Energy

Aren't they cute???

Sunday Dress

Today, when we got ready to go to church, the girls decided they were going to wear skirts. Since they don't wear them often, (at least since they've been here) I thought I would post a couple of pictures of them in their new outfits. Victoria likes wearing her skirt so much that she hasn't changed it and we've been home for over an hour.

Not What?

I had to post this conversation because I was laughing so hard that my stomach hurt and I was crying real tears. I haven't laughed that hard in a very long time.


Most of you know that we live in a state that houses lots of alligators. On our drive home from church today, as we passed over bridge that is surrounded by marshland, Courtney said she wanted to see an alligator.

Me: Alligators are nocturnal.
M: They are too.
Me: They are what?
M: Turnal
C: They're not what?
Me: Turnal
C: What's turnal mean?
V: They knock on tunnels...
C: Oh, so you mean they knock on tunnels with their paws?
V: No, with their tails
C: Oh....

At this point, we all started laughing at the play on words (noc (not)- turnal).
anyway....

C: I don't get it. So, what does turnal mean?

At this point, M tried to explain the entire conversation to her, defining what nocturnal means, but she still didn't get it, so I said a knock knock joke.

Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Alligator
Alligator who?
Noc-turnal you

Trust me when I say, it was so much funnier on the drive home. Poor Courtney, she still doesn't know what we were laughing or talking about. K on the other hand mentioned that owls only come out at night too.

K's Birthday

Yesterday was K's birthday. He is officially 4!!!



Although we celebrated his birthday this past weekend, I like to do a little something on their actual birthday too. I had hoped to have an individual cake for him when he woke up, but I didn't. Instead of waking him up with a birthday song and cake, we did it after dinner. He was completely surprised and actually shared his little cake with his cousins.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY K!!!!

Birthday Party

K and L had their birthday party this weekend. It was a rather small one compared to last year and I think I enjoyed it more. Since their birthdays are so close, I decided to do a joint party with a medieval theme. K was my knight and L was my princess. K asked me the night before his party if he was going to turn into a knight for his party. Although he didn't turn into a knight, he is my little prince.

Here's a picture of the cake that a friend of ours made. I made the cake last year and wasn't up for making one this year. I guess I wanted to enjoy the party and company more. The cake was a very big hit and was very good. I got the accessories from Michael's craft store.

Here are a few more pics from the party. It did rain, but it didn't spoil the fun at all. At one point, as the energy level increased from all the sugar, I told some of the kids to run out to my car and touch it... while it was raining. They did. They got wet. They had fun. The girls dressed up in princess outfits and were so cute. Although I couldn't find L a princess outfit that fit her, she ended up with 2 of them. A friend made the purple one for her and someone gave her the pink one.

Read-a-thon

Victoria participated in her first read-a-thon the other day at one of the "local" libraries. The rules were to bring a pillow and books (if you didn't want to check any out). Everyone who participated would read for 45 minutes, take a 15 minute break, and then repeat the cycle for the next 3 hours. The winner received a gift card for Books-A-Million. That in and of itself was enough incentive for Victoria. She loves to read and because of all the reading she does, her writing skills are really good.

When I dropped Victoria off at the library there were 2 other girls there. When the neighbor, who took a friend's 16 year old daughter, brought Victoria home, Victoria had so much to say. Apparently after we left more people showed up and. Although she didn't win the gift card because there was a 7 way tie , she had a good time and made some new friends. She's already asking when the next one is.

Chicken Pox Party!

Although I haven't been to the doctor for verification, everyone has chicken pox. Of course it would happen the week of their birthday party. Since both of their birthdays are in April, I was going to do a medieval theme of knights, dragons, and princesses. I have family coming in from out of town. I'm really excited about the cake as it was going to be a castle with a dragon on it. The girls were going to dress up as princesses and the boys were going to make crowns to wear. It would be nice if everyone was healing by this weekend, but I'm fully prepared to postpone it for another weekend if needed.

Last year, I got a little too excited and over invited. This year, I was going to keep it simple and only invite about 10 families, with about 10 kids total so I would be able to enjoy it more.

Maybe I should increase the number of invites and have a birthday party/chicken pox party. It wasn't too long ago that I told someone I wish they would have let me known their kids had chicken pox so I could have exposed mine to it, but that's O.K., it looks like I got what I asked for anyway.

Happy Easter!!!

He is risen!!! Today is a wonderful day to celebrate all the blessings we have and have been given because He died and rose again so that we may live forever.

We discovered last night that all of the girls have chicken pox, so we weren't able to attend church today. I wasn't able to go to church last Easter either because K was sick. Fortunately for us, Easter isn't about going to church, but about celebrating the fact that He is risen and is alive!

Even though M had to work, our day has been full of blessings. L was the first to wake up. After K woke up, he went through his Easter basket gifts and then he embarked on his Easter egg hunt through the house, looking for eggs that resembled animals from Noah's ark.

Even L found an egg. After K found them all, he paired them up and we ate breakfast. After breakfast, he ate ALL the candy. He didn't get any candy in his basket, but got fun practical things like a notepad and pen, glider jet, superman bowl, silly sting, you know the fun stuff that he'll actually use.

When Courtney and Victoria woke up, they found they had an Easter surprise too. Their boxes, which can be used later, had jewelry, notepads with some of their favorite sayings, silly string, and a movie. Did you know that if you lose a Blockbuster movie they charge you for a used movie price? I didn't until the lady at Blockbuster told me...

After the unveiling of the gifts, the silly sting fight began. Notice Victoria is on the phone...

Early Childhood Education

As some of you know, K loves puzzles. He's been doing 100 piece puzzles for about a year now and one of his favorites is his U.S. puzzle. Although he can do the puzzle by himself, I tend to always sit across from him and help him because his interest lasts longer if I'm there. While we're putting the states together, I point out where we live, his grandparents live, and where his grandpa might be hunting. Needless to say, he's become very familiar with Louisiana and the orange state of Texas (that the color of it on the map).

Well, K, L, Courtney, and I went to the local gym today to go swimming and the cutest thing happened and I just wanted to share. As the 4 of us were in the pool, two young guys (probably in their 20s) came in to swim. They took off their shirts, got in the water, and started doing laps. After they finished, one of the guys got out and K shouted out, "Mommy, we live on his back". Well, I didn't have my glasses on so I wasn't able to focus on what he was seeing, but Courtney had already mentioned that one of the guys had Louisiana tattooed on his back. I was proud of the fact that he actually knew what Louisiana looks like and didn't just remember the location of it from the map.

Stocks

As of now, our "stocks" haven't gone upward like they were rumored to. We did realize it was a rumor though, so we're not too upset, especially since we've had them for almost 4 years already. I don't know that I will let everyone know if our "Yahoo!" hits, but you'll probably be able to tell as Mike as already decided what new car he wants. Aside from that, I doubt our lifestyle will change too much. We will be able to tithe more though.

Happy Birthday Baby L!!!

It was on this day last year that I got to hold my baby girl for the very first time. She was supposed to be an April Fool's baby, but the joke was on me because I still had to be induced 2 days later. She has truly been a blessing and I wouldn't trade a single sleepless night for anything. Here are some pictures of her from the past year. If you look closely, you'll notice she's a lot happier when she's not confined or being held... ;-)

April 3, 2008 - 7 a.m.

hours oldone month2 months3 months4 months5 months6 months7 months8 months 9 months10 months11 months

TODAY!!!

ONE YEAR

April Fool's Day

We don't really partake in April Fool's jokes around the house, but I have to share one of the funniest pranks that I wish I would have thought of. A few years ago, M heard about a high risk low investment that could happen in the future. Being that it was low investment, like Yahoo! stocks once were, we decided to take the leap of faith and venture out. Why not? We figured we really didn't have too much to lose.
Well, last night we got some information that our venture might be turning into capital gains in the very near future. Although I don't like to count my chickens before they hatch, I did share the rumors with those that ventured out with us so long ago. Needless to say, they got excited just as M and I did when we heard about the possibility of what might happen. It wasn't too long after, that almost everyone that we had told started calling back and asking us if we were pulling an April Fool's joke on them. I couldn't help but laugh out loud, because it NEVER dawned on me to do it and it would have been such a great one.
Imagine buying Yahoo! stock before anyone knew what Yahoo! was, the stock soaring and then someone telling you about your instant wealth on April Fool's Day.... Really, what would you think?
I don't know that this venture will pan out, but in the mean time it sure is fun to think of all the possibilities.