4 Gemma things

1. We were eating dinner a few nights ago and suddenly, Gemma's foot was on the table. I'd like to tell you this is a rare occurrence and we were all shocked. Sadly, this is so common none of us even stopped. We all just continued eating. No one even raised their brows. Or blinked. We just chewed as usual.

What was unusual was that she was crying. She was crying about her foot.

"It's spicy! It hurts!"

Your foot hurts?

Uh huh. It feels spicy!

The only thing I can figure out is that her foot fell asleep and it was tingling. Maybe?

2. Gemma was playing with an electronic device while we got lunch ready today. The second her plate hit the table, she was ready. She stood up and started turning the device around in her hands.

"How you off this thing???" She said becoming frustrated.

She and I offed that thing together and then ate lunch.

3. When we went eagle watching a few weekends ago, gemma loved using the binoculars. I am loosely using the word "using" here because she mainly held them over her face and ran into objects as she walked around.

Anyhow.

She calls them her monkey bars and asks about them occasionally.

4. We aren't really football watchers or fans. I am especially uninterested. However, John likes to watch the super bowl (which was this evening). John had the TV on downstairs as we were all eating upstairs. As we were sitting down to eat, William and Amelia were discussing which team they were cheering for. Amelia was vigorously cheering for one team (she liked their colors better) and William was loudly cheering for the other (by default, he will always pick the opposite of what Amelia picks).

Gemma observed for a few moments and then stood up in her seat, thrust her fist into the air and began chanting her own cheer:

"Someone win! Someone win! Someone win! Someone win the game!"

Lucky for her, someone did win the game.

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My helper

Amelia was helping me out away the dishes one evening. I bribed her with the promise of an extra book at bedtime. She was game.

She tackled a stack of plates and started putting them away in the cabinet. These plates are stored vertically in the cabinet. When I put them away, I stack them up, turn them on their side and plunk them in the cabinet.

As I put away the other dishes, I could hear Amelia muttering away under her breath. I couldn't figure out what was taking her so long to put the plates as I was so focused on completing the task. It wasn't until later that I noticed the reason it took so long: she took all of the plastic plates out of the cabinet, organized them by color, and then put them away. Of course she did.

100 days smarter

The kids are both now 100 days smarter! Thursday 1/27 was the 100th day of school!

Can we...?

Amelia: mom can we go out to eat? Like at Applebee's? (As we drive by)

Mama: not tonight Amelia.

Amelia: awww...

Gemma: but, we love eating.....

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Happy 8th birthday William

Happy 8th birthday William!

He was dismayed this morning when he realized I was serious about sending him to school on his birthday. Apparently, last year, someone in his class got to stay home for his birthday and William thought this was an excellent idea.

I was more serious about sending him to school.

I tried to make it up to him by making birthday oatmeal. Oatmeal+ a hot chocolate packet+ chocolate chips + dried cherries+ little bit of milk= delicious.

Daddy, Amelia, William and Gemma teamed up to make some decorations. Watch for pictures of these as I was very impressed by these!

He chose to bring ice cream for his classmates. Who wants ice cream in January? William.

Gemma and I met him for lunch at school.

He decided he wanted pancakes from Bob Evans for dinner.

He requested a "dirt dessert" for his cake. It went over much better this time. The last time we made it ( for his 3rd or 4th birthday?), he was a little horrified about the resemblance to dirt and I'm not sure he enjoyed it. Poor kid.

Amelia's how to part 3

Now you all know how to disco and can have fun dancing!

Amelia's how to writing part 2

And the saga continues.

Also, I admit to teaching our kids how to disco, do the twist, do the potato masher, and the hokey pokey during our family dance parties.

While John occasionally takes part in these dance parties, he is most certainly not the responsible party in this matter.