Thursday, July 28, 2011

Such adult talk... :)

One of my favorite things is listening in to kid talk. Today I was listening to Anna-Kate and Ryan play together. They have been pretending to be husband and wife a lot lately (and refer to each other as "husband" or "wife". Funny).

AK: "Husband you just work, work work. You always have to work! We need to move and get you a new job so you don't have to work so much!"
Ry: "I know! I can work at Disneyworld!"
AK: "Oh yes! We can live at the Polynesian hotel. Now you get to be home with us during the morning time and lunch time and dinner and we get to be together!"

***

AK: "RY-AAAN! Please bring me my glass slipper and put it on my foot!"
Ry: "What?"
AK: "Remember? I teached you how to be a gentleman and place a slipper on a ladies' foot yesterday?"
Ry: "Oooh. Yep. Here you go!"
AK: "Why thank you, gentleman!"

***

We've been talking about "wise" verses "foolish" decisions and choices. Anna-Kate overheard Chris and me talking about Disneyworld and beach trips. I then heard...

AK: "I think we should choose Disneyworld instead of going to the beach. Disneyworld has a beach, so that just seems like the wiser choice to me. Don't you think so Mommy?"

Tip for the day

Wanna know the quickest way to not sell me books door-to-door?

So this girl shows up at my door and knocks. And waits. I see her and decide I am not interested in answering the door so we might have hidden quietly. A couple of minutes, she knocked again. A few minutes later, knocked again. By this time, I was annoyed. I marched down the stairs, open the door and she said, "Oh, did I wake you, it took you a long time to answer." I told her no, I was awake just ignoring the door and then asked her what she needed. She began to open her bag of books.

Me: "this is a non-soliciting neighborhood."
Her: "Oh really? Everyone is so nice here."
Me: "Nice isn't what non-soliciting means. It means you are not allowed to sell things here."
Her: "Oh, well (insert names of my neighbors) took a look at what I had."
Me: "I'm sure they are great, but I am just not interested. We have a ton of books and are trying to pay for private school."
Her: (turning to Anna-Kate/ignoring me) "I bet you don't know why flamingos are pink, do you?"
AK: "Yes, I do."
Her: (clearly, shocked) "Oh really? How do you know?"
AK: "We go to Disneyworld and I learned all about them at Animal Kingdom where we lived in May."
Her: "Oh, I LOVE Disneyworld. I am actually going to go work there in a few weeks. I get to pretend to be Princess Belle."
(Insert my eyes getting huge and giving her the total stink eye)
AK (turns to me) "What does she mean, Mama?"
Me: "Thanks alot" (close door).

So to summarize. 1) If someone doesn't answer their door, they don't want to talk with you. Go away. 2) When they politely decline your offer, go away. 3) Do not ignore the adult after being told they aren't interested and try to peak the interest of their child. This will not ever work. 4) Do not, under any circumstances, ever tell a young child that you "play" someone who in their eyes is real. I mean really, she could have just said, "Hi, I pretend to be the fake Belle. Did you know Santa, the tooth fairy and every other show/book that you read isn't real? Yep, say goodbye to your imagination kid!"

Urgh. And, you're welcome for that tidbit of wisdom for today.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Her roommates will thank me one day.

I am, by nature, a selfish person. I would like to think it is a tendency associated with the female gender, if only to make myself feel better. I think my problem became most pronounced my freshman year of college {my college roommates are probably nodding their heads emphatically in agreement}.

It's not that I was raised with a silver spoon {I wasn't}. It's not that I got my way all of the time {I assure you, I didn't}. I was the only girl in a two kid family where our ages were spaced over three years different, and then, unfortunately, spent my teen years as an only child. Therefore, it just kinda happened. I was never forced to learn to share.

Poor Liana. I got to college and she reached for my toothpaste (or socks, or hair brush, or sat on my bed...) and I probably looked at her like she had grown an extra head. I was queen of sticky notes and here began my love of labeling (at the time, it wasn't an organization issue, as "mine" isn't so specific). I may or may not have been difficult to live with that first year (though, I pray I got better over time!). There is a point to this thought process.

I have three kids, and they are pretty close in age. Jack was born before Anna-Kate turned five. They play pretty well together and share pretty well too. However, I'm finding that I have to be mindful that Anna-Kate, being the only girl, doesn't always get her way. Not that she doesn't share, but in the little things, like getting the pink plate (we have the Ikea set of multi colors) or princess cup. I feel it is my duty to her future roommates and husband to throw her a yellow plate and orange cup every once and again (even at the expense of poor Jack, who often ends up with a pink plate). It's the little things.

And there, is my deep thought for today. This is how my brain works. I truly try to think through my deficiencies and help my kids work throw them so as they aren't ever issues for them (or others) to encounter.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Learning to pray

We've been talking to the kids about the importance of prayer. (ie, it isn't just a rote "thank you for mommy and daddy amen" wam-bam-thank-you-ma'am sorta thing). Anyway, we have told them that we ask Jesus to forgive us for the (specific) bad things we have done, ask Him to help us be obedient to Him and then thank Him for all of the blessings He has given us.

Tonight, Ryan was struggling through the various aspects of prayer and kept asking "now what" after each sentence. I reminded him it was time to thank Jesus for all of the good things He has given us. Ryan thinks a minute. So I decided to help him out and prompted him...

Me: "Ryan, what are you thankful for?"
Ryan: "Umm, Batman?"
Anna-Kate: (misunderstood and somehow thought he only mentioned Daddy) "No Ryan! You have to thank Jesus for all your family, and me, especially me!"
Ryan: "OHHH! Daddy and Mommy and Anna-Kate, kate, kate and Jackie, Jackie, Jackie...

Silly boy.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

A little taste of Magic!

Last week my mom came up to spend a couple of days with us. We have an interactive Disney store in our town and I decided it was time to take the kids! We had about $20 left on our Disney gift card (how we left Disneyworld without spending it all is a mystery to me) so I went to get a few pieces for the kids' Halloween costumes for this year (Yes, I already know what they will be--I knew last October. They are going as a Toy Story theme).

Anyway, wide eyed and amazed were my three kiddos as we enjoyed the store.

Anna-Kate in the princess castle looking at all of the cool things!



If you scan a barcode in front of the mirror (or, "magically wave it", whatever) the princess who was pictured on the item (in this case, a Cinderella crown) will appear in the magic mirror and sing a song or talk to you. They all loved it, surprisingly, Jack was the most astonished. The walls depicted Disney world with various characters making appearances. Not to brag, but evidently, we are very lucky people who brought Tink out. :)





I tried really hard to get Jack to walk under Mickey's area. It was lit up cool, but he had zero interest in that. :)



To top off the night, we went and saw the new Pooh movie that evening. It was the kids' first "real" movie experience and they all did great. Jack got tired of sitting with about 10 minutes left, but I still count that a success. (Bonus, we got discount tickets and free popcorn. Yippee!)



And that, is the closest we will get to Disney magic for a while. Bummer! :)

Thursday, July 21, 2011

They said

On the way home from Chick-fil-a...

Ryan: "Oh look, that's my work right there! I work like my daddy." (pointing towards a retail/restaurant area)
AK: "Oh husband, how nice, that is a nice work."
Me: "Ryan, what do you do when you are at work?"
Ryan: "My job is putting all of my money in big bags. Then I bring it home to my wife."
AK: "Yes, and then we give it to God. That's what you do! You work hard and give your money to God!"
Ryan: "Not all of the money! We have to pay for our house too!"
AK: "Oh, that's right, you are right, husband."
Ryan: "Yes, I am right. And you are wrong wife."
AK: "Well, we give our money to God and buy our house and then we just like to fly kites a lot."

~Can you guess which Disney movie they've been watching recently?~

Monday, July 18, 2011

I'm rallying!

Here we go. Day number TWO! :)

We went to a splashpad with some church friends today. I only had my iphone (which takes a decent close up pictures--of a non moving object in good light, and deplorable far away pictures. Just a disclaimer).

Clearly, too busy to stop for a picture!! Ryan ran around like a crazy child--he LOVED it! He kept calling it the "shooting snake pool" (ie, like at Disney).



Anna-Kate being silly with her friend, Marin. I love how these two have become such sweet friends!



All this energy-exerting goodness, $1 each. :) Jack opted to stay dry. In fact, I don't think he got even one toe wet. Fine by my. The big kids played with their friends and I got to chat with several of my good friends! I winning summer day for all!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

You're famous!

{that's for my mother in law}. Though, I think my mother and mother in law might be the only people still faithfully checking in on the ol' blog. Guess readers expect a {witty, fun} return on their click to my page. Sigh. I just can never seem to get it all done.

Side note. I find that I get overwhelmed when I get behind on the blog. The slew of pictures needing to be uploaded, (and the huge headache that blogger makes it to upload said slew of pictures) and the smart, thought provoking post I try to provide (or, slap some words on the screen, whatever) just leaves me putting it off. Then the pictures and memories grow (I try to be a fun mom like that). Then I'm more behind. It's a vicious cycle, I tell ya. I will beat this thing though! I have too many important milestones to cover. (This is also my apology to my reader (s?) for a bad summer of blogging. :)

So, we went to St. Louis to visit Chris' side of the family the first week of July. It had been a while since our last trip {I'm ashamed to say, about 18 months!}. Clearly, we were well overdue. Anyway, the kids had been looking forward to the trip all summer. We left after a particularly long work week for Chris, (He went in at regular time, 6:30 am and only got home before 10 pm one night that week. And went in on Saturday. Poor guy.) so we all were anticipating a fun time to be together. The time away was improved on as we ate at our favorite pizza place in our college town on our way through. Yes, both ways. :)

The vacation did not disappoint! We went out for some yummy dinners, saw a lot of extended family, went to the zoo, train museum, and the girls got manicures. We were jam packed with activity. Anna-Kate had an especially good times with Mimi (whom she has taken to calling, "Meems").

On Friday we spent the day recuperating from the reeeally long drive. The boys went to a park while the girls got manicures. We all then met at a little deli. That night, Chris' grandparents came over for some steaks. This was the kids meeting Ganni and Grandpa for the first time (Chris' dads' parents).



I was worried the kids would be shy, but Anna-Kate immediately took to Ganni. :)



On Saturday we drove out to Chris' cousins' house. Many of his cousins with young kids were there and they were able to play and have a yummy chickfila picnic!
The big kids...Andrew, Kirsten, Anna-Kate.



The whole group of them.



On Sunday we went to church, then afterwards I took Jack back to the house for his nap (and watched an excellent documentary on Simon Weisenthal. I highly recommend it!). Everyone else went to the train museum. It was hot (ie, I chose wisely!). The kids had the.best.time.ever!!











I was so thankful to be able to catch up with my best friend from high school, Allison! It was so fun to see her, Matt and Noah--and their new house!



We all loved seeing the penguins.



Some of us enjoyed seeing peacocks. Some of us who do not like birds may or may not have kept our children in between us and the peacocks. (Don't judge).



The guerrilla exhibit was awesome! We got to be really close. One of them was even playing peek-a-boo with a blanket right by the glass.



The kids got a kick out of seeing the camels and thinking about the wise men riding them to find baby Jesus. :)



Even though it drizzled some, it was nice as there were light crowds and it wasn't quite as hot and humid as normal!



Watching the stingrays



They were watching one of the zoo people show how to feed the stingrays and nurse sharks.



Waiting to feel the stingrays and nurse sharks (Ryan never did. Anna-Kate felt the stingray, but every time a shark swam close she jumped off the ledge and screamed "GET YOUR HANDS OUT!! IT'S A SHARK!" Funny only the first time.



On our trek to find the hippos. Anna-Kate asked Mimi to trade umbrellas since hers was too small and she was getting wet. Mimi graciously obliged. LOL.



She is crazy about hippos for some reason. We stayed way late and walked forever out of the way so she could visit the big things, but she was a happy little girl after that!



My sweet all-American Jack...eating a cheeseburger next to an Anheiser Busch box on the 4th of July. :)



Uncle John and Aunt Anna shared their fantastic pool and had a great lunch for us! (and, you're welcome, for not posting swimming pictures).



Back at the house. Mimi produced a ton of bubbles, water guns and a styrofoam airplane. Such simple fun!





They climbed their first trees! (or, this was their first experience around trees older than they are).



Gosh, he's handsome! Just sitting there chill-axin'.





The whole gang.



Silly "Meems" and "Oomps"



Too bad I forgot to take an after shot. Shortly after this picture, Ryan fell out of the tree. His tooth almost made it through his lip. :) We had an uneventful ride home (I might have put Baby Einstein on repeat play for Jack.).

Thanks, Mimi and Oompa for making our trip special! :)

Friday, July 8, 2011

VBS

A couple of weeks ago (cough, cough) we had VBS at church. It is such a fun and special week--but SO tiring! :) I was in charge of food again this year (what can I say, I have a gift of eating) so found myself in the center of everyones good graces and of all of the socializing. Perfect placement for me, I'd say.

The usual me with children in our tired VBS shirts and 1/2 of the participants not caring/looking/smiling.



We were so excited to bring Anna-Kates sweet friend, Marin, to VBS with us this year! The girls played soccer together this year and will both be in kindergarten at the same school. They had a blast!



Whelps, that's it! I guess you sorely lack pictures when you are across the street socializing, err, making food. :)

Eat More {free} Chicken!

I would like to take a moment to recognize cows everywhere. Today, in fact, is cow appreciation day. I take this very seriously, so opted to dine at Chick-fil-a, not once, but twice today. :)

I go to great lengths for free food. :)



With her sweet friend, Marin.





Anna-Kate was ecstatic to find a girl cow. Most exciting to Anna-Kate? Her big bow. :)



Poor guy. The one we went to for lunch has a playground that he isn't quite big enough to climb (alone...which is key). Thankfully he was happy to chill in a seat with a juice box (BIG treat for him!).



Dancing. They were doing the "cow" line (cow, cow, cow, cow, cow, COW!).



My boys. This would be for dinner. Ya, we went back.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

All grown up

As we drove through Chattanooga on the way to visit chris' parents we stopped at our favorite pizza place, Lupis. We passed the childrens museum and Ryan got really excited seeing all of the fun things to do. Anna-Kate turned to Ryan and said, "when I was a child I used to go there all of the time!" (started crying I was laughing so hard). Note, not when she was a baby or just younger...but a child.