Sounds of the Season

Top Ten Christmas Songs That Make Me Wish I Didn't Have Ears.

10. My Grown Up Christmas List, as performed by Kelly Clarkson. Or Mariah Carey. Or anyone else who thinks they need to hit 3 different octaves in one song.
9. The Christmas Song as sung by Luther Vandross. He tries WAY too hard. And it's really annoying.
8.The First Noel. Sung by almost anyone. The word "looked" should not have four syllables.
7. Merry Christmas Darling by the Carpenters. Nothing against the Carpenters. I have a fondness for them, thanks to my childhood. BUT the line "Logs on the fire fill me with desire" makes me snicker every time I hear it. And "Christmas-ing" isn't a word. Sorry.
6. Little Saint Nick by the Beach Boys. Another song that induces snickers, especially the repeated lyric of "Christmas comes this time each year". Hmm, nothing like stating the obvious!
5. Happy Christmas, War Is Over sung by Celine Dion (I LOVE the John Lennon version of this song, but hearing Celine do it makes me want to run away screaming)
4. Anything by Aaron Neville. Or Celine Dion. Or Amy Grant.
3. The Christmas Shoes. Seriously makes me nauseous.
2. Jingle Bells by Barbra Streisand. Torture. Pure and simple torture. I wish the one horse open sleigh would just run me over. That would be less painful than listening to this song.
1. Feliz Navidad, sung by Celine Dion. This needs no explanation.

Top Ten Holiday Songs That Actually Make Me Feel Festive!
10. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (James Taylor's version is my favorite) Even though this song almost always makes me cry, I still love it.
9. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town by Frank Sinatra & Cyndi Lauper. My two favorite singers from two different eras together, singing a cheesy warning to kids to behave--what's not to love?
8. I'll Be Home for Christmas. I love most versions of this, but my current favorite is by Michael Buble.
7. The Christmas Song by Nat King Cole. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without it!
6. White Christmas by Bing Crosby. Another classic!
5. The Grinch song from the original cartoon. (You can't beat lyrics like "You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile")
4. Ave Maria, especially the versions by Harry Conick Jr. and Josh Groban.
3. Happy XMas (War Is Over) by John Lennon
2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen as performed by Barenaked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan
1. Oh Holy Night. An oldie but a goodie. I especially love Tracy Chapman's version.

And now for the final category--songs I should hate, but don't. The songs that really are quite awful, but I find myself turning up the volume on anyway.
6. Last Christmas by Wham. The cheesiest of the cheesy. But I still love it.
5. Christmas Don't Be Late by Alvin and the Chipmunks. In all other circumstances, the chipmunks drive me insane. I spent the summer lying to the boys, telling them that my MP3 player's batteries were dead, just to not have to listen to any more chipmunk songs. But I can't help but sing along in a horribly squeeky voice to the line about the hula hoop. There. I've admitted it.
4. Little Drummer Boy by Bing Crosby and David Bowie. So odd it's almost creepy. But I still like it.
3. Do They Know It's Christmastime by Band-Aid. Of course there's no snow in Africa this Christmas. But I love my 80s cheesiness!
2. Jingle Bells by the Barenaked Ladies. Starts out quiet and soft and pretty, then breaks into chaos. Including the classic "batman smells" lyrics. I guess I know now where my boys get their music taste from! (although I couldn't dislike anything by the Barenaked Ladies anyway)
1. Funky Christmas by the New Kids On The Block. Seriously awful. But it always transports me back to 7th grade and makes me laugh. We tried to make up a cheerleading dance routine to this song. Talk about awful!

The unexpected questions!

As a parent, I've come to expect questions. Sometimes ones that are hard to answer, sometimes even ones I don't know the answer to and have to look up (thank god for whoever invented google, I would spend most afternoons in a library without it, looking through the card catalogue for books on every topic under the sun!!) But sometimes they (especially Sam) throw one at me that totally catches me off guard. And there were two of them the other day!!

The first one:
If you were a conjoined twin, and your heads were attached to each other's, and your brains were attached, that would mean that you feel things at the same time, right? Because your brain is what really feels what your nerves are doing. So if someone kissed a person who shared a brain, would the other twin feel it too? And would they fall in love too?

The second one:
What if reincarnation is real, then can you come back as a germ?


I need a nap after trying to answer some of these!!!

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet, Give Me Something Good To Eat!

We had a Pokemon Halloween this year, due to the boys' most recent obsession. They chose their characters before I had a chance to do any research and discover that it's all but impossible to buy costumes for these characters. So I thought, how hard can it be? Well, it was hard. There was much grumbling at my sewing machine. But they came out cute in the end.

Here's my little Pikachu

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Sam by himself in his costume, but here's one with him and Paul.


The whole pokemon family (Ash, Lucario, May, and Pikachu)

And here are the boys out trick or treating with Mok and Pa (old man and scooby)
And last, but not least, here's Ash and Pikachu in their standard pose!

When you go to vote, would you, could you on a boat?

As I was getting the kids ready to go to our polling place this morning, Sam asked where we needed to go to vote. I explained to him that there's a church across the street from his school that is the place that our neighborhood goes to vote. The boys both asked a few questions, and then figured out which place I was talking about.

On the way there, Paul suddenly said "There's no water."
I said "Where? What do you mean?"
He said "There's no water at that place we're voting."
I said "Well, they probably have a water fountain inside if you get thirsty."
He said, "NO! I mean for the BOAT!"
I said "Oh, honey, we're going to vote, not go on a boat."
He said "I know, but we're going to vote on a boat!"
So I had to explain to him that while boat and vote do rhyme, you don't actually get to go on a boat to vote. A little disappointing, because that would've been fun.

Voting went amazingly well, though, considering we had to wait in line for an hour and there were no boats. Thank goodness for portable video games!

After telling this story to a friend later, she sent me this little voting story a la Dr. Seuss:
Would you vote for John McCain?
I would not, could not, in the rain.
Not on a boat nor on a train
I would not like him here or there
I do not like him anywhere
I will not vote for that old man
I do not like him Sam I am!

Layers

Sometimes the kids have such a "brilliant" idea that you can't even come up with an answer when they explain it to you. You stand there with a blank look on your face or else you have to walk away (so you can crack up laughing without making them feel bad) This morning was one of those times.

I asked Sam to get dressed. He said "Okay, that's easy!"
He stood up and pulled off his pajamas. Ta-da!! There were clothes underneath.

Then he said "Want to see something cool? I had this idea last night!"
He lifted his shirt up. There was another pair of pajamas underneath the shirt.
He said "I decided that I'd put my pajamas on over clothes for the next day, so then I wouldn't have to get dressed in the morning, I could just take my pajamas off. Then I decided I'd put those clothes on over pajamas, so that way I don't have to put pajamas on tonight either, I can just take the clothes off!"

Um, yes. Brilliant. Sort of.

At least I don't have to worry about him getting cold at night and needing extra blankets!

A Little Confusion

Clark and Paul had a conversation yesterday about cupcakes. Paul was commenting on how yummy the cupcakes are that I've made. Clark said that he's lucky, because some mommies don't bake cupcakes.
Paul's response was, "I know! And some people don't even have kids! Like Mok & Pa!"
Clark said "Um, Mok and Pa have two kids."
Paul: "Really, who?"
Clark: "Mellie and Mommy."
Paul: "WHAT???"

So yes, apparently it's somehow slipped past our four year old that his grandparents are, in fact, my parents.

But there are other things that he's learned that surprise me at times. Tonight we were driving home from Sam's swimming lesson, and Sam pointed out the window. He said "Look, Paul! A big flock of birds!!" Paul said to him "Sam, those are geese. And they're in a big flock because they're migrating. Didn't they teach you that in school yet?"

A Geography Lesson From Sam

On the way to the gym this morning, both boys were playing with Pokemon action figures in the car. There was music on, and the pokemon characters were dancing. Sam started telling Paul where he thought all the pokemon characters were from. He said that Snorlax was from China, and that Lucario was from Greece. Then he said "Galade is from New York."

Paul asked "I think Infernape is from Disneyworld!" Sam said "No, Paul. Pokemon can't be from Disneyworld. I think Infernape must be from Detroit." Then Sam made Infernape dance to the music, and announced "This is how they dance in Detroit. Their heads spin around, and they wiggle their tails."

Good to know, Sam. Good to know.

Question of the day

"Did Daddy used to be a bank robber?"

"Um, no, Paul. I'm pretty sure Daddy was never a bank robber."

"How do you know?"

Sweetie Pie

Well, I was having a not-so-fun evening yesterday, because today I get to have a colonoscopy. So last night I was doing the prep. Clark took care of the boys, explaining to them that Mommy didn't feel very good, and needed to be left alone. I gave them a hug and kiss goodnight, but otherwise didn't see them the whole evening.

Until Sam came out of his room about 20 minutes after bedtime. Said he had a present for me. He brought me a piece of paper that had "best mommy ever award" written on it, and a picture of me standing on a platform with a medal around my neck. (can you tell he enjoyed the olympics?) I told him he was so sweet, and gave him a big hug and thanked him.

About 2 hours later I went upstairs to go to bed. Sitting on my pillow was another piece of paper, which said "To: Mommy From: Sam" on it. And sitting next to this paper was a circle of paper, about 4 inches in diameter, colored entirely yellow. With a big #1 written on it. And a string taped to it. Yes, he actually made me a gold medal.

So while it hadn't exactly been a fun evening, I went to bed with a big smile on my face.

AWESOME!!!!!!!

A few nights ago, Sam had earned enough stickers on his sticker chart for his first official "big guy night out". We'd told him that when he filled up the chart, one of us would take him out somewhere fun at bedtime, while the other one of us would stay home and put Paul to bed. Well, Sunday night was the night. I gave him the choice between going to see a movie (either the new Star Wars one or the Fly Me to the Moon 3D) or going to play lasertag. He'd never done lasertag before, and thought that sounded like a great idea.

We got there, and walked in. While I payed at the counter, he bounced. He was so excited that he just jumped up and down. We had to wait about 10 minutes for our game to start, so I told him it would probably be a good idea to use the bathroom before it was time to play. He opened the bathroom door and yelled "AWESOME!" on the top of his lungs. The bathroom was dark, lit only by a black light, with neon graffiti all over the walls, which of course were painted black. Sam came out a few minutes later and told me all about how the toilet paper glowed. I think it was worth the $7 admission just for the exciting bathroom.

Then we started the game. Sam was by far the littlest kid there--there were 3 boys who were probably 12-14 or so, and 4 girls who were probably in their late teens. Sam and I had a blast. We were on different teams, so he had a lot of fun sneaking up on me to tag me. At the end they printed out scorecards. Sam was in last place, by far, but he'd shot me more times than I'd shot him, so that was a very successful evening in his eyes. The first words out of his mouth as we drove away were "Can we do that again sometime soon? It was AWESOME!"

The beautiful sound of summer

The boys were getting ready for bed tonight when Sam suddenly said "Mommy, what is that sound? I hear music!"

I realized what it was--an ice cream truck! On our street! So I told Sam, and he went running to the door to look. Sure enough, it'd just passed our house. I told Sam "Don't worry, we'll catch it!" The only problem? Paul was naked. So I sent him running into the house for pants, while Sam and I chased down the truck. Luckily we didn't have to go far--it stopped 3 houses down from ours for some more kids who were outside. I looked back, and still didn't see Paul, so I handed Sam a $5 bill and went running back to find Paul. He came out, wearing inside out and backward pajama pants, but at least wasn't naked anymore, so off we went to the ice cream truck.

They both got Spongebob Squarepants popsicles, which cost $2.50 each. A little pricier than the 25 cent popsicles of my childhood, but I think it was just about the best $5 I've ever spent. They did a happy dance while eating them. Paul only made it through about half of his, but it was definitely the highlight of his day. And watching them dance and giggle while eating a popsicle was definitely the highlight of mine.

Conversations with a 4 year old

I was talking on the phone to a friend yesterday afternoon. She'd just returned home, after spending several days in Milwaukee, visiting family.

I asked her "How was Milwaukee?"
Paul interrupted and said "Who is Meeyaukee?"
I told him "Milwaukee is a place, not a person."
He said "oh. Okay."
Then a minute later he interrupted again.
"Can we go to Meeyaukee now?"
I said "no, not right now."
"Why not?"
"Because it's far away, and we don't have any reason why we need to go there."
"But it sounds like a fun place!"
"Um, maybe sometime we'll go to Milwaukee."
"Can we go tomorrow?"
"Maybe."
"Oh. Okay."

This is why I don't talk on the phone often. I rarely get to actually talk to the person who is on the other end of the phone line!!!

Busy busy busy!!!!

Well, this summer is flying by! I can't believe it's August already!! One thing I've learned this summer is that if we aren't at home, everyone is happy. If we are at home, the kids fight. Nonstop. So we're rarely home.

Now I'm going to try to catch up a bit on what we've been up to. June started out with some gardening. Clark and Paul planted some tomato plants, some pepper plants, and some various herbs (basil, thyme, chives) Paul especially enjoyed the "dig in the dirt and find worms" part. Eew.








Then we went on a trip to the U.P. to visit my grandparents. They have a condo right on the water, so the boys got to go fishing for the first time. And we got to go for a boat ride. And Great Grandpa let the boys have a turn driving the boat, which they thought was the coolest thing ever. Sam had fun driving us around. Paul had fun turning the steering wheel back and forth as fast as he could, so that everyone on the boat got splashed.

Fun Fishing

Our Safe Driver

The Wild Driver (we're lucky he's got another 12 years before he gets his license)

Luck

If some people looked back on the week we've had, they may think "Wow, what bad luck!"

I've suddenly realized that being a parent is slowly turning me into an optimist. I've never been one of those "glass half-full" type people. I've always been more of a "This glass is half empty, and look, there's a crack in it too!" sort of people. But I've realized that when I look back on this week, I feel like we've had really good luck. The things that have gone wrong are so minor compared to what they could be. So I guess I'm slowly turning into an optimist. Or at least a "look at the bright side" kinda person.

Saturday night we spent hours in the e.r. with Sam. He suddenly started having excruciating stomach and chest pains during dinner, so I took him to urgent care. The doctor in urgent care heard "a strange noise" in Sam's abdomen, and sent us to the e.r. After a bunch of tests, and i.v. fluids, we were sent home with a clean bill of health. And I just kept thinking about how lucky I was to have a healthy kid. The whole time we were there I was panicking inside about all the things that could be wrong. But there wasn't anything. Other than a boring old case of gastroenteritis (aka fancy big word for "upset tummy") Whew.

Then on Wednesday, I was at a local park with Paul. Enjoying a sunny day, visiting with some friends. Paul and the other 3 little boys were all getting along amazingly well. They were taking turns on the slide, sharing snacks with each other, and just having a lot of fun. Until Paul started screaming and running toward me. I ran over to him, and he had his hand over his eye and cheek, and there was blood. A lot of blood. A man on a big industrial size lawn mower had gone by on a hill nearby, and the lawnmower had shot something (a rock? a stick? we never did find out exactly what) out of the back. It hit Paul in the face, about an inch below his right eye, and ricocheted off and scraped the bridge of his nose. But it missed his eye. After the initial panic and dealing with a hysterical, bleeding child, that was all that I could think about. It missed his eye. We were so lucky.

And the parks department people were very apologetic, and really handled the situation well. They called the local EMS, who came out right away (with a little more "help" than we needed--an ambulance, another EMS van, and two police cars!) and checked him over. The paramedics cleaned up the cuts, and offered us a ride in the ambulance to the e.r. for stitches. I turned down the ride (because we'd have no way to get home if we left our car at the park!) and said I'd be fine to get him to the doctor now that he'd calmed down and the bleeding had slowed down. They did give us a ride in the ambulance across the park and over to our car in the parking lot. Paul thought this was pretty cool, and enjoyed telling all of his friends at preschool about how he got to ride in a "real ambulance!!"

He was a really tough little guy, and didn't even cry when the doctor did the sutures. He had three stitches, and just sat there on the exam table with his eyes closed, talking to Clark and I (who were doing our best to keep him distracted) about who his favorite Pokemon characters are. He flinched a little when the needle was going in, but never complained.

Here's Paul, shortly after getting the stitches.

O Canada!

I was awoken on Wednesday at around 5:00 by Paul. (yes, he slept in that late!!) He came into my room and asked "Mommy, do we really have to go to the movies in Canada today?" I sat up in bed and said "HUH?"

He said "I had a dream just now that we had to go to the movies. And the movies were in Canada."

I reassured him that no, we didn't have to go to the movies. Or Canada.

But it made me realize that this was the first time he'd ever mentioned the actual name of a place (other than "Mok & Pa's house" or "the golfing place". I wonder if they're teaching geography in preschool.

It was also the first time that he'd ever mentioned a dream. And it left me wondering what "Canada" was like in his dream to have him so freaked out!!!!

Stranger Danger

Well, it looks like maybe I should have a little talk with Paul.

We were playing at a park yesterday, and a little girl and her dad were the only other people there. The kids were both riding swings while we pushed. The dad and I made a little small talk, and Paul started talking. He told them our address. Just out of the blue. The dad laughed and said "so what time's dinner?" jokingly. Paul said "Mommy, what are we having for dinner tonight? Do you think they like pizza? We could have pizza when they come over!"

Now I don't want my kids to be at the point where they run away screaming if another parent at the park says hi to them, but I'm thinking that inviting people over for dinner within the first two minutes of knowing them, is maybe a bit too friendly!

More Nerds Adventures

This morning, about halfway through breakfast, Paul announced to me "I've got a Nerd in my nose."

"A Nerd? How did it get there?"

"I don't know!"

Hmm. So I tried having him blow his nose. I tried tweezers. No luck. (Of course it didn't help that he kept digging around up there with his finger, pushing it deeper.) As I was standing there trying to figure out what to try next, he sneezed. Voila! A nerd went bouncing across the floor.

We had a little talk about NEVER putting ANYTHING up our noses.

It's gonna be a fun day.

Planting the seeds

Paul and I were walking along yesterday. He was eating one of those halloween-sized mini boxes of nerds candy. He was eating them one at a time, savoring them. Every minute or two, he'd stop, bend down and then stand up again. After he'd done this 5 or 6 times, and I couldn't figure out what he was doing, I asked him. "Why do you keep stopping? What are you doing?"

His answer? "Planting these Nerd seeds, Mommy! So they can grow Nerd trees here, of course."

Of course. Silly me for not figuring that out in the first place!

Fix the TV!

Paul had an appointment on Tuesday to get some dental work done. We'd gone in last month for the usual 6 month cleaning and checkup, and the dentist found a bunch of cavities. She said a very aggressive bacteria was taking over his mouth. Not what we were expecting to hear! So we had to go to the hospital, have him put under anesthesia, and get the work done.

He went in just fine, didn't even cry when they wheeled him away from us (he thought it was very cool to ride on a rolling bed). They did the work and things went fine. Then the fun started. He had a really hard time coming out of the anesthesia, and was just flailing around screaming and crying. For about a half an hour. When we finally got him woken up and calmed down, they took him upstairs to his hospital room. When we got up there, we turned on the tv. Luckily Dora was on. I snuggled with him on the hospital bed, and we watched Dora save the mermaids. About 15 minutes into the show, Paul suddenly said "Daddy, can you fix the tv?"

Clark looked at it and said "what's wrong with it?" I expected Paul to be complaining about the sound, since it comes out of the remote instead of out of the actual tv, which wasn't something he was used to. Nope.

He said "See! Look at the tv! There's TWO Doras and TWO Boots the monkeys, and TWO Swipers! Can you fix it?" Clark and I exchanged a glance, and I said "Paul, that will probably fix all by itself in just a little while." Luckily it did.

Cooking with the kiddos!

The kids have loved helping me bake since, well, they were too little to do anything other than sit in a bouncy seat and wave a spoon around.

Lately they've gotten involved in more ambitious projects, like pasta making with Daddy.







We also made some really colorful cookies, using a kit made by crayola. They didn't taste great (although the kids liked them) but it was really fun dough to work with. Sam made a Spectrobe, and a bunny rabbit with his name on it. Paul made, um, something colorful. And working together we made the whole solar system (complete with pluto, because we just can't bear to leave it out) out of cookies.

Spectrobe (komapod to be exact)


Bunny

Paul's creation

We also did a "easter bunny cottage" gingerbread house. Paul was very excited to get to use a piping bag for the frosting, just like Mommy does.

Who Needs Sleep?

"Who needs sleep?
Well, you're never gonna get it
Who needs sleep?
Tell me, what's that for?
Who needs sleep?
Be happy with what you get,
there's a guy that's been awake since the second world war!"
-From Barenaked Ladies song "Who Needs Sleep"

Paul is apparently the kind of kid who just plain doesn't need sleep. At least not a "normal" amount. According to the "experts", 3 year olds should get a total of 11-14 hours of sleep a night. Paul has decided that this isn't for him. Why waste all that time sleeping? You could be doing much more fun things during that time, like fighting with your brother or making messes! Paul was in the habit of waking up between 4 and 5 am for a few weeks, except on the days he was up during the night from 1-3 or 4. Then he would "sleep in" until 5:30 or 6.

But when he does sleep, he's adorable. And sometimes quite funny. He likes to "read" in bed for a few minutes before he falls asleep, so we leave the light in his room on when we tuck him in, and turn it off a few minutes later when he's asleep. We've found a number of funny things when we go in to shut off the light.

There was this night, where he apparently fell asleep halfway into bed.

Or this night, where he was sleeping with his finger up his nose:


Or the night when he decided to sleep "upside down" in his bed, and apparently discovered that the bed rails at the top of the bed are actually useful:
And my personal favorite, the night we walked in and discovered him sound asleep wearing not one, but two pairs of sunglasses!

It's not easy being 7

Well, I feel bad. The poor kiddo's had a rough week! On his birthday he had to sit at the doctor's office for an hour and a half while Paul had a check up (doctor was running late). The next day was his check up, and he had to get a shot.

On Friday he had a dentist appointment for a root canal. Friday afternoon I got a call from the school to pick him up early because he was sick with diarrhea. Saturday was supposed to be his big birthday party at a bowling alley with his friends, and a bunch of family. We ended up having to cancel it because he had a fever. Then he threw up. We still had family over for pizza and cake and presents, but the poor guy had no energy and spent most of his party sitting around looking like a zombie! Sunday he was still sick, too sick to go swimming in the hotel pool, which he'd been really excited about.

And today (Monday) he still wasn't feeling well, so I took him to the doctor. Turns out he's got strep. And scarlet fever. So he got a shot of penicillin (after much drama). What a week! I hope the rest of the year is much easier for him!!!!

Age 7, by the numbers!

Sam had his official 7 year old checkup yesterday afternoon, and here are his stats.

He's 49 inches tall, which puts him in the 70th percentile for height.
(yes, he is only 13 inches shorter than me now, which is starting to have me scared!)
He weighs 47 lb, which puts him in the 45th percent for weight.

He also had to have a shot, and handled it very well. He politely asked the nurse to "not put it in too deep" and also asked if he could hold onto his pokemon toys to help it not be so scary. It was quite shocking! No tears about it until the actual shot, and then just a few moments of "ouch" tears. He's a big boy, all right!!!

Lucky #7

Happy birthday to Sam! It's hard to believe it's been 7 years since this day:


But here we are!

First Grade Isn't What It Used To Be!

The farther we get into the school year, the more amazed I am by the things that first graders are learning now. When I was in first grade, it was generally expected that you know the alphabet, and most of first grade was spent teaching kids to read. Those of us who were already reading were few and far between, and just read along with the other kids in the beginning reader books.

Now kids are expected to be reading well by the end of kindergarten, and in first grade they have weekly spelling tests! Some of the words that have been on Sam's spelling tests in the past few weeks are:
cheetah
mystery
fantasy
chalkboard
and beanstalk.

And math! When I was in first grade, we were counting. And learning to count by 2s and 5s and 10s. And learning the difference between a penny, a nickel, a dime and a quarter. And how to tell time. By the end of the year, we were doing some addition and subtraction, in the 2+3=5 or 6-3=3 sort of way.

Sam came home from school today with a math test that had 157+225=382. And 268+79=347.
Yikes. And they're doing multiplication and division--third and fourth grade work back in the OLDEN days when I was in school (as the kids would say)

Anyway, I now think that I don't want to go on the "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" show, because if they're doing this in first grade, what are they doing in fifth grade? Calculus? Molecular biology?

I know I'm probably not smarter than a fifth grader. I'm just hoping to still be smarter than a first grader by the end of the school year!!

Things you'd never imagined yourself hearing....

Paul: "Moooooooooommmmmmmmmmy!!!!!!!!!!"
Me: "what?"
Paul: "Come here, you've gotta see this!"
Me: "okay."

I walked into the bathroom (with a sense of dread).

Paul: "Look! I made one big poop and one little poop!"
Me: "Um, good for you!"
Paul: "And I named the little one Cutie!"
Me: "oh dear."

Adventure!!!!!!!

Back in the days before kids, if I thought about having an adventure, it would've likely been something like skydiving. Or a big road trip. Not so much anymore.

Friday night I went on an adventure. I took 3 kids to IHOP for dinner. By myself. I know, 3 kids? Where'd the extra one come from? And why the heck would you go to IHOP? Well, I've been making the mistake of letting the kids watch Spongebob episodes on Nickelodeon, which has commercials. Lots of commercials. Most of them either for some sort of plastic junk, some sort of breakfast cereal, or IHOP. Right now IHOP has the "Horton Hears a Who" special menu. And the kids REALLY needed to go to IHOP! (their words, not mine.) On Monday, the kids asked if we could go there for dinner. This was in the middle of eating dinner, so I said absolutely not! And then they asked "can we go tomorrow?" I said "hmm, probably not." And so on. Until I finally decided that I'd take them on Friday night. Clark was going to be at a friends' house after work, so I'd be on my own with the boys. Perfect night to have pancakes for dinner. So, promises were made, and the kids started counting down the days (and minutes) until IHOP night.

Friday morning, a friend calls, saying that she has a client in labor, and nobody to watch her one year old. Could I please please watch him? I said, sure no problem! Then remembered IHOP night. I decided, what the heck, what's one more kid? Besides, IHOP is right by this little guy's house, so I could just drop him off at home after dinner. So I spent a good 45 minutes trying to wrestle 3 carseats into the back of a Civic, and off we all went.

At IHOP, the kids decided they definitely wanted to order off of the Horton menu, (except for the 1 year old who kept pointing to the menu and saying "kickin!" "kickin!" so I ordered him chicken strips)

Sam got the "JoJo's breakfast" which came complete with green eggs and ham (he ordered his eggs "without the green" though) and who-cakes.

Paul got the big order of who-cakes. Who-cakes are pancakes of varying sizes, stacked to look similar to a tiered wedding cake. With bright pink and blue syrup drizzled over the top. And colorful sprinkles. And a lollypop sticking out of the middle. Basically a giant plate of sugar.

And I decided, what the heck, and joined in the spirit of the night and had the mayor's breakfast.

Of course, Sam ate all of my ham, and the 1 year old ate most of my pancakes, so I was left with eggs and spinach. But it was worth it. The kids had fun.

It went amazingly well, the kids were fairly well behaved, and everyone had a good time. I may be brave enough to have more "adventures" although next time I want a bigger car!

Everything Old Is New Again.....

Sam went to a birthday party last weekend for one of his classmates. The party was at a bowling alley, and the kids all had a wild crazy great time. At the end of the party, the kids all got to sign a bowling pin for the birthday boy to bring home. Sam wrote on it "SAM BFF" As we got outside, Sam said "I bet you don't know what BFF means, Mommy!" I said, "believe it or not, I do!" Which brought back memories of passing notes in class in elementary school. Anyway, I'm happy that my kid has a best friend, and I thought it was awfully cute to see him write BFF and think that he was the first kid to think of it!!!

Free To A Good Home:

One Adorable 3 Year Old.

Very polite.

Loves to play and talk loudly, especially between the hours of 1 and 5 AM.

Yet Another Reason I Want To Move To Canada....

http://www.tsn.ca/oln/feature.asp?fid=10845

Ed. On TV. Flying a plane. Need I say more?

*This post is mainly meant for Liz and Sandy, who will get the reason why this would be such a big deal!

Happy New Year!

We spent New Year's Eve celebrating with sparkling grape juice (alcoholic for us big people, and non-alcoholic for the little ones--who didn't drink it anyway because they hate anything with bubbles in it!) and chocolate fondue. Yum! We dipped pound cake, marshmallows, graham crackers (and made some little mini smores), strawberries, bananas, and um, spoons. (this was at the end when the kids were done--I couldn't let perfectly good gooey chocolate go to waste! We tried out a new recipe which was decadent and delicious. And totally not healthy. Although Sam decided the strawberries were better without the chocolate, and ate about half of the plate by himself!

Here's our new favorite fondue recipe:

Chocolate Fondue

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 (14 ounce) can EAGLE BRAND® Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. In heavy saucepan, over medium heat, melt chocolate chips and butter with EAGLE BRAND® and water. Cook and stir constantly until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add vanilla.
2. Serve warm as a fruit and cookie/cracker dipping sauce or drizzle over ice cream or cake. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

I'll post pictures later if we ever get around to uploading them onto the computer!