Practicing for the teen years

Benj (4) has been working on his "teen" looks for his Mom. Really Mom? Seriously? You are wearing that? Do you have to drive me to school? Please don't stand by me as we walk down the hall. Oh, you are so embarassing.

I can just imagine. Heaven help me. 5 teenagers between 12-18. That's going to be frightening. I am trying to mentally prepare myself now, and I have some help, luckily.

Or maybe he was just thinking about universal health care.

Are we going to see their babies come down from heaven?

"Are we going to see their babies come down from heaven?" -Benjamin (4)----going to my cousins wedding dinner last night, Benj assumes that with marriage, the babies just "come" down from heaven. I guess right there, after the wedding. Maybe we need to read that book, "where babies come from".

Love the cute things little kids say!

Ramon the Repair Guy

So, the dishwasher saga continues. The repair guy came today. Ramon. He said he was here to fix my dishwasher and asked where the parts were. I guess I made the faulty assumption that the parts were being mailed to them, not me. No parts have arrived.

The repair guy was so nice, he decided to take a look at it anyway. I got on the phone with the people who had told us they would be mailing parts, of course they had no clue about the conversation we had with someone there on Friday. Great. This "new" person (I got her name this time) told me they would be sending parts to us and scheduled another technician for Friday. They weren't all that anxious to schedule an appointment, until I asked about getting a new machine. Then all of a sudden I was offered a $50 Sears card for my trouble and they were jumping all over themselves to get me serviced by Friday.

In the meantime, this repair guy Ramon, told me that the frame is bent and so even getting new hinges and latch would not help. So, he says we need a new machine. SWEET! In the meantime, my husband (from work) has called another person (have no idea who) and she calls me and wants to talk to Ramon. So, this other mystery person is now getting me a new machine. I have no idea when or where, but I am such a fan of Ramon. I mean, hey, it would have been easier for him just to leave when he found out I didn't have any parts, but he took a look anyway, and saved us that much time.

So, when Ramon leaves our house, I say, quite relieved, "I love Ramon." Little Benjamin (4) doesn't miss a beat and tells me "You can marry Ramon."

After not having a dishwasher for 5 days and counting.....that love for Sears technicians is growing.

Gymnastics Ribbons

Today Maddie and Benj were able to participate in a little gymnastics program put on for the families. They received ribbons at the end and were thrilled.











The mischeivous smile!


Brother-sister loves

Benjamin gettin' some love from Maddie

Brandon with a Play-Doh creation

Ethan

Madison giving me her crusty look

Benjamin's crusty look

I think they are preparing me for their teen years with these crusty looks.

The Many Faces of Teddy

Teddy in the snow

A serious Teddy

What a regal dog

OK, now he is laughing. I love it when Teddy laughs and smiles.


Better to eat you with my dear. Now he is a fox.

A Crazed Teddy

Keeping company with the babies

A boy and his dog.

Teddy loves to give Dylan kisses, probably because Dylan is a bit reluctant.

Teddy will win, Dylan will get kissed all over his face.

Dylan did go in for a hug.

Dylan and Maddie petting Teddy.

Tree Island

When you get a bunch of children together, and they find sand and weeds, what do they decide to do? Pull the weeds, and re-plant them in the sand. Then they called their creation, "Tree Island". Children are so creative. Benjamin, Dylan, Maddie, and Ethan just loved playing with the other kids in tree island. Such a blast. We need to create a Tree Island at our house, and then maybe the kids will pick the weeds???





Brandon was a little too old for Tree Island---instead he had a great time throwing the football around with a friend.

Discipline---Child Style

Reminds me of Michael Jackson with his baby!


If you need a reminder of the famous moment:


He then went on to spank the "naughty" baby. Don't know where he learned about spanking------