Good Times... Sad Goodbyes

Sadly, Sarah and Julia went back home today. :( The house is very quiet, Mickey is depressed, no one is yelling at me to play "Baby Dance" 450 times in a row, the bottle of honey will remain at the same level for more than 15 minutes, no one's name is "TJ" or "DJ" anymore, I don't have anyone to knit with or watch 30 episodes of Dexter with, John only has 3 kids to wrestle with, Mary Beth and I have to go shopping alone during the day, I can stop reading Llama, Llama Red Pajama, the rest of our firewood will last longer than 2 nights, and we are all missing them terribly... Thank you for visiting Sarah and Julia! We had a great time with you!!!

cupcakes and waterparks

This afternoon the girls made cupcakes("pink-licious") and then shared them with the boys when they got home from school. I finally tried my hand at homeade icing and it was very yummy- however... I accidentally turned off the oven before I put the cupcakes in and they were obviously not done in 17 mintes when I discovered what had happened. So then I turned it on and they baked while the oven was preheating! After all was said and done- half the cupcakes were over done on the bottom and the other half were pale and flat-ish. Oh well, the kids sure didn't seem to notice or mind. They were so cute putting all the ingredients in and running the mixer.

Then tonight we went out to Casselton(15 minutes away) for supper and fun at the waterpark. We swam for 2 1/2 hours and the kids were in the water the entire time! They went down the slides over and over- even Julia and Mary Beth! It was the perfect activity since all the kids LOVE swimming so much. Great memories made... Two little girls fell asleep in the car on the ride home and were a bit cranky when ripped out of the warm van to the freezing cold. They all had a snack of cereal and went to bed- lets hope they sleep in tomorrow since it was about 10:30 or so when they got to bed!

Sarah and I are now watching the Olympics(women's free skate) that we recorded- love it!

remembering

these are pictures from sarah and julia's visit 2 1/2 years ago- they visit about once a year. it's fun to look back and see all the differences and similarities. mary beth and julia are "frenemies"- and are mini missy and sarahs. julia "chants"(calling mary beth DJ fifty million times a day- we don't know why) and gets in mary beth's personal space(which like mine is very large) and then mary beth glares at her or tells her to go back to her chair or something like that. other times they dance and laugh together and have a wonderful time. it's very intriguing to watch. we know they love eachother but are having a hard time going from being the only girl to a pair of girls- i think it's been that way every year.

tomorrow i am subbing in mary beth's preschool room and julia gets to come with us- she seems really excited about it and so is mary beth. i can't wait! hopefully i'll get some pictures to share.

my sister and niece are here!

Sarah and Julia got here on Friday and we are having tons of fun with them! More pics to come...

this looks like it's going to be great!

Today

wrestle time. mickey is being so sweet to mary beth- fixing her hair after throwing her around.

i love it when mickey plays with mary beth.

mary beth LOVES to wrestle. it might be her favorite past-time.

science lover.

lego lover.

i love this quote(but i can't remember if i've shared it already):

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is yet to come. We have only today. If we help our children to be what they should be today, they will have the necessary courage to face life with greater love.
Mother Theresa

Little Mary Beth

Look at those eyes!! These were taken in February 2007... she was almost 2. Those chubby cheeks- I kissed them 50 million times a day- and I still do! She looks exactly the same. I love spending my days with this little monkey but I want to freeze time so kindergarten never comes. sigh.

Trailer for Toy Story 3

We are so excited! Here's the trailer for the new Toy Story:

We love Valentine's Day

We started our morning with heart-shaped pancakes with strawberries and whip cream(this happens to be my favorite breakfast!) and when I went to open the little heart picks I bought at Hobby Lobby I noticed they were all upside down. Strange. Oh well- the kids thought it was funny. I used my new griddle(thanks mom!) and made the pancakes HUGE- Mickey and Jeffrey actually ate 2 I think!!! We also had deer sausage- Mickey and John's favorite...

Red shirts on everyone!

John looks like he hasn't slept in days for some reason. Maybe because the window has started to drip water again. :( It is really worrying him... Notice I'm never in any pictures. I have to hand the camera off more often.

After church and watching Charlie Brown Valentine movie the kids did their annual Valentine's Day scavenger hunt. They LOVE this so much. I hid their treats at the end- this year I used the gift bags my parents sent for them because they got their gift from us a couple weeks early. Long story.

The boys were really good about taking turns with Mary Beth(letting her find some of the clues). And there were no tears. However, Mary Beth did cry about 500 times today for various reasons- I'm sure do to the fact that we didn't get home until 11:30 last night. Another long story(I'll share tomorrow).

They found their surprises! Thank you for the wonderful gift bags mom and dad- the kids loved everything.

There's my pink tulips on the table(my v-day present along with the big scrapbook I got earlier). I LOVE pink tulips.

After the scavenger hunt we ran to Sam's Club where Jeffrey ate about 12 sample pieces of pizza(not exaggerating) and then out to eat at the Snap Dragon- our favorite Chinese restaurant here. Then John got his gifts and the kids went to bed. EARLY. What a great day.