Meet The Kiddies!

MY KIDS, MY JOBS, MY INSPIRATIONS, MY CHEERLEADERS, MY ALIENS, MY RESPONSIBILITIES, MY REASONS FOR ICE CREAM are:

Cookie: First Born and sooooooooo mature. She will be turning 9 this summer. She has always been too smart for her own good (seriously) and is a beautiful girl. Not so much "pretty", or "cute", but she has a Mona Lisa Beauty about her that is mesmerising. I love to watch her when she is quietly thinking and her big eyes have that dreamy, unfocused look to them. This is her when she was just 4 1/2.
She has a spirit inside of her that has a very hard time being confined to such a young body, and she tends to get frustrated if she has to pretend to be little for the sake of other kids around her. I homeschool our kids but Cookie started public school this last December. She, daily, comes home feeling angry that mean kids are allowed to get away with the things they do, she can't stand injustice. Cookie is my big helper and she constantly forces me to be better than I care to be. Cookie is her real nick-name and she has had it since before she was born. When she was 2 she told us, while stamping her foot, "I am NOT a sugar cookie, I am a GINGER SNAP". Yup, and lots of snap in this one.


Pablo: This little man is my certified Alien from Mars. He is a funny guy who, at almost 7 years old, still hasn't figured out the English language. Pablo loves to play sword fights and he loves to draw. He loves to read and is very good at math and has great handwriting, but I have a hard time knowing if he is really learning anything because he can never tell me what he knows. I cringe whenever DH asks Pablo what he did that day because usually Pablo just shrugs his shoulders and says "I just ate some cereal maybe and the fighters were crashing but I don't know". And I'm sitting there thinking, "Curse you child, tell your daddy how we read about Galileo and how we practiced your math facts and tell daddy how I took you all to the museum and how I made you pancakes for breakfast, not cereal, and...." but nope, he never "knows" what he did that day, this day, or any day. But now and then he surprises me and lets me into that quiet, busy brain of his.
His nick-name is Pablo because he is my Pablo Picasso. He draws and draws and draws all day long. This is my favorite one, to date. Check out the action in this picture. There are pirates, knights, devils, and even land walkers from Star Wars. I love his pictures because I have to study them to see everything in them. Notice the sharks in the water? LOVE THIS ONE!!!


Monster Man: Yes, he is still alive. I only have to keep him alive for 13 and 1/2 more years before IT ISN'T MY FAULT if he self explodes. Monster Man is the one that came out running. He acts like a jock, he is built like a jock, and he makes you love him even when you really don't want to (just like a jock!). He has a dent in the middle of his forehead (falling on a nail), a chipped front tooth, and he has some funky ears going on too. He is abnormally strong and has given many people bloody lips and noses just from hugging them (he likes to get a running start and forgets to warn you before he hugs). He gives daddy the "biggest hug ever" but I taught him to give me the "softest hug ever". He is obsessed with opening my door for me. I thought I was training him to be a gentleman until I saw him take down Pablo one day because Pablo opened my door first. I told him that, "Gentlemen don't fight about opening doors". He said, "But he won!!!", so apparently he wasn't being a gentleman, but trying to beat his brother to the door so he could "win" (what a jock!). But I love him and I will continue to keep him alive for as long as I can.

Sweet Terror: (She is 2 1/2 but I couldn't find any recent pics because of HUGE computer, digi cam issues so this pic is her at 1) Don't let those cute cheeks and her personality win you over. Just try to make her do something that she doesn't want to do and you'll get to see the fireworks. Sweet Terror was my gift from God after having Monster Man. She is such an easy kid. She has always gone to bed on her own, she is a happy piece of sunshine, and she keeps us entertained on an hourly basis. But she can out scream a banshee. She is still going through a naked phase. No matter how tight the clothes, turtle neck onesies with denim overalls even, she gets 'em off in a flash. I get lots of looks from people only to turn around and find her naked. This too shall pass, I hope! Sweet Terror also has a hair fetish. She loves to play with hair and she is constantly twirling her own hair. She twirls it so tightly that she always has a little knot in the back of her head. We try to catch her before the knot is too big, we pick the knots out, but more often then not we have to cut the knot off. So, she has kind of a funky looking head of hair (that and she is still recovering from a haircut that Pablo gave her. She just ran by me in jeans, no shirt (of course) with an apple in her hands saying "Hep me, hep me" and giggling. Let the good times roll!