Yellow belt testing

 Noah tested for yellow belt last night.

 It was long and grueling.

punching his victim,

 and breaking her arm.

 bowing, thinking about breaking some boards

worried about breaking the boards

 He broke both of them on the first try.

 Testing complete. They're supposed to take a few minutes to reflect on how they did, what they need to improve on, etc.

 waiting to see if he got promoted

 taking off the old dirty white belt (which was more gray)

 putting on the shiny new yellow belt

 pizza with his buddies.  2 1/2 hours of testing makes them hungry!

 He earned it.

Lincoln Museum

 The Lincoln Museum in Springfield had a special deal today where the whole family could get in for ten bucks!  That's Noah in front of it.

The Lincoln Family: Abe, Mary, Robert, Willie, Tad, Mike, Noah, and Sarah.  That's John Wilkes Booth sitting on Sarah's right shoulder like a little devil.

Outside Abe's tiny log cabin, which was very interesting, but they don't allow pictures inside.

 Sarah bragging about how she's taller than Willie Lincoln. (She made that braid herself, by the way.)

 Pioneer woman sweeping the dirt floor of her cabin,

 and cooking soup.

 You can't visit the Lincoln Museum without building a cabin out of Lincoln Logs.

We all enjoyed our visit.  They don't allow pictures to be taken in most of the museum.  The best parts were the two movies they showed. 

Winter morning at the playground

Happy and you know it (tween version)

For some strange reason, I started singing "If You're Happy And You Know It".  Noah had a ball in his hands at the time, and he joined in with his own verse: "If you're happy and you know it, hit your sis!" and proceeded to throw the ball at Sarah.  She flew into a rage and started yelling at him and crying, and I grabbed the ball and continued the song (at a higher volume) with this verse: "If you're happy and you know it....take revenge!" and whipped the ball at Noah.  That could have backfired, but it actually worked.  Sarah stopped the crocodile tears and started laughing, and Noah laughed too, and soon we were all rolling around laughing and making up ridiculous verses to the old classic toddler tune. 

Nice snuggly weekend

Breakfast

 Breakfast for Sarah, Molly, and McKenna

Noah's favorite breakfast

Ice

 ice-covered leaf

 icy grass

 They were fascinated with the ice too.

 ice cigarette for Sarah

 ice thermometer for Noah

 Shadow eating his.

Shiloh played with hers before she ate it.

Edible and non-edible pretzels

We made soft pretzels over the weekend.  Some were garlic-parmesan, some just salt, and some cinnamon-sugar.

All those pretzels inspired Sarah to turn herself into one.

My best just isn't good enough

Sarah wanted me to make a washing machine for her doll clothes.  She showed me a video of some ultra-crafty perfect mom, and I said, "Wow, she's really good!  Do you wish she was YOUR mom?"  Sarah said, "Yes!"  No hesitation.  At least she's honest.

Yuck Run

It was supposed to be nice and warm today, AND my puker kid hurled on the rug last night, so I decided it would be an ideal day for a yuck run. 

 First, I gathered my supplies: bleach, soap, and all the quarters I could find.

 Then I loaded up the van with the yuckiest things that needed cleaning.

 The kitchen garbage can lid is always gross.

 A child emptied the pencil sharpener into the garbage can before checking to make sure it had a bag in it.

 The litter box. Always disgusting.

Then I drove to the car wash, laid everything out, and started feeding quarters into the machine.  

I blasted everything and even washed the van, all for about five bucks (I lost track of exactly how many quarters I put in).  I got completely drenched in the process, and my hands were red and raw all the way home. 

I hung the rugs outside to dry when I got home, and then I took a long, hot shower.  All is clean, for the moment!