Memorial Day

For Memorial Day we took the kids to the beach with Charlie's Mom, Dad and step dad. It was fun, but really cold. Charlie and I were wrapped up in the towels the whole time. Grandpa Dave brought his paddle board, which is like a extra big surf board you can stand and paddle around on. Dave kept trying to paddle out, but Mia was holding onto the cord and would pull him back in. This went on for about five minutes. We were laughing so hard. It was really cute. Dave said he knew she was there, but was hoping she would eventually jump on. Our little Charlie Chaplin.

Mia's In Love

Mia has decided that she is in love. It all has happened so fast. We have been going to church with the Hunt family since before she was born, but until this last Sunday she didn't even realize they had an older son, Christian. He is 12. I just want to point out that they sit in either the row in front of us or behind us about a third of the time. After church on Sunday Mia saw Christian, well she saw a box of girl scout cookies and he happened to be holding them. She went up to him and casually mentioned that she likes girl scout cookies. He gave her the rest of the box. And that was it. True love.
She told me on the way home about eight times that Christian is her "church boyfriend." After a few times of saying this Justin tells her that if he is her boyfriend then she wants to marry him. She pauses and thinks for a few seconds, shrugs and says okay. Charlie was home with Emma, who for some reason woke up unable to walk. (She is fine now.) Mia goes up to Charlie and shows him the cookies. She tells him that Christian is her boyfriend and that she would marry a boyfriend who gives her cookies.
The next day at school she draws a picture of her and Christian holding hands. She tells me that she wants him to come over. I say that we can ask Mrs. Hunt, Emma's teacher and Christian's mom, if he babysits. Tuesday evening we went to the park and saw Mrs. Hunt outside of her house. Mia rides her big wheel over to her and asks if Christian is there. She said she would go get him and Mia's face looked like it would burst with excitement. Christian came out and gave her a pack of Easter egg gum and one for Emma. Mia now says that Christian is coming over to play with her, not to babysit and Dad and I have to leave with Justin. Christian is just for her and Emma. She is also trying to learn how to write his name. She keeps asking me how to spell it and I told her "C-h-r-i." She interrupted me and said "no, no, no. Qu, Qu, Quistian. It starts with a q, Mom."

Many Moods of Emma

I was looking at some of the pictures on my computer and thought I would post some of Emma's outfits.

Mia's Holly and Justin's Logic

I cleaned out my room and closet yesterday. I found Mia's favorite barbie, Holly. She named it after her Aunt Holly because she thinks they look alike. She LOVES, LOVES her aunt. She tells me that Holly is her only aunt. When her other aunts ask who her favorite is she will excitedly tell them it is Holly. No offense to her other nine aunts, but Holly is it. She talks about her all the time and always wants to buy extra stuff for her. She refers to her as "my Holly." Well, I found the barbie and gave it to her. She said "Wow, my barbie Holly. I need to show her to my human Holly." She uses the word human all the time. It always makes me laugh. I will tell her she is a smart cookie and she will reply that she is a human.

Justin was trying to explain how things work to his sisters. He asked me how many days there are in a year. I answer and he goes on "so there are 365 days in a year, unless the ground hog comes out and sees his shadow. Then there is an extra six weeks of winter and that makes the year longer."

Mark Your Calendars!

Charlie insisted I write about how funny our kids were for my birthday. Justin had a field trip the day before and bought me an arrowhead necklace at the museum. He came home, wrapped it in a box, set it on the porch and ding dong ditched. Emma ran to the door, opened the box, took out the necklace, put the box back, and shut the door. I came to the door, read the inscription "to Kelly from Justin," opened the empty box and looked around for Justin who was walking up. I asked if he was playing a trick on me. We realized what had happened and I got the necklace back from Emma, who was disappointed it wasn't for her.
The kids woke up early on my birthday and I heard them yelling "Today is the day! It is Mom's birthday!" Emma ran in my room and jumped on my bed still yelling. Justin came in a minute later. Emma says that I am a year older now. I am not thirty. I am thirty-one. I say thanks, do I look older? Emma thinks for a minute and says no. Justin says I look even younger. I love that kid.
I want to thank Tyler for running the 10k with me on my birthday and Karin for taking the kids all day so I could race and relax afterward.