Give the Girl a Hula Hoop!

This is just a tiny portion of Soni's concert today...it was such a hoot!

Note: For those who receive this by e-mail, you may actually have to go to the blog to make the video play.

The most awesome gifts

I'm a little slow with this, but I had to post, for two reasons. 1-keeping a record of my sweet kiddos and 2-because I had an awesome birthday. There was no "one great event" that made it so, but I truly felt loved the entire day. The three oldest kids all wrote me notes and wrapped them in their own way. Eve with her colors and fancy cursive letters. Austin used hardware clamps from the garage. Soni wrapped hers in a beaded purse. Such individuals...these little ones that I so often lump together in one group. Their words written were equally thoughtful and very entertaining.
Soni writes her letters very well, but when she has a lot to say she reverts to shorthand, so she read hers to me and half way through she stoped and apologized for the letter being upside down, turned it right side up and continued on. Austin wished me a "Mare kresmes and a hapy noo yer" , "Mare ester", and a "hapy brfty". He also shared his testimony, "I no the sckrepsrs are troo", and many other sweet misspelled words that I will really miss as he continues to master his vocabulary.
Eve used a long standing family joke to congratulate me on my second favorite gift...fixing my washer before the repair man came and made me pay $60 to pull the 3 in screw out of one of the drain holes. Although Bingham didn't put anything down on paper he was very much a part of the moment, climbing up, down, around and in between.

One year older and completely worth it.

Just Believe

A couple days ago I found myself at Walmart with all four kids. This is something I am usually pretty good at avoiding, but despite my fears they were all pretty good until we got to the check out line. I could feel things getting out of control and just as I was about to start with my usual threats, Austin looked up and there was a man sitting on a bench dressed in ordinary clothes with a long white beard. The man was about 15 feet away and although I had seen him earlier, my back was toward him. Austin stopped dead in his tracks and without taking his eyes off the man he said to me, "I think that's Santa". I turned around and glanced at the man just as he winked at Austin. By then he had all of my kids attention and they were whispering back and forth with big smiles.

All of this gave me just enough time to get through the line without any major problems, and as we started to leave the man came up to our cart. "I've been watching you kids and you sure have been good. Keep up the good work". Then he gave each of the kids his card...just in case the wink wasn't proof enough :)

Then, this morning, just when I thought all belief was strong, I let Eve make pancakes all by herself. They turned out wonderful, despite the mess. The problem is that I have always made the very same pancakes with whole wheat flour. They have always been tasty, but now tasting these makes the whole wheat variety taste....well, just not the same. I'm afraid it will take a little more than a wink and a card to restore belief in whole wheat flour... Rock the House, Eve! (the last sentence was finished by Eve...chef extraordinaire)

Grandparent's Day

Yesterday Austin's singing class did a special presentation for Grandparent's Day. They sang all kinds of songs about grandparents and then at the end they had a slide show while they sang a song their teacher wrote for her grandchildren. Since you all are so far away, here is a little clip (with Eve's help) of that song.
Enjoy!

There's a Scorpein in my Boot

There's a scorpein in my boot,

There's a snake in my sleeping bag

And a lizerd in my pants,

There's a bird in my pelow case.

Though I know I shud give them a cance,

But I have to kick them out,

Because they haven't payed their rent!

by Eve Woolston