Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

Yesterday was Elizabeth's 7th birthday. What a shot of life she adds to our family! I have always felt that one of her purposes in coming to Earth was to bring happiness and joy to our family. She certainly has always done that. She joined our family at such a sad time. She was born exactly two weeks after my brother, Joel, died. I feel like she was sent to us at that precise time to help our hearts heal.

She is also special in that she has a "twin cousin." Edward's twin sister and I had baby girls 9 hours apart. She gets to share her birthday with her very special cousin, Julia. Elizabeth and Julia have a bond that is different than the rest of their beloved cousins. It has been neat to see that relationship.

Elizabeth is a funny, happy girl and is always very willing to share with others. Several times a weeks she saves special treats such as candy or drawings to share with Mom or Dad or her

brothers. She tries hard to please others.

We were laughing yesterday about some of the funny things she has done over the years. One of our favorite home videos is of Elizabeth at 22 months old. I asked her, "What's your name?" With a straight face she answered, "Stephie Felker." I asked, "How old are you?" She replied, "Sive (five)."

One evening when she was 3 she was in charge of Family Home Evening. She wanted to play "School," and of course she was the teacher. As she was at the head of the class giving us our lesson, she tooted. She didn't crack a smile or even mention the slip-up, as is often done. Ross, the student, made some comment about it, and as seriously as could be she replied, "Well, sometimes things happen in America."

And of course the most famous "Elizabeth Story" - the one that has literally traveled the country is the "Aldi's Incident." Drew had just been born, so she had just turned 3. What possessed me to take two rowdy toddlers and a newborn shopping escapes my brain to this day. Nonetheless, we were in the GIGANTIC check-out line. We were the only group with children; the rest of the shoppers were senior citizens. Of course all eyes were on us as we were the most exciting thing in line. On the other side of the metal railing separating the grocery store and the bagging area was an inflatable child-size jumping pit. On the pit were plastered 894 signs that read, "DO NOT TOUCH!" We were waiting patiently in line when all of a sudden Elizabeth broke free from me and ran at full speed for the jumping pit. I didn't want to run after her and leave 1 month old Drew in his car seat at the top of the shopping cart - that always has made me nervous. So from line I was yelling every threat I could think of to get her to stop, but nothing was working. Finally, something worked and she stopped before entering the Inflatable Wonderland. All eyes were still on us. As she made her way back to me, I picked her up and whispered, "Who do you think you are making happy - Heavenly Father or Satan?" She raised her arms above her head and yelled, "SATAN!!!!" I could do nothing but laugh.

Happy birthday, Lizzy!

I'm a M. O. A. L. F.

In case you don't know what this stands for, I'm a Mother Of A Little Felon. I received my first disciplinary call from the school about my child. The said child is Ross.

I got a call from his teacher today telling me that he carved his name into his chair. I really tried not to giggle as she was explaining his infraction to me. She said she explained to him that her future students wouldn't want to sit in a chair all year that said "ROSS." I certainly don't mean to downplay the situation, but really? Have you ever sat in a chair that someone had written/carved on and could think of nothing else than that graffiti? I can come up with a better reason as to why he shouldn't have done it. She did too, but I thought that reasoning was amusing.

He was missing recess, thinking of how he could rectify the situation, as she was calling me. His idea was to do chores to earn money to buy a new chair. At 40 bucks my house is gonna shine! He also thought he could try to use sandpaper to fix it. That could be a possibility. So, his teacher made him call me himself and explain the situation. He did, and he didn't sound as upset as I thought he might be for his first trip to the principal. That's right, the principal got involved as well as the janitor. This was serious.

Later in the afternoon I went to the kids' school to attend the Valentine's party that was rescheduled for the second time due to the snow and ice we had for two weeks. Let me tell you, the carving was MUCH BIGGER than I was anticipating. Again, I had a hard time not giggling. On the back of his chair (the part that his back rests on) "ROSS" is carved in about three inch letters! Oh man!

So, the teacher was pretty serious about the situation. She kind of acted like he defaced the U.S. Constitution. Again, I'm not trying to downplay what he did - it was wrong. He said he just wasn't thinking. I believe that, because he's really a good & responsible kid at school.

Later in the day, I ran into the principal. With a smile on her face she asked if we had everything under control. I said yes and apologized. She started laughing and said she had three kids so she knows how that goes. Then she started laughing hysterically and said, "Maybe next time he won't write his own name."

*Another note to this story is how much Ross is like his father. When Edward was in the second or third grade another kid talked him into writing a cuss word (which, of course, my darling husband was clueless of the meaning) on the wall of a tunnel on the playground. His crime was discovered, and he had to bring a note home to his parents telling them he was caught writing the F-word. The funniest thing is he was spelling it wrong! He had the middle two letters mixed up.

Oh, the joys of parenthood!

Mallory's favorite pastime

Mallory LOVES helping me unload the dishwasher. If I have the door open she's climbing into it the minute I turn around.

She had her 9 month check-up today, only it was a month late - she was 10 months old yesterday. She weighs 18 pounds 8 ounces and is 29 inches long. She is right around the 50th percentile for both weight and height.

She crawls every where, especially up the stairs. That is where she heads every time we turn around, so we have to watch the sneaky little thing like a hawk. She squeals with delight when we spot her on the steps. She also coasts around the furniture and is even daring enough to take a couple of steps. She is still very wobbly, but she doesn't seem to have much fear of things - just like her big sis.

She is a little jabber-jaw and is always talking or singing. She can say light, kids, hi, bye-bye, Mama, Dada, no-no-no (while shaking her finger), and now cat (she says that one ALL the time).

The Wright Family Rock Band

Last Saturday we all went to my brother Aaron's house to play his Rock Band. Very fun! We all took turns jammin'. Next time I want to get a babysitter so I can enjoy myself a little more!
Ross, Elizabeth, Emmaline, and Mary Catherine rocked out to Weezer's "Say It Ain't So."

Even Grammy & Grandad gave it a shot. Be sure to watch my dad singing his guts out to Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive."

Ross plays a little riff.

Aaron, Tommie, Andrea, and Edward earned almost 4 stars for their rendition of "Dead or Alive."

A new addition to our family

Do I have your attention? No, it's not THAT kind of addition - we have a new kitten! The kids have been begging for a pet for a while, so here we go! I found this sweet little 4 month old kitten for free on Craigslist.com. She is up to date on all of her shots (which she might need at our place), she was free, and she was in the town next to ours. We thought we'd give it a try. Edward picked her up from the Smokey Smokerton family on Friday night and surprised the kids with her. He said the guy met him at the door without a shirt with tattoos all over and was missing a few fingers (I really hope that's not why they're getting rid of the cat).

She's still a baby at four months old, but she's not too tiny that I would fear for her survival around here. As some of you may know, we are 0-2 in the cat department here. Our two previous kitty's didn't make it. We thought we'd take a break from cats for a while. Three years later we're ready to give it another shot.

The kids knew we were possibly getting her (we told them we'd pick her up the next day) so we spent the day coming up with names. The final four names were Lucy, Lola, Maxine, and Ruby. I e-mailed Edward at work and asked him to be the tie-breaking vote. He e-mailed back and said he wanted to name her Kate since he didn't get to pick Mallory's name. Oh, our naming tastes vary so drastically. Anyway, the kids pretty much started calling her Shadow the minute they saw her (excuse me, that wasn't on the list!), so it has stuck. This is little Shadow:
I think she is such a pretty black kitty! Except for a tiny bit of white on her tummy, she is completely black.

The kids were SO excited! We surprised them a day early.

Drew is hilarious with her. He's never really been around animals so he's a bit skittish. Here Edward picked her up when Drew said he'd like to try to hold her. As soon as Edward turned around to put her on his lap, he was out of there. He's still pretty jumpy if she comes his way, but he has a smile on his face the whole time.

Here he finally got up enough nerve to let Shadow sit on his lap. It only lasted for a second.

Mallory is so cute with Shadow. She giggles every time she sees her and really wants to get her hands on her. She pets her as gently as a 10 month old can. She is very curious about her toys, too.

Still snowed in!

Ugh! Out of the last fourteen days, the kids have only been to school for TWO of those days. Yes, TWO! We keep getting sleet/snow/freezing rain, and the temperature has been so cold nothing is really melting. The kids, of course, are loving life. I, of course, enjoy the snow days until about 9:30 a.m. After that time I start going STIR CRAZY until Edward comes home in the evenings. It's not like I really can (or even want to) take all four kiddos out and find something to do for several reasons. 1. The roads have been TERRIBLE. Here in Missouri, we kind of shut down when we get these kind of storms. We're just not equipped to deal with them. 2. A lot of places of business have also been closed because employees can't make it in to work. The kids' practices and games have all been cancelled. That really leaves us twiddling our thumbs because that fills SO much of our time.

Church was even cancelled today. We got up and started getting ready but then got a phone call to inform us of the cancellation. My first thought was, "NO! Another day of being cooped up!" It was a pretty good day though because at least Edward was here all day. We all bundled up and headed outside this morning for a little family snowman building/snowball war.

I just checked and so far we're still on for school tomorrow. Oh please, don't snow/ice any more tonight! I don't think I can make it another day! I also don't want the kids to still be in school until the 4th of July. On second thought....

Good old snow days

So, including weekends, our kids will have been out of school for 10 days when they go back on Tuesday. Man, that's like Christmas break all over! School was cancelled last Monday because of the impending ice storm. We woke up to brown, dead grass. No snow. No ice. I thought, "This thing had better come to fruition." It did. After the storm passed, we ended up with about 4 inches of ice pellets. Let me tell you, that makes for some AWESOME sledding! The first day, Edward came home early to play in the snow/ice with the kids. Oops. I mean, he closed his office early because the weather was so bad. Yep. That's the story. They next day he was thoughtful enough to come home early to stay in with Mallory and cook supper so I could go out and play. Fun! Good times, good times. So by Friday of this week, I was ready for the kids to go back. They still get tomorrow off because of President's Day. Yippee. Oh well. - one more day to sleep in! To all of you Southern beach bums - you're really missing out!

Happy Easter, Drew

I think this is the CUTEST little Easter outfit! Don't all of you mommy's agree? The daddy's - probably not.

I bought this adorable outfit for Drew two years ago when he was just 2 years old. Edward immediately began making fun of it (out of Drew's earshot) when I showed him. He's pretty good at being supportive of what I dress the kids in, but he really thought this one was too girly. I stood my ground because Drew was still a baby at the time.

Fast forward to Easter morning when I pulled this outfit out for Drew to wear to church after we assessed what the Easter Bunny delivered to us. As baby Drew was playing with his Easter basket I told him it was time to get dressed. He softly told me, "No. That's for girls." I said, "WHAT?" He said again, "That's for girls." Edward was laughing hysterically! I asked him, "Have you been telling him those are girl clothes?" As he laughed more he said, "NOOOO! He came to that conclusion all on his own!" We were rolling that this little bitty boy already had a sense of masculinity when it comes to fashion. As I pressed the issue a bit more to Drew he began to cry about wearing it. Edward was all too ready to help him find something else to wear.

Last year I pulled the outfit out again (it's a size 4T) to see if he would wear it. He pretty much had the same reaction. Just tonight I pulled it out for what would be my final shot and was turned down again. I actually had to hide it from Drew because he was trying to rip it with his bare hands and teeth. Wow. I guess he really hates it.

So, I'm taking my first stab at selling something on ebay (Item number: 200201092089). Edward told me to pass along the story of the first time I tried to get Drew to wear it, but I decided not to include it. Funny as it is, I don't know how many bids I would get after explaining my baby boy was in tears because of how girly the outfit was.

I guess if the outfit doesn't sell because it's too girly, I could always pass it on to Mallory!

My brother, the star

Ben is an AMAZING actor. I don't know how he does it, but he is a natural. He auditioned for Little Shop of Horrors at BYU, and he got the lead role! He is Seymour in the student-directed play. I'd say that is quite an accomplishment since he is only a Freshman! In high school he played Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther and Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast just to name a few. He is outstanding.

The boys in our family definitely got the acting talent. Aaron, Joel, & Ben have all been stand-outs. I suppose Andrea & I got the athletic ability over the boys. I had a semester of drama in high school - mostly because some of my friends were taking the class, and our teacher was EEEEEEAAAASSSSYYYYY - a guaranteed A. I stunk! I can remember putting on a small performance for our parents. I was onstage in an old auditorium that was hot and stuffy. The side doors had to be propped open for some air circulation. As I was onstage reciting my lines, the audience started cracking up. My lines weren't meant to be funny, so I checked my fly. Yep, all good. I turned to look around a bit and saw that a stray cat had entered through the open doors and made its way onstage with me. Being the composed actor that I was, I LOST IT! I laughed so hard and could not stop. I'll just leave the acting up to the boys from now on.

We love you Joel!

The Revenge Song

After reading a recent blog entry from Edward's cousin, Sarah (The Kirchmann family's blog)I was reminded of this song. She mentioned being held to the floor as a child by my sweet Edward as he teased her with spit dripping onto her face. I might mention he was a child too. I first heard this song several years ago, and it still makes me laugh until I cry. Be sure to pause my music player to the right to be able to listen to the song. Enjoy.

He did it again!

Ross took another first place finish at a wrestling tournament in Rolla over the weekend. He won three matches (4-1, win by pin, 9-1). Again, I wasn't able to be there as it is now Elizabeth's turn to be sick with strep throat. I'm feeling like I may bring him bad luck since he has won the two tournaments that I have had to miss.

When Edward asked him if the win was worth having to get up at 6:00 a.m. for he replied, "Kind of." That's my boy.

Indians

Drew got a hold of a marker today. He decided to use "war paint" to turn himself & Mallory into "Indians." The cycle continues: Ross did these things to Elizabeth, she did them to Drew, and he now does them to Mallory. Joy of joys.

Babies

Mallory LOVES baby dolls. She loves to hold them and kiss them and carry/drag them around. I always think it's so neat to see how nurturing little girls are. It's just so natural. Amazing.

Baby Lauren's Blessing

Last weekend, some of the Felker clan gathered for baby Lauren's blessing. Unfortunately Drew had strep throat so the two little ones and I stayed home and sent the others up north. I hated missing out on the fun. Edward reported that the visit was so fun, and Andrew (Edward's brother - standing next to him) gave one of the most beautiful blessings he's ever heard. Thanks to Elizabeth, I have pictures of some of the fun.

Big sister Audrey and beautiful baby Lauren

Buddies Audrey and Kayley look darling in their coordinated attire!

Drew & Cade

Since Drew's best cousins, Sterling & Sam, live so far away, he has another best buddy, Cade. They go to preschool together and are forever joined at the hip. Their big brothers have been in the same classes since the first grade, so we already knew about Cade. We were so glad to hear he was going to Drew's preschool. Cade is such a funny little guy that constantly has something creative to say. When I asked Drew what he'd like to do on his birthday he replied, "have Cade over to play." So that's what we did, and they had a fun afternoon.

Cade gave Drew this Cranium Crazy Cap for his birthday. It's so fun! Everyone in the family has a fun time creating different designs. Here Drew is a friendly alien...

...and Cade is an angry alien.

Where a kid can be a PIG!

That is what Drew thinks is said on the Chuck E. Cheese commercial. After four kids we've learned NEVER to go there on a Saturday! Usually it's the restaurant they always choose for their birthday dinner, so off we went last Monday night. We had a pretty good time.

Enjoying the tiny carousel
Drew wanted to use most of his tokens on the racing games, but he needed his Daddy's help. Edward was very happy to be so helpful. Look at the concentration on his face.

We love skee ball!

Elizabeth and the big mouse himself

What once was lost now is found.

So, I accidentally deleted a PRICELESS picture from my digital camera. Dang it! I googled "recovering a deleted photo" and this site popped up:

www.ofzenandcomputing.com/zanswers/60

Lo and behold it worked! Yay!!!! I think you'll see why I was so thrilled to get it back...






Notice the Grip of Death Mallory has on me. Look at the rigid line of her body as she pulls away from Chuck E. As he began to approach, I felt her tighten up as her entire body squeezed mine. The whole ordeal only took about 10 seconds, so I don't think she'll be too traumatized. Funny!

Thank you American Family Insurance!

So, because Edward is such an awesome insurance agent, he racked up a bunch of points toward a campaign at American Family. You turn in your points and get to choose from a bunch of great products. The Sony Handycam is what I, I mean we chose. We have had our other video camera since I was pregnant with Ross nine years ago. It still works, but it won't keep a battery charged. We've tried several different batteries, so apparently it's the camera that is causing the trouble. Anyway, as I said, there were a lot of products to choose from. Edward really had his eye on some exercise equipment, but being the good man that he is, decided to use his points for something we both would use. ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DREW!

Yesterday, our little Drew-boy turned 4! He woke with a gigantic smile. I said, "Happy 4 year-old birthday, big boy!" He replied, "but I'm still 3." I said, "No. Today is your real birthday. Now you're 4!" He squealed with excitement!