It only seemed fair to put the more realistic picture up as the header photo :) 

I realized tonight that the longest hour of a mother's life is the hour before you are planning to go out with just your husband!  We had a great night out, without the little misters.  a 2.5 hour supper, and popping in on friends, after their kids went to bed.  a great night.  we didn't even talk about the kids much :)

Speaking of the kids, my mom said it best.  They are all high energy and none of them give in when there's a disagreement.  sigh.  But i love them, here's some downright halarious quotes from the boys recently:

*We were going to go to the nice restaurant with the boys recently and we said you'll have to dress up.  Adam says "oooh, can i wear my tigger custome?!"  well, not THAT kind of dress up!

*When Clay finally realized he can't go to school yet, he said in an understanding tone "ok, i'm not 3 enough"  more like you're not 5 enough!  (this conversation occured after a morning of chasing him down after he escaped from the car at drop off and ran for the school w/ his brothers.  I know the other car riders loved my plaid sweatpants).

*After taking Great Gma Gingrich out for her 86th birthday, Ben declared in the parking lot "Have a good day, birthday girl!"  aww.  Clearly we're used to kids parties :) 

*After watching the cats mating one day, Brad says "so, what does the daddy put inside the mommy"    Let's finish making these cookies first Brad and we'll discuss that later.  "ok".  whew.

Never a dull moment.  Did i mention i'm really ready for spring??  You know the REAL spring.  Those days when i only see my children at mealtime or when there's blood.  Yes those are the days when i'm a fantastic mom :)

Just like dad...

Chef Clayton

Whenever i say, Clay what do you want to eat for breakfast it's always "oatmeal!"  and when i asked the other day what kind of cookies should we make... "oatmeal".  sounds good.  Clay takes baking very seriously, he has to "do it myself".  He climbs all over the place to get everything we need.  Too bad he has no idea what we need. 

Breaking the eggs, "by myself" i'm pretty sure i didn't let the others do this till they were 5, but then again they didn't kick and scream over the matter either.  Check out the tongue.  That helps him.

One of a kind.

 

Clay's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies:

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 3/4 cups rolled oats

1 cup raisins

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 

in a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until smooth.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla until fluffy.  Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Gradually beat into butter mixture.  Stir in oats and raisins.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. 

 

Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool slightly, remove from sheet to wire rack.  enjoy.



grow up....no don't grow up!

i'm not normally one to be sad and sentimental when my kids grow out of a stage and begin a new one.  example- moving from a crib to big boy bed.  exciting.  starting school.  neat-o.  burning their baby blankies.  cool.  i enjoy the excitment of change, milestones, doing new things, etc.  BUT when Adam came to me the other week and said "mom, i'm ready to have a big plate at meals".  What?  But Adam you boys use the orange plastic kids plates.  "No, i'm big now and i want to use a big plate".  Well i didn't see that one coming!  i didn't have time to mentally prepare for that little milestone :)  next thing i know he'll be growing facial hair.  Oh wait...

 

 Sure enough he is growing up :)  and he's loving every minute of it.

 

School

The school year is moving right on by.  The boys are having a good year.  I am particularly thrilled with Adam and the way he's blossomed in the classroom.  He talks about other kids often, is happy to go to school, happy when he comes home, really seems to like the variety and interaction school has to offer.  He mentions a lot about recess, how he plays rough with the boys, i think he needs to be around kids his own size, since playing rough with the brothers doesn't fly for very long.  He went to a friends roller skating party last weekend, and this weekend we're hopefully bringing some friends with us to church.  I'm so proud of him, but more so, I'm thankful to God, i know He's been listening :)
 
Ben and Brad are doing well too, although one more then the other from what i see in the classroom.  I know it's hard because almost all these kids have gone to preschool at least one year prior to Kindergarten.  So not only is this setting brand new for Ben and Brad, it's NOT new for most their classmates.  Which seems to make a difference in the comfort levels.  But Adam grew tons in a year and i trust the twins will too.  They share a best friend who they talk about all the time.  They are the 3 musketeers, all with spikey hair.  It's cute cause he's even smaller then Ben and Brad!  God is good and i'm so pleased with this school and continue to be amazed by the amount of Christians there.  For some reason i must have thought going in that they'd all be heathens but us!

Adam had his first concert yesterday.  Music isn't his favorite special, but i've been noticing him singing more around the house.  I think he's starting to enjoy all the songs and teaching he's getting from class. 
A pic from the concert, back row 3rd from the left:

 

Ok, noone is looking here, but here's a couple of Adam's classmates and Clay sticking his nose where it doesn't belong. 

 

celebrating the young and the old

last weekend we got to meet baby Arlen.  He's a cutie, and Clay can't say "baby Arlen" without getting a huge smile on his face. 

and today we went out to eat with Rod's gparents, celebrating Gma's 86th birthday!

What a blessing to have such a wide age range of people in our lives!