Shiner

Now, these pictures don't do justice. Isn't your first shiner somewhat of a right of passage? Bailey was embarrassed at first, didn't even let me take a picture. Once she got to school and got a little attention, she ran home for a photo shoot!

She insisted that all these pictures make it on the blog!

She was playing on the ground with Gus and roller over really quickly for some reason and hit her face right on the corner of the computer desk. You gotta really watch out for those inanimate objects...they can really jump out at ya!
It really was worse than these pictures, her whole eye was swollen shut right after it happened and she yelled out, "Oh my Goodness!!! Am I ever going to be able to see again?!?" Yes Bailey, I know it will take a miracle but, your vision will return again!

Who's Tom?

You know how two year olds talk...I love it! Well Cy is really talking lately, new words everyday. His latest is hilarious! He loves Taitem so much and they have so much fun together. So he likes to call her name out. It sounds like this

"Tah-um, Tah-um!" In this delightful little sing-songy voice. It really ends up sounding like a long exaggerated TOM.

So he is yelling this out to her Tah-um, Tah-um!
Taitem looks at him....Who is Tom? I Taitey! Who's Tom?

I tried to explain that he was trying to say her name. Right on cue Tah-um, Tah-um!
She said, What ever, I not Tom.

Snowmen at Night

We just got this GrEaT book from my Mom's cousin, really she is like my aunt though, so Aunt Lisa! She sent it to the kids with a snowman cookie cutter and other fun stuff. It was so thoughtful.
If you haven't read the book, your kids would love it. It is about what snowmen do at night. You think they look saggy because of melting, but really it is because they are exhausted from playing all night. Pretty cute! It inspired the girls to get to work the next day in the snow.

Bailey size! It is a SnowGIRL not a snow man, Bailey was insistent.
I am loving the "hair" on top!

Ellery's snow man, with a little help from Dad!

Then they built this fort all by themselves, SO impressive. They wanted to hide out at night to see what their snowmen were up to!
The next day when it was a little warmer, they were so excited, thinking about what their snowmen had been doing.

Thanks again Lisa!

You are probably sick of these,

I still have to post this because this is my journal and I will forget if I don't get it down.

I am Taitem's Sunbeam teacher. There is only one other little guy in our class so some of the time it is just Taite and I. Sunday was a day like that. We were talking about the Holy Ghost and here is some of our conversation.

Me: Today we are going to talk about the Holy Ghost

Immediately Taite raised her hand.

Taitem: Um no, I don't like Ghosts. There is Ghosts on Scooby Gooby Goo and it scares me.

I was able to convince her that we can't see the Holy Ghost, but he is real and he is very loving.

At the end of class when we are doing our activity, I always "quiz/review" with the kids.

M: So what did we learn about today?

T: Um....the Holy.........Moly?!

Another question.

M: Can we see the Holy Ghost?

N: No.... Hey I think maybe Jesus could color him....so we could see the Holy Moly.

I LOVE this kid! Maybe a little irreverent, but cute nonetheless.

Last, but not least...

Tall and Skinny, don't laugh but I'm worried!
Now I know this is going to sound crazy to some, okay most of you, but I am worried about Gus' weight. He is not a good eater, nursing has been frustrating. He had his 4 month check up today, now hear me out, he was 27 1/2 in. long above the 97th %- that is normal for my kids. His weight was 15 lbs. 10 oz. 70%, that is very small for us. He has fallen far off the weight curve he was on, he has lost half a pound just since a doctor visit last week.

The doctor said she isn't concerned for right now, even though he is so different from the other kids. She wants to weigh him every month for a little while and make sure he doesn't keep dropping. I guess we'll see. I guess he'll be a basketball player like his Mama.

My little Augustus is a great little guy! We are SO happy to have him in our family. I am thankful every day that Heavenly Father blessed us with one more fantastic little spirit. We have been calling him Caboose lately because we think he's the end of the line. What a cutie to bring up the rear!

We LOVE you Gus!

My Cy

This is my new favorite thing. I was taking some pictures of the kids the other day and the oldest two were messing around and I said to them, "Come on now, pretty faces please!"
That is when this face was born! Now every time we say "Pretty face!" This is what he does!

Cy is such a loving little boy! I love him! He is just in it for fun,
with lots of kisses and hugs.
Cyrus loves to laugh and play. What he loves most these days is his little
brother. If he hears Gus crying he starts running in his direction calling "Coming, coming! Cry, Cry!"
I even found him doing this...don't worry he was already clean.

I had just changed the baby and decided to let him air out a
little while I went to throw it away. I came back to this....
My brother's keeper!

Taiter Tot

Taite: Mom, when is the Baby Sister going to come out? Your tummy is too smaller now for a baby!
Mom: Honey, we aren't having another baby right now.
Taite: But Mom, I told you I want a baby GIRL!
Mom: Well, don't you like Gus?
Taite: I love Gussy, can we make him a girl Gussy right now?

Taite got in trouble yesterday, I can't even remember for what. But I know it was something she had done several times. She had to sit in the corner for a few minutes (barely in trouble!) and I was telling her that she had better not do it again. She looked up at me and with big huge alligator tears rolling down her cheeks and filling her eyes and a quivering little lip and shaky voice she said...
"Mommy, you have to be nice to Taite. Oma wants you to be nice to me! You just can't be mean to me!!!"
I said, "I am not being mean to you, you are in trouble because you didn't obey."
She looked up and very calmly and sincerely, not snotty at all said "Well you are going to be in trouble. Oma said to be nice to me."

That is my little Taite,
she is sweet and very loving, she gets her tender little feelings hurt so easily. She is a joy and impossible not to
fall in love with! I am so glad that her happy little spirit is in our family. I love seeing her eyes light up around those she loves...mostly Oma, but still, there are others she loves too!

No Obama for Bailey

Since I did a little post about Ellery, I thought I'd do one about each kid and their latest stuff.

Bailey

So I find these notes all over the house! We never have to worry about Bailey being afraid to voice her opinion! I always hoped that my kids would share my love of our country and politics...I just never imagined it would surface so soon. I guess they hear more of our conversations than I thought.

I LOVE Bailey, she is such a fun girl. She is genuine and sensitive and I love her so much. She is a smarty pants too and does really well in school. She cares a lot about people and I love that quality. Bailey is a real go getter and I am really proud of her. I love you Boo!
She LOVES horses

Smarty Pants!

Ellery

I just wanted to tell my oldest daughter that I am proud of her!
She recently was chosen to received the Accelerated Reader
award for the whole First Grade! Way to go Bean!
She is reading all the time, can't get enough
of it and I think she is awesome.

Here she is in her reading glasses...just kidding. This is
one of my favorite pictures ever,
isn't it funny? I LOVE it! and I LOVE her!

Mr. Tucker's Paddle... and there is no boat!

So what do you think about our Indiana schools?

Long story short, when the girls first went to school out here in Indiana they told us that their principal had showed them the "paddle" in case they misbehaved. I thought for sure it was a joke and that it was to scare the little kiddos. 2009 right?

Well it turns out that no, the paddle is used for discipline. Of course this isn't for passing a note in class, it is for bigger things. The school's policy is to call home and inform the parent that their child misbehaved at this level and ask the parent if they would like their child to be paddled or suspended. One teacher told me that most parents choose the paddle.

Another interesting thing, this is the book that came home for reading homework today.....a little Noah's Ark action "In came the animals two by two.." said the first page

I am withholding my opinion for now because I want to know yours! Come one tell me what you think!