Gross

I picked Eleanor up to cuddle with her and she said, "Look! A bugger on my finger!" I told her to go get a tissue, but she opted to stick it in her mouth instead. Why do children do that...too lazy to go throw it away, or do they think it really tastes good?

Not so graceful

Zach had a rough and tumble day yesterday. While washing him in the bath yesterday morning he was trying to get out of the tub. That resulted in him slipping and bumping his mouth on the side of the tub. He cried and bled a little bit. It looked like he cut his gum. In the afternoon at Mom and Dad's, he was climbing the stairs and then he took a tumble down from the top. He cried. In the evening while practicing his standing, he took a faceplant into the rug. He cried and bled and we went to bed thinking that he knocked out one of his top teeth, but this morning when we looked again the tooth is there. This is a stressful age when babies are learning new things...and are not so good at it!

my night

I knew Matt, Zoe, and Emily were going to be gone this evening, so I decided to take advantage of my free movie rental. I had so much fun going to the movie gallery and looking for a movie that I would like. I didn't have to worry about Matt liking the movie or not, the pressure was off. Of course I had to get a chick flick! I rented "Monster-in-law" and I enjoyed it. I sat in my comfy chair, lights out, Eleanor and Zach asleep, laughed, cried, relaxed.
Just as I expected, when Matt got home and found out which movie I had rented he turned his nose up at it, which was fine because it was my movie to enjoy.

positive parenting

After watching the Ladies Figure Skating this week, I'm surrounded by ice skater wannabes! Eleanor spent most of her time at playgroup yesterday spinning around and lifting her leg up behind her. It was cute! Zoe has been practicing some moves of her own as well.
For the competition, Emily thought it was great that there was a skater named Emily, so of course she was cheering on Emily Hughes to win. Zoe and I wanted Sasha Cohen to win. Zoe and Emily made up a game that if Emily Hughes won than Emily would win too, and if Sasha Cohen won than Zoe would win too. So when the skater from Japan won, Zoe and Emily tried to claim that they wanted her to win all along and they started fighting over which one of them gets to be the winner. I told them "quit fighting, you're both losers!"...they laughed...end of fighting.

Toilet ban

Well, we went almost 7 years without any of our children flushing something down the toilet that doesn't belong there. Then our little boy came along and started a new trend. Zach loves to hang out by the toilet. A few months ago on a Sunday morning as the toilet was being flushed he dropped a toy into the toilet. It happened so fast. All I could do was watch in disbelief. I've heard of this happening...but never to me! Since it was a Sunday morning and we were busy getting ready for church, it was soon forgotten...until late in the evening when we finally got home from church, Home Teaching, dinner with Mom and Dad, and the toilet was plugged...and Matt couldn't for the life of him get it unplugged...then I remembered, "ohhh yeahhh...Zach dropped a toy in the toilet...Matt in his church clothes fought with the toilet to get the toy back, not a happy sight, but Matt did come out the winner.

Today I thought it would be a good idea to have Zoe clean the bathroom. She's on vacation, there's plenty of cleaning that needs to be done, why not? She thought the idea of cleaning the bathroom by herself sounded like an adventure and she agreed to do it. She cleaned for awhile and then she announced that she was ready to clean the floor, which required me to go in and help her remove the laundry baskets from the bathroom. I looked around and honestly couldn't tell that she had cleaned anything. I pointed out the dirty sink and explained that the sink needed to be washed, too. She willingly agreed to do it. I then noticed that the toilet wand that I got ready for her to use was back in its holder and I asked her where the cleaning head part had gone to and she said she threw it away. For some reason I was skeptical and I checked the trash. Nope, not there. "Zoe, it's not in here, where is it?" She wouldn't look at me and I knew something was up. "Did you flush it down the toilet?" Still no response...I knew then that she had. Here we go again! Matt had Zoe try to reach for the cleaning head herself, but her arm wasn't long enough, so Matt has another victory under his belt against the toilet...and our children are only allowed near the toilet when they absolutely need to be there.

Have you every noticed...

that every child in the house can be playing happily when you sit down to eat a peaceful meal or snack by yourself and then everyone is suddenly hungry

that children become needy, whiney, or extremely loud when you're on the phone

that sitting down to read a good book must mean that you are bored because a child will insist that you play with her/him.

that children wait until you are headed out the door to tell you they can't find their shoes or they don't like their outfit and they MUST change

that your 2 year old chooses all the bad times to ask you to play with her/him, such as when you're eating, getting into the shower, changing a diaper, feeding the baby, or hurrying to get out the door for an appointment

...or is it just me?

Too tired

Here's a photo from an e-mail I received titled: "Have you ever been this tired?"



Here's a photo of Zach for the e-mail




Emily was showing a friend my wedding ring yesterday, but her friend was more interested in my Scooby-Doo ring.


Emily (while laughing): "That's a CTR ring!

Need a laugh?

Go to a girls basketball game where 5-7 year olds are playing. You are guaranteed to let out a few chuckles. Zoe played in a game on Saturday. There was very little dribbling, which resulted in a lot of travelling, but the coaches let that slide. There was very little passing, someone would get the ball and they would run with it(usually toward the wrong basket-then they would turn and run the other way after everyone was yelling at them), there was no defense-they all watched whoever had the ball and waited for them to shoot, there were a few minor fouls-the girls who caused the fouls ran to their mothers in tears, whenever one of the girls would shoot the ball and miss-they all stood around and wondered what to do next. Too funny! I heard the guy in front of me say, "This is the best basketball game I have ever seen!"

Proud mother moment...Zoe played very well. She scored the first basket. She was one of the few girls who dribbled the ball as she ran down the court, she passed the ball once to a teammate and that girl made a basket, and I think she scored at least half of the points . During the game a mother leaned over to someone sitting beside her and asked who the girl was in the purple shirt (she was impressed with how well Zoe was playing).

stumper question

The topic around the dinner table at my parent's home this evening was... What exactly is a dooryard? If you are not from Maine, have never been to Maine, or do not know anyone from Maine, you have probably never heard the term dooryard. From the discussion this evening, it could be either the yard outside the door, or the driveway. It made sense to Zoe that a dooryard is a yard with a door by it.
We know the term was used in the 1830's by Wilford Woodruff from what we read in "In Teachings of Presidents of the church:Wilford Woodruff" He says, "I found the house and the dooryard filled with people."(p.37) It makes sense that he knows the term since he served a mission in Maine and married a woman from Maine. Did he mean the yard or the driveway? or both? Everyone seems to agree that the dooryard is outside, but exactly where outside is still being debated.



It took bribery, but Matt finally put our new computer armoir together. I told him my mom had bought him something having to do with the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" (which he watches at least once a week), but I wasn't giving it to him until he put the armoir together. He asked me what it is, but I'm no fool, he would have to wait until the job was done. A few hours later...it was finished. He now enjoys his Napoleon Dynamite complete quote book, and I'm enjoying the boards of the armoir being connected instead of scattered around the living room.
Should we start taking bets on how long it will take Zach to break the doors on our new computer armoir?
How about the keyboard shelf?

back home again

Last night while I was swimming with Zoe and Emily, they kept insisting on getting on my back to get a ride instead of having to swim on their own. At one point I told Zoe to get off, that I didn't want her hanging on me anymore and she said, "But that's what moms are for!"


Matt had some good lines today...

I read a story to Matt that Zoe had written at school. It says, "I like my mom because she helps me clean my room (spelling corrected)." Matt says, "That explains why she doesn't like me."



While observing Zach he said, "We should adopt Zach out to help people find choking hazards." He is very good at that.

Later on we had a heart to heart about magnus that went something like this...
Matt: " Tell me again why we want more children?"
Me: Not children, just one more child...to make us complete
Matt: "Complete lunatics!"

heading out

I just spent a few hours packing up for the kids and I to go stay at a resort with my mom and sister, and I am tired!! It always amazes me how much work it is to pack up kids for an overnight adventure...hec, it's a lot of work to get them ready for a day outing! I'm ready for a nap, but no time, we leave in half an hour. Then I'll have the pleasure of hearing...are we almost there?, how much longer?, this is a long ride!, when are we going to get there?
I'll check back in on Saturday.

Winter Olympics 2018?

Zoe and Emily decided to go outside and play in the snow this afternoon, what's left of it anyway, and they were sliding down our backyard hill. Then Zoe was practicing her snowboarding where she goes down on the slide standing up. Matt showed her how to do that last winter, but she spent most of her time falling and getting back up last year. She is much better now. She goes all the way down without falling and it looked like she even had control of the slide. I was impressed!

I put cereal in Eleanor's bowl this morning and she said, "Ant!" (I think she was having flashbacks from the spider incident...see first post for details). There was a dark spot on a cheerio, so I took it out and that made her happy again. Then I gave the "ant cheerio" to Zach and Eleanor gave me a look of disgust as if to say she didn't approve of me feeding Zach an ant.

Zoe came home from school very tired today, and when Zoe is tired she is whiney. She whined about this and that and at one point she was fake crying. Emily started to imitate Zoe, which of course annoyed her and Zoe said, "Emily! you're interrupting my crying...then Zoe and I burst out laughing :-) She was in a much better mood the rest of the day.

love is in the air

Emily found a ladybug to love today. She put the ladybug in a container and went in the living room to play. Awhile later she tells me, "Guess what, mama!...I dropped the ladybug 2 times and I found him 2 times...He's still moving! Other creatures have not been so fortunate I'm afraid.

On and on and on...

During our Family Home Evening tonight we played Chutes and Ladders. This is a game where someone gets close to the winning square at the top of the board and then lands on a square with a slide and ends up back at the bottom of the board. To make matters worse, Eleanor likes to move all our characters around (it's a sesame street version), so we never know what square we are actually on. Matt was near the winning square for awhile, but then he slid close to the bottom, and then Emily was close, but she slid down a few times. Emily finally won and Matt and I let out a big, "YAY!!!" It was finally over.




My sister, Donna and her family are visiting for the week. Here we are at Governor's about to enjoy a delicious lunch. I had low expectations for this picture. I just wanted everyone facing the camera, smiles or no smiles, just face the camera. We are just so happy to be together, the smiles were already there :-)
We'll forgive Zach for his lack of cooperation...this time!

Robert Gallagher...

"Anyone who thinks the art of conversation is dead ought to tell a child to go to bed."

Liar

We have passwords on our computer for each of our accounts. Matt and I know the passwords, but the girls do not so they have to get permission to use the computer. Zoe is always trying to persuade me to tell her the password to her account. What she says to me as I'm secretly typing in her password today... "Why can't I see? I forget very easily."

Emily kept hurting herself today. When she stubbed her toe she asked me, "Is this a kiss boo boo or a band-aid boo boo?" I'm trying my best to convince them they don't need a band-aid EVERY time they get hurt.

Meanie

Mommy won't let me eat the bread crust that's in the trash!











I want Grammie to babysit us tonight! I haven't seen her in a week! (she saw her Tuesday night)

And the winner for the bad mother of the year award goes to...

I was going to tell you something, but my attorney has advised me against it...so I will tell you a story about my "friend" instead. My "friend" and her daughter got out of the car and walked into the daugther's friend's house to attend a birthday party. The birthday girl wasn't home from school yet, so my "friend" and her daughter waited and talked to people as they arrived. The kids played for awhile after the birthday girl arrived, and then it was time to open presents. As the birthday girl opened her presents, some of the boys were running around and playing. My "friend" told me she was thinking at this moment that her daughter needs a girls only party next month, and when her son gets older, there will be no parties allowed for him at all...then she realized the unthinkable had happened...she forgot that she had brought her son with her and he was out in the car! What kind of mother would do such a thing?! Only the BAD kind you read about in the paper! She felt sick about what she had done and she quickly went to the car to bring her son inside. He had tears in his eyes, but was immediately comforted when she picked him up. Children are very forgiving. Although I love my "friend" dearly, I must admit she deserves the bad mother of the year award for being absent minded and neglectful. How dare she forget her own flesh and blood!

Words of wisdom from a 4 year old

Emily found a tiny spider this morning, so tiny an ant would think it was just a snack. She put it in a container and wanted to find some leaves and rocks to help the spider feel at home. She gave the spider to me and said, "I need you to hold the spider for a minute, but don't put him in Zach's cereal because spiders don't like that!"

While putting lotion on Zach, a very concerned Emily informed me..."Don't get it in his eyes, Mama. Because one time daddy was putting lotion on me and he got it in my eyes and I cried."

I'm still laughing over this one...
Emily: "Mama, do you want to hear the song that's in my head?"
Me: "Yup"
She comes over to me like she's going to whisper in my ear, but instead she puts her head close to my head...and waits. After I realize what's she's doing, I laugh.
Emily: "What?"
Me: "You have to sing it to me"
Emily: "Why?"
Me: "Because I can't hear what's in your head."
Emily: "Oh" Then she laughs


5:30pm Starting dinner

5:40pm Dinner is served

What you won't hear from a teenager

Emily walks by a sink full of dirty dishes and asks excitedly, "Can I do the dishes, Can I?! Can I?! Please!, please!, please!...I'll pay you one hundred dollars.
Would it be wrong of me to hold her to that?














I like to surprise the girls with fun things to do, so they had no idea we were going to see
Dora Live! this evening with Mom. When I told them I had a surprise Zoe says, "Maybe it's McDonalds! Eleanor says, "Yay, McDonalds, McDonalds"... that would have been a lot cheaper! Then Zoe was convinced we were going to see a movie. Then it was we're going to go see a friend of hers. When we pulled into the Bangor Auditorium parking lot, Zoe knew we were seeing a show of some sort. Emily wanted to see a Barbie show. Meanwhile, the one child we had in mind for this show is sound asleep in her carseat. When they found out we were seeing a Dora show, they were excited. Emily ended up liking the show the most I think. She was participating loudly (the kids in front of her kept looking at her) and her eyes were glued to the entire show. Eleanor is our biggest fan of Dora, but she didn't like the noise of it all. She did seem to perk up when Diego came on stage...this may prove our theory that she has a crush on him.

And I thought I wouldn't have anything to say...