Garett's 5th Birthday!

Mr. Garett was so proud of his army cake. He helped ice it and put the army figures exactly in the right spot!
Garett eating his favorite dinner (black bean chili) on the red plate.
Lots and lots of special presents!

Daddy giving rides along the Lakefront in Chicago

Taxi service

The kids' favorite mode of transportation. These were taken along the lakeshore and outside The Field Museum.

Inside the Field Museum

Our Day at the Field Museum

These pictures were taken in The Field Museum. We made friends with Sue, the famous T-Rex. The kids (and us) loved the dinosaur exhibit.

How to Eat Fried Worms

Marissa was kind of grossed out by Billy eating 15 worms to win a bet in "How to Eat Fried Worms". Sooooooo, she checked out after a few chapters.

Popping Wheelies...Getting Stitches

He lasted 2 weeks of riding a bike without training wheels until he totally biffed it. With all of his amazing stunts he has been doing, we are quite lucky he only had to have 6 stitches after taking a spill on his bike. His stunt? Popping wheelies. We were trying to go to that instead of riding without hands. Well, at least it doesn't prevent him from eating (as you can see below). This was his post-hospital meal.

How Garett Cleans Up...

Garett was on clean-up duty... His idea of cleaning up is shoving things under beds, sofas, etc. I had no idea this philosophy of cleaning up extended to the outside until I saw his water cup and umbrella shoved under the tree in our front yard. Did he really think I wouldn't notice this?

Hide-n-Seek

Green Dinner

Little MissyLou

Little MissyLou after a makeover.

Free job

Tate posted these signs all over the house. You were supposed to follow the arrows which took you to his room. His job? To wiggle his loose tooth until it came out while you read him a story.

Table Hockey

The kids playing table hockey (a game that Tate made up) for Family Night.

Tate got a "Rebound" book from the school. The school got some new books and cleared out some older ones and Tate got a fabulous childrens dictionary. This is him "studying" his new dictionary- looking at pictures of Presidents while dressed up like Spiderman in Garett's costume.

More pictures of biker boy

Garett is feeling very proud that he hasn't had any "spills".

Have you ever heard of a...

Have you ever heard of a 4 year old riding a bike without training wheels? Okay, he'll be 5 in 3 weeks- but still!!! I left to run an errand and my little boy was riding his bike with training wheels. I came back about an hour later When I pulled into the driveway I saw my little boy riding his bike with no training wheels!!! Can you imagine my shock? No crashes, no bonks, just a boy smiling ear to ear. I almost fell over. And then I wanted to cry because I missed it. Now I know how parents feel when they miss their babies 1st steps! Nonetheless, I was super proud of him and he can hardly stand to come in for meals because he is out doing "the loop" around our house. Our entire house has a little paved walkway around it so he can ride around in circles without going near the road. Thank goodness!!!

Puzzles

Garett's newest addiction- puzzles and mazes!

Toothless Tate (2 front teeth gone!)

Succoring

Garett gave his first talk in Primary on Sunday. He spoke about "succoring". He came up with his first line, "You might be thinking that I'm going to talk about a sucker (he holds up his sucker). But really I'm going to teach you about a different kind of succor." He was super cute and smiley. I was so proud of him.

Tate dressing up Marissa as a Princess

Dog dander

Garett- after twenty minutes with a dog

Demands made of the Tooth Fairy

Tate lost a tooth last night. He was absolutely determined to lose it. Kevin and I could not get it ourselves. That did not stop Tate. He pulled and pulled and pulled. Finally, using dental floss the tooth came out with great force, hit Kevin on the head and flew across the room. Our entire family had to hunt to find the gem. Needless to say, Tate was very proud of his accomplishment. He really didn't think it was fair that the Tooth Fairy keep the tooth, although he really wanted his money. So he wrote the Tooth Fairy a note. It read, "Leev tooth. Give monee." He also wrote a sign and put next to the tooth, "$17.00". The Tooth Fairy left the tooth and fifty cents.

Ma

I'm not Mom anymore.
I'm Ma.
It goes along with Tate's newfound words he loves.

Ice Walking

Do you have a list of your top 5 fears? I do...and near the top of my list is walking on ice. I think I've seen too many movies and read too many books about people falling through ice on ponds. But when you see your entire family leaving you on the shore, something takes over you and makes you leap. I lept and lived to tell about it! Here is the picture of my bravery.

oh, and the song the kids made up to get me out the door to at least come and watch them walk on ice:

Don't be a weenie

Gotta be brave

If you don't go

We'll all misbehave!

Sitting on an old tree stump...

This is us sitting on an old tree stump on the "Island" of "Island Lake" where we live. We "walked" to the Island on the ice. Crazy!

Valentine's Dinner

Pictures of our Valentine's Night. We did a big heart shaped pizza and fondue. We shared little presents with each other. The kids made cute little presents for each other and were extremely proud of their gifts.

Wipeout

Sledding

Kevin took the kids sledding to the big hill next to our house. The kids (and Kevin) were very brave!

Pictures of snowcream.

Marissa eating snowcream.

Stretching

Tate created a new "stretch". He was so excited about it, so he showed his gym teacher at school and he got a special reward from his teacher for showing the class. It was a very interesting stretch.

Polynesian Chicken Salad

This is what we had today after church:

Salad:

shredded chicken
Ramen noodles (chicken flavored)
green onions
sesame seeds (toasted if possible)
chopped celery (if you like celery)
mandarin oranges

Dressing:

4 T sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 T vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1/2 c veg oil
1/4 tsp sesame seed oil (optional)

Before church- throw chicken breasts and water in the crockpot.
Then when you get home, you shred the chicken and cook Chicken flavored Ramen noodles. Drain the noodles and add just a little of the seasoning mix on top of the noodles. Then add green onions, mandarin oranges, sesame seeds and celery. Top with dressing.

Ain't Gonna Say Ain't No More

How do I get Tate to stop saying "ain't" all the time? Since reading "Shiloh" and "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More" (super cute book by the way- get it even if you are an adult!)- he will look for every opportunity to say "ain't". We talked tonight at dinner about it because I'm getting a little worried about him using that word at school and teachers wondering about his home environment. We talked about slang and proper speech, etc. He finally just said after this really long conversation, "Mom- I just ain't proper."

Favorite dinners

Doing a survery of our favorite dinner foods, here are our #1 most hated foods and our favorites:

Marissa

does not like: "bugs because they are very gross"

does like: "salad dressing, beans and rice, dessert, fruit salad, water, sour cream"

Garett

does not like: "mustard, cold spinach, hot spinach, termites"

does like: "fruit salad, salmon, sausage, corn, fish, Wendy's chili"

Tate

does not like: "frozen spinach, cucumbers, zuchinni"

does like: "toast, sausage, rolls, eggs, beans and rice, chili, spaghetti, pizza"

Leftovers

We were having leftover "fondue" from Valentines Day. I pulled out all the things we had had- graham crackers, marshmallows, fruit, etc. In horror, Tate screams, "Where are the Cream Puffs?". We had to tell the distraught boy that those words would never come out of a little African boy's mouth.

The next night when we sat down to dinner (we were having leftover Hungarian goulash) Marissa said in total disgust, "Ugh Mom, we had this last night for dinner!" As if I was not aware of it- she had to let me know this was not acceptable. I honestly think she was thinking that if she said this I might realize my gross mistake and whip up something new for dinner.

Okay- so my kids are a little spoiled in the food arena. I must, however, say that it is just about the cutest thing now when Marissa asks what we are having for dinner. She keeps reminding me she does not like "Gou-wash". It is funny to hear that from a 3 year old.

Snowcream

Here's an easy recipe for snowcream. I found this on the internet.

1 egg, well beaten (I just used egg white)
¾ cup sugar
dash of salt
2 teaspoons of good vanilla
12-ounce can of evaporated milk
Combine in a large bowl and whisk well until the sugar is dissolved, then start adding clean, fresh snow. Mix as you add the snow, until it's the consistency you like.

Tate's dip

Tate got himself all dressed up last night because we were having a little dinner party. He then decided to get Marissa dressed up and take her "dancing". So, they came down and put on a show. He put a flower between his teeth and a flower in Marissa's hair with a barette. He then did his famous "dip" of Marissa.

Tate's valentines

Tate made his Valentine Cards for school. He got this brilliant idea while making them. Instead of writing everyone's name out, he decided to copy his class picture, cut each picture out and "picture code" each Valentine. So when he gives out his Valentine Cards, he'll just look at the picture on the Valentine. It was really cute to see how his little brain was working.

Please vote...

What do you think? Wood decal thingee or not? I really need to know if it is too much or just perfect. Pleeaase vote!

Pitiful Princess

Marissa's little princess nightie has just about bit the dust. It has 3 holes in it and the Princess picture is falling off due to excess washings. She is still sooooooo happy when she wears it and doesn't notice its flaws despite its age and imperfection. Wouldn't it be nice if we felt that way toward ourselves?

Marissa is a Chicago Bear

Marissa was quite a sport for the SuperBowl. Even though her team didn't win, she looked soooo cute cheering on the bears. She can even sing the Chicago Bears song, "Bear down, Chicago Bears Make every play, Clear the Way to Victory. You're the pride and joy of Illinois. Bear down, Chicago Bears! Rooooaaaaarrrrr!!!"

Garett playing dump truck with macaroni.

Garett's phone manners

Garett answered the phone the other day when I couldn't get to it in time. When he found me and gave me the phone, the woman on the other end said what great manners Garett had. I was complimenting Garett on his phone etiquette when I got off the phone and he said, "Yep, I didn't even say butt."

Tate's 1st Picture

This was dictated to me by Tate:

My mom worked real hard to put these pictures on my blog, well, really, my Mom's blog. But we share it. It is my first camera ever. And I really like it. I used my birthday money to buy it. And it was only twenty dollars at Target. And it is a"Cars" camera (like from the movie). This is a picture of me from my new camera.