My BABY! When did you grow up?? Here are 12 reasons I love you so much...

1.You have a strong character with strong integrity.

2. You are extremely talented.

3. You love to read just like your mother.

4. You have a cute giggle when you're really tickled by something.

5. People look up to you because you're a good leader.

6. You think things out well.

7. You are extremely smart, already surpassing your mother in math skills!

8. You have cool style.

9. I know you will do big things someday, I don't know what, but it will be big.

10. You have excellent choices in music.

11. You have a sharp wit about you and a good sense of humor.

12. You're unique and are happy being you.

We love you, Jackson. So, so much.

Happy Birthday Young Man!

Jackson is 12 today! Here is the traditional Birthday Donut picture. Did you know you could put a candle in a donut hole? (You just have to hold it.) He's kinda getting to the age where my sense of humor is just barely tolerated, but that's OK.

You can tell a VERY rousing rendition of Happy Birthday is being sung. Check out the opera lips on his brother...
More pics to come!

I always have the uncanny knack for getting THE WORST fortunes in my fortune cookies. Most often they have the word 'fool' in them. But Friday night was my turning point. I got one I'm actually very excited about! Not only am I going to get a joyful visitor but they'll be attractive to boot. Can you even beat that???

I'm pretty sure I've got it all figured out because these handsome men are coming to visit tonight....bring your joy, boys!

Quote Of The Day.

You know you're going to have a doozy of a day when your quote of the day has already happened within minutes of dragging yourself out of bed. I had just gotten dressed with hair and makeup expertly applied (Ha.) And, yes, I did spritz a little perfume on, but nothing to really warrant the quote of the day that soon followed. I walked into Noah's room to wake him up for school. He's such a cheerful, loving, obedient child in the morning (Ha.) I rustle him awake and the first words out of his mouth were, "NASTY! What's that smell!" My first thoughts were the dog pooped in his room. Then he said, "MOM! YOU SMELL LIKE A STINKBOMB!" Thank-you, son. Thank-you.

We Love Him Already!

Beckett James is here! We can't wait to meet you in person!You are so adorable and you have a rockin' name! Noah's first comment upon looking at his picture was, "WOW! He looks just like me!" (I'm not sure he had much to do with it, but I didn't burst his bubble!) Congratulations, Jeannie and Dan! There's celebrating going on at our house tonight!

Drama Girl.

This morning Lily needed to go to the bathroom, but decided she wanted to be CARRIED to the bathroom by her mother. I wasn't really "feelin' it", so I told her she needed to walk.
"But, Mom! I can't walk!"
(looks down at her legs),
"Oh, No!!! My legs not working!"
(collapses into a pitiful heap on the floor),
"Oh, No! Oh, No! My legs is broken!".

Give that girl an oscar for 'Best performance in a dramatic role'.

Our Morning Prayer.

This is was our morning prayer today...(after MUCH discussion as to who was going to start and end.)

Mom: God, thank you so much for this exciting day! We pray that you be with Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Dan this morning as they wait for their baby to come out. Be with the doctors. Give them wisdom and knowledge to keep Jeannie and the baby safe. We thank you for what a gift this baby is. Please make him strong and healthy.

Jackson: Um...God, please help her to not be in any pain.

Noah: Dear God, we want to pray for Jeannie and Dan. Help them to teach their baby to be a nice boy...and NOT A BULLY! And help them to teach him he's got to eat healthy foods like fruits and vegetables and NOT JUST CANDY. In Jesus' name. Amen.

(I think these prayers are the best kind. I think God is smiling.)

Lost In Translation.

Joe's version of his restaurant experience in Chicago-
"There was a crazy acrobat that did stunts while retrieving wine bottles off of a huge wine rack and the steak was great."

Noah's version of the same story, retold to his 2nd grade teacher-
"My dad went to Chicago and a dancing lady brought him beer and he ate 8 pieces of meat."

We decided to follow up on this one with his teacher! We all had a good laugh. Thankfully, (I think...) his teacher knows us well and goes to our church! Either that, or we'll be getting some weird looks on Sunday :) I'm sure all those teachers out there hear a lot.

Quote Of The Day.

"Here's my list....Mom and Jackson are cranky. Dad and I are happy. Lily is about medium."
--Noah Joseph

Lily And Her Dinglehopper.

We found a copy of The Little Mermaid at the secondhand store the other day. Score! One little girl is very happy about that. She asked first thing this morning to watch it. I said, "OK." She then took off into the kitchen for a few moments and came back with a fork. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "Mo-om, I'm the wittle wormaid!" and proceeded to comb her hair with her fork. I'm sure this will cause problems in the future, but for today, it's darn cute.

Happy Birthday Max!

Could it already be a year? You are so special to us. We love you so much.

School Rocks.

I just realized that my kids all have their eyes closed in these pictures! I suppose if you make them stare into the sun, that's what happens! First day went well. Not too much info from either boy. In true Noah fashion he told me he has a new friend and his name is "e-mail". Also in true Noah fashion he was quite adamant that he couldn't possibly have gotten his name wrong. This has the same 'stink' as the Owen/Arwin incident of 2007. Upon looking at his class list he actually made a new friend named, "Emmanuel". Maybe E-mail can be his rapper name...Jackson said he thought the incoming 5th graders in his class were "exceptionally small this year. More so than ususal." Spoken like a true 6th grader. Miss Lily found her backpack I THOUGHT I had sufficiently hidden in her closet and announced she was ready for school today. I told her she had to wait a little longer (2 weeks!). She listened carefully and filled her sweet little eyes with tears. It would have been easier if she had a screaming fit. But, no, she had to rip my heart out. She then suggested we should be 'helpers' in the boys classes today. She's really trying!

Rockin' The Pink Guitar, Princess-Style.

Well, today has proved to be an interesting day...and is not over yet. I took the kids on some errands this afternoon. So, we're in Michael's and Noah decides to hop onto the back of my cart all of a sudden and flips that puppy completely upside down. Right there in the middle of the scrapbooking aisle. I've never seen such a thing. We all stood in stunned silence. Noah stands up and dusts himself off and says, "Wow. I had no idea I could do that." All 3 kids look at Mom to judge her reaction. At the time I was so mad I didn't trust myself to open my mouth. The silence pretty much said it all. They were perfect angels the rest of the afternoon. I think I can laugh about it now. I think.

Noah is the newest member of the Michael Phelps Phanclub. He hoists himself up on the edge of the couch, takes his shirt off, does some of windmill stretching, adjusts his goggles and 'dives' in. Did you know you can swim on carpet? Noah makes it look easy.

Our Trip To Chicago (I really hope you like to look at pictures of my kids...)

Here is an epic pictorial of our trip to Chicago. We had an absolute blast. We wanna go back. The kids here are contemplated life as they look into the mesmerizing waterfall and are feeling remorseful for their behavior on the 3 hour car trip...

Noah said, "It's a dream come true..." and that was just driving the block around the stadium. One of these days he's gonna ask us to shell out the 60 bucks for a ticket....

Lily is looking up to see just how high the Hancock Building is....

Noah is checking it out too....
We sent Lily outside to wash the windows. Hey, no free trips in this family....
Some people just don't know how to act in public...I can't take him anywhere....
Me and the kids in front of Shedd Aquarium. That man behind me REALLY loves his fish. I think my stepdad Don would hug his fish if he could...

handsome kid....I wish he would let me take his picture more often...

checking out fish...

Let's quickly sum up the aquarium. NASTY....

Um... Nasty....
Funknasty....
... and lips so wonderful I would have kissed him again and again if I thought I wouldn't be arrested and thrown out on my ear. Ok, maybe not. But he did have very nice lips....
We went to Medieval Times. In case you don't know its a medieval show and dinner, sans silverware, with sword fighting and horses and medieval what-not. It was a little cheesy, but the boys loved it. The lady next to me cheated and brought plastic silverware in her purse. Cheater!!

It's nice to be able to laugh at yourself...
This is the knight we were assigned to cheer for. Quite honestly, he stunk. He was the first one who got out. A sword to the gut. What he lacked in medieval skill and knowlege he made up for with his rugged good looks. In fact, even in his final seconds of breath, not a hair on his head was out of place. Sigh.
He's so blinded by his good looks that he had to blink when I took his picture... Good times. Good times.

Joe and the boys went to the new LEGO discovery center. It was a sucess. We are all LEGO lovers in our house, even though I manage to break every delicate creation I touch. It's genetic. I wasn't allowed to go the LEGO discovery center. I was banished to IKEA across the street. I suffered. Not.

Joe and I are 99.9999% sure a dude made this LEGO lady. Have you ever seen such a thing? I can't believe she's upright!
Here we are the Science and Industry museum... these pictures are eerily just like my sisters vacation pictures!!!! :)

The fact that my son is standing in confusion staring at his dad kind of gives it away that Joe wasn't REALLY on the moon. Otherwise I'm sure you would have been fooled...
TOO. MUCH. WALKING.
The look on her face says it all. I'm not sure which one is cuter, Lily or little chick...
The End (finally.)