Weekend roundup

It's early Monday morning and my house smells like Murphy's oil soap and Froot Loops. This combination makes me optimistic about the week.
Sunday was "spring cleaning day". I did some laundry in between chapters of my library book while Andy cleaned the rest of the house, the basement, the backyard, and the van. We are all about equal distribution of responsibilities in this house. The kids of course helped out. A good example of their contribution would be when I told Ace to put his bag of blocks in the playroom or I was going to throw them in the trash, he thought about it for a second and said "Okay, throw them in the trash then."
Anyway, the house is clean and Andy is still asleep on the couch where he passed out last night, perhaps because of inhaling too much oil soap.
Saturday was a big day as well. The base has a big community yard sale once a year and we went there in search of a highchair. We left with a tackle box, a bag of baby clothes, a stuffed loon, a robot, and a bumbo chair. But, of course no highchair. A successful yard sale in my opinion. Who doesn't need a stuffed loon, I ask you?
Later in the day we ventured a full hour away from home in search of bunkbeds. Because, seriously, Julia is done with the crib. We found a simple white wooden set that is pretty and sturdy and not too tall that will be delivered this weekend. I'm hoping that will begin a new era of everyone sleeping in their own beds through the whole night but I'm not betting on it. Friday night there were 5 of us sleeping in our bedroom, Hayley was the only one who stayed in her bed. That meant that when Ace woke up at 6:07am on Saturday morning yelling "I want to go back to the Children's museum" he woke up every member of the family except one.
Besides the 6:07 wake up call, it was a great weekend. And Sunday night was the icing on the cake. After dinner Andy took the 3 biggies downstairs to watch Star Wars on the big tv. Ace has been asking to watch it for at least 2 months so I let him check out the DVD from the library. He immediately called Andy at work and had this conversation "Hi Daddy, I was calling and hoping that you could come watch Star Wars with me. How about it?" So Sunday night was long awaited. Not a S.W fan myself, I opted to stay upstairs with Lucy but when I heard the end title music, I went downstairs to see who was still awake. I found Hayley, snoring away at one end of the couch with Julia sleeping on top of her. Ace and Andy both wide awake on the other end of the couch, still entranced by the screen.

Here is Ace's Review of the movie:

Mom: What happened in Star Wars Ace?
Ace:I don't know. Maybe the boys had their clothes and their pants and their shoes and guns. And the bad guy had the black clothes and the helmet. Can we go to Toys R Us?
Mom: Tell me more about the movie.
Ace: Well, guess what? The two guys were flying of a rocket ship and they were trying to fly to the moon first and they were fast but the rocket ship stopped. The bad guy was trying to win.
Mom: Did he win?
Ace: I think ya.
Mom: The bad guy?
Ace: The girl gave them hug at the end. Darp Bader was crying. Guess what happened to him? Because he wanted to win but he was on a different team. And he didn't win.
Mom: Did you like the movie?
Ace:Yay! Let's watch it again!*

So, there you go, two enthusiastic thumbs up from Ace.

*this is, by far, a more accurate plot summation than I could give of Star Wars and I've watched it at least 3 times with Andy.

* After Ace's Mother's Day performance he asked Andy from the backseat of the van "Hey Daddy, do you think I could be part of the Jonas Brothers?"


*After we watched Andy's softball game last night I took the kids to McD's. Ace was fussing because he wanted coke with his meal and I got him milk. Hayley looks at him and says "Ace, it's called a HAPPY meal. Why don't you think about that for a minute."

*Julia was jumping on the bed and, of course, fell off. She wasn't jumping very high or fast so the fall was pretty slow, she kind of fell on the bed and then slid to the floor. She had time to tell me "Uh-oh, I falling". Once she hit the floor she sat there for a minute and said "Juju jump, Juju fall down. Oh, Juju okay. I jump again?"

*Julia and Ace were playing and I overheard Ace say this from the other room: "Okay Julia, hit me. And then stand very still."

Hey Katherine...

"..thanks for the baby"
-Julia

Lucky

10 years ago I was not someone who made big plans for the future. But Someone had a plan for me. Someone looked at me then, a 20 year old who really didn't know what she was doing with this life He had given her, and I think He may have had a good laugh at my low expectations. I still am not someone who makes big plans. I just thank God for the present.
Happy Mother's Day

Worms and jetpacks...

I am enjoying a rare moment of silence in the house. The 3 bigger kids are off fishing with Andy and Lucy is taking a marathon nap. She is worn out from her morning exersaucing.
Before fishing Andy took the kids to the baitshop for supplies. Ace walked up to the counter and asked if they had any jetpacks. Then he pulled a dime out of his pocket and told the man he had plenty of money for one.
I think after Lucy wakes up we'll go for a walk, she has become a lover of the outdoors. This is somewhat surprising because in her first few months she didn't appreciate any place expect the comfort of our armchair. Now she is happy anywhere in the fresh air as long as the sun isn't in her eyes or the wind isn't blowing her hair out of place.
Pictures coming later, perhaps of some big fish!