Justin's Secret Life

The other day I called Justin.  Usually when I call him he says something like:

"Hello love."

or

"Hello lovebug."

and he says it in a cutesy voice because we are mushy like this.

Anyway, when I called him he answered me in his mushy voice but he said:

"Hello research."

Yup.  Research.  I knew it!

Christmas in West Branch

This year we went to the Hoover Library at West Branch and enjoyed the old-fashioned Christmas.  We saw an ice carver, viewed some trains, took a carriage ride, and ate some awesome doughnuts (first good doughnuts I've found in Iowa!!! other than the Amish ones.)  The kids also got to see Santa.  

Waiting in line for Santa:

Spencer is suffering from "my coat makes me a marshmallow and so I can't hold my head up" here.  Which reminds me of this picture of Ellie and Meg also being marshmallows, which I will post below.

(Ellie is wearing my coat because I was super-smart and forgot to bring hers.  Luckily it was not too cold so I wore my jacket.)

Trains:

I'm so cute:

Pictures from my phone that I like...

Spencer wearing his new hat from Grandma:

Spencer eating Buzz Lightyear:

Meg refusing to take a nap:

Where we find Grant after the night-time circus dies down:

Super Spencer:

This is Elise singing in her school sing-along.  Hey, I was using a camera phone zoomed way too much while a baby pulled on my leg and screamed.  Considering that, this is an AMAZING photo.

Sleeping is adorable:

Mashed potatoes are apparently disgusting:

Playing with the laundry warrants climbing:

Whipped cream is apparently good:

Ice Skating birthday party:

1st Science Fair with her bird nest collection:

Dinner laughs

Says Meg during a "future job" discussion where Ellie declared she wanted to someday be an artist.

Meg: I want to be a doctor.
Mom/Dad: That's a good thing to be.
Meg: Yes, then I can shot people.

Attempt at Family Photos - minus parents

My mom has been asking for a picture of all the kids FOREVER.  So, I pulled the only card I have when it comes to fashion at my house.  A long time ago I told the kids that the only time I got to totally veto their clothes choices was on holidays.  This meant I got to pick everyone's outfit yesterday.  True - Meg had a drop-down fit where Justin and I had to forcibly dress her.  And yes - I had to offer lipstick and chocolate in the exchange, but we did manage to look normal enough for some family photos.  I've included most of them because it cracks me up how many photos a person has to take to get a good one of children.  Plus, if I show you all of them you'll get to see at least one picture where each child is actually smiling and looking at the camera.

Check out Grant's 3 year old smile.  Actually, this was the first picture and it was pretty good, but I hoped I could get Spencer a little more normal.

Pretty good, but my lighting ended up strange.  I am still working on the camera issue.

Wearing thin... I may have said "this is the last one" five times.

This is my favorite, I think:

Do you notice how much "yellower" Spencer is than the other kids.  I think he has my skin instead of Justin's.  I asked the pediatrician about it, and she said the baby food does it too.  Although I've never noticed it with my other kids.

Ellie:

Meggie:

Grant and Spencer above.  (Blogger won't let me write between the pictures.)

Lately...

... we went to the Children's Museum again.  Our membership had lapsed and we hadn't been for awhile.  This meant there were some fun new exhibits that we'd never played at before.

Ellie made Meg a dress.  It was lovely:

Grant's Prayer

Last night was a hard one for Grant.  He wacked Mom in the face, told Ellie she was stinky, and went potty in the middle of the living room floor for full effect.  Needless to say he was in trouble a few times.

This morning when he was saying his prayer, it went like this:

"Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for my Mom and Dad.  I like them now.  You don't have to send new ones anymore...."

Am I wrong in thinking that after last night he was ready to trade us in?

Mystery Party

We decided to throw a Mystery Party with some friends from the ward.  Since my house is small, some creativity had to take place to make it all happen.  I kept the couch in the kitchen (that's where it resides when I teach ballet) and we set up tables in the front room.  Then we served food in the kitchen.  Here's the dressed up house photos:  (Ellie was a great advisor on decorating.  That girl has creativity coming out of her ears, and she is happy to share her opinions.  When she left for school that day she told me:  "Mom the living room looks nice, but the kitchen looks horrible."  So, I worked on it while she was gone.)

We had eight couples total, so it was a little squishy.... but we all had a lot of fun. 

My kind, unassuming friend Donna ended up being the murderer.  It's always the quiet ones.

Justin was a serf:

The whole crew:

Grant adopted this "Knight" outfit which he totally fell in love with.  We had to give it back, so we took this photo to send to Santa.  He's hoping for a real sword though - the golf club only goes so far.

(See my whole color versus blurry issue??????)