Christmas is for children!

Here are my screwball kids while I was trying to take a nice, posed picture for Christmas cards. This is just one of 27 attempts at getting the perfect picture out of a cheap, toss-away camera that would be rushed off to Walmart for the VERY last minute!


This is a very sweet moment around the Advent wreath that I wanted to choose but my wonderful sister told me was "kinda overkill". Seriously, I know my children aren't always angels, but at this moment, they ACTUALLY were saying their morning prayers. So THERE, Trine!


This picture is probably my favorite. I always liked pictures of the children from this view, probably because they giggle the whole time I'm taking it and they are all on an equal plane despite the difference in ages, also I can fit them all in the picture this way!

Butch-January 1973 and Niklaus-October 2005 

The apple doesn't fall...

HMMMMMM, if I were a bettin' gal, I'd bet that Butch won't ever ask for a paternity test...ever...never...

The picture of Butch was taken a month away from his 2nd birthday and the picture of Niklaus was taken a month from HIS 2nd birthday. I think it's pretty funny that they're both wearing stripy shirts and even cuter that they both look the same. I'll have to dig up a pic of Matty at that age, he had the same hair as Butch and looks much the same as Butch when he was a little older. No paternity test necessary for Matty, either...I bet!

Katrina's Art

I really love the creations Katrina comes up with. Especially her cartoon girls. She is so darn creative and when I saw this sketch she had just done, I thought to myself, "Now THIS one is great, I gotta scan it before it gets destroyed!" Hmmmm, too late, although, it looks as if Analise and Niklaus appreciated it as much as I did and just maybe tried to "improve" it. Oh well, someday when she's famous they can say, "I knew her when..."

Joint Effort by Katrina, Analise, and Niklaus 

Tenacious Two's

I'm starting to get an idea of what people mean by "terrible two's". My other children were never "terrible" per se at that age, I always thought that the 3's and 4's were MUCH worse due to the fact that they could start to sass you back or realize that if you were in public, they could basically get away with murder and/or run in the opposite direction that you needed them to be and were a lot faster, too. I guess as a result of having three other siblings to learn from, Niklaus is just a bit advanced in the "curious kid" stage of what people like to call the "terrible two's".
Tonight alone, he:

A. got into the markers and drew all over Trina's new book and his own body that was naked because...

B. I had to undress him because he had crawled onto the counter in search of chocolate chips in the cupboard but instead found a whole, little bottle of cake decorations which fell onto the slightly damp counter and turned everything including the bottom of his feet all red, then...

C. I realized that the reason that the counter and his clothes were slightly damp was because he had discovered that if he crawls up on the stool, turns on the water and presses the sprayer, water will spray out.

D. pulled every book of the shelf at least 4 times today after I had organized them for the nine billionth time

E. started to pull the decorative balls off of the tree and tried pitching them around the room like they were play balls (luckily this year I opted for non-glass ornaments)

F. has developed a bad habit of whenever I say "no, please put that down" he throws it as hard as he can (which is pretty darn hard for a 2 year old) no matter how heavy it is and in any direction which is usually for some reason right where Weazy is and I swear, today alone he really hurt her (however accidentally) at least 3 times, the last one being...

G. when I was decorating above the front door on a ladder, the kids were handing me stuff very nicely and Niklaus had gotten hold of one of those big, pillar candles and pitched it to the ground right on weazy's foot.

WHEW! I don't really get mad at him too much because usually, everything he does is a result of someone else's carelessness and my (however momentary) inattention to him. He's walking the fine line of "just bored" and defiant, but for now, I think yelling at him or punishing him so much after the fact is a bit like kicking a dog after he pooped on the carpet the day before...neither one knows what the heck you're getting so worked up about!

I think I'll start taking pictures of his adventures like one of my old neighbors used to do with her "extra curious" daughter when she was about that age...hey...come to think of it, she was the fourth child, too!
Her mom used to take pictures of her adventure aftermath and catalogue them in a "naughty" book. I don't like the word "naughty" because he really is quite innocent and he looks up at me after getting into writing utensils and says (with his face all "decorated" along with anything else within reach), "Mama! Markers! It's NICE!". Now how could anyone get mad at that?!

Best and Brightest

I've never done a book recommendation, but I heard E.D. Hill (one of the hosts of "Fox and Friends" on the Fox News Network) talking about her new book with Laura Ingraham yesterday. It sounds like it will be very inspiring reading for me and the kids. It's about how some of America's most successful people got where they are and who inspired them and how. I can't wait to read it and it's really quite inexpensive on Amazon.
It's nice to read something inspiring during the Holiday season instead of depressing or boring! OH! I was completely shocked when E.D. told Laura that she has 8 children! She seems so young and lively, I thought for sure that she wasn't even married...not that marriage makes you any less attractive (ahem).

ALERT ALERT ALERT!

In certain places in the "blogosphere" I've seen rumblings of PP people who are boycotting Target Corp. for their refusal to dispense and promote the "morning after pill" behind and over the counter.
http://www.cwfa.org/printerfriendly.asp?id=1559&department=cwa&categoryid=life. Please let your local Target know that you appreciate and support their decision to allow their pharmacists to respect the health of women rather than endanger their lives and the lives of their unborn babies! I hope they don't buckle under the pressure. The one thought that comes to my mind if this drug should be sold over the counter is...what if some guy doesn't want his pregnant girlfriend's/wife's baby and slips the drug in her drink or food. If you follow this nightmare scenario, can you imagine the evil things that could happen with
a. a jealous girlfriend
b. an angry mom or dad
c. a cowardly child molester???
keep an eye on this issue and pray for Target pharmacists!

Mother Theresa said:
"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
and this:
"But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child - a direct killing of the innocent child - murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?"

THE SKY IS FALLING!

Weasy just came into the classroom and asked me if the sky was "hard"...
Mama: Weasy, what do you mean "hard"?
Weasy: I mean is it hard when it pushes or falls on houses?
Mama: Ummmm, Weasy, the sky doesn't do that, the sky is just air.
Weasy: I KNOW, but if it fell would it hurt the houses and smash them up?
Mama: The sky doesn't "fall", Weasy that's just in the movie and stuff.
Weasy: (sighing and skipping out of the room exasperated with a Mama who doesn't know that much at all.)

"Cheerleader" by Katrina (when she was age 9)

"Bugs" by Matty (age 7)

"Rose" by Weazy (age 5)

serenity now, serenity now, serenity NOW!

A couple of days ago, Megan wrote the "Serenity Prayer" on her blog, and had a link to the history of it. Today on the radio, I heard a good version of it. How many times have you said something like, "I can't stand how (insert name of offending person here) is acting, how can I change (him or her)?".

A good answer:
God, grant me the serenity to ACCEPT the PEOPLE I
cannot change,
The courage to change the PEOPLE I can,
And the wisdom to know that they are ME!

I mean no disrespect to the original, but so often in society we think that we are the ones being offended when we really do have to look in the mirror and either change how we look at the other person, or change those sinful things about ourselves that we just don't take the time to deal with. This gave me a lot of thinking to do, so now I have to go clean my house and praise God for giving me kids that mess it up instead of swearing under my breath while I pick up dirty clothes and vacuum and scrub icky floors.

Where I'm From

Inspired by my friend Megan's blog, I'm going to write a poem about, well, you know...

I'm from a 70's mansion
now a 2000's crappy rambler.
I'm from rollerskating on bumpy, metal wheels on a long dirt driveway
"in town"

I'm from a large, German family who's been here forever
and it looks like we ain't never leavin'!
I'm the oldest of six and cousin of hundreds

I'm from Barbies, Strawberry Shortcakes, fake, homemade Cabbage Patch dolls, hand me down and rummage sale clothes.

I'm from love, prayers, Church, laughter, living in the kitchen with Grandma Laura, snuggling with my sister in bed and under a blanket in front of the heating vent on cold mornings.

I'm from a place I will always go back to...because I'm already here!

Nik names II

When Niklaus was born, I had such wonderful thoughts of him being nicknamed "Klaus" and had no earthly idea of what his name would become. It all started with Nickerbocker. Sure, I can see that. Nik...Nicker...Nickerbocker bockety bop, I like-a-the way that you bob-attie-bop etc.. Then Gabby started shortening it to "bocker" and sometimes the kids all say "bock". SO, now instead of a nice, slightly quirky and ethnic sounding "Klaus", someday, when he's a grown man he'll answer to the name "Bock".

It just goes to show you, it doesn't matter WHAT the heck you name your kids, so why bother? I should just name them "Baby (insert last name here) and see what their siblings decide to name them after all!

Katrina...Trina, Tree, Trinabina, Kat, Katie, Trine, Tree-knee
Matthew...Matt, Matty, Mattchew
Analise...Anaweese, Weazy, Weas
Niklaus...Nik, Nikerbocker, Bocker, Bock

I give up.

Bocker reminds me of a (very) young Ron Howard. 

My friend, Karla wanted me to send pics of the kids doing everyday type stuff, ummm, yeah... 

Nik names

Niklaus is almost two. He can say a lot of words now, and he repeats almost everything you ask him to say. However, if he's not ready yet to say a new word, he stubbornly refuses to say it, or he substitutes it with his OWN word. For instance: for the longest time he called all the other kids "guys". It was just his blanket way of addressing them until he could form his little lips around their real names. He knew who they all were, he just chose not to refer to them individually! He got Weazy first. He started by shouting after her, "WEAS!". Next (just about 3 weeks or so ago) he started to call Matthew "Matty". On Friday he hit a major milestone. He started to call Katrina by her name, "Trina"! Until Friday, Matty would test Niklaus like this:
Matty: Niklaus, say "car"
Niklaus: car
Matty: say..."boat"
Niklaus: boat
Matty: say..."water"
Niklaus: water
Matty: say "trina"
Niklaus: guys
He never skipped a beat. He KNEW what he was doing because he would laugh hysterically every time he did this! On Friday it just slipped out and he actually said, "trina" for the first time and he's been doing it ever since.
He still can't say the word "yes" appropriately. But now we've gotten really good at determining what "no"'s actually mean "yes". Still, we try and teach him:
Mama: Niklaus, do you want more cheese?
Niklaus: No
Mama: Say "yes", Niklaus
Niklaus: Yesh
Mama: So, do you want more cheese?
Niklaus: NO! (still, actually means yes)
Mama: (sigh)

Chairs...not just for sitting!

This was a nice, relaxing weekend. The weather was perfect and we had a lovely time at Nick's for Ani's birthday party. Auntie Anna went back to school so Niklaus will be sad and ask for her, I'm sure. Grandma Sue and Grandpa Harold stopped by with some kitchen chairs. One chair mismatched all of them and I put it on the porch. Three of the chairs matched eachother, but one had arms and the two others didn't. One of the matching chairs with no arms was broken beyond repair and Matty eyed it with much glee. Instead of making Grandpa load it back into the truck, I gave Matty the ok to destroy it and he ran looking for a hammer. For the next hour or so he mutilated the chair beyond recognition. It was a thing of beauty to see that boy swinging away. At one point I asked him if it would be easier to separate the legs from the brackets by using a screw driver and he looked at the hammer, looked at me, and sighed saying, "But Mama, the hammer works soooooo much better!". There were some spindles and bobbles that he worked particularly hard at not destroying, saying that he was going to "do something" with them later. When it was all over and he sat in the middle of a splintery mess, he begrudgingly but dutifully filled Niklaus' wagon full of the chair remains and brought them down to the fire pit and swept up what was left. Later on he brought his treasures over to me and said that he would like to make them into something. He thought they would make good back massagers! I told him that all the pokey splinters sticking out of the ends might make that a bit uncomfortable. When I went to bed tonight and after all the kids were settled, I looked at my night stand and saw that he had laid all the spindles there with all of the ends meticulously covered in duct tape! I can only assume he made them for me and Butch and I explained what they were to him. We both had quite a chuckle over our crazy destroyer/builder boy. We also cleaned the garage today and Matty got a special place for his "inventions", two drawers and the top of the little two-drawer dresser that Trina told us wouldn't be big enough for his awkwardly shaped, sometimes huge creations. I'm starting to think that we will need a wing of the house to keep up with that boy. His desk is littered with so much scrap and clutter from his inventions: little chunks of plastic, rocks, circuit boards, buttons, gears, rubber bands, old pieces of phones, bionicle pieces, etc. that there's no room for things like books and pencils and paper and all of the reasons I gave him the desk in the first place!!! If I ever try to throw away one of his thingies, he looks at me like I'm cracked and says, "MAMA! THAT'S my special invention!". Oh well, I guess it's a good thing he doesn't ask me to put them on the refrigerator!

Mama-o Andretti

OKAY, before I tell you about the latest zinger from Trina, I feel it's necessary to give a little background info. Every time Butch and I are in the car with or without the kids we do this bicker thingy about how I think Butch drives too aggressively and doesn't know how to:
A. NOT stare at just the road ahead of him
B. NOT listen to country music full blast
C. have an actual conversation while driving (I know he is a man and therefore incapable of multi-tasking, so I'll give him a bit of a pass on this one on account of his handicap which is quite generous of me, don't you think?)
D. wait patiently for someone to move into the slow lane without going right up to their bumper
E. Observe interesting things along the chosen route of the moment (i.e. hey Butch did you see THAT? NO)

The main complaint I hear from him about MY driving is that:
A. I drive too slow, then too fast
B. I go RIGHT up to the stop sign and THEN SLAM on the brakes (this must really happen because he dramatically braces himself every time he sees a stop sign ahead even though NOBODY else in the car does this, hmmm)
We usually bicker about all of these things until we get where we are going and the kids have heard this enough to where they have started to join in and take sides. At first they used to think we were fighting, but now they know that it's more like a sport with us and they laugh and think it's funny.
ANYWAY...
Yesterday we decided to take Papa's boat out to BB lake and do some boating with the kids. On the way to the lake, Butch was wondering out loud how we would get the boat in and out of the lake with all of the kids with us etc.. I don't know how to drive the boat and he thought he'd better teach me so I could move it out of the way fast when we launched and drive it up onto the trailer when we landed. I told him I didn't care to learn how to drive a boat because I was wary of a vehicle that doesn't actually come with BRAKES. He sassed me by saying something like, "Well, we ALL know that brakes are something you don't use until the LAST SECOND anyway, so it should be no difference to YOU!" We got into the old argument again and the kids perked up and joined in. After a few minutes of this, Trina settled once and for all the question of who was the better (on the road) driver...

"HEY! Mama, Daddy can drive a boat, but YOU can drive a CAR!!!!"
Butch just sat there with his mouth agape while I hooted with laughter and slapped him on the arm while gasping for breath.

I always knew that girl was a genius.

Future Big Screen Blockbusters

The Kids and I were on our way to Janene's to swim today and we were listening to Laura Ingraham on the way. She was interviewing a Hollywood screen writer and they were asking listeners for movie plot "pitches" and they were critiquing them. I didn't think the kids were listening, but when that segment got over with, I turned down the radio and asked for some ideas for some future movies from the kids.

Katrina: Ummm, I haven't had time to think about it...probably a love story drama thing.

Weazy: I would make a movie about Polly Pockets that come alive...and grass!

Matty: My movie would be about Adventure, Fighting, and NO ROMANCE!!!!!!

Sibling Gender Review

I was visiting with the kids at my friend, Theresa's house. Weazy was outnumbered 6 to 1 by the boys, but managed to have the following conversation with Theresa's 3rd child who is age three and a half: (as reported to me by Weazy on the way home)
Nicholas: "Is he (pointing to Niklaus) your little brother?"
Weazy: "Yes."
Nicholas: "My little brother is a boy. Is your little brother a boy?"

Theresa's 4 boys have more zingers than I can remember, I hope she starts her own blog soon. It would be a DAILY read for me!

Speaking of China...

The three biggers were thrilled with Papa's selection of fireworks that he is amassing for the big Fourth celebration. On our way home from Papa's yesterday, Matty was commenting on how EVERYTHING is "made in china". "Those stupid fireworks...almost everything is made in CHINA! My bionicles are made in china, our toys are made in china..." Weazy chimed in, "Our Polly Pockets are made in China!"
Matty: "Except our plastic cups...they're made in Taiwan."
Trina: "...and you know this because...?"
Matty: "...because every time I take a drink my eyeballs are looking right at those words!"

Modern Art?

I was watching a news item about an art gallery in Chicago that helps underprivileged youth to express themselves better and learn how to market their art. For a moment, examples of their artwork flashed on the screen and the kids were in my bedroom getting ready to read and settle down for the night. One of the paintings was a side view of a woman tastefully done and kind of ambiguously nude. Trina said, "eww, gross, that picture had a NAKED person on it!" I said, "That was ok, it's just art!" Trina said, "MAMA, art is NOT naked!"

New Name for Old Object

We went out of town this weekend and we left a few things behind. Auntie Anna brought them over when she dropped off Roman while she went to the dentist. The kids were playing with something from the bag of forgotten items. They were putting it on each other's heads and laughing and giggling and being silly. Matty and Trina said something that I heard as, "Ultra Lord Double Barrel Slingshot!". It was something they had heard on the cartoon "Jimmy Neutron". It was then that I realized they were referring to, and playing with my bra that I had left up North! Later on, I took a shower and I shouted down to Matty, "Matty, could you toss up my...Ultra Lord Double Barrel Slingshot?" He said, "Sure, Mama!" and he made a perfect fling up about 9 feet and I got what I needed. I have a feeling that if I would have asked him to toss up my "bra" he would have said, "ewwwww, gross, no WAY!"

Future Shopping

On our way into Target yesterday the kids had this following conversation:

Katrina: "I only want to spend ten dollars today. I'm gonna make ten dollars this week babysitting."

Weazy: "How do you know?"

Katrina: "Well...I'm going to babysit...I mean, I'm PSYCHIC and that means you can tell the future!"

Weazy: (after a short pause while she was thinking) "What's CHINA doing???"

Interesting Inspiration 

"Monkey Food"

Last year when we went on "vacation" (I put quotes around it because it was about a 4 hour drive with just me, my friend Janene, her daughter and my four kids to a place in nowhere'sville WI and Niklaus cried almost the whole drive and when he wasn't crying, the kids were bickering, and I was threatening, and basically the kids had a blast and afterward, I NEEDED a REAL VACATION!!!!) I bought these Gerber snacks for Niklaus for the drive. After a while they were being pitched all over the car for entertainment purposes and the kids still talk about the "chicken puffs" (so named, because matty thought they tasted like chicken flavor) and laugh at the memory of trashing our suburban with those things. I never did buy more of them until last week when they were on sale in three packs at Target. Niklaus didn't show much interest in them, but it has got the biggers giggling again about last year's adventures. They made up a jingle and I heard them singing it the other day...
Monkey Food
by Trina, Matty, and Weazy...
(all three of them sing...)
Monkey Food, Monkey Food,
OH, so nummy and CHUNKY too,
Monkey Food is YUMMY!
For your TUMMY!
(then Weazy yells in a commercial-ish fakey-happy voice) ... "For BABIES!!!"

When I asked them why do they call it "monkey food" now, instead of "chicken puffs" they said it was because of the new, disgusting banana flavor. Today, Niklaus was begging for it when he saw the canister I had put in the burb for emergency purposes and he was really cowing them down. I wonder if he was convinced to try them after repeated performances of the new "advertising" campaign by his siblings?

Prettiest Heart, by Analise 

Number 7, by Trina 

Oops, I forgot...

..."bubboos"which is Nikolese for "bubbles" the things he thinks are integral to the bath which he shares with his big bro and sis on a regular basis. They all have to wear swimming suits because GOD FORBID we don't ever want to see each other naked!!!! (Who the heck knows where they get all that modesty, certainly not from me or daddy!) Every time they hop in the tub, Nikerbocker says "bubboos!" and points to the button for the jets. They then have a discussion and a vote on whether or not they should have bubbles and at what intensity. Usually Nikerbocker casts the deciding vote. Then they swim around in their own dirt for a half an hour and get "clean" (ahem). I usually hear at least once during the bath, "MOM! Niklaus is drinking BUTT WATER!!!!!" and loud laughing and screaming which makes for an entertaining morning, to say the least!

Words and Phrases

"I wa rye", "where's Anna", "Where's Papa", "duece"(=juice), "no", "mama", "dada", "tractor"(multipurpose word meaning anything that has four wheels and goes brrrrrrrroooom), "hi", "byebye", "birdy", "huh huh"(breathes hard like a panting puppy, means "puppy"), "ewwwwww", "uck!", "uh-oh", "up"(means "up", also means "down"), "keykeykey"(=kitty), "baby", "bite"...for the word "yes" he grunts like a caveman and the kids know for sure that he means "yes" because his "no" is so very clear. This is a pretty good vocabulary for a one and a half year old, I think. The biggers get such a kick when he comes up with a new word. Weazy and Niklaus were in the bike trailer tonight and Trina was rollerblading along side us. The dolly was in there, too, per Niklaus' request. Weazy noted that he was getting quite good at taking care of "baby". She said he wanted baby by HIM and he had his arm around it and was kissing it and petting it so sweetly. I told Weazy that he was practicing being a big brother someday. Weazy mulled that one over for a while. I can't imagine Niklaus being the youngest forever. I can't wait until the day he gets to be a big brother...someday!

Amazon by Trina 

Katrina (Trinabina, Trina), Matthew (Matty), Analise (Weese, Weazy), Niklaus (Gik, Gickerbocker, Nikerbocker) 

I Hate Cats

I really do dislike cats (stinky, smelly, scratchy, nasty, snobby, and evil)but kittens are another story. Nina called me today to tell me, "I guess we have a cat now." She didn't sound like she was brimming with resounding excitement. Anyway, she told me about how the kitty kept trying to sneak into the house and how she doesn't have the heart to just let it turn into a farm cat when it really acts differently than the skittish farm kitties. So because Gabohla was going nuts for the critter, Nina and Anna put a box with a towel or something in it in the garage and the kitty slept there. Nina asked Gaboh what the kitty's name is and she matter-of-factly told her, "Mear-ow". Good name for a cat, I guess.

Nikerbo(n)cker

We had a wonderful night at Auntie Nina's. We grilled and played outside. Niklaus mowed the lawn with daddy on the "rye" which is Nikolese for "ride". He only repeated it apx 42,000 times since he mowed the lawn at home yesterday with daddy. He was temporarily distracted by the new baby kitten that had found it's way over to Nina and Matt's. I'm sure it was permanently brain damaged and terrorized by 6 kids going, "kittykittykittykitty" and chasing after the freaked out thing. After a couple of minutes, though, the cat didn't seem to really mind and I think it might make a good mouser. Niklaus hugged (well, choked), kissed and otherwise fondled the thing to death and he didn't even care if it scratched him a bit. I swear that kid is made of rubber. He finally got rid of the humongous bruise that he got on his noggin from falling out of the car after Matty opened the door he was leaning on, and yesterday he misjudged how close he was to the edge of the porch step and KADUNK, there he went down onto the sidewalk (only two steps, but still!) and he got a beautiful new bruise with a bonus bloody scrape on his whitebaby forehead. Of course, he didn't cry, he just popped up and saw the lawn mower and said, "I wa rye"...again.

Boy Watching TV by Matty 

Pinkies

Every time I get the kids flashlights or glowsticks I hear them say, "Hey, let's play PINKIES!!!" for some reason they never tell me what the heck it is, but today they enlightened me...

It's called "pinkies" because it started with the original pink glowsticks that mama gave us. We pretend that we are a band called the "pinkies" and after our band plays, bad guys come up and we turn into the "superpinkies" and we all get superpowers. Then when we're done killing the bad guys, we get tired and we lay on the couch until another bad guy comes then we battle them, too. We practice by fake fighting with eachother in our "off times" when there are no bad guys.
THE END

Mattzilla and the barbies

Mattzilla puts on his nightvision googles on and his miner's lamp headlight and he seeks out the barbies hiding under the chair and tries to eat them. The barbies try to get help from ken, but he's busy hiding under the table and is no help at all. Then the barbies talk under the chair and they say, "HELP! KEN! KILL MATTZILLA!". Then Mattzilla uses a hair clip that looks like it has really sharp teeth and then Ken sets a brick under him and Mattzilla eats the brick but it doesn't do anything but then they try putting clothes over the bricks to disguise them in the hopes that Mattzilla will eat them and die of indigestion.

(the kid's verbatim description of how "mattzilla and the barbies" works)

I like to draw

Weazy was writing on the magna doodle and after doodling flowers, hearts and stick people, she worked really hard at perfecting something and when I asked her what she was drawing, she informed me that she was working on the "perfect corndog". Very important to get that one right!!!!

3rd 1st dangit entry!!!!

Ahhhhhhhh! First entry, better be a good one!
WOW here I am in the infamous "blogosphere". Now that I have freedom to write whatever the hell I wanna...ummm, I kinda don't know what to write! Okay. I got it. I'll just write about the funny, weird things my kids do in their everyday lives.When the three biggers are downstairs playing like crazy and making all kinds of noise, (so much so that I yell down there thinking they are fighting and they laugh and tell me it's just the barbies getting into fights) Matty comes running up the stairs holding himself, and dancing, and obviously needing to go to the bathroom. Matty yells down to the girls, "HEY, PAUSE THE GAME!!!" Which is hilarious considering he is asking them to pause REAL LIFE and not a computer. Strange kids. Gotta love 'em!