Lion

When I was in grad school Peter would give me things to entertain myself so that I didn't have to work on my thesis. Or do homework. Or anything useful. One day I came into my office and there was a kit for a lion. So I made it. And remade it. And remade it. But this is how it's been for over five years (not counting reattaching the legs, tail, and head when kids have pulled them out). And now you see why it takes me so long to clean anything. (Only two packages of Smarties left.)

Computer room

I've been cleaning my computer room for the last four days. I think I might be able to finish today. I'm starting with the desk one Smarties at a time. Thankfully there are only a couple left.

Pictures

We got our pictures taken by a lady who used to be in our ward on Saturday. I was kind of dreading it, but it was actually really fun. She's a great photographer. She interacted so well with the kids and even got Mima to smile at her. Seriously, I can't even believe how much she had them wrapped around her finger. Hopefully the pictures turn out. I really, really want to see them. She said she'd have the CD to us in a week, so it's not like I have that long to wait, but I'm a very impatient person. I hope they turn out. I'm being repetitive.

I'll post some on here when I get them. You know, in case you doubted that I would.

Anyways, if you're ever in the area and want your pictures taken she's fabulous.

Please take a number

Brita was sitting at the table coloring a picture when I (Peter) heard Benton get some cheese out of the refrigerator. He sometimes forgets to close the door, so I asked Brita if she could see if the fridge was open. She replied in a whiny voice: "But I'm giving the opening prayer in primary on Sunday."

Sorry, maybe that was a little too much responsibility...

Go Illini

About 18 years ago I semi-regularly bought clothes from garage sales for my doll Tiffany. One was an Illini jacket. At the time I had no idea who they were or why there would be a jacket in the world that needed to be bright orange and say Illinois on it. But Tiffany needed a jacket so I got it. Most of Tiffany's clothes ended up in the baby clothes bins when we got baby clothes for the kids. The Illini jacket didn't have a size left on the tag, so it went in the box of the littlest clothes. All the littlest clothes ended up on the floor one night when I was changing out sizes for Mima. Benton also ended up in our room that night because he always ends up in our room. The jacket ended up on him because he is obsessed lately with changing his clothes. So one morning he came down to breakfast like this:

And now you know why.

Happy Halloween, part 2

Happy Halloween

It all started when Brita wanted to be a light switch...

Giants

Brita's been a little obsessed with giants lately. The kids are so good at pretending together--it's really quite funny.

A quote from just now:

Brita: Benton, you can't go in this room ever again; it's get giant's poop in it.
Benton: Giant's poop.
Brita: Yes. It's got giant's poop and giants in it.

With that settled they came to the computer room and started playing with the castle.

We hate Santa Claus

Yesterday we were in Lowe's looking at all the Christmas stuff. (Don't judge me--Peter's been working until about 2 in the morning the last couple days and accept anything that entertains my kids and makes the time pass.) We got to the end of it and there was a life-sized statue of Santa Claus who we accidentally bumped into. He started singing and dancing, so we watched him and then got the thing we went to Lowe's to get. Brita was asking the whole time to go back and see Santa again, so we made the rounds of all the Christmas stuff one more time. At the end as we were approaching the big Santa he started singing and dancing. Brita wasn't expecting it, so she yelped. Then Benton started howling and Brita started crying and we tried to get away from the big Santa as fast as we could. (Pushing a monster cart and stopping to tell someone that, yes, I like my baby wrap.) All the way to the other side of the store where the check out stands are kept trying to quiet the loud shouts of "I HATE SANTA CLAUS!" It wasn't very effective. In the car Brita accusingly asked me why I made them go back and see the Santa. Oh and by the way, SHE HATES SANTA. Oops, if only I'd known that the whole time she was asking to go back and see him we could have avoided this whole issue.

More than one can chew

So I might have mentioned a while back that I decided to make Brita dress-up clothes for Christmas. Or I might not have, I don't remember. I kind of went nuts at the fabric store. Here's the list of things to make:

Purple tutu
Orange tutu
Green tutu
White tutu
Turquoise skirt
Yellow skirt
Purple skirt
Green coin skirt
Blue coin skirt
Green jeweled skirt
Star skirt
Blue shirt
Blue shirt
Brown shirt
Red shirt
Pink shirt
Turquoise shirt
Purple shirt
Purple shirt
Silver dress
Pink dress
Tinkerbell dress
Wizard robes
Pirate pants
Veil

Here's hoping lots of people randomly show up at my house to hold Mima.