The Kiddos

So, Owen has been saying "sayings" that he obviously does not get the meaning of. I heard him yell at Noah, " I don't like you! If it's the last thing I do!" He understands that people say that when mad, but not quite getting the full meaning. Also, the other day he left some stuff in the van and then only brought in part of it. I asked why he didn't bring in all of it and he shrugged his shoulders and sighed, then told me it was a long story. Goofy kid!

Noah lost his FIRST tooth tonight. It has been hanging in there forever. He has been super afraid to pull it. I'm glad it's finally out. Noah really doesn't enjoy learning or studying. He almost always cries when it's time for homework. Tonight he spelled a word without crying and excitedly said, "I didn't even have to cry to spell that one right!"-Because crying always enhances the learning experience!

Heidi won a lip-sync contest last week at our local festival. She did Taylor Swift's You Belong with Me. There were only two acts that showed up. I don't know if more signed up and just didn't show up or what. The elementary school division prize was an iPod shuffle and the middle/high school prize was a step up from the that, the Nano. Well, the other entry was a couple of elementary aged girls too. So, Heidi ended up winning the Nano and they got the Shuffle. Not bad. So far she has Taylor Swift and Justin Beiber and one Beach Boys song. She has been listening to it tons. Noah thinks he should enter next year to try to win one. Heck, I might enter. The adult division prize was an iPod Touch!

Staller Family Lake Vacation

All of the Staller's spent a week together at a Lake house on Stone Lake in Cassopolis MI. We had lots of laughs,fun and good food. It was a little crazy at first. The kids were all so excited and wanted to check out everything. The guys went fishing at 6 every morning. Some even went at 4:30 one morning. They then fished more throughout the day and evening. We had some yummy fish to fry come Friday night. Heidi is a good little fisherman. She caught 4 one time and one or two the other times she went fishing. She said that catching fish by herself was her favorite part of the vacation.

We went swimming off of the pontoon most days. It took a while to find a good spot with no seaweed. Owen was pretty scared about going in the water, but by the end of the week, he was a bit more comfortable. We went to Silver Beach on Lake Michigan one day. There were some decent sized waves and we all enjoyed that.

Dad seemed to disappear a lot and the most asked question during the week was, "Has anyone seen Dad?" We had a trick played on us by Ryan and Brent. Brent typed up a fake news article about the house being haunted. We spent much time Googling it, but soon discovered it must be a farce. It was not until the end of the week that we found out that it was the work of Brent, and Ryan was in on it too.

We played Beyond Balderdash one night. If you have never played, you are missing out. It is hilarious. There was one where you had to tell why this guy with the last name of Leotard was famous. Dad's answer was: A burlesque comedian billed as Leotard the Reotard." We were all laughing so hard! I liked my movie synopsis of "The story of two rival gangs in Miami. Will Eduardo make it out alive?" I only got one vote for it, though. I also enjoyed Chad's movie synopsis of the Woopie Boys: "3 Half brothers steal a card and sail it down the Mississippi on a homemade raft." There were tons of funny ones and it was hard to read through the answers without busting up. It was great that all of us kids got to be there.

Oh no, All the girls will Like me!

After graduating from high school, Chad worked at Target for the summer. I was informed by my sister in law, who worked with him, that all of the girls at Target liked him. It's fun to tease him about it. He was quite the stud. Tonight Chad was showing the kids his old pictures and there was one with his Target name tag, so I shared with them that the girls he worked with liked him. Owen hung his head and said, "I don't want to work at Target. All the girls will like me!" It was pretty funny!

King George

I won!!! I have been listening to US 93.3 for a couple of weeks straight, trying to win George Strait and Reba McEntire tickets. The concert is in Indianapolis next week. If the radio station plays a George Strait song, followed by a Reba song and you're the 93rd caller, you win. Usually I just get a busy signal. Yesterday when I called, they actually answered, but said to call back. So, this morning when they answered I was expecting the same thing. I was so happy when they asked if I wanted to go see George and Reba!! Finally, I can listen to something other than country music. I like country, but two weeks of nothing but country is tooooo much for me. I don't want to hear about anyone being stuck like glue or about your hillbilly bone, and definitely don't want to hear the term trailerhood. Chad and I went to a George Strait concert 4 years ago and it was soooo much fun. We are pretty excited to see King George!

Absolute Kindness

On a day when I was feeling especially crappy about my mothering skills, I received a little assurance that I'm not completely failing with my children. While at the grocery store, the woman in front of us left money with the cashier to pay for my groceries because she said that I seemed like a good mother. How nice?! I couldn't believe it! I was able to catch up to her in the parking lot and thank her. She said that my boys were just so cute and she has 5 grown boys. So, maybe it wasn't so much my mothering skills as it was the cuteness of my little stinkers. They are pretty darn adorable!

Christmas Vacation

This Christmas vacation has been so great! We've had lots of days to sleep in and lots of days with nothing on the calendar! I've had a few days where I haven't had to make supper-that's always welcome. Chad has come home early from work a couple of times. I always love that! It has been fun being with the kids and it has been fun that they have had sleepovers with family. Last week Macy had all 3 kiddos for a sleepover, so Chad and I went to a movie. We never do that! We don't usually want to pay for a babysitter, dinner and a movie. It gets expensive. I've had lots of time to organize the house and get rid of things we don't use. With all the new stuff we got for Christmas, I've been in a purging mood. Goodwill will be getting quite a load from the Warner's. We've had some kids to our house too. It's just been very relaxing to not have to be out and about. Whitley gets here today and I'm excited to hang out with her! Yesterday, we finally got all cleaned up from the Christmas chaos. Today I've been taking down the Christmas decorations-which makes me sad. It does feel good to get the house back to normal, though. Noah turned 6 yesterday and had Tyler over for a sleepover. Tomorrow will be his birthday celebration with the extended family-chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream! I'm looking forward to Christmas at my mom and dad's house on Friday and the New Year's Eve party at McNair's. I'll miss Knecht's, though! Saturday is the Gradeless Christmas and that will be the last of the holiday festivities. Let me send out an early Happy New Year to everyone!

Karate Kid

We just watched the new Karate Kid. It was pretty good. I do have one beef with the film-there was no karate! You shouldn't call it Karate Kid and then have Kung Fu as the sport he learns. Also, that kid's hair was really bad. Owen thought he was a girl and refused to refer to him as a him. Every time he asked a question (Which was about every 30 seconds) he would say why did SHE do that or why is HER shirt like that? All in all it was an enjoyable film, with a bad title.