Baby Jesus wants what?

Today Alex came home from the Presbyterian preschool that he goes to three days a week, and I looked through his lunch bag for papers from school. He had a piece of paper that was typed, "Alex T. - If I could give a present to baby Jesus I would give him..." and (no surprise here) the next part read, "Lightning". Never loved having a boy more. I'm sure baby Jesus would LOVE to have a Lightning McQueen car.

Turkey pee?

I've included some pictures of the past week: my parents and the babies (all born between March and July of 2008), the babies TRYING to stay still for a group shot, the boy cousins, another picture of Alex wtih narcolepsy (he REFUSES to take a nap but I knew he was exhausted after Thanksgiving weekend so I sent him to his room for quiet time. About 10 minutes later, I went up to check on him and this is what I found), and our little kiddos posing for a group shot in our family room.

But, my big question of the day is WHO was in my house and who taught Alex that dead, cooked turkeys pee? I guess I must have been upstairs when the subject began with Alex. So, the first I heard of it was today when Alex was telling me that at preschool he ate the cookie in his lunch and not his sandwich. When I asked why he didn't eat his sandwich, he said "it not jelly, mom". (Yea, I know, but he has a peanut-free classroom and his only option is meat sandwiches. This week it was turkey sandwich meat). He followed that with "the turkey is sticky. it has pee in it." I was completely confused, and kept asking what he meant... finally he said, "last day, mom, the turkey... it go pee in the sink".

I asked Dave about it, and he just laughed and said it was Lori (my sister) and my Dad's fault, that they told him that the turkey juice/marinade stuff was pee as my dad cut a little hole into the pan to let the juices drain into the sink after he took the turkey out of the oven. So, fess up, people. Because I don't think Alex will ever eat turkey again.

BTW- an overdue shout out to my brother-in-law, Chris, who is truely the wind beneath my wings and helped me more than my own husband with Thanksgiving. (I can say that because Dave never reads this blog) :)-

Few pics

Just thought I'd upload a few pictures from this week. Carmen has been so sweet lately after her naps. She just wakes up and rolls around and plays in her crib. She has figured out how to push the button to turn her mobile music on, and pull down a part of the bumper pad to suck on the tags. Tags and paper are her hands down favorite things.

Also, After FINALLY getting furniture in our front living room and dining room (it has been 2 1/2 years, after all!) Hayden has found her favorite nook of the house. She has claimed this particular chair as hers and will just hang out and read books in her chair, with a blanket. Here is a picture of her completely immersed in Katie Kazoo Switcharoo.

Now, if I can only get rid of this sore throat! It's 3:36 in the morning--I've been awake since 2, and just can't sleep because of my massacred throat. A popsicle, two cups of tea, 2 extra strength tylenol and 3 ibuprofen later, I'm gonna give it a shot again. I just can't justify being up in the middle of the night when I'm not nursing Carmen. Here's to sleep? :)

Down dog

Here's Carmen, just wiggling around on the floor after her bath a few night ago. She LOVES to be nude... and to answer your next question, yes the carpet stayed dry. :)

So I'm the youngest...

So, I'm the youngest of 7 kids in my family which, one would think, should get me out of ever having to host any holiday meal because there are plenty of other, older, more established siblings who don't have 4 little kids who would love to have Thanksgiving, Christmas, whatever, at their house, right? Well, I'm not really sure how it happened BUT, Thanksgiving is at my house this year, which means I'm in charge of the turkey. I keep asking people about it, and everyone has opinions about whether to brine or not, whether to get a frozen turkey or a fresh organic one, etc. But no one can answer my most pressing question-- HOW does that bag get up the turkey with all of the turkey "parts". Who puts it there, and why would anyone want to keep a turkey neck? Most importantly, where can I go to get a turkey without that bag in it, because I am NOT pulling that thing out. Any ideas?

Rice cereal!

Carmen's growing up WAY too fast! She'll be six months old next week, so we decided it was probably time she start eating some rice cereal. After the first bite, we could tell that she's probably been ready for five months. She spent most of her time trying to grab the spoon out of my hand, and lurching forward to reach the spoon before it reached her. Carmen LOVES rice cereal... and thanked us by sleeping from 7 pm last night to 7 am this morning. Yahoo!

The other kids are convinced it must taste like ice cream or something for Carmen to like it this much. (Boy was Alex dumbfounded when I let him taste it tonight!! He said, "oh..." and just slowly backed away)

I've got to put on the video of her gut-laughing while Dave was throwing her onto our bed. (Don't judge... she's our fourth!!) Also, the video of her holding her favorite yoga position, down dog, for minutes on end. Soooo cute. Carmen we love you!

Happy Halloween from the Hobos!

You have no idea how many attempts it took for Anamarie to hold a straight face-- even for a second!! (Makes you want to lick the melted chocolate right off their faces, huh?)

HSM3 Hysteria

If you're reading this and don't know what HSM3 is by the acronym, you must not have a girl between 6-12. Because this is ALL Hayden and Anamarie have been talking about for weeks: High School Musical 3. Hayden decided to postpone her birthday party when she turned 8 in September for the opening of the movie last weekend. We had a double birthday party with her good friend, Ava, who turns 8 next month. We went all out on the preparation-- Dave made backstage passes for the invitations, we made iron-on shirts for all 26 girls, prepared a prediction game about the movie to play while the girls were waiting, Ann (Ava's mom) made an awesome cake, Hayden & Ava spent time memorizing the HSM3 edition of "People magazine"... it was a busy week! Dave and Ava's dad waited in line for an hour (while Ann and I had the party at Pat & Oscar's next door) so that we could be the first to be admitted to the theatre, and have our whole group sit together. The highlight for me, though, was watching the girls dance in their seats and in the aisle... and scream on the top of their lungs for "Troy". I think it just might have been my best party yet!! :)-

Waiting for the Material Girl...

I AM excited for election day. Kinda for the president part, but mostly because I get to go to the Madonna concert that night!! Dave got me tickets for my birthday (that's all I wanted) and, since it is just one week away, I figure I'd make you guys listen to Madonna too for a week in my memory... and maybe a week after also. So, turn up your volume! :)-

Alex is 4!!

Alex turned 4 years old on the 15th, and he got his wish... to play on jumpies as much as he wanted for 2 hours. We had about 25 of his friends from preschool, church, and our neighborhood there. He got more toys and cars than anyone could possibly need, so now we're all set for Christmas presents for him! :) (What he doesn't remember wont hurt him, right?) Here are pictures of the party, and a close up of him and his best friend Lily.