Christmas Eye Exams

What can you say about kids? There is never a dull moment. Take going to the eye doctor for example. Can there be a more boring outing? Not with my kids. So here are some pics to show how much fun we have.

Maia the Maniac

Katie Belle (naturally) was the one who befitted the geek goggles best. It was funny however, when the doctor asked her to read the letters to see how well she does. In the typical eye doctor voice to a kid he said, "Can you read those letters up there for me?" "F U Z X O" she replied confidently. "Now do it backwards." Katie Belle gave a furrowed brow of confusion back to the doctor as if to imply that he must be nuts, paused, and then preceded to turn around in her chair to face the opposite direction inching her butt degree by degree to the back wall. I clapped my palm on my forehead in dismay. The doctor laughed, "That is a first for me." He politely asked her to stop and was at a loss for how to ask her to read from right to left rather than through staring through the back of her head. We love you Katie Belle! You are the neatest kid ever. (She kind of looks like the engineer on Atlantis).

Katie Belle the Krazy

Luke is to the point where things aren't as fun as when you are younger. The doctor wanted to pose everybody for pictures in these goggles and let them go up and down the automatic chair. Maia liked it. Katie Belle was Katie Belle. Sadie wasn't sure what to think. And Luke seemed like a kid too big for the kiddy coaster thinking, "This is lame." :1

Luke the Lame

Sadie was there more for the pose. She ended up needing reading glasses. So her and Mom are in the business for finding matching glasses. Like mother like daughter.

Sadie the Same

(as her Mother)

Who'd have known that visiting the eye doctor could be so much fun? It gives us perspective as to what Jared goes through. We respect you now. I am sure you have bundles of fun as well.

Christmas season is officially here!

Deck the Halls!!! Or perhaps just my living room. We broke down and bought a nice fake tree this year; one that we could use over the years that really looks like a tree. We have been using a "paper" tree (I guess that is what they are called), for the last couple of years and needed a change. So we invested in one the day after Thanksgiving. We even bought a plugin that smells like pine. But it is official, Christmas is coming. Music is in the air. Lights are up. Lists are longer this year. And the kids are counting the days until Santa shows up. Here are some pics...

Luke and Maia are snuggled up playing DS's together.

On a side note, some students of mine had asked if I would do what is called "No Shave November" and I said sure. ( I had no idea that it was for colon cancer research). But now I know. It lasted a whole 12 days until I shaved it all off. I came home from work and kissed Coralie. According to her, I sand-papered her upper lip off with presumably a mustache made out of steel wool. So after many days of empty hugs and hollow kisses where she barely graced me, I decided it was all going to have to go. Here is a brief documentary on the removal process.

Mustache and Beard...

Cop Mustache...

Hitler Salute...

Baby Faced...

It was the first time that I ever tried to grow something over two days. It is overrated though. My face was all itchy and the girls complained however, Luke thought I was a true man and wanted one also. My mustache and neck grew the best though.

On a final note, I was looking for a star to put on our tree and it was revealed to me this beautiful, wonderful ornament. I thought it was cute until Coralie pushed the button. I fell in love with her all over again.

I never did get the star, but I'll settle for Star Wars... especially Han vs. Greedo.

Men... What do you do with them?

Hilarious!

Well... here he is. Luke is finally growing out of the grunge stage that all boys go through and deciding that looking good really is good. I don't know what happened but he figured that looking decent doesn't need to cost him much. Clean shirt, smart tie, combed hair, and voila! A young man. I was honored that he asked me how to tie a tie. I never learned until I was 17. He is ahead of my generation by a few years. So I taught him the single Windsor; my favorite of them all. Note Luke's concentration powers.

The Focus.

The Hand-Eye Coordination (from years of Nintendo).

The Guidance.

The Epiphany.

That's is my son. It is crazy how fast he is growing. Less than 2 years and he will be in middle school. He is a fine young man.

Halloween 2011

Here's Maia trying on her costume and showing her scary claws! She's been a wolf for probably a month already. =)

Maia's showing me her tail. She loves her tail!

Casey and I ready to attend the Masquerade Ball. He wore the mask he bought when he went to Italy. It looked so good! And check out those boots I found for $2 at a thrift store...I did awesome.

Here's Katie Belle as Kirby. Her costume was a HIT! Everyone liked it but all the young guys handing out candy were the ones who recognized Kirby and LOVED it! She was also the most excited about her costume. She was soooo proud of it! =)

And here are all of us. Luke was Racer-X from Speed Racer and Sadie was Luminara, a Jedi from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoons. They were all happy with their costumes!

We had a great Halloween! Last Friday we had a Ward party and Trunk-or-Treat. The kids loved showing off their costumes to their friends and got a bunch of candy BEFORE Halloween. I even won a prize for one of the best adult costumes! =) Then Monday we dressed up again to go trick-or-treating and hang out at Jeanie's house. It's funny but going to Jeanie's house has become one of our Halloween traditions. This year, we decided to trick-or-treat in Jeanie's neighborhood until kids were tired of it and then we went back to hang out with Jeanie and help pass out their candy. Just good fun with family. I couldn't ask for more.

The Dance

My daughters... They are the best a dad could have. Every dad should have at least one daughter. I don't know what it is about them but they are very... girly. And that girliness, though melodramatic at every turn, makes for a life full of color and warmth. See what I mean?
Then one day, I danced with Coralie to a song in the living room which caused them all to get jealous. "Would you dance with me daddy?" Sadie asked. "Me too," said the next. "Then it's my turn," Maia interrupted. So we danced.


Even Luke wanted to dance with me (but I pawned him off on his mom for obvious reasons). I didn't get a picture of Sadie and I dancing, though she is the one who needs it. She has danced with me for some years now. My little brother, Tye, introduced me to a song by a metal band named "Stained" called "Zoe Jane". The lead singer writes about needing to protect his girl from the world. It is quite touching. Here is the Youtube song without any video. There was never a music video for it anyway so just listen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRJeWQ8Xr9c

It is a great song and I sing it to Sadie all the time. It is her song. On a separate note, We can now play basketball int the driveway. We got a net and play lightning all the time now. Of all the kids, believe it or not, Sadie likes it the most. Luke is a close second though.

Play Day!

Our city had a Play Day where there were several activities to do for free throughout the day. We started off at Lowes making fire trucks.

Then we went to the climbing wall and everyone, except Mom, took a turn (or two) climbing the wall.

Luke especially loved it and made it to the top! Casey loved it too and probably had as much fun swinging on the rope as he did climbing the wall! LOL! (Luke says he liked it MORE.) =)We then had lunch and went back to go swimming. All in all, a very fun Play Day! It helps, of course, that we have such fun as a family whatever we're doing. =) I love my kids! AND my fun husband! Would it be as fun without him? I think not! ;)

Cub Scouts

Luke had his last pack meeting as a bear. So, to finish off his Leave No Trace requirements, he had to display his poster about the Leave No Trace guidelines. He did a good job making it and it was funny! Next month he'll get his award.

One of the activities was to make a pyramid. It was funny to watch them try. Maia had no idea how it worked and basically just hung on for dear life. And notice that Katie Belle's hands are on the HEADS of the two beneath her? =) At least the girls enjoy going to pack meetings, too!

Ahhh...Katie Belle...

Katie Belle and Sadie used to share a bike but now Sadie doesn't need training wheels so it's left Katie Belle without a bike at all. So we took her bike shopping. The bike she REALLY wanted was a tie-dyed bike (Marlene, are you proud?) but it was way too big for her! So I looked for a hippie-looking bike her size and found this one. She loved it, too. She loves color! Here she is trying it out at the store.

Then this weekend the girls wanted to ride bikes so I got her bike put together and WAALAAH! Happy Katie Belle!

"Look, MOM! No hands!" No, really. =)

Why the devilish look you ask? She was trying to run into me! Little stinker! =)

All in all it was a success!

Fun at Lowes

We've finally started going to the Lowe's Build and Grow days where the kids can build different things for FREE! Here you have to be signed up and it took awhile to know when to do that before all the spots were taken and with FOUR kids to sign up, well, you have be on top of it. So we've been going a few times but this time the kids really enjoyed making the lockers because of all the stickers they could put on to customize them.

Katie Belle put on EVERY sticker she had! Luke made fun of his friend Parker who has a crush on Patricia. If he ever sees it, I'm sure Parker will make it worthwhile! =)

School's in Session!

Kind of crazy to think that summer is over already. Luke was actually READY to go back, and you know when Luke says he wants school to start, that there's no need to worry about the kids having played enough this summer. :) They certainly had a good break. Here are the kids on their first day. (Notice Luke...smiling!)

Then a few days later it was the Maia's turn to go to school with everyone else. Look at those tears...she was sooo going to miss me.

All of them ready.

This is what the girls call "The Bat Cave". Well, this and the garage. :) If you can't tell we're on a Batman phase...for now.

As you can see, it's really nothing special but there are bugs and pine cones so it's cool enough.

Here she is getting on the bus. The bus driver had to stop her and make her turn around for me or I'd have never gotten a picture! She was fast!

Sitting with Luke and waving bye to Mom and Dad. Again, she looks torn up about it, don't you think?

Yeah, it's me. ALONE. Ready to cry but smiling for the picture. I still had Casey that day but today I'm REALLY alone...and blogging. Hey, at least I'm blogging!

Note to self: Give your kids a hug and remember how fast they grow up!