a moment of silence

courtesy of apple & nick jr

field trip craziness

yesterday was ryan's field trip to the children's museum.

we hadn't been in a while,
and he was happy to see his old favorites..

and on this visit,
he discovered what will certainly be his new favorite.

this picture captures ALL the craziness
that was the snowball pit!

i forget how crazy pre-school field trips are -
but with kids this cute how can you not love it???

sick boy :(

sick kids are usually crabby and a lot of work
except for this kid...

mr. crazy is always moving,
so when he's sick it's sort of nice
to see him just mellow out and stay in one place for a few minutes.

i have to admit that i had a 2 helpers that kept him happy:
a red ds &
endless selection on streaming netflix
ha ha

and my favorite part of a sick ryan...
i get to see the cutest 4 year old {who NEVER naps} nap.

life lesson

last night olivia & i were doing some wii zumba.

about halfway through garrett joined in.

he really, really wanted to wear olivia's zumba belt.

now this isn't just any old zumba belt.

olivia's is made out of satiny fabric,

with a special spot sewn in for the remote.

yes, olivia designed it.

the game only came with 1 belt,

and necessity is the mother of invention.

so back to garrett...

he wanted the belt.

i said no simply because we had just made it and she was sooo proud of it.

i told him next time he could wear the belt.

and the response i got...

MOM, DON'T YOU REMEMBER "AND JUSTICE FOR ALL" ?????

IT MEANS WE ALL GET A FAIR CHANCE.

wow, it is true.

all you ever need to know, you learn in kindergarten.

and cuz i'm so nice, i did another zumba workout with garrett.
which was good since i might have had too many of these during dinner.

i spy

all day josie kept asking for her cat shirt.
i had no idea what shirt she was talking about.
so i told her if she found it, she could wear it.

just before supper,
she came downstairs with this shirt -
so excited she had found her cat shirt.

ummm, can you see the cat?
ya, me neither.
clearly i have some work to do with her
before she starts school!!!

one

one vintage ipod {the mini was pre-nano!}

one pair of backwards headphones

one happy 4 year old

blame the baby

ryan is allergic to chocolate.

it's no big deal,

if he eats too much he gets a rash

and needs to put on some cream {which he hates}.

so the other day i was noticing a rash.

and i asked him if he had been eating a lot of chocolate.

mom, it's not my fault.

josie just pulled open my mouth

and shoved tons of chocolate in.

sometimes...

sometimes it's hard

being the "little kid" left at home

when everyone else is having fun at school

until you realize you get the wii all to YOURSELF!!!!

one of these things...

...is not like the other!

but leave these kids alone for a few minutesand the problem will resolve itself!
yes, it's back!!!!

ringing in the new

i meant to document how we closed out 2010.
that didn't quite work out.
here's how our night went...

we decided at the very last minute to go see tangled
LOVED IT
then the plan was to come home, play wii & watch another movie.
{forgot to take pictures!}
then at precisely 11:55pm we watched the festivities from new york.
the kids saw the ball drop, then quickly asked "is that all??"
then 30 seconds later, we had 3 out of the 4 kids hysterically crying.
{i got the camera out, but it was not pretty}
5 minutes later they were all asleep in their beds.
so maybe they weren't quite ready to stay up until midnight :)

so while 2011 got off to a teary start,
we managed to regroup {and sleep in!} for all the fun on new years day...

:: the cousins ::

:: let the party begin ::

:: loving our pillow pets - and other assorted gifts ::

:: wow i took a lot of pictures! ::

:: the vogel version of minute to win it ::

:: what's a holiday without a craft? ::

and now for a year in review collage...

just kidding! i think this post has enough pictures!!
if you want to take a look back, just look at my blog header - HA HA

but i will say that we had a great 2010 and can look back
and see plenty of great blessings & experiences that God sent our way!
and we look forward to see what 2011 brings!