PIANO MAN

I finally figured out how to put a video on this here blogger...have Rob do it. Thanks Sweetie!! Here is a video of the next Billy Joel. That's right, you all are witnessing history in the making. He's only been taking lessons since Nov. and already has shown himself to be a piano prodigy. No, I'm not biased at all!! Honestly, it was one of the cutest things I've seen all year. Stay tuned for more of Jaydie Joel (that will be his stage name).

READER POLL

It's time for all you blog stalkers to come out of the woodwork (are there any? Maybe there really are only four people reading this blog). I'm doing a survey about tips. Not tips like, "don't eat yellow snow" or "look both ways before you cross the street", but how much do you tip your hair stylist? A friend couldn't believe that I would tip anything less than 20%, like you would a waitress, but I am just wondering what you think. Here's a picture.

COWBOYS AND YENNER ON A ROPE

I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride...
Aunt Hallie made a cowboy jubilee for the boys since we have finished our cowboy unit in school. The children were giddy about the festivities and the cowboy garb that Aunt Hallie provided for them. Jaydie just keeps shouting "Yeehaw!!" randomly and came into our room this morning saying "howdy partner". He wants to ride his horse Speed (the scooter) constantly and wear his "banana" (bandanna) like a true cowboy. Dude couldn't be any cuter about it.
I also wanted to share a little horror story with you about my last trip to Disneyland. Try not to judge me, I know it was mostly my fault. I decided that I could handle taking all three boys by myself; mistake #1. We had just finished riding the jungle cruise and were walking to the stroller and I saw three children behind me. We weren't holding hands, mistake #2, and it was quite crowded. What seemed like three seconds later I made it to the stroller but with only 2 out of the 3 children. I thought, where's Yenner, and then vocalized my question to the other two, quietly at first. My "Yenner" gradually got louder and louder when at last it reached a full blown scream. I thought for sure someone was running away with him and escaping as I screamed for three or four minutes in circles right there by the jungle cruise. I actually thought at one point that I should use his full name so people wouldn't feel bad for the child named Yenner and then thought that he might not know his full name so switched back to shouting Yenner (does that make any sense?). My fear of man issues were vivid even amidst the chaos. So after what seemed like a lifetime, a woman came up to me and said "are you missing your little boy?" (not sure what gave it away; could have been either the tears or the screams of horror) and I obviously said yes. She took me back to her friend who was holding a ridiculously calm Yenner in line for the jungle cruise. Kind of ironic considering this is where it all started. Imagine if I had prayed and then calmly taken a look around me I probably could have avoided all the freaking out. I'm pretty sure Nolie and Jaydie were more affected (and by affected I mean traumatized) by it than Yenner. But Praise Jesus our Yenner is still with us and we are all recovering nicely. So from now on that boy is going to be on a rope and his new nickname will be Yenner on a rope. That makes way more sense than Yenner Goo. You might think that this would squash my Disneyland addiction but it sure didn't. Does anyone want to go with me next time? You could hold Yenner's rope.

4x4 CHALLENGE

And I don't mean trucks. This here is a fun picture game of tag where you search for your 4th folder and your 4th picture in that folder. My pictures are not so perfectly organized like my cups are (you'd have to see it to believe it...it's remarkable), so this picture is mostly right. The second picture is just a bonus. It's when we dedicated the triplets; it was a simpler time then. Now I am tagging Dena and Joy...get on it!!

Look at all these babies!! Where has the time gone?

P-A-R-K, PARK, PARK, PARK...

with our Grammie who is such a trooper pushing the children, helping them up, and watching every move they make. Thanks Momma, you're the bomb and we love you!!

As an interesting side note, Jaydie was just praying tonight and said "and Jesus, Happy Valentine's to you". And Happy Valentine's Day to you too!!

I CLEANED MY TABLE...

Yes, that's right, I have now cleaned my table like 4 times in the last two weeks. What's all this about, you may be asking yourself. No, I'm not pregnant. Believe me, the rest of the house is still completely disgusting. For some reason though I have been craving a table where my arms don't stick to it and my bum isn't wearing crumbs and ketchup. Go figure!! The reason I don't clean it after every meal is because really , what's the point?? It will only be nasty 10 min. later. So now you understand how I can totally justify laziness in this area of my life. Also, I got this shaving cream idea from this blog I read and the kids got such a kick out of it. This little activity lasted for almost an hour and a half. See, good can come from wasting time online.

P.S. I now have tons of the "black cohosh" if you want to try it. That will be 5 bucks, but if you made fun of me then it will be 25. Sorry, that's just the way it goes.

BOYS AND BIKES

All the boys have new bikes. Pretty soon we're gonna start our own BMX show and you can hire us for a large fee. Nolie and Jaydie are pros, Yenner needs a little time. Thank you.