Matthew the Great Helper

As kids grow older, they try to emulate what they see others doing. Unfortunately, this made my housecleaning day yesterday especially exasperating. Matthew was more than willing to help me the WHOLE DAY. Here are some excerpts from the day.

As I washed dishes
"Stop emptying my cupboards."
"Get out of the garbage."
"DON'T EAT THAT!"
After I swept and was getting the dust pan
"Oh, what a good boy sweeping . . . my sweeping pile all over the floor."
Cleaning the bathrooms
"Stop eating the soap."
"The toilet brush is not a toy!"
"That was a new bottle of shampoo!"
Folding the laundry
"Where is that pile of Joseph's shirts?" - Turns out Matthew was gathering laundry and I found them in the dirty laundry basket along with several socks and sundry articles of clothes that hadn't been folded yet
"Stop putting on those socks, I just matched them!"
"Get back here with all my hangers!"
Vacuuming
"Matthew I need to vacuum there, move out of the way. Move out of the way. Don't sit down!"
Taking a break
"Matthew, how did you open all those help windows on the computer?"
Making beds
"Come back with my blankets!"
Finishing picking up the toys
"Who dumped out the crayons?"
Finished picking up crayons
"I just put those toys away."
Finished picking up toys
"Arrg! How did you reach those crayons!"
Finished picking up crayons Actually this time I was lucky because Matthew fell asleep under the table and hadn't done anything.

If only I could harness his powers for good instead of evil!

We love visitors

Peter's brother Doug came to CT for some business and we were able to have dinner with him. The kids loved seeing family (they are starved for extended family out here!) and were very disappointed he wasn't coming home with us!

Happy Birthday Elise

Elise turned 11 this March. She and Kirsti and their Dad got to go to a ballet in the morning and then came home for presents. She had a pretty good day and loved all her presents. She was especially excited when she opened her ipod. The cake (if you can't tell) is a monkey.

Joseph gets some culture

The playgroup we go to got tickets to see a play. Lucky for me, Peter was home to take care of Matthew. Joseph had a blast watching Max and Ruby, although as we were leaving, he said, "Mom that didn't look like the real Max and Ruby." I guess he thought it would be a cartoon!

Sledding

Taking my cue from Brenda (who doesn't?) I took some camera movies of the kids first sledding trip since we moved up here. The first two are of the kids getting their feet wet on a long, less steep hill. After that we moved to a steeper spot and finished the day there (that is where you see Joseph take off). The first time he went down the slope without or help. The kid was a speed demon. Although we stopped short of letting him go off the ramp like his older brothers and sisters.

Winter Vacation

As most of you know, my kids had all last week off at school. I thought I was going to go crazy, but it turned out to be not too bad. I thought I would give a quick synopsis of what we did. 1stly, can I say I kept thinking every day was Saturday and I could use my cell phone to call everyone.

Monday- we went grocery shopping (always fun with all the kids) and saw Spiderwick Chronicles at the movie theater. It was the first time Matthew sat through the whole movie without being taken out.

Tuesday- we had some friends come over. They have six kids the same sex and almost exactly the same age as mine. It was a loud and crazy house that day!

Wednesday- we dropped off the oldest 2 kids bikes off at the bike store to get tuned up for spring, went to the library (I know I swore I wouldn't go back till Matthew was 6 months older after he found the last pile of library books and consequently cost me $30 to replace the ones he ruined, but my Amazon tab was getting too high), and then went to get the boys boots for the Klondike camp out they were going to on Friday. They had such a deal going (60% off plus another 30%) that we got everyone snow boots.

Thursday- playground by our house and walking the beach (we finally had to leave because Matthew kept trying to walk into the ocean)

Friday- Lucky we bought snow boots because it snowed. A lot. Kids spent a lot of the day playing in the snow and the rest trying to warm up and drink hot chocolate. Peter and the boys skipped the Klondike camp out because it was starting to ice rain by the nighttime and that would have been miserable.

Saturday- Found a good hill at a park near by and sledded. Joseph was a sledding maniac! He took off on this plastic sled and never even hesitated. It was kind of steep, too! I have pictures and I will try to post them later in the week!

Anyway, overall it was a pretty good week. We had a lot of fun and I think I still have a little sanity left. Although I think I will be doing a little dance tomorrow after I drop the kids off at school!

Valentines Day 2008

New Hair Cuts

Kirsti and Elise both cut their hair to donate to locks of love. They each cut off about 11 inches. It was quite the difference. Here are some pictures of their new 'dos. I will try to get some of them holding their cut hair before we send it off!

Eating Hotwings

Peter always orders hotwings when we go out to eat. Last week Matthew wanted a taste. Here are the results:
1. Tasting the hotwing (glad he got his way)

2. Tasting the hotwing (realizing it isn't what he expected)

3. Crying (Peter ordered the hottest wings they sold)

4. Getting relief (and then he wanted another hotwing)

A quick note

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I guess I am just a little busy! We had a couple of sick kids, a birthday, and an emergency dental visit. Not to mention how cold it is here! It hurts to leave your ears uncovered outside today. I have crocheted one scarf and have a couple more to go. I will try to get some pictures posted (I have a few of Matthew trying hotwings at Ruby Tuesday's).