When we climb around up in the tubes at Burger King they can be Jefferies Tubes
and the platform can be Engineering
and the circle with the window can be The Bridge
and the name of our starship can be Voyager.
The wooden trophy shelf keeps falling off our walls. Can we just use it
with our Lego people as a Holodeck?
Do you think they've been watching too much StarTrek lately?
I can make snow farts
YOUNG MAN! Did you write this?
I messed up the line, it's supposed to say snow forts.
Well, you forgot a period at the end of a sentence.
When boy cousins come to stay
and catching 
and missing
even the boys who are grounded from 
Mama doesn't get much rest, Remember when we saw him cut him open?
Yeah! And cut him into pieces?...And then we ate him? That was COOL!
What are you two talking about?
When we went fishing with Mark!(Ds#3's Godfather).
Sweetheart, please set the table and put the bread, mustard and bologna on it.
WHAT? You bought BOLOGNA?
Yes...
OH, THANK YOU, Mama!! I've been wanting and wanting bologna! THANK YOU!Wow, I'd keep bologna on hand more often if I thought it would always elicit such an enthusiastic response. That's the best reaction I've had on someone in a long time!
Mama? How did you learn to speak dog language and baby language?I had to have him repeat the question. It took me a few minutes to figure out why he thought I could speak dog. It's because I'll ask him , "Have you fed the dog, like I asked?" He'll have to say, "No, how did you know?" The dog will have been following me around for the previous 10 minutes and just sitting looking at me when I stop moving, "Because Maggie told me she's hungry."
vered that the baby is ready to be read to. I don't usually read to my babies the way people recommend -- I'm usually just walking around in a daze with spit-up all over me trying to decide if it's worth it to change my clothes for the 3rd time that day. When we were all laying around sick, though, it was really hard for Ds#4 
to leave the baby alone -- so he was coming up with ideas to get to spend time with his brother. This one was a hit and the baby really liked it!"What did Jesus mean when he told Simon Peter and his brother Andrew you will be fishers of men?"Ds#4
"Jesus needed bread and fish to feed the thousands of people so he wanted Peter
and Andrew to get lots of fish to cook and give to the men."
"What does it mean when Pilate says in the bible I wash my hands of him?"Ds#4
"Well, he didn't want to get germs on the food that Jesus was giving at the Last Supper and make everyone sick, so he had to wash his hands."
This year we asked for family gifts. One gift for the whole family. Everyone did a wonderful job getting us what we asked for and instead of coming home with a truckful of stuff the kids may not use (and we don't have a place for), they all got wonderful gifts (that fit in our home) and they'll spend hours on. They got a tether ball set for the back yard, an air hockey table (we put it in the schoolroom -- I'm thinking that's a mistake, but the kids are excited!), a karaoke machine, a mini-trampolene (for one person at a time), an indoor horseshoe game (made of foam- YES!), a putting green (with a LOUD automatic ball spitter-outer-thingy)...and many more cool things. As usual the kids were thrilled...this year, I was particularly happy, too - especially when it came to finding a home for all the gifts!
Ds#3 asked for a toaster for Christmas -- and got one. We haven't had a toaster for over a year, now. With 6 people each wanting at least 2 pieces of toast per meal, a 2 or 4 slice toaster just wasn't cutting it. I can do 8 pieces in my George Forman (which I LOVE), so we didn't replace the toaster when it died (which overworked appliances in a big family do). Ds#3 isn't allowed to use the George Forman by himself, so he missed making toast. His grandma granted this particular wish and he's been making his own toast since... 
Christmas Morning...I just couldn't resist putting a picture of Dd#1 in her rag curlers. You know they're growing up when they're willing to wear curlers Christmas Eve. 
Christmas pants - I think everything for the kids (socks, toothpaste, razors, pencils) bought in the month of December should be wrapped and put under the tree. Dave thinks otherwise and the day before Christmas bought the boys red and green sleeper pants. They were so excited! Oh, well, they'll look cute opening their gifts...
Ever since Dd#2 got a digital camera/camcorder for her birthday last month, she's an expert on digital cameras. Here she is trying to show her great aunt how to use one. Our aunt really did need the help. She said she "hated to have a 10 year old have to teach ME how to delete pictures off my camera." Dd#2 was pretty proud of herself.
