Mathew Says

Mathew: Mom, how old are you?
Me: 34
Mathew: Wow! That's a lot of old!

Nathan Says

I overheard Nathan lecturing Mathew this morning...

Nathan: Mathew, I need to teach you an important lesson. Sometimes big kids don't follow the rules. AND sometimes they don't make good choices. So you shouldn't just do what the big kids do. Because if you do, you'll get in trouble. And the one who didn't follow the rules first won't get in trouble. Just you. Okay? Did you hear me? Mathew! Did you hear me?

Ahhh... apparently Nathan is learning from his experiences at school and sharing his new wisdom with his 3 year old brother. It's also nice to know that he is actually listening to our lectures, versus just hearing them. Even if he doesn't get it completely right :)

Play Ball!

Nathan has T Ball practice on Friday nights. So far he loves it. The count down until the next practice starts on Monday mornings! The stitches across his nose are brand new. He got them yesterday morning.

Nathan Says

Nathan: MATHEEEEEW! STOP TALKING AND GO TO BED! If you're awake when the Easter Bunny comes, he'll skip our house!

Shhh... Let Mom Sleep!

It is 530 AM Friday morning. Other than a few cat naps on the airplane, I have been up since 530 PM Wednesday. The kids were up at 400 AM today. In an effort to let me get some sleep, Chris offered to get the kids up, dressed, fed, and take them grocery shopping. His heart was in the right place. His mistake was telling the kids, "We have to get dressed quietly because mommy is tired and needs to rest." Here's how it went down.

Chis: It's a race between me and the two of you. So you two both have to be dressed before I am in order to win. And remember.... we have to be quiet.
Mathew: (at the top of his lungs) OKAY!!! I'M GOING TO BRUSH MY TEETH.
Nathan: Mom? MOM!
Chris: SHHHH! Mom is trying to sleep, remember?
Mathew: EEEEEEE!! EEEE HEE HEE! AAAAAAHHHH HAH!
Nathan: Oh yeah! Mom? Mom? MOM!
Me: Yes?
Nathan: Mathew's light-up toothbrush doesn't work anymore, so I gave him mine. Don't worry, I washed it off first.
Me: (silent groan, eeeww!)
Mathew: (running into our room) Look Mom! I got Nathan's toothbrush! (bright neon blue flashing lights being waved an inch from my face)
Chris: Remember, we are letting mommy sleep.
Mathew: Mom! I got Nathan's toothbrush. SEE? (more flashing blue lights)
Me: Wow! That was nice of Nathan. Go finish getting dressed!
Mathew: Okay! (runs off, no pitter patter of little feet... sounds more like an elephant stampede)
Nathan: I'm wearing my Steelers jersey, but only when the Packers aren't playing.
Mathew: Look mom! I found my flashlight! (bright white light being waved an inch from my face)
Chris: SHHHH!!
Nathan: Mom! When I get back from the grocery store, I'm going to pick up my toys.
Mathew: (down the hall, squealing) EEEEEE! AHHHHH HA HA!! EEEEE HEEE HEE!
Me: Okay. While you do that, I'll boil eggs for Easter.
Nathan: Okay! Deal!
Mathew: See my flashlight mom? I can see you with it! (more bright light in my face)

This went on for about 20 minutes before the boys were dressed and Chris herded them downstairs.

Me? I was giggling uncontrollably under the covers because these are the mornings that I wouldn't trade for the world :)

New Camping Venue

The basement is just about finished and we couldn't wait to spend time in the new space. But what to do down there on a Friday night ? We have no furniture and no TV yet, but we just had to do SOMETHING! So a family game night and camp out was in order! A couple heated games of Zingo and S'Match followed by a camp out in the Lightning McQueen tent (I got to sleep on the floor just outside the tent).

Skiing at Welch Village

What a great day of skiing! Mathew has gone from crying at the sight of his ski boots to asking "Can we go (s)kiing? I go (s)kiing!" Mathew skies down the bunny hill on his own with his hands on his knees. When he gets to the bottom, he says "Again!"

This time, we got him on the chair lifts. He did a couple of green runs on a harness with Chris. He had a great time!

Nathan and I skied green runs together. He started out on a harness and after he was comfortable I started dropping the harness straps and letting him ski the bottom half of the runs on his own while I followed. He is a speed demon and figured out that he goes faster by tucking down lower, resting his elbows or forearms on his knees (instead of hands on his knees). By the end of the afternoon, he was able to ski an entire green run without the harness.

Birthday

Chris picked up an ice cream cake for my birthday. Yum!


This was 4 days after my surgery, so I was still pretty sore.
Mathew was very careful to avoid my middle when hugging me.
He can be a very ferocious hugger :)

Bedtime Friends

I was headed upstairs and found this scene halfway up. These are very improtant items in our household: Nathan's superhero pillow and "Kitty" along with Mathew's "Puppy and Blanket". Someone took the time to make them a bed and tuck them in together on the stairs. Done with care and love :)

Igloo

Matt Christensen built an igloo in his front yard for Meredith and Devin. They invited us over so the kids could have dinner out in the igloo.


Seven kids and one adult tucked into the igloo eating mac and cheese and fruit cups around a light bulb :) The kids thought this was pretty darn cool. From left to right: Cole, Nathan, Mathew, Meredith.

Upside Down

For some reason, everything is funnier upside down. I heard the boys giggling from upstairs, so I ran downstairs, half expecting to find a gigantic mess. Instead of I found both of them flopped over upside down on the couch, giggling hysterically. It was cute.

Frosty and Friends

Chris and Grandpa Crossley built a giant snowman with the boys.
What a handsome bunch!

Sledding Chapman's Dam

This is the first time Mathew has really gotten into sledding by himself!
He and Nathan had a blast sledding with Dad and Grandpa Crossley.

Christmas Eve

This picture is one in a million, well, maybe one in several dozen!
But I finally got one with both of them looking and smiling.

Gingerbread House

The boys decorated their first gingerbread house this year... thanks to Ms. Sara who bought house thinking it would be a good project for the kids when she came to babysit. But thanks to a snowstorm, our plans were canceled and Ms. Sara never came over. She gave the house to the boys anyway, hoping they would have fun with it. And they did.

First was the frosting. Mathew really enjoyed smacking the frosting with the spatula. Nathan was a little more interested in actually spreading it on the house.


After frosting came the fun part. Decorating with candy! Mathew kept asking me, "Mama, I eat this one?" I kept telling him that if he ate it, he wouldn't be able to put it on the house. After a short pause to think, Mathew put the candy on the house. We repeated this everytime he picked up a piece of candy. Eventually he figured out that putting candy on the house allowed him to get frosting on his fingers!

Nathan decided the house needed Christmas lights. So he lined the edge of the roof with small round candies, "just like our house!"

Both boys enjoyed working on their masterpiece and were disappointed when the candy ran out!

Mathew Says

Mathew was "reading" the 5 Little Monkeys book this morning while I was in the shower. He was reading the one where the monkeys are sitting in a tree, teasing Mr. Crocodile, "Can't catch me". Then along comes Mr. Crocodile and "Snap!"

As I got out of the shower, Mathew lectured me, "Never ever EVER go into a alligator's mouth."

I thought this was pretty good advice.

He's a Preschooler!

Today was Mathew's first day of preschool!


He looks so grown up standing in the preschool room with his new haricut.


Now THERE'S the mischief maker I know! Good luck Ms. Marie!

Wink Wink (Thumbs Up)

Okay, this makes me giggle.

Snow Much Fun

Mathew and Aunt Shirley had a good time playing in the snow. Mathew was a bit of a bully, pelting Aunt Shirley with snowballs.


Aunt Shirley fought back by rolling Mathew down a hill.


Mathew was undeterred.


Mathew likes to get up close before firing a shot.

Aunt Shirley has good reflexes, but Mathew still lands a snowball on top of her head.

Here he is yelling at Aunt Shirley to "Hide!"

She takes his advice just as he winds up to launch another snowball her way!

Happy Halloween!

Spooky? I think not!