Santa Came to Our House

Finally, a cute family picture of the six of us.  It was the Sunday before Christmas and we were all dressed in our finest attire, looking cute and Christmas-y.  Even with the picture taking, we still make it to church before the opening hymn was over.  Quite a feat for us, I must say.

Because we travel so much over Christmas, we ask Santa to come to our house a couple of days early.  This year he came on the Monday morning before Christmas.  The kids left cookies, candy and milk for Santa and sugar cubes and water for Rudolph.  Fortunately we know just what Santa likes.  The kids even left double for Mrs. Claus.  Wasn't that thoughtful?  Of course they left a note, and Santa was nice enough to write them back.  

Elise discovered a Hannah Montana beanbag chair amongst her stuff, which she loved.   She likes to sit in it when she watches a show or movie.  

Elise was more than a little excited by these "rock star boots", as she called them.  She's wanted boots like this for a long time and Santa delivered.

Ian loved everything he opened and he got lots of cool boy stuff to counteract all the girly things around this house.  Here he is with something Elise picked out for him.  Is that face priceless or what?

Ian also found a beanbag chair on Christmas morning.  He likes it and looks too cute sitting in it!

Merry Grace was a little shocked by the early-ness of the hour, so it took her a little while to get into the groove of Christmas.  She got lots of fun things, including these fancy shoes.  She told me she got "Five Shoes" which wasn't quite true.  I'm pretty sure we bought them in pairs, so I think that made six shoes or three pairs. :)  Either way, she has LOVED them.

This is what she really wanted for Christmas--a baby doll.  She loves it and is such a good mommy to her baby.  She tells me all that time that she's going to be the mommy to her babies, not me.  And she's right. :)

Baby Paige was just a little too small to open many presents this year, so she had to have lots of help.  I don't think it mattered much to her what she got, but Santa knows that even a little baby needs a few presents.

Christmas is Coming

Each year, the closer it gets to Christmas, the more excited Cory is to open presents.  He can hardly wait for the actual day to get here.  He's suggested more times than the kids that we should open a present early.  So last night his excitement got the better of him and we called the kids into the living room to let them open a present.  I'm pretty sure Cory was just as excited as the kids were.  The fun thing about it, is that his enthusiasm is contagious.  It makes everything so much fun!!!  So here are the kids opening brand new hooded towels.  They are such a cute bunch. :)

I am a Child of God

Yesterday morning, Paige was getting a little tired of the whole "getting ready for church" routine.  Being the fouth child sometimes means you are the last one to get dressed and sometimes that can make you a little cranky.  So after working with the other kids, it was finally sweet baby Paige's turn to get ready.  I had started changing her diaper while talking to her and cooing at her and she began grinning her ear-to-ear grins.  And since it was Sunday, I began singing the words to "I am a Child of God."  For some reason, she didn't seem to mind the singing:

 "I am a child of God, 

And He has sent me here.

Has given me an earthly home 

With parents kind and dear."

And since she was kicking her little legs and still smiling her cute little smile and there was still dressing to be done, I went on to the second verse.

"I am a child of God,

And so my needs are great

Help me to understand His words

Before it grows too late."

And somehow, as I was singing those words to her, I realized that it wasn't my song to her, but her song to me.  She was more than just this cute, tiny baby who needed to be dressed for church.  She was a sweet little spirit, entrusted to my care who needed to be loved, cared for and taught.  Sometimes, in the midst of busy life and dealing with kids who like to pour out bottles of shampoo, play in super glue and flush unflushable things down the toilet, I forget who they really are.  And I'm thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who will reach out to me in the midst of a hectic Sunday morning, and remind me.

The Days of our Lives

We've not had anything terrible earth-shattering or exciting going on, just regular life.  And as I was downloading pictures off my new camera (have I mentioned that I LOVE having one again?) I thought maybe it would be more fun to post about our everyday life with the pictures to go along with it.

My brother, Adam, has been staying with us for the last few weeks, helping do some work for Cory and provide his amazing computer skills.  The kids are loving having him around.  He plays this game with Merry Grace called the roller coaster, where he slings her up and down and all around like she's really on a roller coaster.  And yes, she really is going as fast as her hair indicates.  What a good uncle!!!

Ian is not left out of the fun.  Uncle Adam will also toss him (and Elise)  into the air until I feel sure his arms must be ready to fall off.  And yes, Ian is really as high as he looks. :)  He has provided great entertainment for the kids in the evening when Dad and (especially) Mom are a little frazzled by days end.

Baby Paige continues to get lots and lots and lots of love, all the way around.  She might just be the smiliest baby I've every seen.  Pretty much all you have to do is make eye contact with her to get a huge grin.  Then coo at her and tell her how sweet she is and she can hardly contain herself.  It is so precious.  I thought some of the newness was going to wear off, but so far no one is losing interest in holding her.  I can't blame them, though.  She is the most cuddly thing I've ever seen.

Here is a prime example of some of the attention she gets.  The other day she was just relaxing in the boppy while I made the bed, when Merry Grace crawled right up there and started "reading" her the Ensign.  Merry Grace said she read "all the words" to her and I did hear her say "Jesus" quite a few times so I think she's got the idea.  Paige was fascinated. :)

I had to post these pictures, too.  Not only does Baby Paige get read to, she also gets groomed by her big sis.  I walked in and found Merry Grace wiping her down to her hearts content.  She wiped down her hands, arms, head, face and any other surface she could find.  Lucky for Paige, she will be one clean little baby.  You know, she was probably dirty from all that laying around, smiling, cooing and stuff...

Elise performed at her school last night in a holiday concert with all the other second graders.  Of course, she was the cutest one there.

She knew every word to every song.  I think the hardest part for her may have been not breaking it down during the "What's Cookin'" song.  She looked so grown up and like she was having so much fun.  How is it that seeing your baby sing a song about a 50-foot buffet can move you to tears?  I was so proud of her I thought I would burst.

She had a big cheering section, too.  Besides her immediate family, Uncle Adam (crazy kid) came, as did her Grandma and Grandpa (Cory's folks).  We had such a great time supporting her and singing some Christmas songs at the end.

I am convinced that boys do not need toys.  Ian's imagination is quite enough.  Here he is playing in the armoire where Cory keeps his t-shirts and shorts.  I'm just glad he was in Cory's stuff.  :)

Usually this kid is just happy-go-lucky.  But even he has his moments.  Can you believe we make him wipe his own heinie?  Yep, that's the reason for this priceless expression.  I'm sure one day he'll thank us. 

I don't think I even posted about all our water drama a while back.  Ever since we moved into this house, we've known we would one day need to dig a new well.  It just couldn't provide the amount of water needed for a family of our size, not to mention the amount of company we have.  Well, that time came less than two weeks after sweet little Paige joined our family.  Oh yes, we had to dig a well when she was a little over a week old.  Which meant we went for a week with no running water.  Thankfully we have wonderful family in town who graciously let us use their showers and fill up water jugs each day.  Now we have more than enough water for what we need and I'm so grateful.  This morning, however, we were apparently due a filter change.  Elise came out of the shower telling us it was "raining sand".  Cory got it all straightened out, though, and we're in good shape again.  And Elise is no worse for wear.

I love this picture because it reminds me of Elise when she was just a little girl.  Something about her expression takes me right back to her toddler days.  Just the other day Cory told Merry Grace to "ask nicely" for something.  As soon as he said that I asked him if he remembered when we used to tell Elise that same thing and she would respond with "Nicely" instead of the "Please" we had expected.  It was so cute.  Cory said, "No, I don't remember that.  And that makes me so sad.  I wonder how many other things I've forgotten."  I'm sure we have forgotten a lot.  But hopefully we're remembering a lot too.

My kids love tattoos.  Merry Grace wants a new one every day.  In fact, she works really hard to scrub hers off each day so she can get a new one.  Monkey tattoos are her favorite.  Ian and Elise like them quite a bit too.  I got this booklet that has hundreds of tattoos.  I don't think we're going to run out any time soon.  Someone once said to me that she never understood why parents let their kids have fake tattoos and then wondered why they got real ones when they grew up.  I think about that every time I put one on my kids and hope to goodness it isn't true.  If it is, we're in big trouble.

Ian loves his baby sister.  I think he would attach her to himself if he could.  I'm surprised with how much we wants to love on her and play with her and hold her.  It is very sweet.

Seriously, how cute is this girl.   I think that says it all.

Overheard

Yesterday, riding in the car, Elise was asking Ian to guess the answers to questions about herself--her eye color, her favorite color, her favorite flavor ice cream--and eventually ran out of stuff to ask.  So she started asking him questions about himself.

Elise:  "When is your birthday?"

Ian:  "I have no idea!"

Elise: " It's September 23rd, silly!!!"

Ian:  "Again?!"

Who knew he needed that explained to him?  :)

Question of the Day

Courtesy of Ian as we ate our lunch of spaghetti...

Ian: "Mommy, what animal does spaghetti come from?"

It took everything I had not to burst out laughing, because he was totally sincere in his question.  I explained, briefly, where spaghetti comes from.  Then he replied, "Oh good.  I thought it came from an animal.  I'm glad it doesn't come from an animal because then Elise wouldn't like to eat it any more."  Ah yes, my sometime vegetarian... But still a sweet thought on Ian's part.  :)

And the line is...

Why is it that kids pick up on the very thing they shouldn't?  I remember as a kid my youngest brother caught on to a line from a movie.  He was on a walk with my parents when he kicked at a stick on the ground and said, "What the he_ _ is this thing?"  My stunned parents quickly uncovered it was a direct quote from a "kids" movie.  This week we watched the movie Cars, which I thought was totally adorable.  It's been a really long time since I watched it.  Well, Ian has been going around saying, "You need some new tires, idiot!"  Yep, straight out of the movie.  And it doesn't seem to be just movies.  As I think I've posted about before, Merry Grace is a big fan of the word, "boobies".  You never know when that one's going to come out, but every now and then she gets silly (like last night at dinner) and just randomly throws out a loud, "Boobies!!!"  There's a saying that goes, "Children seldom misquote.  In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said."  It may not necessarily be something you said, but you get the picture.  I think there could be a whole commentary on what kids are allowed to hear/see and so on.  But sooner or later they will pick up on these things at school or somewhere else.  So with Ian, we tried to turn his catchphrase into a teaching moment.  So now he walks around saying, "You need new tires, Idiot.  Did you hear that?  Idiot.  That's not a nice word to say."  Yep.  A total success.  I think he's got the idea.  Score one for perfect parenting. :)

Pictures

My digital camera crashed few months back, so Cory and I have been sharing which is tough because he needs his for work a lot, so a bunch of times I wouldn't have it around to capture all the cute things the kids were up to. And it doesn't take good pictures anyway. :) Believe it or not, I didn't take one picture of the kids in their Halloween costumes and not one picture of Paige in her blessing dress. Ugh. It makes me sick to think of. But...Santa Claus dropped off a new camera a little early this year beacuse I've been an extra good girl this year (or at the very least I haven't been any worse :). So I've been making up for lost time the last few days. Here were some of my favorite pictures from last night. Ian was in full Spiderman mode and the other kids were just being cute. I think my favorite may be the one of Cory kissing Merry Grace. Too adorable. But I like them all. What a great family!!!

Love

I think they like her. :)

Chain of Service

I've loved reading on some of my friends blogs about the activities their families are doing. There have been some really great ideas. So I thought I'd post something we started this month. We made a service paper chain to countdown the days until Christmas. Each person thought of a few services they could provide for another member of the family...cooking a favorite meal, playing a favorite game, going on a date, cleaning a room, making a bed and jumping on the trampoline together were a few that different ones thought of. We wrote (or helped write) each service on a piece of paper and then made the strips into a paper chain. One person tears a strip off each day and they get to be the recipient of the service offered. Yesterday Ian had his closet cleaned by Elise and today Elise will get to have lunch with her Daddy. What impressed me most was how thoughtful and generous the services were. I think it will be a fun way for our family to be closer over the holidays.

Thanksgiving

With Thanksgiving come and gone and Christmas celebrations in full swing, one can't help but reflect on the many blessing we have and the many things we have to be thankful for.  So here are mine:

I'm thankful for a daughter who is everything you could ask for in a child--kind, sweet, thoughtful, helpful, smart, easy to please, responsible and loving.  And she has just enough sassiness in her to keep her feisty and from being completely perfect.   And I'm thankful that she still thinks hanging out with her mama is cool.

I'm thankful for a little boy who keeps me on my toes and insures that I never have a dull moment.  I'm also thankful for the sweet hugs and kisses that he bestows so freely and for his kind heart and innocence that is so endearing.  And I'm thankful that he still calls me Mommy.

I'm thankful for this little gal who is so full of personality, who keeps us laughing, smiling, and wanting to pull our hair out.  I'm thankful that she's so motherly and protective and independent all at the same time.  And I'm thankful that she still wants to hold my hand.

I'm thankful for a healthy, beautiful, contented, smiling baby who is deliciously sweet smelling and cuddly beyond words.  I'm thankful that she sleeps well, that she smiles at everyone, but at her mama the most, that she likes to be held and snuggled and kissed to pieces.  

And I'm thankful for a husband who is handsome and wonderful.  I'm thankful that he almost always knows whether I need to be hugged 'til I'm happy, to let off some steam, to eat a bite of chocolate, to turn up my music and dance around the living room, or lock the bedroom door and take a time out.  I'm thankful that he wants to share his life with my craziness and even more thankful that he seems to enjoy it.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

Every mother should have at least one child who feels this way about their room.

Way to go, Elise!!!

Peace

One day last week I had had a rough day.  Actually, just a few rough hours.  I can't seem to remember now what all the frustrations were--which probably says something about how unimportant they really were--but nevertheless, I was getting stressed out.  I think I needed to feed Paige who was getting fussy, Merry Grace woke up grumpy as all get-out from her nap, dinner was cooking, Ian was probably destroying somthing and things were just getting hectic.  Elise could tell things were getting out of hand and she went to her room and came back with something shiny in her hand and handed it to me.  A while back, she had collected the wrappers from a bag of Dove's Promise candy and saved them in her nightstand drawer.  I looked down to see this message on the wrapper: "Create peace for yourself."  What a sweet, funny girl she is!!!  She broke the tension of the moment by making me laugh and warmed my heart because it showed me that she loved me and wanted to help me feel better.  So I tried to do what the message said.  I even put it on the refrigerator to remind me to create peace for myself, because I need that reminder about 100 times a day. :)  

Peanut Butter

Can I just take a minute to say how much I love Peter Pan Honey-roasted peanut butter?  It is without a doubt the most tasty peanut butter ever made.  It is creamy with just the right amount of sweetness.  Yum, yum, yum!!!  I think I could eat the whole jar.  It is so good.  Maybe I'll go get a spoonful right now....

Tagged by my funny, smart, talented, and lovely cousin Lisa

8 Favorite TV shows:
1. The Closer
2. NCIS
3. 24
4. House
5. Bones
6. Good Morning America
7. Cold Case
8. Dancing with the Stars

8 Things I did Yesterday:
1. Help the kids decorate the house to welcome Cory back home from a business trip.  We strung yellow crepe paper all over the entire living room to make what the kids called "laser blades."
2. Went to get McDonalds and Applebees take out for dinner.  (I was tired of cooking. :))
3. Went for a walk in our neighborhood with the kids.  
4. Cleaned the house
5. Snuggled with my baby who is rapidly leaving the newborn phase behind and becoming an infant.
6. Ate chocolate candy left over from Halloween.  
7. Loaded up my four sleeping children into the van to go pick up Cory from the airport at 11:30. 
8. Wore mismatched socks all day because I couldn't find a match to save my life.

8 Things I look forward to
1. Christmas!
2. The weekend
3. My next meal. ( I LOVE food!!!!)
4. Snuggling with Cory at nighttime.
5. The Twilight movie
6. Kissing my kids wonderfully soft, sometimes chubby cheeks
7. Date night!!!
8. My next trip to Target. :)

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Applebees
2. The Village Tavern
3. This Chinese restaurant we always eat at, but I have no idea what the name is. 
4. Sonic
5. My Kitchen (my cousin, Lisa, wrote this but its true.  I enjoy cooking and eating what I cook. :))
6. My Grandma's kitchen (There's no place in the world like it.)
7. Tripps
8. Goobers

8 Things on my Wishlist:
1. A porch swing
2. Pay off all our bills
3. Finish my college degree (or at least go back to school for something I am interested in pursuing...)
4. Money to fix our house (its not terrible, but its older and could use some tlc to make it nicer--new bathrooms, "fancy" up the downstairs, new windows, curtains...)
5. A big family vacation, somewhere out of the ordinary.  (I love our smaller ones and the good family time, but I'd like to do something spectacular one time.)
6. A romantic get-away with my honey. :)
7. A lilac bush.
8. A big snow this winter.

8 People to Tag:
1. Amanda B.
2. Susan R.
3. Bonnie B.
4. Kathryn H.
5. Kory W.
6. Lynetta Y.
7. Melissa W.
8. Everyone else who reads my blog and I can't fit into number 8...

Passy-less

Merry Grace came up to me yesterday and was admiring my earrings. Then she said, "I want to get earrings like Mommy." My first reaction was to say, "Maybe when you're bigger." Then I got to thinking that maybe this could turn into something good for both of us. So I said to her, "You can get your ears pierced if you throw away all your passies." Wouldn't you know that she did just that?! Just picked them up and threw them away like they were gum wrappers. Then she spent the afternoon going through my jewelry, looking at all my earrings. So later that evening, after Cory got home, we took her to Wal-Mart and got her ears pierced!!! She was very excited and very brave. She did ask for her passy at bedtime, but got over it more quickly than I'd ever imagined she would. And today she hasn't even asked for it. I'm a little bit in shock over how easy the transition has been so far. So here is the little cutie showing off her new earrings. She's awfully proud. :)

One of these days

Maybe one of these days I'll get used to Ian's penchant for trouble.  One day last week, in preparation for Halloween, I was getting the kids' costumes together.  Ian decided to be a ghost, so I had a couple of white pillowcases out and about to put it together.  I had just come up from downstairs with a load of laundry and left the door to downstairs open.  (If you are my Grandmother, who constantly frets over the dangers of the stairs, even from a few hundred miles away, or my Mother-in-Law, who prays daily to protect the kids from the possible accident of falling down the stairs, stop reading now.)  I went into the kitchen to set up my costume making operation when I heard a scream followed by several loud bumps and bangs.  Instantly I knew Ian was falling down the stairs, but couldn't get to him fast enough to do anything about it.  At the time, I was scared to death and my knees were shaking like crazy.  But now that its been while and I know he was okay, I can see the situation in a little different light.  When I rounded the corner and saw Ian at the bottom of the stairs, I quickly saw what had happened.  Ian had put a white pillowcase over his head and was stumbling around the living room pretending to be a ghost.  But with no eye holes, he couldn't see where he was going and walked right off the landing at the top of the stairs.  Not only that, but the poor kid had his arms trapped at his side (inside the pillowcase, remember?) so he couldn't stop or catch himself.  Fortunately he didn't have anything worse than a bright purple bruise on his hip bone.  There is no doubt he is my child.  

Later that same day, Ian and Merry Grace were playing in my closet while I was out in my room folding clothes.  They love to hide behind my clothes, so I didn't think anything about it, until once again I heard a loud crash.  I ran into the closet and found Ian and Merry Grace lying on the closet floor on their backs, my lower closet rod and all the clothes hanging on it, smushed right on top of them, hangers jutting out every which way.  "What in the world?!" I said, to which Ian replied, "I was just doing a flip."  Good grief.  Too bad he didn't reccognize it for what it was, mistaking it for a gymnastics bar instead. :)

This past Sunday we went down to Cory's folks house for the day.  We pulled up to their house, only no one was home.  So the kids and I sat in the car while Cory tried to get inside.  Ian climbed into the front seat and was playing around like he always does.  All of a sudden I realized the car was moving forward.  It took me a second to figure out what had happened--it truly did shock me--and slammed the gearshift back into park...just as the car rolled into the brick side of their house.  Just then, Cory raised the garage door and saw the van touching the house.  Unbelievable.  Yep, Ian had put the car in drive and rolled us right into the house.  I guess the van wasn't any worse for wear, considering the other things that have happened to it and the house is fine.

So, maybe one day I'll get used to Ian's messes.  But it doesn't look like that day is coming anytime soon!!!

Cute kids

The other day Ian was snuggling in the bed with Cory and I.  Actually he and Cory were wrestling more than anything.  When things finally settled down, Ian was lying on Cory's arm but wiggled out to scoot over to me.  As he did, he said to Cory, "I need to lay with Mommy.  Your fur is making me too hot!"  Thinking about it still makes me laugh.  Granted, Cory is hairier than me--thank goodness--but certainly not as much as you'd think to hear Ian tell it.

This afternoon, baby Paige was playing on the floor.  She'd been laying there so contently and we'd all been talking to her and playing with her.  Merry Grace was down there, almost in her face, when Paige grabbed a hold of Merry Grace's passy--yes she still has one.  MG thought it was so cool and I played right along saying, "Isn't baby Paige amazing that she can get your passy?"  Merry Grace laughed and said, "She's a Super Power Ranger!!!"  You gotta love this family, where you can be a super power ranger just for getting someone else's passy!! :)

Conveniently Vegetarian

The other night I fixed some kind of chicken dish for dinner.  For the life of me, I can't remember what it was, but it really doesn't matter.  The kids first reaction to my cooking is rarely a positive one.  Sometimes they will change their opinion after tasting it, often not.  *Sigh*  So, as usual, when I was almost done preparing dinner, Elise came in to inspect the food.  After looking in the pots & pans, she looked at me and said, "I don't know if you know it, but I don't eat animals."  I did't know about this and told her so.  "Yes, " she said, "I don't eat food from animals, its pitiful."  Remembering what she'd had for lunch, I said, "Didn't you eat a hamburger for lunch?  That comes from a cow."  She thought for a moment and said, "Well, mainly I just don't eat chicken. "  Ah ha.  How convenient.  Where do they come up with this stuff?

Stubborn

Kids are stubborn when they want something.  I was reminded again today of just how much.  Merry Grace was super easy to potty train.  It was so easy, I'm not sure I can even take credit for it happening.  Then she suddenly decided she didn't want to poopy in the potty and reverted back to diapers, just to poopy.  It was a little annoying, but she would just bring me a diaper, do her business, and then I'd change it.  It was a pretty effective little system she had going.  I tried once just not putting the diaper on her when she asked, but after she didn't poop for 3 1/2 days I finally gave in.  Yesterday I decided to try again--I just flat-out refused to put the diaper on her.  Well, lo and behold, she poopied in the potty!!!  We cheered her on like we'd just found out she'd be the first woman to walk on the moon.  It had been a long-standing thing that as soon as she accomplised that little feat we'd take her out and buy her a baby doll.  So last night after dinner that is just what we did.  She picked a baby doll that cost $2.96 and a pair of Wal-Mart's Halloween crocs.  She was so excited and proud.  I was sure we were on to something good.  Wouldn't you know, here she comes today, walking up to me with a diaper, telling me she needs to poopy.  Once again, I wouldn't do it, thinking we'd end up with the same result as last time.  I was busy cleaning up the kitchen from lunch, when I heard Merry Grace yell "Mama" from the living room.  In response to my "What?", she answered, "I'm poopying in my diaper."  Sure enough, that little imp had managed to put her own diaper on and poop in it.  We had a nice little talk and I put away her new baby doll and crocs until she poopies on the potty again.  The next order of business is to hide her diapers so she can't pull that little move again.  But she's obviously quite determined, so I'm a little nervous about what stunt she may try next.  What a funny little girl!!!

The things they learn...

Somewhere or somehow, my sweet little girl learned a lovely little phrase--"Shake your booty."  I'm not sure where Merry Grace picked this up, but I'm fairly certain it wasn't from me.  Unfortunately she got the phrase wrong and instead of saying "shake your booty" she says "shake your boobies."  I'm not really sure I wanted her walking around saying the real phrase, much less her interpretation!!!  Having said that, I did have a pretty good chuckle the first time I saw her stick her little bum out and go, "Shake your boobies, shake your boobies..."  Now I just have to figure out where she picked up the phrase from--and give them a good smackdown!!!

My entrepreneur

It has probably been a year ago now, but we gave Elise our old digital camera.  It was the first one we ever bought and it is large, clunky, low mega-pixels and the like.  It works fine, but its not really that great.  Well, a friend of ours gave Elise a digital camer after Paige was born.  It is cute, comes with changeable face plates, is smooth and sleek and she LOVES it.  Naturally, her old one became even more of a dinosaur than it already was.  But one man's junk is another man's treasure, and wouldn't you know that Ian fell in love with that old camera.  Naturally, I thought Elise passing it down to Ian was a great idea, but she had other plans.  I caught wind of some negotiations, only to find out that Elise was going to sell the camera to Ian for a hefty price, especially for a 5 year old to purchase.  Then this morning Ian was walking around with this long eraser that he'd gotten from Elise.  As he was telling me about it, he mentioned buying it from Elise.  It turns out that a friend of Elise's at school had given her these two erasers and she came home and sold one to Ian for $5.00!!!!!  Ian has a change jar in his room where he saves money and a few weeks ago he put a $5.00 bill in there from Grandma Dee-Dee for his birthday.  He had taken that money and paid Elise for this eraser of hers.  Apparently she's a little entrepreneur.  So watch out.  If you want something of hers, you will probably have to pay her for it, or at least work out a trade.

Funny stuff

Last night Elise came up and gave me an enormous hug. She looked up at me and said, "Now that you aren't pregnant anymore, I can squeeze you really tight and not hurt you." I just smiled and told her that was exactly right. Then she said, "You aren't big at all anymore. Your tummy is little." Then she started speaking in that little voice like you're talking to a tiny baby or a puppy and said, "Yes, now you have a squishy tummy again." At this point she began squishing my tummy and in a sing-song voice saying, "Squishy, squishy tummy...It's so squishy!" I might have been frustrated if it weren't so true...or if I hadn't been laughing so hard.

While Cory & I were at the hospital having baby Paige, my parents had baby-sitting duty.  They took the kids out for an afternoon at the park.  At the lake at the park, they saw fish and turtles.  When they were telling me about it that night, I said, "I can't believe you saw turtles!!!  We've never seen them before when we've gone."  Elise said, "I think that's because when we usually go we throw rocks into the lake.  This time we threw pieces of bread.  I think the turtles like that better."  I'm pretty sure she's right. :)

The other night, it was getting close to bedtime and I said to Merry Grace, "Why don't you go put your pajamas on?"  She looked at me and with a toss of her head goes, "How 'bout No?!"  She's picking up on the sassiness much earlier than I expected.  But it was pretty funny.

Paige is not particularly funny at this point, but she is cute and sweet.   I finally have a baby who is an excellent sleeper.  Today, for example, she was asleep in her little bed.  I really wanted to vacuum the carpet, but was hesitant because she was sleeping.  But she's so used to being around noise (the older kids are always doing something loud), so I decided to try it and see how she'd do.  So I vacuumed the entire room and she never made a peep.  She did stir a little bit when I vacuumed up a bobby pin, but other than that she didn't even budge.  I've heard of people being able to do that but never believed it could actually happen to a child of mine. :)  

Paige has just been a wonderful addition to our family.  We all love her to pieces.  It's amazing how much fuller the house feels with just one more child.  So often I'm reminded of the line from the song "Remember When" by Alan Jackson: "Remeber when the sound of little feet, was the music we danced to week to week."  I feel like that line exactly describes what our life is like on a daily basis.  It's busy and its crazy, but I can't imagine it any other way.

Baby Pictures

Shannon White (who some of you know) took some beautiful pictures of Paige the other day. We enjoyed getting to hang out with her and her sweet babies a little bit. She was Ian's primary teacher for a while and was so good with his, *ahem*, enthusiasm. So we just love her for that. She is so talented and is able to capture all the sweet baby cuteness. Enjoy!!!

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Sweet Sisters

I took some pictures of Merry Grace loving on Paige today.  They are some cute, cute girls. :)

Paige really is not crying here, she's yawning.  Merry Grace loves kissing her.

Don't you just want to scoop them up and squeeze them?

More smooches...

Merry Grace is kissing her again, but she looks like she might be taking a nibble.  Even if she were, though, I couldn't blame her.  She really is cute enough to eat.

You gotta love these gals!!!