Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Title of Liberty
Ashley drew this for family night last night. It's her Title of Liberty. These are things she values that are worth fighting for. I thought it was so cute. Frankly I thought our kids weren't even listening when we asked them to draw this. I won't mention what the other kids drew. :)
What can YOU do in 30 seconds?!
Over the last few weeks Henry and Max have amazed me time and again with what they can do in 30 seconds...unsupervised of course. Here is a list of things they've done.
1. Henry ate half a pack of gum while I was on the computer in the other room for 30 sec.
2. Henry or Max threw a new bottle of children's Tylenol from upstairs over the balcony...shattering the lid and spraying Tylenol everywhere.
3. Max's favorite unsupervised activity is splashing around in the toilet.
4. Max cracked a DVD in half in the time it took me to put another movie in the player...that takes some real determination.
5. Max likes to clear the whole dinner table of all of its contents in 30 seconds.
6. When left unlocked the ice/water dispenser becomes a target. They commonly spray ice everywhere.(picture below)
7. They also both live to rearrange the furniture and then jump from couch to couch...hopefully we don't have to add break leg to this list.
They are certainly busy boys. We have a number of procedures to prevent most of these. The most effective is to yell at any given moment "NO NO!"...that has saved our computer in the library several times. All I hear after that is scurrying and I usually find them with guilty looks sitting on the couch next to the computer desk.
1. Henry ate half a pack of gum while I was on the computer in the other room for 30 sec.
2. Henry or Max threw a new bottle of children's Tylenol from upstairs over the balcony...shattering the lid and spraying Tylenol everywhere.
3. Max's favorite unsupervised activity is splashing around in the toilet.
4. Max cracked a DVD in half in the time it took me to put another movie in the player...that takes some real determination.
5. Max likes to clear the whole dinner table of all of its contents in 30 seconds.
6. When left unlocked the ice/water dispenser becomes a target. They commonly spray ice everywhere.(picture below)
7. They also both live to rearrange the furniture and then jump from couch to couch...hopefully we don't have to add break leg to this list.
They are certainly busy boys. We have a number of procedures to prevent most of these. The most effective is to yell at any given moment "NO NO!"...that has saved our computer in the library several times. All I hear after that is scurrying and I usually find them with guilty looks sitting on the couch next to the computer desk.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Family fun
For the long weekend we decided to come to St Louis. We originally thought maybe a museum but then noticed we wouldn't freeze to death if we were outside(it was in the 60's). So, outside we went at the zoo. Our kids like it but are always surprised by how much walking they have to do. So sad. Here are a couple pictures of the kids at the zoo. Why do we love the zoo so much? It's free...it forces our kids to get exercise and be outside...and it's free. :)
We also had a late birthday party for Holly with her grandpa and grandma. And as is tradition, we made her look ridiculous and cute for the occasion. Also we play charades as a family a lot these days and while ash and drew get it, Holly thinks of it as some kind of crazy dance party...which is fun to watch. Sorry the picture is blurry but you get the idea.
We also had a late birthday party for Holly with her grandpa and grandma. And as is tradition, we made her look ridiculous and cute for the occasion. Also we play charades as a family a lot these days and while ash and drew get it, Holly thinks of it as some kind of crazy dance party...which is fun to watch. Sorry the picture is blurry but you get the idea.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The favorite twin
Holly and Henry seem to be the best of pals. I love that they like to play together or rather that Henry allows Holly to boss him and goes along with her shenanigans. But....it has me worried. I thought none of my other kids could tell the twins apart but Holly often seeks out Henry and is successful at finding him. Anyway I think you can guess the problem. What about Max? This isn't the first time a kid in our family has been left out...ash and drew have left Holly out plenty. Anyway, poor Max and of course we encourage including everyone but you know how that goes. I can't imagine being a twin though...so great in some ways but hard in others a constant companion but potentially a constant competitor.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Christmas time WAS here.
Yes Christmas time has come and gone. What did we do over Christmas? Here you'll get a glimpse. It involved making gingerbread houses. There was of course the hanging of the stockings. There was a lot of sleeping....not for me of course....I preferred staying up late to hang out and chat. The kids enjoyed plenty of quality time with their aunts and uncles who so graciously gave up their rooms for us to sleep in and played endlessly with our kids. We played laser tag....which has become a tradition...Daniel and Nathan obviously have no shame when it comes to their laser tag attire. It was great to get to see the Nelsons and their cute kids. A highlight that I can't skip over is eating at Chik-Fil-A at least 4 times while Daniel's parents and siblings babysat....so nice. Finally, I got to meet my new sister-in-law Lauren....what a treat. Very fun to meet her and get to see Tyler as well. It was sad to leave....Andrew broke down in tears when he got home....which made it even harder. He loves his time in Idaho especially his time with his uncles. Fond memories were made....but now it's back to reality! :)
ps...while in Idaho we contemplated who was the cheapest Ames....a title highly sought after. I'm not sure a conclusion was made but this might give you a clue. On the way home we thought about stopping at the Omaha zoo with our kids. After weighing the costs we decided to take our kids to Cabellas. After all, it has animals....and so what if they're dead and stuffed...it is free and who can argue with that?...not someone who is contending for The Cheapest Ames title.
ps...while in Idaho we contemplated who was the cheapest Ames....a title highly sought after. I'm not sure a conclusion was made but this might give you a clue. On the way home we thought about stopping at the Omaha zoo with our kids. After weighing the costs we decided to take our kids to Cabellas. After all, it has animals....and so what if they're dead and stuffed...it is free and who can argue with that?...not someone who is contending for The Cheapest Ames title.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Time is flying
So much has happened over the past couple months! First Facebook has robbed me of my desire to post...but because this is as close to a journal as I get...I'm going to post even repeats from Facebook. So time is flying by and I'm feeling so old lately or at least feeling like I should feel old given that I have FIVE kids and a THIRTY year-old husband. Yep Daniel just turned 30 and we had a little surprise party for him with some of our friends....even though the picture looks like maybe we have no friends.
The kids got to see Santa downtown Normal to start off this Christmas season. The paper said there'd be all kinds of fun Christmasy things for everyone....but this is all we found. Oh well seeing Santa for 30 seconds is better than nothing.
The weekend after Thanksgiving we decided to decorate our Christmas tree. As you can see it only made sense to decorate the top third of the tree. Henry and Max spend their spare time pulling off ornaments and shoving pine cones in the tree.
Maxwell and Henry have really ramped up their efforts at being destructive lately. While I was on the way out the other day, Henry spilled a half gallon of milk all over the kitchen floor and a few days later Max decided to lead the way in pulling all of the keys off our laptop keyboard...AGAIN...sigh.
Last year when I found out at around bedtime that Andrew's school was having a Christmas hat spirit day, I decided to use what I had and make him a santa/elf hat. This year I got 2 more hats for the other kids and figured they'd all be jolly. Turns out my hat isn't the most coveted hat this year but somehow they managed to pose without ripping each other's heads off to get the hat they wanted.
Max loves dogs...and this one won't bite him so bonus. We thought this looked like it came straight out of a catalog...minus the blurriness.
When I got my new Iphone I came across these pictures from my old phone from when the twins were babies. The first one is Max and the Second one is Henry. They were so little and elf-like. :)
We had another birthday in the family recently. Little Ashley turned 6! And if you can't make people look silly on their birthday when can you?!
Henry and Max spent time during the birthday party in their favorite chair at Grandpa's house. Henry was very serious about watching his show and not being disturbed.
I got the twins moose hats recently...and Henry was kind enough to keep it on for more than 5 seconds. Max was not so kind. I bet he'll change his tune when it's -20 outside and it's his only hope.
And finally the van has also been dressed up for the holidays. To my shock, many people have not embraced its new look and in fact are embarrassed of it. Do I think it looks classy?...No. Do I think it spreads Christmas cheer and makes things more fun for my kids?...YES. So, the costume stays. There aren't many good things about a big brown van, but why can't its uncanny resemblance to a reindeer be one of them?
The kids got to see Santa downtown Normal to start off this Christmas season. The paper said there'd be all kinds of fun Christmasy things for everyone....but this is all we found. Oh well seeing Santa for 30 seconds is better than nothing.
The weekend after Thanksgiving we decided to decorate our Christmas tree. As you can see it only made sense to decorate the top third of the tree. Henry and Max spend their spare time pulling off ornaments and shoving pine cones in the tree.
Maxwell and Henry have really ramped up their efforts at being destructive lately. While I was on the way out the other day, Henry spilled a half gallon of milk all over the kitchen floor and a few days later Max decided to lead the way in pulling all of the keys off our laptop keyboard...AGAIN...sigh.
Last year when I found out at around bedtime that Andrew's school was having a Christmas hat spirit day, I decided to use what I had and make him a santa/elf hat. This year I got 2 more hats for the other kids and figured they'd all be jolly. Turns out my hat isn't the most coveted hat this year but somehow they managed to pose without ripping each other's heads off to get the hat they wanted.
Max loves dogs...and this one won't bite him so bonus. We thought this looked like it came straight out of a catalog...minus the blurriness.
When I got my new Iphone I came across these pictures from my old phone from when the twins were babies. The first one is Max and the Second one is Henry. They were so little and elf-like. :)
We had another birthday in the family recently. Little Ashley turned 6! And if you can't make people look silly on their birthday when can you?!
Henry and Max spent time during the birthday party in their favorite chair at Grandpa's house. Henry was very serious about watching his show and not being disturbed.
I got the twins moose hats recently...and Henry was kind enough to keep it on for more than 5 seconds. Max was not so kind. I bet he'll change his tune when it's -20 outside and it's his only hope.
And finally the van has also been dressed up for the holidays. To my shock, many people have not embraced its new look and in fact are embarrassed of it. Do I think it looks classy?...No. Do I think it spreads Christmas cheer and makes things more fun for my kids?...YES. So, the costume stays. There aren't many good things about a big brown van, but why can't its uncanny resemblance to a reindeer be one of them?
Monday, October 31, 2011
Trick or Treat
The windy day we had our trunk-or-treat at the church....the picture gives you an idea of just how windy it was.
Daniel and the troops assembling on the porch before going out to get some candy!
Grandma and Grandpa with the kiddies before trick-or-treating. Pretend like Ashley's eyes are open and this is a perfect picture. We had to be quick because Max was terrified of Andrew the werewolf. :)
Holly was a cowgirl....a goofy cowgirl.
The two most courageous looking super heroes I've ever met.
The three of them trick-or-treating together.
I'm a very intellegent Occupy Wall Streeter.
Daniel and the troops assembling on the porch before going out to get some candy!
Grandma and Grandpa with the kiddies before trick-or-treating. Pretend like Ashley's eyes are open and this is a perfect picture. We had to be quick because Max was terrified of Andrew the werewolf. :)
Holly was a cowgirl....a goofy cowgirl.
The two most courageous looking super heroes I've ever met.
The three of them trick-or-treating together.
I'm a very intellegent Occupy Wall Streeter.
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