Ballet

It's still a couple of years until I can put her in ballet.

That is - if she'll even go. Those boys may have more of an influence than I'd like.

But, until then - a momma can dream.:)

(The outfit was a Christmas present from a cousin. The wand from me.

I taught her "Bibbety, bobbety, boo. And to tap somebody with it.

She goes around hitting people and saying "Boo!")

Jake-ism

After a day of really tormenting his sister:

Me - "Jake, I really need you to stop picking on Avery."

Jake - "I know. But it's hard. I just can't get it out of my head."

Well, if you put it that way, I guess it's okay.

(BTW - the "ism" idea came from Tracie who frequently has cute kid-isms.)

Jake's New Word

"Stuby" - Jake's new word.

Translation - Stupid - but he knows he isn't supposed to say that.

So, when he works really hard putting Scrabble pieces in a long line

and his big brother messes it up, he has to say "Stuby" because "stupid"

would surely send him to time out.

Even if Jake was totally wronged.

Big Hair

Talk about big hair.  Can you imagine it all permed up 80's style?

She was born in the wrong decade.  Unless, of course, big, ratted out hair comes back.

Then she can rat to her heart's content.

The crazy thing is, this is her super-fine baby hair.

What's it going to be like in a decade or two?

Still, that's my beautiful baby.  And I love her big hair.

I also love that she's using a Halloween bag as a purse. 

 We can't find her other purse.  I guess I need to invest in a couple.

Christmas

Merry Christmas!  Just some pictures of last night and this morning.  We had a great one.  Tom's parents and his brotherc ame by for some Mexican food on Christmas Eve and helped us with our Nativity.  All went well until the Angel (Avery) grabbed the baby "Jesus" and ran away with it.  And do you think the shepherds pulled for the Cardinals?  Hey, we do what we can.  Then we opened Tom's parents' gift to the family - Band Hero.  The rest of the night was spent rockin' out to songs I didn't know my boys knew.  (Oh, we fit in "The Night Before Christmas", too.)

Christmas morning started at 6.  Well, Ben and Garrett were up playing Band Hero at 5:15.  But Avery woke us up bright and early.  It was a great day full of lots of surprises and everything the boys asked for (except, apparently Jake didn't get a flute and bubbles.  Huh?).  The boys were thankful and we were satisfied with a job well done.  Then we gorged on some yummy food with all of Tom's family (except Derick and Stephanie's family) and played games.  Such a fun day.  And just be glad these are the only pictures you have to see.  I have a million but blogger has cut me off.  Merry Christmas to you.

Sugar Rush

Once a year I make sugar cookies to frost.

And I didn't do it last year. 

 It's kind of a pain.  And messy.

But the kids loved it.  Well, most of the kids.

Garrett was his usual self

and spent 5 minutes frosting before he wanted to go play with a friend.

Love that kid.

At the end both Jake and Scott said that it was 

the most fun  they'd ever had.

Maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration.

Just like when I was at Garrett's class yesterday

and his classmates informed me that Garrett said

that he was within 

1 minute of dying

when he had appendicitis.

Maybe my kids are prone to exaggeration.

Ba-bye

Avery's newest game is "ba-bye".

She gets in a closet, cabinet or the pantry,

says "Ba-bye" and closes the door.

It is my job to then listen for her panicked "Mama?!"

and then I open the door and let her out.

I just hope she doesn't do it when nobody is around.

Christmas Sunday

I spent hours shopping for Avery's dress.

I made sure all the boys' clothes were clean and pressed.

All so we could take some great pictures.

And Avery and Jake were both grumpy.

Maybe they felt the pressure.

The boys were behind me making faces at her so she'd smile.

Jake insisted on the chair for this one.

I'm just lucky the toy in his hand didn't cover his face in this picture.

And I didn't see that Garrett had put his tie over the chair

after I specifically told him not to.

Little stinkers.

Some Cool Action Shots

I took 3 of my boys and a couple friends up to the church to play ball today.

Here are some fun action shots.

Even Jake caught a few.

It's amazing that we don't end up in the ER every week.

It hurts less than it looks.

Airborne.  

Just A Lazy Saturday

A few chores - not as many as we should have done.

It was a great Saturday.

Just kind of hanging out.  Enjoying each other.

Lucky us - we really like being together.

Even Gracie had a lazy day.  She loves to find blankets and cuddle up.

A very unshowered Tom.  He wasn't lazy enough, though.  That man is a work horse.

"I'm so bored."  We eventually took some of the boys' friends up to the church to play ball in the gym. (ps - As posed as this picture looks, it wasn't.  He just plopped down on the couch like that.)

Garrett sporting the Halloween fedora playing a video game on my phone.

I don't know if Scott ever changed out of his comfies.

His brown eyes melt my heart.

Help

I've just updated my blog list and I know I'm forgetting some people that I visit via other sites or friends that visit my blog that I don't know have blogs.  PLEASE look through the list on the side and see if your blog is there.  If not, leave me a comment or email me at elenatwt_1999at yahoo dot com.  I'd really like to have a complete list.  If your name isn't on mine, don't feel bad.  I usually find you from other sites.  But I'd like to find you through my own.

And So it Begins

Today my little Avery learned how to open doors.

This has happened to me before with her four brothers.

Now I have to worry about her getting outside without my knowing it.

(Actually, that's already happened twice when her brothers have left the door open.)

She's growing up way too fast.

But, dang, she's cute.

Saturday is a Perfect Day Day for a Snow Day

As much as I whine about the weather up here,

today was AWESOME!

It was snowy, yet not as cold as last week.

And it was a Saturday so I didn't have a million places to go.

Such a cozy day.

The boys celebrated the snow by going up to the school and

 sledding down the big hill behind it.

Ben on his snowboard.

Scotty trying to steer.

I don't know what Garrett's doing.

I guess I rarely know what Garrett is doing.

I absolutely love Jake's laugh.  It takes over his whole body.

Cold and wet when they finished, they decided Mom needed to make

some hot chocolate.

So, I guess what we have learned from today is,

snow is bad.

Except on carefree Saturdays.

Then it's good.

Really good.