Passing the buck!

Last night we had dinner at my mom's house, with my grandpa.  My mom does dinner every Wednesday night, and we try to join as often as possible.  After dinner, I went down to the basement to round up my children, and saw, that, in the toys section, that the toys had pretty much exploded into a giant ball of mess.

I asked for some help as I was on my hands and knees.  Of the four children in the basement I had no takers.

Then I saw the Lego's.  There were teeny tiny Lego's everywhere.  It was a mess, to say the least.

"Elliott", I exclaimed!  "Help me clean up these Lego's!"

"Molly did it!" and he ran up the stairs.

"Wyatt, will you help me clean up these Lego's?" I asked.

"I don't want to.  Molly did it!"  He told me.

"I'll give you a dollar...." I replied.

"Okay, but Molly did it.  I saw her dump them out." he told me back.

"Molly, get over here and help me clean up these Lego's," I yelled to her across the room.

She walked over, casually dropped the toy she was carrying in front of me and looked me in the eye.

"Jack did it!" she declared.....

and walked away.

It was just me and Wyatt.

And he got two dollars.

Family Picture Time!

In 2009, when Wyatt was 2 months old, the famdamily headed to a portrait studio for a family photo session.  None of us like to get our pictures taken and so we knew that those pictures would last us for a while.

Well, I guess a while came.  There are three more kids in the family and my baby brother will be leaving in a few months to live in Lithuania for 2 years.  No time like the present to get some new family photos taken.

Initially, we tried to do the pictures in February and Molly got sick on the way to the studio.  We waited again until the summer, and after several scheduled sessions, discovered conflicts, and rescheduled sessions, we finally got the pictures done on Friday night.  At 7:15.  Which was too late for a couple of the kiddos to be on their best behavior.  So, poor, tired, teething Quinner will be marked in his one year old family photos as a bit of a cry baby.  But, he tried hard to be a good boy and crashed out immediately in the car on the way home.  Molly and Jack had their moments, Molly being our ever loving family drama queen, but Elliott and Wyatt were gems....they've got this family photo stuff down.

Maybe it's because I take their pictures all the time!

Anyway, the pictures, even with Quinn crying, turned out great and I'm glad that we've got them to last us at least another two or hopefully another four years.

Called to serve...the people of Lithuania!

 

We've all been nervous for a week.

The phone call on Wednesday was to tell me that the letter did not come.

When the phone call came on Thursday, I had everything crossed.

Me: So?

Willie: It came!

Me:  Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh I'm so excited.  Wyatt come here!

Wyatt:  Willie, did your missionary papers come?

Willie: Yes!

Wyatt:  Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

Elliott:  I just got out of the bathroom, Willie, did your missionary papers come?

Willie: Yes!

Elliott:  Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

Quinn:  Tooka tooka tooka!

We were the last to arrive at my parents house at 8:00 pm last night.  There was a huge crowd of family and Willie's friends.  My mom made him sit on a folding chair in the middle of the room like when he was a little kid on his birthday.  He opened the letter and read it to himself.  His eyes bugged out of his head a little, he fanned his face (Probably a little veklempt) and then he started to giggle a bit.  Once he gained his composure, he read us the first paragraph, that he has been called to serve in the Baltic Mission, specifically Lithuania!

Holy Freaking Cow, batman!

Now, we all of course made guesses and surprisingly, the majority of our guesses were in Europe.  But not Eastern Europe.  That was really quite a shock for everyone.  I was nervous all day yesterday, but when I talked to my mom on the phone yesterday afternoon I told her that I just really wanted him to go to Europe.

I got my wish.

I wonder how long it takes for the mail to get to Lithuania?

This morning, driving to school, all the boys wanted to talk about was Uncle Willie's mission.  Elliott wanted to know if we can skype him and draw him pictures and how many months and days he'll be gone.  Wyatt?  He was in the back just telling us he was picking his nose and farting.

Willie said he wanted his mission to be an adventure.  Well, an adventure is coming!  He reports to the MTC on February 26, 2014.  It's going to be crazy.

 

Quinner :: 12 month stats

Yesterday, my hunka hunka burnin' love went to the doctor.  He got 5 shots.  He has at least 2 molars trying to break through in his mouth.  He is not a happy camper.

He does however weight 28.6 pounds and is 32 inches tall.  I haven't looked at the other boys baby books yet, but I think that officially makes him the biggest monkey of them all.

Happy Birthday to my Grandma P.

If I have my math correct, my Grandma P. celebrated her 70th birthday the year I got married.  That means that if she were alive today, she'd be 80!  It's funny that both my grandma's have birthday's within 5 days of each other in September.  I think they must have planned it up in heaven so that once they left us on earth, we'd make sure to always remember them.

My Grandma P. was a remarkably classy and awesome lady.  Every year at Easter, she would make us chocolate peanut butter eggs.  I lived for those eggs.  She was so talented in so many ways and now that I'm older, I wish that I would have concentrated more when she tried to teach me to sew, to crochet, to cook.  If only I would have known....

But, now that I've taken up sewing as a bit of a hobby, I think about my grandma every day.  Each time I finish a project, I know that she would be proud of me.  I may not have paid attention when I was a kid, but I'm trying to make up for it now.

When Elliott was born, he was the first great-grandchild for my grandma and she was smitten.  She died a few months before Wyatt was born.  In fact, I hadn't told anyone but my parent about being pregnant with Wyatt prior to my grandma's passing.  Ross and Elliott and I were on our way home from Lake Tahoe the night my dad called to tell me that she was slipping away and probably wouldn't make it through the night.  I was so sad that I wasn't close enough to say goodbye, but I asked my dad to whisper in her ear that another baby was going to be joining us. 

At least she got to meet the crazy chick in heaven.

And now, from that one great grandchild, there are so many more.  10 in fact.  And I know that she is in heaven and couldn't be prouder of all of us kids and our kids.