Thank You, Mr. President

Because two presidents were born this month (and arguably two of the best presidents in history, present president not even contending) they decided to make a holiday this month. Yippee. Always a good excuse to take a day off. And suddenly on Friday, I realized it would be fabulous if Tyler took the kids up to see his family in Idaho. They could spend an extra day and play. I wanted to go (I really love his family) but the house has not been 'Maleen Clean' in weeks. Plus, I had some meetings to attend to. So I suggested that I stay and put things in order.

Oh, glorious weekend of single bliss. Okay, really after I cleaned everything I looked around and wanted everyone back. But it was good to take a break and get some things done. Nothing fancy mind you. Just catching up on laundry, cleaning out the fridge, having the hubby's car cleaned (the inside has not smelled right since he took a group of scouts to Klondike) and the usual ho-hum house chores. (I can't say that I love cleaning, but I LOVE having a clean house.)

Oh yeah, and I was supposed to get some blogging done. Ha ha. Kids are supposed to be home in 20 minutes. Let's see if I can crank this out. Once again, there isn't anything super important to report, unless you count my lack of picking up the camera as newsworthy. Oh, and Emily came to Utah to visit. Huzzah. But I don't have pictures of that yet. So, I will let you take a peek at the normal weird that we are:

Robyn's easel (from Christmas) is very popular. She draws on it all the time, as do all the kids, with varying amounts of permission from Robyn. I like that the chalkboard side actually works.

Daisy had some crazy static hair one day. Enough so, that I bothered to pick up the camera. (Really, I need to set some kind of picture-taking goal to get motivated.)

Pearl has become quite adept at stealing candy and hiding somewhere to eat it. Caught her in the bathtub this time, although her favorite place is the closet.

Robyn got a sleepmask for Christmas that she likes to wear at night. She shares a room with Ivory. Ivory likes the lamp on, Robyn likes complete darkness. Compromise is a new word we are diligently teaching the kids. I didn't know, however, that Moxy is also a diva about her sleeping habits.

June is getting quite good at doing her assignments on the computer. She researches and types reports. I am happy that only one child has reached that stage. Although with all the computers we have around here, we could easily handle more such assignments. Some families have multiple TVs...we have computers.

I love this picture because it reminds me that the love of reading can be passed on. Thanks Mom.

And finally, June was playing Scrabble and decided to put a whole family together using their names. It isn't our family, but some of you may know these people. I thought it was very creative.

Hopefully I can get back into a groove. This would be good since we have some birthdays coming up, which means photo shoots as well. Okay Nikon, we can be friends this week.

And....done. With 30 seconds to spare. I hear the garage door opening. I officially announce this three-day weekend a success.