Growing Animals

Yesterday at preschool Cole came home with a cup in which he had planted pansy seeds.

He told Kris that if we wait a few days, a chimpanzee was going to grow out of the cup.

We are eagerly awaiting!

The New 'Do

Here are me and Alaria with our new haircuts - I couldn't get a great picture, but you get the ideaHere is Alaria's "before" haircut picture....
...getting her hair cut (she was SO good)

....and the "after" photos

These pictures don't do justice - she looks adorable!

Thanks Shelley!!

Last week Kris came home from work wearing the exact same outfit as Alaria!

A Lesson in Digestion

For all of you who suffered through health classes in school, and never really grasped the whole complicated system of how digestion works in your body - let me help. Today Cole simplified it for me. Basically there are three pipes that run down from your mouth to your stomach. One is for when you eat candy, one is for when you eat food, and one is for when you drink.

We were having smoothies for breakfast, so I asked Cole which "pipe" that would go down, since you are drinking it, but it's made of food.

Then he showed me there is actually a secret fourth pipe that runs down your back. That is for the categories above that are mixed.

Just thought I would share this new-found knowledge - now isn't it simple?

Oh So Cute

I actually took this picture a couple of months ago, but I just came across it and couldn't resist posting it. We had cousins over and Josh and Kylie fell asleep watching a movie like this. I seriously think they look SO adorable!

These are of Alaria playing in a tunnel - she LOVES tunnels!

And finally....a few more funny moments of

"Out of the Mouth of Cole"

1. The other morning Josh came running into my room crying. I asked him what happened and he said Cole hurt him. Cole runs in right behind him and explains "Mom, you know that gun I have. The one that came in the backpack with the gummy worms, you know that one? Well I just got the little round thing above the trigger and stuck it in Josh's hair. I only pulled one hair out. It was a hair test".

2. Cole asks if I bought waffles at the store. I tell him I did. He asks if they are blueberry waffles. I tell him they are. He says "good, because I am allergic to plain waffles, but I can eat blueberry waffles"

3. I was gone the other night and Cole was telling me how they had a fun "boy's night" while I was gone. I told him he was lucky to have a good daddy that wanted to play with them and was so nice to them. He said "yeah, and we can even throw up on him"

4. Cole gets up early and is usually up to see Kris out the door. He helps him pick out his jacket (he prefers the brown hoody because it looks like the one the boy wears on Transformers), then comes downstairs with him, makes sure he packs a lunch and helps him pick out the right cereal for breakfast. It is so cute! (even if it is 6 am)

April Fool's

For April Fool's Day Dinner I made

"cupcakes" made out of mealoaf and colored mashed potatoes. I brought the plate over and told the boys I had made cupcakes for dinner and they were SO excited. Josh picked his up and licked at the potatoes about 4 times and just made the most confused face I have ever seen on him and just kept staring at it. Then he just set it back on his plate and kept staring at it, but never said a word. Cole started eating other food first, but when he picked up his cupcake and tasted the "frosting" he yelled "hey, what is this?"

Then for dessert I scooped vanilla ice cream and poured caramel sauce over it and told them that we didn't have any treats so I made them mashed potatoes and gravy for dessert. Cole was seriously SO bugged and folded his arms and scowled at me for like 3 minutes before he finally touched it, realized it was ice cream and started to laugh!

I swear this picture was not posed at all. Kris told the boys to smile for a picture and right as he went to take it, Josh tried to punch Cole in the face! He is such an ornery little guy lately! Ayway, it was perfect timing for a funny picture.

I also just have to add this story. While I was sitting in here typing this post, Cole came in and says to me "mom, someone colored on the blinds in the kitchen and it's green" and I said "who did it?" and he said "I am not sure, but if I had to guess, it would be Josh!"
Of course it would.

Fear The Silence

I LOVE a good horror movie.

The scarier the better!
Zombies, vampires, aliens, serial killers...
it just doesn't scare me.

Let me tell you my new fear. Silent Children.
Most kids can go into a room and play quietly for an extended period of time. Not my children! Quiet playing equals TROUBLE!

Let me state a few cases (from the past 2 weeks) to support my statements:

#1 - Cole and Josh quietly playing upstaits. When they come down they show me how they have made "Cool Dude Hair". I find out they have used a half a bottle of shampoo in their hair as gel and also all over their hands and arms as lotion. They did immediately go downstairs and put the toy handcuffs on and put themselves in prison.
#2 - Josh and Alaria quietly playing in the kitchen. I run upstairs, come back and they have spilled a 5 lb. bag of rice all over the kitchen floor, and then all three kids have crawled all through it. Rice was EVERYWHERE!!!
#3 - Josh quietly playing in the kitchen. OR sitting inside of the fridge drinking the bottle of chocolate syrup.
#4- Again - Josh quietly playing in the kitchen. OR sitting under the kitchen table eating tomatoes....which I wouldn't have minded so much if there hadn't been tomato juice and seeds in a 4 foot radius around him!
#5 - Again - kids quietly playing in the kitchen...actually giving Alaria a chocolate/marshmallow/caramel easter egg, which she chewed up, drooled out, spit out, and crawled through, clear across the floor.
#6 - Cole and Josh quietly playing in the back room at my mom's house. OK, they were really flooding her bathroom! I called down there and talked to Cole and his response was "I didn't do it, mom. I just taught Josh how and then HE did it".

I am not even going to go in to details about when I was pregnant with Alaria - however, one day the two boys did empty an entire bottle of chili powder in my oven, turned on the broiler, and filled the house with smoke!

Silence is trouble! I can only enjoy it after the kids are asleep!

Happy Easter

Alaria sporting her new Easter dress

My handsome little GQ boys

Easter egg hunt
We also had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma Gillespie's house. This is what Josh decided to do with his bag!

Dying Easter eggs at Grandma Gamber's house

Josh didn't understand the "fragile" part. After they were colored, he kept throwing them and broke all but 4 eggs!

This weekend we also took the kids to the hospital to get blood tests to test them for celiac disease (aka Kris' wheat allergy disease). They were actually all really brave and I was so proud of them. Cole was the most nervous of all of them, because he actually understood what was going to happen. We got back in the room and they were trying to talk to him and make jokes and make him feel comfortable and he was very quiet. Well right as the lady goes to stick the needle in his arm he yells out "Hey, watch it Buster!". I laughed so hard I thought I would drop Cole off my laugh! He sure knew how to lighten the situation!

Kris' Second Blog

Hey Everyone...This is only my second post on this blog and it's here to tell you that I now have my own blog to show off my amazing artwork. Based on some of the comments from people who know me really well (like my mom and my grandma) I am the greatest artist in the world, therefore, I should have my own blog. The artwork and comments on this blog will undoubtedly change your life forever.

http://kristophergillespie.blogspot.com

Birthday Girl!

I can't believe Alaria is actually a year old! What a fast year it has been!

Alaria is the sweetest, happiest little girl ever. She is so much fun. She loves playing with her big brothers, her dollies, and pretty much just being involved in whatever is going on. She is walking and can now say quite a few words - her new ones include cracker, dolly, and bye-bye. She really is our little sweetheart!

I thought these pictures of her with flowers were so cute!

Alaria's new bike!

I made her a sunflower cake.....

and she really enjoyed it!

What a fun birthday!

It's So Quiet!

Wow! It's been awhile since my last post - I think I am too lazy lately to load the pictures off of my camera! My mom and dad took Cole and Josh to their house yesterday (Wed.) and we are going down Friday to celebrate Alaria's birthday and pick them up. Our house is SO quiet, it is weird to have them gone. It's Josh's first time going down and staying without us, but he is doing so good! We called them last night and Cole told us that they are staying for 7 weeks. He doesn't want to come home - he gets spoiled rotten down there! This morning when I called him he said "We are going to have quite a day". He is loving his grandma and grandpa time! They are so nice to take him! Alaria is also loving having the place (and the toys) to herself! She is in heaven! I will post pictures from her birthday when we get back from Price.
My other news - tomorrow is my last day at work! I finally quit! I have loved my job and worked there for almost 10 years but now I can solely focus on my kids and not have the stress of needing to get that done on top of everything else! I am so excited!