Dinosaur Park

We finally got away for a night as a family. The next morning we took the kids to the Dinosaur Park. We had a great time and practically had the whole park to ourselves. Here are pics of our cute kids!

Smoothie Monster

Matthew has many nicknames around our house (depending on what kind of trouble he is causing at the moment). One of the names we have given him is "Smoothie Monster."

For breakfast almost every morning, we have smoothies. Matthew absolutely loves smoothies. He loves to help make them (he is always the first one in line to help mommy turn on the blender--followed of course by Emily and Spencer), but he especially loves to eat them. He loves to eat them so much that he will finish off his entire cup of smoothie within seconds and ask for more (I have to admit I really should be happy about this because smoothies are really good for him). However, this little smoothie habit has developed into a problem because if I do not watch him, he will finish off his entire cup and then swipe from other people. Sometimes he will pour smoothie from another person's cup into his own, or just drink directly from their cup.

The other morning Jim sat down to breakfast and when he picked up his smoothie cup, at least half of the cup was gone. This is what our smoothie monster looked like . . . does he look guilty to you???

This is our smoothie recipe:

2 Cups milk
2 Cups frozen strawberries (we buy the big bags at Walmart)
1 Cup Yoplait Light vanilla flavored yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla

Growing Gabe

Our baby is growing! He is almost seven months old now and we are starting to see his cute little personality develop. It is so fun to watch him explore the world around him. He is usually at two extremes--really happy, or really grouchy! However, he almost always has a smile for anyone who will talk to him and give him attention--he loves people! Gabe loves making noises (talking) with people, laughing (he has the cutest little giggle!), and he has even started to squeal when he is mad at someone or wants attention. He knows his mommy and gets mad when I try to leave the room or he hears my voice and I am not giving him attention! He's spoiled, but very cute!

Sharing

When I taught my kids to share, I didn't exactly have this in mind . . .

Matthew was the blessed recipient of a bag of candy at church today (can you tell Jim helped me with this wording?) Matthew told me on the way home from church that he was going to "share with everyone," and that is exactly what he did! When I came into the living room, they were taking turns licking the same lollipop--Emily, then Spencer, then Matthew! Gotta love kids!!

Grumpy Spencer

With Halloween just around the corner, it's time to figure out costumes for four kids (not a fun project!) Spencer has wanted to be Iron Man, then batman, then some star wars character that I don't know--he has just kept changing his mind. I have not been excited about Iron Man since I'm not a real huge fan of $20 dorky looking costumes, and a huge part of the costume is the mask which he can't wear to the church halloween party, and which I really don't want him wearing trick-or-treating since he won't be able to see. I have really been hoping that Spencer would change his mind, but I wasn't prepared for this one . . .

Sunday morning Spencer came into our room first thing and got up on our bed. I talked with him for a while and then asked him what he wanted to be for halloween. (I was really just hoping he had changed from Iron Man to Batman.) The response I got surprised me--Spencer said "Grumpy Bear." "What?" I said. "What is grumpy bear?" Spencer then proceeded to explain "You know, mom. He's a blue bear, and he has a white tummy with a cloud on it." Then all of a sudden it clicked--he was talking about a Care Bear! My son wants to be a Care Bear for halloween! (It should have clicked sooner what he was talking about since I grew up in the Care Bear era where we had every Care Bear figure ever made, including the Care-A-Lot playground. I was a huge Care Bear fan!)

So, how was I supposed to respond to this request? I didn't really say anything. We just moved on to something else while I thought to myself "There is no way I'm letting my son be a Care Bear for halloween!"

Since this time, Spencer hasn't even mentioned the Care Bear thing--he's back to changing his mind between Iron Man, Batman, and that star wars character I don't even know. In the end I think Batman is going to win out with a little persuading from mom. I think Spencer and Matthew would make a great dynamic duo of Batman and Robin. I've got to get working on those costumes!

Matthew's Clever Comebacks

Okay, so Matthew is our child that makes everyone smile. He's got this little dimple when he smiles that is so cute! It is really hard to discipline him sometimes because he just makes us smile. However, he is also our troublemaker, and if I turn my head for even a minute, he is usually up to something. He just helps himself to whatever he wants, and gets in to almost everything.

The last several days he has been telling mommy and daddy that we are mean if we get mad at him and put him in timeout. He will say: "Mommy, you are so mean. I'm going to tell daddy on you!" to which I respond the other day, "Go ahead!" Matthew thought for a second and said: "But daddy's not here, he's at work!"

So on to today's trouble . . .
First, Matthew got in trouble this morning with daddy for calling Spencer a name. Matthew's comeback when daddy put him in timeout was "But, daddy, I love Spencer!" (Cute, isn't he?)

This evolved during the day as he got in trouble with other things. He would say: "But, mommy, I love you!"

Next, he got into the freezer and ate all of the ice-cream bars (with a little help). When I soon found the wrappers on the table and asked who the culprit was, the kids all pointed to Matthew. Matthew looked at me and said "But, mommy, I shared--I shared with everyone!" (yes, I was laughing while trying to explain to him that sharing is good, but that he should have asked first.)

Then, tonight we were asking the kids to clean up the mess they had made, and Matthew was not helping very well, so I reminded him that he should be helping, and his response was "But, I can't, my hands are full!" I told him his hands were not full, and that he needed to help.

Later, when daddy asked him to get ready for bed his response was "I can't, my hands are full of . . . (looking down at his hands) fingers!" Then to prove his point, he grabbed the fingers of one hand with the other. Clever kid!

There really is never a dull moment around here with four kids. I just wonder what it's going to be like when they are all teenagers--they are full of so much personality already!

Emily's Lost Tooth

Emily lost a tooth yesterday morning. She put it in a little plastic baggie and proceeded to carry it around all morning against the advice of mom and dad who told her that she was going to loose it! Mom and dad's do know what they are talking about sometimes, and Emily did end up loosing her tooth--it was nowhere to be found at bedtime. To say she was a little upset is an understatement. But, in an effort to sort of teach her a lesson, we looked for the tooth to no avail, then sent her to bed without a tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy, and told her we would look for it the next morning.

After she was in bed, I could hear her rustling around. She got up to go to the bathroom and told me that she just couldn't sleep unless she found her tooth. A while later she got out of bed again (she only did this because daddy was gone last night), and brought me a letter she had written. Here it is:

Here is the interpretation:

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I know that there is not a tooth under my pillow, but I lost one and it is in the living room or in the kitchen. If you don't believe me, look in my mouth. And if you don't take notes, then visit tomorrow. Please do it, and you will get my tooth.

Emily Goostrey

Man, we love this girl. What would we do without her? Life would be a lot more dull around here, and my kitchen table and floor wouldn't always be covered with one of her million art projects (usually involving glue and little cut up pieces of paper!).

We did end up finding the tooth, and the tooth fairy visited last night, so all is well!

Here's our toothless Emily: