Can you believe this kid?

It's Bradlee of course.  So the Primary President (in charge of the kids at church) held up a picture of an astronaut as part of a lesson.  Bradlee excitedly identified him as Neil Armstrong.  Pretty impressive.  I'm not even sure how he knew that.  But, when the Primary President said that it was actually a Russian cosmonaut, Bradlee said, "I HATE that guy!"  I don't know where he got that either.

Another Sunday (I'm sensing a theme here), I told the kids they couldn't play in the nursery during choir after church because there would be no one there to watch them.  The kids complained and reluctantly complied, except Bradlee.  He did something about it.  He wrote on the chalkboard, "I don't like Mom."  When Brandon went up to him and said that Daddy had made the final decision about it and to erase what he'd written, Bradlee instead added, "and Dad."

Bad day

In less than 24 hours, Samuel caused a lot of destruction and trouble.  He broke the toilet by accidentally dropping the tank lid on it (luckily nothing broke that was holding water, but we had to superglue it back together before we replaced it).  He "gave" Brandon's shoes, I mean ALL the shoes he normally wears to work, to the cat, which essentially means he put them in one of the cat's many hiding spots.  We looked everywhere for them but Brandon was going to be late for a work meeting so he had to wear his basketball shoes to work.  Then, Samuel misplaced his precious Bear Bear.  After looking everywhere for it all morning, I opened the fridge to start making lunch for the kids and lo and behold, there was the Bear Bear, sitting next to the milk.  I called to Samuel, "I found something of yours!"  He asked, "Does it have one cozy ear and one fuzzy ear?"  Both the ears on the Bear Bear are identical to everyone but Samuel. He told me he'd put the Bear Bear in the fridge as an April Fool's joke (it was January), but then he'd forgotten.

Kidisms

Sarah told Daddy to use his best "girl accident [accent]" when reading a story.

Sarah and Samuel decided that Jack and the Beanstalk was called, "That guy and the Greenstalk."

We were working outside and the kids were inside and Samuel opened the door and called very excitedly, "MOM! Mom!  I need.. Jacob wants... I don't know," and sheepishly shut the door.

I fell asleep reading Robin Hood out loud to the kids (everyday occurrence) but kept reading and making up words and made up, "All rabbits need birthday cake."  Sarah, reading along, informed me that it didn't say that.

Brandon was singing I am a Child of God to Samuel and Samuel reminded him, "You forgot the raisin part." ???

At preschool, Samuel was pretending to be the dad to he said, "Bye kids!  I'm going to seminary!" Brandon teaches seminary!

Sarah: "Sometimes I laugh so much, I slobber!"

Brandon asked Sarah, "Are you a Jedi or a Kung Fu Master?"  Sarah said, "Both.  And, I'm learning to fly."

Jacob had been complaining about his shoes and boots being too tight.  When we got him new ones, he went from size 2 to size 6!

Jacob confessed that he likes to smell is own toots sometimes, because, "hey, sometimes they smell good.  I like the smell of toots!"  Boys are gross!

Sarah is reading American Girl chapter books, but her first chapter book she picked up was Boba Fett.

Our cat, Snickerdoodle

We got the kids a cat for Christmas.  We named her Snickerdoodle.  She is amazingly well adjusted to having 4 kids maul her all the time - she is a very nice cat and we've liked being pet owners so far.  Before we decided on a cat, we asked the kids what kind of pet they thought we should get.  Jacob said a dog, Bradlee wanted a hamster, Sarah wanted a kitty (after we convinced her that 7 cats was NOT an option), and Samuel wanted a Dartmouth Coach (the bus that runs from here to the Boston airport).  I said, "No, what kind of ANIMAL should we get?"  He said, "You know that thing that goes BZZZ at the Shelton's house?"  I said, "You mean a zipline?"  "Yes, that's what I want. A zipline."  He's been pretty happy with a cat so far, even though it's not a zipline.

First snow

 

So Sarah and Bradlee couldn't wait a few minutes for Daddy to get the actual sleds out, so they used the shovels.  I have some awesome videos of this but I can't get them to download right.  Anyway, I love the one of Samo sizing up the sled, trying to decide if he'll actually get in it.  All the pics of Jacob are really great.  The one of Sarah crashed, laughing hysterically is pretty great too!

Thanksgiving!

Samuel spent the day taking random pics and videos on my itouch.  Lauren made us the best turkeys ever!!  Pomegranate horseradish glazed - my mouth is watering just remembering!  The last shot is of the most epic Cranium game ever.  Jacob and Samuel and I (Angela) were on a team and were on the brink of victory but I missed 2 guesses in a row.  Jacob acted out Princess Leia and I totally missed it even though Bradlee on the other team said it was obvious because, just as Jacob demonstrated, "she likes to shoot and hide."  Finally, Jacob was supposed to hum a song for me and Samo to guess.  I couldn't figure it out and time was running out.  All of a sudden, Samo yells out, "Mamma mia, Mamma mia let me go!"  And that was the answer - Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody!  I had failed us but Samo won the game for our team and Jacob picked him up after many high-5s and carried him around the house in a victory lap.  It was epic!

Sarah turns 5!

One of her presents was getting her nails done at a nail salon.  She's already negotiated to get her ears pierced for her 6th birthday!