Cousin Love

This week we have been visiting with all of the cousins. My parents are here for a quick stint from Russia and so the family came from Utah for a visit. It's been one big party.

Little miss has been trying to be the mama to all of the boys.
Cam has blossomed into a big kid. Preschool looks good on him. He is a ham and a half with all the looks and phrases for the ladies. He kills me!

This guy has been in heaven with a lot of attention from all of his big kid cousins.

Breckyn has been "babysitting" all of the little kids. She turns herself inside out to entertain them.

B took the boys on a "winter walk."

Grandma and her newest baby nugget. He is a doll.

Cooper is in love with our fish tank. He pulls up a chair and just stares. It has been the best entertainment for him yet.

The littlest cousins all squeezed in for some cartoons. I think they like each other.

Baden got his first taste of super heroes (literally) at the Taylor house of course.

Coop in his new heaven.

The mind of Emerson

Emerson is a quirky kid. At night when I put him to bed he usually has a story or some random fact he wants me to know. His top three subjects, as of late, are facts about space, the gross girl who likes him, and how he feels about Haiti.

Recently his class has started studying stars, the moon and space. It is completely fascinating to him. He remembers all sorts of things about the moon and its craters, what stars are, how big planets are, and other things that are quite detailed for a kindergarten mind. He amazes me with the little facts he can remember from their lessons. This kid couldn't tell Breckyn and Zoey apart until he was four but he can memorize random facts like nobodies business. Hmmmm....

Then he has a cute little girl that is in love with him. It completely unravels him. She has loved him since preschool and he does not return her feelings. She tells him that he is so lovable. This has been a major source of pain for his little mind. He told her that he just wants to be friends and that he is already in love with someone else. She was crushed for a little while and has now gone back to professing her love again. Almost every night I hear of a new plan to thwart her love. Ahhhh, the problems of kindergarten love.

Lastly, he has been completely enthralled with the situation in Haiti. In his prayers tonight he asked that the Haiti people could get better. He has questions about how the people are doing and if they have doctors. He wants to know if they can get in a boat and just come here. His little mind is swirling with questions.

I think my baby is growing up. That and not wanting to go to bed. He comes up with his best conversation topics during tuck in time. It never fails. I just love this kid.

Z-ster

Little Miss Zoey got some new digs this week. She was loving life.

Look at that sassy 'tude. She is workin' it!

Rusty the Racer

It's come to this...

Tim's latest idea of harnessing the free power we have laying around the house.
This is going to be the fastest pinewood derby car EVER! A few hot dog chunks and we've got it in the bag for sure!

I hope that you are not the last friend to arrive at my party. If you are, that's OK. I'd still like for you to come. I'm talking about my latest blogging indulgence. If you haven't heard yet-- I've started another blog. It's from me to you without a filter. Come and play. You can find me at Leca Unplugged.

Pinewood Derby

This was my kitchen table just a few hours ago. Now it has been transformed into Tim's pinewood derby workshop. When the kids go to bed, he gets out all of his toys and tinkers for a while. I have a feeling this years entry is going to be the stuff of legends. Just wait. In spirit of this yearly obsession, Tim has found an appropriate skit capturing his passion at http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/1306/ .

This is for you Cassie. Apparently I have not mentioned that we have a fish tank-- we do. This is our family fish tank filled with lots of different kinds of colorful fresh water fish. You can't really see all of them from this picture, but you get the basics. If I had known that an aquarium was going to be this easy I assure you that we would have skipped the hamster and the dog and sailed easily through fish pets. The kids a quite amused by it and I find it quite relaxing to stare at it when I'm in the kitchen. Who knew?
Today was popcorn day at school. Rugby left his bag on the floor within Rusty's reach. The bag reeked of stale popcorn and oil and it was too much for Rusty to resist.

The other day the we had the weirdest weather. It happened two days in a row. We had frozen fog all over the entire outside world. I have never seen frost so delicately defined. I snapped a quick shot because I thought it was so cool.

New Projects

As many of you can guess-- I love love love to blog. It has become more than just a fun fascination to me. I am officially taking it up a notch. For those of you who know me best, you have been nudging me to write a book for a while now. And well that may be an excellent suggestion, that project has taken on a life of it's own in many ways. For now, I would love to get all of my quirky stories, suggestions and product reviews out on a different venue. I have started another blog. (No, I am not closing this one.) I will still be filling your computer screens with all the fun and life my family has to offer. This new blog will be less about my specific personal life and more about great stories, food, products and other things that interest me. If you'd like to check it out, I have to tell you, it's in the bare first stages. BARE STAGES! I am not the computer whiz that I wish I could be. I have some ideas but I'd love any suggestions and help that you'd care to give. It needs a bit of tweaking. My following so far is... you. So if you'd like to relax and enjoy life from my point of view for a few minutes just click on leca unplugged. Go ahead, add me to your favorites, I don't mind at all...

Em's sweet moves

The kids were bragging about Em's sweet moves so Tim went down to tape it for us. As you can see, with a little chiding from the cousins, he does have some pretty sweet moves.

Super Science Guy

Friday night we had a chance to spend a little time with the Barlow kids. Tim was being super Uncle and planned a big science night for all of the kids. Awwww, cousin love.

Timmy had them all pumped and ready to start some science.

Here is the first goo worm.

I think Tim was enjoying this even more than the kids.

Caleb made a super long worm.

Even Bean got to make one.

Once everyone got to make a worm, they all started getting creative.

Rugby turned his into art (of course).

Max discovered that his could fit nicely into his belly button. There were some other creative uses referencing the nose that just weren't that pretty on film.

Then Tim showed the kids the power of magnets.

Next, he had them all mix their own gel slime.

He left it color-less for staining purposes.

Caleb combined his worm and his slime to make the ultimate nasty substance.

These are our fearless pups keeping their distance. I think they know that slime and fur don't make a very good mix.

...and of course, what's a good science night without a mentos and coke volcano?

Thanks for a fun night Scientist Timmy. If you are looking for good ideas to do at your house just go to steve spangler science. Happy Experiementing!

Sicko!

It's sicko season at our house. For the past two weeks I have been fighting off infections and really not feeling too well. This has caught on like wild fire taking out each kid one at a time.

Em was home sick yesterday with the pukes. Rusty is snuggling him back to health.

Today Rugs was home with a bad fever. I am also babysitting Chloe and they both talked Timmy into getting them kids meals. They lucked out with double prizes. I guess being sick does have its benefits sometimes.

V chocolates

I was raised to believe that no other chocolate was quite as good as Hershey's. For many years I subscribed to this belief and did not question my mother. As I grew older, I left for college and discovered that there were other options in this big world of ours besides the beloved Hershey's of my childhood. I started out small trying things like Ghirardellis but my taste buds were groomed to reject all others until I discovered a shop in the mall called See's candies. Oh, the sweet sweet bliss of the perfect truffle. A chocolate wrapped carmel that melts into your very soul. From there my tastes grew snootier. I dabbled in a bit of Godiva (truffles that will make you forget your own name) and through all of my pregnancies I craved Kara (their mint truffles can move mountains). Now I must confess, my tastes have been persuaded once more. The other day I was on the phone with my sister Cheri and she was making a lot of crunching and smacking noises on the other end. She confessed that she was eating the most amazing toffee ever. I think I'll be the judge of that; toffee just so happens to be one of my all time favorites. I am a carmel, butterscotch, toffee kind of person. If it has some chocolate thrown in there, I'm hooked. So she offers to send me a box to convince me of their goodness. Yesterday, it arrived in the mail. The box was a shiny Tiffany blue. The wrapping said, "seize the moment" and I did. I should explain to you that toffee is less about the crunch and more about the rich melting of buttery flavors. If you don't select a fine brand of toffee you are most likely going to loose a tooth. So I was cautious with my first bite. It feathered off easily in my mouth. The crunch was so light and crispy I almost forgot that I was eating toffee. The buttery nutty explosion that followed convinced me that this is the world's best toffee-- by far. You could search your whole life and never find candy quite as satisfying as this. If this was a drug, I'd be in the ER on overdose by now. My sister, bless her heart, sent me an entire pound! I'm pretty sure I'll gain more than that eating this entire box but I don't even care. I'd run a marathon to eat a box of this stuff. I checked out their website and set up an account. I added everything I'd like to try to my cart and told Tim that it would be waiting there for him when he needed to buy me a little something nice. I'm thinking Valentine's day or maybe just Wednesday would be a nice occasion to buy. Cheri, thank you for introducing me to the most mind blowing delicacy I have ever tasted. If you don't believe me, just order some for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

THE Magnolia Bakery

If the sight of this logo makes you drool than you in the right place. This bakery was featured on Oprah many years ago as one of the best bakeries ever. They were said to have the most amazing cupcakes in all of New York. When I heard this, I knew that I must get my hands on these magical cakes. If you know me you know that I have a serious passion, some might even say an addiction to cake. I have also always ALWAYS wanted to travel to New York City. The mention of this bakery combines my two dreams into one. If I had my way, I would plan a trip and eat my way through New York savoring every last bite. I would start at one end and go to the other tasting creations that would make your head spin. I love food and there is nothing that makes me happier than eating the perfect meal or better yet, the perfect pastry. Which leads me to the best thing that Mr. Barlow has ever EVER done for me. On Sunday he was leaving for a trip to New York and I happened to mention my dream of these precious cakes. I assumed that he would leave and go about his travels not really thinking about my cake issues. I was so wrong! Last night he returned with an armful of cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery! He has never looked so handsome to me. So this post is dedicated to you Mr. Barlow. Thank you for walking several miles in the cold winter air, standing in line forever, and bringing me back the best gift you have ever given me (besides your children) CUPCAKES! You are my hero and my new favorite brother in law. (Coco and Jeff, Davey, Benny and Greg, not to worry, I still have other places that I would love to eat from.)

Snow Fun

Yesterday Jodi and I did a kid exchange. I traded Em and Rugs for Maddie and Caleb. My kids battled on the Wii and then played outside in the backyard.

The girlies were turning their sleds into snow boards. They got the giggles for a long time.

Caleb joined them but only after he took Tim's sweet remote control car for a spin.

I think Caleb enjoyed this-- I know I did.

Hobby hoo ha!

Now that the holidays are behind us it's time to start thinking about the pinewood derby of course. Tim is on the prowl and ready to create something amazing again this year. On Saturday he was itching to get to the hobby store to start buying supplies. So we all piled in the car and took off for Milwaukee. When we got to the store the kids had a fun time looking at all the extreme hobby stuff. Naturally Em had to go potty. I tell the group that I'm going to take Em to the bathroom and of course two more kids joined the potty party. I make it a personal rule that I never, NEVER, go to the bathroom at these places because it is a mostly male environment. Males and public bathrooms are never a good combo, especially in a hobby shop. We open the door to the women's one room wonder and BAM! The stink hits us straight in the face. Even the kids are grumbling and groaning about the smell-- so you know it's bad! But we are here and everyone has to go, so what are we going to do? Em claims first rights to the potty, since it was his idea, and proceeds to take his sweet time. In the mean time Zoey's situation has become urgent so I send her off to the men's bathroom with Breckyn. When we are all finished we meet in the hallway and Breckyn pulls me off to the side to tell me about the men's bathroom. She says, "The men's bathroom was way better than the women's bathroom! They even had an air freshener!" She seems completely outraged by this so I press her a little more about why that's such a big deal and she says, "I think those bathrooms must have been built back in the days when women didn't have any rights. That's why the men's was so much nicer." She takes all of her history facts pretty seriously. So the next time you are in Milwaukee come and visit our anti-women hobby store. It'll be fun!

Even More

I did my weekly shopping yesterday and I had Chloe along for the ride. She picked out a few shirts in her size that she wanted to have me spice up. I was all over that.

The first one is pretty basic. The shirt is gathered across the front so I followed the gather line with some ribbon. I added the cuffs and the ribbon for a little extra pzazz.
This one was a little more time consuming but pretty simple over all. I used some specialty ribbon that I had to make this really fun. I added a few glitter buttons to make it really stand out. It's a little obnoxious but so Chloe.

I found a lady online who cuts off old tights and uses them as knee socks. I've been wanting to try it myself and this was my first attempt. It worked out pretty well. I'm going to work on a few for the girlies with different patterns on them.

I couldn't leave my little puppy out of all of this sewing. So yesterday, I came up with a coat for him. It's double layered fleece because it is stinkin' cold here right now. I'm sure I'll slow down sooner or later but like a true Magill, I think I'll ride this wave for a while.

I can't get enough

The kids all wanted something from the craft room today. So when I finished my pile of repairs and shortening, I started on a few things for them.

Brecky picked this skirt from the idea board. I was trying to scheme a way to make the skirt when I happened upon a super cheap one at Wal-Mart. I added the ruffles and wa la-- funky skirt.
She and I fell in love with these new shirts from Target that come with a hip bib necklace. It was our inspiration for the skirt colors.

Z wanted a versatile pin to go with all of her outfits.

Em wanted the super hero gloves.

I took the Batman symbol off of some old pajama pants and the power gloves are out of fleece. Super easy and very fun to see him wear.

Happy Crafting!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We brought in the new year with the Barlows last night. Our crew only lasted until about 8:30. But oh did we ever party hard.

This is Max saying, "Happy New Year" to you!

As the night wore on the kids disappeared upstairs for a while and came down like this. They were trying to scare their little brothers. Check! Consider us very scared (or disturbed).
The kids took advantage of one final "eat anything" party. Rugs is a huge root beer fan so this was golden for him.

We had a whole lot of cousin love going on.

...more cousin love.

...and more cousin love.

If this doesn't look like trouble, I don't know what does.

Nothing like a little wrestling. We had lots of pizza, games, fun and squirreling around. It was a great night even if we didn't make it until midnight. Happy New Year!