MONOPOLO!

Monopoly (or Monopolo as Tanner likes to call it) has become one our family's favorite games to play, but what does it mean when your 5 year old keeps beating you? We just finished a game where Tanner put both me and Greg into bankruptcy. He finished with all the railroads, hotels on 3 of his properties, Boardwalk and many other additional properties... not to mention $1500 in cash! Believe me, we aren't going easy on him either. But I guess there is something to look forward to... he promised us next time he would let us win.

I'm finally fessing up

It has been quite a while since I have posted any pictures of Kade. I am finally going to fess up for the real reason. It has taken almost 2 weeks for me to come to grips with this and feel comfortable enough to show you what you are about to see, so here we go. I know the clip is a bit long, so don't feel like you need to watch the entire thing. (If you want you can pause the music and hear Kade do those wonderful baby noises that babies do.)

Do you notice what is missing? My baby is bald! Ok, so probably not bald, but his hair missing! It all happened about 2 weeks ago. It was a Saturday morning, Greg was at work, Tan and Bryn were playing well and I noticed that Kade's hair was getting a bit 'poofy'. I don't do well with my boys and poofy hair so I thought I would take a little off to take care of the poofiness. Instead of using the scissors, this time I got out the clippers and found the attachments that I felt would work perfectly. Kade was sitting so calm in his Bumbo seat so I went to work. One swipe of the clippers and my heart sank. What in the world have I done! Unfortunately the damage was done right in front, there was no turning back now, so as I cried I had to finish Kade's haircut. Greg called to say he was on his way home from work and I couldn't even bring myself to tell him that his son's hair was gone. Kade wore a hat for the rest of the day. He wore a hat to church the next day. I didn't let anyone see him. I couldn't believe what I had done to him. I flat out lied to a couple of my really good friends and had to take them cinnamon rolls to help my conscience feel better. The video was taken a week after his haircut and has grown quite a bit since then...I can at least comb it into somewhat of a hair style. And to be honest, it has grown on me... I think another week of growth and it might be alright.

Don't

Today Tanner came home from school and noticed some items in his room were not where he left them. He went straight to his school box, found a notebook, took out a piece of paper and wrote "Don't" on it. As he taped it to his bedroom door he explained that this meant "Don't Come In." Huh, darn it, I guess that means I can't come in while he is at school and clean up his room... I guess he'll have to do it after he gets home and before he can play. He doesn't need to worry I will honor his request to "Don't".

I love this kid.

A Welcome Sight

Kade has been sick for quite a while now, yesterday we found out that he has RSV and an ear infection. Today he was finally able to trade in his moaning in misery for a smile. It was definitely a welcome sight. We have missed our Kade.

(yes, I know this is the 4th post for the night. I am done now, it is definitely time for bed.)

Princess Bryn

I just figured out how to do videos and I think it is pretty fun. Here is a cute one of Bryn. She loves the mirror Nana and Bamps gave her for Christmas. I think she is acquiring a bit of a southern drawl... what do you think?

New Years

Our family has been hit by the sick bug, so most of our Christmas Vacation has been spent in doors trying to get everyone to quit coughing (and whining) :) New Years Eve Day Greg wanted to go for a drive to a place called White Rock to check out the area for hunting. I was all for it... anything to get us out of the house. The ride was long with narrow winding roads, I am not sure I will ever get used to the roads here. I think the only straight road here is the freeway and even then you are constantly going up and down over the hills (I call them hills, they call them mountains.) Anyway, along the drive we were pretty much out in the boonies, the scenery wasn't incredible, but we did get to see a few wild animals: a coyote, a few white tailed deer, a squirrel, two wild turkeys and an armadillo. Now, for those of us who know a few things about armadillos (and those of us who have children who enjoy watching Go Diego Go) we know that for protection the armadillo will roll up into a ball. Well, something that they don't teach you on Go Diego, is what kind of threat the armadillo has to feel like they are under. When we ran into our armadillo we had parked in an open field and the kids were going to go out exploring. We parked the car and right there in front of us was our armadillo just searching around for whatever armadillos search for (maybe I should have paid more attention to Diego). Greg got out with the video camera and I got out with the digital camera, and before I know it Greg is handing me the video camera saying "film this" I take the camera and watch him grab two sticks (he calls them sticks, I call them logs. You can choose who you think is exaggerating) and he tosses/throws/chucks them at the armadillo to get him to roll up in a ball... well the first stick/log hits his back and he must not have thought that to be a threat.... the second stick/log hits him square in the head and that thing just starts squirming around. I gasp, "Greg, what have you done?!" I think he has killed the poor thing. I even have to quit filming because I don't feel it is appropriate to film his last moments. At that moment Greg realized his dreams of us going out hunting together are shattered. He says if I can't watch an armadillo squirm there is no way I could shoot anything. Perhaps he is on to something there... After all the hoopla I made about him killing an armadillo the darn thing gets back up and starts searching around again. Maybe they are tougher than I give them credit for, and maybe I am not as tough as I once thought I was.

Don't worry, it's not a video of anything squirming.

Christmas 2007

Here are this kids in their Christmas outfits. Bryn is showing off her "but I want to hold Kade face" in the first picture, so I had to add another one where, although you can't see anything else of her, you can see her smile. Good thing Kade was a good sport for it all.

Christmas was a lot of fun this year. Tanner and Brynlee brought the magic of Christmas to our house; they were so excited to set out cookies for Santa and sprinkle reindeer food on the front lawn. We didn't even have to tell Bryn to get back in bed, she kept her head firmly on her pillow so Santa wouldn't pass up her house.

Christmas morning consisted of a lot of laughing and smiling and Tanner yelling "this one's mine" "this one's yours Bryn" "this one is a family one." He was so excited he really couldn't keep the volume down. I would have to say we got the best reaction when he opened his electric guitar. He didn't want to open any other presents, he just wanted to jam on his guitar. It was a lot of fun to watch, then when Bryn opened her pink guitar they really rocked like they were in their own band. Bryn's reactions were pretty much the same on everything "Look Mom, I love it!"

After opening gifts we had our breakfast of Breakfast casserole and French Toast. We tried to do the traditional sticky buns, but couldn't find Rhodes dough anywhere (which means Walmart and Sam's Club). Then we just played and played and played... it was awesome. Finally about 4:00 we started getting ready for the day so we could go for Christmas Dinner at some our friends house, The Wiser's. It was a lot of fun to get together with 4 other families and share the last moments of Christmas. By bedtime I couldn't believe the day was already over. I can't remember a day when we have had so much fun.

We missed our families, but were grateful for the gift of a web cam so we can have another way of keeping up with each other. Thanks Nana and Bamps. Merry Christmas.

(Sorry for the weird formatting, I just can't get things to post as I save them....maybe that means it is just time to go to bed) :)