It's been a long time coming.

I really can't wait for the lifetime of various brotherly love/hug photos. I love each and every one of them!Can you believe how much these boys look like their daddy?

Jess is plowing through the Twilight series. She is constantly running up to me and saying "They just did this!" or she laments about having to go to school "but it just got good!" I know what she means. I hate having to put down a good book to do something like go to work or make dinner. I would much rather read.

She is working on her school production of Annie, which goes up next Thursday. She is very excited about it. She tells me all about rehearsal and how they "have to do this thing called tech" as if I have no idea what tech is about...please. I kept hush about it instead of telling her all about 10 out of 12s (2 days of working noon to midnight while we add in all the light cues, sound cues and costume changes.) Mom and Dad brought Jess, Abby & Connie to see The Witches at the Coterie tonight. (It was opening night.) The girls loved it. Connie got scared when the witches took off their wigs to show their "spotty scalps". She had to go sit with Gammy & Poppy. She was very excited to meet The Grand High Witch after the show though!

Abby is getting ready for her 1st Communion. That happens next weekend. I will be making her a rosary this week. I think it is going to be lovely. I hope she likes it.

Connie has been having a terrible time getting to sleep this week. I think her sleep clock is off. That child lies in bed and talks, sings, flips and flops...she works every trick in the book to do anything BUT go to sleep. It has not been fun, people. She turned 6 last Sunday. Here she is with her Easter basket.

So, I was cleaning out the cat litter in the bathroom one morning this week. (We have a little step stool in the bathroom for all the kids and I was sitting on it.) Devlyn was standing behind me. Suddenly I hear her say in what sounds to me like a BOOMING voice "WOW, Amy, you have a REALLY BIG BUTT!" I said I wasn't speaking to her anymore.

She is starting to get into the fact that her sisters are reading. She flips through books or magazines 'reading' out loud. She was sitting next to John one morning 'reading' a story "Once upon a time there were some cookies in her mouth."

My favorite conversation of the week:
Devlyn: Amy is not a guy, Jack.
Jack: Yes he is, Devlyn!
Devlyn: Amy is a mommy.
Jack: He is my mommy and he is a guy!

We took a trip to US Toy last week. I don't remember why. Anyway, Jack and Wy insisted that we visit the Thomas section - go figure. They have a little kid sized table set up with train tracks and stations etc. Jack LOVES this table. We have been to a few other stores with the same kind of table and I always make a point of saying "We have to leave in 3 minutes." Only I wasn't planning very well that day and when it was time to leave I said "We have to go." Let me tell you, that was the beginning of the end. He had fits. There were tears. There was semi-hyperventilation. There was the struggle to get him into the car seat because he wanted to go back in the store. He continued to sob and cry the whole way home. At one point Devlyn very calmly said to him "It's ok, Jack. Just take a breath. You need to calm down." He looked at her and cried "I *gasp* don't want *gasp* to talk *gasp* to you *gasp* right now!"

I started reading The Witches to the boys at bed time last week. Jack has requested the book every night since we started. The week before that I was still in rehearsals, which meant I was working late. Every night I would come home to find Jack sleeping on a little home made pallet beside his bed. John says Jack didn't mind my working late but when it was time for bed and I wasn't there, he insisted on sleeping on the floor so he could "watch for mommy."

He had a Dr.'s appointment the other week. I think I told you all about that. Anyway, the Dr. drew a happy face and asked Jack to draw one too. Here is the terrifying happy face that Jack drew. The little blobs at the bottom of the page are the arms and legs belonging to the happy face...

Wy gives fishy kisses now. Almost anytime I ask for a kiss, he sucks his cheeks in and pushes his lips out and lunges for my face. It is quite the experience. He wants to "eat-eat!" No one is more excited about dinner time than Wy. All I have to say is "Dinner's ready!" and he runs for his chair chanting "Eat-eat!" He is starting to know some of his numbers. Instead of parroting the number back to you, he sometimes supplies the next number. He is especially fond of the number 8 and knows that it comes after 7.

When he is upset or doesn't like the way things are going, he stomps his feet, tucks his chin to his chest and sternly tells me "No, mommy, no!" He will comply with what I'm asking (like sitting in time out) but he chants "No, mo-mmy, no!" Then a little light seems to go off in his head. It says something like: "Time out is supposed to be bad, but if I don't mind it, then it isn't really a punishment..." Then he sort of leans back on his elbows and swings his feet and grins at me.

The fellas came down to visit me for a dinner break last weekend. After dinner at Fritz's (where your meal is delivered via trains on tracks suspended from the ceiling) we went back to the theatre to visit with everyone and spend a few minutes hanging out before they headed out for home.

Here they are playing with the drapes that seperate the men's & women's dressing rooms. Good times, yo. I have a show to get up in the next few minutes, so I'm going to sign off for the week. Love and blessings to you and yours.