Do not underestimate the powers of the Dark Side.

Here is our newest 6 year old. For Hudson's birthday we had a visit from Darth Vader. The kid's arrived and were able to decide if they wanted to be a Jedi or a Sith. The kids loved it.

Hudson, wanted to be a Sith. Luckily, the rest of our kids wanted to be Jedi. Isn't this the cutest little girl you have ever seen next to a garbage can?

So, we literally have 17 lightsabers in our house. What did Hudson want for his birthday? A new lightsaber, of course. Here he is with new Darth Vader lightsaber, which was his favorite until his birthday party, where he got a Mace Windu lightsaber. The kid is in heaven.

For Valentine's day I gave Shelly the gift of a Sunday nap. During her nap it was just me and the kids. I got bored and gave Sammy a haircut. She'll think twice before taking a nap again.

The boys have been begging for "exercise shirts".

This piece of art was made by Gracie. She called it "Gracie's shadow"

We thought that if we got Gracie some new underwear, that she would show more interest in wearing underwear instead of diapers. Good news: she is showing more interest. Bad news: this is how she wears it.

Happy Birthday Sam! Here he is after cake.

Before cake.

Jonah calls this his ninja look. I call it Jimmie Hendrix.

Back to Hudson's Star Wars party. Jonah really got into it. I was actually surprized, with 20 kids, each with his own lightsaber (mostly ours). The kids were fantastic. There was no crying and no one was hurt.

This is next Christmas' family photo, expect this in the mail around December 15th.

This is as close as Gracie would get to Mr. Vader. It is actually funny to see Darth Vader in a kitchen. I bet he makes a mean eggs benedict.

Teaching Moments

We introduced the kids to The Princess Bride yesterday and we were watching it a little today. Which can I just say, what a great show!! Anyway, remember when Vicinni was telling Wesley about how smart he was? He asked if he'd ever heard of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle? Hudson turned to me and said "Hey Mom, we have playdough." Which made me laugh. I started to tell him that it wasn't playdough, but Plato...a philosopher. He then asked what a philosopher was but then Vicinni was about to drink the drink poisoned with iocane so he stopped paying attention to me. I guess he'll have to assume the man in black was uneducated about playdough.

Happy Grandpa Day!

Our sweet Gracie is a crack up! I decided I should start recording some of the silly things she says. Today, as I was going through her backpack from preschool I noticed a cute cup with a paper groundhog she had colored and painted. When I asked her what it was (meaning the groundhog) she replied matter of factly, "a grandpa". To which I replied "you mean groundhog?" She said "no Mom, it's a grandpa." Then walked away shaking her head like I was so silly. So happy grandpa day...I'm not sure if I should share this with my Dad.