Clearly ...

SOMEONE in our home feels that using dishes ...

Is a COMPLETE waste of time!

Pit Stop ...

Eeerrrk! Vrmmm! Vrrmmm! Squuuueeeaaakkkk!

Just an average day in the life of J. Howard and E. Bennett. Find a box of diapers ... a few tools ... and decide it's time to practice their pit stop skills!

Just Be Thankful ...

That there is no audio version of this performance ...
It was loud. It was off key. It was out of tune. It lasted FOREVER. And it was a whole lot of fun to see those twenty fingers working together :) Although ... I am totally going to the store and stocking up on extra earplugs. This is shaping up to be a very loud next 18 years of my life!!

Welcome To The NUT House ...

I used to think I was normal.  I lived a very normal existence in a normal house with a normal husband and normal children.  We did very normal things ... we'd eat a normal breakfast, do some normal errands, and pay some normal bills. 

But after a recent trip to my mom's house, I think I might as well stop kidding myself.  We are not normal.  We might not even be on the normal radar.  Normal might be so far out of our reach that I might want to void the word normal from being spoken in our home:

Shortly after arriving at my mom's, Eli decided that How How needed to be introduced to his cars - all named "Joey" because my children have a not normal obsession with racing.  I know what you're thinking.  This isn't bad.  You could still be normal.  Just wait.

Then we quickly i-Chatted with my brother and his family.  And then my grandparents suddenly disappeared and then Eli slipped in a pool of blood.  Where did the blood come from and where were my grandparents? 

While we searched from GiGi and HowHow ... who were later found in the bathroom, bandaging up a wound on my grandpa's leg ... Joshua discovered that my mom has added rollers to the bottom of her ottoman.  Grandpa is on the couch.  Eli is smothering him with toys and kisses.  And Joshua ... he is screaming "LOOK AT MY BURNOUTS!" as he is flying down the hallway on the ottoman doubling as a race car.  

Not to let anything stop us from opening gifts ... we began tearing open all sorts of goodies destined to make us even better mothers ... (GiGi got a fashionable bracelet made by the hands of J. How, I got sewing stuff and my mom ... 

instantly sky-rocketed past me in the cool department when the boys gave her a PINK iPod).

Eli continued to bring HowHow random treats ... until 

he declared his need to go "pee pee" ... quickly followed him ripping off his shorts and diaper and running down the hallway to use the "babeee" potty.  After multiple attempts to crawl in the toilet and not a drop of pee pee in sight ... we came back down the hall ...
to discover that Joshua had now become a cat ... and was taking my mom's yarn and wrapping the contents of the house with its softness.  Under, over, inside, around.  The kid didn't miss a spot ... and even dished out the yarn while meowing.  Talent!

In the meantime, Eli ... who was still diaperless ... had crawled up onto the chair and found a book ... all the while protesting my suggestion for finding his pants.  And don't think that a foot injury kept How out of the game ... nope, he and Gigi spent the next 20 minutes untangling our little J. How's yarn mess.  Nothing like a calm evening to celebrate Mother's Day, huh? 

=====================================

Normal.  Maybe I'll get there someday.  But for now ... I think we're well on our way to being certifiably CRAZY!

Feast Your Eyes Upon This ...

They took their sweet time but I knew my genes would eventually show up!

Thank goodness.

A Lazy Day ...

And with good reason ...

A dear neighbor and friend called yesterday and gave us a fabulous gift ...

paying to have our house cleaned!

So ... there wasn't much else to do around here ... but enjoy the smell of CLEAN ... And put our feet up ...
You see, even in the muck, God's blessings are all over the place!

HAPPY 6th Anniversary To US ....

Year Six ...

Our BEST year yet ...

And I got the best gift ... a trinity necklace from IRELAND! My only request when Ben went there last month and he told me he came home with nothing. He's a sneaky one ...
I'm seriously wishing I had some of that cake to eat right now ... YUMMY!
Oh ... and this attractive bonus picture ... my special gift to you. I was just admiring how wide I could open my mouth. Pretty impressive. Especially since my jaw is currently LOCKED and I had to eat my lunch at Jamba Juice! Oh well ... as long as I don't have to blend up my dinner. I'd like to save that little treat until we celebrate our 60th :)