Madelyn's wheels

Madelyn couldn't be more excited about her new ride. Aaron put the training wheels on Elizabeth's old Barbie bike a few days ago and she has wanted to be on it constantly. She has brought it into our house and rides it all over in our gym because it's been so cold outside. We're hoping for some warmer weather so that she can get out and get some good practice. The bike is still a little big for her, but I think she'll get the hang of it quickly.

Payback time!

A couple of months ago I posted about a fun prank our family pulled on some good friends who had a snowman in their front yard. It was all decked out in Kentucky gear so we swapped it out to Ohio State. Last night they got their paybacks! We took over a plate of Buckeyes (peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate... yummy) for them to enjoy during the Ohio State/Kentucky basketball game. This is what we got in return on our front doorstep this morning.

And this not so beautiful flag was in our front yard. Will has been talking smack with his friend Dalton all week and telling him that he had to wear an Ohio State shirt if we won. Will's true colors are showing because he now refuses to wear anything Kentucky and won't talk on the phone to Dalton or his Dad.

Fancy Birthday Invitation

I seriously think I could just have one blog for all of the crazy things Bruce does. He came home a couple of days ago with a friend's phone number and told me "Jack R. said I'm invited to his birthday party." I told him we need an invitation so we know when it is and know that he really is invited. So today he comes home from school and tells me excitedly that he has a birthday invitation for Jack R's birthday party. Guess we better put it on the calendar.

(If you look closely, you can see a game of tic tac toe on the back of the paper. What a funny kid!)

Aaron's namesake

This past weekend we had Aaron's sister, Janey, and her family visiting with us. The highlight of the weekend was meeting this little guy, Aaron Bitner Dunford. He was born in January and we hadn't met him yet. We were all excited and loved holding him, but Naomi was the one who just couldn't get enough of him. She was so sweet with him. It made me a little sad to think that she won't ever have a younger brother or sister, but the end has to come sometime!

Elizabeth, Joy, and I went to the art fair at the high school. One of Elizabeth's art creations from school was on exhibit at the high school.

The boys got out the dress-up clothes and were running all over our yard dressed up like super heroes. I'm sure our neighbors loved watching (and hearing) them. It doesn't get anymore fun than this!

School Carnival

Last night we attended the school carnival at the kids' elementary school. This big slide was definitely Madelyn's favorite activity.

It was like a dream come true for Naomi: give someone a ticket, play a little activity, and get a piece of candy. She got the hang of it very quickly.

The other kids were so cute and willing to help Naomi.

We drink very little pop at our house so it's a big treat for the kids. Justin was so proud of his FOUR two-liters that he won. Will and Bruce had to follow his example and play the ring toss game too. An hour after we put them to bed last night I found Justin and Will in bed sneaking from theirs!

Thanks, Missy!

When I posted pictures of the puppet stage we made the kids for Christmas, my friend Missy suggested we add some vinyl lettering on top. She sent it to us in the mail and I just love it! Thanks, Missy!

Gymnastics girl

Madelyn always has a name for herself according to what she is doing: supergirl, ballerina girl, etc. On Mondays she is now gymnastics girl. She started taking her first class a few weeks ago and has so much fun. She just smiles the whole time and looks over to make sure I am watching her. She has been having so much fun and loving that she has her own special activity after sitting through so many for her older brothers and sister.

Life's lessons

I just finished painting our upstairs hallway for the third night in a row. The first night I primed it. The second day I painted it and ran out of paint with one little section. I went and bought a pint to finish it up. It was custom made and I forgot to bring the gallon with me to color match, but I knew how they made it. Apparently, when they are mixing different sized cans, it may not divide evenly so the color could be slightly different. I painted the rest of it last night and realized this morning that the last section was a slightly different color than the rest of the hallway. The problem: I liked the new color better! So this morning I went back to Sherwin Williams and bought (in pint size) two more cans of paint so that I could re-paint yesterday's work.

Lesson learned: Make sure you buy enough paint for your project the first time around.

It wasn't me...

I am not the one who taped Bruce up, but what a great idea! Bruce was actually the one who asked (actually begged) Will and Elizabeth to do it. It was a nicely observed moment of silence in our house.

What a crew!

Tonight Elizabeth had a little activity planned for us. She collected several various items throughout the house and if you had the bag when the music stopped, you had to pull something out of the bag with your eyes closed and put it on. Everyone had fun with it - especially our friend Rusty who was spending the evening with us.

Aren't you jealous?

Last night I finished painting the last room on our mainfloor: the half bath. There's only so much you can do in a bathroom with a hunter green sink and toilet.

That's what I get for asking...

Today I asked Bruce to go and get the mail. I guess next time I will be more specific about where to put it when he brings it in.