An open letter

Dear Shellie's Mr. Home Invader (I'm assuming you're a mister because you kicked down her door),

Kindly return her memory card from her camera and if you're feeling generous, also all the pictures on her computer. You can keep the computer, the tv, and the camera, but she would like the others back. You can stick them in her mailbox in broad daylight, like you kicked in her door. Shame on you for violating her privacy and stealing away her precious memories.

Everet

I wanted to write a quick post about all of Everet's new developments. I say new, but it's been so long since I've written about them that they may not be so new anymore! His newest thing I think, is that he loves to climb on everything. If he sees something with a potential to get him up higher, he is on it, trying to go as far as he can. He can climb up to stand on the toilet, if the step stool is out in the kitchen, he's on the highest (of two) steps. He's tried climbing into the bathtub head first, but I was there to catch him. And if something or someone gets in his way, his wheels are just turning trying to figure out another way to do it. So after I kept telling him not to go head first into the tub, he hiked his leg way up there and grunted and almost made it in, but didn't have enough momentum. He's so ornery. I can already see it. Was I really that naughty when I was little to deserve four, FOUR ornery ones?! (Don't answer that, Mom!) I'm going to blame at least part of it on Daniel!

He is understanding more and "talking" more. He points to his eyes, ears, and mouth when you ask him. The kids were talking about eyes last night at the dinner table and I looked over and Everet had his finger inside his eye pushing his eyelid way up saying, "Eh, Eh." Ummmm, sometimes he's not the sharpest tack, but he knew what they were talking about. Maybe pain just doesn't bother him! He has been saying "toes" for a while, but he says it "go go," or sometimes, "coco." Also if you tell him let's go, he says, "go" and waves. He knows how to say the b sound, but most of the time, he says d instead. Like bye bye is more "dye dye." He says hat (ha) while putting his hands on his head. He also says hands the same way, but rubbing his hands together. We passed by the sink yesterday and he did this. He wanted to wash his hands. He says cat like "AT" because he's real excited about seeing our many neighborhood cats. He says Hi and also blows kisses. He loves to give hugs and says, "mm, mm" while he's hugging. He says "ruff ruff" for the dog, and "oooo" for the cow. Of course he says "mama" and "dada." I'm sure he does more, but that's all I can think of right now.

If he wants someone to hold him, he runs over and either grabs their legs or he'll stand there and shake and grunt with his arms at his side like he is just too excited to know what else to do. He also does that when I get the candy basket out! He's starting to get to where he likes other people to hold him besides me, or he'll go and play without me for a little bit, but he's still a mama's boy. He had a double ear infection last week, but we have hopefully gotten that taken care of-just a bit of a runny nose now. He is 24.6 pounds I think and 30 inches tall. A big, stocky boy.

We are going to Abilene this weekend for Nathan's birthday party/Davidson's Thanksgiving/Skillet concert PACKED weekend. Then after we get back Sunday night or Monday morning, we will unpack and repack to go to Pecos Wednesday. So I need to get busy I guess! Hopefully I can get this video and some pictures to load up quickly!

The video didn't really stop on a very flattering picture, did it? I thought this was cute and it also shows a little of what he has to put up with every day!

He climbed inside the drawer all by himself. When I first saw him, he was just sitting there looking at me as if everything was completely normal. But when I got the camera, he had already gotten up.

Pictures

I'm finally posting some new pictures. I got my new camera just in time for Halloween and Ema's birthday. The kids will not be taking pictures with this one!

Eli loved being this dinosaur/dragon. He wore it the whole 4 hours at the fall festival and through trick or treating-even in the jumpy cage!

Ema was a disco girl or rock star. She added some gloves and the scarf.

This was the best picture we could get of our little pumpkin because he's always on the move!

This is Elena's princess costume before she cut the sleeves off. We had trimmed them down, so she thought it would be okay to make it short sleeve.

Ema had some cupcakes from school. I thought this was funny!

We visited Grama at her office where she was a Certified Basket Case! She is so creative!

Now on to Ema's birthday parties...

Our friend, Amy, decorated this cake for Ema's concert party. I was VERY impressed, and Ema loved it too.

This is just one picture of the chaos. Trust me, it doesn't do it justice! It was CrAzY!

This is the kids watching the concert video that Daniel put together. They all had glow sticks or necklaces. We tried to have a mystery dinner. Daniel did a great job getting it all together, but sometimes you have to scrap things because of too much chaos. That's the only word I can think of to describe it!

Then the next day, we had a family party.

This is Ema with a gift from Great Grandma Dominguez in California. They share the same birth month, so Grandma gave Ema her birthstone ring. I'm not sure how old it is, but it is very special and Ema was much more thrilled about it than she looks in this picture!

Kyle and mommy & daddy gave Ema a nice guitar and not just a toy this time. She was really excited about it because she loves music so much. Hopefully she'll be able to pick it up easily! She also got some accessories for it and an exciting DVD to help learn the basics.

SO we had a big, busy weekend, but it was lots of fun. Ema got so many nice gifts- activities, nice clothes (the pants fit great by the way, Grandma and Grandpa!) and she got quite a bit of money and gift cards! We bought a pop-up camper last week and we HAD to sleep in it on Friday night! So Shellie, Elena, Ema, Eli and I slept in the very cold camper! Next time, we may be firing up the propane heater! On a totally unrelated note, I'm sure, all of us are fighting sore throats. Hopefully we can all keep from getting full-blown sick!

This is good

I thought this was pretty good. And this is even better.

We have take off!

This is what Elena did on one of the first days of school!

This was what we saw across the street when we went out for school one morning.

I meant to write this sooner, but haven't had a chance. I guess it was about 3 weeks ago, Everet started taking a little steps here and there, but he was really cautious about it. Then he worked up to taking maybe 3 steps at a time, but crawling was still his main way of moving. It was kind of like he would forget that he could do it so he kept on crawling. Last Sunday, he got it all figured out. (Coincidentally, it was the same day the Ema took her first steps 7 years ago.) We'd look up and he was just walking everywhere. Now he hardly ever crawls. He can walk all through the house. It's so cute how he shuffles his feet like an old man! Now he doesn't really want to be held unless he's tired or trying to get away from someone (ELENA), especially if we are somewhere new. Like Hastings last night, he was pulling everything down off the shelves, so I picked it all up, picked him up and he'd start doing the floppy baby move where he puts his arms up and tries to slide out of my arms. You know the move. It's fun and exciting to watch him grow, but at the same time I think, "he can't be walking already. The house isn't ready yet and neither is his mommy." But I do like the fact that I can set him down somewhere and not have to worry so much about the germs he'll get when he puts his hands down on the floor!

Ema and Eli started school on Aug 18. They are both really enjoying it. Their teachers are great-Ema's is a really bubbly exciting teacher, and Eli's is an older grandmother type which is good for him. Eli's class has tickets every week that allow them in to "Fun Friday." If they get a warning, they have to move their card, and if they keep up the wrong behavior, they get a hole punch. If you get 3 hole punches, you can't go to FF. He was telling me that a couple of people had to move their cards, but he didn't have to. I honestly don't know what he'll do if he ever has to move his. He is a strong boy, but he's very sensitive too. If someone speaks harshly to him, he goes to his room for a while. In that sense, I feel kind of like he may not have been ready for kindergarten. But he is so smart-he knows all his letters, shapes, colors, and he's been reading for a while now. He's always surprising us by reading things to us. At the beginning, we didn't know if he had just memorized things and was repeating them, but he was reading signs that he had never seen before. He is learning to write better now-more controlled. He is enjoying it very much.

Ema is also doing well in school. She is an excellent reader and speller. She gets into a little bit of trouble from talking or mothering the other kids. She tries to help them with their work, but the teacher is trying to get them to be independent learners too. Her teacher is trying to come up with some things to challenge Ema, because she gets bored easily. Especially with the beginning of the year review things. She is hopefully going to start the Rosetta Stone Spanish course that the school is doing and the teacher is going to have her test for the gifted and talented program. That would allow her to go to another location and do something fun and challenging with a group of other kids. I was in AA (Academically Able-do you think the people who came up with that name really thought it through?) but I remember how fun it was to get out of the classroom and go work on the computer or something. I can't remember much of what we did-just the getting out of class part. Of course, now the computers are already in the room, so they have to leave the building to find something new and fun!

Elena is enjoying the quiet time during the day, but she gets bored pretty easily. She's always asking me to play dolls with her. I do a lot, but I do have to try and get my jobs done too. Then she follows me around saying in a sweet, motherly (and sometimes British) voice, "daughter, you can't do that. Daughter, you have to sit here." And then there are the other pretend games like "bwetend you are a bad guy and you got me." or "you're Jenna and I'm lena, no you're Kyle, no you miss Jonana." and my favorite, "I was a princess, and you saw me." Whenever that one comes up, I cringe because-well I don't even know how to explain it. I pretend to be the prince and see her and come up and try to talk to her, then she goes and pulls a Snow White on me and runs away. Then I have to go chase her down and try and talk to her, and she keeps running. She also throws in some Ariel because she can't talk either. It gets a little annoying. But overall, we have fun together. She's got such a silly personality-she makes me laugh quite often.

Everyone is back home now after daddy took them to Town & Country, so I better get off the computer. I'll try to get some pictures on here too. Oh they posted at the top and now I'm too lazy to move them around! I posted some on Facebook too.

Funny lines from the 1984 Transformers

*Deactivate your mouth.

*Your knowledge is only overshadowed by your stupidity.

*Autobots, TRANSFORM.....Not you, Bumblebee.  (You kind of have to see the cartoon with this, but Bumblebee starts to follow orders, and then has to stop halfway and transform back to his robot self.

*I've got the plan, it you've got the cast-iron manifolds for it.

I was laughing at another one last night, but it's hard to put in words.  I thought the decepticon guy said "Rubbish," but it's actually "Ravage" or something.  A dog robot comes out of the guy's chest compartment.  But he talks in a weird computerized voice and he pointed and said, (in my mind) RUBBISH.  And then it took a few seconds for anything else to happen.  I just thought it would be funny to use that line sometime.  

It's all in the way you ask

I was getting something out of the cupboard with Eli in the kitchen with me. He was just talking and happened to get a glimpse of the small bag of marshmallows rolled up in the cupboard. He said so sweetly, "let me see if those marshmallows are any good." I started laughing pretty hard and he instructed me not to tell Daddy, but he got to check the marshmallows for me. So I can sleep better tonight knowing that our marshmallows have been checked, and that they are in fact still good!

Get...Smart?

Some of you may know that we cancelled our satellite subscription a while back and haven't missed it since. We have bought a few tv series on dvd so we could have something small to watch every now and then, you know, to break up the movie nights that we have! We don't want to get burned out on movies or anything! 

Anyway, Daniel bought me the "Get Smart" series from 1965 and we've been watching those. It's just amazing how far tv and special effects and all that has come. It's funny to watch because of how lame it can be sometimes. Like when the tough Asian guy comes after Smart, and Smart brings him to the ground with one chop to each shoulder. 

I was really laughing at one episode where Smart and Agent 99 (his pretty sidekick) have to go undercover at a spy school. They have to find out which agent in the school is really a KAOS infiltrator. Smart gets all of his secret codes to allow him access to the school that is made to look like an ordinary house. He has to give the code to get in the door, he then is under high alert until his security clearance goes through. He is using a fake name (which I don't understand because the infiltrator is at that school to get the secrets from their agency. He already knows that everyone is a secret agent-why use the fake name? Maybe I'm thinking too hard!) He can't let anyone know that he and 99 already know each other either.  When they go out to the back yard, it looks like a rec center or something; people sitting around the pool tanning, old ladies sitting in chairs, people playing games. Then the head guy announces, "it's okay, he's a secret agent too." And everyone goes back to what they were doing before the new guy showed up; the old ladies take off their very convincing disguises and start combat fighting, others are weapons training and target practicing, and such. (Am I over-using the semi-colon... David..., anybody?!)  So then Smart gets introduced to some other sinister looking agents and it's time for his weapons training.  They demonstrate how the weapon is used and then Smart, in all his secret agent brilliance, shoots it the wrong way and breaks out the neighbor lady's window.  Before you know it, the neighbor comes busting through the hedges yelling at them for breaking her window and how they are going to pay for that.  Honestly I don't know what all she said because I was laughing too hard.  How did that lady's security clearance go through so fast?  They sure went through a lot of trouble securing the premises.  Where was the "postman" or the "blind guy" who were supposed to be guarding the hedges?  I think we've found the infiltrator!  I just thought that was hilarious and felt like sharing it with someone!  Of course, I will take lame old tv shows to inappropriate new ones any day!

He loves his Daddy!

Daniel just called me on my cell phone from a different phone number and told me to go find Everet. It was such a weird request-it scared me a little bit, although I don't really know why! He was just rolling on the floor in the living room with Eli and Elena while I try and work in the office for a few minutes. He said "does he still have it in his hands?" He had his bottle, but the phone was near him. He had called Daniel about 8 minutes before and was talking to him. What a smart kid, huh! He had found the redial button, knowing that I had called Daniel last, and called his daddy! I thought that was funny! Well, back to work. Someday I will be back in Bloggerland!

They are mad to me

"Mom, there's a bug!"

"What kind of bug?"

"A mad one!"

Elena has this complex about everyone being mad "to" her.  Maybe because people get mad at her a lot for being such a pest!  The other day, there was a mad butterfly outside.  I laughed for a while about that one.  What would a butterfly do to make you think it was mad?  She kept saying, "I dote wanna hee that mad budderfwy."   It turned out to be a plastic bag stuck in a tree in the neighbor's yard and it was blowing in the wind.  We were in the dentist office the other day and two girls were looking at her and she was upset that they were looking mad to her.  

EVERET SLEPT FOR 7 HOURS STRAIGHT LAST NIGHT!  I was so excited.  Eli woke up around 3 so I still had to wake up (sort of-I remember sitting on his bed and actually dreaming about something while I was sitting there.  I don't wake up easily.)  I kept checking Everet though to make sure he was still breathing because he's never slept that long.  He's been sick with a virus that could lead to RSV, so we've been doing breathing treatments with him.  He won't hardly stay still for those.  I know that didn't help him sleep though because it makes him a little restless.  Anyway-I don't know what we did different, but I liked it!  Maybe it's the cereal he's been eating.

Just a couple more funny things before I forget:

Saturday night, we were finishing supper.  We had let the kids down and Elena was getting ready to take a bath.  I told her to wait for me to come in.  She came out to the kitchen naked, so I told her to go back to the room because I didn't want to see her out there naked.  She said, in her sweet little 3-year old voice, "but my bottom is not wooking at youuuu."

Then right after that, Eli was actually eating chicken noodle soup (because it was shaped like Cars) and he was picking out the carrots.  We tried to convince him that he liked carrots and he said, "but I don't like them melted."

The other day at Wendy's, Eli wanted a drink of Daniel's drink.  He asked what it was and Daniel told him to try it and find out.  This one may not be as funny in type.  Anyway, he tried it and his eyes got big and he exclaimed, "ROOT BEER!"  "NOPE, it's cherry coke!"  It just made me think of a big buzzer going off.  YYEEEEE-YOU'RE WRONG!  (This one's for Tracey to remember)  LOSER!  [Note:  I'm not calling my son a loser nor was Daniel meaning to crush his spirits!]  It rolled off of Eli, but Shellie and I were laughing for a little bit.  

Okay-I didn't mean to write for this long.  I'll be back in another two months!

Oh and tomorrow is our 10th wedding anniversary!  I love you Daniel, always and forever!

Funny things I've heard recently

"AAAhhhh!  Don't put me in the juicer!"  Said by Eli, talking for the toy dolphin.

"I'm the mom and you're my fwe-fart."  Elena trying to say 'sweetheart.'

"MANIAC!"  The kids imitating Mr. Bean.

"Elena and her coat of falling colors."  Ema said this about Elena's coat of many colors that she made in Bible class.  The fabric strips were falling down.

"Did he burp?"  Eli always asks right after Everet burps.  

A boring post because I just need to write something!

I see that I haven't written in five weeks so I thought I'd try and post a little.  I made a list last night of the things I wanted to get done today.  It was as short as I could make it, but still had about 7 major and minor things to accomplish.  I did a few loads of laundry, filed some papers, did the payroll and my major accomplishment, cleaning and mopping the kitchen and dining room all while taking care of 3 and 4 kids!  These kind of productive days don't happen very often. I actually got the counters completely cleared off (well except for a few dishes that are drying) and Ema and Eli mopped the dining room.  Ema has really been trying to help lately (bless her heart!) so I've been trying to step back a little and tell myself that I'd rather have her learn to do it, than worry about it being done perfectly and turn her away from wanting to help.  She loves to wash the dishes and do laundry.  She is not so helpful when it comes to her room though.  It's not as fun.  I spent almost all day Saturday cleaning, tossing and organizing in there.  I moved a bunch of toys into the "let's see if they forget about them" box because the toy box was overflowing.  Now there room looks really nice-and the best part is Ema loves it that way and is excited about keeping it that way!  Yea!  Also the dollar at the end of the week probably doesn't hurt either.  

We watched "The Happening" yesterday.  I didn't want to watch it Saturday night when Daniel brought it home because I didn't know much about it.  I just knew that those kind of movies are a little creepy and I didn't want to be scared to walk out of my bedroom in the middle of the night.  It really wasn't that scary, but I didn't really like it.  I especially didn't like the end when it turned into a "mother nature is fighting against the horrible humans" movie.  Sorry if I spoiled the ending for anyone.  We kept having to pause it though because the kids would come out when we could tell something gory was about to be on.  Then we'd have to try and coax them back to their rooms.  "Go see what Eli's doing,"  "I think Ema has candy hidden somewhere, go look for it."  We didn't really say the last one.  Anyway-I wasn't impressed with it.

Elena is afraid of monsters under her bed.  I told her we cleaned them all out, but she's still calls me almost every night.  "Mooommmy,  I need youuuuuu.  Dere's a mosser unner my bed." I have to reassure her that it's okay.  I let her look at books and that usually occupies her enough that I can get out of the room.  She is great at not going to bed though.  

"Mooommmy, I need go poooottty."   

"You just went."

"Oh, maybe I need go kiky." (stinky, because I don't like the other words for it!)

"Go to sleep, Elena."

After a few minutes, "Mooommmmy, I need a gwink."

This is all very frustrating to me because she used to lay there, get her blanket over her, kiss us goodnight and we were done with it.  She'd go right to sleep.  Now we think that since her bed looks right to the door and we can't shut it until after Ema goes to sleep because she gets scared, that it's making it hard for her to go to sleep.  After we went to the park the other day, she did go right to sleep-maybe I just need to get more activity into their days.

What else is happening here?  Hmmmmm...oh somebody left. . . . (this is for Shellie-hopefully you will remember what I'm talking about and laugh and laugh!)

I think I need to get to bed-I don't really have anything interesting to say.  Our holidays were great this year, but they seem so long ago!  Maybe I should have written sooner!  I will try and post some pictures next time.  Right now, the bed is calling me!  Goodnight!