Aunt Lois and Uncle Don

Came to visit us last week! It was so good to see them - and the kids just adored their time with them. Lois and Don bring a lot of love and laughter with them wherever they go, and we always thoroughly enjoy their company. Oliver was immediately Uncle Don's #1 fan/mini stalker, and Natalie attached herself to Aunt Lois. They arrived last Friday, left Monday morning for Sedona, then came back Tuesday to spend one more night before they left.

Friday was pretty low-key - had dinner then watched the Olympics.

The men hung out on Saturday, while the ladies went shopping and had lunch. It was such a nice day out - Natalie had a great time shopping with us at San Tan, and playing in the children's area there. After Lois and Don went to Mass Saturday afternoon, we all went out to dinner. Came back, got the kids to bed, then Olympics again.

Sunday, Lois and Don went to church with us. Did my usual grocery shop, and Jon made an excellent dinner (almost as good as the dinner I made on Friday. :-P).

When they got back on Tuesday, Lois and Don watched the kids so I could attend a PTO meeting at Natalie's school (thank you guys! You had a long day!).

Said good-bye on Wednesday - we were sad to see them go! Natalie is anxious to see them again - I'm sure Oliver is too, but he can't quite express that yet. :-)

Way behind on pictures. Will work on them this week.

Mr. Fix-it

This happened a couple of weeks ago -it's been crazy around here and I haven't had time to sit down and blog!

I was talking to my brother on the phone one afternoon, when I heard Natalie start yelling. Oliver took one of their wooden chairs flipped it over, and had one leg removed, and the middle support pieces dismantled as well.

Not two hours later, I ran upstairs to start their bath (takes forever for the water to heat up thanks to the water heater being on the opposite end of the house, and on the lower level to boot), and I heard her yelling again. I was gone maybe two minutes? Ran downstairs to find Oliver sitting in my desk chair, which had been flipped over on its back. He was riding it like a rocket ship. And had reached under, and by HAND, completely unscrewed and removed one of the bolts that attach the wheeled legs to the seat.

Stinker! I guess he got a good dose of the engineer gene from Jon's dad and my maternal grandfather!

Computers

So I've switched to using my laptop all the time, and Natalie has been given my old pc and desk. We have the pc locked way down (and her desk is next to mine, so she's always surpervised) - she mainly uses a kid's art program, then she has three bookmarks to PBSkids, Nickjr, and Kidsplanet.org. Somehow she wound up on Norton's anti-virus site right now - and it has product information with a price.

"Look Mommy, that 'S' with a line means it costs money. It's a $1.99".
"Actually, it's $49.99"
"$49.99? I think I'm going to get some change. Do you think I'm going to get some change?".

Don't know why, but it made me laugh.

Sweet sis...

Both kids are pretty sick this week, so they were both at the doctor's office yesterday. They needed to take pulse ox on both, tried Oliver first, who was having none of it. So Natalie went first. The nurse had to wind up getting the thing that wraps around the finger (instead of the clamp thing), and even then, had to put it on his big toe. He was fussing during the whole thing, and Natalie just came over and started rubbing his shoulder, telling him "It's OK, Oliver. Na-na's here. I just did that and it didn't hurt. You'll be fine!".

Same thing during his breathing treatment both at the doctor's office, and today when he decided he was finished with breathing treatments (too bad he has about 30 more to go!).

Makes my heart all melty.

Frugality

I went to a grocery store with the kids yesterday (Natalie was out sick from school, but OK to go to the store for a quick trip). Saved 68% overall (yes, I was cherrypicking sales). The cashier exclaimed "OMG. You just saved over $40". Natalie piped up "That's because my mommy rocks the grocery store".

She's been listening when I crow about savings after my regular weekly trips!

New clean-up song

Natalie has a bright future as a songwriter! She treated us to her newest ditty this morning.

"Mommy said to clean my room
Mommy said to clean my room
Mommy said to clean my room
So I threw everything out the window
So I threw everything out the window
So I threw everything out the WINDOOOOOOOOOOOOW"

*applause*

Forgot two funnies...

From Overgaard.

Natalie loves refried beans, so I sang the "beans beans the magical fruit, they make your hiney go toot, toot, toot" song. I only sang it once, so she gave it her own twist -

"beans beans the magical fruit
they make me stink
and they make me fart
and they make me poop".

And she opened a barber shop. The day we were leaving, I was trying to get ready and then load up the car. The kids were watching a movie, and Natalie had her arts and crafts kit out. All of a sudden, I heard Jon yelling "That's it, no more scissors". Apparently she decided to give Oliver's cowlick a trim - and dude just sat there and let her do it. I walked into the living room, and they were both sitting there with shit-eating grins. I wasn't pleased, but I couldn't help but laugh (I have no poker face, and it's already biting me in the ass). I couldn't figure out where she had cut at first (which is a good thing!), so I asked her to show me. She kind of circled her hand over the top of his head, then said "Don't worry. He still has a lot more". And when asked why she did that? "I was trying to make him more handsome".