A moment with Robin...

So, Robin's on the couch in his normal Saturday morning wardrobe (underwear and a giant blanket), doing his normal Saturday morning thing (spacing out in front of a cartoon) and I am making a quick breakfast.

I ask Robin, "What do you want on your toast?"  I hold out both hands and indicate with one hand at a time as I say, "Do you want honey? (hold up one hand) Cinamon and sugar? (hold up other hand).

He gives me the blank "I've been staring at the tv too long look" and says, "I'll have honey, cinamon and sugar"

I look at him again and say, "No, (and I hold out my hands again, one hand for each choice) honey .... cinamon and sugar..."

He says, "honey, cinamon and sugar."

I realize he's too spacey to keep doing what I've been doing so I say, "No, Robin, you can't have both, it's one or the other..."

He says, "I'll have the other."

Gonna be a long day again.

H :)

Happiness is simple....

My kids are happy, and I think it's partially because they are excited about the smallest things.  For example:

• Speed bumps.  As long as I hit them at a pretty good speed, speed bumps are a guaranteed giggle.
• Pants.  Pants are good for wiping dirty hands, snotty fingers, spit...and anything else that belongs in the "generally gross" category.  Pants are handy, and if for some reason the kids aren't wearing pants, they are just beside themselves....and usually cold.
• Popsicles. 
• Farts.  My dad always says, "there's nothing funnier than a fart," and I have yet to have that proven untrue.
• Snow.  Even the idea of snow is exciting to them.
• Horses.  Mostly for Katie....but seriously, the fascination is amazing!
• Change.  And I'm referring to the kind of change that involves nickels and dimes.  A couple of quarters and they are rich.
• Arcade machines. They would like to use above mentioned change for this one, but since change is lost as soon as it's found....they are pretty happy just pushing buttons.
• Backpacks.  It doesn't matter what's inside...a backpack will please them.
• Bubbles.  Not to be confused with bubble-wrap.
• Bubble-wrap.  It just makes a cool sound....I even have an app on my phone, keeps them busy in the grocery store.
• New crayons. 
• Scooby Doo. 
• Candy.  Any kind....it could've been something I picked up in a doctor's office and sat in the bottom of my purse for a year....it's still candy.
• Happy Meals.  "Hey kids, guess what Santa's bringin' this year?  McNuggets and a completely useless toy from a movie we'll never see that will fall apart the second we open it but you will refuse to part with!!"
• Imagination.  We pretend everything....soemtimes to the point I start to forget who I actually am. 
• Fireworks.
• Cabela's.....between the fish tank and the "taxidermy tuft" they think we've been to the zoo.

I just asked Katie what her favorite thing in the world is....she said, "chocolate and horsey's."  Enough said.

H :)

Sooo, following directions? Yeah, not so much...

I am realizing how terrible I am at following directions.  I direct a lot of people throughout the day.  My children, at times my husband, leaders I coach, counseling people....and I am terrible at following the most basic of instructions.  I have a smidge more sympathy for Eve in the garden now...

I tell my kids no candy in the morning, but those little Hershey bars are really awesome if you let them melt in your morning cup of coffee...

I ask the kids to keep their room picked up, meanwhile my own bedroom is the eclectic trash pile and apparently the place where old small group curriculum goes to die...

I love how I move the hairdryer cord out of the way so I can turn on the water and brush my teeth in the sink....while I'm drying my hair and dancing to my latest download....and staring at the sticker of the picture of the dude getting shocked for running the dryer near water and the instructions in spanish that loosely translated say, "don't do this, dummy."

I harp on the kids to get their seatbelt on before I even back the car out, meanwhile, I'm still trying to buckle mine as I'm already leaving the community, adjusting my coffee cup and checking my texts...

The kids need a good night sleep so they aren't cranky and whiny and a pain to wake up the next morning....while I've stayed up crazy late watching 3 weeks of 30 Rock and the Office in the DVR or reading Jane Austen....and I justify it by saying I'll have coffee and catch a 20 minute cat nap the next day...

And sadly, can you tell I've done all of these things in the last 24 hours?  Urgh!

Yeah, feeling a little convicted in the following directions, don't be a big-ol' hypocrite department.  I'll work on it....meanwhile, it's 10am and Katie's already talked me into a lollipop.....so fire me!  :)

H :)

Guess who's back?....It's Grandma Jane! :)

Grandma came to visit us for a couple of days.  It's so stinking good to see her, I can't believe how much I've missed her.  She looks wonderful, she's back to her perky self and talked so fondly of grandpa being with her despite her being along now.  Her smile is wonderful and her laughter and songs are back. 

I walked in the door at my mom and dad's and gave her a big hug and we decided to run some errands and get lunch.  I walked past the guest bath she's using and noticed a large jar of green olives sitting on the bathroom counter.  I asked her why the olives were in the bathroom and she just said...."Oh Sara brought those to me....they are really good olives!"  I told her they must be for her to keep them in the bathroom.  I just hate it when I'm hanging out in the bathroom wondering why I can't find any good olives. 

On the drive to the grocery store she told me how she flies back home on Thursday evening.  She said her flight arrives at 6:55, but Bunco starts at 7:00.  So, they are going to use a dummy for the first part of the game until she gets there and the "second dummy arrives..."

Grandma actually likes all of our political signs around here.  She thinks Labrador is a funny name for a senator and she loves to say Senator Crapo.....of course she says it like "crap-oh" and exaggerates it and just laughs!

At the grocery store I told her I needed toothpaste....she thought I said toothpicks.....then she proceeded to look for the lumber section of Fred Meyer, because that's obviously where us Idahoans would keep toothpicks....

And then when it came time to buy the groceries, she had picked up batteries for her hearing aides along the way and since she had to buy the batteries, she insisted she had to buy all of the groceries.  I threatened to throw it down with her in the store but when she didn't back down I decided to be the bigger person and back off.  Plus I figured I'd get in trouble for elderly abuse or something....and that wouldn't be good for my image.

I'm so happy to have her here...I think she's jumped into another song about ducks....my quacking part is coming up.  Tootles for now.

H :)

I don't think June Cleaver had to put up with this stuff...

Yeah, so kids have a way about them.  An obnoxious way, that's disguised in adorableness...

When I think of the perfect "at home" mom I think of June Cleaver.  Her kids were a bit troubling at times, bringing home frogs in their pockets, or strange friends, or crazy ideas....but there are times with my small metabolizing beings that I think, "Dude, June Cleaver never had to put up with this..."

• This morning I had to move the entire dining room table over so Robin could eat his breakfast in his underwear directly in front of the fire in the fireplace.  Now I know you're thinking....why not ask the kid to just get dressed?  Trust me...it was easier to just move the whole table.

• We've been working on Robin's table manners....they've gotten terrible since he started school.  Belching (and the subsequent pride that follows the belch) at the table is one of my least favorite habits he's recently picked up.  He has to put his nose on the wall every time he burps.  As he was putting on his shoes I heard a noise come from his general direction....and then "don't worry Mom, I didn't burp....that was a fart..."  Yep, new punishment coming for that one soon too.  Ugh!

• I don't think the Cleaver kids ever used the powder bath as their own personal Clark Kent/Superman phone booth...

• I never saw June and Ward disagree over things they could put in the fireplace....I have a very "glass is half full" outlook on life....and a very, "Yeah, we could totally burn that" outlook on everything else. :)

• I don't remember an episode where she had to discuss proper booger-flicking with "the Beav".

• And finally, I doubt Mrs. Cleaver ever struggled to get things done because she was distracted by Facebook!

H :)

Homework with Robin...

Robin is six....he is a professional (at being six).

He is in the first grade and while I miss him terribly during the day.....I do enjoy the break from time to time.  He is a crazy wild ball of energy and I love him to pieces....but seriously, homework time is honestly a mixture of the best and worst part of my day.

I feel looney with mood swings, between laughing hysterically at him and trying to wrangle him back into a seat to just finish up his work!

Here's a few of our moments:

"Robin, get off the table and just write your words."

"Robin, Captain Fart Head is not a superhero....he doesn't wear Fart glasses or a Gassy cape....write out your spelling words!"

"Mom, how do you spell school?" 
"Robin, why are you writing the word school? It's not on your spelling list?" 
"We have to draw a picture and I'm telling how you holler at me to get out the door to 'school'"
"Fantastic Robin..."

Katie spends half the time watching and whispering in my ear, the weird part is most of the time she whispers the right answer to me....not sure what to do about that one...

Lots of words rhyme with butt....

Gobstoppers are very motivating...

He reads better when he's drumming two pencils on the table at the same time...

And this is only the first grade.....I'm in so much trouble....

A moment with Katie Lou....

Katie is four.  She is adorable. 

Last night she laid in bed with me for a bit while I read.  She looked over at me and said, "Mom do you like crabs?"

"Crabs?  Yeah, I like crabs....they taste good..."

She said, "I don't like crabs...."

"Why Katie?"

"Because they crap..."

"Crap?"

"Yes," she said, "I don't like how they crap."

.......(I pause to think)......."Do you mean you don't like how they grab?  You mean with those pincher things they have?"

"Yeah, their crappers.....I don't like how they crap."

"I love you Katie...."

And right before she nodded off she looked at me and said, "You are my best mommy."  To which I replied, "You are my best Katie..." 

H :)