There is no reason for this picture except that it makes me laugh. Anna's smile always brightens my day, Van is in an orange prison jump suit and a Santa hat and Adam is trying with all his might to hold the dog. Pretty much says 'Merry Christmas' to me.
Just a few updates with the Furmans:
1. For the past week or so, the boys have taken to sleeping together in the same twin bunk bed. This makes me smile. We have a mouse problem. We have never had as many as we have had this winter. And every once in awhile you'll hear them at night in the walls. Well this freaks Adam out mostly and I guess one night a week or so ago, he hopped in Van's bed. We put them to bed in separate beds but about 10 minutes after we do that, we hear them whispering to decide whose bed they are going to sleep in. Mostly it's been Van's but the last two nights it's been Adam's. Adam says it's warmer when they are in the same bed. :)
2. I have been bringing the kids to a lot of birthday parties lately. A few weeks ago we went to a house and I noticed that there were NO toys in the living room of this house. It was a decent sized house and there were 4 kids. After talking to parents, most say their kids keep their toys in their bedrooms. If you have been to my house, you know that there is really only enough room for a bed and dresser in my kids' rooms. I don't need my house to look like a showplace, I REALLY don't. But here's the deal, Chip and I can't sit down on the couch or walk in the kitchen because the toys spread. The move from the little toy nook into the living room, kitchen entryway and EVERY night is a battle to clean them up. So Chip and I decided, the majority of toys are now up onto the third floor. The big stuff- the army airplane, the kitchen the drums and everything else too pretty much. They don't have to pick up every night because frankly I don't care if it's out and they can play up there all they want. Except they don't. But we have our living place back. So I'm not sure of the next step, if we should get rid of a lot of the toys, make them come up here or what. I don't think they come up here because they are kinda afraid and, toys are all over the place so there isn't a lot of room. Oh well, not my problem.
3. I am not really a fan of dogs. Honestly, I'm not. But I do really like Gus. And the kids LOVE him. He's just a really nice dog and so good with the kids. I showed Van all the themes of birthdays online- spiderman, star wars, etc. He went with a dog theme that looks like Gus. One bad thing? There is hair EVERYWHERE. I know Chip hates it. I don't really know what to do. I don't feel like I can keep the dog tied up to the washing machine, nor keep him outside. But I do recognize it's a problem.
4. Adam is obsessed with windmills. I think he might do something with conservation some day because he's really into alternative energy. My brother got him one you can build kind of out of legos and he loves it. There is a neighboring farm that has one and Adam really wants one and is supposed to go and see it some day. He gets books out from the library on wind power all the time and makes Van play 'windmill' with him where Adam is 'Phil ' who owns the windmill and Van has to drive by and look at it.
5. Van is obsessed with snowplows and informs us he's going to be a snowplow driver when he grows up. He told Chip when he gets older he's going to knock down our garage, build himself a house and he and his family can live there. When it snows, we can go visit his wife and kids but he won't be there because he'll be plowing snow.
6. Anna doesn't really play with anything which makes me kinda sad because I wish she played the babies and dolls. Instead, she sits and reads and reads books. Screaming is more appropriate because she reads really loudly and with a lot of intonation.
7. We are going to Disney in August. I have put a lot of energy researching and planning and it has been fun. I think I am more excited than the kids. Anna is excited, she does really like Disney princesses. But I have been making a pretty strong effort to make sure the kids are seeing movies so they know about the characters and story lines before we get there. A few months back we went to a penny social and I won a bunch of VHS Disney tapes. (I think I put all my tickets in the baskets). We have watched Swiss Family Robinson, Little Mermaid, Aristocats, and Snow White. We have a bunch to go but the classic Disney movies are awesome!
And that pretty sums up what's been happening with the Furmans!
