Saturday, February 26, 2011

family time

Today while Mercedes was at gymnastics,
 I visited our local Goodwill Store.  

I'm always looking for treasures, and today I found one!  
Most of the store was filled with junk... 
until I reached the book section.  
One of my first discoveries was an "almost new" blue leather quad (for $1.99)!  
The best part was that it didn't have a name engraved on it.  

So Cooper now has his very own set of scriptures.  

We're lucky that our kids like scripture time.  
Tonight, Coop couldn't wait.  
We usually read a little while before bed.  
By four o'clock he was asking, 
"is it time to read scriptures yet?"

Daddy helping Coop find his spot.
Lincoln's using Brent's mini military
version of the Principles of the Gospel.
Mercedes likes to pretend she's giving a talk when she reads.

Lincoln following along.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Movie Night


Mercedes placed this note on the refrigerator tonight.  

In case you are not fluent in 2nd grade literature, it says:

"Do not buy Reese's Puffs (it's a cereal)
because they are already gone."
by: Mercedes

When Brent is at Target he likes to see which cereals are on sale, 
and sometimes he'll buy one or two boxes.  
Last Saturday it was Reese's Puffs (Cooper's choice), 
and this morning Mercedes opened the box.  

What you may not know about Lincoln is, 
that he is like a 2 year old Neal Caffery 
(if you haven't seen "White Collar" on USA, he's an EXCEPTIONAL thief).

Lincoln can get into anything, anywhere.  
He is very sly and quiet and sneaky.

And today, he downed the entire box.  

Mercedes was appalled.  

Brent wasn't surprised.

Tonight we're enjoying a family movie night.  
"Kit Kittredge: an All American Girl" is playing, thanks to our local public library.  
Brent is patiently sitting on the couch while the kids devour popcorn 
on the floor with their pillows and blankets, 
and I sit here at the kitchen table and type.

A great end to a tiring week 
(two snow days and a late start on top of a federal holiday does not 
make Mercedes a content little girl).  
We've had our share of fighting and whining and hitting and crying.  
It's nice to enjoy some peace time.

***WARNING***


Those of you who own a ceramic cook top are probably a LOT smarter than me.

But just in case, I'm here to warn you:

If you are boiling water with a lid on the pot, 
and then you take the lid off of the pot in order to place the whole wheat pasta in the boiling water 
and you put the lid face down on your ceramic cook top and leave it there, 
after a few minutes you will hear a very LOUD BOOM.  
And maybe if you live near a military base you will think that the BOOM 
was just another cannon or something going off.  
And you will most likely be ALARMED and GREATLY DISAPPOINTED to discover, 
once you've picked up said lid in order to wash it, 
that THIS (see pic above) has happened to you.

I was EXTREMELY relieved that we didn't have to replace the entire stove.  
We simply spent a few hundred dollars (that I could have found a MUCH better use for)
on a new cooktop.  LG shipped it to us and Brent installed it in about an hour.

The two weeks without a cooktop showed me just how reliant I am upon it.
I hardly ever use the oven.  
But the cooktop? 
Morning, noon, and night.

As my wise father says, "Life is just a bunch of experiences."

I hope to learn from this one... and never repeat it.