Matthew Jr.

Today is Josh's last day at his job at Kneader's Bakery. To celebrate this, a lot of the Townsend crew went there for dinner last night to partake of the awesome discount. (Thank you Joshua.) Afterwards, me and the kids went over to the Townsend's house because we haven't visited over there in a while. I went through a stack of pictures and found this adorable one.

These are Denise's parents, Matthew, and his brother Jacob. I thought that this picture was amazingly sweet because Matthew's grandfather died when he was younger. Matthew is sitting in his grandfather's lap. The more that I looked at this photo, however, I realized something.

I mean, I've always known that Matthew and Lily looked quite a bit alike, but I always thought she looked JUST LIKE his sister Becky. Nope, Lily is an exact replica of Matthew when he was younger. Go ahead and look again at the resemblance... I can't stop!

Once There Was A Snowman

A couple of days ago it did this:

So, we did this!:

It was SO much fun to go outside with the kids and build a snowman. I can't tell you how much I needed something like this yesterday. We may need to do something like this more often! It was hilarious to see the kids color the snowman with colored water. At first, we thought we were doing a pretty great job, but then... it just turned out to be one funny looking man of snow.

Dream On

I never thought the Murano could be any cooler than it already was.

I was very wrong. I'm totally drooling over this beauty.

And... Shocking for this to be coming out of my mouth, but the new Quest is pretty awesome too.

Bare or Bear?

Something that you should know about Lily is that she is STUBBORN.

That girl doesn't want to do anything unless it was her idea. The only way that I can get her to do anything is to give her an ultimatum.

Yeah, most of the ultimatums aren't really anything that would happen. Example: Lily, you can either get your clothes on and come with us, or you can not get your clothes on and people will see you in your underwear.

But, it works.

A little bit ago, we had an ultimatum experience.

I needed to leave and Lily didn't want to get her shoes and socks on.

Me: Lily, you can either get your shoes and socks on and come with us and have nice warm feet, OR you can NOT get your shoes and socks on and walk out in the cold in your bare feet.

Lily looked at her bare feet confused, then up at me like I was the DUMBEST person she has ever seen.

Lily: Um, mom.... I don't have bear feet.

Lily (pointing at her feet): Mom, these are not bear feet.


I couldn't help but laugh out loud at that. We have tried and tried to explain the difference to this little girl, but she just can't process it yet. William, on the other hand, thinks it's hilarious to say "Bear Bottom".

What have I created?

Preschool Field Trip

This semester in Preschool, we decided to go on a field trip every month. January, we went to the children's museum and this past month we went to a military airport to see helicopters. William's best friend, Henry, has a dad that is in the military and flies Apaches. So, he took us on the tour. We were able to sit in Black Hawks, we tried on the helmets they wear and got to see what it looked like through night vision goggles. We weren't able to sit in an Apache because the instruments are too sensitive. But, we got to see them and we also got to go to the simulator where the pilots fly in a video game type thing. The kids LOVED it. It was such a fun night and kind of something that not everyone has done. Needless to say, Matthew was bummed that he missed out.

Piercing

We've been up to a few things since we got back from Christmas and this is one of them. Notice anything different about Lily?

Let me give you a clue:

Lily and I went to the Girl Store (aka Claire's) while William was at a play date and got her ears pierced. She cried for like a half a second, but got over it once she saw herself in the mirror.

She's a girl like that. Lily has taught herself young that beauty is sometimes pain.

Lily started having an allergic reaction to the cleaner that was provided, which isn't such a huge surprise due to her sensitive skin. But it has since cleared up and we started using peroxide to clean those beautiful ears of hers.

We're getting excited because it is almost time to change them!!

Tennessee Christmas Part 4 - Misc

We did a lot while we were in Tennessee, but not even close to everything that we wanted. I wish that I taken more pictures while we were there. For instance, we went to Jennifer and Kyle's house to watch Madagascar in their awesome theater room. No pictures. The kids have talked so much about that.

But, this post is about the randomness of things going on too. Above is a picture that Christopher made on the etch-a-sketch. Yes, it's impressive, but he's also made Jesus. Now, that was something.

All the girls had fun at Christopher and Keaven's house for a girls night where they had their faces painted. I was quite impressed with Keaven's talent to do that and Lily LOVED it. Unfortunately, we were sick while we were in TN and Lily didn't sleep over due to the fact that she was up coughing every night. Sad.

This clown is a classic. Aunt Lee (my great aunt) is really great and creative. She can crochet anything. Including clowns. We got this on our visit to her house. It became a game at Mom and Dad's house to hide the clown in other people's rooms and suitcases and such. It was hilarious and always a surprise to see where this guy popped up.

The kids had a daily craft to do and they absolutely LOVED it.

We all had fun playing Grandpa's new keyboard!!

And... I just love this picture of John. It should be in a magazine and should be the start of John's successful modeling career!

Tennessee was so much fun!! After not being there for a couple of years, it was needed to see family that I haven't seen in that long and see all the places that have changed.

We're excited for Grandma and Grandpa to come and visit soon with Jamie and Katie!!