Thursday, March 17, 2011

Make It Do

My new little yellow button over there on the right makes me swoon.  I long to be a mommy like her and in my head I'm working on it.  I'll tell ya what, seeing other mommies who have it all together makes me want to wear and apron and clean this frickin house out and have a useable office and fully dusted corners and spotless base moulding and tidy drawers so that I can quilt and bake and dance and entertain and play outside in my free time.  Dustin challenged me to get rid of 60% of our stuff this year.  Oooo baby, I'm gettin spring cleaning fever now!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

A Typical Friday Night

So, every Friday night we get together with one of our favorite neighborhood families.  They have two kiddos that play well with Breckin and Dustin and I enjoy their company.  We have a constant battle going with canasta..... that's another story.

Last Friday, as usual, they came over around dinner time.  We enjoy a simple, kid friendly dinner together and the kids play together while the food is cooking and again after we eat until it's movie time.  They mostly monkey around in the playroom upstairs while we chat and relax downstairs.  The dynamic between the kids is very liquid as it contains two boys the same age with one girl who's older.  It's anyone's guess if the brother and sister are going to get along OR if the boys are going to get along.  This is that time in their lives where they learn to handle stuff and compromise and be kids- we've all been there, in a room with other kids and parents who marginally care what you're doing and as long as no one's bleeding, carry on and sort it out.  We have the added element of Ella who goes to bed about the time the movie starts and creates a nice break in the canasta game.

I was taking Ella up to bed and crossing through the playroom when I see:
Kellen on one corner of the playroom couch crying.  Seriously crying with his hands at his face and not looking at anyone.
Mikah on the other corner of the couch reading a book and looking seriously annoyed and like she'd like to be anywhere but stuck in this playroom with two juvenille boys.
Breckin playing in the middle of the floor aimlessly saying "Don't cry.  Come on, Bells.  Don't cry."  But not really showing brotherly love to the one who is crying.

I ask Kellen if he's hurt.  He shakes his head.
I ask him what happened.  He quietly says Breckin sat on his head to which I immediately look at Breckin with the mom stare of doom.  He says his head doesn't hurt but Breckin farted and it stinks really bad.  He says he's crying because of the fart and his head doesn't hurt but it just really stinks.

I take Breckin in Ella's room with me- while biting the insides of my cheeks to keep from laughing cause dang it I have to be serious and clearly seperate these two and at least discipline the head sitting.  There's not a whole lot I can do about the farting.  He is, after all, a boy and related to his father.  Breckin sits quietly with me to give Kellen time to recover and all goes well thereafter. 

But, really?  Do I really have to have another male in the house who can bring tears to the room?  Honestly. 

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A Treasure Map

My imaginative and scatterbrained son came home with this Treasure Map from school today.  He made it during his free time in the Make-It Take-It center.  He grabbed it out of his backpack excitedly and walked me through it with plenty of hand gestures and pausing to run across the room and jump on the couch no less than 12 times.  Here's how it goes:

You start by going through Swistymooth Mountain.


Then you go around the twisty tree.


"You have to go 18 Thousand Hundred times around the spinning circle of doom."  (No, contrary to popular belief, that is not just an orange circle.  Foolish pirates!)


"Then you climb up and down the circle ghost man.  Which is hard cause he's a ghost and you can't see him."


"Finally you get to the whatever colors you want treasure map.  The brown spot lines are sand.  The orange and red (didn't show up very well) and purple are lava.  Don't walk there.  Then you get the treasure at the brown X, cross the yellow skull, and go to the Rock and Roll house hut.  Party in there with your treasure of guitars." 

Sorry about the writing on the last one.  I was furiously trying to follow along.  It's one of the first times he's brought home pictures with a story.  I'm in Kindergarten mom heaven! 

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

She's a Maaaniac, maaaniac on the floor.

And she's dancin like she's never.... well you know.  Ella is so interested in, motivated by, obsessed with music.  She stops everything when she hears the slightest cheesy commercial jingle and looks up at anyone near by with her crooked grin as if to say "it's dancing time!"  It's a guaranteed lock to calm her down on the changing table if I sing Itsy Bitsy Spider or Old McDonald.  She drops toys and whips her head around when she hears the first few notes of the Handy Manny theme song or Elmo's World.  She grins with all eight of her teeth, sticks her head forward, throws her arms back or up in the air, and stomps her feet.  She has no idea what she's doing but music makes her move.  It soothes her and makes her wiggle and excites her when nothing else will. 

Her latest musical interest is a giant magnetic Elmo that holds her pots and pans in our kitchen.  His hat is the button and he says a few things about eggs and oatmeal.  She has learned to push it as fast as toddlerly possible to skip the sayings and get to the songs.  Once she hits a song, she waddles off down the hall wiggling her little butt and throwing her hands in the air and moving her head.  It's a six second song, mind you, so she has to come running back and start another one quickly.  It's pretty funny but it keeps her entertained.  And, it's a good thing she likes music as much as she does cause we play it or sing it or create it with our hands frequently.

Except not today cause she has an icky fever and rattly cough.  Poor little pumpkin.  Anyone know any sick songs?