Shadow Dinos

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Bella was doing some shadow dinos with Dash.
Obviously he was in Heaven!

Addicted

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This boy is addicted.
And because he has officially lost my “HiPad”, he has moved onto Nonnies.
I’ll admit that in December, I am a little thankful for a device that holds my boy’s attention while educating.
I’ll also admit that I have said, “You better enjoy it now, because as soon as January hits, there will be no more HiPad.”
I’m hoping I live up to my promise.
Hopefully, my distaste for kids and electronics will kick in full-force when I’ve had a bit more sleep.

Synonyms

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A Classic Scout story:
A few weeks ago, Scout told Ka that she was a “Smokin’ Hot Babe”.
I was appalled, but everyone else laughed.
That being said, he said it a few more times.
Then today, as we were with the Cliffords and Brockbanks, Scout was in show-off mode.
And in front of everyone, he said, “Ka, you are a Hot Sexy Lady!”
The cousins were all dying laughing.
And then Ka said, “What? I thought I was a ‘Smokin’ Hot Babe.”
To which he relied, you are…duh…it’s a synonym.
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Way to know your parts of speech!

Lacking

Navy is in some serious need of attention from me.  She is getting tons elsewhere, but she needs her mama right now.  And unfortunately, December is crazy, and Pippi likes to eat a lot, so Navy is acting up like crazy.  Poor girl doesn’t realize that even if there is a reason to be stinky, I still don’t go for it.  That being said, she has had a few stints in time out lately.  But when I went to go and let her out, this is what I found:
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An extremely comfortable girl eavesdropping on Nonnie’s phone conversation.
Oh crap!
And you say she is only four?!

So Helpful

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The cutest boy in the world has taken on a new phrase lately.
No matter what is asked of him, he responds with, “Yeah…sure!”
It is any mother’s dream!
“Dash…would you throw this away?”
“Yeah…sure!”
“Dash…do you want a tuna sandwich for lunch?”
“Yeah…sure!”
“Dash…stop hitting!”
“Yeah…sure!”
Where did he learn this, you ask?
Probably from my lectures to the two older children about how they should respond when they are asked to do something.
Glad someone is listening!

Christmas Performance

Scout had his Christmas performance at school today.  I went super early to get good seats, and I still ended up in the third row!  Stinking Chinese Tiger moms I have to compete with!At least I got the aisle.
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When the kids started coming in, Scout walked in with his hand sin his pockets.  That guy is always walking with his hands in his pockets.
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He sang pretty good.  But the poor guy had some pretty bad allergies, and was making these facial movements that were funny and sad at the same time.  He looked like he had something wrong with him, and was for sure pointed out by other parents as the kid with a possible case of turrets syndrome.  I felt so badly that I hadn’t given him an allergy pill before school.
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Next to me sat an admiring father doing double duty while feeding the Pips.
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Before he left to school, he asked if I would hold up my fingers from 1 - 10 to tell him how good he was doing.  And then if he got some tens, I was supposed to give him something.  He got some tens (mostly out of sympathy for his allergy issue) and I told him he was lucky enough to call Seth and Cade after school!
He told me he always gets to do that, and he wanted something else.
I told him take it or leave it.
But before he got to come home to his favorite buddies, I snapped a picture with him and some other buddies — Kai and Dylan.

A Deal

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This morning, Navy said, “Mom, I have a deal for you.”
I was game.
She continued on…”If you want me to stop picking my nose and eating my boogers, you need to get me two cakes that say ‘Navy Stopped!’”.
I really want that, so I agreed that I would.
But then I asked if we could include her to stop biting her nails in that deal.
When she thought too long, I quickly included a third cake in the deal.
She said, “No…That would be for four cakes.”
This girl drives a hard bargain, but it was still worth it to me.
And then I pressed my luck.
I said, “Okay….four cakes that say ‘Navy Stopped!’ for you to stop picking your nose and eating your boogers, and stop biting your nails, and stop biting your toenails.”
(Did you see that I added in a little extra for my benefit?)
To which she responded, “Mom…that would be impossible.”
And then, “Do you want the deal or not?”
So I immediately stuck out my hand to shake on it.
I guess I’ll take what I can get.

His Pips

I often find Dash singing, talking to or cuddling his little Pips. He loves her so much it is crazy. It reminds me of how Scout was with Navy when she was a baby. Every single morning, Dash is the last to wake up and get out of bed. And every single morning, one of the first things he does is look for Pippi.  And when he finally finds her, he says, “Hi Pips. Oh hi Pips.”
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This morning, as we were walking out the door, I realized I had forgotten something and quickly put Pippi down so I could go and get it.  And when I came back, I saw this boy holding his “Pips” hand, and talking to her.
What was he saying?
“Hi Pips.  Oh hi Pips.  Lay here Pips.  Otay.  Lay here …one minute.  Oh Pips.”
Darling.

An Orangy/Red Sunday

I love to match my kids.
So when we had a few extra seconds before church, I snapped some pictures of my three that matched.
Sorry Pips — light pink didn’t go in this shoot!
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When we got to church, we realized that Ka matched our kids, and she insisted on a phtot shoot when we all got home.
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She might have had something else in mind!
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Then it was dinner.
We’ve had a pretty good cleaning system lately.
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Scout does the table — clear it, wipe it, sweep under it.
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Navy does the drying and putting away of the non-dish-washed dishes.
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Micah mans the sink.
And I do all other things.
(Dash runs off and hides with whatever electrical device he can find.)
After their stellar cleaning, this day we surprised them with a trip to the Ritz to see the Gingerbread house.
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Only this year, it wasn’t a house, but an entire “under the sea” scene.
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Navy was stoked to see a stalking for her.
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On our way out, we had two really strong boys stand next to the world’s strongest.
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And the we let the kids go wild as we waited for our car.
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And when we got home, it was bed time!
But not before Navy begged for one more picture by the kid tree!

A Christmasy Saturday

Say it ain’t so!!!
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Is Scout REALLY getting over wearing costumes?
PLEASE NO!
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This morning we had Breakfast with Santa.
We were running a bit late because Micah took Pips for the night, and I slept in for once in my life.
But why did it have to be on a morning we actually had plans.
As we walked in, Micah said, “Guys…I hear some bells!  I bet Santa is showing up.”
Too bad as we walked in, what we were hearing was the bells of Santa leaving!
Whoops.
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No worries — he came back for a quick visit with our kids.
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And then it was breakfast time.
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At a solo table left up just for our kids.
(In my defense…they closed up shop early!)
After that, we spent some time at the crafts tables, and then called it a day.
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When we went home, our kids took particularly long cleaning out the car.
So long, that we were too late to make it to the Brockbank’s service project.
It was becoming an annoying day!
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But then, we decided to have an impromptu family day, and it ended up being really fun.
We headed down to a local park that was having a big Christmas Festival that Ka was helping at.
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There was real snow for them to play in.
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Legos to create one of the houses at Santa’s Village.
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Cookies to decorate.
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Music to dance to.
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Cousins to visit.
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And Jack Rabbits to adore.
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The day ended shaping up quite nicely!
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And lucky me….
later that night, Scout earned a special date with me to Circle K for treats and hot chocolate and the boat parade.
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This was his chosen seat.
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And this was his favorite boat.