Poopgrass?

Mabel came to me today and told me she needed new underwear because there was poopgrass in them. What? She took them off and showed her panties to me. They had little pooh skids in them. Poopgrass. That's your word of the day.

She also came to me about a week or so ago with a stack of about eight pages she had colored and told me they were her "compilations". I'm not entirely sure where she heard that word or how she came to use it somewhat correctly but that little girl is one smart cookie!

But then again, there was the poopgrass conversation...

Chef Aiden

We went to one of our favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants, Giant Hamburger, last night. They cook everything on the other side of the counter for all to see. Aiden loves to watch cooking shows. Any cooking show. After ordering, we sat down in our little booth. Aiden got up and started walking back to the counter.

Bret: Aiden where are you going? Come sit down.

Aiden: I wanted to watch. That's where the magic happens!

Lying Little Imp!

A few nights ago Mabel wouldn't eat her dinner (this happens most nights but we're just talking about one specific night). She knows that unless she finishes her dinner she can't have anything else to eat for the rest of the night.

I finished eating and started to clean up the dinner mess while everyone else finished eating.

Eventually everyone finished and left the table, so I moved on to cleaning the table off. Mabel's plate was left there with food on it so I scraped her plate off and stuck it in the dishwasher.

As I'm wiping the table off, Bret comes out (with Mabel in tow) and asks me, "Did Mabel finish her dinner?"

I said, "No."

He started laughing and told me Mabel had come back to the bedroom where he was and said, "I'm ready for my candy. I ate all my dinner. But don't ask Mommy."

She is going to make a marvelous teenager.

Family Fun Time

On the 2nd (Bret's last day off before heading back to work after Christmas break) we decided to take the kids on a hike. One of Bret's resolutions was to do some type of family outing each month. This month was a hike.

I know this will come as a surprise to many, what with my optimistic personality and all, but I didn't have high hopes for this excursion. My kids. Walking. In the desert. For an hour. I was sure this wouldn't end well.

But hiking (minus the kids) did sound like fun to me.

We tried to take the kids on the Wind Tunnel hike. We pulled into the parking area and realized it was $6. Bret had $4 in his wallet. I didn't bring my purse (but I never carry cash anyway). So we turned around and found a new trail.

When we got there, there was a pay station. They wanted $2 per person. We paid our measley four and called it good. We decided the kids hiked free. Seriously, who wants to pay $12 (we brought Neighbor Max along) to walk through the desert?!!

The kids did AMAZINGLY well. Granted, it was a simpler hike than the Wind Tunnel hike which I ended up being grateful for. Bret stopped at forks in the trail and let the boys look at the map and tell us which way we should go.

We took plenty of snacks along. That helped, too. And we saw people out there horseback riding...the kiddos loved that! The boys stayed well ahead of us so we never have to urge them along. It was a little over a two mile hike I think, and these kids ROCKED IT!

The only snag came towards the end when Mabel decided she needed to be carried for the last half mile or so. Bret carried her a while then put her back down. We had around and eighth of a mile left when she tripped and fell. Then she was done. She screamed the rest of the way to the car. Still, color me impressed that her little legs walked much of the 2 mile hike.

Over all, I was very impressed with my kids on their first hike EVER (well, Aiden's second). It may be something we'll have to repeat!

Christmas

Christmas morning at the Rowley house

Christmas morning at Grandma's house. I didn't think to take pics of the kids opening their gifts from Grandma! Actually, I don't think I took many pictures on Christmas. Bret was behind the lens.