While I Was Gone

Clearly I am behind a little but in an effort to catch up, here we go. We have a few leftover pictures from the couple days before I left, starting with the last days at my brother's house. This is K showing you the cookie she got to eat before our big bike ride.

The shared seat was a recipe for disaster, which it turned out to be...well, on and off. For the most part, the were very good.

YaYa got to go as he is a big boy and can bike the whole way...N was sick and was headed to the dr with Mom.  In yet another miracle from our great God, we spent the almost a week with a pretty sick little guy and no one managed to catch it.  God is good!

Mo has a soft heart and started feeding this stray cat so he started hanging around.  Amazingly, he let all the kids hold him and pet him and basically torture him.

He was so good with the kids we almost brought him home to be an outside cat but not knowing Sammy would not tolerate it, we decided against it.

When we got home, it was announced to me by my oldest that she needed her fingernails painted.  As I do not have nail polish, it was a trip to the store and then new territory for both of us.

Don't worry, she made sure I did it right.

This is why they come small and unaware...I can learn to do her nails and her hair before it matters how good looks and I can learn to use the sewing machine to fix their clothes before it matters how nice it appears...yes, all of these things are not so pretty right now but by the time they notice, I will be an expert.  I hope!  :-)

Speaking of hair...I did NOT do that.

Em wanted her "night-night" to come along to nana's house but didn't want to let go of it, so this was her solution.

After I left and once the weekend rolled around, Daddy headed in to spend a few days with Nana.  On his way, he stopped at the pumpkin patch.

All K cares about is feeding the animals.  She is so texture-phobic until it comes to animals and then all of her inhibitions seem to vaporize.  If we ever do get back up to Redding and Dad can have his "city farm" like he wants, K will be in heaven!

I have no idea what happened but her face makes me laugh!

The babies are ridiculously cute, btw.  I would feel bad for him except all he does is eat all day long so putting up with kids, well, that's just part of the job description.

Not the coat!!

Short kids climb, and I have two climbers!

Um, yes, Dad also got a hold of the scissors and, tired of Em's bangs, chopped them off.  Completely.  Dad and Nana took the girls to the science museum and downtown Disney (the park outside the park) and what all else I am not sure since the pics stop at the museum.

K's hair, on the other hand is getting quite long!  Good thing he learned his lesson and didn't take the scissors to her head too!

Well, that should get us to the chaotic week that was this week and I have lots of pics of that too so more to come, I promise.  All must have gone well while I was gone since Dad never complained and the girls haven't said anything revealing to say otherwise.  On the home front, we are once again working on making sure our sentences start with "Please" and end somewhere in "Thank you".  We are also on battle with whining again.  Man!  How often do the same battle circle back around???  I feel like these may never end since just when I feel like I might win for good, it all starts up again!  Today I was trying to model for K how to talk without whining and she turned to me and said, "But Mom, if I talk like a big girl then Emily has to talk whining."  Is this really what she thinks?  Apparently, in a three year old mind, someone has to whine in the house or it is just not right.  I told her Em was picking up right where she was leaving off but that it wasn't necessary for anyone to whine.  The look she gave me made it pretty clear she disagreed but we dropped it.  Maybe I will tell her whinning is Sammy's job.

Anyhow, my favorite comment from her this week happened while I was reading her a Bible story.  At the end of the story, they have follow-up questions and this one asked, "What will you do to please Jesus?"  K: I will hug you.  Me: "Ah, that's sweet! Thanks!  And will you listen to me and obey me?" K: Nodding with a deeply pensive look, "Yes, ...and I will not stab your boobies."  :-)

The weather has dramatically shifted here, so after all my "it's still hot here" complaining, it is now cold.  It changed so fast that I am behind the eight ball and trying to put outside toys away, organize the inside toys to be more accessible and switch out the clothes all at the same time.  It should be interesting trying to convince K that it is time to wear pants so I think I will just start with wearing long sleeve shirts and go for the pants when it gets truly cold.  Hope all is well!  God Bless!!