Pukeville.....

We're through our second round of the stomach nastiness of the winter. Monday wasn't fun for anyone. Thankfully, Noah was the only one that barfed. Tyler's fever kept him on the couch all day, and I wondered if I should feel guilty about enjoying the quietness, even though it was sickness-induced...

Anyway, Noah was down for the count in his bed, having a nap, when all of a sudden, I heard, "Moooooom!" in that weird, unmistakeably, I just puked voice. So, up the stairs I go, to find everything, and I mean everything, covered in puke. Poor Noah was sitting amidst it all, crying, covered in it, and looking about as pathetic as I've ever seen him look. So off to the bathroom we go. As I was hosing him off with the shower, I said, "I'll get you some clothes in a second, buddy, okay?" He said, through a sob, "Do I have to wear the same ones, Mom?"

You know it's cold when...

...you wake up in the morning to a toilet that has ice in it.

Yes, you read right. Ice.

We had strong winds last night - 40-50 mph - which pushed the wind chill into the negative 30's. Crazy. So, since our bathroom window off our bedroom is a little drafty, even when it's locked, I decided to close the bathroom door to conserve a little heat. Well, I didn't realize that the vent in the bathroom had been closed - probably been that way for awhile - and this morning, when Scott went to take a shower, he was shocked at how cold it was. I didn't believe him, until not only did he tell me about the ice in the toilet, but couldn't get the shower doors open because they were iced shut. (A little muscle got those open in a second.)

So, for all of you who don't live here, aren't you glad you don't?

Teachable moment???

As parents, we try to find teachable moments in everything. Doesn't always happen the way we think it's going to, though... Scott and Tyler were at the kitchen table last night having a brownie. As they were looking out the doors to the sky, Tyler saw the stars. Scott asked, "Who made the stars, Tyler?" Without much hesitation, he looked at Scott with a smile and said, "Grampa."

Permission...

So Noah is learning to count backwards. 5-4-3-2-1 is as far as he's gotten. My mom was watching the kids the other day and decided to teach him about space shuttles, launches, etc. So, she said, "Here's how they do it in a space launch mission: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-IGNITION!" So, Noah tried, and said, "5-4-3-2-1-PERMISSION!"

Here goes nothing...

Well, here goes nothing, folks. It's Friday night. It's late (well, not even 11 p.m., but hey, we have three kids; late is relative), and everyone is down for the count. I, on the other hand, am wired. So, I decided to start a blog. Hopefully it will come close to the wit and evoke some of the laughter of others' blogs, but I'm not making any promises. Here's a few pictures from January, and then we'll be up and running. For those of you who know Scott and I well, you know that keeping up with the latest technology isn't one of our strong points. I'm still not sure what an iPod does. But, I think a blog will be fun, and looks to be pretty easy. Here goes nothing...

Nothing cuter than a bathtub full of naked kids.

Unless it's three clothed kids wondering why Mommy's standing above them for 15 minutes yelling, "SMILE, SMILE, SMILE! No, Tyler, not your silly smile, your regular smile! NOAH! KEEP LOOKING AT MOMMY!"

This is one of my favorite things to watch. Noah puts his head within drooling/biting distance of Rachel's mouth, and she goes to town on his face. He loves it, she thinks she's getting to chew on an amazing toy, and I love to see them bonding. Very sweet.

Rachel is close to being forwardly mobile. Right now she's in the rolling/backward army crawl camp. Serves her pretty well - she can get around a room - but there are disadvantages. Usually we can find her, but when she gets herself stuck under the dishwasher, we tell her to toughen up and find her own way out.