2-year old incompetence.

Wendy is definitely taking multiple steps. A couple of days ago she could only step her left foot forward so she would pretty much just go in a circle. Today she mastered the right leg and will be walking before we know it. Go Wendy!

Today we started our vegetable garden. We took the kids to Lowes to pick out their vegetable plant. David and the kids are growing peppers, oregano and cilantro and I am growing tomatoes and basil. We also bought a small rosemary bush to plant in the yard. The kids carried their plants so proudly. I hope we are successful.

Happy Anniversary to us! 6 years. This morning I asked Bradley if he wanted a sister or brother. His answer was, "A sister." I asked him why he didn't want a brother. His answer implied that he had actually given thought to the situation and he said, "Cause, then there would be two brothers. I want a sister."

We went to a burrito place for dinner and Lowes after to get stuff for our new vegetable garden. It was a thrilling anniversary.

Today was Wendy's first Easter. She didn't even get a piece of candy, poor thing! But she did get to spend some special Mommy and Daddy time this evening after the other kids were asleep. She learned how to wave "hi." We had an Easter egg hunt out in the yard today. Emily is a bit psycho and competitive when it comes to finding eggs. She crashed into Bradley and was always trying to beat out poor little Sarah. Today at church the primary kids sang three Easter songs, but Bradley refused to go up and sing. When I asked him at home why he didn't want to sing he replied, "Cause, I didn't know the notes." Bradley is the type of kid who won't do anything until he can do it right. Emily, on the other hand, is our star performer. She wants to be a singer when she grows up. She is learning how to call David and I on certain things now. For example the other evening we asked the kids to pick up the family room. While they were clearing their toys Emily observed that David was sitting on the floor and not participating. She informed him that he needed to help because it was "distracting" with him just sitting there.

Today Emily turned five. The last present she opened was a Disney Princess bicycle helmet. She liked it and was excited to try it out, so we went outside. At the bottom of the stairs was a brand new Disney Princess bicycle. She was surprised and thrilled. She exclaimed, "A new bike! I thought I was going to ride my red bike and you guys tricked me. What a great surprise!" Then Bradley checked out the new bike and admiringly said, "Emily, that's beautiful!" So it was a good day for Emily. We went to our traditional birthday celebration dinner location, IHOP. Unfortunately we have few pictures because Wendy pulled the camera off the shelf and it broke. However, I have been wanting a new camera, so hooray! New camera time.

Tonight at dinner I had an amazing discovery. You see, I have been looking forward to the year 2006 for many many years. I turn 30 this year which may cause you to question why I might anticipate that with enthusiasm. I have been blessed with a birthday that falls on the 30th of June which makes this birthday my "extra special" birthday. Since my childhood I have looked forward to turning 30 on the 30th. But...my amazing discovery is that the year 2006 is also the year in which three of my four children experience their "extra special" birthday. In just 2 days Emily will turn 5 on the 5th, Wendy will turn 1 on the 1st of July and Bradley will turn 4 on the 4th of November. It really is too bad that Sarah didn't wait 20 more hours to be born on February 2nd. Oh well, her loss.

We ate Cheetos for a snack today. Bradley observed that the the crunching sound was loud. So he said he better eat something else so that he didn't wake up Emily. Moments later I saw Bradley walking around with orange fingers. I said to him, "Let me wipe the orange off your fingers." He corrected, "Mommy, their 'Cheetoed'".

A real live baby doll.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Emily's sticker muzzle.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

This morning the kids woke up too early. They entered our bedroom just before 8 AM. When they finally got bored when we didn't let them watch cartoons, they left and played in the girls' room. After a few moments I could hear giggling and a baby Wendy crying. It's unusual for Wendy to cry in the morning, so I got my lazy body out of bed to check on things. I figured she was hungry. But when I walked into the bedroom, I saw a crib filled to the brim with every toy and pillow in the room. She wasn't hungry, she was pleading for her life! As I dug her out, I told the kids to never do that again, and then I felt a very hard lump in the seat of Wendy's diaper. My mind was turning, trying to think of what she could have possibly eaten to produce a turd that large and solid. Frightened, I unsnapped her sleeper and opened her diaper to find a plastic piece of pineapple and a 4in.X2in.X1in. loaf of wooden bread. Apparently the kids thought it was amusing to stuff her diaper with play food the evening before. I am curious as to what the babysitter was thinking last night when she took Wendy up to bed. Wendy is a very tolerant baby.

Today I took Bradley and Emily to see Curious George at the movie theater. I thought I had a brilliant idea of buying 20 oz. bottles of soda to sneak in. Unfortunately, Bradley drank his whole bottle and some of mine. He told me he had to go potty, but I convinced him he could hold it until the end of the movie. He was very good at being patient, but at the last five minutes he firmly declared that he had to go potty or he was going to go in his pants. So we left and missed the ending. However, it was worth it to see Bradley sit on the potty and hear him say, "Ahhhhh, that's better!"

"The Diaper"

I apologize to my fans for the extended delay in my posts. You see, my kids just don't do funny things when I have morning sickness. (Yes, that's right, number five is on its way.) Anyway, today was pretty good day. I was ambitious enough to attempt to organize the playroom. We counted the Lego pieces, sorted Mr. Potato Head parts, gathered Connect Four checker pieces, dressed the Barbie and Kelly dolls, and put things back in their places. So I hope to do better on my posts. We'll see. Don't give up on me.

Last night Emily recognized and acknowledged the fact that it feels good to laugh. She and David played the game where one would try to make the other laugh and the other would try not to laugh. Bradley joined in later on. David used the philosophy if it works, keep doing it. So the fart sounds repeatedly got the laughter.

Bradley accidentally dropped a container of colored pencils today. I asked him nicely to pick them up and as he looked at the mess he stated that he needed help. Looking at the colorful pile of pencils reminded me of the classic childhood game of Pick Up Sticks. I guess as a child the game seemed fun. But, come on, really? Let's give a group of kids a bunch of sharply pointed sticks, tell them to scatter them on the floor and have a grand time picking them up. I'm not sure my kids will go for that game. They much rather stick plastic body parts into a plastic potato. Now that's fun!

This afternoon I took a couch nap with Sarah and Emily while David worked on the computer in the kitchen. As a parent you can never fully nap while children are still awake. I thought I heard Bradley say, "Daddy, Wendy sucked my hiney!" I opened my eyes to verify I wasn't dreaming and sure enough there was a bare-bottomed Bradley rubbing Wendy's baby saliva off of his rear onto the carpet. Kids!

Today I took my kids to the neighborhood park. They played in the sand. Bradley kept rubbing his dirty hands in his hair. When I told him to stop doing that, he innocently looked at me, showed me his sandy hands and said, "But my hands are so dirty!" When I showed him how to rub his sandy hands on his pants he said, "Ohhh. OK, Mommy!", realizing my way was a much better solution. I should probably take my kids to the park more often.

Wendy is learning at an early age the dangers of shopping.

Bouncing