It finally pays off to have an early riser.

Ben has been an early riser since he was 3 months old. He wakes up EVERY morning at 5:30am. He is happy and ready to face his day. You can image how fun this was when he was a baby and toddler and we had to get up with him.

Over the past couple years he has become much more respectful with his early rising. He stays in his bed and reads or whispers to himself. Sometimes he'll tiptoe to the bathroom or even get himself dressed. Then he waits until around 6:30 when I come into their room to wake them up. Charlie is almost always still sound asleep.

Today I went in his room and saw him fully dresses and bed made!

Me: Wow, that's great Ben!

Ben: AND I went downstairs and made my lunch.

Me: Really ( a little nervous)?

Ben: Yes, and I made Charlie's too. I made sandwiches, apples and cheese sticks. Then I put them in our backpacks. I also put our library books in our backpacks. Mine was missing the card, so I made a new one (he hand wrote his name on a paper and cut it to the proper size). I put snacks and juice boxes in there too. Then I did my homework and I did Charlie's too! I put our homework in our folders and put them our backpacks. We are all ready for school!
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Oh my goodness! He is either getting very responsible or I am a slacker mom. I had nothing to do this morning except feed them breakfast. I'm sure Ben would have been happy to do that too!

In case you are wondering (or Mrs. N is reading), we don't always do homework in the morning. They have soccer practice after school on Wednesday and they are soooo tired, so I usually let them do their homework in the morning.

A faux hawk, a baba, a pen and some oranges.

L and her pony

Here she is at her last horseback riding lesson. She loves it! This is Cal the pony.


















































And one of Coop growling at the horses:

The Giving Tree

Mark just read this to the kids and Ben says,"Don't worry dad, if you were the tree I would never cut you down."

I love him!

Mark was telling me the story just now and totally had tears in his eyes.  Don't tell him I told you.

Charlie and Ben

I will have more pics of them once they are out of school (only a couple weeks).  I only have more of C & L because they hang out at my house all day, not because I love them more.

Our chicks hatched!

Our chicklets  hatched.  Aren't they cute (In a totally ugly sort of way?).  I think I did too good of a job scaring the kids about getting too close to the tree.  Poor Charlie is now terrified that that mama bird is going to attack him.

Cutie Pie, Bye-Bye and Squigly girl

These are the names of the pet worms my nieces and Luci adopted last weekend. I was so excited for them to spend the weekend with us so that Luci could get some girl time. You know, dolls, house, Barbie....

They did all of that, but the highlight of the weekend were their pet worms. They made homes for them, fed them, dressed them in bows and even took them for a walk. I'm pretty sure their lifeless bodies had had enough after three hours of love by my delicate flowers.

Mommy, I'll beat you up....

This is what Luci says as she races me up the stairs.

Then we are on the way back down and scurries in front of me and says again, "Mommy, I'll beat you up!"

Cooper says..

Yesh!

and

NOOOOO! (Finger pointed and brows furrowed.)

Here she is:

Pretty much any picture you see of L, Dirty Baby is within 10 feet of her.  She has a few, but prefers the dirtiest/crustiest of the bunch.

I love dirty baby too

I was just tucking Luci in for her nap and singing "Hush Little Baby," her favorite song.  As I sang she rubbed dirty baby's silky foot on my face.  I know you are thinking "oh gross,"  but it was so sweet.  The DB's foot is super loft and very well loved.

Blessed Mother Mary

The boys had to bring in flowers for mass today for Mary  for May crowning.  Here is the conversation from 7am as we packed backpacks:

Ben:  What are the flowers for?

Mom:  For Mary.

Ben: Why?

Mom: Because she is the Mother of Jesus.

Ben: Why is that so hard?