This post has nothing to do with the title. It popped into my head and had to be the title.
My weekend has been fraught with arguments with Eden about whether you can "have school" on the weekend. I strongly maintain that no you cannot! Eden even tried the tears on me on Sat. afternoon. I'm impervious. What sane person wouldn't be? It's like opening pandoras box. Once I say yes, I'll be "having school" 24X7.
A few key random funny moments this weekend.
Kaitlyn announced that she is the mommy and I am the sister. We carried this charade throughout most of the weekend. This morning however, she broke out of character to make up an enormous story for the whole family at the breakfast table. We were surrounded with our traditional fare of "dad's homemade pancakes" tea, oj and some kind of breakfast meat. He was super sweet and even put pecans in my pancakes this morn. Anyway, Kait started a story about going to the fair. We randomly fed new words in and she would assimilate them into the story with ease. At one point I casually asked about the horse and she instantly told us all about how the horse getting out of the gate and running away. I asked about the bird and she told me it was the bird who opened the gate and our whole family was riding the horse. I was taken aback and asked if surely there had been two horses and she assured me that no there were not! The solitary horse however, was as big as a camel. So... I guess we all fit just fine. She was in the front with Daddy and Mommy had to ride on the back with Eden. I'm relieved to announce that she didn't just come out and say that Mommy rode bitch... but the implication was there. The story rambled on with so many hilarious details I can't even recount them all. I do remember that she hugged a wonderful little pig and fed a pony though.
I finally mopped the kitchen without interruption. I arranged all of the kitchen chairs and barstools in a circle in the living room and covered them with a sheet. The children didn't have the slightest interest in running into the kitchen and sliding smack on their backs for the first time ever. On the downside, I caught them dragging my purse into their tent with obviously detrimental intentions. You can't have it all I suppose.
We ran out of paper towels in the kitchen today. Big event. I know. Well, I ran downstairs to grab another roll and the computer caught my eye. I decided to make a quick detour. I skirted the exersaucer, jumped over the activity gym, skidded across a puzzle piece and landed in the desk chair. I checked my email, surfed craigslist, checked my ebay auction and then sat there stupefied as to how I had gotten here and why I was downstairs. Suddenly a miracle happened and I actually remembered the paper towels. I re-crossed the sketchy terrain and retrieved the paper towels and took them to the kitchen. This story was just so everyone out there would know, "you can do it." You can be completely distracted and still remember something... if you're really lucky.
We had a fantastic weekend and I hope all of you did too. With Jody working a ton of hours these last few weeks, our time is so precious and we appreciate what we have so much more. It feels like we really try to "live" on the weekends and soak each other up.
Toodles.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday, September 29, 2007
I'll never forget
I'll never forget:
the first time I held you
the first time I saw you in your daddy's arms
the curve of your chubby cheek
the baby smell when I bury my face in your neck
the fine detail of each of your ears
the shape of your little dumpling hands
the curl of your long squiggly toes
the metamorphosis of your darling eyelashes
the incongruous mohawk after your baths
the peacefulness of your repose as you sleep
the engaging draw of your smile
the charm of your first giggle
the miracle of the first time you rolled over
because it's written now, and all I have to do is read it and be swept back to the joy indescribable
the first time I held you
the first time I saw you in your daddy's arms
the curve of your chubby cheek
the baby smell when I bury my face in your neck
the fine detail of each of your ears
the shape of your little dumpling hands
the curl of your long squiggly toes
the metamorphosis of your darling eyelashes
the incongruous mohawk after your baths
the peacefulness of your repose as you sleep
the engaging draw of your smile
the charm of your first giggle
the miracle of the first time you rolled over
because it's written now, and all I have to do is read it and be swept back to the joy indescribable
Friday, September 28, 2007
It's Done!!!!
My dear sister has made a most beautiful quilt for my little Nickster to cuddle in. It's firetrucks of course.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Confessions
I've decided to make some confessions. Maybe if it's out in the air I'll do something about it.
1. I still have two placentas in my freezer.
2. My hair is still peach and hasn't been cut in at least six months. It was cut by a whacko that thought I wanted a wedge when I said I wanted it choppy and layered.
3. I still have no hair dryer or curling iron... I'm verging on looking like a sheepdog.
4. Despite my utter lack of ability to provide my husband with a presentable wife, I have managed to buy a water cooler and water for it. Priorities anyone?
5. I almost clobbered Eden for trying to carry a carton of eggs on her head today.
That's enough for now.
I'm reading the greatest book called "Ready Set Read." Well actually I devoured it in less than 24 hours and am beating myself all up for not teaching Eden the steps of learning to read in the correct order. The most obvious part that I had never considered, she presented so simply.
" Would it suprise you to know that the child who knows all twenty-six letters by name is really no closer to reading than the one who knows none at all? Once you've seen how the phonetic approach to reading works, you'll understand completely.
Knowing the names of letters does not facilitate reading at all; it may even make it more difficult. A child can look at a word and say "dee - oh - gee" from breakfast to dinner never have a clue that those letters spell the word dog. However, if he has learned the phonetic sounds for those letters instead of their names, he will string the sounds together easily to for a word with which he is familiar."
I've been banging my head against a wall for a couple of months realizing that I hadn't put enough emphasis on letter sounds over names but this took the cake. The idea of presenting the sounds before the letter names is genius. Eden's known the capital alphabet since she was two. She's known the lower case alphabet for almost a year since a teacher pointed out to me that kids use way more lower case letters than capital. Now I realize I could have put my energy to so much better use.
Whatever, I've called Eden the guinea pig all along. That's just what happens to first children. We can't stand to take advice from other people and we don't know which books to read. Most of it would be completely irrelevant to our particular child anyway so we think why bother. I feel like I say "live and learn" so much that it annoys even me to hear myself say it.
So hey, here's a chuckle to leave you with. Nick was mind bendingly fussy tonight. I'm sure it's my latest addiction to snow peas twisting his poor little gut. Nothing I could do was right. I was in the middle of trying to soothe him with nursing which never works on him and could vaguely process the fact that Eden was saying in a very low voice "okay, don't worry mom, I'll be very careful, very very---- I looked up and she had the rocking horse at the top of the stairs that go down to our foyer. It's 10 stairs to be exact. She was sitting on top of the horse hanging onto the railing and about to plunge down the stairs. I kid you not. In my most screetching voice I forbade her from embarking on something that would almost guarantee a trip to the ER and she was completely CRUSHED. She tried explaining over and over how careful she would be. She pleaded in her most eloquent voice, to no avail. I am, after all, a half hazard mom but come on!
1. I still have two placentas in my freezer.
2. My hair is still peach and hasn't been cut in at least six months. It was cut by a whacko that thought I wanted a wedge when I said I wanted it choppy and layered.
3. I still have no hair dryer or curling iron... I'm verging on looking like a sheepdog.
4. Despite my utter lack of ability to provide my husband with a presentable wife, I have managed to buy a water cooler and water for it. Priorities anyone?
5. I almost clobbered Eden for trying to carry a carton of eggs on her head today.
That's enough for now.
I'm reading the greatest book called "Ready Set Read." Well actually I devoured it in less than 24 hours and am beating myself all up for not teaching Eden the steps of learning to read in the correct order. The most obvious part that I had never considered, she presented so simply.
" Would it suprise you to know that the child who knows all twenty-six letters by name is really no closer to reading than the one who knows none at all? Once you've seen how the phonetic approach to reading works, you'll understand completely.
Knowing the names of letters does not facilitate reading at all; it may even make it more difficult. A child can look at a word and say "dee - oh - gee" from breakfast to dinner never have a clue that those letters spell the word dog. However, if he has learned the phonetic sounds for those letters instead of their names, he will string the sounds together easily to for a word with which he is familiar."
I've been banging my head against a wall for a couple of months realizing that I hadn't put enough emphasis on letter sounds over names but this took the cake. The idea of presenting the sounds before the letter names is genius. Eden's known the capital alphabet since she was two. She's known the lower case alphabet for almost a year since a teacher pointed out to me that kids use way more lower case letters than capital. Now I realize I could have put my energy to so much better use.
Whatever, I've called Eden the guinea pig all along. That's just what happens to first children. We can't stand to take advice from other people and we don't know which books to read. Most of it would be completely irrelevant to our particular child anyway so we think why bother. I feel like I say "live and learn" so much that it annoys even me to hear myself say it.
So hey, here's a chuckle to leave you with. Nick was mind bendingly fussy tonight. I'm sure it's my latest addiction to snow peas twisting his poor little gut. Nothing I could do was right. I was in the middle of trying to soothe him with nursing which never works on him and could vaguely process the fact that Eden was saying in a very low voice "okay, don't worry mom, I'll be very careful, very very---- I looked up and she had the rocking horse at the top of the stairs that go down to our foyer. It's 10 stairs to be exact. She was sitting on top of the horse hanging onto the railing and about to plunge down the stairs. I kid you not. In my most screetching voice I forbade her from embarking on something that would almost guarantee a trip to the ER and she was completely CRUSHED. She tried explaining over and over how careful she would be. She pleaded in her most eloquent voice, to no avail. I am, after all, a half hazard mom but come on!
sleep
Sleep is really a treasure. I can't think of anything that really makes me more completely happy and content. All of the other things in life that make a person happy are conditional upon sleep so they obviously take second place. I can envision my angel babies smiling faces as they scoot up to my kitchen counter and start their orders each morning. When I've had sleep it's amusing, entertaining and I try to press the event into my memory permanantly, so I'll never forget. If I didn't sleep and I have a headache, everything they say is a personal insult. Every sound they make has to be a purposeful attack on my headache. Every question they ask is interpreted in an antagonistic fashion. Even as I'm being a completely reactionary sleep deprived witch, I'm psychoanalyzing myself and condemning my own behavior.
Two nights ago, I didn't sleep. Jody didn't sleep. Eden didn't sleep. Kaitlyn didn't sleep. Yep, you guessed it, Nick didn't sleep either. It was HORRIBLE. Tuesday I got up and REALLY wanted to do school. I wanted to have a positive day. I had prepared some really fun stuff before I knew that nobody would sleep. I launched myself into the kitchen and tried to enthusiasticly throw myself into the baking of the German Apple Pancake of the day. We went from that to talking about skeletal systems and brains. Apparently Eden watched some weird show at the neighbors house with poor little children who have brains on the outside of their heads. I have no idea what she saw. It was very distracting to the lesson. Every step we take in this journey gives me more appreciation for how teachers really do ever get anything taught. One thing I feel like we're making GREAT progress with, is raising a hand to speak without interrupting. Eden almost always hold her finger up instead of interrupting. The bad thing is when she does it in the car and we don't see the cute little finger.
At 10:30 Nick went down for his nap and I wordlessly fell into my bed without the slightest thought for what the kids might be up to. I tried to listen and heard some relatively safe words like "picnic" and blanket. At 10:47 I woke to a puddle of drool and Eden kissing my forehead over and over. I looked up and she told me to have a good nap and left. Now, I ask you what do you do with that? Do you allow your sleep greed to spoil the sweet gesture? I personally didn't get a chance to reflect. My little corgi started rythmically barking in the back yard, moving closer and closer to Nick's window. I jumped out of the bed. ran down the stairs, out the back of the garage and asked the little weasel if she really just wanted me to KILL her? In telling Jody about it later I discovered that he actually has very similar one sided conversations with the dog. He made a rather sheepish confession of it. His usual phrase is "it would be so easy."
Two nights ago, I didn't sleep. Jody didn't sleep. Eden didn't sleep. Kaitlyn didn't sleep. Yep, you guessed it, Nick didn't sleep either. It was HORRIBLE. Tuesday I got up and REALLY wanted to do school. I wanted to have a positive day. I had prepared some really fun stuff before I knew that nobody would sleep. I launched myself into the kitchen and tried to enthusiasticly throw myself into the baking of the German Apple Pancake of the day. We went from that to talking about skeletal systems and brains. Apparently Eden watched some weird show at the neighbors house with poor little children who have brains on the outside of their heads. I have no idea what she saw. It was very distracting to the lesson. Every step we take in this journey gives me more appreciation for how teachers really do ever get anything taught. One thing I feel like we're making GREAT progress with, is raising a hand to speak without interrupting. Eden almost always hold her finger up instead of interrupting. The bad thing is when she does it in the car and we don't see the cute little finger.
At 10:30 Nick went down for his nap and I wordlessly fell into my bed without the slightest thought for what the kids might be up to. I tried to listen and heard some relatively safe words like "picnic" and blanket. At 10:47 I woke to a puddle of drool and Eden kissing my forehead over and over. I looked up and she told me to have a good nap and left. Now, I ask you what do you do with that? Do you allow your sleep greed to spoil the sweet gesture? I personally didn't get a chance to reflect. My little corgi started rythmically barking in the back yard, moving closer and closer to Nick's window. I jumped out of the bed. ran down the stairs, out the back of the garage and asked the little weasel if she really just wanted me to KILL her? In telling Jody about it later I discovered that he actually has very similar one sided conversations with the dog. He made a rather sheepish confession of it. His usual phrase is "it would be so easy."
Monday, September 24, 2007
Why am I still awake?
And why haven't I folded that dang laundry? I've sworn not to wash any more laundry until I fold and put away every last clean piece in the house. If anybody starts throwing flylady jargon at me they'll see the bad side of Betsy (that's mad Elizabeth). I'm not all bad. I've vacuumed the whole downstairs today. I've made the kids put away at least 70% of the stuff they drug out and put the rest away myself. The only real fault I see is that it's 10:55 and I'm squinting at the computer because I'm so deathly tired and I just can't tear myself away. After the monkeys go to bed I just love surfing and it's really bad. Tonight I was doing great until I started going over the class plan for tomorrow and realized it was all about the human brain and skeletons. I ran straight to the computer to print out animals and their matching skeletons for the kids to match. I swear the more things I get to teach, the more excited I get about doing this homeschool stuff. I'm certainly not as varied or experienced as a teacher in a classroom but I'm excited to call my chiropractor tomorrow morning and see if we can stop by his office for some skeletal viewings. That's something I know they wouldn't do at school. The most exciting thing of course is that my montessori supplies arrive on Wednesday. Every week when I go over my class plans it suggests something from the kit I'll be getting and I just CAN'T WAIT to incorporate it all.
Simply the very best part of the homeschooling so far this year is that Eden and I have finally reconnected. Since Kait was born, we floated apart and I had a very short temper with her. It was strange, like I just expected her to grow up because I was more busy. Now that we're doing all of these things together she is so sweet and so helpful and I feel myself working so much harder to help her and show her things that I had just assumed she would eventually figure out before. She has arbitrarily told me that she loves me more times in the last two weeks than in the whole summer.
Kait is struggling right now. I'm thinking about what to do to kind of bring her around. It's just the typical two year old pouty whiny stuff that everyone complains about so I doubt there's a whole lot I can do but I'm contemplating it anyway. On the other hand, her vocabulary seems to double every day. I just crack up sometimes when she says a new word in conversation. Today she used a word and my mind is so blank. I'll come back and edit this when I remember it.
Nick is at my most favorite age of all babies. Three months is magic. Plain and simple. He started that completely irresistable behavior of pulling off while he's nursing and smiling a lazy smile and then diving back and nursing some more. All three have done it and I just love it to no end. Tonight he was laying in my lap just giggling his head off. It was the most laughing I've ever heard from him. I would make a funny face and he would just giggle for the sheer joy of giggling. He has such a wonderful laid back happy personality. I just love it. It's so easy to tell what he needs when and he's so happy when you just do it.
Anyway, I'm going to bed now. My redhead will be home in only an hour and ten minutes. Man I miss him.
Here's a pic from the apple orchard we went to on Sunday.
My hair is peach
We went to spanish class today. Wonderful! We love spanish class, it's so good for everyone. Even my recalcitrant Kait at least gets to visit with her fast friend Remington. He's the most charming little 19 month old "sqeeze me" kid I've ever seen. I'm totally rambling, this is supposed to be about my peach hair.
We had to go to Target to exchange a skirt for Eden which would easily have held two of her. On our way there, called the love of my life and he was having a completely rotten day. I did my best to let him know I had his back and got to Target in a rather black mood myself. They refused to exchange the skirt because I've already brought two things back without receipts this year. Lovely. We headed over to get kids toothpaste and milk. I had to walk right past the hair dye. My feet moved slower and slower until I was standing there staring at the hair dye with complete absorption. Eden is the best little buddy to have shopping because she thinks we should get just about everything. I asked her if I should dye my hair and got exactly the enthusiastic response I desired. I was torn between the "golden light blonde"and the "ash light blonde" I settled on the "warmer shade." If the title had been "peach" I would have chosen the ash but alas they hooked me with "golden." While my hair was processing the doorbell rang. Ah yes, the lady that wanted to buy a rug I had on Craigslist! I invited her in with a flourish and gave her permission to laugh. The rest is history and I've now had maybe 6 or 7 hair dye fiasco's in my life and I still don't learn. Really life is best when I'm completely into my "natural" mode and don't give a fig about hair color or mascara. Every time I veer into the "fakey" mode I invariably forget I have mascara on and wipe it all over my face without knowing or dye my hair peach or purple or worse yet, ask my husband to do it and get a giant bleach spot on top of my head because he didn't shake the bottle. The bad part was Eden's face when I announced that my hair had turned out orange. She looked so stricken and told me it was terrible. Her empathy is really touching. Terrible? I don't know, it distracted me from my husbands woes for awhile and I have a feeling when he see's it tomorrow it will distract him too!
We had to go to Target to exchange a skirt for Eden which would easily have held two of her. On our way there, called the love of my life and he was having a completely rotten day. I did my best to let him know I had his back and got to Target in a rather black mood myself. They refused to exchange the skirt because I've already brought two things back without receipts this year. Lovely. We headed over to get kids toothpaste and milk. I had to walk right past the hair dye. My feet moved slower and slower until I was standing there staring at the hair dye with complete absorption. Eden is the best little buddy to have shopping because she thinks we should get just about everything. I asked her if I should dye my hair and got exactly the enthusiastic response I desired. I was torn between the "golden light blonde"and the "ash light blonde" I settled on the "warmer shade." If the title had been "peach" I would have chosen the ash but alas they hooked me with "golden." While my hair was processing the doorbell rang. Ah yes, the lady that wanted to buy a rug I had on Craigslist! I invited her in with a flourish and gave her permission to laugh. The rest is history and I've now had maybe 6 or 7 hair dye fiasco's in my life and I still don't learn. Really life is best when I'm completely into my "natural" mode and don't give a fig about hair color or mascara. Every time I veer into the "fakey" mode I invariably forget I have mascara on and wipe it all over my face without knowing or dye my hair peach or purple or worse yet, ask my husband to do it and get a giant bleach spot on top of my head because he didn't shake the bottle. The bad part was Eden's face when I announced that my hair had turned out orange. She looked so stricken and told me it was terrible. Her empathy is really touching. Terrible? I don't know, it distracted me from my husbands woes for awhile and I have a feeling when he see's it tomorrow it will distract him too!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
To have a garage sale...
The fateful garage sale finally could be postponed no longer. I woke up at 8:03. That was the first bad sign. I had to have a shower. Second bad sign. I couldn't get the signs to stay in the ground and frankly wasn't very motivated. I'm going to stop counting how many bad signs there were now just because it's a number I don't want to know. At about 9:30 I was still indecisively dragging my one borrowed table around in circles and my lovely husband popped his head out and asked how the garage sale was going. I gave him the honest low down that most of my stuff wasn't priced, I didn't have any change to give people, I didn't have any signs out and I hadn't had a single customer. He just gave me that wry smile that I like to think says "half the reason I love you is because you're such a complete flake." He took over the sign situation and ran to the gas station for change (and some mountain dew "nectar of the gods" as he calls it.) I continued scooting the scanty garage sale items around trying to make it look like I had more stuff.
People started trickling in. The first five people bought nothing. I asked Jody if didn't he have anything in the garage worth selling? He scrounged around and put some "man stuff" out which sold within a half an hour. I finally sold $2 worth of baby clothes. I won't drag out any more play by plays but suffice it to say that I will NEVER try to have a garage sale again. I'm not organized enough, it was the most torturous $50 I have ever EARNED and I sell much more and faster on Craigslist even if I do wind up spending just as much in the process. <--Nasty runon sentence.
After the horrid affair was over I walked around the "garage sale" snapping pictures to post on Craigslist. I have much higher hopes. Jody's only hope is to have his garage returned to him someday. The eternal promise of a garage sale ended with such a pathetic splat and he hasn't said a single condemning word to me. Can you say "SAINT?"
People started trickling in. The first five people bought nothing. I asked Jody if didn't he have anything in the garage worth selling? He scrounged around and put some "man stuff" out which sold within a half an hour. I finally sold $2 worth of baby clothes. I won't drag out any more play by plays but suffice it to say that I will NEVER try to have a garage sale again. I'm not organized enough, it was the most torturous $50 I have ever EARNED and I sell much more and faster on Craigslist even if I do wind up spending just as much in the process. <--Nasty runon sentence.
After the horrid affair was over I walked around the "garage sale" snapping pictures to post on Craigslist. I have much higher hopes. Jody's only hope is to have his garage returned to him someday. The eternal promise of a garage sale ended with such a pathetic splat and he hasn't said a single condemning word to me. Can you say "SAINT?"
Friday, September 21, 2007
Arranged marraige anybody?
Today I had the pleasure of spending an hour with a lovely couple from India. Apparently arranged marriages are still very common over there and they in fact only met one time for ten minutes before they were married. They spent innumerable hours on the phone between India and the United States during their engagement but that was it! I found the whole story fascinating and when the husband helped me out to my car I couldn't help but ask if he had started falling in love before the marriage. He just chuckled and told me that things are very different over there trying to evade me. I poked and prodded a little further until he actually told me he picked her out of six different options. It just blew me away. I think they're just a lovely couple but they should never have told me they are an arranged marriage. I'll have the exciting experience of working with them pretty closely over the next few weeks and I just know I'll be psychoanalyzing them constantly.
The gathering for scones was wonderful, other than that the day was uneventful.
The gathering for scones was wonderful, other than that the day was uneventful.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Today
I thought I'd just relive the day for the sheer torture of myself and hopefully entertainment for you. I got up this morning after a restless night interupted twice by a hungry baby and decided to take a shower. There wasn't any water so that was okay. We have city water, surely it would be back soon. I proceeded to the kitchen and went through the usual charade of asking my adorable blondies what they wanted for breakfast and having them change their minds several times in the course of only a few minutes. After they both had an arrangement of pancakes, cereal, yogurt and blueberries with milk and juice I started my tea. Yes, I trickled the water out of the faucet for at least three minutes, but I DID collect enough for tea. You will soon learn that tea is a fundamental part of life in our house. Without it, there would definitely need to be locks on our knives. Well, the girls decided tea sounded good too. First Kait wanted a cup of my tea which was a quick and easy fix... then Eden decided she'd really like to have Chamomile since it was her favorite. Kaitlyn quickly changed her mind... again and I dumped her tea back into the teapot and made them each a cup of chamomile. I would like to add here, that of all of the breakfast items today, the chamomile tea and the reheated pancakes won.
After breakfast cleanup I was really getting anxious to do school and have it out of the way but my dear little chub monkey Nick wasn't the least bit interested in a nap. Once the word "school" crossed my lips, the girls were all over it like a chicken on a june bug. I thought maybe we could swing it so we did Yoga with Nick in between us. That went well. We matched and paired socks carefully cuffing them with Nick adding a fair amount of drool to the process from his propped position between my legs. Then it was time to paint the salt dough art we created last week. I knew they'd remember it but I was just praying they would forget. Twas not to be. With Nick hanging on my hip I got aprons and newspaper and PAINT out. Paint in my house almost always turns into a free for all. I just can't keep a lid on it. No matter what. I chose four containers of contrasting colors and told them to stick with those and carried Nick off to his room with lead feet. I knew I was making a mistake but I really wanted him to nap. Kait came in to squeeze his cheeks and ask if she could sit in the recliner which I politely refused and sent her packing back to work on her "project." I finally tossed the little fuss monkey into his crib praying he'd just figure it out and go to sleep. I went back in the kitchen and found all of the paint out. Of course. Who could I blame? There were streaks of yellow paint in the red glitter glue bottle and all of the red and white were being mixed together to create pink which is really a much better color anyway. We wrapped up the painting process without much ado. We all worked on our phonics for a few minutes and I admitted defeat and went and scooped up my poor squalling Nickster. I nursed him to sleep and patted his back until he gave up the ghost.
Then the girls made a marathon telephone call to their grandmother to give her directions on how she should manage a birthday party she's throwing for a friend this weekend. I heard alot about how Eden thought Grandma should dress and whether or not there should be a fashion show. I was incredibly heartened to hear it because it's a 50th birthday party for a friend of hers and my little golden girl didn't even ask to be invited or seem to consider it an option. She just wanted to share some tips Grandma might not have thought of. The conversation piddled on endlessly with poor Grandma trying to wind it up at least four times before being coerced into having a conversation with the baby doll Saraphina...(I really don't know how to spell her name, Eden can't spell yet and she named her.) I finally interceeded and told Eden that Grandma probably had other things she was working on and Eden immediately demanded to know if that were true from Grandma.
At 12:45ish our water came back on! Halleluja! I took my shower.
We loaded up after lunch and went to my friend Knelly's house to play. She has three kids the same age as my kids. It's complete pandemonium when we get together but we do it anyway. This time was NO exception. Kait is pretty much potty trained... I took her to the bathroom right away when we arrived and she went. Twenty minutes later, we had a little accident. No problem I had spare clothes. Twenty minutes later we had another little accident. No problem, we cleaned that up and Castle (Knelly's adorable boy) kindly loaned her a pair of shorts that are hysterically a size 3-6 months but just fit a two year old better. LOL! I have no idea how Knelly made this discovery. Meanwhile our four year old princesses marched in and demanded a shovel for a frog hunting project. Knelly delivered them with two wooden spoons which we did not analyze. (Insert red sirens). The four year olds were conspicuously quiet after that but Knelly and I were determined to have girl talk time so we didn't even check on them... A little later, Knelly kindly decided to make some applesauce for the kids. I was standing in the kitchen with her and she pointed out that the girls were on the patio. I looked outside and saw my beautiful blondie in a pink Sleeping Beauty dress with black hands, making handprints on the vinyl tablecloth on the patio. I wanted to crawl under Knelly's dining table but it doesn't have legs yet. She is a bargain hunter like me and found a beautiful table that needed legs and had the legs made. They're being delivered tomorrow but for the moment, you just can't crawl under a table without legs.
We dashed into the back yard and there they were. They had a small hole dug in the flower bed where they had been as they later explained, digging imaginary toads. I asked Eden if it had been her idea. She allowed that yes it had been her idea. Knelly and I looked at each other and felt the hysterical laughter reverberating silently between us. Knelly sternly announced that she and I were going inside to get them some towels to clean up. We went in the kitchen and dissolved into laughter. Not because it was okay but because it was so ridiculous and so totally our fault. I told her that this is just what Eden does and I don't know why and I'm sorry. She told me not to worry, that her daughter is exactly the same and we both have the same struggle. I solemnly marched Eden out while she wept about having to leave her friends house. Of course she didn't weep with regret for her actions. That never happens when Eden makes her messes. Maybe a psychologist will read this someday and tell me why.
We went to Tuesday Morning and bought three dish towels for my kitchen to hang when I'm showing the house. Yes, our house is for sale. Isn't that funny? I'm showing a house, I've been planning a yard sale for three months, I'm homeschooling my children, I have two dogs and my husband is working 70+ hours a week. CRAZY! Which leads me to the final chapter of my day.
We met Jody for a nice uneventful dinner on the patio at Chipotle. Jody told me after my day I should just forget grocery shopping and let him help me tomorrow. Jody headed off to work and I got into the car and on the phone to plan a mini-shower for a friend in the neighborhood. I contacted everyone but one person and most agreed to come tomorrow at 12:30 for a brunch style get together. Scones were requested by the honoree so tomorrow I am suddenly planning to make fratata, scones, fresh fruit and some kind of a drink, find a gift bag and do something special. At that moment I resigned myself and headed towards Walmart.
Yes, Walmart. We arrived at 6:42 and I mentioned to Eden how nice it would be if we could make it through in less than half an hour since I had a list. How funny that seems now. An hour and twenty minutes later, and of course another bathroom trip later we arrived at the car. I think I must have been visibly sagging by then. I loaded the groceries, sat in the drivers seat and nursed Nick. The girls opened the sunroof and offered salutations to every passerby despite all discouragements. Finally, Kait got down and informed me she was the mommy and I needed to get out of the seat so she could drive. Ya know, if she were taller than 34 inches I really would be tempted to let her have a go at being mommy for awhile.
Despite his dry diaper, replete state and Eden making up hysterical songs for him, Nick cried the whole way home, and in the last 5 minutes of the drive Kait joined the chorus because her sandal was crooked. As we turned the corner into the subdivision Eden hollered over the din "Guess what all you crying people? We're almost home!"
After breakfast cleanup I was really getting anxious to do school and have it out of the way but my dear little chub monkey Nick wasn't the least bit interested in a nap. Once the word "school" crossed my lips, the girls were all over it like a chicken on a june bug. I thought maybe we could swing it so we did Yoga with Nick in between us. That went well. We matched and paired socks carefully cuffing them with Nick adding a fair amount of drool to the process from his propped position between my legs. Then it was time to paint the salt dough art we created last week. I knew they'd remember it but I was just praying they would forget. Twas not to be. With Nick hanging on my hip I got aprons and newspaper and PAINT out. Paint in my house almost always turns into a free for all. I just can't keep a lid on it. No matter what. I chose four containers of contrasting colors and told them to stick with those and carried Nick off to his room with lead feet. I knew I was making a mistake but I really wanted him to nap. Kait came in to squeeze his cheeks and ask if she could sit in the recliner which I politely refused and sent her packing back to work on her "project." I finally tossed the little fuss monkey into his crib praying he'd just figure it out and go to sleep. I went back in the kitchen and found all of the paint out. Of course. Who could I blame? There were streaks of yellow paint in the red glitter glue bottle and all of the red and white were being mixed together to create pink which is really a much better color anyway. We wrapped up the painting process without much ado. We all worked on our phonics for a few minutes and I admitted defeat and went and scooped up my poor squalling Nickster. I nursed him to sleep and patted his back until he gave up the ghost.
Then the girls made a marathon telephone call to their grandmother to give her directions on how she should manage a birthday party she's throwing for a friend this weekend. I heard alot about how Eden thought Grandma should dress and whether or not there should be a fashion show. I was incredibly heartened to hear it because it's a 50th birthday party for a friend of hers and my little golden girl didn't even ask to be invited or seem to consider it an option. She just wanted to share some tips Grandma might not have thought of. The conversation piddled on endlessly with poor Grandma trying to wind it up at least four times before being coerced into having a conversation with the baby doll Saraphina...(I really don't know how to spell her name, Eden can't spell yet and she named her.) I finally interceeded and told Eden that Grandma probably had other things she was working on and Eden immediately demanded to know if that were true from Grandma.
At 12:45ish our water came back on! Halleluja! I took my shower.
We loaded up after lunch and went to my friend Knelly's house to play. She has three kids the same age as my kids. It's complete pandemonium when we get together but we do it anyway. This time was NO exception. Kait is pretty much potty trained... I took her to the bathroom right away when we arrived and she went. Twenty minutes later, we had a little accident. No problem I had spare clothes. Twenty minutes later we had another little accident. No problem, we cleaned that up and Castle (Knelly's adorable boy) kindly loaned her a pair of shorts that are hysterically a size 3-6 months but just fit a two year old better. LOL! I have no idea how Knelly made this discovery. Meanwhile our four year old princesses marched in and demanded a shovel for a frog hunting project. Knelly delivered them with two wooden spoons which we did not analyze. (Insert red sirens). The four year olds were conspicuously quiet after that but Knelly and I were determined to have girl talk time so we didn't even check on them... A little later, Knelly kindly decided to make some applesauce for the kids. I was standing in the kitchen with her and she pointed out that the girls were on the patio. I looked outside and saw my beautiful blondie in a pink Sleeping Beauty dress with black hands, making handprints on the vinyl tablecloth on the patio. I wanted to crawl under Knelly's dining table but it doesn't have legs yet. She is a bargain hunter like me and found a beautiful table that needed legs and had the legs made. They're being delivered tomorrow but for the moment, you just can't crawl under a table without legs.
We dashed into the back yard and there they were. They had a small hole dug in the flower bed where they had been as they later explained, digging imaginary toads. I asked Eden if it had been her idea. She allowed that yes it had been her idea. Knelly and I looked at each other and felt the hysterical laughter reverberating silently between us. Knelly sternly announced that she and I were going inside to get them some towels to clean up. We went in the kitchen and dissolved into laughter. Not because it was okay but because it was so ridiculous and so totally our fault. I told her that this is just what Eden does and I don't know why and I'm sorry. She told me not to worry, that her daughter is exactly the same and we both have the same struggle. I solemnly marched Eden out while she wept about having to leave her friends house. Of course she didn't weep with regret for her actions. That never happens when Eden makes her messes. Maybe a psychologist will read this someday and tell me why.
We went to Tuesday Morning and bought three dish towels for my kitchen to hang when I'm showing the house. Yes, our house is for sale. Isn't that funny? I'm showing a house, I've been planning a yard sale for three months, I'm homeschooling my children, I have two dogs and my husband is working 70+ hours a week. CRAZY! Which leads me to the final chapter of my day.
We met Jody for a nice uneventful dinner on the patio at Chipotle. Jody told me after my day I should just forget grocery shopping and let him help me tomorrow. Jody headed off to work and I got into the car and on the phone to plan a mini-shower for a friend in the neighborhood. I contacted everyone but one person and most agreed to come tomorrow at 12:30 for a brunch style get together. Scones were requested by the honoree so tomorrow I am suddenly planning to make fratata, scones, fresh fruit and some kind of a drink, find a gift bag and do something special. At that moment I resigned myself and headed towards Walmart.
Yes, Walmart. We arrived at 6:42 and I mentioned to Eden how nice it would be if we could make it through in less than half an hour since I had a list. How funny that seems now. An hour and twenty minutes later, and of course another bathroom trip later we arrived at the car. I think I must have been visibly sagging by then. I loaded the groceries, sat in the drivers seat and nursed Nick. The girls opened the sunroof and offered salutations to every passerby despite all discouragements. Finally, Kait got down and informed me she was the mommy and I needed to get out of the seat so she could drive. Ya know, if she were taller than 34 inches I really would be tempted to let her have a go at being mommy for awhile.
Despite his dry diaper, replete state and Eden making up hysterical songs for him, Nick cried the whole way home, and in the last 5 minutes of the drive Kait joined the chorus because her sandal was crooked. As we turned the corner into the subdivision Eden hollered over the din "Guess what all you crying people? We're almost home!"
This is just the beginning
I've decided to start a blog. Not because I'm brilliant, have a fascinating life or can impart great wisdom. My reasoning is simple. If I'm writing, I won't be shopping.
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