Reading Ralphie

Matthew reads every night before bed.  He loves to read zoobooks, and pretty much anything nonfiction.  He is such a fun little seven year old.  He asks me every night to remember to come down and tuck him in.  Well, a few nights ago, I went down to tuck him in and found him like this.  He had on Taylor's sunglasses frames, his reading light on, had taken his pillowcases off of his pillows, and had put a huge foam pad onto his bed on top of his already soft mattress pad.  And he was reading out of one of his zoobooks.  I took one look at him and just started giggling.  Would you like to know why?  When I saw him, I immediately thought of a movie we had watched this Christmas season.  Can you guess which movie?  I saw Matthew and immediately saw the little boy from this movie...

See the resemblance?  I saw Matthew and thought of Ralphie from A Christmas Story!  Ha! Ha! 

 

 

What a funny kid!  I told him what I was giggling about and ran to grab the camera.  He just shook his head and grinned.

I love this little boy so much!  He turns 8 in just a few weeks, and he still makes me laugh every single day.  He is in the 2nd grade, loves reading, science and recess...math and writing?  Not so much.  He is so big and tall for his age that it's easy to forget how young he is...but he's still my cute 7 year old boy who loves to snuggle, and is timid about new situations and still loves me to tuck him in at night before he goes to sleep. 

Good night Matthew!  A.K.A.  Ralphie!

Emma? Do You Remember?

The day that we brought little Emma home from the hospital, Addy came up to her and said in her little two year old voice, "Emma?  Do you remember?"

 

That sweet and simple little question touched my heart that day...and made me wonder what kind of friends these two had been before they came.  Emma is now 7 months old.  She still can't crawl or talk...but she and Addy are friends.

If Emma cries, Addy brings her binkis and tries to console her.  When Addy talks to her, Emma smiles and coo's...and when Addy is silly, Emma laughs.

Emma is a character.  You can see it in her big blue eyes...she smiles in her eyes before the smile reaches her mouth...almost like she has this funny little secret surprise that she's bursting to tell...

and then she just laughs over it and keeps it to herself. 

I often hear Addy saying, "Oh Emma...you're so silly."  And I have to agree.  This little Emma of ours is so sweet and so silly.  I think she and Addy will have a lot of fun growing up as the two youngest in the family.  In fact...with these two...we'd better all watch out because who knows what they've got up their sleeves.

100 Candles and Lots of Glitter

The 100th day of school was just about a week ago, and as tradition goes...the Kindergarteners bring 100 items to display for their class.  Well...Taylor brought mini-marshmallows, the "colored" kind.  Rachel brought fruit loops.  Brooklynn brought cheerios, and Matthew brought elbow macaroni.  Well, by the time you get to the 5th child...everything seems a little boring to this mom...so Lainah and I came up with something WAY different than any of her siblings!

 

The 100th day of school actually landed on Lainah's 6th birthday.  So, we decided to draw a huge birthday cake on a poster and put 100 candles on it.   

I drew the cake and pedestal and Lainah colored it all in with crayons, then we decorated it with glitter.  We made a good mess in the kitchen, and it turned out so cute!

Here it is before the candles. 

I had her arrange all of the candles on it first, then I started helping her to glue them on.  I don't know what I was thinking...Elmer's glue does NOT work on wax candles.  So the next morning when the glue was all dry, she was so excited and picked up her poster and they all started popping off.

hmm...not to worry!  This mom got out her trusty glue gun and we put those 100 candles right back onto that poster.  And that's where they stayed!  She was so proud and excited to bring her poster to school to show her teacher!  And now her poster is hanging up in the hallway at school. 

 

Another 100th day of school celebrated with success in the Thuernagle house!

Tangled

One of the things that comes along with little Emma's long thick hair...is tangles.  When other little babies move their heads from side to side in their cribs...they just rub bald spots on the backs of their heads.  Not Emma.  No bald spots for her.  Instead, we get a thick tangled mass of hair to work through every morning...and every afternoon after her long nap. 

So this is our little routine. 

I put her into her baby buggy...and get out the detangler spray and a comb...

And slowly make my way through the tangled mess of hair.  Look how long it is!  Crazy!

She is so patient with the whole process...it's really amazing that she'll sit through it so good! 

The girls and I usually have a little fun with her hair while I'm at it.  We'll put little ponytails all over the top, or comb it straight up to see how long it is...or...

We give her the Justin Bieber side swipe...

She is too fun.

Rachel's Christmas was "SEW" Fun!

So Christmas morning, Santa left Rachel a huge wrapped gift that turned out to be a new sewing machine just for her!  She was SO excited and has had a lot of fun with it during the past few weeks since Christmas!

She got started immediately on a new quilt!

And she's used it to fix a hole in in one of her favorite shirts...and she used it to make a few hair bands...and she's been itching for me to unpack my patterns from the box in the garage so that she can start on a new skirt. 

That Santa is a pretty amazing guy...how does he know just what will keep the kids busy and happy?  It makes me happy to see Rachel spending time being creative and making things with her own hands.  

What's In Your Pocket?

You know you have a baby in the house when no matter what you're wearing you can put your hand into your pocket and pull out a binki.  The kids were laughing pretty good the other night because I reached into my robe pocket...and pulled out this little stash.

Hey.  Emma is my 7th child.  I've learned a few baby-raising facts along the way.  One of them is:  "you can never have too many binki's."  

Piggy Tails and the Hair Lottery

Emma was born with long thick hair...all of my kids were born with hair but she wins the hair lottery hands down!  In fact, Rachel and I recently discovered that this little 6 month old has hair long enough to put into little piggy tails!

 

Wait, What!?!

She just couldn't get any cuter!

What's On the Outside Counts Too

I finally documented the outside of the house.  I've had a few family members asking to see the exterior...so here it is!

 

The roof is on, the soffit and facia is nearly complete.  Pretty exciting!

 

Still lots to do.  The deck isn't completed yet...but it's still one of my favorite places to be when we go out to the house.  I love the gorgeous views and sunsets we have out here.

And...we'll have a lot of landscaping to do this next year. 

 It's a good thing Andy and I enjoy that sort of thing!

So there is the exterior to date.  So excited to see it after the stucco and stonework is complete.

Birthday Pancakes

Lainah has full day Kindergarten, every other day, and she was so lucky to have her birthday fall on an "off" day!  So we invited one of her little friends to come over bright and early and spend the morning with her!

To start their day off right...I made them pink pancakes with sprinkles in them.  While I was making breakfast, these two were already digging into the dressup bin...here we have a ballerina princess with rapunzel braid...and princess Anna all ready for the ball.

I'm not quite sure how their Kindergarten teacher keeps them on task during the day...but they sure are a fun little pair.

Emma thought so too.  They kept her very entertained throughout the morning.

Here they were doing their sad faces...

And surprised faces...

And scared faces.  Can you say, "SUGAR RUSH!?!"

After breakfast and while they played...I baked cupcakes for them to frost.  I found watermelon flavored cake mix, and watermelon flavored frosting.  Too cute, I couldn't resist.  They had a lot of fun decorating.  Addy had her own little bowl of frosting, and just kept frosting the same cupcake over and over again.

They were very good...they waited until they were all done frosting to lick their knives.  Yumm...

Addy just kept going back for more frosting.  She thought this morning was amazing...pancakes with sprinkles and then cupcakes!?!

Lainah's little friend brought her this homemade card.  I thought it was the sweetest thing ever, and had to take a picture of it.  I'm so glad that Lainah has such a sweet friend.

After family swimming and the daddy daughter dance on Saturday, cake and presents on Sunday...and then having her friend come spend the morning with her on her birthday...I'd say that this little six year old had a very full and happy 6th year celebration!

We love you Lainah Lorraine!!! 

May this next year be full of new adventures and sweet memories!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Our Elementary School holds an annual Daddy Daughter Dance in February...and Lainah and Brooklynn were so excited that they got to have a night with daddy all to their very own!

I was lucky too, because I signed up to help with the craft table, I was able to see them on the dance floor busting their moves and watch them enjoy the evening.  It was so cute to see them having such a great time with Andy. 

And I was really proud of Andy.  Some of the dad's just stood around and didn't do much of anything but watch their girls have fun.  Not Andy...he was out there being silly, making bracelets with them, and frosting cookies right alongside them.  At one point, he was dancing with Brooklynn in one arm, and holding Lainah with the other.  It was too sweet.  During one of the fast songs, I just couldn't stop laughing...I had NO IDEA these three could bust out such moves!  I wish I had my video camera!

 

The girls also got their faces painted! 

They chose the "Frozen" theme of course...

Brooklynn is a 5th grader, and Lainah a Kindergartener...

What a fun memory, and a great school tradition!