Monopoly

I spent most of yesterday after church playing a prolonged game of Monopoly. After our busy

week Miss E had requested that I play a game with her and Monopoly was her game of choice.

She proceeded to dominate almost from the first roll of the dice. She had a knack for landing on

Free Parking while I seemed to always land in Jail. I even had help in my losing. Miss L took

over while I made dinner and traded away my ace in the hole, Park Place. She traded it for

Water Works. I suspect she was really working for the other team. Later in the evening Miss E

was still going strong when I left for a church meeting, so J.J. took over for me. I was still losing

when I returned. Lucky for me Little Man decided to do the humane thing and put me out of my

misery by grabbing every one's money and throwing it around the room. I love that kid!

The best kids

The last two weeks have been crazy busy! I've had an unusually heavy school load. Two multi-chapter test, two quizzes, one term paper, and 10 homework assignments. Yikes!

It wouldn't have been as bad but the kids have had the week off from school and I've had to spend most of my time doing this.....

It's left me feeling like a lousy mom, which is not a good feeling, that's for sure!

So it made my day when the boys came up stairs and told me to look out my window. This is what I saw.......

I've got the best kids!

Love Day

(I don't know why every thing I type is underlined and I can't figure out how to stop it from happening.)

My Valentine was gone most of Love Day. He is in the Bishopric at church and is busy much of the day with church duties.

With the kids and I having some extra time on our hands we decide to give Dad an extra surprise. We heart attacked his car. Although I think the surprise was on us as he walked out to the parking lot in the middle of our decorating. The funny thing is he didn't even see us until the kids called out to him. Pretend my kids are all looking at the camera and smiling joyfully at the thought of getting their picture taken.

Hope your love day was full of surprises!

(now it's not underlined...weird!)

Question of the day

Today my 4 year old asked me,

"Momma, when I sniff do the boogers go into my brain?"

Too Funny!

Our Super Star Kids

During the last six weeks we have had two of our children featured in their class as "Star of the Week". It is so fun for them to create a poster that tells all about their likes and dreams. They love to be able to share something about themselves with their friends at school and they LOVE the extra attention.

This is how Miss E answered the questions on her Star of the Week poster.

I am 8 years old. My favorite color is orange. My favorite animals are Cats and Dogs. My favorite food is sesame chicken.

If I had one wish it would be for a little sister. (Not going to happen!)

This is Miss E and her BIG sister.

The beach and camping at the lake are my favorite places to go.

My favorite thing to do is play outside.

When I grow up I want to be a vet.

This is what I look like now.

We love Miss E and her happy smiling face. She loves to help and sing. She is a great part of our family!

Our Super Star

Little Man was Star of the Week in December. He also had a birthday in December so he had a great month. Here is how he answered the questions on his Star of the Week poster.

All about Little Man. I am 4 years old. My favorite color is blue. My favorite animal is a Zebra. My favorite food is Pizza.

If I had one wish it would be for a dog. (This puppy took over my beach blanket at the lake last summer. Little man thought it was great fun!)

Camping at the lake is my favorite place to go.

When I grow up I want to be a Pilot.

My favorite thing to do is ride my bike.

This is what I look like now.

This is what I looked like when I was a baby.

We love this little guy and are glad he is a part of our family!

Milky Way

Having a fifteen year old man-child around the house is hard on a mothers self esteem. Especially if you are a mother who buys ingredients and cooks real food instead of prepackaged junk. Because fifteen year old boys want food, and they want it now! Which means they want prepackaged junk!

It is not uncommon to find the man-child of the family standing in front of a fully stocked fridge or pantry exclaiming "There is nothing to eat!!!!" Translated that means the pantry is fully of ingredients and there is nothing in here that is going to give me the instant gratification my stomach and taste buds want. The man child is not appeased by offers of fruit or other healthy alternatives. He is left to grumble and graze the cupboards unsuccessfully until moving on to homework.

Earlier this week while shopping I grabbed a few candy bars while in a PMS induced funk. Snickers and Milky Ways. Calorie and fat laden little bars of diet wrecking instant gratification. The guilt set in almost as soon as I got home and started unpacking. Almost soon enough to save me from myself. (Almost... I ate one in the car on the way home.) As I stood there unpacking I wondered what had possessed me to by not one but 4 candy bars. And what was I going to do with them now that the guilt had set in?

Tuesday the man-child went off to school with an extra little bit of love in his lunch. Just enough to satisfy his taste buds need for instant gratification. Just enough to make him forget that the rest of his lunch was full of healthy goodness.

I got a text message from the man-child shortly after lunch that read, "You're the best mom!!!" I guess the old saying that the way to a man-child's heart is through his stomach is true! I'm expecting another text today.