Out with Will

Will accompanied me to the mall today in search of a gift for his teacher whose birthday is tomorrow. . .nothing like the last minute!

I love gift-shopping with him because he is extremely thoughtful, even at his young age. And well, he is just fun to be around - he's funny!

Here was our conversation on the way there:

"Oops!" says I, "The gas light is on!"

"What does that mean?" says Will.

"It means we need to get some gas," says I. "I'll have to ask daddy to get some when he goes out tonite."

"Why don't we just go get it?" says he.

"Well, it's kind of a boy job." says I.

"Why's that?" he asks.

"Well, it is daddy's job to protect me, cause I'm his girl, and that means he will protect me from the cold and snow by filling up my gas tank for me." I explain.

He ponders this for a moment then says quietly, "Well. . .I remember when he left the door open, a long long time ago."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"He left the door open and you got cold." he says. "But that was a long long time ago, before Ben and Sara were born."

Mmm. . .I sure hope Joe has made up for that, because it seems like my son has been holding a grudge on my behalf for the last three years!

The Kindergarten Play!

I think it is only after you become a mother that you can experience the full emotion of "bursting with pride", where your heart actually hurts and it squeezes those tears right to the surface. Today was that kind of day!
Kayte was doing a play about a wax museum display that portrayed the story of the Pilgrims (written and directed by her kindergarten teacher, aka Grandma!)

Kayte was a Pilgrim. She worked on her lines for three weeks!

Little Ava was a Pilgrim too!

Taken during the actual play - she did a great job!

The staging and costumes were fantastic!
I just love being a mom!!!

Look who is feeling better!

Little Ben is still fighting his cold, but we are definitely on the mend around here.
This is how I found him the other day after naps! I know! He is standing up - and he got there all by himself!!!
Very impressive!

More Fun in the Snow

Will is digging a big hole ;)

I finally went and bought some little saucer sleds so the kids could sled down the ice-that-looks-like-snow in our backyard. The sledding wasn't up to their standards, so they let their little stuffed animals have all the fun instead.
Well, whatever keeps them happy! :)
(Some of you might know that our yard is very flat and wonder how my kids can sled back there anyway. Joe threw a bunch of snow off our roof one day when it was still light and fluffy, which created a nice hill where the stairs used to be. Behind the kids, you can see one of the casualties of all that heavy snow. Our lilac bush had a little involuntary trimming. . .)

Sara's Favorite Place in the Whole World and other fun facts

Sara loves the tub! She hates getting out and she calls for more hot water every three minutes or so. It is even more delightful when Ben gets to join her!

Lately I've run into some new Sara-isms:
When I'm getting her dressed in the morning, she is always mumbling something about the jungle (we believe it is because Mowgli runs around in nothing but his scivvies). This always leads me to start singing, "Welcome to the Jungle! . . .Hope you like it here!" (which, let's face it, is an appropriate jingle for any morning. . .) and she always finishes this up with "And He never leaves your heart" with her hand reverently placed over her heart. I don't know where it comes from, but I think it is funny because we do this routine every single day!
(By the way, this reminds me of a three-year-old Kayte who had a habit of saying "Happy Halloween!" to us every night as we closed the door on her for 365 nights. The night after Halloween on that 366th day, she just miraculously stopped saying it.)

The other day as we were dropping Kayte off at school and watching her hurry to the door, Sara made me roll the window down so she could holler out, "Happy School!!!", which happens to be a cousin to the more popular phrases of Happy Birthday and Happy Halloween :) I liked the idea so much, we now use it every day. It is such a cheerful send-off!

Finally, I was loading the dishes one night and I hollered at Sara, "Come here!". She hurried in to the kitchen, dropped down on one knee, threw her arms straight out and smiled, "Yes sire?"
Too cute!

Jack turns 3

The party was at Zeppoz on Monday night. I was at the doctor with Ben, so Joe was in charge of the camera. I was so excited for their first time bowling!

Racin' cars. We love cars!

I love it how everyone is blowing, even so far away!

Ed is sharin' his skills.

They really need bowling balls made for children. . .the shoes are cute though! :)

Poor Ben!

Ben is the third of my four children to have succumbed to the nebulizer!
On Monday he stopped eating, slept a lot, and started wheezing, so we were off to the doctor. At first there was talk of pneumonia and a bit about RSV, but maybe it was infantile asthma? I'm not convinced we settled on just one specific illness, but it seemed that the nebulizer was working on his breathing, so we took that home, along with some amoxycillin for his ear infection - poor kid!
As I was setting up the machine and pouring in the albuterol like a pro, I thought to myself, thank the Lord I'm not a pro at this! I am so thankful for healthy kids!!! Occasionally they get a cold or cough, or (horror!) the stomach flu, but they are all disease-free, healthy, happy, with ten fingers and toes each! It doesn't get better than that!

As a side note: I was slightly discouraged when I opened my fridge yesterday to find more medications than actual food. Being somewhat confined to the house for the last couple days, my cupboard was Mother Hubbard's!
But, thanks to a long visit at Winco and Walmart last night, we are up and running once again!

Snotty Kids!

Sara and Ben have both been coughing and sneezing and running their noses all weekend. I think Will and Kayte have the same cold, but it just doesn't seem to be that bad to me. Maybe it is because they can wipe their own noses and wash their own hands!

I love the kind of sick day where everyone just curls up and watches a movie. So cozy!

Ben is conked out! Even when he is awake he is half-veggin' anyway.
It is a quiet day here today. . .

Sending Will off to catch us dinner. . .

While we were eating our big fish feast, Will said, "Isn't it funny that we go out and catch our food for dinner?"
Ahh. . .America!

Princesses do chores too. . .

Working on her homework. . .

Sara doesn't have an official princess costume, so she wears this hand-me-down Christmas dress, and calls herself Belle. You must call her Belle too, or she will correct you!

A princess always has time to curtsy, even while cleaning up the castle!
What a mess!!!

For my nephew, Jack

Hey there buddy!
I know you are a very faithful follower of my blog, so I wanted to make sure you knew I was thinking about you today!
Happy 3rd Birthday!
We sure like you over here at the Casebolt house! You are a cheerful, friendly, loving little guy, and I'm glad you belong to our family!
Have a great day!!!

More Ice Fishing

A Joe Post

It was a beautiful day out so we boys decided to get some ice fishing in after church. Will is becoming quite the fisherman. His hole produced the most fish by far. Though we took 18 home we probably caught around 30 in 2 hours, plus all the ones we ended up missing. Will ended up giving us all lessons on the intricacies of ice fishing so now we are all pros.

Boys!!!!!

Joe received this card for his birthday:

Inside reads, "I sure do miss him. . ."

Well, Will can't read, but he was fascinated with this picture and you could actually hear the wheels turning. Every time he mentioned the card, I would say, "That guy died, ya know! It's not safe to shoot at people" fully expecting this lesson to take. . .
Today we had Kenny Kline over to play. . .
Yep, next thing I know Will has Kenny in the backyard with a purple bucket on his head aiming his crossbow at him. Fortunately the purple bucket had a hard time staying atop his head, so I had time to get to the window and holler!
Ok, the arrows are plastic with suction cup ends, but still, it would leave a good mark at the two foot distance Will was standing.
Boys! . . . They are the only reason the phrase "Don't try this at home" became so popular!
They're crazy!!!!!

PS When I hollered out the window I said, "WILL, what on EARTH do you think YOU ARE DOING?"
And he looks up with his doe-eyes and says innocently, "I'm trying to shoot the bucket off Kenny's head with my crossbow!"
Oh, ok then!
Arrrggghhhh!!!!

My Sara

So pretty!
She is as fun as ever and lately she has been feeling more like a three-year-old than a two-year-old.
Time goes too fast! She will be three in four short months!

Another night of basketball. . .

Ok, we had to go back to Knights Court tonite for the big match-up against Oaks from Spokane. Good rival!
We were ahead the whole game by a good margin, but ended up losing by 1 point! Crazy!

Of course, our favorite part of basketball games is the popcorn at the half. Sara found it easier to just dig her face right in!

Cute!

Jack was handing out hugs in exchange for a little of the good stuff!

Cute Kayte!

She is all dressed and ready to go to ballet this afternoon.
I just love her boots, I want them!
How come kids get all the cool stuff? And for $10 too!

Ben kicks it into 4WD!

Finally!
Just a week after he turned nine months, he is crawling! We saw some evidence that he was catching on last night, but I truly became a believer when he came cruising down the hallway to find me in my room today. Yay!
(Of course, now I have to keep the bathroom door closed and put the gate up on the stairs! But whatever, he's mobile!)
Also, I would like to report that he is learning to throw his toys! I think that is pretty impressive actually. The doctors are always asking questions like, "Can he stack blocks or roll a ball to you?"
And I just want to say "Nooo. . .but he can throw stuff and knock stuff over!" He is a boy after all!
Yay for Ben!!!

Recipe for hours of fun:

A rope, a snow-drift, some sunshine, and a four-year-old boy!

Takin' a leap. . .

. . .nice landing!

(I don't really know what the rope is for. . . :)

Note to self:

Check all wadded-up PJs for Pull-ups before tossing the whole kit 'n' kaboodle in the washing machine.

Gross!

Best Buds

In the past week or two, I've caught Kayte and Will being best buds!
They've especially enjoyed playing together in the snow. They can go on endless adventures and never mind the cold.
On this day, Will had just gotten up from his nap and wanted to snuggle up with Kayte while they watched a little TV.
I really like that! :)

Little Fashionista

We just got the latest edition of Hanna Anderson in the mail - Sara had to catch up on what is 'in' this spring!
. . .I can tell she is going to be a very expensive teenager!