look what we did! and a giveaway...

When you walk in the door after being away for a couple of hours and the kids say, "Mom, look what we did!" you never really know what you're going to get. Perhaps they have dumped all of the boxes of crackers in the pantry into a pie dish to make cracker pie.* Or maybe they decided that your white loveseat needed a splash of color, so they decorated it with blue, orange, purple and black crayon.** Or maybe they drew a beautiful picture on your window...using string cheese.*** Or an equally beautiful picture on your carpet using markers.**** Or perhaps they decided to decorate their bedroom door with all of the stickers in their new sticker book.*****

* = Ryan

** = Emily

*** = Jackson

**** = Ainsley

***** = Jackson and Ainsley

Kids have amazing imaginations, and while most of the time it leads to fantastic results like a truly fascinating story or a gorgeous picture or even the most fun afternoon playing outside, there is always the chance it can end in trying to clean string cheese off of your windows, which honestly, isn't as easy as it sounds.

So, when Jenny and I came home from running some errands over Christmas vacation to the chorus of "Look What We Did," from all seven kids, I have to admit I was a little nervous. I mean, the dads were here, but the crayons on the loveseat? That happened when Doug was 5 feet away the entire time! But this was truly the coolest surprise!

Have you ever heard of Bendaroos? Go ahead and check them out for a minute...I'll wait...

So, pieces of super strong string covered by some kind of wax that can be twisted and shaped into just about anything. Jackson got a box for Christmas and the kids all got in on the action and had a great time!

This is what you see when you walk up our stairs:

And right next door to that...

Jack and Ainsley's door is already covered in stickers, so the kids decided to decorate the inside of their room instead with this...

and this...

and this...

Moving on...

And then...

And my personal favorite...

You cannot get lost upstairs now. It's been about a month and everything is still up. Well, except for the decorations in Jack and Ainsley's room, which had to come down because we finally painted the room! And I feel like we shouldn't be the only ones having all the fun here, so I'm going to give away a box of Bendaroos to one of you! All you have to do is leave a comment and tell me your favorite "Look what we did!" moment, good or bad.

(Open to U.S. only. Winner will be chosen at random from all entries received by Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 8:00pm E.S.T. The prize of one box of Bendaroos (Mega Box - 500 pack) is provided by me, Carrie, Mother of the Crazy...Bendaroos has never heard of me. I just think you should have some because they're pretty cool!)

holiday wrap up (a.k.a the post in which i post all of the things about the holidays i told you i would post...finally!)

Since January is almost over (how did that happen??), I figure I'd better go ahead and finish this holiday post. I say, "finish," because I have actually had all of these photos on here, ready to go, for about 3 weeks now.

Let's start with Thanksgiving...I vaguely remember...Let's see, I think there was turkey...I know there was wine...and the company was fabulous!

Hi Holly! Hi Dean!

Hi Kids!

Most of the food was the same as last year, and instead of a pumpkin pie, I decided on these sweet little beauties from Bakerella. Actually, Mom made them because I was running a tad behind schedule (shocking, I know!) and they were wonderful! The whole holiday was wonderful. It was so nice to have everyone here.

A couple of weeks after Thanksgiving, we were invited to go on a trip to a Christmas Tree farm to cut down our own tree. Our neighbors make this trip every year and we were so glad that it worked out for us to go this year. We had some hotel points, so we decided to drive to Asheville the night before, have dinner at our favorite restaurant, Papa's and Beer, and be a little closer to the farm. A couple of days before the trip, we started getting reports that it may snow, so we were even more excited! And for once, the reports were right! As we were eating breakfast that morning, it started to snow!

Ainsley couldn't believe the snow was sticking to Jack's hair!! It snowed the entire ride from the hotel into the mountains, and by the time we arrived at Sugar Plum Farms, the views were just gorgeous!

We ate lunch and then took a ride up the mountain to begin our search for the perfect tree!

Ryan and Emily helped us find the best one...

...and here we all are in front of our tree. However, the cold had begun to take it's toll on the littles and they were definitely ready to head back to warm up with some hot chocolate!

It was such a fun day! We had a great time with our friends and we picked out the most perfect tree.

We can't wait to go back again!

Finally

Hello everybody! Ryan blogging. About, oh, 2 months ago I said that the winter reading list will come out soon and, well, by soon I meant 2 weeks. But then none of the books I got from the library were really that good. So then I had to go to my own personal library to see if I overlooked anything. I found about 2 books and that was it. So I made another trip to the library and fond about 3 more. So then I remembered a book I read in the 2nd grade that was pretty good. And then a trip to the school library answered my prayers. I found about 4 more there. So here it is.

The Winter Reading List

10. Holes by Louis Sacher- Ok, ok i know, this book is pretty used to the praise, but seriously this is a good read! It's really mysterious and as you read it there are a lot of "-GASP- that's how it fits!" moments. If you have trouble getting the book (which I doubt you will), or you become a total freak about the book ( like me) you should rent the movie. It's the ONLY book-made-into-a-movie film that actually pays attention to the book.

9. More Bones by Arielle North Olson & Howard Schwartz- This is basically a collection of scary stories from around the world. You're probably thinking I'm crazy for putting a horror book on here, but this is the only horror book that totally creeped me out. The pictures helped. But for those who can read the scariest book on the planet, filled with blood, screams, and things that go bump in the night, and shrug it off without any goosebumps ( I'm looking at you Ms. Maya Quandt) this is still good.

8.Weslandia by Paul Fleischman- This is a picture book. Shocking. I know. But this is surprisingly good. It's about a boy who creates his own civilization ( I'm not kidding. He makes a writing system, a sport, and his own house.) over the summer. This is pretty good.

7. Reincarnation by Suzanne Weyn- I still wonder why I read this book. It's basically these two people back in prehistorical time, man and woman, who fell in love with each other. Then they died like 4 minutes after meeting. Then throughout history the are reincarnated and each time they fall in love again. I'm not one for love stories. But this was pretty good. Enough to be ranked #7.

6. Pixarpedia (no author ) - This is a GIANT book on the first ten PIXAR films; Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatoullie, WALL-E, and Up. It gives you all the facts, plots, and secrets to PiXAR. Really good.

5. Warrior vs. Warrior ( no author ) - A book about the world's past warriors like the gladiators, or the ninjas. It's basically a play by play of who would win if two fought and how they lived. A little violent. But not that much. I'd rate it PG.

4. The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davis- This is a book about a brother and a sister. Brother gets mad at sister. Sister challenges brother to a contest to see who sells the most lemonade in a week. Soon, chaos reigns. This is really funny and touching. I swear, the brother and sister have a almost twin relationship to me and my sister...

3. You're a bad man, Mr. Gum! by Andy Stanton- Mr. Gum is big ole meany pants. He wants to poison a dog that ruins a beautiful garden he keeps. Why does a mean old man keep a garden? Guess. Ok, I'll tell you. If he doesn't, a mean, pretty fairy comes out and whacks him with a frying pan until he fixes the garden. DUH! This is a really funny book.

2. She Said Yes by Misty Bernall- Have you heard of Columbine High School? In 1999, two students went on a rampage through the school armed with guns and shot 12 students dead. Cassie Bernall was one of them. When confronted by her killers, she was asked the question "Do you believe in God?" and She said "yes". This is a memoir of Cassie written by her mother. You know how sometimes in books you might get teary, but not fully crying? While reading this. I sobbed so hard 3 times. I'm tearing up as I write this. If this doesn't touch you, nothing will.

1. Chill by Allan Peterkin- A book about the most crazy thing in the world... Fridge Art. This is a funny book on how to create a really cool refrigerator. Just go ahead and buy it. You'll love it.

i would imagine he's rethinking his decision to buy me a netbook for christmas right about now

While flipping through the guide just now, looking for something to watch...

Doug: Don Cheadle was in a movie in 1987? What was he, like 10 years old?

Me: Um, I was almost out of high school in 1987! He's way older than I am!

Doug: He is not! Besides, you were not almost out of high school. You were a sophomore.

Me: I was a freshman...whatever. Still he's older than me!

(and so, because I am able to without even getting up, I google "Don Cheadle.")

Me: He was born in 1964!!

Doug: Really?

Me: Yes! Well...

Doug: Well, what?

Me: Well, aren't you going to apologize for thinking that I'm older than Don Cheadle??

Doug: It's just that he looks so young!

Me: ...

Doug: And so do you...

snuggled in for movie night

cheese popcorn

Can you imagine how relieved I was to discover her before she decided to go sit back on the couch?

you might want to get all your driving in now, because it's only three more years until he gets his license

There is some utility work being done on the street we take to get to Ryan's school. They have been working on it for the past couple of afternoons and then they cover up the holes with those giant sheets of metal when they aren't working on it. This conversation occurred after I drove over the metal.

Um, I don't think you were supposed to drive over that.

Well, where was I supposed to drive?

Uh, in the other lane?! (eyeroll)

Oh, you mean into the oncoming traffic? I'm pretty sure that would have resulted in our death.

(eyeroll) I'm just saying that there were some construction workers and cones at the side of the road and I don't think you were supposed to drive there.

Well, I think if I wasn't supposed to drive there, those cones at the side of the road would be blocking my way and not off to the side of the road. But I guess I'll take your word for it because you're thirteen and I've only been driving for, what, 2o years now?

(eyeroll) Whatever. I'm just saying.

jackson getting ready for church on christmas eve

Thanks, Grammy!

we're working on it

Ainsley: I want some more chocolate milk!

Me: Okay, well I think there is a word you are forgetting to say...

Ainsley: ...

Me: What word should you say when you ask someone for something?

Ainsley: More!

Me: pl...pl..

Ainsley: pl...pl..More!

santa claus is comin' to town

I know it's after Christmas, and in a perfect world I would have posted this before, but well, in my world, sometimes things don't always happen when they are supposed to.

This video was shot a couple of weeks before Christmas and I have to say, she's gotten much better. I really should take some video of her singing it now that she knows ALL the words and doesn't run some of them together so that it sounds like she's singing a word that has absolutely no business being in this song. I think you'll understand after you watch, and I'll just apologize in advance. I try to keep this a family-friendly site for all of my younger readers (Hi Owen! Hi Maya! Hi Megan! Hi Gavin! Hi Jenna! Hi Hayden!) She's really not saying what it sounds like she's saying. Anyway, I figured that even though it's after Christmas, I still have this song running through my head and there is no good reason you shouldn't too! Merry Christmas!