Emma turned 2 yesterday...and we haven't done a thing for her! Poor kid...we returned from my grandpa's funeral in Indiana monday night, then she has been sick ever since with a stomach bug. So, I'm glad she won't remember this birthday! Our plan was to have dinner and cake tonight with presents, but we postponed to friday. Hopefully, she'll be back to normal by then!

Oh, the wisdom of "Charlotte's Web"

From the mouth of...pigs?

Said the lamb, "...I am not interested in pigs. Pigs mean less than nothing to me."

"What do you mean, less than nothing?" replied Wilbur. "I don't think there is any such thing as less than nothing. Nothing is absolutely the limit of nothingness. It's the lowest you can go. It's the end of the line. How can something be less than nothing? If there were something that was less than nothing, then nothing would not be nothing, it would be something--even though it's just a very little bit of something. But if nothing is nothing, then nothing has nothing that is less than it is."

"Oh, be quiet!" said the lamb. "Go play by yourself!"

Even though I read this with great passion, I still don't think my kids really grasped the limits of nothingness...I got a good chuckle, though...and appreciate this great classic by E.B. White--who also wrote "Stuart Little", another classic with a few chuckle-worthy moments. You don't have to be a kid to pick 'em up...

What the What?

When I was in High School, I worked at a greeting card store. My job consisted of restocking/straightening/moving so many greeting cards--I got enough of 'em... But, now, I find myself doing that exact same thing when I'm in the card section at Target or wherever.... And then today I was in the children's book section at Kohl's, having finished my pants shopping for Brennan, trying to kill time until I had to pick up the boys from school, hoping to keep Emma somehow distracted from the many toys...I started REORGANIZING their book section. All I gotta say is, what the what? I am toooo bored sometimes. I think Kohl's needs to send me a little bit of a paycheck...

It seems Emma has hit her "naked" phase...the phase where she would rather be without a diaper/clothes/jammies/socks and be butt-naked...yes, we have had an incident with poop in the crib and the other night we caught her sleeping in the buff. What joy. Of course, I know this probably means I need to start potty-training. Which I literally hate with a passion. But maybe it'll be different than it was with the boys. I mean, they never stripped their clothes off before they were even two. She is an anomoly in this house. A nice change of pace, I suppose. :)

The boys have been doing swimming lessons this week at the Y, which has been keeping us pretty busy every night. They love it! Finally, Micah is happy in the water. Every year, we tried to get him more comfortable with being in and having his head under water and he just seemed to not like it. Well, something clicked within the first lesson and now he jumps right in when told! Yay!

In other news--I hate January...thankyouthankyouverymuch....

Merry Christmas

As we're bearing down on a once-again Christmas season (with kids), I am reminded of how excited I was when I was a kid. I remember one time my family was spending the night at my Grandparent's farmhouse on Christmas Eve and my aunt was trying to get me to sleep. I was so incredibly excited, I was just laying there saying I can't do it, I can't go to sleep. And she says to me, "the faster you go to sleep, the faster Christmas will come!" I have a feeling I will be saying these words to one of mine this year. I like it...it is truly a blast to share in their frivolity! And about the only time I kinda spoil my kids. :)

The kids are doing great...the boys love school and they both love their teachers! It helps that I love their teachers too! They were definitely ready for a break, but who isn't?! hello?!

When we got all that snow the other day, Micah says to me--"Mom, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" Yes, it is! hahahaha! He just turned five after Thanksgiving and although he doesn't always act like it, he says he is a big boy now and doesn't need so much help with everything. Ah, there goes my baby boy.

Emma is very much a rascal. I swear she is worse than the boys ever were! Why didn't somebody warn me!! hahaha...She consumed a cascade dishwasher tab, which led to her vomiting on the floor, me freaking out, calling poison control and generally thinking--"what the heck? this is a first!" Ah, the child is a true-blue stinker...which, I hope, is just a twos stage. Oh, Lord, please.... I love her.

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I've been trying to download pix from Facebook and some of them aren't very big...but, this one looks okay...here, we were at the fair checking out the animals...Emma's not too sure, lol!