Seuss on Sale

Last night I went to a pre-sale for a consignment event at the church up the street. I had already made a pact with myself that I would not linger in the book section and would absolutely NOT buy more than a few books, if any. And NO TOYS!

I was good. I made a beeline for the baby shoes and stocked up on some adorable footwear for Sugar for the summer. Check. Now on to the boy's clothes ...

Then something caught my eye and my heart jumped. As I reached my hand for the bag, some lady with a miniature shopping cart swooped in like hawk on a mouse and stole it! At least that's what I thought might happen in the three seconds it took for me to nonchalantly pick up the bag and calmly place it in my laundry basket. Inside, the greedy bargain shopper wanted to stand on a table, hold my treasure aloft and yell, "Ha!!! I found it first!", but I told her to get down and behave. Besides, they would have stoned me. For a good 3 minutes I had to repeat to myself, "I will not act like a greedy garage saler...I will not act like a greedy garage saler...I will not, Not, NOT!" It was especially difficult not to gloat when the lady at the checkout groaned and said, "I didn't see these. Wow! You got the find of the night!"

Here it is:



There are 22 of them. Full size and hard bound. And here's the sweet spot: $18. That's 82 cents each. And it gets even sweeter. When we opened the first one it cracked. Then we opened the next one--crack. The next--crack. They had never been opened. A whole set that had never been touched. Beautiful!



I did not buy even one toy. I wasn't even tempted.

Boys and Bikes

Popcorn loves to ride bikes. He learned when he was 4 and hasn't stopped since--until now.

We bought him this new bike because his younger brother will be taking over the trainer bike that used to be pink but we spray painted blue. Also, it wasn't too late to cash in on making this one a late birthday present.

Notice the pleased, yet not-so-sure look on his face.




now genuinely happy...



fell off and whined for 10 minutes about his injuries.



He's only been back on the thing when forced. It's just going to take him a while to warm up to his big bike.

For Laughs

Because you should never go through life without seeing this:



or this:



Why am I thinking about these skits? Because we saw this at the Smithsonian:

George Washington, D.C. Visit

Before we went on the trip I told Popcorn and Sinatra that we were going to Washington D.C. Sinatra was clueless, but Popcorn kept correcting me: "It's George Washington, D.C, Mom!" He didn't believe that it was just Washington D.C. until the end of the weekend, and refused to say (or let you say) anything but his pronunciation.

These kids keep me laughing!

Jon and a co-worker/friend had business that ended in D.C, so the families tagged along and we all enjoyed a mini vacation.

Here's most of the crew in front of the Lincoln Memorial at sunset on our last day.



Shakespeare in front of the Washington monument.



Shakespeare and his friend enjoyed the hands-on section of the American History Smithsonian Museum. This was a section dedicated to lesser-known inventors.



At one point we packed 9 children into the back of the mini van. Shhh! We made the kids in the back duck.



While visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier the younger boys were as good as gold. The signs all ask for silence and respect. The only peep they made for 10 minutes was when Sinatra leaned over and whispered, "Mom, is he gonna' kill somebody?"

She Turned 11

Gem turned 11 on Wednesday. We gave her money. That's what she wanted. Amazing. I have a kid that only wants money--well, also a cell phone,a laptop(which she did NOT get). We took her out to Longhorn for a special dinner and to The Princess and the Frog, Disney movie. She had to order from the adult menu at the restaurant because the kid menu was for 10 and under. Ha! She was thrilled.

It's such a joy to have a kid like her. She is a gift--a blessing. I love her tender heart and her quick mind, her beautiful eyes and abundant smile. She's makes her parents smile. The messy room and the occasional roll of the eyes and sigh do not define this tween. She's sweet and lovely. She has a beautiful soul that is teachable and humble. What a delight!

Love you, sweet girl! Happy birthday!

Shakespeare is 9

Today was Shakespeare's birthday. He's such a gift giver. He bought presents ahead of time for his brother and sister. He was soooo looking forward to his b-day. And then Jon had a business trip to D.C. We decided to come for the tail end of the trip, but it put us traveling home on Shakespeare's birthday. We got home this afternoon with no present bought and no birthday cake baked.

We ended up takin him out to Bravo (nice Italian restaurant) for dinner. Then we stopped by Target on the way home to pick up his present--a nerf broadsword. He seemed happy enough. We're just not doing so well on birthday delivery this time around.

One thing he did enjoy was Washington D.C. I'll post pictures tomorrow evening or Wednesday.

On a different note--Jon and I have been so overwhelmed lately by the blessings that the kids are. We sigh, we stare, we laugh at antics...we enjoy them. God is so good. We are so blessed.

Happy birthday, my favorite 9 year old in the whole wide world! We love you so much.

6

Popcorn turned six years old yesterday! Here are a few shots from his birthday party.

When I turn 6.

Popcorn: Mom, Shakespeare tried to get me to count to 100 once.

Me: Did you do it?

Popcorn: No. It's too hard.

Me: Well, we need to work on that.

Popcorn: I don't want to today. I'll do it when I turn six.

Me: That's next week, Bud. Okay, we'll wait till you're six.

Popcorn: Yeah. 'Cause today I'm already done wiff maff.

Sugar is Growing

See me standing at the window? I'm really just here because the vent is blowing warm air.



Hey, there's Gem! I like her.



Who needs yoga?!



Oh yea, mom wanted me to tell you that I am mobile.



Getting big, isn't she?!

Disney Again

I've seriously failed in the blogging realm. Two posts in January is just pitiful. With three birthdays in this month I should do a bit better. Life just keeps rolling along, leaving little time for informing our adoring public about our captivating lives.

My mind has stayed occupied with things like fractions, long division and teaching reading. By the way, teaching a child to read is probably the single most rewarding thing about homeschooling--not that you have to home school to teach a child to read. It's just that with home schooling there is no other alternative. Sinatra is going from two letter blends to three letter words right now. So much fun to see him get it.

Well, here is the meat of my post: more Disney pictures.


You might think that nothing is wrong with this picture.



Or this one.



But take a look at this one and you'll see that my crazy kids were swimming in 50 degree weather. Disney keeps their pools exceptionally warm during January. They played for nearly three hours.



Here is Sinatra on his first roller coaster--The Barnstormer, in ToonTown!


Gem and G-Pa with Tom Sawyer's river boat behind them.



Here is another one of Gem in Canada.



And one final group shot of us shivering on Main Street at MGM. We caught the final night of the light show.



Oh yeah...This is my Dad (with Jon). It was his birthday on Groundhog Day. Happy Birthday, Dad! I thought this picture was a good one for blackmail, but maybe it's just a nice "celebrating" type of photo. He and Jon were the honorary limbo pole holders at O'Hana (Polynesian Restaurant). "Aloha, Cousin!"