And she'll wear rings on her fingers and bells on her toes

So we actually hired a babysitter! We've been invited to join a supper club with a handful of couples from church and our first dinner is next Thursday. A few weeks ago we "bought" a teenage girl at a church auction, and I've told the kids her name and a few things about her. When I told them she would be coming next week, K was trying to figure out which girl she is. She asked, "Is she the girl with the necklace on her teeth?" I'd LOVE to know where she comes up with this stuff!

It's beginning to look a lot like........

SNOW! LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW! Seriously, someone turn it off! We got hit with an almost-blizzard this past weekend and WOW! The kids had school on Friday but came home a couple of hours early, and Jamie's drill weekend was cancelled! I honestly think this is the first time EVER I've seen a drill cancelled! So it starts snowing Friday afternoon, and oh, look how pretty! A few hours into it I was ready for it to be over and by the next night I was READY for it to be over! Jamie took the kids out the entire day Sunday, they shoveled the driveway (which took 4 hours!! Next year we're investing in a snowblower!) and then they sledded in the backyard and built a snowman! And then Monday, thank God, we were back to school and work and normal! Well, normal for us, anyway! I have more SNOW pictures on our website- www.flickr.com/photos/thestoverfamily/

Future blackmail photos!

So Ben came over this week so that Jen could take Sarah to the doctor (she has the same high-fever flu we've all had lately). Kate had a new toy/bribe for sleeping in her own room that of course she had to share with him! Makeup! They came into the kitchen wearing matching sticker earrings, blue eyeshadow and HOT pink lipstick! Kate told me, "We're wubwey wadies"!!! Ben may not care now, but I bet this picture won't be one of his favorites in a few years!

The latest and greatest......

Ok, so I haven't been able to post in a while because it's been a little crazy around here. Compared to how it's normally calm and peaceful. Yeah, right, like I can fool anyone with that!

So, lets see- what's been going on lately?

Friday was Alec's 8th birthday (Happy Birthday, Alec!!) and we had his party yesterday. Pretty much the last time we have a birthday party at our house, those kids were crazy! I'm boycotting goody bags (I know I'm not the only mom with kids that need NO MORE pencils, cheap candy, even cheaper toys...) so I had a great idea- lets have a craft! So off to the store and home again with foam visors, paint markers, and foam letters and ocean-y shapes. It sounded cute, sounded like something that'd take up about half the 2-hour party, the last hour saved for cake and presents. It lasted 15 minutes, tops. Only the girls took any time to make theirs pretty, the boys slapped a fish on theirs, wrote their name on with the markers and then resumed their lap-running and screaming through the house. Oh well.

I worked! A JOB, even! I was hired with a major florist to be a home agent for Valentines week. How bad could it be- work from home, on the computer, in my sweats! It was CRAZY! I had less than one second between calls! And let me tell you- people spend a LOT of money on flowers! It was fun, though, the flowers they have on their website are unbelievably beautiful and I got to talk to a lot of really neat people. I sent arrangements to France and South America and all over the country, "met" lots of really nice co-workers, helped lots of men come up with something sweet and gushy and romantic for their cards! I was amazed, though, how nasty people can be! I had several calls (on Valentine's Day morning, no less) for flowers to be sent to areas where our local florists were no longer accepting more orders, they were overbooked. This is my fault how?? It was very hard not to point out the customer's fault in the problem, but I kinda figured that would be frowned upon by my employers.

Then the flu hit. Hard. Everybody ended up with horrible, high fevers, LOTS of snot and coughing, it's been very pleasant around here! So far we're all almost over it, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Jamie has been hosing down everthing that'll stand still with Lysol, at least it smells 'clothesline fresh' around here! The house is an absolute disaster, too- the best we've been able to keep up with is laundry, but it's all laying on the couch (mostly folded) and there are toys and junk laying around everywhere! I try not to care, but you know....

...and then we played a great game of fetch!

So Kate's been pretending to be a dog. A lot. To the point that she licks the top of her drinks and ate a cracker off the floor "like Molly does". It's cute, and I guess there are worse things she could be pretending to be, so I've played along.

Yesterday it was beautiful outside- 60 degrees, blue skies, breezy- so I had the back door open. She was crawling around barking as usual, and every once in a while she'd go out onto the patio and look for ladybugs (nothing to do with dogs, but that's her other favorite activity). I was just in the kitchen and I could hear her, but not see her. She came back in from one trip outside hitching at the waist of her jammies and told me, "Doggy pee-peed outside". Yep, she tinkled on the patio! I didn't see it, but I can just imagine her going outside and squatting like Molly does! I'm just glad no one was on the playground at the elementary school, especially not Alec! Poor kiddo- "Look, there's my little sister! That one right there, the one peeing on the patio!"