Instant Message

The kids love to use my computer. So I share it a lot.

There is a special rule, though. You have to let me know if Dad IMs me while you are using the computer. Strider is a teacher, and it's much more feasible for him to send a quick "Hello" when he is thinking about me through an instant message than by picking up the phone and calling.

So princess was on the comp and I came down to check on things. I noticed an IM window open.



Me: Princess, you're supposed to tell me if Dad sends me a message


Princess: Sorry


- I open and read the IM -


Princess: What message was it?


Me: He said "Good morning, gorgeous"


Princess: Oh, just a crazy one then

Phew, that was tough!

I threw together this simple centerpiece before the kids got home yesterday:

Bugs got home and said: "Cool decoration, Mom.  What are those?"

I said "Split peas".

Bugs (dead serious): "Wow, was it hard to split all those"!?

We don't have a cat

We made a THANKFUL tree this year and the family members are all encouraged to add to it as they think of their blessings.

We added a gratitude quote:

"To express gratitude is gracious and honorable;

to enact gratitude is generous and noble;

but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven"

~ President Monson

I love seeing the things the kids have written

This one from Princess is a bit puzzling, though.  Uh, we don't have a cat.

Join our club

Remember making endless clubs and teams and rules as a kid? So do I.


One day I looked out my bedroom window and saw something taped to the playhouse.

Upon closer look, it's the "team rules":

Kids are cool.

And I'm really glad they've decided not to do drugs.

So cultured

Yesterday we were browsing through Home Goods for the first time. I was walking through an intoxicating haze of decor yumminess when Princess brought me out of my trance.

She found the teapots.

Mom!! "Look at all the oatmeal makers!"


We definitely enjoy our "quick oats".

Good things and stuff

That's what he prayed for.

My son asked Heavenly Father to help us do "good things and stuff" this morning. That's not so hard, right? I spend my entire days doing good things and stuff.

Or do I?


I am trying really hard this month to do more "good things and stuff" when it comes to my family. When I make that effort, it's always win-win. Hubby and I are both vowing to lower our voices more, love more, and make memories more often. We are committing to looking for the positive; the silver lining.

To make it more tangible to me I will be listing my gratitudes this month here on my blog. Join me if you wish!

Tell me, Mom

Princess plopped down next to me.

"Mom, what do like most about me"?

Me: "Ummm, just one thing"?!

Princess: "ok, three things"

Me: "Oh good". I proceeded to tell her three specific things I loved.

Me: "What about me"?

Princess: "Well, you make cookies for us. And you were really cute when you were a baby. And Dad was really cute when he was a baby".

Thanks, babe.

Kid logic

As long I'm not the person who eats the very last one, maybe mom won't say anything!

I guess I have some teaching to do

Princess: Mom, you know we don't have a garden in the back.

Me: Oh yeah?

Princess: It's just soil and dirt.

Me: We are planting tomatoes this weekend.

Princess: Oh. Can we plant pickle seeds?

WHY????

Why can't my house stay clean for two seconds?

Why can't two areas of the house simultaneously be clean for any length of time?

Why do groceries have to cost so much?

Why do I have to feed all these people again? Didn't I just feed them yesterday?

Why does the laundry hamper get fuller and fuller, whether I do three loads a day or not?

Why does no child, at any time, ever put away his/her clothing without being asked?

Why does Halloween turn into a battle of "but MOM I want to be THIS" every year?

I am thinking of going on strike.

No privates, Mom

Tomorrow afternoon I have a 20 week ultrasound and we are going to try to find out the baby's gender. Fifth time's the charm? We have always opted for the suprise factor before. But what the heck; we want to know now.

On the way home tonight my boys were talking about the ultrasound and what they "look for" when determining the sex.

So Bugs, the 8yo, says "Mom, that's why I don't want to be a doctor. I want to be a fireman or an astronaut so I don't have to deal with private parts and stuff like that". LOL!

Sing, sing a song

Princess has gotten pretty amusing lately. Her new favorite thing to do is thumb through the Children's Songbook our church uses and make up songs based on the pictures she sees.

Today the songs have been:

"Whenever I get a blessing,..."

"If Jesus doesn't come, he will die"

"Jedi will get baptized when he gets older"

And my favorite(to the tune of Momma's gonna buy you a mockingbird) "If that flower pot won't grow"

You can listen (via cell phone, it's quiet so turn up the speakers)

Here is the translation:

Flower pot doesn't grow
If that flower pot don't grow away
The flower pot will go outside - in the winter
We'll be fun at the flower pot
If that flower pot then bees won't come
If that flower pot won't turn the bees

Quote of the day

We were talking about Charlotte's Web.

Princess: "Mom!! B-Y-U spells PIG"!

They are sabotaging me

So for family night on Monday we did a little cleaning. And organizing. And I made my kids help so they could earn their "treat". I know, I'm mean.

We took care of some boxes just sitting around in the basement and cleaned up the food storage area that had been out of control for a while. I shop, send the boys down with the grocery bags to storage, but then I forget to go organize it.

Anyway, it also needed done because we had been noticing occasional ant visitors over the last couple weeks.

During the cleaning session Strider noticed an opened package of something, probably inviting the ants. We got it cleaned up and all was good.

This morning I was helping the kids with the family room and we started to vacuum. Jedi asked if he could also vacuum the "crackers in storage". Knowing that hubby just did that, I asked him "WHAT crackers in storage"? I looked into the shelving area and saw a two foot long trail of Cheez-its.

"Mom, I was making a trap for the ants".

It worked. We had lots of visitors.

The kids are sabotaging me.

7 Things that would tip me off to a problem around here

1. Two rooms clean...simultaneously

2. A pause in the constant summer bickering

3. Every dish clean...at the same time

4. No child in my bed at any time during the day

5. Weed-free flower beds

6. More clothes in drawers than in hampers

7. "MOM!! What other chores can I do to help?!?!?

Young Webster

Balection.

buh/LECK/shun

No, I don't know what it means. My three year old apparently does, however. She uses her new found word all the time. And I keep thinking I'll figure out its meaning by the context of how it is used. But I can't.

She says her brother has it. She interjects it into stories she "reads" to us. And on and on.

Who knows what it is. Right now we just laugh when we hear it. Maybe in 20 years she'll have a job with Webster.

Mom! I can spell

The Princess has been listening to her Kindergartener brother spell things all over the house.

She thought she would try.

Two minutes ago she hopped up here on the computer desk and looked at the mouse.

"D...E...L...L.....spells Computer"!!

What a kid

My little Jedi.

He spends all day on his projects. He builds, and builds, and builds. And changes things, and builds more.

After completing this pirate ship I knew we had to get a picture. It was so cool to see his face when I said it was worthy of one.

And when he got home today? This is what came out of his backpack:



I ♥ U mom Vere (very) Mut (much).

From a kindergartener? Priceless.

No, it's not a mole

Hard to see, and even harder to photograph. With the last tortilla he ate, Potter informed me that he found a heart on it.


I looked. It clearly was a heart spot.



So, happy Valentine's day, everyone. Especially to my sweet Strider, the love of my life. And to my kids, who have opened up my heart wider than I could have ever imagined.

Princess-isms

The last two days of communication with the 2 yr old


To me, asking for a snack, (I think): "I want groceries"


To the computer mouse while trying to do a Nick Jr game: "Pay Attention!"


To her big brother home for five minutes after school: "You're frustrating me!"


To me while I was exercising using cans for hand weights: "Wait! I need corn to dance, too!"