...and to all a good night

I love sleeping children


I especailly love brothers sleeping together in their little twin bed. This night it looked like it was William's bed.

oh...and now it's Jake's bed. we must take turns, of course.

The perfect ending to a perfect Christmas. A seriously exciting game of LIFE with Chocolate fondue. We all went to bed sick with over indulgence to chocolate pretzels and William and dad went to bed happy. They won. But Jakey and I went to bed happy too. Cause we did our BEST!

Christmas Morning 2010

A wonderful memory. A wonderful feeling. Just our little family. We had one groggy, bewildered baby, one not feeling so good Mooch, and one incredibly, excited, this is the "Best Christmas Ever" Bug.

All in all, a WONDERFUL Chirstmas day. James even woke up at 4:30 A.M. to run into the hospital to make an extra $100! What a man! Oh, and he went back later that day to make an extra $35. Thank Babe.

Christmas Vacation 2010

We started our vacation this year with a road trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ford in Chicago. What fun! Nothing better than Grandma to spoil your kids rotten. Our two day adventure was PACKED with the Shedd Aquarium, the Children's Museum, Panera Bread, and the Dollar Store. WIlliam couldn't understand why the Dollar Store was not more crowded the day before Christmas Eve. To him, this was the greatest store on Earth for Christmas bargains.

making the drive. we loved it.

until next time...Chicago!

No School Day

Gingerbread Houses on Sunday

No School Day on Monday (SNOW DAY)

I walked in the boys room this morning and hollered,

"I have an announcement, I have an announcement"

Their sleepy eyes looked up at me in confusion.

I continued, "There will be NO SCHOOL today!"

Instantly, I saw a smile glazed over Jake's droopy lips and William turned toward his window, looked out at the blistery blizzard and lay back in his bed...

both happy with the world.

Jake MADE me make sugar cookies. I decided since it was "a kid's day" they could make them any way they wanted. Jake even pounded out the dough with his feet instead of the rolling pin. (Don't worry, I threw those one's away)

Then I put four bowls of frosting on the table and a tray of cookies. I left the room. I couldn't handle watching all the dripping, slipping and goobers. I told myself, "just leave the room, leave the room"

I returned to some beautiful cookies. None that we will probably deliver to neighbors, but they were sure proud of their creations.

Here's to a "NO SCHOOL DAY"

SNOW

The boys made a snowman with their dad. What a cool looking dude!

1 Moment Each

1st. The Mooch
Today he came to me saying, "Mommy, I'm hungry." I responded that I would love to make him a peanut butter sandwich.
His response, "No, I'm not hungry for any protein stuff."
Well, what are you hungry for?
"Ummm, maybe something likem ummm, like, cold"
Like what?
"ummm, maybe something in the freezer. Like something that maybe starts with a "I"".
Don't worry. He didn't get any frozen "I" food. If he was really hungry he would have eaten the protein food.

I learned a new level of patience with William. Have you ever tried to teach a 7 year old how to play chess? Seriously, an hour and a half later I pointed out he had a check mate. He won. THank goodness! Time to make dinner.

Naomi was invited to her 1st ever Birthday party! She couldn't have been more excited! She loved it. She loved giving a present. The whole thing. And I loved taking JUST her. It was SOOO fun.

Goal...accomplished

Jake has always been a little jealous of William because William actually reads the scriptures by himself for family scripture study and Jake has always just had to repeat us as we read for him. At the beginning of the school year, we talked about our goals for the year. Jake's #1 goal...to read a scripture ALL BY HIMSELF! I was a little nervous. The scriptures aren't written in normal English.

But last night, as I was out doing errands, James told Jake to read...all by himself. Jake told him ,"no, I can't." But James told him to try. And try he did! And success!

As soon as I got home, I walked into the boys room and Jake threw his arms around me, pulled open his scriptures, and showed me the three he read. I couldn't believe it.

We wrestled on his bed with excitement. He couldn't contain himself.

Here's to Jake! And here's to Goals!