Restarting and Moving

Ok, so it has been FOREVER since we have posted and I know we have missed a ton of things we could have shared with you.  So it's time to restart and in doing this we are going to move sites.  So head over to http://laughingwithkids.weebly.com/ and see our new work in progress.

BEAT THAT

This past week at church a good friend of ours was teaching and overheard a discussion between Puddin and another boy. The discussion included attempts to outdo one another. Then Puddin says,

"I've got 6 brothers and sisters and I'm the oldest. you really think you're gonna get me with that?"

The other kids around that knew Puddin well just smiled and the discussion came to an end.

I'm glad that's worth bragging about.

BIRD JOKES

Here is a recipe we tried today for snow ice cream.

8 cups of snow

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 t vanilla.

While making this ice cream Puddin asked, "Have you seen the one can?"

Tippy humorously made a joke and replied, "No, but I've seen a Toucan."

We love these impromptu jokes!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

We took a trip over Christmas break to see Grandparents and visit some of our old stomping grounds in Oklahoma. We bought our first house there and had 2 of our babies there. It was a great trip, but it also meant A LOT of time in the car with seven small children.

We did things to pass the time. Like watch a lot of movies, until the dvd player quit working. Fed the baby goldfish, wet wipes, and let her listen to the MP3 player too. She watched movies, for like 10 seconds, and went the whole way with not more than a 20 minute nap. Some babies sleep in the car but not our baby.

We also played the alphabet game. You look for the letters of the alphabet, in order; on traffic signs, license plates and billboards. It’s a race to see who can find all the letters first. Usually Dad and I are in a heated competition to try to pass the time. The kids join in too. This time we changed the rules slightly. You couldn’t just use any random letter, the word actually had to start with the letter. So we begin to find words and shout out, “A –adopt, B – Burger King, C – cars, D – Diner, E – Exit”

And Tippy is learning to read so he gets really excited when he can actually find one of the words. So he shouts,

“F – For! I found “For.” That’s one of my sight word!”

And Mom shouts out, “Good job! Hooray! Tippy found the the “F” word!”

That sounded so much nicer inside my head, than coming out of my mouth.

WHERE DO CLOUDS COME FROM?

Mom: Where do clouds come from? (We were learning about the water cycle; evaporation, condensation, precipitation, repeat, hence the name cycle).
And the other kids all start to tell me that clouds are tiny, invisible droplets of water vapor all collected together that begin to condense when they hit the cold upper atmosphere to form a cloud.

But Sharpay had a different take on things, "Jesus made the clouds. Well he did make everything, mom, so clouds count too."

And a little child shall lead them..

RUDOLPH & A SHOPPING MALL

We went to the mall yesterday to hear my niece sing. It was a cute Christmas concert. So here is Sharpay and Tippy's rendition of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."

"You know Dasher and Dancer, Tupid and Cupid, Comic and Jupiter, Donald and Blitzen."

Our visit to the shopping mall was lots of fun. At least once in your lifetime you should try taking seven small children to a major shopping mall, by yourself, just to watch people watch you. We got the typical questions, "Is this a birthday party or something?" "You want HOW many kids meals?" And you know people are staring at us and wondering, "How come those kids aren't in school today?"

We had some free rides coupons to use at the indoor amusement park. They are usually worth 1 free ride. We had enough coupons to let every kid ride 2 rides after the concert. When the kids got off the log ride for the first time they were all talking loudly at once. But I heard every word, because I'm a good mom, right? I just kept nodding my head and chanting, "Oh really? Is that right? Oh my goodness!" But I got the message. The kids, with their slightly wet faces from the water ride and huge grins had just enjoyed a fantastic time. But Tippy hit the jackpot. We didn't know it, but he had a bonus 100 point ticket. So after their allotted 2 free rides we went on to spend up the 100 points. An afternoon of pure delight.

1 KINGS 17

Here's the story of the prophet Elijah being fed by ravens, paraphrased by Tippy. You can find the real story in the Bible in 1 Kings 17.

"There was no rain for like a really long time. And so God told Elijah to live by the river, and the birds would come and bring food for him to eat. And there was no food to eat because there was a SALMON in the land."

And I reply, "Not SALMON honey, FAMINE. If there had been salmon, there would be no famine."