Helper Christopher

Not to neglect my other helper... Christopher already tries to put dishes in and get dishes out of the dishwasher. However, at this point, he is usually doing the opposite of what the rest of us are doing.
Also, this morning he helped me take dry clothes out of the dryer into a basket (sort of) and then he started the dryer for me (pushed the button). He was so excited when the dryer started to go after he pushed the button!

Helper John

Today I sent John down the street to Henry's house to drop off a cookie mix for Miss Becky. It was awesome. I helped him get across the street and then watched him go to their house. Then he came trotting back and I helped him cross the street again. Can't wait until he can cross the street on his own (basically when he's tall enough to be seen by all the tall SUV's in the neighborhood, so about 5 years?).

It was great! I'm so thankful I have such a helpful 4-and-a-half-year-old!

Happy British New Year

Because the kids are usually in bed by 8pm, I came up with the idea of celebrating New Year's eve on British time, which is five hours ahead of us. So we counted down to 7pm. We also arranged to Skype with Jessica and so we got to cheer the New Year in with an actual Brit (or dual American-Brit) as well! It worked great!
We had dinner with James's family, then played for a little bit, then it was time for "midnight." We counted down with the computer clock and Jessica in the kitchen and used our mini band instruments as noisemakers. Then we went outside to light sparklers and throw poppers on the ground.



We came back inside for some culinary fireworks of Kerri flipping crepes while the kids ate purple cows (grape soda-ice cream smoothies).


The results were yummy and impressive!

Judging by the noise level, everyone had a great time!

Oh, I just had a great idea! Next year, we'll celebrate on British time again, and have a pub dinner! Awesome. I am so smart. S-M-R-T. I mean S-M-A-R-T.

One Christmas pic

Here are John and cousin Katie working on her awesome workbench from Santa. We found out that Katie is going to be a cardiologist-LPGA champion, as well as a carpenter. Christopher privately asked me why we haven't started his college applications yet... I had no answer.

Boys in the Tub

And finally, one with the lighting the way I wanted it!

Big Night Out!

Hey everyone. This is Kerri from The Naptime Blog. I am guest posting here on Screamin John because I was the only one who took pictures of The Big Night Out. What was The Big Night Out? Well, as many of your know, SOMEONE had a birthday. I am not going to say who or how old that person was, but because there was a birthday there had to be a party. Now, this someone planned and hosted this whole event, so the least I could do is take pictures and blog about it.

The evening started around 6pm. We met at our host's house for a pre-Big Night Out drink and snacks:


And here were our lovely hosts! Great dress!


Now, I shipped my kids off to Grandma and Papa's for the evening. But everyone else's kids also gathered until their respectively babysitters were available. It was loud. Here are Brandon and George:


If you are new to this blog, try to guess which one is Brandon and which one is George! A quick snap of John. Again, note to self, next time we gather for a pre-Big Night Out cocktail, do it at the house with the fewest kids!


After we gathered, the adults loaded up into The Swaggerwagon for our trip to Greenville.

The activity that brought this evening to Big Night Out, instead of just a Night Out was the dance lessons. Again, this was the idea of our host and most of us were really excited about trying it. I got a few pictures of the dance lessons before I was reminded that they will sell us pictures of our evening as well.



We learned the rumba and salsa dancing. At this time I can't remember how to do either dance, but I do remember the lessons were fun!


After the dancing, we literally walked through a breezway to The Melting Pot, where again, our hosts had planned everything. We enjoyed A Night In France which was delicious!


Our host were extremely sneaky. Becky called earlier that afternoon about doing an extra birthday thing and found out that the whole dinner was already paid for. No arguing about the bill! Juilet knows I hate that, ;) but we did get her some chocolate strawberries...


Just thought this was a funny picture of Brandon:


After dinner, we got back into the swaggerwagon to go home. It was a great time and we look forward to our next round of birthdays in May.

Surprise!

[I'll blog this even though the majority of my audience lived it with me!]

Yesterday was my 40th birthday and it was not nearly as painful as it could have been because my family surprised me by coming for a visit!

First, on Monday morning, I drove home from the gym to see a strange car in the driveway and my mom and dad came out to greet me. Totally unexpected! Then, as we are walking into the other room talking and laughing, our big recliner spins around and my sister Jessica from England is there!! I screamed a very scary scream I was so surprised!

Then, the next day, Tuesday, my actual birthday, Jessica and I met my parents at the Olive Garden and my middle sister Jenny and my 1-year-old niece Danielle were at the table! This was also a surprise, but less so, because of some accidental slips that came up previously involving a baby car seat.

Anyway, we four girls spent the afternoon shopping for a "birthday outfit," an old family custom. Then after getting the kids to bed, friend-neighbor Becky came down and all the adults got to go to the Blue Heron for a nice child-free dinner. It was really cool to be able to go out with my folks, since usually they are sitting for us so we can go out.

Jessica, Jenny, and Danielle stayed at our house and we all reunited here this morning, before they all headed back to Dallas via Atlanta. Jessica flies back to England on Monday.
It's been the best birthday ever!