What we've been up to....

So, since the kids are on Christmas break, I thought that I would let them play as they wish so that I can catch up on some blogging! This decision will likely allow for a new story, or mess, to blog about! So here is what the kiddos have been up to in the last couple months! 1. Playing with Dad's paintings. This took place just before Thanksgiving. John had done a practice picture and then left it in the office( which does have a "child-lock" on it, by the way). The next afternoon I heard sounds coming from behind the closed doors of the office, so of course I ran to get the camera, and this is what I found. Kians' face says it all.

Here he is explaining what happened.

Here is the damage the oil paint did to him. It actually only takes about a day after you wash for all the color to fade off the skin.

and here is the damage the oil paint did to the carpet. It does not fade quite as easily as the skin. John went over it several times by hand and with the steam cleaner and you can still see it faintly unfortunately.

Here is the canvas which we had planned to actually keep with all the cute little foot print all over it, however Cameron decided to try his hand at it, literally, a couple days later and erased all those cute little prints. Sad.

2. Sleeping in strange( creative?) ways or places. On this particular night we took this picture of Ashlee since she was the only one sleeping in "normal fashion, although her head is at the foot of the bed and not exactly on the pillow!

Here is where we found Victoria. Yes, she actually got in Kians crib and went to sleep. Why? I have not the slightest clue, other than it probably just popped into her head and so she thought that she would try it, and since Kian had gone elsewhere, the opportunity was available!

Here is the view of Cameron on this same night. The boys built a fort on their bed and had apparently even snuck Kian down to join in the fun!

JJ and Braxton,and Mickey Mouse in the background there!

Funny stuff!

Here is another night we decided to break out the camera because it was just funny. Braxton is actually sleeping on one of their reading chairs, because as you see in the picture below, only so many people can fit in a twin bed, even when you are little people.

Once again, Kian had been sprung from his crib and joined his brothers for bedtime. And clearly, JJ was very excited about Christmas. It would probably be very humorous to leave a camera in the basement one night and see the funny things they do before bed!

The silly, but cute, boys!

3. Helped cook. I was in an extra nice mood this day or something and so I allowed them to "help" make the dumplings for Chicken and Dumplings. They had a lot of fun, so it was probably worth the clean-up. But only because it was a rare occurrence of course!

4. Opened, drank, and spilled 12 Kool-aid drinks that were for Braxton's last soccer game. Clearly the guilt is written all over him. Again after a good washing and 24 hours, the kid (Cameron) was virtually stain free.

The carpet was not so lucky, and still looks pretty much like this despite several different times and ways of washing. Can you say "carpet allowance" when it comes time to sell this place!

5. Color on ourselves and our brother( and the carpet of course, but I didn't even bother taking pictures of that.)

W thought we should at least make them clean up their mess. Never mind that JJ sat and let them do it!

6. Breaking lamps(Cameron did this while doing gymnastics in the family room) and glass coffee tables. Because of our momentary disbelief and loss of presence of mind, we do not have a picture to show of the glass table that was shattered in about the same place a few weeks before. Still not exactly sure how it happened. But it did. And we sent the kids away so that we could pick up the pieces. Again. We never get sick of this drill.....

7. Playing with toothpaste and smearing it all over beds and pillows (pictures are out of order as this first one is Kian running away after I'd taken a couple pics!)

8.Giving ourselves baths in sinks without moms prior knowledge( or permission, whatever that is). Ashlee had just crawled out of this sink while I got the camera. This is our small half bath on the main floor. She apparently enjoyed herself!

On the exact same day, I found Cameron here! He is watching TV while bathing in the kitchen sink. Where do they come up with this stuff? So the kids have been busy( this is seriously just a sampling of thing I had actually taken pictures of) and of course we have kept ourselves busy just keeping up with them( or rather, cleaning up after them!)