12.30.2014

Boy-isms

 Keepin' it high and tight!
 With cousin Torre at Grandma Ruff's 70th birthday bash!
 That tongue, always a sure sign this one is working hard!
 Dawson volunteered to grocery shop with me Sunday afternoon, so we snuck in a quick treat. Shhh...
Love the way these two love each other.
 Mitchy wakes up and draws every single morning. Love him.
I love how the robber looks stressed but the police woman is cool and collected, even smiling! Maybe she should concentrate on getting one of those 2 guns in her hand!
 I love helping out at school when I can. Although not sure how much help I am with the twins in tow;)
Never a dull moment with this one!
 Didier's date

 Date night with Dawson!
The pick-up line at school just got a lot more snuggly
Someone's getting comfy at Dan's barber shop
 These two at the allergist's office, again. Gotta love those peanut, cat, mold, pollen, dog, horse, hay, grass, tree, oxygen... allergies
Charlie wore this mustache to be my doctor when I cut myself. Apparently facial hair is a pre-requisite for medical competency.
 Sweet late night moments with my boy
Sometimes you just need a hug in the middle of phonics

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We drove by the Milk Bottle ice cream shop and when Dawson saw the giant milk bottle on the building he said "if I drank that much milk I'd have a gas bubble big enough to shake the whole earth!" Spoken like a true lactard.

Charlie was being annoying and Dawson said frustrated "Charlie, you are an abomination!"

One of the kids in Dawson's class asked me when my birthday was. I told him August and he was excited to tell me his birthday was in August too. Dawson piped up and said, "but my Mom was born waaaay back in the olden days, and when my Dad was born they were still riding carriages."

Dawson: "Mitch, you have got to be the whiniest child in the state of Washington."

Mitch: "Mom, my brain just sent me a message."
Me: "Oh, yeah, what did it say?"
Mitch: "It's time to go pee."

Mitchy has a little stuffed camel that has beads in it to make it sit upright. It got a hole under it's tail and the beads started to fall out. He said "Mommy, I think Cami has Crohn's disease like Dad."

Charlie spilled his drink and when Ella told him to get a rag to help clean it up he said, "don't worry, the servant will clean it up." Servant: AKA Mom

Dawson told Charlie "don't interrupt me Charlie I'm talking to God. Go talk to the angels or something until I'm done."

We were out running errands and Dawson said "you know Mom, I was looking around and you're the prettiest girl in this place."

Mitchy came into our room after having a bad dream, when I asked him what it was about he said "well, it was about 2 ungodly goats..."

Charlie told me he hurt the "thumb on his foot" which I later found out means his big toe.

I was getting snuggled in to read to the twins before bed and said "Mitchy, you keep forgetting to turn off the bathroom light, go turn it off before you get into bed!" He responded  "why are you judging me?"

Some friends came over and when Dawson answered the door and one his buddies said hello, Dawson waved his hand in front of his face and said "the man you are looking for is not here..."

I came home after an evening out and Dawson ran into my arms and said "I'm so glad you're home, I couldn't wait to see your pretty face!" Is it becoming clear why Dawson and I get along so well;)

Mitchy found a little flower on one of our October hikes and when he gave it to me he said "forget me not Mom, my heart is in your control."

Charlie told me "I want to be a soldier when I'm older so I can sacrifice myself for you."

At the beginning of the school year Dawson's class was reviewing ones, tens, and hundreds places. One night he started calling out in his sleep, "70, 70! The answer is 70!"

I had to take some of Charlie's weekend privileges away {TV, staying up late} because of his super naughty behavior. He started to get upset and said "I forgived myself, why can't you?!"

Mitchy got his metaphors a little mixed up and said "I have to pee like I'm at a horse race!"

I was playing Disney Trivia with the kids and the question was "what is the name of the donkey that is Pooh's friend?" Mitchy said "oooh, oooh, I know! Psycho!"

Dawson was asking about death and heaven, and started to get a little sad and fearful. I tried to comfort him but I could tell he was trying to process such a big concept. He told me "Mommy, if I die first I'll be waiting for you at the gate in heaven, and I'll only wait 7 weeks before I tell Jesus that I need you or I'm leaving. Actually only 2 days, that's the longest I can live without you." I still cry every time I think about that conversation! This is quite a contrast to Ella's thought process, which was "when you die, can I have your iPhone?!"

A girl in Dawson's class asked him if she could be his friend. He said "sure, I don't see why not!"

Charlie and Dawson actually get into physical fights about who loves me more {we clearly are awesome parents to produce such loving off spring}. In one such instance, we were laying on my bed and they started at it. Dawson got ticked and said "I've loved her longer than you! You weren't even born when I started loving her you little crap ball!"

I asked Dawson what his favorite subject was in school and he responded "you know that time of day when you grab your backpack and line up? That's my favorite subject." I laughed and said "Buddy, that's not really a subject!" He said "oh, lunch then, that's my favorite subject."

My phone made a loud sound when an Amber Alert was issued. The kids were curious about it so I used it as a chance to go over the stranger danger stuff again. Basically scaring the living daylights out of them just like any good mom would. Charlie announced proudly "if someone tried to take us, I'd re-coordinate him testicles!"

Before we moved on to a new unit in home school I wanted to review the Fruits of the Spirit with the twins. I asked if they remembered any and Charlie was excited that he remembered "love, joy, peace and comfy-ness!"

Dawson came into our room in the middle of the night, upset over a nightmare. I asked him what his dream was about and he started to cry and said "I dreamed that I had to go to school EVERY day."

12.13.2014

I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. ~ Anne of Green Gables

I am definitely a girl who appreciates each of the 4 seasons we are lucky enough to get here in the Northwest, but I have never loved Fall, at least not like I do summer or snow {I don't love winter, I just love snow}. It's not that I have anything against Autumn, I think it's just that it's presence means summer is over, and that I don't like one bit. But, this October was so heavenly. What an Indian Summer we had! And we took advantage of every beautiful, warm day, soaking in what we knew would quickly pass us by.
Dear October, you were so lovely that you deserve your own post!
 Football camp!
Mitchy calling his play
 Coach Russ was AmAzInG!

Soccer!
Charlie is always willing to help with the chickens. He is such an animal lover {we were on our way to a school function so I was wearing party clothes and business boots;)}
Our children defiling yet another Spokane landmark, yet again
I mentioned that roses were edible...
Cooling off in the river
Nature walk! Collecting all sorts of treasures, including grasshoppers, whose fate was to be glued to a poster board before I could save their little, hip-hoppity lives
Our favorite spot
Hiking back to the top, big sis giving her baby brother some love and a lift.
One of our most favorite things, a game of family baseball!
Indian Painted rocks!
We saw three snakes on our hike, one ran right under Todd's foot and looked like a baby rattler.
 More baseball!
Raking leaves, in the SUNshine!! What a concept!
Our pumpkin patch in the garden went crazy this year, we had them coming out our ears!
Still went to Greenbluff to harvest pumpkin donuts at High Country though
Doing flips!
We met the sweetest lady here at Walter's. She was complimenting us on how well behaved and sweet our kids were {shocking} and she and I started chatting. Found out that she raised four kids too, but by herself after her husband died in the war. What a precious gift of perspective. We hugged each other and said goodbye with tears in our eyes, I will never forget her.
A family favorite ~ the burping sheep!
Todd has perfected the art of fatherhood. Sitting down with some chips and a cold drink, AND playing catch all at once:)
Chicken man Charlie
I know it's hard to tell by this picture, but he really likes his girl Daisy;)
Harvesting our grapes! They are like candy, so sweet and delicious!
We spent the afternoon harvesting grapes and apples from our yard. Bliss
The sunrises in October were stunning. Breathtaking.
Running errands and took a little detour to let the kids run around at the fish hatchery and throw leaves into the stream.
And then Halloween week came, along with a flu of epic proportions {which would take a solid 6 weeks of constant sickness to get through}. It was the germ that changed the course of our lives. Dun dun dun. This virus was nasty people. Anyway, on Halloween, 2 of the kids were sick so I tried to save Halloween, the dumbest holiday ever, by making each door in our house into it's own separate "house" to trick-or-treat at. I dressed up differently in each room, and suckered Todd into it too. I cracked up when I opened the door and saw him dressed as Clark Griswold from Christmas Vacation, in the scene where he's stuck in the attic watching home movies!