is this the longest winter ever or what??  we are getting VERY antsy over here! we are outside every chance we get- mud and all- but most days we are sitting inside and i am running out of ideas on ways to keep these guys BUSY.
and i am dreaming of the day when i can feed them a few meals a day OUTSIDE.  where all the toppled drinks and elbows in the food and overturned plates and projectile puking (we learned the hard way that wren is too grossed out by chinese food to keep it down) can happen ALL THEY WANT :)

and you know it's bad when the KIDS- who LOVE snow- are saying "why can't the snow just GO AWAY?? i'm so freezing in this WEATHER!! :)

but ok, regardless of how long winter wants to stick around, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.....we are going to the BEACH.  in 2 weeks.  we are ALL counting down the days- even neiko.  he says "mom, i wanna go beach in 2 weeks" :) so cute. 

this momma needs some sunshine :) and these kids need to burn some energy!!

especially little neiko.  when he is bored you need to seriously watch out.  he will find a thousand different ways to keep himself busy......NONE of which make anyone else in the house very happy.  he is just a very BUSY BOY.  without a whole lot of impulse control.  his go to activities are sneaking into tyden's room to destroy all of tyden's systematically placed lego creations.  he gets spanked EVERY TIME.  but it's just WORTH IT, you know??
he likes to sneak candy and gum and he doesn't hide the evidence very well :)  he LOVES to turn off the tv when the older kids are watching a movie.  it gets him a very good reaction.  he likes to riffle through the garbage can and eat anything that looks and smells edible.....so gross!!!! he empties drawers, throws toys, gets into the freezer, plays in the toilet, unrolls toilet paper, and if anyone walks away from their food or drink for even a second, he is right there diving in- that one gets him a really good reaction too.

the other day after neiko was caught once again in tyden's room destroying legos, tekoa said, "mom, i'm starting to think that neiko is on the different team than Jesus Christ."
and oh my word i DIED LAUGHING.  seriously cracked me up.......because, well, it would appear that way to them, wouldn't it?? :)

to me it's all pretty typical 2 yr old boy behavior, just maybe ramped up a few notches by the fact that he is super smart and all of it is just very CALCULATED, ya know?  he is always on the look out- watching and waiting for his opportunities for badness.....like it's just always on his mind.....and he seems a little old for some of the 'getting into things' behaviors.  wish he would learn to play with toys! or to watch tv! :)
such an evil mommy, i know, wishing he would watch tv, but it would buy me a glorious, hassle free shower every now and then....

oh and one more kinda funny thing......ok dave would not call this funny yet.....but dave is still painting doors, and he saved our door and neiko's door for last.  so right now there are no doors on either bedroom (yeah makes it really hard to get any kind of PRIVACY without a door in a house full of kids ;)
but for neiko, that just overstimulates him somehow.  any kind of change to his little routine in life just makes him kinda crazy.  he can't sleep.  or stay asleep.  i even hung a curtain over the doorway, and he lays in bed and lets out these high pitched screams because he's tired and can't sleep.  because his door is gone.
i think his door is getting put back on tonight.....whether it's fully dry or not ;)

oh wait i almost forgot about neiko and the wednesday night church issue.
we love wednesday night church.  it's very casual and intimate.  we sit facing each other in the sanctuary and we recap the service from sunday. open discussion. and then we break up into groups to pray together.  it's neat to hear people's thoughts and testimonies, and we really enjoy the worship too........
but while we are there, neiko is TERRIBLE.  i mean truly bad.
he is up past his bedtime, and he knows that dave and i are preoccupied, so he does whatever he wants.  he yells and runs and moves chairs around and hits and fights over toys.  it's truly embarrassing.  we are trying to brainstorm about how to manage him and still be involved in the service, and we are coming up blank.  last week i tried hauling a pack n play to church and putting him to bed, but he just kept crying and climbing out.
and at one point shaeya brought him to me and said, "mom, he is just one big heap of TROUBLE!!"  :)
oh what to do.  i am not one to change my schedule over a child's behavior.  i have always been a firm believer in a child's position as a CHILD and not a RULER or schedule changer.  meaning the kids adapt to our family life and we don't revolve the family life/schedule around any one child.  but this situation has me kinda thinking about holding off on going to wednesday night church til he's a little older.....keeping on top of discipline and keeping him under our authority is just too important at this point....even more important than church....

but the real problem is, he is just too cute and hilarious to stay mad at him for long :)

and speaking of cute and hilarious.....

 little crosby always makes me smile. especially with his pants hiked up to his chest :)

 he has the BEST facial expressions.  

and the cutest little bald head ever. :)

in other news, tekoa turned 6 this month! :)

all she wanted was to go to monkey joes with her friends.  

and i think we spent our life savings there- sheeesh!

but they had a BLAST!!!!

all of us Light House moms are truly relieved to have made it through our big fundraiser auction!!

whew that is a lot of work, but very worth it!!!

and the music performance went GREAT!! i was so proud of them!! :)

this is our tiny church kitchen- love it!! 

sweet Annie brought some fruit for the kids for an after church snack :)

these guys are always very HUNGRY  by the time church gets over... :)

ok these are kinda random, but the kids and i were eating lunch one day when a whole flock of turkeys came through our backyard.  it was really cool to watch them!!

and they stuck around for quite awhile!

this guy kept showing off :)

i know, i know, i really need to get the safety pad for the springs on that trampoline....

but i'm not sure the pad would've even prevented wren's fall and faceplant in the dirt...

good thing she's tough.  :)

i sure love that little girl...she always keeps us laughing.  

one morning she was cuddling with dave before he left for work and she said, "daddy, i dare you....i triple dog dare you...to never go to work again..." :)

the other night dave had to work late, so i decided to treat the kids to dinner out and a movie at home afterward.  when we pulled up to Culver's i told the kids that anyone who misbehaves in the restaurant or causes a scene will go straight to bed when we get home without seeing the movie.  

to which tekoa said, "AND she is SERIOUS!" 

love it! :) at least they know that i follow through :)  

and always a bunny picture in the mix, right? :)

i think he's ready for spring too...

well, neiko just came up from the basement covered in some kind of white dust....his hair and skin and shirt are white....guess that's my sign that blog time is over.....:)