"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." Mark Twain

Charlie fell asleep in the car and since Dawson sits next to him, I asked him to nicely wake Charlie up. He whispered "Charrlieee, wake up and open your eyes, you're in heaven now and I'm an angel. It's peaceful here, no more getting in trouble..." All lies.

Charlie told me "Mom, I love you with all my heart, I love you even more than Christmas...or Disneyland!" This is the highest compliment imaginable in my book!

Dawson: "Mom, you know what I like about you? Everything!"

Charlie's nick name was "deductible" for a while thanks to his frequent ER visits for croup and sutures. He informed us that he no longer wants to be called "ducktible" but prefers "crash and burn" as his new nickname.

After 2 years of waiting, Dawson was finally able to move into his own room and he said proudly "finally I'm the boss of something!"

I was really confused when Charlie excitedly yelled out "Ella gave me the key to her diarrhea!" We were relieved to find out he meant her diary.

Dawson scraped up his back really badly and when I asked how it felt the next day, he said "it's okay, I just have a lot of plasma leaking out of my back."

The kids and I were having a conversation in the car about God being in control. Later that day, Mitch asked with a furrowed brow, "Mom, are you serious that God's a troll?" I laughed and explained that he misunderstood me, that I'd said God was in control, not a troll. He said "well I'm glad He's not a midget with green skin!"

Mitchy wanted to color and said "Mommy, can you be a dear and hand me a piece of paper?"

Mitchy: "You know what I like about you Mom? You just get it."

Charlie calls Laffy Taffy = Wacky Tacky. And when his foot falls asleep in the car he says it's "sparkly."

I was wearing black yoga pants and a black shirt and Dawson said "you're actually going to the store like that?! You look like a goth hobo!"

We were learning about Davinci and the Mona Lisa and I told Dawson that I really wanted to go to the Louvre in Paris. He said "every girl wants to go to Paris with their favorite boy, it's like a girl-land or something with all that romance!"

Dawson made the following observation: "why did they spell Costco wrong? It needs a magic E."

Mitchy told me "I want to be romantic with you, so let's light candles for dinner."

The kids asked if I'd set up a spa in the yard. This means I lay out towels, get them sparkling juice or water with a slice of lime or lemon, and cut cucumber slices for their eyes. It was day 4 of one of Todd's trips so my first reaction was "heck no I'm not setting up a spa for you! Are you crazy?!" {This was all said in my head} But I decided to be nice and get them all set up, and as I walked away, Dawson yelled out "wait! Aren't you going to rub our backs?!"

The kids and I were at Subway and a man bolted right past us carrying two huge bottles of liquor. A few men followed right after, chasing him, then the cops. Charlie said "if I caught him, I'd squeeeeze him nuts really hard!" I see a future in the police department for Sheriff Exsperminator.

Dawson was being a cranky beast and when he came into the kitchen, he said exasperated "oh, so you're in here NOT making dinner??"

Charlie said that one of his friends at Pre-K was a nerd and Dawson corrected him by saying "Charlie, it's not possible he's a nerd, you can't be a real nerd till after kindergarten."

Here are a few Disney-isms. I am heartbroken because I kept a scribbled list on a Disneyland napkin of all their little quips, and tucked it safely in the purse I was borrowing from my Sis. When we got home, I washed her purse because it was full of glitter and cinnamon sugar {aka pixie dust} but I'd forgotten to take out that napkin! Nooo! But here are the ones we remember...

Dawson, our glass half empty child, said this after Splash Mountain {which he was not so thrilled about going on but was bribed to do} "I don't get it, the blue bird wasn't even on his shoulder."

Mitchy was SO grateful for every ice cream and treat we bought him at Disneyland, but the day we bought his Olaf sent him over the moon. He hugged Todd and told him "Dad, hands up, this is the best day of my life."

When we were about half way through our vacation, we asked all the kids what their favorite ride was so far. Mitchy picked the Pooh ride and when we asked him why, he said "I like it because there's nothing terrifying about it."

I was wearing a sundress and cardigan and after a ride on Cars at dusk, it was getting chilly. So I pulled out the yoga pants I had in the back pack and slipped them on under my dress until I could get somewhere to change my shirt. Dawson said, waving his hand in a circle in front of my face "I don't get it, your shirt is fancy, and your face is fancy, but you look like a hobo on the bottom."

Prettiest flowers I've seen in my whole life. Ever.

Charlie is taking after his Mama. He has been clipping flowers from the yard and putting them on his bedside table.

Charlie knows how to relax.

 More bird art. Both of these are Dawson's.

My morning sunshine.

Garden helpers.

Another one of Charlie's fashion statements. A chest revealing skeleton sweatshirt and beaded cross necklace.

I make a lot of scopes out of toilet paper tubes, saran wrap and a Sharpie.

My baby boy.

 Charlie found a turkey egg in our flower bed.

 Mitchy "reading" the Dangerous Book for Boys.

 Dawson convincing me that we need to stop for ice cream.

 How Charlie rolls these days, Mickey tee, light saber, cowboy boots. Watch out ladies.

 Bath tub flute and construction safety glasses with a little ingenuity = snorkel and mask.

 Date night.

Baseball camp with cousin Torre.

 Cody our toad, he lives in the waterfall, for now...if he's smart, he'll move.

 My 3 sons.

 Our frequent flyer on the time-out pew. Chuckles Honey Ham Ruff.

School Daze

 

Here's an assortment of school related snap shots. Can't believe the school year has breathed it's final breath.  I almost did too. Thought we'd never get here, or that I'd survive. This was my 2nd year homeschooling, and I'm quickly learning that the first 3 months are SuPeR tough, then the next few ramp up in intensity academically, but go pretty smoothly ~ everyone knows what's expected of them, and they know that no matter how relentlessly they torture me, we are still doing school. And then comes April. April means I would rather do just about anything than school, and they feel the same way. As soon as the gloomy, cold weather takes a turn for the better, I find it hard physically painful staying inside doing school. This is one of the few reasons I'm grateful that I'm Type A. I think if I weren't it would be too easy to ride that slippery slope: "let's just skip..." But much to the kids' dismay, we don't skip, but keep persevering. Knowing that carefree summer days, and all the blissful happiness they bring, are just around the corner.
And my little Pre-Kinders have grown up so much this year. Charlie stopped crying when he was away from me, even at church. Mitchy has been sounding out words for his little pictures and stories for a couple of months now. It makes me smile to reflect on how different they are, although I notice Charlie is aware that Mitch can do things he can't. Mitch could write his name a year ago, Charlie has just now almost mastered his. Mitchy makes neat, detailed drawings, Charlie...not so much. But Charlie is wired to be more naturally athletic and aggressive and passionate. So we praise them for their strengths and encourage them where they need it. I imagine twins get compared to each other a lot, especially when they are the same gender, so we do our best to make sure they don't feel pressure to be the same. I think the fact that they look nothing alike helps everyone see them as the separate little people they are.
Here's a fly-on-the-wall look at our Monday through Friday grind during the last half of the school year. I wish I had some videos of me yelling at the kids, or of their power-whining, and calling me a mean Mom, that would make this photo montage more accurate;)

An extra set of lungs!

We did a "walking on eggshells" experiment, and even I was skeptical! But we successfully walked on the eggs without cracking them, and then ate egg salad for 3 days.

Charlie chose these out of the Blessing Box. He surprisingly never got in trouble at school. I was shocked.

Dawson sanding his Pinewood Derby car.

One of the many parties our little social butterfly fluttered off to.

Dawson took 1st place in his den at the Pinewood Derby. I love the look of anticipation on his face, his hands squeezed tightly together, as his car came down the ramp in the final heat!

Art class revolved around birds one week, and all of the kids developed their unique spin on the lesson and have been making gobs of bird drawings ever since.

One of Charlie's many spills, this time he caught his fall with his face.

A sampling of Mitchy's drawings for the day.

Pancakes and Pajama Day!

Cookie pizzas. See, fractions can be tolerable!

My own mini art lesson, eye balls, accompanied by my after school snack.

More of Mitchy's whimsical art, I can't get enough! More birds, of course, this time with our swing set and house.

Ella traveled through a new country every couple of weeks in school. We tried to cook something from each region as we learned about it. This was Greek week. We made home made hummus, home made pita chips, and some fruit and veggies for lunch.

Mitchy's jibberish along with his first time sounding out "Mom" and "Dad" on his own.

Here's a good example of how different the twins are. When I asked Charlie about his rainbow, he said "mine was attacked by leprechauns!" His teacher and I couldn't stop laughing.

Mitchy hard at work again, I love that his cheeks are blue from painting himself earlier that day. 4 year olds are the best.

Trike-a-thon!

The Bigs had a spring Evening of the Arts at NWC Homeschool Link. Dawson wasn't thrilled about having to go on stage and dance.

I looked over during opening prayer to see the most precious sight. A home run, slam dunk, straight A...those all pale in comparison to the joy this brings my heart.

Ella at her table displaying some of her art creations.

Dawson's display.

Ella in her thinking cap {brain map} and internal organ shirt she painted.

 

One of Dawson's favorite people, Titus.

Their dances were ADORABLE! I was too busy filming to take pics of it, but the PE teacher did an amazing job choreographing the night's performances.

We went to cousin Torre's basketball game, and I told the kids they could buy a Laffy Taff, but I only had a $10 bill. I told Ella to make sure to get change, and she thought I said "you don't need to get change." So they bought like 172 Laffy Taffy's. The look on Dawson's face was priceless as he realized their mistake. And I, being fresh out of surgery, almost lost my remaining ovary laughing so hard. So I had them pass out a Laffy Taffy to every child in the entire auditorium, and we still had a handful left. 

  

Twins' well child exams at Dr. T's. Always entertaining, and exhausting.

Ella was writer of the week thanks to her suspenseful clown page turner;)

Jump n Party. I was actually grateful I was just a few weeks post-op because I didn't have to climb all the flippin' jumpy things the whole time with the kids. Okay, confession, I do like the big slide.

The Fire Department, every Mom's favorite field trip;)

Ella's Arabic alphabet.

My kids are so inappropriate. They giggled and giggled after making my little piglet figurines sniff the Mommy pig's butt. One of course has passed out.

Scooter tricks.

100th day! I had the kids draw a picture of what they think they'll look like at 100 years old. So adorable.

 The kids are really starting to play together as a team. I love that they make up games to play, and there are enough of them to play baseball or soccer together. On this day I looked out the kitchen window to see that they had gotten yard bags out of the garage and were having sack races.

 A little treat for my Baby Girl to sweeten the school day.

 Mitchy's art class paper.

Charlie's art class paper. You can see his little finger there, he wanted to tell me that he messed up on that one so it "doesn't count."

 Math with a dose of Vitamin D. One of the many blessings of homeschool.

 A petting zoo came to Pre-K! The lady rescues animals and then adds them to her petting zoo. After seeing a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds attack these poor creatures, I'm thinking "rescued" may not be the right word to describe these animals. Um, what's with Mitch chatting it up with that girl?

 The biggest rabbit known to man. Scary.

Charlie was 90% certain this sheep was going to eat him.

 Last day of Pre-K! Photo credit goes to Ella, our photographer.

NWC Homeschool Link Awards ceremony, Ella was awarded most enthusiastic;)



Dawson received the friendship award.

 It was absolutely freezing cold on their Field Day, so I can only imagine how much regret the Dads who volunteered to go in the dunk tank felt. Hose water bath on a 50* day, super fun. Of course my Ella was the 1st one to dunk someone. She out threw all the boys;)

Dawson also dunked a Dad and was so proud to be one of the few kids that did. He was a little too happy about it, he may have an evil streak.

 They had face painting so Mitchy asked to be an evil Minion.

Charlie was a Storm Trooper.

 Ella making a Faberge' egg for Russia week. My Mom, Ella and I had a good laugh poking a hole in the egg and then blowing out all the egg "diarrhea" as Ella called it. Not the most glamorous art project, but when in Russia...

 

Dawson's last journal entry for 1st grade.