Wobble Baby, Wobble

Hello!  We had another great week here in (mostly) sunny Louisiana!  Well, except for my Joshua.  He got sent home from school on Monday with fever.  :o(  It was just a cough, but with fever, he wasn't allowed to go back until Wednesday - which completely freaked me out because what about the homework?  And the tests??  And how is he going to learn anything???  <--- me freaking out

Haha, but no worries, he was fever-free by Wednesday, the cough is almost gone, and he was actually ahead of the class when he went back since his mom is a little over-bearing.  So it's all good.  :o)

Monday:

Besides my boy coming home from school early, it was a nice day.

"Chillin' with my Daddy."

Tuesday:

Every morning Emily rides in the stroller to take the kids to school (so she can fall asleep on the way home) and then she rides her car to school in the afternoons. Well, Tuesday morning, she let me know what she thought of that. I put on her shoes and jacket (like always) and she ran over and got on her car. I let her sit there because I still had to pack lunches and figured she'd go to the stroller in a minute, but 5 minutes later she was still sitting there. So I got her up, distracted her and went to get my jacket. When I came back, she was sitting in the car again, her cup was in the cup holder, and she was holding her snack cup and smiling at me.

I asked the kids, "Who put her cup in the cup holder?  I want her to ride in the stroller."  And Evelyn said, "Mommy, she did it."  I looked at her like I totally didn't believe her and Matthew said, "She really did Mommy, I saw her get her drink and snacks and go sit down."  Hmph.  Soooo... yeah, she got to take the car to school that morning.  :op

Later, we needed to run to the store, so when I told her, "Okay, let's go," instead of coming to the back door, of course, this is where she ran.

That silly girl.  She loves that car.  :o)

Wednesday:

Joshua returned to school, the kids had church school that afternoon, and Evie had more practice for cheerleading.

I took a quick pic of the girls marching around the track.  She said that she was really tired afterwards.  Oh my poor baby, they only marched 1.5 miles, trying to get used to marching and cheering at the same time, but they have to go 6 at the parade!  And she's really excited, but we'll have to see how she does.  :o)  The parade is this Sunday, Feb. 5th, so I'll let you know.

Thursday:

I would just like to mention that it's really not cool when Emily pulls your bookmark out of your book. She hit my book twice this week and Evelyn's 3 times! Goodness, that girl gets in to everything - the pencils, coozies, kitchen drawers, desk drawers, Wii games, printer paper, jewelry, cameras - if she can get her hands on it, she's got it and running away as fast as she thinks she can! Nothing within reach is safe. ;o)

Friday:

Friday was a big day.

Emily realized that coloring is lots of fun (when she's not getting in trouble for eating the crayons).

And Evelyn got to go to the Daddy Daughter Mardi Gras Masquerade!

Awwwww.  She had been so excited for days.

And Daddy was very happy to escort her to the dance.  :o)

She even had a pretty mask to wear.

Chris had one too, but I'm not allowed to share those pictures.  ;o)

Emily was cool taking a picture with Evelyn, until she really looked at her.

"Uh... Sissy, what's that on your face?"

Our girl had such a great time. They had pictures done, ate pizza, and Chris said that Evie danced, A LOT. 

She was very happy when she got home and told me all about how she hung out with her friends and how she got to do the Wobble twice.  Yes, the Wobble.  I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but she's only 8, the dance was at school, and her Daddy was with her, so it's okay, right?  (Right??) :o)

The boys and I had snack cakes and played a great game of Life.

Matthew beat me and Joshua!

And dude, I don't know what I fed her, besides a little bit of the boys' snack cakes, but Emily lost her mind.

First, she made me put her pants on her head, so we all died laughing at her.

And then she knew we were laughing at her, so she just kept being silly.

Hahaha, it was a lot of fun.  :o)

Saturday:

Evelyn had cheer practice from 10 to 1, then she got to go to her friend's house for a while.  The boys played outside a lot, and Chris and I got some stuff done around the house.

Just a couple of pics before church.  :o)

Sunday:

Yep, he lost another tooth!  Crazy boy.  :o)

Emily must have partied too much the night before because she took an extra long nap, passed out on the couch just like this.

Lol, she really was sprawled out like that for over an hour, it was very funny.

Later, Evelyn and Emily did some light reading.

And then they helped me paint some frames for my bedroom.

Matthew really enjoyed painting.

So did Evie.

I have such great helpers.  :o)

Well, of course my littlest helper had to try too.  We kept her out of the paint, for the most part, but I had to give her a brush and palette just so she would leave us alone!  Silly girl.

And that's our week.  Progress Reports go home tomorrow, so we'll see how the kids are doing (wish them luck), Evie has her first parade on Sunday (yay!), we still have lots of frames to paint, and Emily has a new tooth coming in!  It's gonna be a great week. :o) I hope y'all have a good week too.

Laters!

Boogie Shoes

Hi there!  That week seemed really long, didn't it?  Nah, it's just me?  Okay.  :op  Haha, yeah, it was a long week, but a good one.  Joshua only had one test to study for (yay!), so our 4-day school week was pretty relaxed.

Monday:

The kids were out of school for MLK day.  We spent the day relaxing and playing outside.  The kids finally tried out their new lawn darts.

Those darts are kinda cool.  They're weighted on the bottom, so when you throw them up, they come hurdling back down really fast.  The kids had a blast throwing them around.  We just had to keep reminding them to throw them away from the house and the neighbor's car.  :o)

And we set Emily loose!

For real, we just let her go, and she went everywhere.  She quickly crossed the road, walked circles around the playground, then chased the kids, and just didn't stop!

Evelyn decided to follow her, just in case, but she was really fine.  She walked into the middle of the boys' dart field.

And decided it was a good place to take a break.

She even pushed her train toy around for awhile.

I guess I should let her roam around outside more often, but she's still so little, you know?  I guess we'll see.  But as long as she has her big sister watching her every move, I guess it's alright.  :o)

Tuesday:

Emily seems to have some new skills this week, or maybe I've just started to really notice.

She can follow directions... well kinda.  When I tell her to go get me a pamper, she'll leave and come back with either a pamper or the powder.  When I ask her if she wants a "baba" (bottle), she goes to the refrigerator (where the milk is) and starts trying to pull it open.  If I tell her to go upstairs, she does.  She totally understands everything I say - "Let's go get the kids" and she gets her jacket and brings it to me.  She gets me her shoes and drink when I ask for them too.  And just sooo much more stuff! 

And she jabbers constantly.  It's mostly just gibberish, but she does say mama, dada, sss-sss (Sissy), bubba, papa, more, and sometimes night-night.  I think she tried to say "Joshua" this morning, but I'm not sure.  Like I said, most of it is just gibberish, but it's so cool that she understands and thinks that she can talk, you know?  :o)

Wednesday:

Evelyn started having Cheer practice again.

Her first Mardi Gras parade is on February 5th, so her squad has extended their practice times and started Saturday practices too.  And dude, we found out the parade is 6 miles long!  My poor girl, I know she'll be fine, but goodness she's gonna be fussy when it's over, haha.

Matthew built block towers for Emily just so she could knock them down over and over.  He's such a great brother.

And Joshua brought home an Altar Server form from church class.  He said that he asked for one because he really wants to do it.  I told him that he's going to have to pay attention and work really hard if he does, and he said that he's ready.  Goodness - I don't know if I'm ready for him to be an altar server.  What if he forgets something or holds the book upside down!?  Haha, I know he'll be fine and that we have to let him go for it, but it's still a little bit worrisome.  I'll let you know how it goes.  :o)

:o)

Thursday:

Emily really likes to sit in her Big Bird chair.

We usually keep it in the corner, so she drags it out herself and sets it in front of the coffee table, and she gets mad if one of the kids puts their feet on it or something, hehe.  I love that Big Bird chair.

When the kids got home from school, it was cooler outside than in the house, so I opened up the doors for while.  I was getting dinner ready when I noticed this perfect photo-op.

The kids were all sitting at the table doing homework and Emily had decided to take her toys and sit in the doorway to play with them.  :o)  Every now and then she would throw one of the toy rings outside and then look at me, slowly get up and walk outside to get it, and then hurry back in, hehe.  (Ignore the Christmas boxes in the corner, they're scheduled to be put away soon.)  ;o)

Oh - and we finally finished the King Cake!  And guess who got the baby?

Yep, Joshua declared himself King for the Day!  It didn't last long because they went to bed an hour later, but he was very happy that he ended up finding it.  Now they keep asking me to buy another one so they can do it all over again.  But that darn sugary, cream-filled King Cake was sooo bad for me... I mean um... us, but sooo good too.  And it is New Orleans, so that's what we're supposed to do, right?  Right??  ;o)

Friday:

Matthew decided to sharpen all the pencils in the house.

Yes, for real, and no, I don't know why.  He came home from school and asked if he could sharpen our 2 boxes full of pencils.  So I said - Sure, have at it.  And he did.  For over an hour, he stood there sharpening pencils in our electric pencil sharpener, haha.  He was sooo proud of himself when he was done and asked if I had any extra pencils anywhere that I needed sharpened, so I found a couple from my purse, hehe.  I still don't know why, he said that he just wanted to.  Goodness.  I love my nerd.  :o)

I'm making Emily a headband/head-dress for Mardi Gras.

This is the beginning of it, and I say "head-dress" because it's Mardi Gras, so that means the bigger, the better, right?  So it's gonna be big and loud...maybe, we'll see how it turns out.  :o)  But she needs something to wear when we go cheer Evelyn on in her parades, and the girl doesn't have any hair for a big bow, so head-dress it is!

Saturday:

And once again, the kids spent the whole weekend outside.  Yes, even Joshua.  (The boy got an unfortunate "yellow" instead of "green" this week, so video games were off-limits.)  Evelyn had cheer practice that morning, we went shoe shopping after lunch, and then went to the Vigil Mass.

My pretty girls before church.  :o)

That's the 3rd or 4th week in a row that we've gone to the Vigil Mass instead of the Sunday one.  I don't know why, but I really enjoy the Saturday Mass here.  And it just seems calmer, like we have more time to prepare, and to get Emily good and tired before we go, which really helps.  :o)

Sunday:

The kids have been asking if they could go to the store and buy stuff with their money all week, so while Emily and I ironed, Chris took them up to the Exchange.  They were so excited to go and made sure they all knew how much they had to spend and what they were going to get.

Evelyn bought this cute puppy that barks and walks around.  Emily really liked it, until later when it was "chasing her", or so she must've thought from the way she tried to get away from it.  :o)

The boys each bought new beyblades, so they can change them out with the other ones they have and try to win more beyblade battles. *rolls eyes*  Chris let them each pay and get their own change and receipt, so they were very happy.  They spent the rest of the day outside, running with their "gangs".  ;o)

And here's a quick pic from this morning of the new shoes that they all got on Saturday.

Joshua really needed new ones, that boy wears through every pair before he can outgrow them!  And when I took a closer look, Evie's looked pretty worn out and Matthew's toes were kinda close to the end, so we just got them all new school shoes and kept the old ones for play.

I really wanted to complain about how much kids' shoes cost, and how times 3 they add up... but then I realized that we're able to buy our kids new shoes when they need them, so I just needed to shut up.

And who could complain with those faces around. :o)

So yep, we'll see how long these shoes last!  ;o)  We're going to have a great week.  Joshua's feeling a little under the weather, but he's a big boy, so he'll be alright.  And Evelyn and Chris are attending a Daddy-Daughter Mardi Gras Masquerade at the school on Friday!  (Awww.)  Evie can't wait.  :o)

Hope you have a great week.  Laters!

Away in a Manger

I finally downloaded my videos!  Yay!  And here is the video of the children's live Nativity performed on Christmas Day at Maw Maw's house.  It's a little lengthy, but really good, and the kids (along with everybody else) did a really great job.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!  :o)

Oh Happy Day

Hello!  We are having a great Tuesday.  And well, I thought I would be all caught up on the blog after the holidays, but with the kids out of school yesterday for MLK day, I completely forgot that it was Monday/Blog Day.  My bad.  :o1

I guess now that we're back to our busy schedule during the week, I forget to take as many pictures, oof.  Our first week back to school went quite smoothly, but I was really happy when Saturday got here and I got to sleep in... until 6:45.  (Thanks Emily!)  ;o)

By the way, I completely forgot that the kids got their report cards just before Christmas break, and guess what?--- they all made the Principal's List again!  Yay!

Joshua's GPA: 97.85

Evelyn's GPA: 99.00

Matthew's GPA: 99.83

What am I going to do when they get to high school and their GPAs are not so good?!  Haha. *sigh* Oh well, we are so proud of all the effort they put into their work now, that's all that matters. (Right??)  ;o)

Monday:

After their first day back to school, Chef Evelyn cooked us up a batch of Easy Bake Oven chocolate chip cookies.

She followed the directions to make the batter.

And then she formed the little cookies on the mini-cookie sheet.

8 minutes later, we had Cookie Crisp cereal! Oh wait-- I mean, real cookies!  Haha, they were sooo tiny that she was a little disappointed, but she was so excited that she did it all herself.  She shared them with us all (we each got 2, even Emily) and they were very yummy.  Thanks Evie!  :o)

Tuesday:

Kids went to school, there was lots of homework, and Emily likes wearing her pants on her head.

A perfect Tuesday.

Wednesday:

Emily really likes her new riding buggy.  We usually take it to the school in the afternoons to pick up the kids.

Sometimes she just sits and eats goldfish, and sometimes she twists the steering wheel back and forth the whole way there, hehe.  Evelyn cheered at half of a basketball game (which we didn't get to go to), and the kids started back to church school.

Friday:

While the kids were in school, we did lots of grocery shopping, and ohmygoodness, you should see the Mardi Gras section at Walmart.

"How you doin'?"

Hehe, seriously though, the whole Christmas section is now the Mardi Gras section.  And I saw a gorgeous wreath that I wanted to buy for our front door... until I saw that it was $24.99!!  Yikes, I guess I need to figure out how to make my own.  :o)

We bought the kids a King Cake, because they are everywhere!

We've learned that, here in New Orleans, Carnival season runs from Epiphany to Mardi Gras, and is celebrated with lots of King Cake.  The Cake came with beads and there's even a baby hidden inside!  Joshua is determined to find it, so he can be "king for the day", hehe.  And although they've had a piece every day, nobody has found the baby yet.  There are still 4 pieces left!

They gave all of their beads to Emily.  :o)

Saturday:

Chris had duty again this weekend, so the kids and I chilled out at home.

That morning, I was working on laundry and ironing, so Evelyn played with Emily for a while.  And aww, Emily really loves her sister.  They were watching TV in my room when Emily decided to lay down on her lap and started to fall asleep.

Matthew played with Joshua's gyro-copter for awhile.

And dude - at lunchtime, I came downstairs and found this.

It's Matthew's glow board that he got for Christmas, set on the counter in the kitchen.

They wrote me a note to let me know what they wanted to have for lunch.  Actually, they wrote me a note to tell me how to work the glow board so I could read their "order", written on the glow board!

"Push right to see 1st Menu on the glow board on the bottom." (Next Page)

"Push all the way to the right for the fun switch-a-roo on the bottom of the glow board.

That's it!  Get to work!  Love, Evelyn, Joshua Nutt, Matthew Nutt and Emily"

The nerve of those children!

Yeh, but I still made them what they asked for, cuz that was just too funny.  :op

A picture of my sweet girl before church.  :o)

Sunday:

We cleaned out the coat closet, so I had the kids try on a few old jackets.  Evelyn had this princess cape that we decided was too small for her, but it's so cute, so she wanted to save it for Emily.

Hehe, Emily thought that was a great idea!

As soon as I put it on her, she walked around laughing and then rolled around in it too.

I guess that means we're keeping it.  :o)

The kids played outside for most of the day.  Later, Emily and I were upstairs ironing, and it got warm, so I opened the balcony door for a while.  Well, Evelyn was outside on the playground and noticed right away and started calling to Emily.

And it was so cute, Emily heard her and went to the door.  When she found her sister, she started waving.  Then she got brave and walked out there to yell at her for a while.

Emily probably stayed out there for 20 or 30 minutes, yelling at Evelyn or just wandering around, it was pretty cute.  :o)

Joshua took a break from his bike to play games, of course.

And Evelyn, with the help of her "gang", built the world's largest hopscotch game.

Silly goose.

And that's it!  We spent MLK day chilling at home, but those pictures I'll save for next week.  :o)

I love that the kids are back in school because we have structure and a schedule, but goodness I love the weekends when they can just play all day.  Evelyn starts her extra cheer practice this week, getting ready for her 3 Mardi Gras parades! (I just found out that they're doing another one on February 17th!)  As always, wish us luck!  Have a great week!

Laters!  :o)