Bath bubbles, spidey boy, and the Great Underwear War

Weekends… the wonderful two days at the end of every work week to relax, get some jobs done that have been hanging out for awhile and spend quality time with the kids. Well that is the fantasy at least. Instead I spend two days doing laundry, sweeping the floor several times after much too enthusiastic kids and puppies, and nagging (oops, I mean positively reinforcing the need) the girls to pick up their room which for no apparent reason always seems to look like hurricanes Sarita and Callista have just been through at 100 mph.

In the name of all that is soothing and peaceful I am more than happy to let little Mr. Nathan take a bath. Soon it becomes apparent that his two favorite toys named Sarita and Callista are helping out with tub duties. After about 30 minutes of laughter, squealing, and other assorted noises I decide to take a peek. This means that I am mainly concerned about how deep the water is on the bathroom floor vs in the tub. I walk in just as Nathan is saying that he just cannot pop his bubble. Uh, say what? I worry because certain parts of Nathan’s anatomy are “bubbles”. I walk in with both girls leaning into the tub laughing as Nathan pops completely upright on his feet in the tub. He looks back down and says again “it won’t pop” and pulls up a Ziploc bag filled with air that he was sitting on. I look in the tub and see several other air filled Ziploc bags floating around while both girls look suspiciously innocent. Bath bubbles indeed.

Wrinkled but still cute Nathan comes out of the tub now completely ready to take on the world. Did I mention that it is now 9pm? Usually bedtime. Ask Nathan that – nope not night night. He starts running back and forth from the front room to the girls bedroom. This is a feat all in itself since there is a baby/child gate up in front of the hallway to keep the puppies in their designated area. But Nathan aka spideyboy just hikes his little self right on over and to the other side. That other webcrawler has nothing on this guy. Frickin spiderman movies are a bad influence. Back and forth. Back and forth. Full speed. I finally cave and have everyone watch a movie to quiet down.

Sunday – hey, I have one more day to regain peace and equilibrium except then all war broke out amongst the female siblings - The Great underwear war of December 07. The carnage, the slings and arrows of insults and accusations, and the slamming of doors. Ahh, the memories. The girls probably have 55 pairs of underwear. They share mainly because they share just about everything being almost exactly the same size. Callista tells me that all the small underwear are missing and Sarita only left her the big ones. I look. The drawer looks pretty empty for having just been filled to the tippy top with newly laundered underwear. I tell Sarita to put the underwear back in the drawer. She does not answer. I leave. Callista tells me again about an hour later. I tell her I want no part of undie battles. Later Callista comes up to me with a handful of underwear (a large handful) and triumphantly declares “See she hid them” and then flounces off to tell Sarita she found them all and she was right about Sarita hiding them. Was it wrong for me to have to close my bedroom door to laugh out loud?

I end my peaceful weekend with the girls in bed and lights off by 9:15 pm (yes, they had made up again), Nathaniel all cuddled up and drowsy next to me and me watching the 10pm news to see if we were actually going to have weather – not that forecasters actually know. I turn off the tv, take a deep breath and close my eyes. Then I feel movement next to me. Nathan puts his mouth right on my ear and sings “old mcdonald had a farm E I E I O, and on this farm he had a (pause) cat E I E I O….

Thank god he only made it through 3 of the farm animals.

They look so innocent but notice the hurricane force behind Nathan...

Callista has assimilated into the Morris Family almost scarily fast. Not that there were not a few bumps in the road but we like road trips and bumps are nothing new.

She and Sarita have definitely become siblings. I am not sure that Sarita is such a good influence however. Sarita is a very good dancer and the girl has rhythm. Callista would laugh at people dancing because it was new and different to her - you just did not do that sort of thing in the CWI after all. I could tell she really wanted to do some of the stuff Sarita does (ballet,etc) except she was embarrassed about trying it out. I believe Sarita has gotten her over that little bump.

The pictures below are for a dance they are creating for grandpa. It is done to Brittany Spear's song "Oops I did it again". Callista likes the music even tho she does not really understand the words entirely yet. This girl has rhythm too.




I so am not looking forward to High School. I am thinking of pulling out the shotgun now and getting it ready. You know - just leave it by the door for future boyfriend wannabes - along with Grandpa.

What happens when the kids get an entire week off school for Thanksgiving? Well, not as much cleaning as I was hoping for but definitely fun was had by all. Uh, I think by all.


Oops-they're at it again. Those girls just cannot leave the poor baby brother alone:

Ahh, the things he puts up. Good things he likes his sisters:

Helicopter attack! Nathaniel chasing down Uncle Marc's helicopter:

Ivy comes to save the day and eat all big flying bugs (or at least bark at them):

Thanksgiving table and eats....


Nathaniel's first school craft project - a turkey centerpiece:

All the kids took over for pie:

Ummm, leftovers anyone? And no I did not get the ever elusive picture of Marc cleaning up:

Well, continue on down for the "real" Thanksgiving pictures. LOL.

Thanksgiving came early this year. I swear just so the retail stores could squeeze in an extra week of panic shopping on all of us. I did not fall for their tactics but I did enjoy Thanksgiving. No pressure - just go and eat at Vida and Marc's house. It got off to a slower start than anticipated. Dinner was to be served at 3pm but the turkey made us wait until 5pm. That was ok because it sure was good.

Of course, this also means a good time to take pictures of all the kids.

Callista, Katelynn, Nathaniel (giving his good smile), and Sarita:

Whoops -Sarita helping Nathaniel out with his smile:

Boys on the trampoline- Dakota with Nathaniel on top and Shane:

Boys will be boys (and check out how tall Shane is):

Have to take a picture any time Marc is doing yard work:
Of course, I am still on the hunt for the elusive picture of Marc doing housework.

Callista seems to have found her sense of fun and is now willing to share. We (that would be myself, Dakota, Callista, and Nathaniel) stopped at Jack N the Box for some quality dining experiences and the kids all needed to use the rest rooms. No problem except Callista spent about 30 seconds in the girl's room and comes out saying she was "scary" because a lady was in there breathing weird. A lot of little old ladies were enjoying the same dining experience that we were so I assume Callista was not all that comfortable on her own in the bathroom with a stranger. However, the story evolved quite a bit as we drove home. Here (paraphrasing somewhat due to necessity) is the conversation:

Callista starts out with "I was scary in the bathroom. Woman called Caaallliiiissstttaaa Callliiiisssttttaaa, whoooooo ooooooo (followed by some noises that sounded suspiciously like puppy barking). I was very scary and run out. Cuz the woman called Callliiiiissstttaaa,Calllisssttttaaa I want to eat you (more noises sounding something like muffled laughter). I told woman I not strong. No eat me."

Nathaniel then breaks in with "I strong. I have powers." I say "powers?" and he promptly answers with "yes, super powers".

Callista tells him to "shut up". Then starts her story all over again. "The woman she calls Caaallliisstaaa Calliiissstttaaa I want to eat you. I tell her no, I not strong no eat me. My cousin strong but no eat cousin". Nathaniel again says "I have powers. Me strong".

Callista: "SHUT UP!"

Nathaniel: "You shut up"

Callista: "The woman she says Callisssttaaaa Calliissttaa I want to eat you. I say no eat me - eat my little brother cuz he won't SHUT UP!"

Nathan: "Shut up You!"

I tell them both to stop saying shut up and just say Hush. I, of course, say this calmly and quietly.

Callista: "HUSH UP!"
Nathaniel: "SHUSH YOU!"

I being the stable and insightful parent that I am totally crack up. While laughing I am telling them to be quieter - be quieter. Of course, neither kid is listening to me really but I manage to wind it all down when I say "Nathan be nice to FangFang-do not tell her to shut up." Callista immediately answers "Yeah, you be nice to me little brother, No, WAIT- I no FangFang I Callista!" Then both laugh their butts off. Ok I am only assuming the butts coming off part.

Callista's last words: "Mama, I funny no?"

Ahhh my little drama queen.

Poodles taking over the office:

Kids rounding up the new workers at TJT:

Mini Molly and Mini Midge checking out Cindy's desk:

Mini Molly checking out Larry's desk-looks too clean:

Remember just a couple weeks ago when Nathan could pick up a puppy all by himself:

What happens when big sister's happen to little brothers.... too much time on their hands on a rainy day.

Ahh - inside a warm house with your family and friends and tons and tons of booty! What to do? Dump it out and start trading and sharing. Whoops -did I say sharing? ha ha ha. Trading definitely.

Callista was not too sure about this part. She was so excited that she could run up to people's doors and get candy - all for herself!!! Don't know if she understood the part about trading it out for the stuff you like - cuz ya know she likes it all! But she made a couple of new friends!

The punk pixie and the undead cheerleader at an impasse ....

I think the exercise equipment has distracted the kids. What me sugar high? No way! But hey, what's this and can I play with this and what does this do.....Meanwhile Ivy the corgi makes her list.

How much do you have? I have enough to last until summer. Wait that looks like Ivy going in for the kill.

Cool Halloween houses visited on the Hunt. Candy was found in all places. Again Nathan resorted to dragging his spiderman pumpkin the last couple houses because it was so full. He would not let it go. He wanted mama to hold his hand in between houses but once they were close the kids were off and running. And who knew Callista would catch on so quick?! She had the Tirck or Treat down pat and a very nice thank you to all.

Nathan scores again being the small cute one. People would tell him to take some and he would only take one so they felt the need to throw in a handful for him. Nice thing was between the running and the milder weather everyone stayed warm without having to be totally bundled up. You just do not know what you are going to get weather wise on Halloween over here in Idaho.

Callista enjoyed twirling in the streets with her nice white dress. She did get scared a couple of times by costumes but Sarita had the best scare of the night at one house.


Scary house but nice people:

I think I see candy this a way:

The big ol' spider did not get the drop on our spider boy or his escorts:

Cool pumpkin carving (at least to a horse person):

HALLOWEEN!! Fun times to be had for all as the kids head out on the Wild Hunt for candy and tricks of all sorts.

Nathan remembered what trick or treat was all about and Callista was a dang fast learner.

All the kids in costume and ready to haunt the night: Dakota, Nathan (as spidey boy), Sarita, Dallas, and Callista:

Spidey boy getting ready for action:

Check out the lean mean spider and web tattoo courtesy of sis Sarita:


Grabbing some goodies at Dawn's house. Callista got her first practice trick or treat here:

And they snag the BIG bars at Dawn's house. She is , of course, a favorite Halloween stop on the Wild Hunt.

Puppies and kids - they will always upstage any grand actor and totally mess up any plans for the perfect portrait. In this case the puppies were just fine after we had wrangled them into postion but Nathan was having nothing to do with smiling while that sun was in his eyes.

Puppy love! And those buggers are only 4.5 weeks old here.

Nathan has decided that he wants a babysitter. Well one babysitter in particular. His name is Teddy and he has four hooves, one blind eye, a big hairy coat and a very calm disposition.

Note: And please refrain from the OMG he is not wearing a helmet comments. We can save those for another day.

Gratuitous puppy cuteness here because you just cannot have enough pictures of puppies.

Puppies weeble wobbling.

Puppy surfing - on the move.

Am I getting any where? And check out the eyes open! Not that they can see a darn tootin'!

Well that was enough for any puppy. Nope not trying for the great escape. She just found a good headrest.

I just cannot keep this boy out of the closet. Nathan spends a lot of time in there. He runs into my room and announces "keep the door closed" then kicks Montana out (which is not hard after she has been locked up in there all day) and moves in with the puppies. I just have not had the heart to tell him that in about two more weeks he will become a puppy toy. Not that I think he will mind.

Two weeks old!!! Nathan has decided he likes puppy cuddling. Good thing he is very careful with them. Of course, there was that time I went in there and he was holding one little puppy and trying to get it to dance. Hmmm. S'okay - puppy did not complain but mommy did explain what is good handling and petting vs not so good with itty bitty puppies. Ok - not so itty bitty puppies.