Yes, that is EXACTLY what you think it is.

This



Plus This




Equals:

an unscheduled bath,

air freshener,

an extra load of laundry,

and the sanitizing of anything he might have touched in the two minutes
he was out of my sight.

MOM!

One of these days, I am going to put a blank piece of paper on the counter and tally how many times I hear the word "Mom" in a given day.

If you're a mom, you can relate.

Natalie, specifically, is in a season where she must repeat my "name" 24 times for the same request. And there are approximately 49 such requests in any given hour.

That would be my last nerve she just obliterated.

Christopher just says "MAAAAH" and at this point, it's still cute, so his will only count for half.

But Allyson, she has developed a whole new method in her creative little brain.

The other day I was on the phone and she was in desperate need of my attention. (Let me just tell you right now, the need for pretzels is apparently desperate in some regions of my home. Now you know.)

While waving her arms in front of me, she said in a freakishly loud whisper, "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" This is typical mom's-on-the-phone behavior which always results in "the look" from me. I really try not to respond, because that would be feeding the behavior, right?

At this point, she upped the ante and wrapped her arms around me (as if she really wanted a hug...yeah, right, I'm on to you chica!). I gave her another look, covered the mouthpiece of the phone and said, "You are being RUDE! Knock it off!"

So, she did what any desperate child would, she got a sticky note and a pen and wrote me a note. Or so I thought.

Here ya go.





Oh yes she did.

I think it's possible that she inherited her Dad's sense of humor.

Something Right

I don't think I'm a nervous mom, exactly. I'm not a helicopter mom, either. But for some reason, it is still a little hard for me to send Ally off to school everyday. Maybe it's because she's so meek. Or because her heart breaks so easily. Regardless of the reason, I give her an extra hug every morning and send her off with a little note on her snack bag.


In first grade, they bring a healthy-ish snack every day to school. If it's in a baggie, I write a quick note on the bag to tell her that I love her. I have never brought attention to it, just wrote it and tucked it into her backpack.

Not too many days ago, she asked me why I write on her snack. I told her that I wanted her to know that I love her and am thinking about her, even when she's not with me.

A few days later, I walked into my own bedroom after putting the kids to bed and I found this on my jewelry box.

We only have about six and a half years of experience in this parenting thing. We're not experts (nor will we ever be). In fact, most days we wonder how God in His infinite wisdom thought WE could handle three such treasures. But somewhere along the line we must have done something right.

Unintended Reflection

These pictures are a few weeks old, but I was looking back through October's pictures and stumbled upon them.

That's our new dishwasher, by the way. I know y'all were aching to see it.

I picked out this doozy at the pumpkin patch all by myself (the pumpkin, not the boy). I love the tall guys. It had been standing proud on our front porch for 3 weeks or so, but finally bit the dust a few days ago.

Anyway, it was inside for a day when I was trying to mend its poor broken stem (hot glue worked just peachy, in case you ever need to fix a pumpkin's stem). I noticed it was just the right size for Christopher to smack, which is how the stem got broken in the first place, so I took a couple of pictures.

Do you see what I see?

LOVE that sweet face!

Here's one more, 'cause I just can't stop. (This one doesn't have the reflection, but I love the look on his face...)
You can go back to what you were doing now, but, for the record, I think my unintended reflection pictures are kinda fun...it's possible I'll be conducting a photo shoot in my very small kitchen with the other two children sometime in the future.

All I Want For Christmas...

Yes, it's early. But doesn't it seem like everyone shifted from Halloween to Christmas at the stroke of midnight, November 1st?

That happened at our house. Ally has thoroughly enjoyed looking through any catalog and/or magazine that I have, diligently circling anything that looks even slightly interesting.

Here's the overall roundup:

Zhu Zhu accessories
Squinkies
Zoobles
(seriously, these three are actual items found in toy sections...it's possible that toy manufacturers are running out of ideas for catchy toy names...I'm just sayin'.)
Toy Story 3 DVD
A Watch
Silly Bandz
Crafts (commonly known as "Craps" around here)
Books


But Most of All...



What She Really Wants...



More Than Any of That...



Is...



Her TWO Front Teeth!

(For the record, I read this post to Ally and she vehemently opposed my suggestion that she wants teeth for Christmas. So in case any of y'all were planning on it, that's probably not an actual gift suggestion.)

Proof

Just in case you didn't believe me, or in case you're looking for a reason to smile (or giggle), David snagged a video of Natalie talking about the craft she created at MOPS this morning.

Enjoy.

Apparently...

Allyson came home with this yesterday:


This is what we have ascertained.

1) Apparently the art teacher at school submitted this kindergarten project of Ally's to the R0ck County 4-H Fair, held in July.

2) Apparently Ally won a white ribbon.


3) Apparently a white ribbon is third place (according to Allyson, the all-wise first grader).

4) Apparently white ribbons earn a valuable cash prize. That would be one dollar and twenty five cents.

5) Apparently Rock County 4-H is in need of additional funding.

6) Apparently we walked right by the thing when we toured the art building at the fair this summer, not even realizing that OUR child's work was near.

7) Apparently Ally knew about the submission all along, but "forgot" to tell us.

8) Apparently there was a breach in communication somewhere.

9) Apparently we have a double award-winning artist living in our home.

Halloween Happenings

(Halloween 2010: Natalie the Kitty Cat, Ally the Unicorn, and Christopher the Cutest Boy on the Block)

At one point, I had declared that Chris and I would stay home and hand out candy while David took the girls Trick or Treating. But when the big day arrived we decided the whole family should traipse around the neighborhood and enjoy the sights. I am SO glad we did. I would have missed some priceless moments.


Ally is an old pro at the T or T thing. She knew what she was doing and had no fear. Natalie, however, was more than a little freaked out by all the folks in costume. This is the same child that insisted on looking at the "creepies" in every store we've entered in the last month ("creepies" is our word for the Halloween section - is it just me or has that section become increasingly MORE creepy as the years go on?).

Anyway, not three houses into our adventure, we encountered a large group of parents and kids (and one dog dressed as Superman). All but one of the parents were dressed normally, sans costume. One dad dressed like this character:


Oh yes, he did.

Natalie was FREAKING out. We opted to turn and take a route opposite from this group to save our child from later years of therapy. Just one or two houses later, she looked down the street at the guy and said, "Dad, he was nervous-in' me."

Later, a young boy dressed as a motorcycle racer gave Nat the creeps and she was noticeably afraid. The home-owner that witnessed it felt so bad for her that she ran inside to get her a juice box.

One of Nat's favorite things was peeking into the glass-windowed doors as she was waiting for them to come to the door. As we were leaving one house she let us know, "He was habbin' his dinner."

Because the night was cold, the noses were a-runnin' and Mommy hadn't planned for this scenario, so my sleeve was sacrificed to relieve my sweet boy's slimy face. But mercifully, one sweet grandmotherly-type answered her door to our little animals and said, "Let me get you a Kleenex!" After nearly every house, the girls would declare what they were given. ("Yes! Reese's!" or "Mom! I got licorice!") This time Nat declared, with excitement, "She gave me a Kleenex!"

As was bound to happen, Nat and Chris had a much shorter attention span with the whole thing, so we headed home while David and Ally ventured further into the neighborhood. They had a blast and took at least an hour to warm up once they returned home!

The little ones and I were sampling sweets and answering the doorbell, which they loved just as much as ringing the doorbells. At one point, Natalie asked, "Where the creepies?" I said that they were going trick or treating just like she had, and reminded her that they were just people in costumes.

She thoughtfully stated, "Maybe they scared of me."

I couldn't burst her bubble, so I said, "Maybe they are!"

But I'm thinking probably not.