Saying goodbye

Several days ago Abigail came into our room in tears because her little mouse Patches had died.




This is the first pet of hers that she was really close to that has died.


It was heart breaking for her and for us too. There wasn't anything we could do about it.


She found a box to put him in and decorated it.


The next day she scouted out the perfect spot and then found a flat rock that she could use as the grave marker.


I had to work so her Dad was left to officiate the ceremony. (He should have left it at that for the day, but that's a story for another day.)


She goes out there every couple of days to pray for him.


She's sweet.

French lessons

So the other night at dinner Dax says to Wyatt "Tell your mom what you told me while we were playing football."




Of course Wyatt has no idea what he's talking about so Dax prods him to tell me what he's learned about French people.




He says, "Did you know that when French people kiss they use their tongues?"




*Yeah, that's probably what I thought too!!*





After I picked myself up off the floor I asked what he meant by that.




He said that when a French mom kisses her son she uses her tongue like this (insert photo of kid licking nothing but air).




I asked if he meant like when the dogs 'kiss' us. He said yes (much to my relief.)



Then under his breath and to himself he pondered whether or not Daisy was French.




I asked where he learned this valuable bit of information.



It was Eric!



Then I asked if perhaps Eric had visited France over the summer and that's how he found out about this.



Wyatt doesn't know.



Well, at least that subject has been diverted for now. Somehow I doubt he'll let me know when he finds out the truth about French kissing.....but I guess I can hope, right?

Question of the Week

What are the top 5 items that every parent of multiples needs?


1. Patience.

2. Patience.

3. A sense of humor.

4. The ability to have a schedule but still be flexible.

5. Patience.

I think that pretty much sums it up for me. If they had wanted six things I would have also included patience. Sometimes they wear thin at our house.

Little Fashionista

Kirsten has been wanting a pair of gloves with the fingers cut off. (Apparently it's all the rage.....again.....remember the 80's?)



Yesterday after they got home from school (Dax picked them up) she showed her Dad a black pair of gloves and asked if she could cut them.


He told her he didn't care.


She's very proud of the finished product.






There was only one teeny-tiny little problem with her project.




They're my gloves.

It's a trip

Today is field trip day for the kids. They're headed to the museum in San Antonio to see a special dinosaur exhibit.


It takes a lot of planning (by the girls) to be ready for a field trip. Kirsten spent much time last night finding all the components for this outfit. (There was even an argument with Abigail that must have drug on for 30 minutes or more. All because Abigail wouldn't let Kirsten into her room to look through her clothes to find this shirt)

You tell me. Was it worth all her effort?


Oh, and look, there are those boots again. :0)


When they go on field trips they take sack lunches. The first time they had to take a sack lunch I drew pictures on the bags for them. Well, they loved it and have wanted me to do it since. I really figured that they had outgrown it this year but they asked for them again this morning.

Here they are:

(Warning: I'm NO artist--Abigail could do a much better job on these.)

Abigail's sack - cave man and cave woman

Addison's sack - kids walking by looking at dinosaurs. The dino on the right has grabbed a child.

Wyatt's sack - dinosaur eating a boy - Wyatt asked me if I thought that was appropriate for a school function. lol

Kirsten's sack - school bus with kids being approached by dinosaur.

Lucky kids to have that kind of artwork on their lunch sacks, aren't they?

Multiples & More Question of the Week

Multiples & More wants to know our favorite cookie recipe this week.


After giving it much thought, I realized that these are my favorite cookies mostly because of how easy they are to make.


I've come to realize that ease ranks near the top in my priorities these days.


Anyway, they taste good too.


All you need is:

any flavor box of cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Mix them all together. Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 350 degree oven for 9-10 minutes. Your done!!


Super easy, right?


I've made all kinds of flavors....strawberry, lemon, orange, chocolate, banana. I've even used some chocolate and some banana (or strawberry) and done cookies that are 1/2 and 1/2. The ones we have right now are buttered pecan and the kids love them. They're easy and the flavor possibilities are almost endless.


Sweet!

It's our Anniversary!!

Today marks 14 years of wedded bliss for us.


My, how time flies!!


It's been wonderful and I wouldn't change a thing. Love you babe!!!




On another note:

The kids all survived the weekend! (I can't begin to express the miracle that simple statement is really heralding!) It was almost as big a miracle that none of them killed each other.


BONUS: I did discover a deeper understanding of why some animals eat their young.


I think I made everyone except Wyatt cry AT LEAST once. Some far more than that. (sigh)


What happened to those cute little kids that are so fondly tucked away in my memory?



I know, I just forgot the 'testing me' part from the years past and only remember the happy, fun things.


Can someone tell me again, when do they get to that age where they don't want to be around their parents every waking moment?

And I don't have leg warmers

The other night when Addison was in the shower, she was rinsing her hair off to one side so that she could see when all the shampoo was gone.



And then it hit her!



That's a great way to wear her hair.



She told me herself how cute she looked with it like that.



So yesterday she wore her hair to school like this:




I thought she just needed some leg warmers to go with it and she'd be set.....but I didn't have any.


This morning when I dropped them off at school I saw another little girl with her hair in a side ponytail. I guess Addison's a trend setter after all.



Who knew?

The Chef

Well, the chef is back at it again.


On Saturday, Addison made a grilled cheese sandwich all by herself for the first time.


She offered to make one for the others but they didn't want a sandwich that 'she made'.


On Sunday she decided that she had done such a good job that she was going to make another. This time the others said she could make one for them too. (I guess they figured she had survived the night so it was safe.)


But 'making' the sandwich wasn't enough. She was also giving lessons.





Who knew you could be an expert after making only one sandwich?


And if that's not enough, I think I actually heard her telling the others why they're better when she makes them than they are when I do it! Guess that gets me off the hook from now on.


The thing I'm curious about now, though, is how can you make a grilled CHEESE sandwich and still leave so much cheese burnt to the inside of the pan for me to clean? Really, how?

I'm Skeered!!

(That's redneck for scared. Just in case you didn't know.)

Last night we were heading to Pizza Hut for dinner because I still couldn't wash dishes (I'll explain later) and I was flipping through stations on the radio. One of the girls said 'Oh, I love that song!' so I stopped on it.


The song was pretty heavy metal (Metallica) so I thought they were just kidding about liking it.





Then they started singing along!!!



And then one of them tells me she has it on her mp3 player.




What?!




What happened to Bear in the Big Blue House? ...or even the Jonas Brothers?



That's why I'm scared. What next?



Oh well.... (said while I'm in the corner, rocking back and forth, teeth chattering)


*************************************************************************************

And now for something completely different.


Wonder why I couldn't wash the dishes?


We had several days of rain last week (thankfully) but on Friday night it brought with it much thunder and lightning.


Well, some of the lightening struck pretty close to our house and caused the pump on our septic system to die. It didn't get repaired until yesterday evening which means that the septic tanks filled up. That means no washing clothes, dishes, or ourselves by Monday (and as little toilet flushing as possible. )


Dax has been repeating the line from Meet The Parents 'That smell, Bob, is our sh*t!' as often as he can.


Anyway, after the pump got fixed last night then the tanks had to get empty again.


So later, when we were coming home from Pizza Hut we had the windows down because it was a beautiful evening. As we got close to the house we were hit with the smell. As I quickly rolled the windows up Addison asked 'What's that smell?'



It took everything I had not to say 'That smell, Addison, is our sh*t!'



Fortunately that little voice in my head that tries to reason with me was faster than my mouth this time (this time.)


But I wanted SOOOO badly to say it.


I just waited for Dax to get home so I could say it to him instead. 8')