RamPaige!!!

What I think went through Paige's mind when she woke up Thursday:

Hmmm...sometime today I absolutely want to use Avery's red nail polish. I love it and I will have it. The problem is Mom. I know she won't let me have it because she thinks I'm not big enough. Ha! I draw beautiful pictures on the walls and have even made circles so I don't understand what Mom is thinking! She is going to be a problem though so I'm going to have to think of something.

(laughs deviously) I've got it!!! I will distract Mom by taking the pistachios and putting them all down the kitchen heating vent -- which I just figured out how to take off!!! Perfect!!! She'll be so busy trying to get those darn things out of there that she won't notice me climb up the shelf, get the polish and sneak into her room to make myself look beautiful!

Of course, now that I think about it, I don't just want to paint my nails, the color is too pretty! I absolutely need to cover, and I mean cover, my hands and feet and maybe my lower legs for good measure. Red is soooo my color and I really need to play it up. Come to think of it, Cooper's bed could use a little decoration so I'll just add some there, too. And maybe a little on Mom's walls because I know she likes red, too.

It's going to be a great day! Can't wait to get started!

Mayan Adventure Here We Come!

After many mornings (and evenings, and nights and whatever time worked best) of "reading" the Book of Mormon with the kids -- and I use the term reading loosely -- we finally finished it, again, and we're going to celebrate by going to the Mayan Adventure restaurant tomorrow! However, I was just looking at the menu and realized the prices have changed since we were last there -- ouch -- but it will be worth it.

I don't know how much the kids got as far as plot, story line, deep inspiration, etc... but I do know that they were, in fact, paying attention most of the time. I know that because sometimes in the middle of a story or verse I would simply say, "And, he died. The end." Heads would pop up with confused looks on their faces and question what I had just said. Of course, some story lines were more interesting than others -- Ammon cutting off Lamanite arms with a sword was definitely a story talked about for awhile by my son. Also, the kids thought Abinadi's courage in standing down the wicked King Noah was amazing. And they couldn't believe the Jaredites could be so full of hate as to completely wipe out their entire civilization and wondered how anybody could do that!

Most reading time, however, consisted of us reading while Paige and/or Jack was crying or someone's dirty diaper needed changing, or big girls poking each other and me saying, in a not so nice voice, "Hey! We're trying to read the scriptures here so knock it off!" But, for those times when it was somewhat quiet and the story could come through or some great scriptural thought could be talked about, it was great. I felt like I came to understand the Book of Mormon even that much better and that my kids added a little more to their testimony foundation. I even think they liked it. In fact, when we reached the end we kind of looked at each other like, "Now what do we do?"

This morning we decided to embark on The New Testament while interjecting verses from the Book of Mormon that coincide with what we're reading. The kids are already looking forward to hitting a Greek restaurant upon completion. Can anybody say, "Cheap Gyros here we come!"