I love it when Rach comes to town b/c the old gang always gets together. (We took the group pic before Bekah arrived.) The guys watched football, the girls gabbed, & the kids played everywhere.

say it...don't read it

2.5 hrs & 4 trash bags

That is how long & how many bags it took for me to clean the playroom yesterday.....two bags of toys to rotate, one bag to trash, & one bag to donate. I remember the good ol' days when my kids were too young to play with toys that were choking hazards....sure did make for an easier clean up. Now we're up to our ears in accessories, parts & pieces!

I cleaned while the kids were at school. When Kate first walked in the new & improved playroom, she said, "Ahhhhh, this is beautiful!" Max just looked around & said, "What in the world???"

no time for jokes

The other day while dinner was cooking, Max & I were sitting at the table looking thru a Highlights magazine. It had some cute jokes in there, but Max wanted no part of it. I was reading the jokes out loud, & he was whining about being hungry. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Knock, knock

Max (in an angry voice): Who's NOT there?

Me: Taco

Max (still angry): Taco WHO?

Me: Taco 'bout a good dinner!

Max (yelling): Mom, this is no time for jokes! I'm hungry!

Mystery Solved!

Last week there were some very strange & unusual things happening at our house. First, we lost power to our home alarm system. It was still plugged in, so I checked the breaker box. The breaker had been tripped...hmmmm. That had never happened before, but I really didn't think anything of it. The very next day, we got home from church & found our back door OPEN! At that point I started to get a little worried. But Michael kept trying to tell me that one of the kids probably did it, even though we've been in this house for 2 years & neither of the kids had EVER opened that door. (It's got a crazy lock on it that adults have trouble opening.) He also tried to convince me that the open door had absolutely nothing to do with our alarm being off for several hours the previous day. So I remained calm & dismissed both incidents. Well.....the very next morning I noticed that the light in the tool shed was ON!!! We had not been out there in MONTHS & there was no possible way that one of the kids did it. My mind started racing, and I knew that we either had a haunting or some homeless guy living in our attic or tool shed (it happened to one of my friends in high school!). Michael checked the tool shed first & found nothing missing & no one living in there. Next he checked the attic. As he climbed up the steps, I had the phone in hand ready to dial 911. Then Michael said, "Hello? Anyone up here? I'm not gonna hurt ya, I'm just gonna ask you to leave." He thought he was being sooo funny, but I failed to find any humor in the situation. Thankfully no strangers were living in the attic. So that left only one conclusion....it had to be a haunting. Just Kidding! But I had to know what caused all of these very bizarre things.
I could explain the alarm power loss with a circuit overload. And after thinking more about it, I remembered that the tool shed light came on after I tripped the breaker. So the only thing I couldn't explain was the back door being open. But last night I got my explanation. Max & I had gone out & Michael & Kate had stayed home. When we got home, I noticed the back door was open. Kate confessed & the entire mystery was solved!

my turn...

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

for rach...

A new post! It hasn't been that long, has it???

I always dread taking the kids to get their pics taken. It's so stressful & I'm usually disappointed with the proofs. But this time, I made an appointment at a cheap studio. I felt like the pressure was off since I knew I wouldn't be spending hundreds of dollars. I was pleasantly surprised with the photos. (FYI - we have a crummy scanner. And grandparents, you'll be getting your copies soon!)

In other news.....the kids have been enjoying school. The novelty hasn't worn off yet, thankfully. Max actually bought his lunch one day. They were supposed to have burgers, but they ended up serving nuggets. (phew!) While the kids are away, I've been working like a champ getting the house in order. Having them in school is everything I thought it would be! HUGE SMILEY FACE ;)