this is what's been going on

Jan 22nd:
Daddy fail of the night: taking a four year old off one's shoulders near a rotating ceiling fan. Smooth move, Ferguson. Lol!!

Feb 1st:
Natalie keeps getting the carton of eggs out of the fridge and carrying them around. When Ryan tries to take them away from her she starts yelling, "Those are my babies! Don't take my babies away!!"

Feb 14th:
ugh. valentine's day never seems to go right. i spent my evening at the best buy mobile store in the mall in an effort to save my s3. no such luck. after natalie 'cleaned' it with febreze yesterday (and folks, it was in an otterbox defender) and i tried desperately to dry it in rice and with a silica gel packet, it pretty likely has a short in it. *sigh* after only two months... i loved that phone...

&

parental fail: while trying to comfort natalie's fear of space aliens, i tried to explain how foreigners are sometimes called aliens and used my trips to china as an example. now she thinks i turned into an alien when i went to china. THEN while we were watching Alf last night, one of the characters made a comment about him coming from outer space. nat said, 'he didn't come from outer space! aliens are from china!

Feb 16th:
well, att crapped out on me and helping w my phone even though we've been loyal customers for 10 years, so i went back to best buy where they actually care about customer service. i got hooked up with a galaxy note 2 for less than the price to resign a contract. so, if you're looking to upgrade or get a new phone, GO TO BEST BUY!! and not the store, the mobile shop in the mall. those guys are aMAZing!

Feb 18th:
Well, Colby made lunch for himself and the girls today. Sandwiches, grapes, & popcorn.

... works for me

Feb 19th:
meredith asleep in a baby doll play pen

Feb 23rd:
Meredith's pierced ears

And a little something for me :)

Later that night on our way home:
Nat: "Mommy."
Me: "What?"
Nat: "I love you."
Me: "I love you too."
Nat: "Daddy."
Ryan: "What?"
Nat: "Do you remember on that show..." etc.

Feb 24th:
Natalie's excuse to not brush her teeth: "My head doesn't have good brains to do it. My brains are tired. And my teeth are tired." I know the feeling, my dear. Dealing with you makes MY brains tired.

Feb 28th:
natalie came into my bedroom with her hands behind her back. i told her to turn around but she said she didn't want to and started crying/panicking. i asked her what was behind her back and she said my phone. she said she had tried to clean it. (we all remember what happened the last time, don't we?) then i also started to panic. turns out there was something under the screen protector and she had rubbed it so hard with her (dry, clean) fingertip that it had slid down some and gotten a bunch of air bubbles under it. number 3 is clearly going to be the death of me.

Christmas lights

While looking at some Christmas lights Nat got the spirit and said very wistfully, "This is the spirit of the woooooorld." Meredith responded, "No, it's the spirit of Christmas."

Then somehow the kids got to talking about cows. Meredith announced, "There are real life pink cows. If there weren't pink cows we wouldn't have strawberry ice cream!"

Ryan asked if Natalie was asleep. She said, "No because I'm still talkin'!" That was an understatement. Copby said, "It sure doesn't sound like you're asleep." Agreed, son.

And the quote of the night. Natalie said, "I love Jesus when He was a baby." Meredith replied, "I love Jesus because He's my bestest, bestest, bestest, etc. friend." :)

Bama looked at the lights, too.

Lately Meredith and Natalie have been chasing caterpillars. Today they found one and have been playing with it. Ryan came inside and said that the 'callapitter' pooped on Meredith's finger and she looked at it and said, 'AH!' A few seconds later Meredith came into the kitchen with the caterpillar in a cup and said, 'I want to eat lunch with the callapitter.'

Today Nat and I saw some deer while we were driving. I had to stop and let all three cross the road even though a couple were debating it (b/c I have a fear of one running into the side of the van. This is actually not an irrational fear. From what I understand, it happens often). Natalie saw them and said, "LOOK! REINDEER! I love reindeer. They are so. beautiful.'

Then she started singing in Solfege.

Don't ask, I have no clue.

Last week Natalie decided she was going to spend the night with my mom and dad (which is a big deal; that girl doesn't like to be away from HER mom and dad). All went well and yesterday my dad gave a brief report on what they talked about (I hadn't heard his experience b/c he was out of town most of last week and went to the WKU/UK game all day Saturday (TOPS FOR THE W!! 32-31!!)). He told us yesterday that Natalie walked up to him that night and said, 'Make like a banana and split.' That girl is hilarious! I have no idea where she picked that one up.

Then Saturday morning before he left for the game, Natalie said she had a joke for him. Then she said, 'BIG TOILET.' Dad said he just looked at her, lol! Not sure where that one came from either.

*Sigh* That girl...

a couple of weekends ago was meredith's birthday. we didn't have a big blowout for her b-day party. we stayed home and hung out as a family. meredith told me it was the best birthday party ever. first, meredith went with ryan to the store to get her birthday meal, a frozen totino's pizza, per her request. the rest of us had pizza hut. then, ice age three, the movie meredith picked out to watch (with a little coaxing from her mother; i'm so sick of princesses) was put on the flat screen while i worked on birthday cake. instead of making a giant rapunzel cake like last year (as i said, i'm sick of princesses), we opted for individual cakes. i found a recipe on my new favorite website, pinterest, used some mason jars that hadn't been used for the tomatoes they were intended to preserve, and mixed color after color of cake batter. all the kids were impressed. meredith was right. this kind of party is the best ever :)

Also, meredith started school last week. she's a big kindergarten girl!

And to think, this is where it all started!

Meredith quote:
(After she saw me take some Aleve): Meredith: "I know how to get rid of a headache. Take some medicine, then you close your eyes and lay down and get some rest, then you wake up and look in the mirror, then you try to feel your headache, and then it's all better!"

Natalie quote:
(After I caught her in the band-aids this morning)
Me: "No more band-aids. If you keep putting them on pretend boo boos we won't have any for real boo boos. Where are the other two that were on your leg?"
Nat: "They're in the bedroom."
Me: "Why did you take them off (your pretend boo boos)?"
Nat: "They weren't working anymore."