I know. Another one from Alaina. I can't help myself.

Alaina, "You know how last night I said that you were the most beautiful?" (we were playing the 'no, you're more beautiful' game)

Me, "Yes."

Alaina, "Well, I didn't really think that. I was just trying to make you feel good."

Me, "Oh."

Alaina, "Yeah, I really think I'm the most beautiful but if I said that then you wouldn't feel good."

Me, "Ok."

Alaina, "But I do think you are beautiful too."

Me, "Are you just trying to make me feel good?"

Alaina, "Yes."

Me, "Maybe if you want someone to feel good, you shouldn't tell them that you are just saying nice things to make them feel good."

Alaina, "Oh. Okay. I really do think you are beautiful AND I mean it."

What a pill. She's a sweet pill but definitely a pill.

First day of school...again. The kids did great, although the twins wanted to stay all day. They are used to the full day kindergarten and here they only go for 2 1/2 hours. That will take some getting used to for us all.

We were quite the crowd walking the kids down to their new classes. Ethan was in the lead despite the fact he had no idea where he was going. Austin was so close to me that he became my indoor shadow. Alaina was chatting non-stop to the school secretary and to both her new teacher as well as Austin's. Suddenly she put her hand up, commanding all of our attention with a very authoritative, "STOP!" All eyes on the diva, she continued, "Wait a minute. Here Mom, take this." I got tossed her jacket. "And take this, too." I got her bag. And before anyone could take their eyes off of her she raised both hands up towards her self and asked us all, "Isn't my outfit so cute?" Way to be humble, girl. And ever so subtle. After she got the appropriate amount of praise she allowed us all to continue on our way with her final comment. "Yeah. I am really cute today. Where's my new class?"

Looking for a home to rent has been a frustrating ordeal. There have only been a certain amount of homes on the market and once we have seen them, our days have been pretty empty. In order to keep from going crazy we started to explore Portland. We spent one day at the OMSI science museum. They have planetarium there and an IMAX theater. The kids had so much fun running from room to room that I hardly got any pictures of them. Here are my two future astronauts.


And my future scientist. Austin says that he just loves 'science-ing.'
Another day we took the kids to the Portland children's museum. One of the first stops they took was the make-up room.
They took a lot of care getting their faces just right. And voila, perfection.Doesn't Ethan look like a snow-cone?

The next favorite place that the kiddies went to was the water room. When they finally got tired of it and wanted to move on, we all had to wait for Robert to finish up his experiments.


Here is a sweet picture of Rob and big-boy Ethan.

And during the rest of our time together, the kids have been entertaining me with the silly things that they say.

Whenever the kids refer to Charlotte they call it "our real home." "When we were at our real home, I really loved my teacher."

Robert, for some reason, seems to think that our Austin is a bit of a nerd. I couldn't figure it out. The conversation that the kids had seemed perfectly normal it me. We had nearly finished eating and the conversation was going on like this:

Mama "I love you kids more than I love chocolate."
Ethan, "I love you more than being a rock star."
Alaina, "I love you more than swimming at the pool."
Austin, "I love you more than all my 'ventions." (inventions)
This went on for another 5 minutes until Austin decided to get really crazy.
Austin, "I love you more than the Table of Contents."
And before I could stop laughing he added, "And I love you more than recycling!" That is coming from the boy who wants to be a 'garbage picker up guy so I can clean up my earth.'
I thought it was a profession of true love but Robert thought it was super nerdy. I guess sweet Austin is more like his Mom than we thought. (Can you see 6 year old me pushing up my glasses taped in the middle with my nose in a book? Yeah? 'Cause that is pretty much how it happened.) Nerds Unite!

Alaina uses a calculator like a cell phone. She walks around have lengthy conversations with imaginary people. They sound like they are two-sided, with long pauses and everything. The last one I heard made me smile. "Why do you keep calling me. *long pause* You called me like ten times already Miley Cyrus. *pause* Miley Cyrus, I can't keep talking to you all the time. *extra long pause* I know I'm your best friend, Miley Cyrus but I'm getting in the car with my brothers. *click* Whew. That Miley Cyrus is always calling on my phone."

And one last Lainy story. At church today, when I went to pick up Laina, she was chatting non-stop to her teacher. The teacher turned to me and the boys and said, "Oh. Let's see. You must be Alaina's mom. And you," pointing to Ethan, "must be the big brother I've been hearing about. Ethan, right. And you must be Austin, Alaina's twin." Turning back to me, she didn't miss a beat. "I hear you moved from Charlotte and are still looking for a house. I sure hope you find one in our ward." I'm now wondering what part of our family history Alaina didn't mention. We said our goodbyes and started out the door. As a last though her teacher said, "And Alaina. I can't wait to see you next week in that green dress that you were talking about." Looking over her shoulder, Alaina looked straight at her and said, with feeling, "And I can't wait to see your smile when your see me wearing the dress." Hair flip. Exit diva.

The Sock Hop

The weekend before we left Charlotte, the kids had a Sock Hop Dance at school. They were so excited to go and we felt this would be a good chance to say goodbye to some of their friends. As soon as we got into the the cafeteria, music blaring, Ethan started running around the room with his friends. This went on for the entire dance. He did manage to stand still long enough for me to take a picture with his friend Jacob and Olivia from his class. The moment we walked in, Alaina started to boogie. She danced with Austin. She danced with me. She danced with any friends she could find and when she found herself alone, she just kept on going. The girl is fearless and so sure of herself. She knows she's rockin' it and loves doing it.

I was worried that Austin wasn't going to enjoy himself, though. He is so shy that he was embarrassed to dance even when he was holding one of our hands. He wanted to dance but then he would look around and get worried that someone might be looking at him. After standing with us for a while, he disappeared for a couple of minutes. I started walking around the room to find him when I see my shy, timid guy boldly walking out to the dance floor, leading his teacher, Ms. Vogel, by the hand, out behind him. I guess I don't have to worry about him after all. Or maybe I should start worrying even more... Apparently Ms. Vogel is adored by many of her little Kindergartners because it only took a few minutes before she was surrounded by her students. Austin wasn't loving the intrusion but managed to stay right at her side the whole time she was out there.

It was a fun way to have the kiddies last hurrah.

And before I let you go, here are a few Austin stories.

Austin was building a fort in the living room with the big green blanket and the brown couches. The rest of us were hanging out, not paying too much attention to him. After he set it up he held a pillow in his hand and muttered to himself, "This is a good trap. I can get someone to go in and throw this pillow on the top to catch them." Then he immediately turned to Laina and said out loud, "Hey Laina. This is a girl fort I built for you. There is a good place to go in and a secret passage to get out over there." With pillow in hand and mischievous grin he guided his sister towards his specially contrived death-trap. Robert quickly caught on to his evil plan and held on to Alaina, saying, "Austin! Don't try and trick your sister." With an even mix of contrition, disappointment and embarrassment for being caught, Austin quietly apologized and moved on to his new set of plans.

Austin wakes up early every single morning. He has been this way since birth. We tried everything we could think of to move his wake-up time later without much success. The day we officially moved from waking up at 5:30 until 6:30 was a monumental moment for us. And that was well after he was 4 years old. In order to keep our sanity we bought him a clock and we make him sit in his room until the clock says 7:00. This hasn't stopped him from waking up Alaina and Ethan every morning to keep him company. But it has kept him from knocking on our door. With the flight from Charlotte to Portland, we knew there would be a huge adjustment time for Austin especially. The first morning he woke up at 3:30 (with a 3 hour time-difference, he was pretty much on target). Robert made him go back into him room until 7. I let him out at 5:30 since by then we were all wide awake already. the first thing he said was, "The clock in my room is moving really really slow. I think it is broken."

I took Austin by surprised when he was walking out of the bathroom tonight. It scared him a little and he blurted out, "Wow. I thought you were a criminal." A criminal? Seriously? Where does he even come up with these things?

It's done. The house is sold. Papers are signed. The movers came and took all of our stuff away. Everything that we've been planning for during this last year has finally been accomplished. Except, of course, for the last part. The whole finding-a-place-to-live-in-Vancouver-and-moving-there part. So this last week we've been kickin' it at a hotel. In Charlotte. I'd rather be kickin' it in Hawaii but I can't complain.
We've been spending this last week trying to get over the cold that hit us all like a mack truck. (Except for Austin who is apparently immune to the flemmy, hacking, stuffy mess that we got ourselves into.) My body decided it was mostly healed just in time for my Dentist to drill a hole into my gum and screw in an implant base with some medieval ratchet like torture device. At least now I have some antibiotics. And the kids are starting to get used to the high-life. Only 5 choices for breakfast? It is so tough to be them. The hotel also provides dinner three nights a week which makes it really convenient for us. I think that all of us are getting anxious to make the move to Vancouver.

Our hotel does have 3 bed so we all don't have to pile into two. We've done it with 2 queens a million times but since the kids have gotten so big, it makes it almost impossible to sleep. Last night I found Alaina stretched out all over Austin's side of the bed. I swear, ever since the womb, that girl has taken the same place next her her brother. She snuggles in and he moves over. She snuggles in closer and he shrugs his shoulders and lets her have her way.
We've decided that we'll jump on a plane for Vancouver next week. The kids can't go to school until we find a place and so cross your fingers that we'll find one soon. All the kids are getting sad now that they are starting to realize that their friends won't be coming with them. Although I do think they will feel a little more settled once we get into a new routine.