January 31, 2013

  I'm not sure what they were cooking, but it must have been fantastic.  All I could hear was Bailey exclaim, "Delicious!" and "Nummy!"

January 30, 2013

Out to lunch with Jeff, having a taco.  No big deal.

January 29, 2013

  This is Sydney's "Battle of the Books" team.  All the kids who chose to be a part of this competition had to read the same ten books. Today they competed against other teams in the school by answering questions about the books.  The top four teams get to move on to the city competition.  Syd's team got third place.  She was thrilled.  She's been reading constantly, some books two or three times.  

   I wish I could have gotten a picture of the actual competition.  But I didn't want the noise of my camera to distract them.  It was pretty tense.

January 28, 2013

Shelbi's favorite spot to read.

January 27, 2013

  In honor of the really fantastic nap I had this afternoon, here are some random pictures of my boys asleep on the stairs.

January 26, 2013

  The kids were watching The Princess Bride upstairs in the loft today.  I could hear it down in the dining room.  I had forgotten how funny it is.  Midway through the movie they stopped it for this:

An impromptu sword fight as Princess Buttercup looks on.

January 25, 2013

This doesn't seem that long ago.  Two years went by so quickly.

January 24, 2013

Bailey Bee turned two today.

I knew the broom would be her favorite...

Sheer joy.

What would we do without this spunky, goofy, jabbering, happy little girl?

January 23, 2013

Taking a test ride at Target.

January 22, 2013

This picture always makes my kids laugh.  Poor baby Ryan.

January 21, 2013

Taking pictures of babies with messy food faces never gets old...

 (This is the best I could find of clean-freak Erik.  I think there's some food on that face.  Maybe?)

January 20, 2013

  I discovered this on my phone.  Bailey's been taking pictures of herself.

January 19, 2013

  I asked this boy very nicely tonight if he'd stay four years old forever.  He said no.

January 18, 2013

  Ryan often asks me to take pictures of his Lego creations.  This happens to be the only picture I took today.  So here you go.

January 17, 2013

May 24, 2006.  A very good day.

Apparently the girls thought so to.

January 16, 2013

   Jeff and I have been lamenting the lack of snow this winter.  It seems like everyone I know outside of Amarillo has had their fair share of snow days.  So here are a couple of pictures from a snow day in New Jersey.  Shelbi had some hand-me-down snow clothes from a friend.  Poor Sydney just got outfitted in a couple layers of jeans.  We didn't stay out long.  Just enough time for them to taste the snow and get snow stuffed up their mittens.
   New Jersey didn't have a lot of snowy days, but it seemed every winter there'd be one massive storm that would  require everyone to stay home for a couple of days.  Oddly enough, it always happened on a weekend, when Jeff didn't have to go to school or the hospital.  Even church would be cancelled.  I'd kill for one of those days now.

January 15, 2013

  Jeff and I have been trying to reinforce good table manners lately.  Somewhere down the line we've slacked on this issue and it's led to  a lot of chewing with mouths open.  The food smacking noise drives me crazy.  
  Tonight, all manners aside, I couldn't deny Sydney the chance to prove she could eat all her green beans in one bite.

  And naturally if someone is being entertaining at the dinner table,  Ryan won't be outdone...

January 14, 2013

   This is a beautiful thing.  When the new year started we made some changes around here and one of those changes was a dish night for each of the kids.  I was doing dishes when I was at least Sydney's age, so Shelbi's had it good.  It will take some time before they always remember to wipe down the countertops or start the dishwasher, but it sure was nice to sit on the couch after dinner while the above was happening.

January 13, 2013

Sydney, 23 months

Bailey, 23 months

January 12, 2013

  I was doing some work on Sydney's scrapbook today and came across this picture.  Do you think I can convince Erik to wear this pumpkin costume again?  I love it so much.

January 11, 2013

  We found this hat in American Eagle while browsing the mall today.  It didn't take much convincing to get him to try it on.  Next year Ryan will go to Kindergarten and I will lose my goofy shopping partner.  Now, having kids in school during the day certainly has it's perks, but I have a feeling I'm going to miss having him around to make me laugh.

January 10, 2013

 My girls have discovered Full House on Nick@Nite.  They couldn't figure out how I knew all the characters' names and storylines, until I told them that it was around when I was little.  Apparently the show's a classic because it still makes pre-teen girls laugh.

January 9, 2013

 This little white step is Bailey's go-to item when she needs a little boost.  It's not very heavy and has a convenient handle that makes it easy for a little (almost) two-year-old to tote around.  It also gets used to reach treats in the pantry and to see what things the brothers are hiding on their dresser.

January 8, 2013

  Nine o'clock P.M.  No picture taken today until I saw Jeff anxiously awaiting his pizza to be done.  

January 7, 2013

  This picture is brought to you by the fine people at Ingrams Flooring, who installed this cozy carpet, making it possible for the castle and Batcave to be played with while laying on the floor.

January 6, 2013

  Tonight, the last night of Christmas break, we were playing cards...

 ...playing sock hockey...

... making hands super sticky with sucked-on M&Ms...

...and having pillow wars.

 Apparently the blanket tied around Erik's waist was too heavy for his saggy pants.

January 5, 2013

  It's little wonder that we get asked all the time if these boys are twins.   Ryan's crouching down a little in this picture, but they're really nearly the same height.  They didn't plan to wear the same clothes today; it was purely coincidental.

January 4, 2013

  Brownies at 10 o'clock at night?  Sure, why not?  Is this my second serving?  Maybe.  Why do you ask?
  What I really wish I had a picture of is Ryan trying to sneak chocolate chips tonight.  The pantry door was closed and I could see the light on under the door, when I heard the sound of many little pieces of something hitting the ground.  I opened the door and found Ryan on a step stool, looking very guilty.  It was a surreal moment.  I was instantly taken back to a couple of years ago, when I used to catch him doing this kind of thing all the time.  It made me laugh and miss two-year-old Ryan.

January 3, 2013

  Is it really almost time for this again?  I pulled out this little potty just to see how Bailey would react.  Of course, she loves anything that's "big" like the other kids.  I'm not actively potty-training her.  But every time she remembers that it's there, she wants to sit on it. This evening she said, "potty," so I took her in.  She sat down, wiggled, grinned, and then did her business.  Now, I think it was more coincidence than anything, but I'd love it if she figured this out quickly.  I'll leave the potty out, but I'm not ready to be in potty-training mode yet.

January 2, 2013

  It all came down today.  Just the tree is left.  Jeff will have to help with that tomorrow.  My house always looks so bare after putting the Christmas stuff away.  I imagine I'm not the only one who gets an itch to decorate in January.  We'll see what happens.  Hopefully a couple new rugs and some pictures on that foyer wall, finally.

January 1, 2013

   New Year's Day is way better than New Year's Eve.  I'm not expected to be fun and lively late at night when I just want to go to bed.  Today was spent just as a holiday should be.  We snacked on appetizers all day, Jeff was home to watch football and the kids and I spent the afternoon playing board games.  And since it was a holiday I could convince myself that I didn't have to do any cleaning or put the Christmas stuff away yet.  Lovely.

December 31, 2012

Day 31: Fun

  It's no secret that I'm not a big partier on New Year's Eve.  And honestly I don't believe all the people you see in Times Square who pretend to be really excited about the new year coming.  What's the big deal?!  But the girls were really excited to stay up until midnight.  So we played games, ate banana splits, and watched the ball drop on tv.  I told the girls to jump up into the air together for the picture at midnight, but apparently that's easier said than done.