January

We have had a crazy January as far as weather goes. We have had days in the 50's and single digit days. Last night was one of the coldest nights we have had. My darling friend, Beth, was dropping me off from BUNKO at midnight and my sleepy husband wouldn't wake up after ringing the doorbell and calling his phone. Thank heavens for a spare key and a patient friend with gloves! It was FREEZING!!!! School has been canceled 2x's and delayed for 2 hours once. We haven't had a lot of sunshine lately but at least it is not from INVERSION!!!! I love the clean air in Bloomington.
Coop is the Lego King! He could eat, drink and breath Legos. Speaking of breathing small objects, the other day he told me he had a bead up his nose. I looked up his nostril with a flashlight and sure enough, I could see it clear up there. I told him to blow as hard as he could, but that darn bead didn't budge. While I was envisioning what the ER would do to him, I plugged one nostril and told him to blow out the other one. Like a CANNON, that bead shot out of his booger lubricated nose! His teacher asked him if he had an extra bead she could borrow for an art project!
Rocky LOVES his Bumbo chair. He "helps" me do dishes and make dinner in it. It is a good thing we didn't name him SLIM, this boy is MEATY! He was 15 lbs. 6 oz. over a week ago. Rocky is a joy, he is always very happy.

Spell check and the "A" word!

I haven't posted anything for a while because I have been working on a Blog book! I am so excited about it, but it is taking forever. As I have been editing my book I realized that my spelling SUCKS!!!! Ignorance was bliss! I just barely noticed the spell check icon. My favorite typo was that I spent last Christmas in Virgina!! Only one person has commented about my terrible spelling a few years ago when I wrote about being a candy stripper!

Ruby came up to me with an Aesop's Fable book saying that it had a bad word in it. I looked and sure enough, there was the story about the Crane and the ASS! I was shocked that she knew it was a bad word :( I explained how it was a synonym for a donkey, but the other meaning was inappropriate. Hours later, she was playing with Rocky. We often say he is as cute as a bug in a rug or that he is a chunky monkey or some other animal. Well she decided to use her new vocabulary and said that he was the cutest little ass. Somehow she missed the part of our conversation that we don't use that word.

Happy New Year!!!

Check out our sweet SPECS! Happy New Year everyone! We celebrated by making these cool glasses, drinking frozen hot chocolate (too weird for this palate), making gingerbread cookies (yumeee!), banging pots and pans and going to bed at 9:00pm. It was New Years somewhere in the world!! Today we made Orange Rolls that were DIVINE, I should know, I think I ate 6 of them!



We have made lots of memories over this Christmas break. A big one, that is more of a lesson than a memory is involving this Easy Bake Oven. Ruby has wanted one for at least 2 years. I have somehow talked her out of it telling her how impractical they were. I would rationalize that I could buy an Easy Bake cake mix for $5 or a Betty Crocker one for $.69. Then it hit me, Christmas isn't about practicality, it is about magic and making dreams come true. I bit the bullet and got it for her. As you can see from the picture I should have done it a year ago. She was so proud of that little cake, the smile says it all. I sure love that girl and the lessons I learn from her (and her brothers :)).

Here is a link to our Christmas videos:
http://www.youtube.com/user/gomatch#p/c/41023B71F20D7089/4/uJ52MS7Oq1Q
http://www.youtube.com/user/gomatch#p/c/41023B71F20D7089/5/VbtsGy07o10
http://www.youtube.com/user/gomatch#p/c/41023B71F20D7089/3/iPR5U06pHUc

Merry Christmas!

My favorite Christmas present!
What a great stocking stuffer!
Ruby's favorite gift (thanks grandma retta!) Matt is learning how to woo me on the ukulele.
Coopers favorite gift (thanks guncle and lissy) Matt also loves this one. You'll shoot yer eye out!
Our nativity play. The NINJA shepherd, a very fair Mary, and the sweetest little baby Jesus! It is so fun having a live baby Jesus for the play. It has been a sacred experience having a baby boy at Christmas. I have learned a lot.

We were having desert on Christmas night and I asked Cooper if he wanted some ice cream. He informed me that he had already had enough sugar for the day. Now I just need to consume the rest of the treats so I am not tempted by them anymore! Merry Christmas!

Road Trip

We hit the road for the first part of our vacation and headed south to KENTUCKY (again). On the way we stopped for gas and came upon this community service project. In the back is an adult store called the LIONS DEN and up front is a little shack with a volunteer passing out bibles to anyone that enters. Someone (usually a cute little granny in pink curlers or this cute little man with summer teeth (some are here, some are there)) is manning the fort 24/7. Way to be proactive! And NO we didn't stop in!
Speaking of teeth, Ruby was the winner of our dirty teeth contest. These were THE yummiest candy cane oreos, you can almost taste them can't you! The things you do to keep your kids entertained on a road trip! We sang hours and hours of songs.

Our first stop: Louisville Slugger Baseball Bat Factory and Museum.
Coop was ticked to find out we were going to a baseball bat museum instead of a vampire bat one. He was ready to turn around the minute he found out. Once he got his own little baseball bat he decided it wasn't so bad. Play ball! Now we just need Cracker Jacks!



Next stop: Mammoth Caves
In the middle of Kentucky is one of the biggest caves in the world. It was MASSIVE! It was nice to go inside and warm up. I almost had a panic attack thinking about how many bats were in there with me. Have you noticed our bat theme?





Last stop: Santa Claus, INDIANA
Cutest little town you ever did see. All the streets are named after reindeer or other Christmas things. We even met THE jolly old elf himself. Rocky tried to tear his beard off to see if it was real; IT WAS.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!!!

Ruby has been taking piano lessons at the Jacobs School of Music (one of the best in the nation) for free! She loves music and has an ear for it. I am so proud of her.
Rocky LOVES to be swaddled at night and continues to sleep through most nights. He is growing so quickly it makes my heart hurt. I want to keep him just the way he is. I have been SOOO blessed to have 3 very happy babies. He is definitely a keeper!
We went to our very first Christmas tree farm this year. It was so much fun picking our our own tree and hearing the chainsaw. I am surprised Cooper doesn't want a chainsaw for Christmas. I watched my kids decorate the tree without any interference from ME! They loved it, they were so proud of themselves AND I didn't have to do a thing!
We LOVE to decorate gingerbread houses. OK, it isn't about the decorating, it is all about getting as much candy in ones mouth before ones momma opposes. Matt asked Coop if he wanted to just eat straight powdered sugar thinking he would get enough of it and never want it again. WRONG! That boy MUST have a sugar deficiency because he acts like he NEEDS it!!!
My 2 little angels ;)
AW, SHUCKS!!! I am trying not to eat those cheeks right off. Can you tell Rocky is NOT starving?
The final house. I don't know what is going on in the background, but it sure made me smile.

We just started our Christmas break. I am so excited for no homework, no spelling test, no swimming lessons, no piano lessons, no soccer, no art lessons, lots of snuggling, hot chocolate, and stories under the Christmas tree.

Louisville

We headed to Louisville, Kentucky to go check out the Louisville Science Center. They had an exhibit that would show you what you would look like as an old person. Looks like I have Clint Eastwood to grow old with! We ran into our good friends, The Browns there. I think they like to follow us, we ran into them in DC last year :)
We traded in our car for this sweet ride ;). Wouldn't this be a great project for a Relief Society Super Saturday? I have always wondered what I could do with all my old Happy Meal toys, Hot Wheels cars, and random doll parts.
Louisville was a fun little place, there are these horses all over the city. It was freezing!!!!! We spent time in the Louisville Science Center (thank you Wonderlab pass!), went to a fun little cajun restaurant, saw the Falls of the Ohio, and checked out Churchill downs (which is located in the slums of Louisville). On the way home, Cooper said "We drove all this way to go to a museum and a stupid restaurant?" One day he will be greatful for all of these experiences we provide him with, RIGHT? His favorite part of the trip was saying "Everything's yucky in Kentucky!"
We love cheap entertainment! We drew on each others chins, hid the rest of our bodies and performed for each other. We laughed until we cried.

We went to the IU womens basketball game and Rocky got us on the JUMBOTRON! He slept through most of the game. I sure wish I could sleep like that. He is delicious, I want to eat him up!

I took Ruby to the Nutcracker (not so cheep entertainment). During the intermission, she was all excited that it was "Half Time"! I love going on "dates" with my kids. I am so thankful to have Ruby so we can do GIRL STUFF.