls, minus the fuzzy one...
 
 


Carrie is just to the left of her principal, front row. Remember that you can click on any picture to see a larger version of it.
 
 
 


This is NOT what Liam thought of the music, which he liked. This is just him showing off for the camera. Damon also loved it. We didn't hear a peep from him through the entire concert, where he sat in his jammies in his stroller. Elmo, on the other hand, had a dancing fit during the Tchaikovsky number, inducing a giggling fit in Carrie onstage.

The fourth grade did a selection from the classical composers. They covered Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and Bach. It wasn't the most lively concert we've been to, but it was well done and we could tell the kids worked very hard. It paid off!
 
 


There's Carrie and her handsome friend John. They've been good friends for many years and we get a kick out of hearing stories involving these two. ;)
 
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Art show

 
 


Along with the concert, the school also hosts their art show. Carrie's Picasso work is the middle one above, and her rocket is the bottom row second from the right.
 
 
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Total randomness, take two




"Stick 'em up! All eight of 'em, where I can see 'em! Now gimme all your clams!"
 


She takes up the entire loveseat these days. And she smuggles books everywhere. I've seen them hiding beside the bathtub when she's in there, I've confiscated them and flashlights from her bed and from most meals, and she always reads on the bus.
 


Then there's this goofball, who takes up the entire armchair. He and his trusty sidekick Cookie Monster go just about everywhere together. Unless he has Elmo with him already. Or one of his Big Birds. Safe to say we're big Sesame Street fans around here.

No, baby, Cookie's had enough to drink. He doesn't need a refill for the road...
 
 
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Liam at lacrosse, take two

 
 
 


Okay, see his smile in the picture above these words? That's his green ball in the net. He was so pleased that he'd finally scored! Those cheeks couldn't spread that smile any wider!
 
 
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Carrie at lacrosse, take two

 
 


While she does actually play her heart out, at the end of the session she discovered her lacrosse stick makes a fabulous air guitar. *sigh*
 
 
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Clenching teeth

I see it. Either my laptop or Blogger or Blogger vs Picasa are having issues. I'm getting the boxes with the little red x's in them after the Superhero post as well. I'll see what I can do after my lunch... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Superhero alert

 


"See that? Don't be fooled by the jammies. That, right there, is a CAPE!"
 
 
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Birdwatching boys in blue



You can see the chunks of ice that I keep dumping out of the birdbath, but the picture is actually of our humungous doves. I swear they are the fattest things around. They must appreciate all the sunflower seeds I've been supplying this winter...
 
 
 


The colorful finches make me smile. I heard my first killdeer of the season on Sunday- only four days later than I heard them last year. Of course, this morning it was flurrying, so they were probably looking around thinking, "phooey!"
 


Aren't my boys in blue so cute? They give me warm fuzzies!
 
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Silly beans and boys with books



Damon is showing off his new haircut. He always looks humungous after a haircut!
 
 


Here's my multi-media boys, in the midst of books AND the tv AND the DVD cases they are perusing. You can tell Liam is next in needing a haircut...
 
 
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Fing-oh putt-it



I don't remember exactly what food this was, perhaps a pizza crust, judging by the orange around his mouth and on his fingertips. At any rate, he was announcing that it was a finger puppet. Or in Damonese, a "fing-oh putt-it."
 
 
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