Little dude

Overheard 'Tag' conversations:

in the van with Reagan and Cooper

Tag: Boys are called dudes and girls are called honey's

Reagan: No, boys are called dudes and girls are called ladies

Cooper: No, boys are dudes and girls are dudettes

Tag: Reagan, you're a dudette.

Reagan: No, I'm a princess.

getting ready to go outside to play with Cooper

Tag: I need my hat too Cooper, I want to look like a dude.

After a very exhausting week for both Tony and I we enjoyed a really nice weekend. Saturday was, of course, full of soccer for Tony and the big boys. I stayed home with the littles and eventhough I had lots of cleaning up to do inside the warm sunshine called us out and we spent the day outside washing the van, riding bikes and generally soaking up the rays.

Later that evening we headed over to John and Christine's for a great dinner to celebrate my big bro's 50th birthday. (He's the one in the middle) Really great evening visiting without the kids, something we don't do that often with this crowd.

Sunday we headed down south to my favorite scrapbook store to spend some Christmas gift certificates. (Thanks Tony for taking the kids to McDonalds to give me some 'shop-alone time')

Then we headed over to Bellis Fair because you really can't go down there without making a trip to Target. Somehow we ended up in Build-a-Bear and Hudson ended up with an early birthday present. He was so very excited with his new friend.

Then we quickly left there to head back up north to Lyndon where they have this great new park that we have wanted to go to with the kids for the last year. We all had a great time there and the kids played hard for over an hour. Definitely somewhere we will go again when we can spend even more time.

A nice family weekend that went so very fast. Tony and I could hardly believe on Sunday night that Monday morning was approaching so fast.

A little adventure

It's not too often that Tony says "Quick, everybody in the car" at 7:45 in the evening. That is usually teeth-brushing, story-reading time. But we don't get to see a lunar eclipse everday, do we? So we all headed out last night in search of the best place to view it. We could almost see it out our front door but there were some trees in the way so we headed a minute down the street where we could actually see it perfectly but that wasn't good enough for Dad. Too many street lights. So we kept driving trying to find darker roads but then we would lose the moon again and would have to keep driving. Reagan really didn't see the fun in the journey. She was very worried that it was 'very dark out here' and 'did Dad know how to get home again'. Of course when one starts, others tend to join in and now we had a bunch of scaredy-cat kids in the back whining about turning around and "what if we get lost" nonsense. One would wonder if we'd ever had the kids out after dark before. Cooper was into it though and was trying to get the other ones back into the spirit of the search as well. Once we finally found the spot to watch from, all was well again and we spent a few minutes with all 6 of us huddled into the front seats of the van gazing into the sky trying to explain astronomy to a 3, 5, 7, and 9 year old. Here's to a little Wednesday night adventure.

**I did try to get a photo of the moon last night but my battery was dead. Not that I would have gotten a photo anything close to this.

The sunshine the last few days has been such a welcome change. Feeling it pour through the windows in the morning makes everyone smile just a little bigger. Yesterday it got unusually warm for February and I love how it just draws everyone out of their houses around here. People out washing their cars, walking their dogs and especially the kids. Kids everywhere after school. My house was actually quiet and stayed tidy all afternoon because they were all outside.

Signed Cooper and Hudson up for a roller hockey league that starts in April. Sunday we bought Cooper his first pair of roller blades. Hudson bought some last year with his birthday money but Cooper has never showed much interest. But yesterday he put on his blades afterschool and didn't take them off until 6:00. Him and a friend were playing on the driveway and not long after they had a game going with 6 of them. So nice to see them playing hard and getting sweaty instead of sitting in front of video games. Cooper now wishes he would have gotten roller blades a long time ago. That's what we told him but I guess you've got to figure these things out for yourself.

Valentine hghlights

The day started out with us finding treats from Daddy on the kitchen counter. Flowers for me and a special candy apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for each of us. Lots of excitement and jumping up and down especially after I told them they could have them for breakfast. If you've never had one of those apples, you really should. They make you feel like sucha kid when you eat one because you can't do it without getting some on your face - lovely. I enjoyed mine after the kids went to bed while Tony and I watched Survivor.

Anyways, after they stuffed their faces with candy apples we headed to school for more Valentine festivities - parties and more sugar. Hudson and his class were heading off to Science World for a field trip where Tony was meeting them so he was especially excited.

After school everyone had fun opening all their Valentines and eating yet more chocolate and candy. Fun to watch Tag's little face as he opened all the little notes from his classmates. He could hardly believe they were all for him.

For dinner I set a fun table and the kids got yet another Webkinz and a book. I also made them little 'I Love You' books (see photo above). It was a very fun, love-filled day with only one meltdown from Reagan when the Webkinz that Hudson got was the one she wanted. But she eventually warmed up to hers and all was well again.

Tony attempted the group shot of me and kids and was not happy with the results (Taggart wouldn't cooperate with him and the whole 'look at the camera' thing). But I like the way it turned out, if nothing else it's real. Real love.

I never used to really be into Valentine's Day. It just wasn't a big deal to me or Tony. Sometimes we would exchange little gifts but nothing much. But the last couple of years it has fun to celebrate it with the kids. What's wrong with a day to celebrate those that you love most. The little books I made for the kids and Tony were just that. I really enjoyed sitting down to focus on them individually and write down those things that I loved most about them. A good way to focus on the good stuff... and there really is a lot of good stuff.

Love is in the air...

Decided to finally change up my holiday collage to a new holiday. Since we are coming into Valentine's I went with a 'Love' theme. I like the way it turned out and it still matches with my red bathroom walls, which is where it hangs.

Taggart has really been enjoying Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the computer right now. He listens to little interactive stories where he has to click on things every once in a while to get the story moving along. He is still learning how to move the mouse around to where he wants it to go so I am gettng up every few minutes to help him but at least I get some time at my table.

On another note...

Early this morning Taggart climbed into my bed while everyone was still asleep. He snuggles in as close as he possibly can and then puts his soft, warm little hands on my cheeks. Nothing better. Then he said, "mom, I just like you sometimes but sometimes I really like Nana."

Nana is his absolute best friend in the world right now. He asks everyday of he can go down and play with her. He is always checking out the front window to see if her car is there or not. When it isn't, he gets really bummed out. Nana's phone would be ringing off the hook if I let him call her whenever he wanted. So lucky to have her so close.

Now it is time to get ready to go pick up one soaking wet boy (Cooper) from the soccer field and drop off another one (Hudson). It is absolutely pouring down rain today - but soccer is finally back on. We haven't had one game since Christmas because of the frozen and snow covered fields. But rain - that's not enough to stop them. Only two more weeks left and we have our Saturdays back.

Needed some warm...

All this snowy, rainy, slushy weather is chilling me to my bones. Needed some warm today so I looked for a muffin recipe that would fill the house with a yummy smell and of course fill my belly.

Mission accompished. Applesauce cranberry pecan with cinnamon glaze. Yummm.

Still want to post about this weekend's goings-ons but have not had the energy in the evenings to sit at the computer to do it. Kids have all had colds so I'm hoping that I'm not next. Will try to post tonight.