:)

My dad recently said that he can tell what kind of weeks my sister-in-law and I are having based on the frequency of our blog posts.

Yes...life has been busy and blogging has been put on the back burner.

Busy with what?  Oh...you know...the usual.  Running Scott to and from preschool, reading books to kiddos, turning the house upside down to find my wedding ring, bathing Kate after self-feeding attempts, going to Meijer (again!), scrounging through the full kitchen trash can to find my wedding ring in the bottom, breaking up arguments over who gets to open the van door, doing laundry, making cookies for an upcoming cookie exchange, hiding the glitter glue and whistle, starting Christmas shopping, cleaning out the pen drawer...like I said...the usual.

I have been continuing to jot down some of the kids' funny lines as of late though.  Here are the latest Natalie-isms.

"I wish I was born a dinosaur."

When I was looking everywhere for my ring the other day, Natalie came up to me and rubbed my back.  "I know what would help you not to be worried.  Maybe we could cuddle and play Starfall together on the computer."   (Natalie had a lot to do with the ring disappearance, so perhaps this was her attempt to distract me!)

Last night, Natalie requested "pasta with Papa John cheese"...after some thought, I realized she wanted pasta with parmesan cheese.  They do kind of sound the same!

Natalie was in the van and watched a man smoking a cigarette across the parking lot.  Once we drove away she asked, "Why was that man puffing steam?"

As some of you know, Jon has a lovely Marines tattoo on his bulging bicep.  I like it almost as much as his mother does!:)  Anyway, Natalie pointed to it one morning and said, "Daddy, why do you have a stamp on your arm?"  

Smirking, Jon said, "Ask your mother."

I told Natalie that he got that when he was in the Marines and kind of implied to her that it came with his enlistment.  

She listened to my wishy-washy explanation and then exclaimed, "OH!  I know what kind of stamp I want to get someday!"

AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kate's First Birthday Recap

Pictures for proof that she was celebrated...(Hopefully she won't do any "first birthday party" comparisons with her siblings...eek!)  Happy Birthday, Third Child!  WE LOVE YOU!

She looks happy enough, don't you think?  Blow up a few balloons, sing "Happy Birthday" and call it a party!

Thanks to some prompting from Scott, we got her a cake and pulled out a party hat...that has to count for something too, right?!

Kate knew just what to do with her cake!  Perhaps she's seen her mama demonstrate a few times during these past 12 months of life.  :/ 

Kate, we'll really live it up for Birthday #2.  Promise!:)

Oatmeal, Eggs, Cake...Take Your Pick

So I served my kids chocolate cake (WITH A BIG GLASS OF MILK) for breakfast this morning.  As I was giving it to them, I was telling them how we don't do this very often (more for my benefit than theirs as to appease the mommy-guilt that was creeping in).  Scott agreed with me and said with all sincerity, "Yeah, we should only do this every once in awhile like maybe just once a week." 

Mmmm...speaking of cake...