little tidbits...

Alex is such a sweetheart, and one of his favorite things to do is cook. He loves to experiment with different ingredients. Greg is still sick and last week Dale and I had several late nights with him...one morning I overslept, and when I got up, Alex had made breakfast. It was the day after St. Patrick's day, so he made green pancakes with red sprinkles...

Here is his beautiful creation! How cute is he!?!

David has always loved to put stuff on his face or head...One time when he was about 2 he covered his bald head with stickers..

Here he is as a baby pulling a hat on his head...

Here was one of the many times he colored his own face...

And here he was last week...with tape all over his face!?!/?!? I know I am his mother, but even I have no explanation for this...

and just for fun....

The other Day I noticed Rave #8 at walmart...How funny is this picture?!?!?!? This look was accomplished with Rave #4...think of all the possibilities for my hair with Rave #8!!

(I added this photo of my current hairstyle so no one thinks I am still running around with the hairstyle in the above photo!!)

Building the tree house

So after spending all night in the ER with Greg, (negative for appendicitis, probably a really bad GI virus, we'll keep an eye on him)Dale and our 5 man pint sized work crew decided to get the tree house started

Alex helping by cutting down a tree that is under the tree house


Dale and the kids had found the spot a few weeks ago


Dale and I getting the first 15 foot floor boards in place...






Looking for the right bolts....


More floor boards in place...after putting up the other one and cutting a few more boards, we called it a day...(not to mention Dale's poor arm muscles needed a break!)

The infirmary

Tuesday night Melissa started vomitting. It was so sad! We brought her into our room and she threw up a few more times. She had a pretty rough night.

Wednesday were her school pictures, I brought her in to take the pictures (keeping her far away from the other kids!) and then brought her home...

After getting settled with Melissa, the school nurse called. The teacher's assistant had noticed Greg wasn't acting like his usual self and wasn't eating, so she brought him to the nurse. Sure enough, he had a temperature...I went and picked him up. Wednesday night was rough for him...he slept in the spot sick Melissa had occupied the night before and threw up several times. At one point he had crawled into our bed and then threw on the bed...we cleaned it all up and he was so sweet...he told Dale "dad, I am sorry for throwing up all over your bed." we didn't get much sleep. this morning David mentioned his tummy and his head were hurting...I kept him home with the other two.

This afternoon the nurse called. Alex had come in from recess with an upset tummy and a headache. (no fever)She sent him to lunch to see if eating would help. She called back a few hours later...he is still not doing well...only 45 minutes til school is out, I can't go get him with all the other kids home, so he decided to go back to class and put his head down...he came home and picked his spot in the infirmary and we set him up with some entertainment...

Shawn doesn't get sick...ever..he takes after me...if we get this bug it will probably be an hour long headache and thats it...he is sympathizing with his siblings by watching TV with them or playing computer games with them...and smokey just loves the fact that all the kids are laying around...he is going from spot to spot sleeping next to each kid....

It is sorta like a mini vacation. I actually love having them around, but it is so sad to see them not feeling well.

playing catch up....

So here we are last Monday, schools closed because tons of snow decided to
come for a visit! The Cousins decide to go down the hill on one sled...

Timber!

They try again, and........ success!

My daredevil nephew, Justin, riding what looks like a bike, but it has been modified with sleds instead of wheels...! He will TRY anything!
Here we are on Saturday at a birthday party, yes, I said Saturday, just 6 days after the blizzard and cancelled school we are playing in the 75 degree weather!! I love March...!

Underexcitability Syndrome...Someone who has this syndrome appears bored to death and irritated when they are really super duper excited

I have personally made up this syndrome, and I have diagnosed Melissa with it...
Melissa got her ears pierced.......here she is with them pierced as a baby...(and people still didn't know she was a girl) ...she yanked them out, we just let them close up...Well, she has always mentioned wanting them pierced again, but I waited until she really, really, really really wanted them pierced...

So let me describe the long awaited event...(keep in mind she has underexcitability syndrome) As we were driving into the mall parking lot she could barely contain herself she was so excited, she was talking non stop ear piercing...she practically skipped the whole way to the piercing pagoda...then, we arrived to the pagoda and her syndrome kicked in...she picked out her earrings, and she looked so angry about the whole thing! I told the lady Melissa wanted her ears pierced and she said "are you sure?" Onlookers watched as this twisted mother forced this very unhappy little girl to get her ears pierced and unbelievably the cruel mom was taking pictures of the whole abusive event!..Once ears her ears were pierced, the lady held up the mirror so Melissa could see..Melissa looked away, almost like she was disgusted by the earrings...I embarrassingly thanked the lady and as we walked I asked Melissa what was wrong...her reply, "Mom, why would anything be wrong?" as she began practically skipping out of the mall and chattering about the pink sparkly earrings and how at Victoria's birthday party she would show ALL the girls her ears...and how her hair had to be in a ponytail so her earrings could show and blah blah blah all the way home!! Am I dreaming!?!?! here is the best pose I could get ...this was after saying "Melissa, smile" about 20 times...She is the sweetest little girl..EVER...She never asks for anything, and if she does she is so polite and sweet about it...I wanted to buy her a new outfit the other day and her response was "mom, I really love it, but I don't want you to spoil me" (I, of course, bought it for her)....she is not being a spoiled brat or unappreciative during exciting things, she just won't allow herself to act excited....i guess it's just the realities of Underexcitability syndrome, she contains excitement and we look like child abusing nutcases!

David "Hatrick" Kelley

My son, David Patrick Kelley, asked if we could change his middle name to Hatrick instead of Patrick...for those who don't know, in Hockey, a hat-trick is when a player scores three goals in one game....sounds reasonable....

Hatrick played goalie for one period during his game yesterday...

Hatrick did not score a hat-trick, but he had fun anyway (he does not suffer from the same thing Melissa does, so we could tell he was having fun)