These days...

have been filled with many things. Mostly getting ready to go to grandma's house.

But first I have to share a quote from Ella Jane.

Let it be known I'm not famous for following through on projects, so when we were all huddled on Ella Jane's bed for story time (as we manage to do from time to time) I very impressively shared with Jim (mid-story) that I had washed Ella Jane's sheets and put them back on, all in the same day.

Ella Jane without missing a beat said, "Ann!, who's Ann!?" It took me a minute to catch it but when I did, I realized that she was so astute to hear what she did. And then I laughed. And Jim laughed. And I think she was left wondering, "what's so funny?" I resumed the story.

So these last few days have been spent making lists of things we need to do before we head to grandma's house. One of which is cleaning and lately, we've been harping at the kids to pick up after themselves, keep their rooms picked up etc. Everything is "tooooo haaaarrrrdddd....."

The older ones have also been talking a lot about when they become mom's and dad's and as a result of that I've caught Ella Jane saying things like "when I become a mom (in a sweet voice mind you) I'm not going to clean my room, and when I become a mom I'm going to tell Matthew that he has to clean his room." And my favorite from tonight, "I wish I was a mom right now so that I wouldn't have to pick things up." Oh dear one. If only you knew.

At the end of the day those moments in a way erase most of the harder moments. Like when Ella Jane and Matthew are fighting over the color blue for crying out loud. Or when one of them is bossy and the other is sassy or when both of them are bossy and sassy. Sigh...


On a much more cheerful note, Jim has taught Sara to go down the stairs. She's a pro at going up and can often be found upstairs in one of the big kids' rooms but will holler like there is no tomorrow (at the top of the stairs) when she's ready to come down. With this new found skill comes the desire to perfect it. So, up and down we go and squeal in delight at her success.

Matthew just came out of bed to tell me he finished the Magic Tree House book we had been reading together. It's so fun to see him in this stage of learning; reading on his own and really loving it. I think he loves the freedom that reading gives him. He's no longer in the dark and Jim and I can no longer spell across the dining room table!

Below are pictures from a week or two ago. We were out playing after dinner and Matthew and Ella Jane decided to take up dancing. They really can be each other's best friends and it's fun to see glimpses of that amidst all the squabbling.

So, while the last few days have been a bit harried I'm looking forward to the next few days amidst our preparations for heading west.

***And we did enjoy that cherry pie. Thanks again Donna for all of the cherries!