Grapes and Wrath

I love that we are getting to the phase where the kids try to sneak things over on us.  For example.  I sent the kids outside all bundled up.  Wanted to lock the door, but didn't.  I'm sitting at the island and Emilie comes flying in, leaving the door open and letting all the cold air in.  (How many times do I have to say "Shut the door, it's cold!"??) So, I'm looking at the computer screen and she is coming downstairs really slowly and quietly.  Therefore my suspicions are up.  She's a thunder stepper like her dad.  So I look up and she's squat-walking past the half wall in front of our kitchen sink that looks into the living room, thinking I won't notice her.  

Two problems:  One, she's too tall.  Her squat walk didn't hide the top of her head.  Two, she's wearing cowboy boots that click as she takes steps...I could totally hear her.  

Sneaky pants.  Right behind her is where she tried to sneak.

Once she rounds the corner and tries to sprint out the (open) door, I say, "Hey!  Whoa!  Whatcha got?"  

She slowly turns.  "Nothing."

"Oh, ok.  Well, what's in your vest?" 

"Oh, this?  It's tape.  We have to fix something."

"Ok.  What's broken?"

"It's JUST a glass jar, mom!"

That got me promptly outside where I found a baby food jar that I had poked holes in the top of the lid so they could catch bugs.  It had been dropped and luckily was in three large pieces that Aubrie was grabbing with her bare hands.  Yikes.

We had police officers come visit the school the week we were doing community helpers.  I wish I could show more pictures of my class but we aren't allowed.  I have the cutest classroom full of kiddos!

Soccer trophy!

Emilie has actually failed a hearing test at her four year check up.  The nurse was like, "Emi honey? Hear any beeps? You move that little peg if you hear anything!"  Haha.  It's only one ear and the girl has had four straight months of runny noses.  And she's the world's loudest talker who is ironically REALLY sensitive to loud noises.  We have her on a nasal spray for a couple of months to see if that helps and then we might be talking about some tubes.  

We've recently found out that Kyle gets naked when he's mad.  

It first happened when my mom and dad were here for Thanksgiving.  We were in the car and we had to stop at Marcie's house to drop something off and he got really mad when he found out that he wasn't going to be going inside.  Marcie's house is like his Disney World.  He LOVES it there.  It's got trains, cars, swords, super heroes....the works.  So he screamed the whole time with my mom and Adam in the car and started taking off his shoes and his socks.  Then this past Sunday, he woke up and was having a party in his room around 5 am.  As you can imagine, after church he was a fire breathing dragon.  He was overwhelmed with exhaustion, hunger, and heat from the adorable sweater vest we made him wear.  He did the arch-my-back-so-I-can't-be-buckled move for Adam which in turn made Adam's rage come on from his own hunger, sweat, and exhaustion and I had to buckle the angry child in.  Then when we were leaving the parking lot, a sock flew into the front seat and hit the radio.  

I usually am the one who has to drive after church because Adam has the tendency to drive un-Christian-like or make wrong turns because of hunger.  He's in a hurry to get to lunch, whether it's home or at a restaurant.  He once turned south on 65 when we wanted to go north.  No biggy.  We'll change plans!  

Adam's parents were in town and we had a busy morning of playing and we found him like this after lunch.  Poor kid.

We went hiking around Radnor Lake last month and he rides in a stroller.  When we got to the car, he insisted on wearing sister's "Helmont".  Good thing because he crashed!

Last weekend, we were eating a casual lunch and we always get fruit out if everyone eats their food.  We chose grapes and Kyle was at one end of the table and I was at the other and he was excited and yelling for grapes.  So I tossed one at his mouth and it shocked him!  Then he laughed.  So I tossed one in Adam's mouth to show the kids how to catch grapes, But Kyle is horrible at catching them so I just started throwing them at his face just to watch him laugh.  So he throws them at my mouth and I tried to catch them.  I will say, Adam said, "this is going to come back to haunt you."

So sure enough, we have the Drabyns over for dinner and Adam gets the grapes out and sets them on the table.  Steve is in the middle of talking and I'm looking at him and this grape flies into the side of my face.  Everyone goes silent.  I glare at Adam because it was thrown SO HARD and Adam's eyes are as big as golf balls and points to Kyle.  Brit has her head on the table because she doesn't want Kyle to see her laughing and I'm still in shock while Adam gets on to Kyle for throwing food.  

Not my finest parenting moment.  

Aubrie is loving Kindergarten.  She's such a good reader.  It's amazing what she has learned and how her teacher has fostered her growth.  There was a book fair at school and they had a competition for people if they brought in something to go with the theme...Sir Read-a-lot's Book Fair.  So we got some cardboard out and constructed a castle.  She let Emilie help paint it and it really stressed me out.  She's the sloppiest painter this side of the Mississippi.  And they were using house paint because it's the only gray I had.  Then she picked out her favorite book characters and we printed out their pictures and she taped them in the windows.  It was a lot of fun to do.  Her castle came in first for Kindergarten.  She was so excited!  

First place!

Painting the castle.  Emilie ended up slipping and her whole elbow was in that bowl of paint.  

This is Aubrie working on math.  She's working on subtraction and was showing her work.  She loves being on the computer and doing work like a big girl.  

One morning we woke up and heard the girls whispering in the kitchen and cupboard doors opening and shutting.  We came out and the girls were making a "juice" for everyone and then started pouring cereal.  Please notice how dark it is outside...

Without fail, every weekend the girls get up around 6:15-6:30 and on weekdays we have to rub their backs and coax them out of bed at 6:45.  And on weekends they wake up wrestling.  Full blown tickle fights.  So that morning, after breakfast, they won themselves an opportunity to go rake leaves.

My parents came to town for Thanksgiving.  We were so happy to see them.  They drove here from Texas and as soon as they walk in the door the kids go running from them.  My mom takes the bait and starts chasing them all over the house.  Then Emilie stands on the couch and looks at Gram with a big smile and says, "You wanna wrestle?!" 

Aaaaand once again Gram takes the bait.  

Gram didn't win because Kyle came running out of nowhere and landed on Gram's head.  I would have taken a picture if I weren't so nervous Gram was going to need a neck brace.  And yes, Emilie is about to do a top rope jump on Gram in this picture.

 Adam has been wanting a fried turkey.  So I thought I would makes his dreams come true and fry one, but in my research I found an oil-less fryer.  It uses propane and infrared to cook the turkey.  It takes 10 minutes per pound to cook.  I bought one and sent the info to him and my mom so they could figure it out because I wanted no part of it.  Boy was it a scene.  They didn't like where the thermometer was, they disagreed on the position of the turkey, they had to season the fryer, the thermometer said it was done in the first 30 minutes, Mom would go turn down the propane when Adam wasn't looking, and they were both pacing the floor.  It was quite the sight.  But it was an excellent turkey!  It was done to perfection and the moistest turkey I've ever had.  

Turkey drama of 2014

 My mom and I use this 60 minute roll recipe and I have started using mostly white whole wheat flour.  So I'm in charge of the rolls and I made them but they weren't rising much.  I didn't get much support with my roll problem because the focus was on their precious turkey.  So I went ahead and baked them and they were hard as rocks.  I mean, you could barely get a knife through them.  I was so mad.  I love those rolls.  So I spent the afternoon researching yeast, different types of flours, and how to make it work.  I ended up using the white whole wheat flour and added orange juice to my yeast to make it extra active and added more liquid to make them less dense and baked the rolls so we would have some for dinner leftovers.  They were way better, but still not as good as using white flour.  

 

my turkeys

 Mom and I did just a little shopping on black Friday and the crowds weren't bad.  We made a trip to Trader Joe's and mom bought a gingerbread house kit to do with the kids.  They got to do it when they woke up from their nap.  My mom had a lot of fun and the kids tasted a lot of candy.

The final product

I used our china and I love getting it out and thinking about the people who came to our wedding and bought our gifts.  The girls loved having hot tea in the tea cups.  As you can see, their pinkies were up!

Poppy did a lot of playing cars with Kyle.  They got him a brown cowboy hat because he was wearing his sister's pink cowgirl hat EVERYWHERE.  He also got a coon skin hat but he's hot and cold with it right now. 

It was such a good Thanksgiving.  On Friday, we put up our Christmas tree and all of our decorations.  We exchanged Christmas presents with my parents.  We had a lot of fun.  Thanks, mom and dad, for coming.  We hope that you all had a good Thanksgiving as well and are enjoying this Christmas season!

Love to all!

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