My Little Man

Need I say more?

More so than I thought...

I guess my kids are even more self-sufficient than I thought. I entered the kitchen the other day to find that Owen had used scissors to open the go-gurt he had gotten himself.
And then he was using soap and water to clean-up after himself. What a responsible little guy.

You're Welcome!

Saturday will now and forever be known as one of the best day's in John's life. I finally relented and let the poor guy order dish. We have managed to not pay for TV our entire marriage (technically we had to pay $7 a month for the first 4 months of our marriage to get local channels, but I don't count that). We had always managed free cable until we moved here. So for the last 3 years, it's been rabbit ears and a crummy picture.

And now, because I am a loving wife, and because our tax return will pay off our car, John will now have all he as ever dreamed of; ESPN, DVR, and a clear picture...it doesn't get much better than that! What's funny is that he made a diagram for me to point out the pro's and con's of both Dish and Direct TV and then after he called to order it he informed me that he would be carrying around the little flier that lists all of the channels we will be getting until the set-up guys come on Saturday. I have a feeling I'm going to have a fun week of hearing about all the shows I can DVR and what I will be watching for the next month.

Self Sufficient

Yesterday I slept in until 9:00. This would have been okay had the kids not woken up around 8:00. I guess they got sick of me putting them off because when I finally came out of my room Ains proudly announced that she had made breakfast. Granola bars and fruit loops. Good girl. Now that I know my 4 year old is capable of making breakfast I can sleep in more often.

Another First

I caught Owen singing his first real song today. He's been singing gibberish for a while now. It was nice to recognize a tune.

Real

I've been thinking lately that my blog is not accurately representing the happenings in our family. My goal when I started this blog was not to only share activities we did, but also our regular day to day happenings and feelings. Unfortunately, I've let the real stuff slide.

I find myself wondering why I leave unpleasant things out. Like why did I not mention that John I were arguing for a good portion of our trip to McCall. Why did I not blog about the time I was so frustrated with my calling I was brought to tears. Why didn't I blog about taking Ains out of dance because we just couldn't afford it. Why didn't I blog about being so frustrated with the kids that I just locked myself in my room. Sometimes I think it's easier to just leave the unpleasantries out, but then my record wouldn't be accurate.

I blog so that I have a record for my family. I will print it out eventually and make it into a book. I want it to be something that my children and grandchildren can look at for years to come. And when they do read what I've written, I want them to see all of the fun things that we've done, but I also want them to remember that we were a real, normal family with hardships and trying times. I love hearing about other people's struggles because it makes me feel more normal. I need to share the normal part of me too. So there you have it...my goal is to make my blog a more accurate representation of what's happening with our family, good and bad.

A little trip to McCall

This past weekend we took a trip to McCall. Kort's grandpa-in-law was nice enough to let us use his cabin again so the entire Welch clan was able to go up for a little get-away. I took the kids up the first night alone because John had to work, he then met us up the next day for some serious sledding. It was a nice way to end the Christmas break. We got to hang out with Michael's girlfriend, play in the snow, play games, relax, and eat a lot of food. All in all, a nice weekend....except for the fact that Owen decided to throw up in the car on the return trip (again), I really hope he's not planning on making this a tradition.

The only time I got out the camera was while we were sledding. So here are a few of our sledding shots.

Michael almost plowing me over with the kids. Ains and John Ains walking up the driveway after her daring first flight down the icy driveway. She just hopped on a sled and flew down, my mom was so worried about her she took off running down the hill after Ains. Ains crashed on the pile of snow in the back of the picture and hopped up laughing and yelled, "That was AWESOME!!!" It was hilarious. Owen trying out the scooter sled. And last but not least, proud Owen after climbing a little hill.