Lexie's Many Faces

Lexie is my constant model. She loves making funny faces for the camera. Here are a few that I took yesterday. Yes, it's time for a haircut. We'll be doing that later this week.

Yum!

Tori sure enjoyed her little strawberry and banana bites (dehydrated). I wasn't anticipating quite the mess that it made...

Complaint

I have no one to complain to at the moment, so I'm complaining to the blog.

It's snowing again and it stinks.

I'm SOOOOOOO incredibly ready to see my yard again. Something green. To throw the kids in the backyard for hours at a time.

Where is spring? Will it ever come???????????????????????????

Nick's Train

Nick brought this to me today and said that it was Thomas the Tank Engine. I'm glad that he's trying to actually draw things now, instead of just complete scribbles.

Pampered Chef Goodies

I went to a Pampered Chef party a couple of weeks ago and I now have some new kitchen goodies. Like this:Yeah, I know. How often do I entertain and need one of these? For some reason, I have always wanted one though. I am happy with this purchase.

On the other hand, I also bought a stoneware muffin pan. Everyone I know has extolled the virtues of stoneware and how wonderful it is to bake with. I decided to give it a try. However, when I opened the box, I cringed:
It's like a nightmare to me. I might as well bake with terra cotta. Not that there is anything wrong with terra cotta, but for some reason, touching it is like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. Even thinking about baking with this makes the hairs on my arms stick up. We'll see if I can get past that...

Toothless Kate

Monday Randomness

MT. REDOUBT ERUPTED
The volcano south of Anchorage finally erupted. I haven't noticed any clouds of ash or anything though, so I guess we're far enough away that we won't get any.

HAIRCUTS
Oh, the girls need haircuts. Bangs or no bangs? Kate's have finally grown out long enough to put back into a ponytail holder easily. She's not very good about keeping it back though.
Lexie insists that she wants to grow hers out, but currently they are just in her face. They look like homeless children. It's time to do something, anything.

IS IT SUMMER BREAK YET?
Because I'm ready for it. I know that most moms probably dread summer break, because their kids are home with them every day. Mine are already home every day and I'm looking forward to the break in schoolwork as much as they are. We're doing fine in a disorganized sort of way. We're not behind schedule or anything. It's just a bit chaotic at the moment and it probably will be until we finish. I guess that's okay.

NICK'S BIRTHDAY
Nick is 3 yrs old today and I can hardly believe it. He's such a little boy now. He's been playing with his new trains and tools and puzzles all morning. I'm hoping that they keep him busy for most of the day.

Flashback Friday: Harold

Here's a picture of my college roommate, Harold. He was always a hoot!

No, we didn't share a dorm room. When I went to community college, my volleyball coach was looking for someone to live with his dad. He had senile dementia and was starting to wander off once in a while.

I needed a place to stay that was closer to the school, so I got a free room in exchange for keeping an eye on Harold.

I wasn't alone at first. There was another girl, Christi who also lived there. She didn't stay as long as I did though - maybe he scared her off?

The first night we moved in, Harold was upset. He could remember things from 50 years ago like they just happened, but he had no short-term memory. He had no idea why we were there - even though we kept explaining it to him.

We had the two bedrooms upstairs. There was a door leading to the staircase, but no lock. We were a bit scared to go to sleep that first night. I think it was Christi who tied a rope from the doorknob to the railing to keep the door shut. That was a good idea.

We were woken up in the middle of the night by Harold. He was upstairs, outside our bedrooms with a knife in his hand. Yes, he was a small guy and extremely old, but is that really how you want to wake up?

He didn't mean any harm though. He had the knife in his hand, because he had used it to cut the rope. He needed to talk to us because he couldn't understand why we were there. We convinced him to go back to sleep and the next day we made sure that there was a lock on the door.

The lock kept him out that second night, but he was even more perturbed that he couldn't get upstairs. That night, we woke up to the sound of the police banging on the door. Yes, he called the cops on us.

Things did eventually get better. He got used to having us there - although he never knew our names and he never understood why we were there.

His dementia ended up getting worse though. He started wandering down the street and not being able to find his way back home. I can't remember what happened - he either moved in to his son's home or else was put into a nursing home. He was a great old guy though!

Totally Gross

I'm going "valley girl" on you. That was like so totally gross. Gag me with a spoon!!

What am I talking about? Our NASTY truck that I just cleaned out. I mean YUCK!

I usually clean it on a weekly basis, because it gets gross fast. We are in the car a lot. Somehow, I let it slip for about 3 weeks (I'm guessing). That won't happen again.

You would not believe what I pulled out of there. I am embarrassed to admit it. But I will.

Gobs and gobs of french fries.
6 binkies - yes 6 pacifiers. I was really starting to wonder where those were.
About 10 socks belonging to Tori and Nick. (They like to be barefoot in the car)
Books and magazines (Ellie always has to have reading material with her).
Empty water bottles galore.
A lot of crumbs.
A lot of Tori's toys.
And the grossest thing on earth - a half-eaten pear that had to have been there for at least a week. When did I last buy pears? Yes, it was that gross. And of course I was feeling around under the seat with my bare hands when I found it. Ick!

As if I had not already hit my threshold for grossness today, Nick decided that he couldn't get out of the tub in time to use the toilet. Yes, it wasn't pleasant.

I'm hoping I can get them all to sleep without anything else disgusting happening.

Wish me luck!

Teeth

007, originally uploaded by amwoodsfam.

Look at those teeth! Yes they've finally come in. She's a late bloomer compared to her siblings, but I don't mind. She has the top ones too!

Where is Spring?

Oh where, oh where is spring?

It is freezing cold out today. I know that it is always freezing cold, but it seems colder today.

I can't help but be annoyed when I go to the store and see all sorts of sundresses and cutesy summery baby outfits. I don't quite know when we'd actually get a chance to wear any of that here. Not anytime in the near future! Maybe they figure that everyone is preparing for trips to Hawaii or something. I can only dream!

I am going to put my scarf and wool coat back on and head to town....

Practice Collage

Super Slides

Oh, it was hard to leave Ice Alaska today. Nick wanted to stay on the slides forever! Most of them are pretty tame and short, but there are a few that are pretty long and steep. Of course, those were his favorite. He did fine going down them. My only concern was that he would climb into the other lane at the bottom and get run over by a sledful of kids going 60 mph. Wow, do they pick up speed on a sled!! We were sledless, but they still had a ball.

More Pictures from Ice Alaska

I posted a bunch of pictures from our trip to Ice Alaska on my other blog. There were just so many that I liked, that I had to post some more here!

Differences

It's amazing how different the kids are.

I made brownies yesterday. Ellie and Kate wolfed their pieces down. Inhaled them. They disappeared before my eyes.

Lexie, on the other hand, has another way of going about things.

She tore her brownie into a zillion little mini morsels. Then she happily ate them one by one. It must have taken her at least 15 minutes to finish that brownie.

In the mean time the other kids were begging for another, insisting that Lexie must have gotten a bigger piece than them for it to have lasted her that long.

Katie

Babies Are Made Out of Rubber

My theory was proven today. Babies are indeed made out of rubber.

Does this look like a very comfortable sleeping position to you?

Yes, those are her toes next to her mouth. I think she may have a career as a yoga instructor in her future :)

My new 5 Year Old!

Happy Birthday Lexie!!!!