snow day

I woke up last night around 3am and saw that it had dumped about a half foot of snow. I hardly watch the news lately so I really didn't expect it at all. Natalie, Lincoln, Maya, and I all bundled up and headed out to play in it. Maya wouldn't try to walk in it so she just stayed in that spot while she watched us make angels and throw snow at each other. She was so happy and intrigued by it all. I made her her own snow ball and she kept chattering with every sentence ending with a very clear "ball." She looked like a marshmallow in her suit----thanks Ginger!--- and she was so warm. After awhile I made her a little chair out of the snow and she just sat there and jabbered at us.

Natalie

Natalie lost her first tooth a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure who was more excited Kurt or Natalie. He used some floss to finish the job--at first it didn't work, the floss kind-of got stuck in there so I whispered to him to just yank it, he did, and it came right out. After a few tears she was very excited for the tooth fairy. It's so cute to me when she smiles. I can't believe she's so old!


So lately Natalie has been trying out new words. When we were walking home from the bus stop today I asked her why her hair-band was so far back on her head and she said, "Ben" and sighed. I asked who Ben was and she started dropping her new favorite word. She said, "Oh it's this boy that I always end up sitting by on the bus or at school. He's so distracting."---her new word. I asked her if he actually pushed her head-band back on her head and she said that he did and that he was only nice if she talked about pikachu. "If I don't talk about pikachu he's mean and so distracting." I'm not really sure if she knows the full meaning of the word or if she absolutely does. She cracks me up.

Lincoln's prayer

I just got done putting the kids down. I haven't been really good about making them say their prayers with me I just occasionally remind them that they should as I turn off the lights and close the door. But tonight I decided to make sure they said their prayers and asked Lincoln to say his with me. He said, "Heavenly Father, thank thee that Christ likes me, bless that no people will go in the bushes." and then he ended. After he was done I asked him what he said because I thought I heard him wrong but he said word for word the same phrases and then looked concerned and said, "oh sorry I'm going to say another one. I was glad because I thought maybe he would elaborate on the bush people. He said, "Heavenly Father, thank thee that Christ likes me and mommy, and bless that no people go in the bushes" then he ended and looked at me like--better? So I guess we all have Lincoln to thank when we see all the people-less bushes everywhere.

Tami is engaged!

My little sister in engaged! I knew they were talking about it but I don't know, I wasn't totally convinced until she called and sure enough he proposed. They don't have a date set yet but I wish I could be closer to be a part of the planning. Here is a couple pictures I took of the two of them on New Year's Eve.

life's simple pleasures

Last Thursday I told the kids if they helped me clean up the upstairs well enough so I could vacuum without sucking up any of their toys then we could go to the library. They did a great job and we were getting ready to go when Lincoln wouldn't get his coat on right. Every time I held it up he would put it on backwards--on purpose because it's so hilarious. I finally said, "fine, do you want me to zip it up that way then?" He nodded with big eyes and as soon as it was zipped up began running around in circles like he was a dog chasing his tail. Natalie immediately wanted her coat like that and proceeded to run in circles as well. I grabbed the camera because it did look pretty funny. So that's how they wore their coats to the library and the grocery store. I kept forgetting they had them on that way but then people would stare and smile and I'd remember.

oh my kids!

I was already thinking about joining the bloggers but wasn't quite sure where to begin, and then today happened and I had to share. It all started when Lincoln was playing alone in his room. I heard a bang, bang, then a snap, and Lincoln appears at my door with Natalie's plastic flute broken in two. I lectured him on being too hard on things and he said he was sorry and asked if Natalie would be mad at him. I assured him that she would and gave him a time out. (I was hoping to make an impression) As soon as the time out was over he didn't seem to be phased and I chalked it up as a good try but, oh well. Then when it was time to pick up Natalie from the bus stop Lincoln said he wanted to come along--usually he wants to stay home and play computer so I was a little surprised. We kicked at ice and stomped on what was left of the tiny snow balls that fell sometime the night before. (It was so windy and cold last night that it froze the snow into the tiny dots just like the icecream at the baseball games--pretty cool) Natalie was excited to see us and we had only taken about ten steps when Lincoln turned to her, looked straight in her face and said. "Natalie, I broke your flute." Natalie's face looked surprised, then confused, then turned mean and she said, "I just got that flute!" I had already forgotten about the flute since it cost $1. I was surprised by Lincoln's honesty and that he felt he should get it out of the way. Natalie walked off and Lincoln called after her. "Are you mad at me?" Then he started to cry and I grabbed his hand, we started walking and I told him I was proud of him for being brave and being honest. I was really proud of him. So then he asks me if Natalie was mad and I said yes and he said he didn't want her to be mad and I said she wouldn't be mad forever which he repeated to her as we were hanging up our coats. She said she wouldn't be mad forever with heavy sigh and He told her she can't be mad on Saturday, Sunday, or Thursday--she then informed him in was Tuesday so he then included Tuesday. After that he ran upstairs and brought down the broken pieces of the flute and gave them to her and she said maybe dad could super glue it and I said maybe I could super glue it, which I did, and miraculously enough it worked. But I have to add that before Natalie knew if we could fix it Lincoln apologized one more time and she said, "it's ok Lincoln." I was amazed at how well they both handled the situation. I was very impressed and hadn't prompted any of it. I told them how that was how we treated friends and that even though they were brother and sister I could tell they were good friends. I was feeling very proud of both of them when about 5 minutes later Lincoln grabbed something off the counter and the flute flew off and broke into three pieces . . . seriously kid.