Celebrity book signing

Kate Gosseling did a book signing at our store last night. She said it was the biggest turn out she's EVER had! It was fun AND very exhausting for everyone.

**Look for me to walk right past at about 3:55. Whoops!

Merry Christmas from the Hillmans!

Here's our e-card for 2008. I hope you enjoy it!

Peace be with you,
Jesse & Rachel, Ambrose, Alex, and Athan Paul

You know you're a mom when:

...you find yourself daydreaming about a minivan (pictured above).

I'd like to daydream about this VW, but I think it's only available in Europe. Isn't it cute?!:

Leaves are for playing in!

We raked leaves in the backyard for the sole purpose of jumping in the pile & throwing them all around! Oh yeah, and burying each other under them--that was fun.

If only...

It reads: "You have erned A Week in new york! (smiley face)

On Saturday, Ambrose told me that this letter had arrived for me in the mail. He's so sweet.

Question of the day

"Mommy? Do you ever feel sorry that you have to take care of 3, well 4 really, boys every day?"

-Ambrose

I had to answer him as honestly as I could, it's my duty as his Mother. I told him "I am NEVER sorry, or sad that I have to take care of my boys. I love you all so much and wouldn't want it any other way. Now...do I ever feel tired and need a break? Sure. Everyone needs a break sometimes from their job."

"Yeah, I understand that." -Ambrose

I hope he walked away knowing that I have no regrets when it comes to taking care of my FOUR boys. More than anything, I want my children to always know they are a valued part of my life, something I didn't have growing up.

FYI: This question didn't come up during an 'exhausted mommy moment', it was COMPLETELY out of the blue during a wonderful day we were having.

Halloween's not complete without a candy thief...

Awww...Athan, why are you in the corner?

Because Alex ratted him out!
(His stash was under the couch!)

Happy Halloween

The Blue M&M, Buzz Lightyear (for the 4th year in a row!), and firefighter hope you had a fun Halloween.

Best friends are we, my brother and me

Last night's bunkbed conversation in the dark (I was listening on the steps):


Athan: Alex, I is scared of the dark. Will you protect me?

Alex: Yes. I will protect you.

Athan: Good. Cuz last night I did see a monster in mommy and daddy's room and it was really big and scary.

Alex: You did?

Athan: Yes.

Alex: Well, I will protect you.

Athan: Fanks (Thanks).

Alex: You're welcome.

Straight to my heart

"You is my best mama." -Athan

He's been saying this to me all week whenever I do something for him or he's just feeling lovey. Melts my heart every time.

Kitty...or little lion?

To put into perspective how big our cat REALLY is...here is Gus next to our 3 year old.

29

Today I celebrate 29 years of life.
10,585 days lived. I feel blessed to have each and every one.

Glad I was listening

When I picked Ambrose up from school, his hand was bloody where he somehow stabbed his palm with a pencil. I asked him what his teacher said after it happened...

"She told me to go in the bathroom and wash my hands with soap & water. But I told her that soap will lower my white blood cell count!"

I would have loved to have seen her face when she heard his response :)


Another one...
"You want to try my glasses on, kid?"
-Athan to Alex in the backseat of the car, referring to the Harry Potter glasses he was wearing.

Library

The boys LOVE going to the library. Lately, Ambrose & Alex have been getting comic books--specifically Batman or Superman, but sometimes Garfield. Athan does puppet shows for us while we're reading our books--the puppets usually end up eating the stage, which makes his brothers laugh like crazy.

Ninja Class

This is the ninja headquarters. It's guarded at all times.

Ambrose (the instructor)

Alexander (the muscle)

Athan (the negotiator)

Vaccines for the whole family!

It's sort of a long story, and some of you may have heard it already, so I'll just sum it up in 1 sentence:

We awoke to a bat flying in our bedroom and per the Gov't Health Dept., we are all going through the rabies vaccination process because there's no real way to tell if a bat has bitten you when you're sleeping and no way to know if the bat had rabies unless you physically have the bat tested.

So...we have to head to the E.R. (the only place that administers it) a total of 5 different times over 3 weeks. We have had #1-3, so only 2 more to go!! The boys have been such good sports about the whole thing--probably because they know they'll get a sparkle band-aid & candy!

Ambrose taking his turn to entertain us while we wait in a tiny E.R. room
*photo courtesy of Alex

Angry Ambrose quotes

When Ambrose gets mad, it's entertaining to see the ways & words he comes up with to inform you. Here are 2 JUST from today (he gets angry a lot):

#1
Ambrose (in a very sweet voice): Mommy, what day is it today?

Me: It's Thursday today.

Ambrose (in a low growl): Well...I HATE Thursdays. (storms off)



#2
(Ambrose has stormed off after being told he needs to clean his room. He returns a few minutes later with the book Jesse and I gave him for Kindergarten Graduation)

Ambrose (in the sweet voice): Mommy, what do these last 3 words say? (pointing to the handwritten inscription on the inside cover)

Me: It says "We love you"

Ambrose (in the grumpy growl): Too bad that's not true!! (storms off again)

We might be song writers...or not

The boys and I were feeling tired of the same old "baby songs" (Ambrose says), so we made our own "Twinkle, twinkle" rendition:

Twinkle, twinkle little car
Can you drive us very far?
Across the roads watch our for toads.
And when it's clear look our for deer.
Twinkle, twinkle little car
Can you drive us very far?

Also...I received this compliment from Ambrose after I drew a picture of an alien car for our song-- "Wow, mom, you draw pretty good for a woman."

New backyard fun...thanks to Daddy

Jesse not only assembled the swing set (thanks Dad & Jan!) last weekend,

he also made the boys a tepee!

What a silly group of people...we belong together

Last night was the annual company picnic for Jesse. It was loads of fun and the only regret we have is not taking video of Alex driving the go karts--he was a natural.