Some of the day's best moments are when the kids let their thoughts spill out of their mouths.

Today while driving Sam asked me,

"Mom, who has the kids before you get married, the mom or the dad?" Awesome.

All along the lines of ... when did I start, where do I come from, where was I before I wasn't ....

What a conversation starter!

so much fun!

He's at that delightful stage of hilarious vocabulary and delightful imagination. Yesterday he came with my belt, "it fits me, see". And it went from there to what you see here.

He really is so much fun!

A fun morning

This was the last bit of our beautiful weather and I'm very thankful we got out to enjoy it. Cam wanted to take some pictures and this was the one that included more than my ankle socks... nice hey, L & H?? ;)
Cara & Cody have fun on this stump but it always cracks me up that they freak out if they're both on there at once, each one pushing the other to feel safest in the middle. I'm sure the neighbors all peek over their fences and mutter, "just take one of them off already!"

This is my dear little daughter. The one who when I put her winter coat on for the first time said with the most sparkling-est eyes, "I a lion, RRRROOOARRRR!"

One of my other darlings...he's growing up too quickly!

They're getting big. They can enjoy the tire swing together now.

Now you believe the lion story, don't you!

This was the whole point, of course. Not that Cam wanted to be caught doing it.

Cam!

Cam?

Lucky for her Cody gives her much less grief.

Where'd he go?

I can't help but feel God was very gracious to give me the sunshine before all this rain started!

Another "last week" post

This just can't be skipped over lightly. Last week's highlight was meeting Jeff's "jo". (Do you play scrabble? Do you win? ;) )

Holly is the sweetest girl ever and she was here at least one week short of a good stay. Not because we need her to babysit... I mean, who uses their brother's girlfriend here for a short visit for emergency babysitter? Must be the desperate one. Huge thanks, Holly!
Her visit was too short because she missed all the gorgeous weather and we didn't see her enough and now I'm playing zoofari with Cam again and doing his bulldozer puzzle with him and Leah had to do her "when I get big I'm going to be a horse riding instructor" presentation at school without getting to show Holly all the stuff Nana Lynn lent her for it and really because I'm selfish and would have loved to spend a bit more time with her.

Jeff, do I get comission if I talk her/ guilt her into coming back? :) Anytime, Holly. Door's open anytime.

With or without the comission.

It's THAT time of year again

At this time of year...

-The view from our living room is breathtaking. The crisp, clean white mountain tops against a gorgeous blue sky (on a not-rainy day - yes we do get those!) are indescribably beautiful.

This is a picture from last year. I didn't see the sunset colors on the mountains today but the white tops/blue sky combo was amazing.

They remind me of a video/song about God's creation. Here's a link, stunning photography with oh so true lyrics.

-I sing Christmas carols and while singing "Angels we Have Heard on High" today while driving in the van...


Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

Cam interrupted me with "hey, my friend Chelsie's in that song!!!!"

- The stores are overloaded (in my opinion) with the Christmas decor. And while walking through Superstore yesterday Sam and Cam were having fun pointing out all the "cardboard presents". Sam threw me for a delightful loop though when he pretended to grab one and open it up. "Look Mom, video games!" he exclaimed proudly. I laughed out loud right there in the middle of the aisle. Talk about hopeful thinking :)

the emergency

Emergency appears to be a losely used term in our house.

For example, the other day Cam called desperately for me to come downstairs. It was "a 'mergency! " I went storming downstairs only to find the doll high chair he had been playing with had come apart and he needed me to put the cloth backing back up to make it usable. Yep, an emergency.

Well, the other day Sam and Cam came flying up the stairs, nearly in hysterics, crying about an emergency. Apparently Sam's bed (top bunk) was about to come crashing down.

They handed me this half a staple. (Penny is for size comparison)

You see, the bunks have a slat system for the mattress to rest on and I think they had pulled on a staple from the spacing tie. These poor lads were convinced the loss of that half staple was a foolish mistake on their part. And I didn't inform them otherwise. What happens if they start on the 999 remaining ones???

And one more picture from last week. Leah invited the girls in her class to come for a birthday party. Take 15 girls and add a garbage bag of dress up clothes and you get a lot of fun.

We needed a new cake since the other one was already gone and Steve was sweet enough to ask me the night before the party if there was anything he could do to help me. It didn't take me 3 seconds before I offered him the cake decorating chore. Or at least it's a chore if your initials are LCO. (I just realized how close that is to loco... it explains a few things.... but I digress)

So, my dear husband, cake decorater extraordinaire, decorated a cake for our Leah that she was so proud of that as her guests arrived to her party one of the first things she did was haul them into the kitchen to see "the cake my daddy made me!"

Perfect? Depends who you ask, the professional cake decorator or 7 year old daughter. I can tell you right now whose opinion matters to me!

Today is a day for smiles

And these smiles from last week's visit are worth sharing.

In my opinion.