147th Passage

Here are just some cute pictures from our cutest family member.

This one was from a day that Allison wasn't feeling well. She just wanted to cuddle with me, but when I had to do the dishes snuggling up on the soft chair with a blanky next to me in the kitchen was okay for her too. 

 She still wasn't walking in this one, but was starting to learn a little bit with this push toy. 

 Alli found the glitter and made a giant mess.She also sampled some because the next day she pooped glitter. 

 Just cute. 

 One day I found her sleeping like this. The only part covered by the blanket while she slept was her head. Silly baby. 

146th Passage

America's Got Talent held auditions in Boise this year, so I signed David up! He practiced several songs and we went back and forth on the one he would ultimately audition with. We landed on Say Something with him playing the piano. He brought the guitar just in case they asked for more.

David took the day off work and we got a babysitter and went to the BSU campus. Auditions were at the Taco Bell arena. I can't remember what time we arrived, but it was before auditions were supposed to start and the line was HUGE.

 David got an official AGT number and sticker.

 The line wasn't moving fast. We got to know the people around us pretty well and after awhile David decided to keep boredom at bay by cracking out the guitar. He played and sang popular tunes and the people in line around us all joined in. It was fun. Also cold. It was really cold and David never thinks he can get cold so he didn't even bring a jacket. He regretted it.

After hours of waiting we finally got to the sign that said Front of Line where they let us enter the building.

 Once inside we saw more gigantic lines.

 After waiting through that line we got David checked in and he had some paperwork to fill out. Then we waited more. After awhile his number was called, along with many others.

We then went to a different waiting area next to a door. Beyond that door was a judge. People kept getting called in to the room for their turn. After waiting for another eternity David got called in, along with many other solo artists. Here's my post on facebook about it.
We are on our way home. Here is the rundown. David got called in with 9 other solo artists to the judging room. It's where I left him. But I could hear him through the door and he sounded great! He said that they video recorded all the performances and called them up one at a time. They said their name, age, and the song they were performing. They played their piece and the judge could cut them off at any moment. David said there were only a few other actually good singers. The less talented got cut off early by the judge, but David and a couple others were allowed to finish. That's a good sign, right? We won't know for a few weeks if he moves on to the celebrity judges. 6 hours in line for 90 seconds of auditioning! But it was fun.
David did say that the speakers from the keyboard faced out at the camera and judge, and for the first of the song he couldn't hear it at all so he didn't know if he was singing on pitch or playing the right notes. But when the volume picked up he could hear it and felt more confident.
We never got a call back, but that's okay. It was a really fun experience and we don't regret it.

145th Passage

In early February David and I took a needed get-away for the weekend. We went to McCall to see the ice sculptures. We took a picture on the road. Yay for being kid-free, thanks to Lisa for watching to crew!

I booked a cheap motel just outside of McCall. It was...cheap. While outside was a snowy, slushy, mess, inside was a tropical paradise. See?

See the two doors on either side of the bathroom area? Yeah, those weren't closets. They were locked doors that led to the rooms of our neighbors, but they were definitely as thin as closet doors. We could hear conversations spoken in normal volumed voices. And it was slightly creepy when the door handles would suddenly rattle as the person on the other side tested the doors.

 Nice touch with the bathmat on the wall. 

 Loved the chest-height shower-head and moldy walls and ceiling in the bathroom. 

 After depositing our stuff at the motel we drove over to McCall to see the sculptures. However, it was unseasonably warm when we went. We even had rain. So this is what we got to see...

 Lovely, no? We stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant that we ate at on our Honeymoon. Then we stopped at a grocery store for some snacks where David got to try on hats. 

 The next day we waited for over an hour for our breakfast at The Pancake House, and instead of looking for more sculptures we just decided to go back to the Treasure Valley since the weather and ruined them. On the drive back we stopped at a fun bridge we saw that crossed the river. 

 Since we left early we didn't want to be gypped of date time with a babysitter already on board, so we stopped at a ceramic painting studio in Nampa. On our honeymoon we painted a butter dish that I dropped awhile back and broke. We stopped at the same place in McCall to see about replacing it, but the prices were too much to stomach. But the one in Nampa was very reasonable and had a butter dish. Score! We spent half as much as we would have in McCall. David painted the blue flower side and I did the pink flower. 

While this post may have made it sound like a big bust, it really wasn't. Yeah, the motel sucked, but it was fun to joke about and we weren't even murdered in our sleep. It's true that there were no sculptures left worth looking at, but it was still fun to walk around McCall together.  Lots of nostalgia and lots of new memories. 

144th Passage

Lydia, singing a song: I love my beautiful princess, *looks up at me* not you, only this cup. 
There is a princess on a water bottle. She loves that beautiful princess, not her mother. Lol.

Speaking of Allison, Lydia said"I love her, she is so cute! Can we keep her for the whole day?"

While doing school, Morgan: I think this is the best little i I've ever made!

Of all the letters to be proud about ones penmanship...

Time for almost a whole year of funny kids quotes. 

From Sept 2014

Me: okay Lydia, what comes before 17?
Lydia: purple leaf.

This year I had William and Morgan start a journal. They write in it daily as part of school. This is what Morgan wrote today. 
"Lydia: she likes to sing. She is like a cracker throwing Pokemon. She is the weirdest person I know."

Speaking of Halloween, 
Lydia: I'm gonna be a princess! . . . Or I'm going to be a space robot.

Lydia: look, a dog feather. Can I have it?
Me: no it's yucky. I don't know what it's from. 
Lydia: It's from a dog.

Lydia: can I smell this? (Referring to David's pomade.)
Me: sure
Lydia: this smells like a dog, and that's gross!

Lydia: look a police car.
It was in a school parking lot. 
Me: yep. 
Lydia: maybe he took a kid. I think so maybe he was naughty and his mom said "do you wanna go to the police?" And he said "yeah!" And the police took him. I would not want to go to the police!

Owen: the earth is 115 years old. 
Me: actually, it's closer to 6000 years old. 
Owen: what? But it told me the earth was 115 years old!
Me: who told you? 
Owen: my brain. I closed my eyes and my brain said, "the earth is 115 years old".

Oct 2014

Me: name a scary animal. 
Morgan: lion
William: tiger
Owen: bear
Me: yeah, give me another one. 
William: a deer!

Lydia: I hope I don't spill it on your dress. 
Owen: I don't have a dress. 
Lydia: I know, I thought you were a girl.

As I'm stirring a bowl of batter, 
Lydia: is that doughnuts or not?
Me: not. 
Lydia: oh, is it hash browns?
Me: no....
Lydia: what is it?
Me: brownies.

Lydia: can I play on the iPad?
Me: no, you can do yoga with me. 
Lydia: no, I'm not going to listen to yogurt!

Mother may I in real life is super annoying.

Me: you can all watch a movie.
Morgan, William, and Lydia start watching a movie.
Owen: mommy, can I watch the movie?

Or
Me: Owen, why don't you eat your sandwich while I get your spelling words ready?
Owen: can I eat my sandwich?

Every. Day.

We have a head massager thing that Owen hates. We were playing with it with the kids and Owen was afraid I would massage his head, so he ran away from me giggling. Then his giggling stopped and he scowled at me and in a whiney voice said, "why did you make me scratch my back?!" He saw my look of amusement and incredulity and continued, "it was your fault!" Lol. Hopefully we can teach him to take responsibility for his own actions before he enters adulthood.

Morgan: I don't know anyone in our family that does not have a wrist. 
Lydia: what?! You know William and Owen!

Nov. 2014

Owen: I wish I had an animal that evolved. Like a dinosaur.

Lydia: mommy, but, I don't know if we're going to die. Because I hate dying! And we are gonna die at the Jesus place. Do we have to drive there?

No idea what she is talking about.

Dec. 2014

Owen: get your coat on, pickle head!
Morgan: I don't want my coat. 
Lydia: well, well, well, then you'll turn to ice!

Morgan: I wonder if anyone has taste buds on their toes.

Lydia: mommy I think so I don't know how to get married. 
Me: get married?
Lydia: yeah, I think so I don't know how to get married to my daddy when I grow up. 
Me: you aren't supposed to marry your daddy. You can't. 
Lydia: what?!? You did!

Jan. 2015

Lydia is telling us how she is going to have 5 kids: 6 girls and 7 boys, and there will be a mean boy, but his name won't be Owen. The other boy will protect the girls from the mean boy named a different name than Owen.

Owen: I can still make noise when I talk with my brain. 
*owen closes his mouth and starts making noise*
But it's kind of hard to hear what I say.

Owen: how do you put this on? There's not a way!
Me: there's always a way. 
Owen. Nuh-uh. There's not a way to kill a towel.

I just went into the girls room to take care of a screaming Alli. Lydia still slept, but while I was in there she fell out of her bed.
Me: are you okay?
Lydia: mommy, you know what?
Me:what?
Lydia: actually....

Then she got in bed and got comfortable and looked at me and smiled, but said no more.

William: do babies only see in black and white? 
Me: no, they see color. 
William: oh. It's just that I thought they were like dogs. 
Me: nope, they're people...

Morgan told me he isn't feeling well this morning. 
Morgan: I always know when I'm sick because my chest feels cold and blue. 
Me: how does something feel blue?
Morgan: no, COLD and blue.

Lydia: I like babies. 
Me: yeah, me too. 
Lydia: you know what? When I have babies I will give one to you. 
Me: how come?
Lydia: because maybe some boys will like it.

Lydia wanted a bandaid. 
Lydia: I think so my owieis coming out...
Me: no, you don't need a bandaid. Your belly button isn't an owie. 
Lydia: well I'm going to get one anyway! (Said with attitude). 
Me: no, Lydia, do you want to be a good girl or a naughty girl?
Lydia: well, I don't care.

Morgan was running and dancing around, ducking and side stepping through the parking lot in the rain. 
Morgan: I'm good at dodging the rain! Even though I can't see it.

Feb. 2015

Lydia was singing a song she was making up. 
Lydia: i like Alli, but sometimes her don't like me...
Me: why do you suppose that would be?
Lydia: it's just a song. It's not bad, it's a song.

Morgan: mommy, daddy, I wanna sing you a song I made up. There's some parts you probably won't like, but I don't swear or anything, so just don't be affected by it or anything.

Then he sang us a song that started with a poem by shel Silverstein and ended with him listing everyone in the entire family and using a word to describe them. For example "William is wacky" "Allison is acty" "Caseyshould be Stacey" "Christine is sinstine" ( which means sincere, he explained.) and on and on forever.

William: why do they call butts "butts"?
Morgan: to make kids laugh. 
William: if they were called "hand", kids would still laugh. 
Morgan: or if they called it "slacken"...
Both boys erupt in laughter.

Morgan: did you know that one time my senses got confused and instead hearing music I saw music? They can do that, you know.

Lydia: *gasp* I think I hear knocking! Morgan is that you? 
She pauses and listens. 
Lydia: I think it's an alien! *whimper* I don't like this house; it looks like a haunted house!

I was giving Morgan his spelling words. 
Me: hippopotamus
Morgan: h-i-pp...
Him and his brothers crack up. But he eventually finished and he spelled it right in his first try!

William is doing a little report about foxes for school. He just looked up from his reading and said, "when is the humans mating season?"

Lydia got a big ol' bloody nose yesterday, and then another one just now. 
Owen: Lydia's nose is turning into a blood monster. 
Lydia: I'M NOT A BLOOD MONSTER!!
Owen: no, your nose. 
Lydia: NO I'M NOT!

Lydia was complaining about her tummy hurting. She said "I think I need bubble gum in my tummy." And then later, "when someone's tummy hurts you're supposed to say 'you have to go poop.'"

I was straightening my hair for a date with my husband. Lydia came in and saw the layer I had clipped to the top of my head so I could straighten the layers on the bottom. 
Lydia: oh, your hair is beautiful!
Me: oh, I'm not going to leave it like this...
Lydia: yeah, because someone might laugh at you!
She was in and out if the bathroom. She came back on when my hair was all down and straight. 
Lydia: awww! Your hair isn't beautiful anymore!
At least no one will laugh at me?

Did you know that if you get an apple, light the stem on fire, then open your chest and put the apple in your chest and close your chest, you can then see in the dark? Owen told me so.

March 2015

Owen is learning about the plant cycle. He looked up from his book and said, "I didn't know fruits and vegetables were made from fabric." 
Hmm, I think you're missing something there, buddy.

Me: Owen, why would you throw your baby sister?!?
Owen, with a big smile: I thought she was a cat. 
Me: *stare at Owen with incredulity and disgust at his answer*
Owen: what? I forget!!

Lydia: mommy, guess what?
Me: what?
Lydia: I love you. 
Me: I love you, too. 
Lydia: it's a joke!

April 2015

I was brushing Lydia's hair:
Lydia: ow!
Me: there was a really big knot in your hair. 
Lydia: that's because I ate a lot of food.

Lydia: mommy, did you know that Lydia starts with balydia? And Alli starts with loudia, and you, mommy, you start with baneladie. 
Then she cracked up.

David: Yes, I realize I'm standing in the kitchen wearing nothing but my garments and a belt, eating yogurt out of the lid of a butter dish, but that's exactly what I want to be doing right now and I won't be judged by you!

Lydia: Stop!! Mommy, William is erasing me!

Allison has discovered the floor vents. One of her favorite activities is to pull up one in the living room and throw shoes and toys into it. Today while removing said items, this conversation happened:
Owen: she put a corn tortilla down here. 
Lydia: no, that was me. 
Me: you put a tortilla in the vent? Why?!
Lydia: to feed the spiders.

May 2015

Morgan: if five was a letter I think it would actually be M. For some reason I think that. Sometimes I actually read numbers.

Me: you're supposed to stay in the cul-de-sac. 
Lydia: I don't like the cold-e-sac, I only like the warm-e-sac, because the cold-e-sac is cold!

William: Morgan, we might be sitting ducks!
Morgan: what do you mean?
William: I mean this might be gross.

Huh. Not sure he quite gets the expression...

Lydia is singing a song and making it up as she goes. 
"No one will ever think I'm a bad guuuuuuy. And this is a two year old shoooooe. Because it says 5 but it's actually for a two year old giiiiiiirl."

July 2015

Owen: I was only doing one penny of my strength.

Lydia: that's boring! Mommy, Morgan was blinking a lot of times and it was boring!

Me: I wish I could be skinny. 
Lydia: what? I don't want you to be skinny! If you are skinny than you are a cat!

Owen: I can't wait until I kill a gorilla.

Aug. 2015

Owen: I'm not mean; I've never even murdered anyone.

Post-it #157

Allison used to do this funny crawl that made everyone laugh. I'm pretty sure that't why she did it. She's so silly! I got it on camera. The video ends when Lydia steps on Alli's head...

143rd Passage

David made a Cajon. He's cool like that. Here are some pictures of the process.