pictures

Look out! Here come a lot of pictures...it's about time, I know!

This is Joshua showing off his backyard treasure and the next one shows Jessica showing off her backyard treasure. Don't you love the difference between boys and girls??

I think it is just too cute when kids fall asleep while eating!

The new p.j.'s my hubby could not resist buying.

holiday tag

Holiday Tag

I have never done a tag, but I saw this on a family site and thought it would be fun to do.


1.Eggnog or Hot Chocolate: Eggnog definitely. I love hot chocolate too, but the heartburn it brings me leaves me saying "no thanks."

2.Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree? Who is Santa? We try to stay away from that sort of stuff. We have fun looking at the Santa decorations in the store, but our kids don't send letters and we don't label any presents from him either. I guess we are party poopers! :)

3.Colored or white lights on tree and house? White lights on the tree.

4.Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.

5.When do you put your decorations up? Usually right after Thanksgiving or around December 1st.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Who can pick just one favorite? I love them all. I think I look forward to buttermilk pie and all the fruity jello type salads. I am also on a huge cranberry kick!

7.Favorite holiday memory as a child: I don't know.

8.When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I kept finding my letters to Santa around the house from years past and realized they never got sent.

9.Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Always. I love getting a little preview of the fun to come.

10.How do you decorate your Christmas tree? We use small white lights, red and green glass bulbs, and ribbon bows. We also buy each child an ornament for every Christmas and so far we are still hanging them on the tree (eventually we will save them for when they have their own tree.

11.Snow. Love it? or Dread it? Love it as long as I don't have to drive in it!

12.Can you ice skate? Yes. Although I am pretty pitiful at it.

13.Do you remember your favorite gift? My favorite gift is just a funny one. Hopefully Joe won't be mad at me for sharing this. Before we got married we had been dating for a while and so we exchanged Christmas gifts. One of the gifts he got me was a set of bath towels. Bless his heart, I thought it was so odd and funny. He just explained that he had noticed when using the bathroom at my apartment one time, that I did not have a lot of towels and thought it was a practical gift. Growing up as an only child, you don't need a lot of towels. But in a family of twelve kids he was used to there being a lot of them! hahaha. I still think it is funny. Even though I didn't mean to, I know I must've made a funny face.

14.What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Probably being with family.

15.What is your favorite holiday dessert? I love all desserts...can't pick just one.

16.What is your favorite holiday tradition? It is hard to pick just one but I love having sour cream coffee cake on Christmas morning. My family always made us eat breakfast first and then open presents. Breakfast couldn't go fast enough when I was a child, but I love it now. We also go slow and take turns opening presents one at a time.

17.What tops your tree? A simple gold star.

18.Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving. I really like giving someone something and seeing them enjoy it.

19.What is your favorite Christmas song? That is a tough one. Anything from O Holy Night, Away in a Manger, Jingle Bell Rock...

20.Candy Canes? Yuck or Yum? Yum.

We're alive...just in a total posting slump! Maybe I will post some pictures of Thanksgiving when we all look fat and happy! hahaha

Halloween pictures

Just some pics of the kids on Halloween. The kids went as a ballerina princess, Buzz Lightyear, and Flash.

We don't call him "little no-no" for nothin'...

Yesterday, I put Noah in his room for a few minutes so I could get a little laundry done without him undoing things faster than I could get them done. As I was walking to the laundry room my nose smelled a familiar smell. "Desitin? Why am I smelling Desitin?" I had placed a tube on a shelf in their closet. I guess it must've been knocked down by one of the older kids because this is what I found...

What a mess!

kid pics

The kids are just loving having a backyard and grass!

Another thing the kids enjoy doing--watching Daddy play video games. It is pretty funny how much they like it.

The difference between boys and girls...

I love how having boys adds a whole new dimension to the girly world I am used to. Here is a conversation the kids had this morning.

(Our neighbors dog was barking...)

Jessica says: "The dog says 'Hi. Ruff, ruff (said in a high pitched, cutesy voice).'"

Joshua says (in his deep and serious voice): "The dog says, 'You're a poop.'"

How my life has been blessed with many odd conversations about poop, farts, and other gross things thanks to Joshua. And I am also grateful, though, that it hasn't worn off too much on Jessica!

what a goofball

It has been an exciting day. Noah, especially has been getting into a little trouble. This is what I found when I got him up from his afternoon nap... Oh yeah, that is his sister's clean undies. If he can find any he will cuddle them, bite them, whatever. Today he chose to sleep with them. (They look like little arm floaties :) )

This next picture is what I saw when I came out of the room earlier on in the day....

and yes, he was eating the cereal out of the vacuum cylinder.

Do you ever load up your plate with a lot of stuff and then look back and say, hmmm, maybe I am crazy to take this all on? For instance, we still haven't finished unpacking, my 1 year old is now walking and getting into everything, sewing Halloween costumes, and potty training my 3 year old is currently on my plate! And keep on eating, breathing, and cleaning up messes of course! Anyway, I just think it is kind of funny. I do well though when there are goals and things to accomplish. Oh, and so far the potty training is going pretty well...cross your fingers that he catches on quick!

favorite things

I am enjoying a new "favorite" thing. Our vacuum busted and since we just moved into a house that is all tile with rugs we went in search of a new vacuum. We bought a super lightweight, plug in vacuum that has one setting for floors and another one for carpet. It's quiet and the best part is the kids love it! This morning I went to vacuum up the tile and the Jessica and Joshua wanted to do it. Hmm, "Okay." They took turns and vacuumed up the tile while I did the dishes...awesome!!! I know their fascination might end tomorrow, but for today, I am enjoying it!

kid talk

Just a quick note, Joshua has now modified an English word to suite his own taste. The word because is now but-i-cause...I love it. I love it when kids have their own language!

funny things kids say...

I have three little ones, so I am used to hearing them try to tell me what they want, what to do, and how to (or not to) do things. This is a funny exchange we had the other day. Mind you, they haven't watched Blue's Clues for quite some time. We were playing "I spy with my little eye", and it was Joshua's turn. He spied something pink, but after guessing what I thought was every pink thing in the room, I said:

Mom: I don't see anything else pink, dude. Tell me, I give up.
Jessica: No, Mom. Don't give up. Remember, Blue's Clues says "Don't give up, just move on."

It is a line out of a song off of Blues Clues that she hasn't watched in a long time. The funniest thing was that she was soooo serious about it. I just laughed! Nothing like getting advice from your four year old that she got from a TV show! :)

City of Ember

For those of you with the same taste in books as me, I was thrilled when I went to the movies last night and saw that they made a movie for the City of Ember book. The book is in a set of three (City of Ember, People of Sparks, and Prophet of Yonwood). I can't believe I didn't put this on my favorite books list yet; I loved the first two books but the third was a little weird for me. It has a really unique story; I told Joe we must see it! It comes out October 10th. I just hope that the movie stays true to the book...

pajama party

I almost forgot! Last night I had a pajama party with the kids...so fun! It started out that I just wanted to get the kids ready for bed when I noticed it was still a little early. So in order to get them to put their p.j.'s on I told them we were going to have a pajama party. They were elated! They saw a Max and Ruby episode a while ago where they had a pajama party, so I knew just what they wanted...dancing. So we all put our pj's on and blasted bouncy Strawberry Shortcake soundtrack music from our DVD player with the surround sound on, of course. They loved it! I can't say that enough, and I had a lot of fun too. I can't tell you how long it has been that I have felt so carefree dancing with them and swinging them around. It was a beautiful moment that I hope to remember and thought I would share. Afterwards we played a quick game, read and prayed, and off to bed. Jessica was a little wound up and had a hard time going to bed, but the boys just crashed!

just Jessica...and Daddy's socks, of course!

just relax...

The kids got really hyper that last day at Grandma's house. Joe tried to calm them down by telling them to relax, close your eyes, and take a deep breath. This video is the result of Joe's instruction. It's funny because the kids liked it so much that I am still hearing them say, "Okay, just take a deep breath..." Sorry the video is so dark it is hard to see him; it's still funny though.

funny things kids say...

I almost forgot!

Funny things kids say:

Yesterday after Noah got his first haircut, Jessica and Joshua were talking about it.

Jessica: "Noah's haircut looks like Joshua."
Joshua: "Yeah, he's so lucky."

Noah's first haircut and pics from our travels

Before the haircut...
After the haircut...
Oh my goodness! I am still in shock over losing those beautiful curls and that nice shwoop in the front. I can't exactly figure out who he looks like now. I know he definitely looks more like Joshua... tell me what you think.

Here are some recent pics from our trip to Wyoming. I love this first picture; it melts my heart!

Shirleen, Sandy, us and my mom taking a picture while on the Chief Joseph Highway
And some more pictures on the way to Red Lodge, MT.

jello up the nose

Now, if you read the title to this post I am sure you are assuming that one of my kids sucked their jell-o in too hard and it went up their nose. Oh, no, you are mistaken. The jell-o victim is me, I am ashamed to say. At the end of dinner tonight, we were all eating jell-o. I thought that it would be fun to show the kids how to suck the jell-o in with a good slurp sound. Call me crazy and childish but I think it is the joy of jell-o. That is when I sucked a little too hard. All I know is that something went somewhere because it is burning in the upper back part of my throat and nasal passage. So, word to the wise...if you are going to slurp, don't be a fool and slurp too hard! :)

just some pics

Crazy sleeper kids...
Having fun with the new birthday toys...
Can you tell that there have been an arguement or two over this stuff?

picky eaters and plantains

We decided to try something new last night and made Venezuelan food. I just planned on my kids not trying much, but of course they surprised me! They all loved the arepas ( it could have something to do with the fact that we put powdered sugar and honey on theirs...haha) but my pickiest eater, Jessica, loved the fried plaintains. Go figure...

Thanks...

Just a thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Perrier, Aunt Lorelle and Uncle Bill, and Amy and family. Jessica loves the Littlest Pet Shop house and camping set that she was able to get with what you sent. What a great pick...she loves it! And Joshua too, of course. I don't think I have seen them have that much fun with a toy for awhile, and haven't heard as much arguing over a toy in a while too! ;) Joyful noises all the same! I will have pictures of it all up soon.

recipe blog

I like to cook and try new recipes. It is even more fun to share what I like, so I have started up a blog to post some of our favorite recipes or new finds. It is www.nomacncheeseplease.blogspot.com .

stinky kid...i guess

I forgot to write about something funny that happened the other day. Joe got off a little early in the morning so we decided to go out to lunch. It had been a while since we had gone out to eat so the kids were naturally bubbling over with energy at getting out of the house. They could not sit still in the booth. As they started to calm down, Jessica looked at us with a scrunched up nose and a smirk on her face and announced, "Joshua smells like Dolly!" For those of you who don't know, Dolly is grandma and grandpa's dog. We just cracked up! I guess Joshua wasn't smelling too great...I hadn't noticed anything. The best part was that he just grinned and laughed like, "yeah, I know." What funny kids!

Birthday!

Here are some fun pictures from Noah's birthday. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Perrier for the fun toys! I think that the older kids monopolized them for a little while but things will settle down, the excitement of a "new toy" in the house will be gone, and Noah can then play with his toys without interruption. ;) I let Daddy make the cake and he came up with a pretty cool frosted brownie cake made into an army war zone. The kids had a lot of fun. Here are the pictures to prove it!