Gramps & Gramma's Boys :)

The cutest boys in WI are here...

which means yesterday afternoon all Gramps & Gramma's boys were watching Mighty Machines!

Fresh!

Such a gorgeous day I couldn't resist hanging them out!

From Cody

Yesterday afternoon Cody got a special package from his opa and nana in the mail.  Included was a book about space.  When I turned to the third page he was so excited..."Mama, I know, those are imagination pictures with stars!!"  Imagination, constellation, think I can teach him to find Orion's belt this summer?  :)

Last night Cody and Cara's Bible story was about Joseph in Egypt.  In the middle of my telling about Jacob sending his sons to buy food in Egypt because, "remember, Joseph had stored all the extra grain when the harvest was good," Cody piped up, "oh, I get it, Egypt was like a grocery store!"

Last one, and I don't mean to offend anyone but it's too precious to be forgotten.  Last week I went to a funeral and took the three youngest with me.  It wasn't the first funeral they attended and already before we got there they were wondering if they would see "the person in the box."  After the service was finished we filed past the casket and then headed for the door.  We didn't quite make it outside before Cody could no longer contain the thoughts whirling around in his head and said so earnestly, "Mama, I saw that dead man in the rolling tomb."  (the casket was on the carrier with wheels)  For Cody....Bible stories never talk about caskets and tombs are inside caves or walls.

Oh, to crawl inside a little mind like that and get more than these small glimpses of what's all going on inside!!

For any one who wants a smile...or would love a nap today :)
I have no idea who to actually credit for this cute story.


An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard. I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home and was well taken care of. He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head; he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep. An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.. The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall and again slept for about an hour. This continued off and on for several weeks. Curious I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon your dog comes to my house for a nap.' The next day he arrived for his nap, with a different note pinned to his collar: 'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 He's trying to catch up on his sleep. Can I come with him tomorrow?'

Family Day

Outtakes from our first try at family skating. 

 

Leah's gone a couple of times for birthday parties so she was having a lot of fun practicing what she knew just bombing around on her own.

 Sam has also been a couple of times and he too felt free to skate away. There was a buddy there from his class to fool around with.

 This little guy first started on boots.  This is mid twirl.  He shoved off on one boot, set into a nearly olympic quality spin only to fall in a heap every single time.  On purpose!  I have great video to show him of his beginner days of figure skating when he's sixteen. :)  With the ice that crowded I'm more than grateful that he didn't come away with a finger or something worse slashed by someone else's skates.

 Then he decided that he was practiced up and ready to tie on the real deal.  Sam had fun pushing him around for awhile and he had fun letting Sam push him around but by the end of the hour he let go of the bars and had at it.

 Cody also started out on boots but didn't have nearly the same amount of fun that Cam had.  So we got out the skates and thankfully a bar came empty.  I have great video of him with his skates going 90 MPH and the boy going nowhere.  :)  Funnier yet was seeing him try to walk off ice. :)

 This little one wasn't supposed to be on the ice at all as her collarbone isn't healed up enough yet but after a while I started to feel quite bad for her and managed to snag a bar for the last 10 min.  She wan't nearly as worried as I was and was more than willing to run behind her bar!

Double duty.

 

 Overall a lot of fun!

Occupied for the Afternoon

Give them free access to paper, felts, masking tape and pizza boxes...

And you get a pirate ship complete with flag, cannons and miscellaneous artillery.

Their intentions and activities can't be too wretched as Cody informed me "it's name is Jolly Roger".  I'm thinking he finds that to mean friendly pirates as I'm pretty sure he's not aware it's actually the official moniker for his flag!

The best part....

of learning is sharing the knowledge, isn't it?

I made a mad dash to grab the camera when it clicked that the latest plink plunking wasn't Cam but Cam with Ivan's finger hammering out the notes!  Then the fog cleared just enough for "Ivan, do you want me to teach you how to play a song?"

Might Be Cheating...

and hopefully not setting bad habits, because Cam was SO very happy to play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the piano.  JUST LIKE CHELSIE!!

Cody has a cold

and he's just so classy ;)  and goofy :)

after discovering this morning that we are now down to one box of kleenex, and not knowing where I had left it for him, he came up to me and asked...

"Mama, where's the snot paper?" 

Sorry if you're more sensitive and find it disgusting that I would share something so vulgar...  if you know Cody at all you might do like I am doing, laugh everytime you think about it!