Grama's Present

Sorry guys- I have to do it...

Some "college money": $50 for a savings bond...

a plane ticket to spend the April break in Florida: $239.60 plus the escort fee...
a brand new outfit: $25...
...giving the BOX to your baby sister: PRICELESS!

Collin's Class

Mommy brought some ice cream cups in to celebrate Collin's birthday with his class... just what they needed... SUGAR!! I was greeted at the door with drawings from one little girl and another one telling me how much they've missed me!! (I feel so loved!) The class sang Happy Birthday to Collin- he's such a goof! It was fun to see them all- but I still don't know how Mrs. McCarthy does it!

Our genius, BJ!

Here are the pictures that Grama Colleen NEEDED us to post!
This is the brilliance of a 12 year old when put in charge of the burn barrel-- our boy is a LITTLE singed! Fortunately you only have to do this once to learn your lesson- especially since he's been trying to grow his hair long again- and now we have to call Jody for an "emergency" trim!!

SINGE: /sɪndʒ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[sinj] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, singed, singe·ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
1.
to burn superficially or slightly; scorch.
2.
to burn the ends, projections, nap, or the like, of (hair, cloth, etc.).
3.
to subject (the carcass of an animal or bird) to flame in order to remove hair, bristles, feathers, etc. –noun
4.
a superficial burn.
5.
the act of singeing.
[Origin: bef. 1000; ME sengen (v.), OE sencgan; c. D zengen, G sengen; akin to ON sangr singed, burnt] —Related forms
singe·ing·ly, adverb
—Synonyms 1. char. See burn1.

I looked up how to spell it- because it looked funny and got a laugh when I read the meaning! (had to share!)

The Boy Next Door

Eva's buddy, Jack, turned three and had his birthday party yesterday... it was great fun! They had the game room to occupy the older kids and the train table for the little ones to play with "Thomas the Train." Eva was shy for about two minutes before she needed to be in the middle of everything... especially at present time (as you can see!) She had no problem lounging on Angie's lap while Jack opened presents.

We met lots of new people- including Grandma Hitchcock... who is 92 and a wonderful person to chat with. She got up to get cake and Eva wouldn't let anyone sit in "Grandma's chair". I would never have guessed that she was that age- so amazing!

Eva met a bunch of Jack's friends - and they all said how much she looks like Eva from daycare! Isn't that funny?!? She was also "mothering" baby Craig all afternoon. And the chocolate cake-- YUM YUM! Nothing like a good birthday party to sugar up the kids!!

Eva and Her New Jewels

The Thrift Store was moving- so Mommy got an amazing deal on an entire bag of jewels!! I think the boys had just as much fun helping Eva put on all of her new treasures! I brought the mirror out to the kitchen so she could inspect her new get-up (we're going to put it on the back of her door tomorrow- so she can be just like Grama!)

Hair Accessories!

Eva spent the rest of the evening trying all of her hair "ponies" and looking at herself in the mirror... she told everyone that she could, that she got a haircut- and kept telling me to take her picture!! Looks like we have a fashion queen on our hands!

Eva's First Haircut

Don't worry- it was just a trim! The ends of her hair were getting a little fuzzy and hard to comb through! Isn't she gorgeous now!! Very STICKY, but definitely BEAUTIFUL! Our wonderful hairdresser, Jody, (who, by the way, will be coming to our house when we're old to cut our hair!!) was very good with Eva. Evee was afraid at first- but once Jody pulled the magic sucker out of her drawer and took that horrible plastic thing off her neck- all was good!

Another Hat

BABY... It's COLD outside!! And we sure are making good use of our "Grama" hats!

The Progression of CRAZY...

ONE: I thought I would take a picture of Collin (since he hasn't been on the blog in a little while), but apparently he was in a feisty mood today!!!
TWO: When Eva came in, they decided that I needed to take a picture of both of them and it started to get a bit loud...
THREE: they were so loud and goofy that BJ assumed he was missing something...

The Progression of CRAZY (cont.)

FOUR: add one more child...
FIVE: ...and it gets SO LOUD with the giggling (can't believe it hasn't turned into a fight yet!)
and SIX: they're on the floor!

BJ & Jazzy

I swear I have the goofiest kids... Jazzy thinks so too!!!

Auntie Grandma Donna

It has always been confusing to the kids about who Aunt Donna and Uncle Gary are... Alex & Luke have always called them Grandma and Grandpa and now there's Margaret, Jane , Jack and Henry!! But it doesn't matter- they answer to anything!! Eva was arguing with Margaret about it when she heard her say Grandma! The girls were cute... running and playing, hiding and... well they never did get the seek part down- they just kept hiding!

When the girls got into their PJs, someone mentioned Dora and they both started jumping up and down!! They settled right in, on the couch with "Auntie Grandma" to watch their favorite show! Little do they know, they're going to see Dora and Diego at the Landmark Theater in a few weeks- I think I'm more excited than they will be- I can't wait to see their little faces!!

P.S. Don't worry about the hair being straight, Grama Colleen-- it's just been in "ponies" all day!

Eva says...

HI GRAMA COLLEEN!

Jewelry box

I love my new wall jewelry cabinet- and I had fun putting my babies' photos in it. It was really hard to choose pictures- but I got it done...eventually!

Thanks to my favorite Lia Sophia people, the hooks are FULL. Brian wants to know how much jewelry a woman needs... and shoes... and purses??? Of course my response was... how many GUNS does it take to shoot a deer??? hmmmm... I win!!!! That's okay- he bought it for me- mostly because I like to "organize" things. Guess what I bought him for Christmas?? A GUN CABINET! Do we know each other or what?!?!?

The Barn has WALLS!

Yeah again! Our barn has it's walls now!! (I never would have predicted that I would have been this excited about a barn!) Brian and Eddie worked hard today-- Brian had a goose call in his back pocket, so in between boards they would call in their feathered friends and occasionally shoot at them! You know you're a redneck when you can hunt WHILE you're building your barn! Now it just needs it's MONSTER sized beam to be put in place for the loft, and we'll have tons of space for all our junk... I mean tools.

I've been doing really well getting rid of things, though. I'm just one of those people that never throw anything away --high school cheer leading uniform (sorry Brian- I will NEVER fit in it again!), prom dresses, yearbooks, photos, even old notes (Jenn and I used to write back and forth in notebooks!) I keep lots of stuff... Brian will always complain... I will NEVER throw it away! It may not be until my great great grand daughter treasures these antiques, but hopefully someday they'll be appreciated! I think I take after my Great Grandma Caufield, who "kept things for good", and kept boxes of used wrapping paper and nylons still in the package and odd things like that! And since we plan on having this place for the rest of our lives... NOT my problem!! (sorry Eva... you know your brothers won't CLEAN anything!) I just cleaned out junk and old clothes and some old and outdated craft stuff (don't worry Mom- nothing good)
It's much prettier here when the flowers and leaves come out... but we're due to get some snow tomorrow- so that'll freshen up the brown!

The Wishbone

Daddy officiated the breaking of the wishbone today... I asked him to supervise (just in case of an argument) and it turned into the Wishbone Olympics~~ Why am I NOT surprised!!

As you can see, Collin got the bigger half... I wonder if his wish will come true?

I did a search, just for curiosity's sake, and found this:
http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/wishbone.html
The Story of the Wishbone and where it originated... (just figured I'd add a little more to the blog, besides my beautiful children!!)

Toys

I'm having fun with photo editing lately...
...my children leave such photo opportunities ALL over the house!

I've discovered this great program if anyone wants to check it out:
http://www.picnik.com/app#/home/welcome

Cars

I tried to take a picture of Eva arranging the cars- she concentrates so hard on organizing (everything except her room!!)... all she would say is, " Mom, MY BUSY!"

Bubble Boy

For those of you who don't have a twelve year old yet... THIS is how they STALL before actually DOING the dishes!! I have to admit that it IS pretty cool! And I don't think you could plan a better picture of my crazy child!!

Baby Casserole

Eva discovered the casserole dish carrier that Mom made for me, when I was unpacking yet ANOTHER box of kitchen stuff (YES, I do know that we've lived here since July!!)~~ she, of course, thought it made a very nice baby doll carrier! I am so amazed with what she comes up with- I guess she must have seen someone carrying a baby that way. Now she has it strapped to the front of her new bicycle like a basket! She's such a busy "mommy"!