What Age Do They Understand What "TMI" Means?

Little One and I pick the older 3 kids up from school every afternoon.  It's not exactly something we look forward to doing but I've been focusing on the fact that I'm thankful we have the ability to do so.  Little One usually watches part of a video in the Space Shuttle on the way there and while we're waiting.  Before the big kids get in, I turn it off and it doesn't go back on until I've heard the pertinent details of everyone's day.

They have a list of required topics that they always tell me (who they ate lunch with, who and what they played at recess, etc.) and sometimes they fight over who gets to go first.  Baby Girl is a chatter box and tells me infinitely more details about her day than the boys do (sometimes, ad nauseum). 

One day last week, we were sitting at a red light and there was a lull in the conversation.  No music, no video, and no older sibling talking seemed like the perfect time for Little One to impart some information about herself.  From the backseat I heard a little voice...

"You know, I fart sometimes..."

{SIGH}

Take THAT!

Typically, when Oldest Boy has basketball practice or a game, we head to the public library for a bit so that kids can do homework without having to drive the whole way back home.  The school is 25 miles from our house and the library is 7 so you can do the math.  Gas ain't cheap.

While we're there - hanging out in the large children's area - Little One loves to make new friends.  Scratch that.  ALL of my kids like to make new friends.  They always have each other, so sometimes I worry that they are somewhat unapproachable to other kids but at the library, they each have their own spot so they're more or less alone.

Yesterday, Little One made a friend; a little girl who was 4.  They were playing very nicely together, building a rectangle with wooden alphabet blocks.  One of the blocks had a picture of a unicorn on it and the little girl said, "My big sister just LOVES unicorns!!  She really LOVES Picachu, too!!"  Not to be outdone, Little One said, "MY big sister loves ME!!"

Touche.

The Holidays

The holidays can be a little bit confusing when you're 3 years old.  Little One is under the impression that Christmas isn't a "day", it's a 4-day gift-giving, junk-eating extravaganza - Christmas Eve - my parents host my dad's family; Christmas Day - Mr. MOTH won't leave the house, so we host; Day After - Grandma E and Aunt Jo (pronounced Hant Jo by Little One) visit; 2 Days After - Mr. MOTH's youngest sister and her husband visit (this year, we were actually hoping to see most - if not all - of his 4 sisters but it SNOWED - yes, that had to be all caps).  She is understandably overwhelmed and more than a little confuddled.

We also spend a lot of "family time" during the break.  Mr. MOTH takes a ton of vacation over the holidays and we end up running around a lot (this time, it was for paint chips, paint samples, gallons of paint, sandpaper, etc., etc., etc.).  Also, life goes on.  Oldest Boy still had basketball practice several times and it was on our way to drop him off that my favorite quote of the holidays happened.

Little One (as we're cruising down the highway):  "I really love the holidays, but I need to go potty!!"

Little One with her most prized possession: A "sparkly" piggy bank that she only asked for 1, 376, 922 times.

The Pinterest Resolution

Let me preface this by saying - Holy Guacamole, I am NOT HAPPY with Blogger today.  NOT HAPPY, BOB! (Bonus points if you know what Disney/Pixar movie that's from...)

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to try at least two things that I've "pinned" on Pinterest each week.  This week, let's just say I'm starting off slow because a lot of what I want to do involves organizing my computer and, well, that's just not possible yet.

But.

I did try a magic cleaning trick.  And y'all, it's magic.  If you have small children (boys in particular) who are required to wear tan pants to school and who play on asphalt at recess, this is a "need to know".  Look:

Youngest Boy's pants two days before Christmas break:

Youngest Boy's pants after the magic trick:

Now, aside from the fact that I have zero photography skills (which we have already established), you might notice a slight difference in the knees.  You guys, THEY ARE CLEAN!!  I thought for sure they were trash.  Ok.  The trick:

1 part blue Dawn dish soap (the plain old every day stuff), 2 parts hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 for my science nerd friends), and just for fun I threw in some baking soda.  Apply with an old toothbrush (for extra scrubbing power), let stand  for an hour until you remember to wash them and Voila!  Clean!

Incidentally, I also have zero tech skills so I can't figure out how to put the pin stuff here (maybe I should add "learn how to use a computer" to my resolutions...).  So here's the link.  She used it to remove sweat stains from white t-shirts which I just tried this morning and, again, Magic!

Plans Change

Did you ever start a project?  You know the kind - one that involves, say, ordering a standard piece of furniture, assembling it, and then using it?  How about one that starts with ordering a TV stand for the basement, having it come in a color other than what you were expecting (although if you had shown your wife the color, she would have known it wasn't going to be white even though the photo looks white because it says "antique") so you decide to paint it bright white.  Only the paint won't wet the surface (meaning it beads up and looks like hell) so you buy special primer that also doesn't work.  You then try to wash it off (or, rather, your wife does and being a woman and not a handyman thinks that washing means you use water which is bad for particle board) which may have ruined a tiny piece.  You then end up sanding every square inch down to (almost) bare particle board so that you can paint it. 

Except that's not the end.  Oh, no.  Because you also ordered a new computer desk in the same color from the same company.  And that then has to be painted bright white.  And bright white won't go with the off-white of the walls.  So after you strip (by sanding) the desk and repaint it you have to decide on a color for the walls (a long, painful process that went from gray, to blue, to rose, to red, back to blue).  Then you paint the walls and decide they might be too dark with the dark wood bookcase and desktop (actual desktop, not a wood desktop computer - although ours IS from the stone age).  And you try to talk your wife into letting you paint the bookcases bright white, too.  But she's had enough and just wants to use the friggin computer in a room with a desk and doesn't give a flying fig about what color the bookcases are any more!  (Incidentally, this is how the room got to be blue.  I just.wanted.it.painted.already!!).

{SIGH}  This is how Mr. MOTH spent the 17 days he had off from work for Christmas.  Happy Holidays, indeed!

2012 in Review

2012.  The short version.

January:  There was plenty of snow and we were planning and preparing for our Disney Vacation. 

February:  Vacation Time!!  Walt Disney World, here we come!  The trip was a blast and the kids started asking when we were going back on the return flight.

In February, we also celebrated two birthdays:

March:  Once again, Finnegan the Leprechaun wreaked havoc on our home, despite our best efforts to catch him and claim his pot of gold.

April:  Someone turned 40 (ahem) and celebrated with a pajama party to benefit the Pajama Program

May:  We celebrated a couple of birthdays.  And this happened:

June:  We started the Summer Brain Games (courtesy of the Chicago Museum of Science).  First up, the water balloon catapult which resulted in an epic water battle of The Mommy vs. The Kids

July:  The Fourth

August brought a trip to the Zoo and the return of school days

September:  Labor Day weekend we celebrated Grandma Joanne's 85th birthday, her last.

October:  Yard clean up and saying good-bye.

November:  Trick-or-treat, thanks to Superstorm Sandy and the threat it brought

Also, another birthday:

December:  The Best Christmas.  It's a pity that the heartbreak of others causes our own hearts to be much more grateful for what we have, warts and all.

Thank You, Sweet Jesus, for the chance to do it all again, only better.

Blessings, Yinz Guys.  Thanks for reading!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!  We've got SNOW!  And lots of it!  The kids think this is just about the greatest thing EVER!  The Mommy?  Notsomuch.  I like the pristine whiteness of an unblemished field covered in white.  But I LOVE the way our yard looks after being demolished by 4 (or 5, counting mine) sets of happy feet!

Baby Girl LOVES the snow.  For someone who is always cold, that's surprising.

 Little One, Miss Independent, needed to be carried through it because it was waist-high.

 Youngest Boy was thrilled, even when he kept falling while trying to run.

 Little One can't make a snowball so she would ask for help.  I would hand it to her and she would hold it in front of her face and get ready to throw.  And then she would squeeze too hard and it would explode all over her.  Cue squeals of laughter.

 The coversation went like this:  "Do NOT lick the lampost!" "Why?" "Do you REALLY want to find out?" "Why?" {SIGH} "I'll go get the water bath ready..." (He didn't do it).



While we spend the day in our jammies, drinking hot cocoa and watching football and prepping the home office for a complete makeover (doesn't everyone have a DIY project they plan over the holidays?), we will also work on our resolutions.  Stay tuned!