Chatting with Abigail

Last night I was out and had a babysitter here at the house. Brooke is around a lot, even when she's not babysitting and we love her. She text me this conversation between she and Abigail because she couldn't stop laughing. This is the epitome of Abigail. Here is what the text said:

So Abigail got hungry so I gave her a yogurt. And here is our conversation:

Abigail: Um, excuse me,sometimes when I eat yogurt my arms get tired
Brooke: I'm sorry
A: Well is there anything I can do about it?
B: Like what?
A: I don't know...like somebody could maybe help me?
B: I am not feeding you your yogurt
A: Oh. Okay

Chatting with Collette

Often Joel thinks I'm too hard on Collette whenever I have to repeat myself to her. And to a degree, he's probably right. But I wanted to illustrate a typical conversation with Collette to let others know of my daily battle and why I get so frustrated when I have to repeat myself over and over again. Here's what happened tonight:

We're out on the front porch having a treat. Abigail is dressed in her Halloween costume. A man walks by and asks Abigail why she's dressed up. She explains. He walks away. Collette asks,

"What's his name?"

Me: I don't know, Collette. I don't know him
C: No, what's his NAME?
M: Sweetheart, I don't know. I don't know him.
C: No! What's HIS name?
M: I DON"T KNOW HIM, Collette. I don't know his name
C: But what's his NAAAAMMMME?
M: Seriously?
C: what, Mom? Oh, look a grasshopper.....

It's funny when I write it for others to laugh at. But really...not so funny when this happens ALL THE TIME!!! Bless her heart. We love her.

Ladies and Gentlemen~ We have lift off!

So finally, Ben is walking! He's been "walking" for awhile but still really seemed to prefer crawling to walking. He can get there so much faster and when he has to race two big sisters to a toy~ he's gotta get there quickly! But as seen in the video, he is seeming to prefer walking. He did it all over the house tonight. I might even have to bust out some shoes now (which I never put on my kids until they are serious walkers). Yeah for Ben!!!

Happy Birthday Mom (a late blog post, I know)

So my parents came to visit. They left last week. I'm really behind in my blog posting... Anyway, they came for a few days and we had a great time. There would be more pictures if they hadn't forgotten their camera. Relying on me is not a good thing. I often forget to bring my camera (many times in important situations). While my parents were here my Mom was able to celebrate her birthday. The girls were really excited to wake her up in the morning with balloons and cards. They also decided it would be fun for Grandma (Gma as they call her) to spend some of her birthday at Chuck E Cheese, because that's what someone should *want* to do on their birthday, right?

So my Mom gives in, happily, to the idea of Chuck E Cheese on her birthday. I thought to myself, "what a good sport!" However, the idea of my mother's selfless act all changed once we arrived at Chuck E Cheese. This woman was a mad woman!! She was challenging everyone to games, doing all she could to win tickets, and dare I say, upset if she didn't win the most :)

One game that she challenged me to was a water shooting game. I'm sure all you parents with kids that go to Chuck E Cheese have seen it. You shoot the water at the bulls-eye and whoever fills up the fastest wins. We must have played this game 4 or 5 times because...well~ what can I say? I'm good!! Actually the machine seemed to malfunction once or twice but the times I did win- she would immediately challenge me again. I knew my Dad was competitive but really after all these years, I had no idea my Mom had such a competitive streak to her as well. Especially at Chuck E Cheese.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for coming out here. We all had a good time.

The other students

I thought I should give Abigail and Collette their attention as the students in our house as well. Wednesday was the first day of preschool. The very first day for Collette and Abigail is a seasoned vet by this point. Both of them love going to school so much. I'm so happy that when I drop off my kids at preschool and see other kids crying~ I don't have to deal with that. Yeah for 2 1/2 hours with just one kid!!

This was right before we left the house.

The Student

Yesterday Joel started playing his saxophone. Usually when he does this, Collette goes running for the play saxophone. She did, as usual, but then she left to go pet a kitty out front. So, Ben picked up the play saxophone and started playing with Dad. You should click on the picture to get a better idea. The funniest part when you do that, is that you will see that Ben pulled out his pacifier long enough to play the saxophone and then returned it promptly. We've got to do something about that, I know...Sorry the picture is not great, but it was too cute not to post!



Oh, and please don't pay attention to the messy room they're playing in!