Life of a kid

It must rock to be a kid! Today I took the girls to a gym class for 3-5 year olds. Then we ate lunch, had a rest, went to ballet class and then to a birthday party!!! At the party they got to play, eat hot dogs, decorate pumpkins and eat cake and ice cream!!!
I on the other hand got up at 4:45 to go to work, chauffered them to the various events, supervised their play and the play of others, dished out food, took photos, did laundry, emptied and refilled dish washer, picked up misplaced stuff and am now blogging! All in all, not a bad day, but when I compare it to theirs, they are clearly the winners!!!

Ahhhh

Today was a breath of fresh air. Actually the entire weekend was! We spent lots of time together. Then today I was able to go shopping for 2 hours BY MYSELF! I got a pair of jeans, a pair of pajama pants and a Christmas gift for the girls. Then I went and got the girls entire Christmas (minus stocking stuffers) taken care of! It was great and amazing! I had so much fun!!!
Tonight I took our youngest out with me for Sam's Club shopping. We picked up some surprise bagels for my hubby as well. Our oldest did not get to go. She has this little demon that POPS out at random moments. Today he came as we were leaving for Sam's, so she stayed home with daddy. It took 30 minutes, but the demon left. The rest of the evening was uneventful and now my husband and I are relaxing over bagels and coffee!!!

New cue for a tummy ache

Tonight was lots of fun! Our small group (14 adults and and 14 kids under 6) had a little Halloween party. We had pumpkin carving, pinata, dinner, and tons of fun! On the way home our three year old said that her tummy was hurting her. Then she said, "so that's why you need to feed it more candy because then it won't hurt anymore". Wow. In all my years of living, I have never once thought of eating candy to make a tummy ache go away. You never know, she could be onto something here.

Simple Pleasures

Tonight was one of those great nights as a family. We loaded the girls up and drove to a flat, grassy area and let them out to play. There was no equipment there so they played in leaves, ran long distances through the grass, gathered acorns for squirrels and chased each other around. It was so fun and cute! It makes me feel so happy that they have such simple pleasures! One of the biggest things I feel though is justified. We only let our girls watch PBS (no commercials) and approved dvds. They have never seen a disney movie and have only watched 2 full length movies. There were many days when they were younger and I so badly wanted to turn on the tv and let them zone out. We have refrained from doing this and instead have girls who usually won't even watch a 30 minute show or video. This is the plus side and the "justification" so to speak. We have girls who know how to play and that don't even need toys to have fun. Many times I have felt either guilty or pressured to let them watch other things, but nights like this one make me want to stick to my guns.

Overheard

A conversation that I heard as we were driving along today. "Sissy, you need to share your purse with me." (4 yr. old replying)-"Mommy, Do I have to?" (Me)-"Yes". "Well, three year old, iffin I share it with you then I would feel sad and I don't want to feel sad." "Well Sissy, I would give it back to you!!!!" "Yes, but while you had it I would feeling sad all the time."
I just thought it was funny.
Also, a sentence I heard from the childcare workers. "We really lucked out because the projectile vomit was so extreme it plastered the walls but not me." I honestly never thought I would hear "projectile" and "lucky" in the same sentence.

magical buttons

I kept thinking yesterday that some really cute memory had slipped through my fingers. Guess what? I actually remembered it today!
Yesterday after we left the pumpkin patch we drove through the McDonalds for a round of Diet Pepsi's. Our four year old asked why the button was pushed down and I said, "So they know it was Diet Pepsi." She asked if she could push a button down and I said sure. She pushes a button and squeals, "HEY! It is STILL Diet Pepsi in here!!!!!" It just reminds me of how much we "assume" kids know and yet how they can believe in things like magical buttons that change diet pepsi to water and water to juice!!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Today was a great day, both in weather and time spent with family!
We met my parents and sister for lunch at a yummy Chinese place. Then we all went to a pumpkin patch (which ironically did not actually sell pumpkins due to the drought). We took a hayride and played around outside. On the hayride the driver stopped and gave everyone stalks of soybeans. Our four year old must have eaten 100 or so of these. She ate them on the hayride, on the way home and as we painted our pumpkin here at the house. It was crazy! I believe we are going to the organic store to get her some of these.
We stopped on the way home to but a pumpkin for them to paint. I will try and post some photos later in the week.
My parents kept the girls for us on Friday night. They took them to a football game. My dad said that he was wrestling with our three year old and he said to her "get off of me you big lug". She obviously found this hysterical and said to him, "Get off of me you big log!"

Sad little girl

I am busy dealing with down side of being busy. My poor husband works full time and is in college four nights a week. Our three year old (who loves men in general, but especially loves her daddy) has been really sad. We left her sister at preschool and she started bawling!! I asked her did she miss sissy? Daddy? "YES! I don't want daddy to be at work or school, I want him to be with me!" It was so sad. Then of course she never would say it to my husband, so I am the one dealing with all this sadness!!! Everywhere we go she says, "Do you think daddy will be here? Does he not need to work today?".
On the other hand, there is our four year old, who tells her little sister that Daddy NEEDS to work to make more money so she can take gymnastic classes!!!! =)
She has been asking to spend her allowance on gymnastics lessons because we told her we cannot afford it. She thinks her $3 a week should cover it.
Kids are so darn cute!!!!!

Keep it

If you are not real familiar with our youngest daughter, then you may not find this real funny. BUT, today after ballet class I was sipping on a diet pepsi and the girls took sip. As her sister climbed over her to her car seat, our three year old put her foot out in hopes of hitting her sister, "accidentally" of course. I told her she needed to apologize and she said, "Mrrry". I told her to open her mouth and tell her. She did and said, "sorry sissy. HEY! I want my diet tepsi back"!!! (Not a misprint, that is how she says it)
I had to laugh. Evidently the reason she mumbled "sorry" was because she was holding the diet pepsi in her mouth and when she apologized out loud she had to swallow it. It was way too cute!
Tomorrow is a big day for our four year old. At preschool, they are having green day. She she is wearing green. Then for her lunch, I made a green scrambled egg burrito, green goldfish crackers and green water. She is so excited! I hope she is able to sleep tonight.

Cat Girl

Today we went to our friends' daughters' birthday party. She was turning 3!!! We went to her mom's house to go ride a horse. It was just tons of fun!! The girls all looked so cute taking turns riding by themselves and then with each other.
The real fun came afterwards when my two girls and my friends' two girls found this little toy mouse. This mouse has little wheels that make it spin around and it makes this taunting/annoying sound of "Nanananananananana weoooooow weeooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww" over and over. Well our little girls ALL proceed to crawl around on the ground chasing this mouse, picking it up with their teeth and meowing joyfully over the capture of the mouse. It was cute and extremely weird!!!

Deception!

Our daughters oldest aunt bought them these Adventure Oddessy cd set of four stories. Our oldest (who is transitioning out of naps, but DOES take a rest each day) has been playing these EVERY day and night. I did not think much of it because I really thought it was background noise and that she wasn't paying attention. I also thought that it was WAY over her head. Obviously I was gravely mistaken. I put her in her room for "rest" yesterday afternoon and she asked to listen to Number 2 of the cds. I thought sure, whatever. So, I put it in and left her alone in there. I come in later to check on her and tell her rest was over and here is our conversation.....
"Mommy, do you know what they did?!?!?!?!"
"Uhhhhh, no"
"They completely deceived their mother and snuck into a scary movie and she did not know and she did not know where they were."
"Wow. They shouldn't have done that should they?"
"No, she had to punish them because she loves them."
"What was their punishment?"
"They were punished."
"Right. But what was their punishment?"
"Their mommy punished them."
"Ok. How?"
"Punishment"
"Four year old, what was their punishment?!?!?!?!"
"Mommy, she put them to bed early."
As my frustration built, I found myself wondering why I cared what their punishment was because I do not even know who "they" are!!!!!!

Memories

My husband suggested that I blog about this, so here goes. Now, about ONE MONTH AGO, my husband took the girls to their soccer game while I had a garage sale. I reminded him to take snacks and drinks because they don't eat lunch before they go. Evidently he took one box of raisins and one bottle of water. I usually take each child a granola bar, a few crackers, grapes and 3 bottles of water EACH! Needless to say, they were horrified when they realized this was all they had to fuel them and they were VERY disappointed in their dad's snack packing skills. Yesterday while our oldest was at preschool, our youngest said, "Do daddies only take one?" I said, "One what?" She said, "One snack. Yesterday when we had soccer daddy only brought one raisin and one water!!!!". I said, "yes, but the next time he packed more." She said, "Only because you helped him. Mommies know how to pack snacks but daddies think we only need one. You better keep helping him huh?" It was so cute! I guess it must have made a HUGE impact on her.

What's in a name?

This blog is a little risque for what I normally write, so be careful!!! We were at the gym yesterday and my three year old excitedly told me she made a new friend! I was so excited and asked what her name was. She blurts VERY loudly, "A**Hole". I said what did you say? She repeated. I said "Four year old what is she saying?". She replies with "Azzzzhullll". I said, "Ashley???" "yes mommy!! A**Hole". So, just a warning if you plan to name a sweet little baby of your own, you may want to poll three year old and see how they pronounce it.

Nothing new

Today was almost as quiet as yesterday. We just enjoyed our time together. We had church, lunch and then my husband studied while I hit the gym and the girls napped. Later we went to Sam's Club. That about sums up our entire day.
I have to blog about the most disturbing sight we witnessed this evening. As we were getting out of our minivan our attention fell onto a family of three (mom, dad and a boy of 5 or 6). The dad hopped out of the car and lit a cigarette. While lighting it he put his CAN OF BEER under the car. He and the mother proceeded to pass the cigarette back and forth while walking the entire 20 ft. to the store. Where they then pass it back and forth VERY rapidly so they would not lose much of their smoke before extinguishing it. It was sick and sad on so many levels. It makes me so much more thankful for how we were raised and for our family and friends.

Quiet Day

It was nice to have a slow, easy day for a change. We all slept in and had a lazy Saturday morning.
My husband had to work, but me and the girls stayed in and cleaned the house. We all ate all three meals as a family!! That was the highlight for me. Tonight we went to get some groceries and that was really it.
The cute part came on the way to the store. Evidently my husband has been holding out on me.... as we pulled out our drive I hear two little voices asking for "windows down with radio blastin' please". Hmmmm. My husband rolls down all the windows and cranked up the radio and we went "cruising" to the grocery store. Evidently this is a common occurrence when I am gone and he takes them out alone. I am sure we made quite the sight driving down the road in our minivan with our Christian music blaring for all to hear.
It was great!

Sunflowers

Old Memory

I remembered something today, that I needed t "blog" down so that I won't forget it. A few weeks ago I was making lunch and the girls were playing that they were lost and I was a stranger. I invited them to stay at my house and eat lunch with me. We all sat down at the table and our oldest said, "Excuse me lady, but we don't even know who you are. I think I will call you Miss Sweet." Meanwhile our youngest pipes in and says, "I'll call you Miss Big Fella..... hey big fella? I gotta hug ya". It was the cutest thing!!
That reminds me of a time we were traveling home from church. Our oldest daughter was quizzing me about heaven, how you get there, where is it etc... I explained that if you accept and love Jesus then you will go heaven when you die. She shines her big blue eyes on me and says, "Mommy, iffn' I die and go to Heaven, I will just look at God and say, 'No thank you, I'll just go back because I will miss my mommy too much and just want to be with her'."
If that doesn't make you melt, you are made of stone.

Pettiness

Today was extremely busy. We were gone from early until 7 at night. Never once coming back to the house at all!! We ended up at my parents for dinner. By the time we left the girls we coming off of sugar highs combined with no naps. They spent 45 minutes arguing as to whether our golden retriever is blue or blondish. Seriously. They even lost their story time and STILL kept on!!!! Petty. Luckily for me, tomorrow is a new day.

Wave Runner

Giving In

Well, today I bit the bullet and joined our local Sam's Club. I had just hated the idea of "paying" for the "privilege" to shop there. Now I am SO excited about the whole thing! For starters, we got a 44# bag of dog food, for what we were paying for a 17# bag. That alone ALMOST paid for the card. Then there was toilet paper, pull ups, contact solution etc... It was great! To top it off, they have this little cafeteria area and the girls asked to eat there. For 8 dollars we got 2 slices of pizza, 1 hot dog, 2 pretzels and 2 drinks. We were actually stuffed!! We could have starred in one of those Taco Bell commercials where they say they got stuffed off of a dollars worth of food. We actually threw stuff away because we were too full. It was super!

At the Beach

Photo Day

Today was a major milestone in the life of our oldest daughter. She had her first ever Picture Day at preschool. To some, this may seem totally insignificant but to me this was MAJOR. In fact (much to the amusement of my mom and husband) I was ready to have a nervous breakdown over this!! Over the weekend (while shopping) one of my goals was to find a beautiful fall sweater for her to wear for Picture Day. Needless to say, I never found "the one". Yesterday I was frantically looking for something to put her in . After demolishing all the hard work I did on their closet and dressers, I finally settled on an outfit that I thought would pass. I must say, she pulled it off with style and the outfit was much more like something SHE would want rather than a Beautiful Fall Sweater. I don't know yet how that pictures turned out, but the substitute told me, "She had a little trouble with smiling". My expectations for a monumentus Picture Day ended with that statement.
I need to write down a cute story about our youngest. She has this absolutely remarkable talent for acquiring neat things for free. People practically throw gifts to her as she walks around. Example: One day at the Farmer's Market, she was carrying her little bank in case she found something she wanted to buy. By golly, if Farmer's didn't keep coming up and PUTTING money into it for her!!! Today this happened again. We went to this little consignment store to see if they had any shoes to fit her rather over sized feet. She was being really good right up until we went to pay. Then she ran over to this sign and with her pudgy little hands wiped off the swirly letters announcing their sale. I apologized and the woman pretended she was upset. My little one looked at her with tears STREAMING down her face and started sobbing. The lady came and hugged her, tickled her and THEN gave her candy!!! I was floored! All I want to know, is why this never happens to me????? =)

Nicholas Sparks

I JUST finished reading a book by Nicholas Sparks called "The Choice". It could possibly be my favorite EVER of his (but maybe I say that every time). Anyways, I cannot say anything about it or it will give secrets away, but it is GREAT!
Today was so pretty and the girls were really good. They even tried beef tonight and they liked it. Normally our eldest is very adverse to new foods, so I hinted that she was eating chicken then we she asked for me said, "Hey, it's beef!".
Ballet was great today. We went shopping at the grocery afterwards and they were the belles of the ball in their cute little outfits.