Lost in translation

Jack wanted to make a schedule for our day tomorrow.  Jack LOVES to make schedules and since parents are invited to school tomorrow to help make Gingerbread houses and Jack is extra excited about the whole thing.  Since it was already passed his bedtime I said we didn't have time to make a schedule.  Apparently he had time because I found this right by my bedroom door.

I'm still learning to read "Jack" but between Chad and I, we have come up with the following translation:

• I wake up and put on my clothes
• Then we go to school and make gingerbread houses (I've become used to "aws" meaning house)
• I come home and I play on the computer
• ????????? *update:  Mom you were right!  It does say "do my jobs"
• I play with my toys
• We sit down to eat our food
• then we put on our pajamas and go to bed.

Looks like tomorrow is going to be a great day!

From the Mouth of Babes

This should be titled the "Marian edition"  It could be because Jack is in school all day and Lucy isn't completely verbal yet.  But Marian's abundance of quotes is most likely due to her spunk.  I LOVE IT!

"Do I have preschool today?....I do?  AWESOME!!"

-Marian

"Mary, you look tired.  You should go lie down and watch Lark Rise.  I can just grab dinner for me at McDonald's then I'll clean up the house.  Do you want one of my Gatorades?"

-Chad during Mary's seemingly endless pre-Christmas cold.  It was music...really heavenly music to my ears.

"Mommy, if you said I could be done cleaning right now then I would get a smile on my face."

-Jack

 "Lucy likes your born sister"

-Marian talking to a friend who has a little sister that Lucy is enthralled with and is expecting another baby sister in March.

"If your mom wants her baby now she should just go to the Dr. so they can give her some medicine.  Then she just has to rest and rest and rest till the baby comes out!"

-Marian -spoken to the same friend as above.

*This story was shared with me by the Primary music leader.  

Marian was learning a new song in Primary with these lyrics "It shouldn't be hard to sit very still and think about Jesus..." She was sitting there with a very concerned look on her face.  Finally the teacher asked her what was wrong.  Marian said she didn't think they should be singing that song because it wasn't very nice.  When asked what wasn't nice about it.  Marian said, "we shouldn't say a bad Jesus because I don't think that is right."

As we sat down to eat Hootnanies (German Pancakes):

Where are our puppies?  You said we could have puppies when we had pancakes!  Oh....puffy pancakes."

-Marian

NOTE:  I have had Marian's hearing tested.  She passed...but just barely.

"JACK!!!  When a woman says 'let me use your violin,' you let her!"

-Marian

"Daddy!  I guess you really are a magician!"

-Marian, in awe and wonder after watching Chad make a quarter disappear through his head.

"I'm sorry I can't marry you.  I already said I would marry Elijah."

-Marian, trying to gently turn down a marriage proposal...apparently not her first.

I'm not going to write about...

I'm not going to write about how Marian has been begging for me to cut her hair short for days.  I'm not going to write about the fact that I worried that if I didn't do something she would try to cut it herself (been there done that).  And I am definitely not going to write about how in an attempt to keep Marian from ruining her hair by cutting it herself, I...ruined her hair by cutting it myself...and then cried.  Yeah, I'm not going to write about that.  But I will write that I hurried over the the mall just before closing to buy an unreasonable amount of girly head bands, hair clips, and very girly looking outfits in a size 5T.  I will also write about how I looked up the hours of my hairstylist for tomorrow and plan to call at 10:01 in the morning to get an appointment for my daughter who has more hair than any other 4 year old I have ever seen...well I guess I mean more as in thicker...not as in longer.  Sigh! 
'

What I am thankful for

I have been blessed with so much.  Most recently I've been blessed with a wonderful husband, sister...Kate you rock!), and brother-in-law who put on a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner for 10 while I lay sick in bed (perhaps to them it seemed a little too "miraculous" that I felt good enough to come out just before it was time to eat but it was true and I at least managed to make the gravy.)  I am beyond thankful for my family.  I am also so grateful for truths I have.  I just saw this video that sums up so much of the reason as to why I am grateful for the church I belong to.  Here it is,

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

From the Mouth of Babes

"Don't worry mom, I know what to do if Lucy's eye gets poked out. We could just roll up some tape and tape her eye back in.  I think that's how Heavenly Father does it."

-Marian (after being told not to let Lucy hold a pencil)

"No, no no!"

-Lucy

"Mom, next time you need to pay me in cash!"

-Jack

(after throwing up several times during the night) "I guess if I am sick I'd better not go to church.  Cause if I got sick, every other kid would get sick...then the whole church would be a mess."

-Jack

"I won't miss you.  I have other friends so I will forget about you."

-Marian

...said to our wonderful family guests as we dropped them off at the airport.  Her ability to know the exact right thing to say seems to come with a dark side.  (Don't worry Brian and Liz...she says the same thing to me all the time when she packs her bag to run away...about once a week.  I like to think that she doesn't mean it).

"Mom, when you get a foot hurt, lie on the couch, watch a movie and read a magazine."

-Marian

Happy Halloween

This was the only shot where Lucy actually had her hat on

Marian was thrilled to have her face painted!  I'm not sure we shouldn't  have just left her cute little face alone...but she loved being green!

For the record...I was the donut eating champion for the 3rd year in a row at our yearly babysitting co-op Halloween party.  Just so you know.

Jack's latest masterpiece

In case the events of this picture are unclear.  On a nice sunny day, these are babies (some of them clearly unhappy) are about to be eaten up by a shark that is leaping out of the water.  When Jack proudly showed me this I made it clear that I wasn't a fan of this coloring.  He quickly clarified that the babies don't get eaten up.  He and I fly in on helicopters and rescue all the babies. 

Oh, well in that case I feel so much better..
Boys!  Somehow I can't imagine Marian or Lucy ever drawing something like this.

Old Cape Cod

We met up with all the East Coast Lindsay's in Cape Cod for Labor Day this year and it was just about as much fun (and as much food) as you can have in 4 days.

We had not one but 2 delicious breakfasts at the fabulous Red Cottage in Dennis.

And even though the beaches on the Ocean side were windy...

 

Windy

Windy !!! 

We all found ways to enjoy ourselves.  

Some:

  played with their toes...

 others enjoyed spending time together as a family...

some learned the thrill of surfing on the boogie-board... 

I didn't get enough pictures of this gorgeous day we had at Mayflower beach (my favorite beach on the cape) on the bay side.  You can see from this picture how blue the sky was and how great the beach is for kids.  Minimal wind was also a big plus.

 

others spent time loving Lucy... 

(between Kate and Katie this has become a past time in and of itself)

some were content just digging in the sand...

while others spent their time discussing politics ad nauseam...

and some made the most out of time outs (for throwing sand) by becoming one with it.

It was a great vacation.

So this picture is super random and I didn't even get the whole bird in the shot.  He was flying too fast but it was a 1-legged seagull and I was so amazed by it I had to take a picture.  For having only one leg that bird could hold his own fighting for the pop-corn that my kids kept "accidentally" throwing.

Although I don't have any pictures of the AMAZING beach house Adam found. I do have video that shows Lucy's new passion, a quick shot of everyone, and the awesome beach house in the background.  Enjoy!
 

Daddy Saturday

We often call Saturday "Daddy Saturday" becuase the kids love that Chad doesn't have to go to work...but most often Daddy Saturdays are less than fabulous bonding experiences...partly because Chad often has to work from home on Saturdays and partly due to poor or actually LACK of planning on the parental end. So a week ago I decided that we were going to make plans for a fun day with Chad and if he ended up having to work...then well at least we had a plan. We planned to go apple picking and it turned out that luck was on our side...Chad didn't have to work and it was a gorgeous fall day!


Lucy was making the funniest pouty faces while we waited in line for the hay-ride out to the orchards

Have I mentioned that I LOVE this little girl? Just look at that face?

Pretty sure I had half an apple in my mouth for this shot

The "Honeycrisp" apples were by far my favorite! They were beyond delicious.

Marian could have picked apples all day!

Apple lover #1

Apple lover #2

and...Apple lover #3

It was such a fun and memerable day. Here's to more "Daddy Saturdays"

What are little boys made of?

                    What are little boys made of?

                     What are little boys made of?

Frogs and snails

And puppy-dogs' tails,

That's what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice

And everything nice,

That's what little girls are made of.

Case in point: Jack the toad catcher

Marian the toad avoider:

Grandpa Bruce comes to visit

We have been lucky to have so much time with family these past few weeks and I have a lot to catch up on but will try. Here we go!

My dad was in town for a quick visit right after September 11th and we had a great time having Grandpa Bruce all to ourselves!

My dad LOVES planes and knows every kind of plane there is so we took him out to Castle Island to play at the park and watch the planes take off and land at the airport...somehow I only have pictures of the cruise ship heading out to see...but trust me, there were lots and lots of planes!

Grandpa rides!

We had the PERFECT Boston night.  Pizza from Regina's Canolis from Mike's and a killer parking spot in the north end!  The warm fall weather made our outdoor dinner just magic!  The fact the Chad could join us at the end made it even better.

The next day we lunched in Beacon Hill, explored the Public Gardens...

where some of our group got just a little bit grumpy

All things considered it was a fabulous 24 hours with Grandpa Bruce!  Thank so much dad for making the trip out to see us.

p.s. the things I didn't get pictures of are

1. my dad's amazing beeping nose that could have kept Lucy entertained for hours
2. My dad an Jack exploring every corner of the globe on Google Earth.  Jack's love of maps is in his genes!

From the Mouth of Babes

"Kindergarten is awesome!"

-Jack

"I'm 4... I'm 4...I'm 4!"

-Marian

"Wow"  

(pronounced Wowwwwwww)

-Lucy...when given a sticker, nutella, and anything with chocolate

"Dad, to play this game you have to read...you can read right?"-Jack

"Yes" -Chad

"Really, well then, what does this say?"

-Jack

"Now Jack has a goose egg just like me!"

-Marian (said as if this was the best thing in the whole world)

"Mom, don't worry if you don't know what to do for my Halloween costume.  Just give me some white fabric, I'll color black circles for eyes and Boo!  I'm a ghost!"

-Jack

"Why aren't all the neighbors bringing me birthday presents?"

-Marian

"Mom!  I Order you to do this thing!" (make blue frosting)

-Jack

*Needless to say there was quite the lecture on respect after this comment

"I knew this was not too hard!"

-Marian after completing her new puzzle

{sung} 

"I am 4......  bigger than I was, 

I am 4, bigger than I was before"

-Marian (sung ALL day on her birthday!)

Gross

Have you ever been on your way to put your little girl to sleep then have her throw up ALL OVER you (and your brand new clothes) 4 times...?  I have. It's as awesome as you might expect.

I tried to get get Chad to take a picture of me but he said no one would want to see that...he was right.

FYI  I am totally blaming this on the fact that Lucy got her flu shot today...so much for keeping her from getting sick.  As gross as it was for me...I feel worse for her.  Poor little girl has a fever and clearly doesn't feel well.  I'm her mom and so of course sick or healthy, I'll take care of her always...but for the next day or so...I'm keeping my hair pulled back and wearing my sweats just to be safe.

I'm just sorry...

that not everyone can be this cute!
(please ignore the giant bottle of soap in the background)

Lucy's excessive cuteness has made me REALLY want to get one of those fancy shmancy cameras (and actually learn how to use it) that I swore would never get.  Chad are you reading this?  Christmas is just 89  days away....

Interruptions

Where has this quote been all my mothering life?

INTERRUPTIONS

"When you are exasperated by interruptions, try to remember that their very frequency may indicate the value of your life. Only people who are full of help and strength are burdened by other persons' needs. The interruptions which we chafe at are the credentials of our indispensability. The greatest condemnation that anybody could incur - and it is a danger to guard against - is to be so independent, so unhelpful, that nobody ever interrupts us, and we are left comfortably alone."

-Anonymous

from The Anglican Digest

Camping

 
Way back when (end of July) we went camping with our beloved neighbors! It was more like camping in kiddie Heaven than in the woods.

There was a pool where you could bring your duckies

...throw away your children

...and explore underwater

You could watch magic tricks

...but it didn't offer much to appease kids who had to wait in the car while everyone else broke camp

It was the PERFECT place for these two great friends to get as dirty as humanly possible.

 
It was basically little boy heaven!  Thanks Brown Family for a perfect weekend!