Our Scientific Day

We went to the Science Center today and had a wonderful time. All the kids were angels and I think Kendall and Grace learned quite a bit. Here are some pics of the kids expanding their minds.

True Blue Blood

It is homecoming week in Winterset. You can tell a small town because EVERYONE seems to get involved. I was in town today and kids were decorating the front store windows for homecoming. There is also a parade on Friday and the schools are having school spirit activities all week. One of the days Kendall is supposed to wear her favorite team jersey. When I told her this she asked "Mom, what is my favorite team?" I said, "It's the Kentucky Wildcats. We all bleed blue in this family." She paused for a minute then looked down at her arms and said, "I wondered why these lines on my arms were blue!"

Sleepy time Maddie.

Here's some adorable pics of Maddie sleeping. She does the cutest thing in her sleep. Here she is sucking on the sheet while laying in our bed one morning. I guess she lost her pacifier. The other one is her toes sticking through her blanket. She loves to stick her toes in her blanket. I'm beginning to think she couldn't sleep any other way. I don't know what we'll do when footy PJs come into play in a couple of weeks.

Mommy physics.

We learn in school that every action has an equal reaction. That's proven science. However, any mother will tell you about Mommy science. Just when you begin to have a thought in your head that you're getting things done and actually getting ahead of your list, bam!!! Mommy science steps in and throws a monkey wrench (and sippy cups, and peanut butter sandwiches, and pacifiers) at your head. Case in point. Last night I went to bed feeling good about what I had accomplished this week. I planned to spend today cooking spaghetti sauce and having lots of extra play time with the kids. Mistake one was thinking I would have lots of leisure time today. It started when Madison got up an hour earlier than usual. Not a big deal. Then I forgot to pack Kendall's lunch and was throwing ham sandwiches and fruit cups into her lunch box two minutes before the bus came. I still haven't realized mommy physics is at play. Then the mother load. Twenty minutes after Kendall left I saw the snacks she was supposed to take for her class sitting on the counter. Now if you know Kendall I'm sure you can predict my thought process. The second she realizes she has forgotten the snacks she is going to freak out. I am now on a mad dash to get up to the school before her teacher unknowingly sets off a bomb by saying, "Where are the snacks?" I threw some clothes on Grace and Maddie got jerked out of her morning sleep and had to go in her PJs. She's young, she can pull it off. I usher both kids into car seats, drag the double stroller into the back, and we're off. We're halfway down the road and I'm feeling pretty good. We're going to make it! Then I realized I forgot the snacks. Dang!! Back home to get the snacks. Now I know I'm not going to make it. To school, both kids in the stroller and I realize Grace has kicked her shoes off in the van. Back in the van to get the shoes. Up to the school where I am praying that when I get around the corner all the kids will still be standing outside. They're not there. I go to open the door. It's locked. Are you kidding me? Now I am in the black hole of mommy physics. I slow down now because I know Kendall knows by now she's forgotten the snacks. I walk back around the building and go through the front door. Sure enough, I found Kendall with a tear streaked face and her teacher trying to tell her it was no big deal, that she would just call me and I could bring them up. Kisses are given and tears are wiped away and I'm out of there before I make it worse. Fast forward to this afternoon. I'm finishing up dinner. Maddie is in the kitchen being fussy. Kendall is asking me to look at the picture she's coloring every five seconds. Grace is playing in the living room, or so I thought. One minute after I saw her I hear a heart-stopping crash and a scream. I found her in her room and she had fallen while climbing on her dresser! Hello, that kid will be lucky if she makes it to two. But here's the best part of Mommy physics. After our crazy day, we all snuggled up on the couch tonight and stayed up late watching a Disney movie. It was peaceful and cuddly and the perfect end to a mommy physics day.

My dirty little secret.

I have an addiction problem. It's so bad I have to set a timer or I could spend the whole afternoon nap time feeding it. I'm addicted to craigslist!!!! If you don't know what craigslist is let me share. It is like being at the world's biggest garage sale without having to leave your home!! You can buy and sale stuff on-line which appeals to my inner bargain shopper AND to my inner get rid of stuff you don't use personalities all rolled into one. Ohh, I just can barely stand it. I think I could be on there all day if I let myself. I currently have about 7 postings up of things I'm selling and I've already bought toys and clothes for the girls for Christmas. It gets worse. I have another website addiction to a website called paper back swap. You can swap books with other members and all it costs is postage. They have everything!! I must have half a library in my basement and now I can swap out my old books for someone else's old books. Yeah, more stuff to bring in the house. Ha Ha. At least I'm doing it during nap time, but when I think of the time wasted when I could be doing something productive, yikes! Oh well. Here's a picture of Maddie laughing at my problems.

Red Roper, Red Roper

Kendall has been cracking me up with her new school vocabulary. First she tells me that I should make a pictograph of the boys and girls that live in our home. Everyone morning she asks me "What day is this?" At first I would say "Wednesday" or whatever day it was. "No mom, what number day is it?" The school is on a six day rotation and she already has memorized what number days equal what she will be doing at school that day. Now I have to mark the calendar with the "days" of the week. Other phases include "I'm a cold lunch kid" (She's taking her lunch to school). "I'm a checkered flag kid" (She followed all the rules at school that day.) "In PE, we played Red Roper" (Not to be confused with Mr. Roper from 3's Company.) This morning at breakfast she said "I hope I'm top dog today!" (Line leader) I went to pick her up from school for gymnastics on Monday and I met her in the wrong place. She was so put out with me and said, "Mom, all the other moms know to meet the kids by the big K!!" Sorry!

Grace has really taken to this big sister thing while Kendall is at school. She is a little mommy. She takes care of her "baby" while I take care of mine. She feeds him, puts him to bed when Maddie takes a nap and even changes his diaper with a little wipe and old diaper I gave her. She also carries her baby around and pats
him on the back going "shhh...shhh" So cute. Did I mention her baby is a Care Bear? They've even taken to sleeping together at night. I hope she's not rolling over on him. Ha Ha.

Under the Big Top

There was a little circus that came to the fairgrounds and the circus people in their infinite wisdom handed out free tickets to the kids at school. So of course every kid in town had been notified. Kendall and I were long over due for a girl's night out so we went. I was cracking up because I don't think I've ever been to a little traveling circus. It was under an actual tent which was adorable. It was the type of thing where the stage hand who was picking up the hula hoops in one act was the star of the next act. Everyone who was selling stuff was age 10 and under and so were half the acts. It was definitely a family affair. There also seemed to be a theme in that every act was famous so and so from Argentina. It was cute and Kendall had a really good time. They even shot a guy out of a cannon, but he only went about 10 feet. :-)

How did this happen?

My little Gracie who sleeps in a crib, woke up this morning with paint on her leg. It is paint from her walls for sure, although I can't find a paint smudge anywhere on the wall. How in the world did she get paint that has been on the walls for 2 years smeared on her leg? I have no idea. It must have been the night to irritate mom by doing weird things in your bed. Maddie got up at 5am and when I went to get her she was exactly horizontal in her bassinet. Her feet were straight up in the air because she couldn't lay them back down. Doesn't anyone every sleep around here? Kendall keeps asking when we're going to get the "munk" beds so Grace and she can sleep in the same room. Thinking about putting those two in the same room while I go to sleep makes me break out in a sweat. Not to mention that Grace would be in a bed and not a cage, I mean crib. She'd be completely free to get out of the bed which is what she has been dreaming about I'm sure. Maybe we'll wait a little longer before Grace gets out of her crib, like high school. Sorry Maddie, you'll going to have to sleep in the bassinet a little longer, feet up and all.

Whoever said children keep you young....

never had a conversation with one. Byron and I were helping in 4 and 5 year old nursery at church on Sunday. There were some new toys, one of them being an older 35 mm camera. A little boy in there asked me what a part of the camera was for and I said, "That's how you wind up the film." His reply. "What's film?" Hello!!! I might as well be standing there with an 8 track and a rotary phone. They also kept asking me where you could look at the picture on the camera. No display on these kidos. Next they all started sending us emails with the little plastic mailbox. Every time I would get the mail out they would shout "Read my email first!" That would be regular mail kids. Kendall was kind of getting it because when I got the mail out she said, "It's the best kind mom, no bills!!"