Uncle Cody...

"If American Idol is still on TV when Cody comes home from his mission, I bet he'll win. He's got cool dance, he's got cool musical songs, he's got cool ukulele songs..."

-Michael McAlister

Flashback...

Funny stuff...When your 5-year-old says, "I want to watch kids shows...But not PBS kids. I want the channel that has Tom and Jerry."

I don't know why, but it delights me to no end to watch my kids enjoy things that I enjoyed when I was little. Maybe it's because the cartoons they air today are lacking some of the fun and creativity that I loved about my childhood...The Smurfs, The Snorks, Gummie Bears, Jem, Care Bears, and even My Little Pony. Frankly, they were leaps and bounds more fun than "today's" cartoons.

So yes, my children. Watch Tom try and try to beat that Jerry, over and over. Watch him turn his little cat face into a mousehole shape, or a frying pan shape, and laugh because that's what it was made for! :D

(And scootch over...Mommy wants to watch with you!)

Free Time...Gone...!

We just signed Spencer and Michael up for soccer! Lee and I were talking the other day and realized they haven't ever gotten to play yet! (Shameful, I know...We missed Spencer at that really fun age where they all just run in a big herd around the ball...Now he'll have to play like real kids.)

It's going to get interesting...two teams...two practices...two games. Hopefully we can make it all work out okay even with both our work schedules! Good times, though...can't wait!

I do have some slightly miffed older children...One who wants to take Dance, one who'd love Piano Lessons, and another who is dying to try Lacrosse or Football. We just can't do it all at once...5 kids, 5 activities...Whew! :D So they'll just have to sit this season out!

(See? Life really ISN'T fair! Ha-Ha!)

Home Teachers?

Am I a terrible person if I'd rather watch American Idol tonight at 7:00 than entertain my Home Teachers?

Well, crap. I was afraid of that.

(Thank goodness for DVR! Hooray for being able to do what's fun AND what's right!)

Back to School...

I sent the kids back to school yesterday, after about a MONTH of being off. We had a lot of lazy days, and had a lot of fun. I'd post pictures, but we didn't really DO anything...just hung out. There was some coloring, lots of basketball and bike riding, and some board games. They went back to school yesterday, but I had my cute nieces yesterday...still a full house! But today is the first day where the house feels empty. Michael is here, but he wanted to play on the computer, and then we played with the Thomas the Train set. He's just off doing his thing all day. And I'm kinda missin' the chaos...

Kinda.

But it'll probably pass, right? (Now where did I leave that book I was reading before they went off track...?)

Shopaholics...

I just spent 75 minutes at Kohl's with Megan...she came home with ONE shirt. Seriously? :D

She got a gift card from Grandma for her birthday, and she was thrilled because nothing beats picking out and trying on whatever you want! So she walked through her section picking up everything she liked. Then made another lap to make sure she didn't forget anything...! We headed over to the dressing room, where the rest of us sat down for the fashion show! (Tory, Spencer, and Michael were not such huge fans of this process...that made for a fun time for mom! Tory kept asking when we could go look at the boy clothes.)

In the end, Megan settled on just one fabulous shirt, and a great pair of earrings to go with the top. Good thing it doesn't take us that long to buy EVERY article of clothing we have, though! Ha-ha! And here it is...The fruits of our shopping labors:

(I am looking for volunteers for the NEXT shopping trip, though...Any takers? Or maybe just someone to stay here and play with my boys while we shop...!)

Happy Birthday, Megan!!

And Megan turned 10 this year! Double digits...Pretty awesome! Aside from that, this is a special birthday for us all, because she has now spent more of her life WITH our family than she did without it. Yay, lucky us! See, most people just get the kids they get...We got to PICK her! :D

If you recall, she got herself an iPod Touch for Christmas from Santa. Sadly, two days later (!!) she broke the screen! (Don't let the 5-year-old play with it...He might just set it down in the driveway when he's done, where it could get run over by a bike...or a skateboard...!) Sad! Huge cracks all down the front. Luckily, her touch screen still worked. She could play all her games and listen to her music. It was a bit ugly, but still functional...Until the day she set in on her bathroom counter and a tiny bit of water splashed on it. With the screen in tact? Wipe it off...good to go. Without it? Fizzle...Fried...Useless.

So I'm a slow learner...And we bought her a replacement. (Please be careful...Please be careful...Please be careful!) But her face here made it all worth it. Completely shocked! Love it. (Incidentally, for $20 WalMart will sell you a 2-year protection plan...Accidental dropping? Covered. Broken screen because you let a 5-year-old play with it? Covered. Nice.)

Megan's Birthday Cake. I made this one myself...But I missed my assistant! It's way more fun to make these cakes WITH Lee!

Happy Birthday, You Gorgeous Girl You! We love you and we are SO glad you are a part of our family!

Happy Birthday, Spencer!

Spencer turned 7! My little feller is growing up way too quick. Anyway, Lee and I spent our Friday night making this fantastic cupcake-cake for Spencer:

It turned out better than I expected, thanks to Lee. (That man's got SKILLZ!)

(He really wanted this basketball hoop to hang on his door!)

This wasn't one of Spencer's presents...but when I saw it, I had to laugh! :D That Michael is a silly goof!

Happy Birthay, Spencer! I can't believe you are SEVEN already! Wow~

Holy Cow!!

It finally happened. I've been talking for weeks to this boy about how he is, under NO circumstances allowed to let this happen. But so much for obedience. Sigh.

I'm sad, because now he's going to get his set of those fat Crabb teeth that so desperately need braces. Sniffle. And no more cute little square teeth. Sad!

Viva Las Vegas!

We spent the last week of February in Las Vegas. It was a wonderful little retreat for our family! Sometimes I feel like we are pulled in so many directions we don't actually visit with each other! We watched movies in the room, swam (freezing!), and just played.

It was a joy to have time to just...Be.

We went to Circus-Circus and spent one day at their little (BIG!) indoor amusement park. We took Spencer's picture next to "his" bus...the BC Bus!

Out walking through the casinos, and Lee told all the kids to strike a "muscle guy" pose. If you look closely, you'll see Tory kissing his muscle...! Funny boy!

We drove out to the Hoover Dam one day. Behind Lee and I is the new Freedom Bridge (when you drive across it, you can't see over the sides...Good thing, since you are WAY up there!), and here are the kids and I in front of the dam.




We stopped to play at the arcade near the M&M factory. They had this very cool race car game, where the car really swings and sways as you take your corners. Poor little Tory almost couldn't reach the pedals!

Of course, I insisted Dad give it a try!

At the Coca-Cola store. Too cheap to spring for the picture with some icy mountain behind us...hey, we like green! :D

Last time we were there, the bear tried to eat Tory's head in one of our pictures. That made Tory pretty nervous THIS time...!

Three out of five...Not TOO bad, right?