Jonas Wilder Collins has arrived

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Congratulations to Josh and Mary (and big brother and sister Riley & Molly)!

Jonas Wilder Collins arrived today around noon weighing in at 6 lbs. 8 oz. and 19 inches long!

Rebekah's birthday gift to me: A book

Rebekah wrote/illustrated/published a book for me for my birthday. . Yes, I know my birthday was some time ago, but the book was just so cute and imaginative that I just had to share it!! . The book is called The Lost Island. The first page (along with an illustration) reads: Once upon a time, in the woods there was a little cottage. In the cottage lived Miss. Loren, Lilly the daughter, and an annoying parrot. One day they went on a trip to Arkansas. But...to get there you had to cross the ocean. So they got on a boat. On the way a poster flew on Lilly's face it said..."Monstrow escaped from jail yesterday!" The family hoped the giant didn't come to Arkansas. It was really foggy on the way. They crashed on a lost island! They got off the boat and walked around the island. The parrot, Crackers found a cave and went in for a second. Then he flew out of the cave. A giant came stomping out of the cave. When Crackers told Lilly and Loren they both were scaried too. They tried to go to the boat but when they got to the boat it was pieces of wood because the giant stomped on it while he was chasing the parrot. So Lilly and Loren hid behind a big rock. When Loren put her hand down she whispered "OW!" She lifed her hand up and Lilly saw a magic wand and whispered "Cool!" Loren heard Lilly. She thoght it was cool too. Then they both thought it was magical and it was! They pointed it at the giant ant he disappeared to Hawaii and they lived happily ever after.

http://www.stretchingabuckblog.com/

Why, child? Why?

So, I get off the phone with Aunt Judi, return to the kitchen to find this:

an (almost new) mutilated tub of butter.

So I asked Lydia why she would do that to the butter.

Her reply?

"It's only a harmless box of butter."

In her mind...she's absolutely right.

Bekah brought home this in her homework tonight.

I was checking her answers and couldn't figure out why she answered "No!!!" to this math word problem.

But I guess I wasn't looking at it quite literally enough. Not the way Bekah does.

I was showing David and we were grinning at how her mind works...obviously the answer they are expecting is "odd."

Bekah saw our grins and said, "What? None of the numbers are circled. The answer is NO. Neither odd or even numbers are circled."

Love-a-byes

I just tucked Lydia back in after she got up to use the restroom.  She asked me to sing to her as I tucked her back in.  When I finished the song, she said, "Mommy, I really like your love-a-byes."

Because reading is important

even if you're a dog.

Loving these two websites right now:

http://www.southernsavers.com/

and

http://www.seedtosow.blogspot.com/

Bekah's bowling technique part 2

One more with Bekah's bowling technique!

Lydia's strike!

Here's Lydia's amazing strike!!

Lydia's Bowling Technique

Lydia's bowling technique:
1. Grab ball.
2. Lose balance.
3. Fall down.
4. Make sure hair still looks okay.
5. Throw the ball down the lane.
6. Get miffed that you didn't get a strike.

Bekah's bowling technique

Bekah's bowling technique:
1. Grab the ball
2. Run
3. Throw the ball

We went BOWLING!!

On Saturday, we went bowling and had a big time!

I guess it's been almost three years since the girls have been bowling (so Lydia didn't remember any of it!) so this was a fun new experience!

The bowling alley in town is incredible, with friendly people and new scoring machines. We had a blast.

The girls were really cute in their little bowling shoes

...and you should have seen them tossing that bowling ball down the lane.

And they're so funny watching the ball make it's way to the pins.

Here's Bekah's stance.

Here's Lydia's.

And here's a glimpse at the celebratory mood when a good shot was made!!

I surprised myself by make a couple of strikes and a couple of spares! 

Here was the final score. (Please keep in mind, for David's sake, that the girls had bumpers on their lane...ha ha!)

I'll post a couple of videos when I can. I got some pretty funny ones!

Happy Friday!

Deep Thoughts...by Lydia

As I was tucking Lydia in bed the other night, she informed me that when she grew up, she was going to move out...but live close enough to us to come over for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Then she told me that she wasn't going to get married. And here's her explanation:

"Because sometimes, someone who looks good, really isn't very nice.

And sometimes, someone who's nice doesn't really look good.

'Cause you can't tell by looking at someone if they are nice or not."

(I told her that you'd have to get to know someone to see if he is nice or not. She said she would reconsider her stance on marriage should she got to know a boy and she thought he was nice.) 

Ha!

He's in the Devil!

The girls and I were watching some videos from this site about this guy named Matt who travels around the world and does this goofy dance wherever he goes. (You should really check it out. It's hilarious!)

Anyway, we saw this part of the video...

and Lydia exclaimed, "Oh! He's in the devil!"

(I think she meant desert.)

It was hilarious!

Webkinz vs. Wedkinz

Last night, Bekah was working on her "Interest Inventory" for her teacher. It was a worksheet that asks her several questions about herself so that the teacher can get to know some of her interests. 

Bekah came to the question about her favorite activities.  

Her answer was "Webkinz."  

Only, she accidentally wrote the "b" backwards and ending up writing "Wedkinz."  

She saw it right away and laughed. Then she said, "It's WEBkinz not WEDkinz. If it was WEDkinz, then they would all have to be MARRIED. They'd have to go around holding hands all the time!" 

I thought this was the funniest little picture into the clever way her mind works! How many kids would have made that leap? Ha ha!!

Pool Side Fun

Sunday was a gorgeous day, so we headed to the pool with the Pughs. I just snapped a couple of pictures, and wanted to share.

Just look at that mischievous look on Lydia's face! Ha ha! She was totally "rocking the boat."

Happy birthday, Pappy!!

First day of school! First day of school!

Well, the girls made it to their first day of school!!! Lydia, on her first day of first grade. (She got a little goofy with the teacher's apple.) And Bekah on her first day of third grade. (She dropped her apple and the skin got punctured! We had to go to "back-up apple" still in the fridge!! Ha ha!) 

We went to Bekah's class first because we thought that might go a little smoother (you know, since she's a pro and all) and we were right. 

This is Mrs. Stanley with Rebekah. Her class was very calm and organized and 
Rebekah found her seat right away. Bekah had a quiet confidence about her as she surveyed the classroom. She didn't seem nervous about us leaving at all. I think the teacher really set her at ease. Quick pic with Daddy. And a quick pic with Mommy

and we were off to take Lydia to her class. This is Mrs. Coile-Lemay with Lydia. We helped Lydia find her cubby and her seat. Then a quick pic with Mommy. And a quick pic with Daddy. Several reassuring words that she was going to do a great job (she was a little nervous) and we were off. We thought there would be tears, but we came back by on our way out and there was our confident little Lydia saying the pledge of allegiance. We shot her an "I love you" sign and we were off! Success!