An Easter preview.

Of course...our family tradition is to dress up for Easter Sunday. We go to a very laid back Church..and often find ourselves wearing jeans on any given Sunday. Church isn't about what we wear! Since Easter Sunday is a particularly special Sunday we tend to take that day out of the year and get "all dolled up":)

Josh will wear his suit and I got the boys the cutest little outfits. Jessalyn picked out a cute little pink skirt and white shirt. One of the best parts of having kids is getting to dress them up...of course, that brings you to one of the most frustrating parts of having kids and that is getting them to cooperate for pictures!

This is why I decided to put them in their outfits today...hoping that between today and Sunday morning I might actually be able to get a few decent pictures of them!

I can't help but share some of them!

You can't get any more handsome than this....

Ethan



Luke



Owen



Jessalyn of course is at school today...but I will most definitely get pictures of her on Sunday!

A few more cute ones:)

"My Delivery is Coming"...and other stuff.

Its funny how children who are made up of the same DNA can be so completely different! Jessalyn lives to be on stage..performing for anyone who will watch. She will sing, dance..memorize lines..whatever it takes. Its just "in her".

Then there is Ethan. He loves music, loves to sing....but don't ask him to do it on demand, and especially not in front of anyone! We've been trying to get him to do some of the One Voice stuff for a while now but he just doesn't want anything to do with it. Its fine. We don't pressure him and know that this kind of stuff isn't for everybody.

This past Sunday (Palm Sunday) the "Young Adult Worship Team" lead worship. We decided to do the song "My Deliverer" by the late and great Rich Mullins. You know..."my deliverer is coming, my deliverer standing by". We had the kids from children's church come on stage with us and sing that chorus part throughout the song. It actually turned out OK..I think.

Anyway..Ethan is part of children's church and for the first time in his life was WILLING to sing on stage with all the other kids! I was so excited. He was excited too and I think he actually liked it!

So the funny part of this is what we noticed while he was practicing. At home he would sing his little heart out..and would sing this...

"My DELIVERY is coming, my DELIVERY is standing by"

I didn't have the heart to tell him he was singing it wrong..because he was finally willing to do it. I just let him sing it that way:) It is pretty cute. I didn't get any video or pics of Ethan's stage debut :) because I was playing drums and Josh was singing and playing the guitar. I actually didn't even get to see his face because I was behind him:( I heard he looked cute though!

Now whenever I have a package on the way...or am waiting for pizza..I will have this song in my head.

And..in other news:) Finally..at 11 months and 1 week old Owen is starting to walk!!! He is taking more and more steps on his own now. Its still not full blown all the time walking...but he is trying to walk from thing to thing much more often. Even as of yesterday morning he wasn't interested...but something clicked last night and now he's practicing alot! It seems like it has taken him forever to figure this out...since at this age Luke had already been walking for a couple of months! Later walking like this has proven to be MUCH less stressful though. He has so much more control and goes much slower.

Here are some pics...

I have another story...this time its funny (not gross).

I'm going to try hard to explain this, but no matter how hard I try it was definitely one of those "had to be there" moments. Its worth telling the story though...and picture me, telling this story literally "wheezing it" because I'm laughing so hard. That is what it was like for me to tell this story to Josh last night. I couldn't stop crying I was laughing so hard.

We have a Dodge Caravan. We have a handy feature thats called "tailgate seating" where the back seats literally flip over backwards so that you can sit facing the back (like say, at a drive in movie or something). If you need better visualization of this, see this video...click on the tailgate seating link and remember that I have the 2006 version that is very similar but not operated by a cool little button.

I had the three boys in the car and I pulled up to the front of my house to drop my SIL off at her car. I then had to keep going to pick Jessalyn up from school. My house is on a pretty steep hill so at this point we are doing quite a little hill stop (glad I'm not driving a standard).

My van tends to roll back a bit so I knew I had to "gun it" a bit to get going up the hill. As I did that Ethans seat (in the way back) decided it wanted to be in the tailgate position! (remember...I am wheezing here..even as I type this story). I heard a thump of sorts and while looking back to figure out whats going on all I see are Ethans Darth Vader moon boots sticking straight up in the air....(still wheezing)..and Ethan was IN THE TRUNK!!!!! ha ha ha ha ha.

At first it took me a bit to figure out just what was happening. I sat there wondering how the heck that even happened (forgetting that our seats had that option). I then called my SIL back just so she could witness this event..knowing that in telling the story later nobody would believe me! I then got my phone out and was trying to get the camera ready for when I opened the back end of the van. I was too busy laughing at Ethan upside down in the trunk.

This whole time I am dying laughing, Ethan is less than impressed. He was pretty ticked from the beginning (which happens to make me laugh even harder...its terrible). As I'm trying to get a picture he unbuckles his seatbelt and did a backwards roll right out of the van. I was bummed to not get a picture of this before he got out..but I can't blame him for not wanting to pose in that position.

The only thing that would have made the story better is if Ethan had said "coulda done without that" right after it happened (you know, like Chris Farley after he crushed the bench in Tommy Boy).

Just try to picture it...(minus the girls..this is a pic from the Dodge site)...



So, I know everyone is wondering if this is a safety issue with my van. I was worried for a split second, like something might be very wrong with the seats of the van. I then remembered that just before that very car ride the boys had gotten into the van first, while I was getting Owen ready to go. When I got in the van Luke thought it would be funny to 'surprise' me from the trunk of the van. He had climbed over the back row of seats into the trunk. In our van we just have this strap thing that is in the back of the seats that you pull to release the seats and allow them to flip. I am 99.9% sure that Luke must have pulled on this string because when I pushed the seat back up it seemed to latch fine...and I yanked on it with as much force as I could muster and it didn't move an inch.

And of course, I can be glad that it happened like that and that we didn't drive around with an unlatched seat for months or something. And yes, it could have been very dangerous...but it wasn't and that is why I can laugh so hard at this situation!

..come on, laugh with me!

Ready for a gross story??

Ack. I still have the heebie-jeebies after this one.

Our usual afternoon schedule involves the boys and I picking Jessalyn up from school. We all pile out of the van...eager for our afternoon snack (yes, I said "our"). I change Owen's diaper and put him in his bed for a nap, and the three "big kids" and I snack away on something usually quite un-healthy.

Today was no different..at least at first. I was in the living room changing Owens diaper while Jessalyn and Luke perused the pantry for something to snack on. Luke decided that he wanted "spicy chips" (a usual Lukie favorite). Jessalyn was helping him and when they opened the bag I heard nothing but shrieks.

Jessalyn and Luke then come running in to the living room. Jessalyn had this look of terror..along with tears and screaming..and proclaimed "theres a rat..or a mouse...something brown and big.....". As I'm finishing the diapering process I was certain that she wasn't over-reacting because she had a genuine look of fear on her face. I tried to get a better story out of her while I talked her down a bit. She told me that the bag was laying in the middle of the kitchen floor and she didn't see the creature run out of the bag.

I headed into the kitchen and from as far away as I could I bent down and peaked into the bag. Sure enough...a little tail...attached to a little mouse. The best part was that it was STILL MOVING. I'm pretty sure it was close to death because I'm sure if it had been a healthy mouse it would have run out of the bag when it had a chance.

The smart thing for me to do would have been to close the bag and throw it outside...but that would have required way more contact with the bag than I was actually up for. I just grabbed the bag..and threw it out on the back porch. Its open. If the mouse is still alive, it will likely crawl out..and then come back in the house. I hope it dies first.

Seriously. I'm still getting goosebumps as I type this.

I'm thinking of all the horrible ways that we could have found that mouse. If they hadn't actually LOOKED in the bag first...who knows how long they could have eaten chips before realizing the mouse was there??? (ACK!!!!!). Or...even worse, they could have reached in the bag and actually grabbed the mouse! Or even worse than all of that...it could have been ME that reached in the bag! I'm quite certain I would have reacted way worse than Jessalyn did.

I'm going to wait till Josh gets home and then make him go through the pantry to get rid of anything that was open at all. I'm pretty sure that most stuff in there is sealed shut...probably a couple other bags of chips got put away without a chip clip.

Now everywhere Jessalyn turns she thinks she's seeing a mouse! I don't blame her. I'm kinda doing the same thing..although I'm trying to hold it together a bit so I don't freak her out even more!

Luke describes it as "a mouse that's a little bit dead". I love that.

PTL!!!

What am I praising the Lord for you might ask?

After 17 painful, torturous YEARS of watching game after game and loss after loss...

THE CELTICS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS!!!! (already!)

I think if you asked anyone from Jr. High and High School to say one word that comes to mind when thinking about Josh they would answer "Celtics". He really is the biggest fan I know. He had fun watching during the 80's when the C's were winning...back in the days of Larry Bird and the like. He never gave up on them. I wanted to give up on them. I wanted to start following a team that was actually FUN to watch...but nooooooo. Josh has watched every game that he possibly could...even through all those years losing.

HE is a fan. THAT is what you call loyal.

I, on the other hand, am a fairweather fan. I admit it. I would never have watched the last 17 years of losing if it wasn't for Josh.

I am glad for him. I'm glad that he can finally fully enjoy watching the games. I think he deserves it.

...now if only we could still get tickets for only $10.

World of Webkinz (a review)

I have recently been formally introduced to the wonderful world of Webkinz. I have known a bit about Webkinz for a while now...but never really looked into it farther. Apparently, its the "thing to do" if you are an elementary student. Jessalyn has been asking for one for a few weeks and I finally went ahead and got her one...and just because they are so cute I got one for Ethan and Luke as well.

We have now had a chance to play around in each of their little worlds. You start out adopting your pet, by using the code that is given to you on their tag. You get to name it and get a little birth certificate...with a birthday. (the kids think this is really cool) You also get a chunk of "kinz cash" to get you going.

You then get to set up the pets room. You use your kinzcash to buy the items you want to see in your room and then get to set it up as you please. You can deck out the room with all sorts of cool little items.

Of course, you start running out of cash pretty quickly so you then have to play games or answer trivia questions to earn more money. There are tons of games to choose from.

You also must feed your pet. It has a meter that lets you know how hungry and happy he or she is. I'm not sure what happens if you don't feed your pet...we haven't let that happen yet.

Although I like most of the stuff on this site there is one meter that I don't really like as much. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there is one meter that rates how happy your pet is. I think the more you buy for your pet the happier it gets. We had to explain to Jessalyn right away that in real life we shouldn't love someone according to how much they buy us!

These little pets have proven to be a great source of entertainment for my kids...if only they each had their own computer so they wouldn't have to fight over "webkinz time". Of course, I tend to get a little worried when Jessalyn proclaims "I NEED to use the computer..because I HAVE to feed my webkinz" in this very desperate tone. (I don't know...I think she might have gotten this from me..."I NEED to check my messages...".

Is it wrong of me to want my own webkinz pet? I get to help Luke with his...but he wants to set up his room like a typical three year old would:) I suppose I will have to settle playing with the three that live in our house..

"Suzie" (Jessalyn's dalmation..named after my Aunt Susie)
"Zach" (Ethan's bull dog...named after Zach from the Wii game "Zach and Wiki")
"Yoube" (Luke's frog...I think he got the name from that show on Noggin)

Super Hero hair.

Jessalyn was playing "Super Heroes" with her brothers and decided that she needed to do something with her hair to make her fit the part better. She is usually pretty crafty with her hair...but I thought this particular time was quite good!