How to Annoy Your Sister

It amazes me at how adept and creative my boys are at annoying their sisters.

What We've Been Up To

We had a lovely snow storm the day

Gramma and Grampa Pardon flew in from Portland, ME for

My brother, Seth's wedding to Marie.

Curls

Sorrow

Despair comes when your parents say, "I am sorry, you are not dressed well enough to go out into the snow."

ARGHHHHH!!!!!

After only 2 weeks of having our minivan fixed, It has broken down again!!!!!! We are not going back to the same place, maybe that is the problem. BUT, we are sooooo poor. Why can't we ever catch up? And it is not that I am just overspending all of the time. I have stayed under budget week after week after week, and often $150 under budget. That money should be savings! I do not know what more to do.

I really am grateful that our trials are ALL financial. We are all in good health-- and I mean really good health. We all get along and love being together. Really my life is great except for this one little thing.

John asked, what can be done? Well, if some one popped down from the sky and left us $10,000. If we got the girl's braces for free. If gas and food would suddenly go down 25%.  If it cost us $0 to have the baby. Something like that.

Finally, A Good Solution

We have computer game addiction at our house. We are very careful about what games we allow, but how much time we allow has always been an out and out war.

Over Christmas, my sister in law, Margaret was talking about how her boys hated Sundays because they couldn't play computer games that day. Tired of her boys complaining about Sundays, she made only Tuesdays and Friday computer days. She said, all complaints ended even though they had less game time.

We had been struggling with trying to enforce one hour a person a day. It really wasn't working. So, I thought I would borrow a page from Margaret's book. Since I  have six gamers, and Margaret only has two, I thought we needed to add a little more time. So Mondays and Wednesdays are girl game days, and Tuesdays and Thursdays are boy game days. We began Jan 1st.

It is working beautifully. And while the first week, they played games as much as they could, now they are often busy doing other things. My kids have learned to do other things!!! It is a miracle. This is the best solution ever!!!!!

My Baby Turns One

Last Tuesday, Joshua turned one. I thought I would be sad because I did not think that I would be pregnant. But since, in another 6.5 months, I will have another little baby to cuddle, I just don't feel sad.

So my baby is a year. When Ruth turned one, she was so grown up and BIG. Joshua is still just a little baby. He is not grown up at all, and he is definitely NOT big. Though, Ruth at 12 months, weighed the same as Joshua does now. Ruth was walking, but not talking, and Joshua is talking, but not walking. Still, Ruth was HUGE and very grown up at 12 months, and Joshua is still just a tiny little baby.

Now about our little Joshua guy. He is sweet. He loves to hug. He loves to bite (a fight I will be embarking on soon). He loves, loves, loves to eat. You cannot have food, or the smell of food around Josh, unless he is eating! Or, he will be screaming.

From this

to this

Happy Birthday, Baby! We love You!