The Incredible Shrinking Bug!

I have to share this before I forget! Last week I was driving Sydney Rae to school and we were playing our usual and ongoing game of slugbug(minus the slugging, being girls and all). She spotted an old one, and asked,

"Mom, why are they so small like that? Do they shrink when they get old? Man, I would hate to be driving one when it does that!"

She was of course referring to the difference in size between the newer model Volkswagen Beetles, and the older smaller bugs. I said, "What?" in my usual articulate and elegant delivery, and she said,

"You know, like how old people get smaller?"

Now what beautiful logic is that?! I laughed and laughed, and explained to her why they were smaller and more beat up looking, and then she laughed at herself! Do I laugh at my children too much, you think? I like to refer to it as "building emotional calluses"! Maybe it is more like "therapy-prep"!! :)

Silly Mommy, kids know it all!

This morning my little sprite of a Payton bounded into my room carrying the package of hot dogs Chad opened when he got home yesterday. She was beaming her beautiful little smile and breathing quite heavily(quite possibly because of all of the bounding). Silently, but with grand gestures she presented the hot dogs to me, and when I told her that "hot dogs are not for the morning baby girl." , she just threw her head back and laughed! If you have never heard Payton laugh, it is very much like being lost in the woods and hearing the bushes giggle and squeal, knowing there are forest sprites behind them, but never being able to see one for yourself!! (of course there are absolutely no such thing as forest sprites, but you can imagine it, can you not??) She then says to me, "Silly Mommy, hot dogs are for all the time, don't you know that?". I told her to go put them back and I would cut up an apple for her, and she was just as happy with that as a snack, but I could hear her mumbling to herself as she put the hot dogs back into the fridge, mostly things pertaining to how much I make her laugh, and how much I just don't know! :)

Witty Reno Trip Retorts

We traveled to Reno this past weekend to see a childhood friend of Chad's get married. The drive up wasn't bad, and we had a lovely weekend. We got to enjoy some adult interaction and spend some quality time with the girls. All in all a lovely weekend :)

The trouble started on the drive home(there is always some kind of trouble if you're a Hiester, usually of the hilarious variety). You see, Chad drove the whole way up, and so I very graciously offered to drive home. What we were thinking I will never know, because we both know I get horribly anxious around motorcycles and road construction, and there was an over abundance of BOTH the whole weekend. I mentioned several times throughout the weekend that being in Reno during a biker convention was like being in the 9th circle of hell for me. Not the 7th, the NINTH!!! It isn't the people on the bikes that get me, it's being on the road with the bikes. How they drive up between you and other cars, and how one wrong pothole and I might run one over!! but I digress.....

So I am driving amongst all of the road construction and motorcycles, and always picking the slowest lane when the traffic would get diverted, and my dear husband is giving me lots of helpful advice on how I should be doing things! We are bickering lightly and trying to keep it from escalating(which road trips can often do to a perfectly normal difference of opinion), when he gives me one of his big dramatic sighs about my lane choice. I said something brilliant and well thought out(I am sure), and he starts lamenting the decision to let me drive in the first place. I asked him to kindly stop talking to me so that I could concentrate, and he responded with, "In the next town we are stopping and I am going to drive."

Now, this is talking to me, which I had just ever so kindly asked him not to do, and so I started to laugh(probably maniacally) and said, "Why do you insist on chipping away at the part of me that doesn't want to kill you? Why?" Which after a short pause lead to a car full of raucous laughter, and loads of broken tension!!!

Needless to say we stopped for gas, and after a quiet mutiny, I resigned my position as captain. The drive went smoother after that, at least for me :) We all got home safe and sound, to a very broken washing machine and a ripped up rug(the cat has been awfully frisky lately!). Another beautiful Hiester Family outing!!

Burrowing Brooklyn Beth!

Sometime last night Brooklyn snuck into our room and made a bed on the floor. I discovered her this morning when I got up to make Chad's coffee, and she had the whole top half of her body under the bed!! I left her there mainly because I was only half awake, and so it was a couple of minutes later when I heard her call for me, sounding slightly panicked. I went into the room and there she was, still tucked half under the bed. I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "Mommy, I don't know where I am." I laughed and laughed!! Man, these children of mine sure do make me laugh! I pulled her out gently and she giggled too when she realized she was under our bed! Priceless :)

Was That Applause?! :0

So I was helping my precious Sydney pick out which jeans she could wear to school the other day, sitting on the floor in her room in front of her pants drawer. We picked the best pair, and Sydney started to pull them on, turning her backside towards me and bending over to pull them up, effectively sticking her bottom in my face! (she is rather cheeky!!)
When this sweet, sweet child had her butt about four inches from my face, and while I had my hand halfway to it to give her a good smack, she farted!! Not just any old run of the mill toot either, but one of those forceful ones that makes your butt cheeks clap!! I was stunned into silence, but not Sydney. She stood up lightning fast and turned around to face me. We stared at each other in mutual shock for a second, and then she burst into a fit of sobbing!! "I AM SO SORRY!", she screamed into my face, "PLEASE DON'T SPANK ME, I AM SOOOOOO SORRY!" I couldn't resist, I had to burst out laughing. She had only meant to be sassy and flash her behind at me as she got those pants on, and had not planned the perfectly timed execution of gas passing!
I was so irritated, and yet I could not stop giggling, rolling over into a heap on the floor as my tear stained daughter stood there and fretted about her fate. When I had finally composed myself somewhat, I told her she was done for, that she wouldn't know when or where, but the revenge would be oh so sweet!! I have to say that when it comes to surprising me with unexpected bodily functions, that girl takes the cake!! Just ask Marianne(my sister-in-law) about the' "It's in my eyes!!" incident! hahaha

Parental Partiality!

My poor, sweet husband is very very sick! He had a fever of 104 for 32 hours, and even now it is staying at about 102. Why do men try to act like they can work through anything? I won't have any of his back talk about this though, and so I have quarantined our bedroom and ordered him down for the weekend, but the twins are having a hard time with this.
Payton lays down in front of the closed door and asks Daddy how he is doing, squinting as though if she just tries hard enough she can see him. I catch her repeatedly trying to sneak in when she thinks I am occupied!
Sydney is allowed into the room since she was the initial carrier monkey, and so she is mainly unaffected. Except maybe by the fact that she is his designated "fetcher" :)
Brooklyn Beth; well, Brookie is not handling the separation well, and in normal Diva fashion after complaining all day that she "needed" to see him, arranged a boycott of dinner tonight.
She proclaimed to her devoted masses(us) that she would not eat without her Father. Now, she did say Father, which implied her seriousness regarding the subject along with making her sound very big and grown up. I sat her plate down and turned back to the counter, telling her Daddy is sick(for the thousandth time today) and he has to eat in the bedroom.
"SICK?!" she cried out, making me drop the pot holder I was putting away. I turned to say yes, but the child was already at my feet. "Mom, Daddy is sick?", she asked, and then before I could answer, "I need to tell you something in your ear." I crouched down and offered up my ear for the whisper(none of my children whisper though, so it is always just more moist than quiet) and she pulled me down further and leaned in and asked, "What color is it?"
What?!
I laughed and laughed, and she stalked away quite offended by my rudeness, but how could I not? The things a four year old finds fascinating are usually very entertaining, but what color someone is retching up has to take the cake! :)-

My Amazing Firstborn!

Sydney Rae started her first day of third grade last week, and as always I am a little sad. She had a great week, "spectacular" was the term she used to describe it, but for me it just means she is growing up. It seems like with Sydney I couldn't wait for her to hit that next milestone, grow that next inch. I didn't really sit back and appreciate each stage as it came with her, because I was always so excited for the next one. Now I regret that. I am sure that every mother in existence has all kinds of regrets when it comes to their children, but please bear with me as I lament a little about mine!

We have taken the time to cherish the little things with the twins, and they have stayed little for so long. I think knowing they were my last gave me the desire to really hold on to their baby and toddler years, which in some cases was priceless, and in others just silly and prolonged :) So far with them my biggest sadness was only being able to rock them to sleep a handful of times because there are two of them and it simply wasn't going to be feasible very often. So far. With my Sydney I am constantly worried I haven't done right by her, that there may be something I missed, some opportunity I passed up. She is such an amazing person, this little girl that is growing up so fast. Her heart is so strong and kind, and she has such an amazing and childlike faith in God, that sometimes I am in awe of her. She will be a far better woman than I am, thank goodness.

Yesterday we were talking about a girl in her class that is sometimes mean for what seems to be no reason. I asked Sydney what she did when the girl was rude to her. She said, " Mom, I figured the best thing to do was just be quiet and walk away, because when someone is mean for no reason, there is ALWAYS a reason, and maybe she just needs attention from her parents, or a friend. We should pray for her." Now I have tried to teach her about people and the reasons they do things, but at 8 to have actively applied it at school was pretty impressive. I was so proud of her, and so very, very thankful she has God in her heart. That girl has had a grasp of Jesus that has taken me 29 years to build since the day she could communicate it, and yet still she surprises me with it. She makes me want to be a better person. I love my girl!!

Another Broken Bone!

Well, my oldest child has now broken her second bone! At least this one is a small one, in her left pinkie, but still. I had ardently hoped that my penchant for accidents would skip a generation(or two), but alas, that was never to be. This is the child that chipped her front teeth on her father's head not once, but twice(playing peek-a-boo behind him on the couch........both times)!! The baby who gets her finger obliterated by a rabbit. The child that gets teeth knocked out on trampolines, and on bicycles. The sweet girl who broke her wrist two years ago just playing at recess. This girl weighs heavy on the part of me that wants to curl up and cry like a baby when I see injury or blood of any kind. You know those people that curl in on themselves, swooning and moaning when they see other people's blood? Ya, that's me :) I am so inconvenient to have around during an accident!

So, I woke up with a headache and a full day ahead of me this morning! I missed one of my very first assignments for my English class, and we didn't eat dinner until 9:00 last night, but all five of us are present and accounted for today, so things could be worse! The assignment was only worth five points, so hopefully it won't put too big of a dent in my grade. I can only pray that my two littlest girls will fare better in the injury department, thus sparing me from the constant agony of seeing a piece of my heart wounded!! Either that, or that they at least wait until Daddy is home to start bleeding!! :0

Lots of Hearts :)

This morning very early a tiny little body climbed into the bed beside me. I turned to cuddle this precious child, and she sighed sleepily and told me, "Mommy, I have lots of hearts ". When I asked, "Lot's of hearts?" she nodded her head in affirmation and explained. "I have a big heart for you, and a big blue heart for Daddy, and a sister heart for Sydney, and a giraffe heart for Payton, and one for Grammy." So cute!! What a fantastic way to start a Sunday morning :)

A Budding Politician

Today Payton got sent to her room for yelling. When I went in to talk to her about why she was in trouble, she had a very interesting way of explaining her offense.

When I asked her if she understood why yelling at someone was the wrong way to get their attention, she acted offended. "I wasn't yelling at her Mom", she stated with tiny hands on tiny hips, "I just like talking at people very loud."

Priceless :)

Oh The Things They Say!

As the mother of three darling girls, I can attest to the fact that females have a natural inborn flair for the dramatic. Well, at least MY girls do, and can you all just hear my mother snickering over her long ago declaration that she"hopes I have three girls just like" me? She always said three girls, because there were only the two of us for her, me and Janna, and so she figured even one more for me would be fair and justifiable payback. Well Momma, sometimes you do get exactly what you ask for! :)

Last night I was laying in bed reading a book(shocking, I know) with Chad, and at a full trot enters Brooklyn, effectively demolishing our blissfully serene state. She is sobbing and exasperated, wisps of hair hanging in her face. She slams into my side of the bed and throws her pretty little head down onto the mattress.
"Mommy, Payton is ruining my life!" she muffles into the sheet, but somehow still effecting quite the long-suffering wail. Keep in mind this child is four years old, FOUR! Every time Brooklyn is upset, she is able to express her innermost feelings with her whole body, mind and possibly soul, all the while peeking up at me to make sure I am paying rapt attention. It is a thing of beauty. Now I asked her very calmly what Payton could have possibly done to "ruin her life"(without laughing I think you should know). She has now weaseled her way onto the bed and buries her face into my neck. "She won't go with me to the kitchen, and I'm thirsty." This is also a wail. Effective.

It was dark you see, and these precious children were supposed to be in bed. None of my girls will walk around in the dark, so we keep all of the lights off in the front of the house to discourage getting out of bed, with the exception of a night light in the bathroom. I guess thirst got the better of her and she was going to go get a drink of water, but only if Payton was willing to accompany her and turn on the light. Funny. Who knew water fetching was such a life altering thing?

So even though I knew it was happening I still got up and got the child a cup of water, which is exactly what she wanted in the first place. Dramatic and diabolical!! Watch out world, here come the Hiester girls :)

Pebble Extraction!

Never a dull moment at my house! Yesterday Sydney comes running into the house with Payton and Brooklyn running behind her, all of them screaming and crying. They are all giving us random information simultaneously, but we got from Syd that Payton had a rock up her nose. Now there was blood everywhere, and I don't do well when my children are bleeding, so Chad scoops her up and carries her into the kitchen while I gave myself a mini pep talk about stepping up. :)

Chad looked up her nose with a flashlight and declared that there was nothing up there, but Payton was so insistent and upset, not to mention the breakdown Brooklyn was having over the rock that I took over. I swabbed her nose with a Q-tip and some hydrogen peroxide and then made Chad hold the light while I pushed her nose up and back and peered inside. Sure enough there is this dark pebble lodged waaaaaay back in her right nostril, and she must have been trying to claw it out because there was a lot of blood and her nose was in pretty bad shape. She is a bleeder.

I went into "clinical" mode then, and ordered all of the unhurt screaming children to go outside, made Payton lay back on the counter and close her eyes, and made Chad go get the tweezers and bend them way out and then back together at the tip (for more resistance and a better grip) and then proceeded to dig around in her nose for about five minutes until I extracted the nasal intruder! Go me! the fact that I did it without tears or fainting is such a big thing(and I am talking about me, not Payton)!! The child was so grateful to be free of it that it broke my heart :(

Then I had to pour salt water up her nose to clean it out and ward against infection, which feels like you are drowning and which she took like a champ. Later we determined that the big kids(Sydney had a few neighbor girls in the back yard) had been putting pebbles in their nose and then blowing them out at each other, which is so gross I cannot even tell you, and that Payton had tried to do it, but sucked it into her nose instead of blowing it out! Can you imagine?! What happened to girls playing house or dolls? Well, that was my fun story for the week hopefully, have a great day!

Royalty Among the Masses!

The day before the twins birthday party was a mad jumble of activity, loud noises, and seemingly life-altering decisions. I spent the day out with the twins, which in and of itself is an exercise in patience on a good day. You just cannot expect two preschool age children to be buckled in and out of their boosters to traipse around store after store all afternoon without some resistance.

All in all they were great, only really testing the limits in the cake decoration store. I think I may have said, "Hands to ourselves, please" in that [you will rue the day I first saw your father if you don't remove your hand] tone of voice well over thirty times in the thirty minutes we were there. You know the tone, the one where it comes out all sweet and sing-songy, but is tainted with a menace only a Mother can render! but I have to give them credit, they always pulled their hand away and never actually tried to take anything from the shelves. They only wanted to touch each and every thing within arms reach!

After picking up Syd and Chad I had to get the house ready and dinner on and the following days outfits set out( we had my great-grandmother's funeral to go to before the party) and put together the party favor bags and get everyone showered and pick up the cakes. I fit in an appearance at the tea party being thrown in the twins room, complete with plastic cookies and chicken legs and peas. It was lovely, and so I left for the store a half hour later in a great mood, nothing brightens the day like pretend tea with pretend sugar :)

I picked up the cakes at Von's with what I thought were my sunglasses on my head, chatting with the lady at the bakery about Payton's passion for giraffes and Brookie's preoccupation with princesses. I then meandered through the aisles, happy for a few minutes of solitude, perusing the frozen foods and the cheeses. I picked out three kinds of ice cream next to a lovely mother and her two teenagers, and then stood in line at the checkout behind a father and son, with a young couple behind me in line. I exchanged pleasantries with the woman behind the checkout, and then went out and got into the car to go home. I tell you all of that to tell you this;
My cheek itched terribly as I put on my seat belt, and so I leaned over to look into the rear view mirror to check it out, and discovered that what I thought were my sunglasses was actually a PLASTIC SILVER TIARA!, complete with huge pink plastic stones, which had been bestowed upon me during the tea party!!

The thing that gets me the most, other than my dorky obliviousness, is that no one said a thing!! Not the lady at the bakery, who talked to me for five minutes at least! Nor the woman at the checkout, who I should point out never made eye contact with me, and I can see why!! So either they all thought I was some crazy person it would be unwise to upset, or their professionalism is such that they were afraid to embarrass me. TOO LATE! I went and did that all by myself! :) Or, maybe they were fooled by the plastic stones and thought I was a princess worthy of their respect and admiration!!............lol!

What I hope is that some tired soul was having a bad day, and the sight of a grown woman wearing a tiara while buying princess cakes and acting as if that were not a bit weird gave them a laugh and brightened their day! Hope it brightens yours :)

Another Backseat Debate!

We had another car argument this morning, you know the kind! The one where it starts with a statement by Brooklyn, followed by a snide contradiction by Payton, followed by a high volume retort to the contrary by Brookie, and so on and so forth until the backseat is a puddle of tears and people driving next to us are gawking because they can hear my sweet girls over the music in their cars with their windows rolled up! Oh if only my arms were just four inches longer.......not that that would have mattered today, given that they were in the third row and taking full advantage of their remote location. Let me share the subject they were so vehemently debating; cows.

Now before you double over in raucous laughter at my predicament, hear the whole sad story. The twins have sides of the car that they claim as their own. Claiming territory has been going on since birth, and the car windows were certainly never going to be an exception. Well, due to some unforeseen decision by two unrelated but nonetheless connected farmers, there were cows in the fields directly across the street from each other. So when Brooklyn saw "her" cows, she squealed with precious four year old delight that she had cows!!(some mornings one will have horses, one will have goats, etc.) Payton was watching for critters on her side and is seeing only the cows outside her window so naturally assumes Brooklyn is trying to claim what are rightfully(due to the rules of the car) HER cows! Can you see the storm coming?

Poor Brookie thinks she is being robbed of her coveted cows and starts to raise her voice right away. "They are MY cows Payton, not yours!!", and Payton would never back down from a challenge when her property is being threatened, so of course she screeches back, "MINE!", and there starts the one word war for the duration of the ride! "MINE!", "NO!", "MINE!", "NO!", and when I try to input reason into the scene, I get lots and lots of that funny gibberish girls talk when they are really upset and crying over something, and I get it from both of them at high volume simultaneously. Whew! I was never happier to pull into the garage and deliver the necessary comfort hugs! Needless to say I will be using my alternative driving route to reach our destination later this afternoon, and may the cows stay as forgotten as every other thing they get heated up about! True to form, they are now sitting and putting a puzzle together, thick as thieves. I wish we all could forgive and forget so easily.

Thank Heaven for spirited little girls! :)

Biliferous Birthday!!

Hello people! I hope you all had a beautiful Mother's Day! I was vomiting and racked with fever, but other than that mine was lovely. :) The Advil would kick in and I would have about two hours of halfway normality, and so I squeezed in as much fun as possible between doses. I went and explored old boats and ships on the San Francisco Bay, meandered through the Aquarium, got sick on a park bench, and then took some more Advil and watched everyone else eat lunch and then did a little shopping before we had to leave. The weekend was actually pretty lovely considering my bad turn of luck and the unfortunate reality of Brookie sleeping literally the entire time we were there. We just bought a stroller when we got there and pushed her little sleeping body all over San Fran for two days! We have pictures of her sleeping all over the city, to show her all she missed. I got to spend some time with my Mom and my girls, so all in all it was a great day.

Yesterday I was just as sick, and so I tried to stay down and rest. Brooklyn still wasn't feeling quite like herself however, and she was pretty frank about her feelings. She wanted me to hold her, but I had the shakes so bad from the fever that I asked her to just sit next to me instead, explaining that Mommy wasn't feeling well. She turns the full power of her deep blue eyes upon me and starts to cry these big crocodile tears. "What's wrong baby?" I inquired, and she responds with this heart wrenching wail, "I don't want you to be sick, I want to be sick!" No sympathy from the masses, I'm afraid. Mommy doesn't get a sick day.

Now yesterday was the day when four years ago my two precious little ones entered this world! I was so pitiful I had to ask my own Mommy to get a cake for the girls so that we could sing to them properly with candles and a few gifts. I guess being a mom is a forever job, because even at almost 29 I still ran to mine when I was sick! Thank goodness we postponed their actual party until the 23rd. Thank goodness that even after all of these years, when I needed it Mom still had the power to fix anything! I just hope that when my girls are grown they can say the same of me.

Another update on the sickies!

Well, last night Brookie's luck ran out and right in the middle of a pouting session in the hallway her dinner exited her body much much quicker than it had been previously put in!(the child eats like a snail) She doesn't seem to have it as bad as Payton, but we are leaving for San Francisco tomorrow at 6:00 a.m., so in my book, it is just as bad! Her immune system has always been stronger than Payton's, so we can hope for a quicker recovery time. Sydney is still healthy, so that's a plus, but I am now running on pure adrenaline and diet Pepsi after three nights of cleaning, cuddling, and cooing, not necessarily in that order. Not so good for Momma. Or Daddy if we are being totally honest. :)

After about the third time Brooklyn "visited the bowl" by her bed she reaches for me, and as she hugged me fiercely she says, " I decided I don't want to be sick no more Mom, I better." So cute and sad :( The poor girl thinks because she kept asking and pretending to be sick to be with Payton that she can decide to be better too! Not even Brooklyn can make that happen!

Wish me luck on this relaxing Mother's Day vacation, and I hope you all have a beautiful day whether you be mother or daughter!

Update, and It's a Twin Thing!

Today Payton was as sick as before, only she switched from vomiting to having a high fever and sleeping literally all day. We have seen the doctor, and at this point are just trying to make her as comfortable as possible until it runs its course. She can drink today, so my dehydration fears have been put to rest!(at least something has, Goodness knows I haven't the past two days!)

I have kept Brooklyn and Sydney away from Payton rather successfully so far, but not without effort, and it has shown me another interesting thing about twins. Though they are fraternal and two different little people, they identify themselves as a unit, and as a unit do not function properly when separated. This afternoon after Brookie had lunch she was following me around the house like a lost puppy, so I told her to go outside and play.
"I can't go outside Momma", she says to me "you have to have two kids to play outside".
"How about playing with Ponyville then?", I ask.
"No, you have to have two for that too."
"OK, then lets put a movie on for you".
"No mom, you need two for that too, I can't do anything without Payton, I need her!" she cries, and then covers her face with her arm Sarah Bernhard style and leans into my leg. I picked her up and tried telling her about germs and fevers, but she just fake coughed and claimed to be ravaged with sickness and asked if she could go to her sister. It broke my heart to tell her no, but I did let her wave from the doorway!

Tonight I was putting Payton into a cool bath, and she cried for Brooklyn the whole time while just leaning there motionless. I am ashamed to say I caved, and let Brookie get into the bath, warning them not to touch each other. Payton perked right up at the sight of her sister, and they talked and giggled while I washed them. Payton's fever broke while they were playing, and she went to bed cool and happy, something cool rags and Pedialyte Popsicles and Tylenol and Ibuprofen couldn't accomplish. I am just saying..........

You know, Payton started to get better in the hospital the minute they let me touch her and once we let the two of them touch and smell each other they got released from the NICU, and neither one can sleep well if the other isn't close enough to touch even now. Maybe they need that when they are sick too. How lucky to be made with a built in best friend! I am always learning from these two precious ones, and so grateful for the opportunity! :)

P.S. Sydney has totally rocked and helped me pick up the slack these last two days.....without even having to be asked! She is the best kid, I tell you :)

Bowls, Backseats and Super Bugs

Today my littlest one woke me up at 4:30 a.m. by vomiting last nights dinner onto the floor next to my bed. Poor little baby made it just far enough to share it with me! I didn't have the heart to point out to her the screamingly obvious difference in distance between her bed and the toilet and her bed and my bed, but she is young and cute so I forgave and held my tongue! Now let's cross our fingers and pray Sydney and Brooklyn don't follow, since we are going to San Francisco by train on Saturday. Can you imagine a sick child on a moving train? Do you even want to?

As most of you know we take Chad to work in the mornings, and so we had to strap the poor thing into the car with a bowl and a towel and head out at ten to six. She used the bowl the whole trip there, and then on the way back fell into a fitful sleep. I was gazing at her in the rear view mirror, admiring her sweet face, when the bowl goes tumbling from her lap and splashes it's lovely contents all over the floor of the car! Since I was driving I could do nothing but lament the recently departed cleanliness of the carpet and roll down the windows. (SIGH) If only I hadn't decided to clean and vacuum the car out yesterday!! Such is the way of life with me though, and there is no use bemoaning my ill-fated and short-lived love affair with my clean car, I do have three kids and a pretty lackadaisical attitude when it comes to bringing food and toys and such aboard! :)

Now Brooklyn and Payton call the stuff that spews forth from themselves when they throw up their "sick". So I was holding Payton while she was utilizing the bowl, and Brooklyn is standing next to me straining to see into the bowl.
"OOH, 'ellow(yellow) sick!" she squeals,
"Payton, you have 'ellow sick!"
"Is it corn sick? Is it cheese sick? No, it's corn sick, you have corn sick!" all of this commentary in high volume as poor Payton is dry heaving and I am trying not to laugh. You cannot under any circumstances laugh while a child is vomiting you see, it is in very poor taste. Oh, Brooklyn my dear, where do you come up with this stuff? You are full of mystery!(and a fair amount of bull)

I am happy to say Payton is feeling much better right now, and she has kept liquid down for an hour now, praise God. I am slathering on the hand sanitizer(on much more than my hands) and spraying the Lysol and praying it was just something she ate. My nephew Tyler would cringe at all of the antibacterial products I am spreading about my home right now, as we speak helping to create more of the super bugs that will eventually get us all. I will sleep soundly tonight in spite of that fact, knowing his generation will surely fix it all! ;) I promise to go straight back to my vinegar and baking soda cleaning products right after the trip!

It"s Always Something!!( a tale of muddy toes)

My sweet Sydney had a field trip that I had agreed to go on, to Scout's Island on the river. Since we take Chad to work in the morning we had approximately 28 minutes when we got back to get ready(all four of us girls),drop off the twins and be at Syd's school. Well, imagine my triumphant surprise when we got out of the door on time!! I pulled up to Paige's and the twins climbed out without me even having to get out of the car, and met her at the door like the little angels they so often are!( hear me snickering?) Sydney got out and closed the back door for them, and so I didn't make my horrifying discovery until we pulled up in front of her school and I went to get out of the car. I forgot to put shoes on!! With all of our frantic dressing and hair doing and make-up applying and seat belt buckling, Somehow I had gotten into the car without shoes!! I always take off my right shoe when I drive, so I hadn't even noticed the foot nakedness! I panicked in true Tara form, turning red and hissing at Sydney to just "go to class without me" as I searched the bottomless pit that is our back seat for something to put on my feet! I found a pair of flip flops( Praise the Lord!) and slipped my feet into them and ran to her class, only to sit there for fifteen minutes because the bus was late. Of course. This is my life I am so candidly sharing after all. My dear friend Amanda looks down at my feet(seriously, how often does one look at someones feet for goodness' sake?) and laughs out loud at me. She said, "good luck in those things" and laughs harder at my puzzled expression. Turns out there was a lot of muddy hiking involved with that particular field trip, and my just painted toes got quite the impromptu mud mask!! I have been slathering lotion on them for days now, but for some reason they still feel dry to me. Probably just a little over reaction, but really, can your feet be rubbed with too much lotion? I would have to say NO.

After Hours Closet Grooming!

Chad and I were sitting in the living room last night after the girls went to bed. We were having a delightful conversation when we were interrupted by muffled giggles coming from somewhere in the back of the house. I got up to investigate, and found the twins room empty, but my bedroom door ajar and a faint glow coming from behind it. A mystery? Not with twins; with two preschoolers there is always mischief afoot. I can tell the light is coming from our closet, but both doors are closed, probably in a vain attempt to keep themselves and their shenanigans hidden from us. I open the door to the debacle of brushing and shaving CareBears!! Payton was sitting on the floor with my toothbrush, brushing her new CareBears hair with it, and Brooklyn is sitting there with Chad's razor, shaving a bald spot into the back of her bear! A weird kind of hiccup-shout erupted from my throat, and I almost knocked Brookie down yanking the razor from her hand. I yelled out the dangers of Daddy's razor and the horrors of getting out of bed without permission as they both stood there crying and selling out their sister, little fingers pointed accusingly at the other as though they too were shocked she would do such a thing. I picked up my toothbrush that Payton had launched across the closet upon my abrupt arrival to discover it full of blue CareBear hair, and threw it onto the counter as I ushered them back to their own room. They cried their apologies as I tucked them back in, and sternly told them to stay in their beds this time. Knowing they would(they don't do getting in trouble well, it exhausts them), I went back out to tell Chad about it, and we both got a good laugh at the expense of the poor bald-backed bear. We have to find a higher place for the razor now, because apparently they are tall enough to reach it. Thank goodness it was just the bear that was shaved!!

A Funeral For a Fish Friend

Sadly, our bottom feeder Monster died on Friday. He had been swimming funny all week, and I had the sneaking suspicion that the end was near when I noticed he wasn't eating any of his yummy algae disks. Sydney took it hard. We have had the thing since she was three, and even though she couldn't pet it or play with it, she did talk to him every day. He didn't get buried until last night. Gross. Sydney felt that she needed a few days to mourn him before she put him into the ground, Chad and I called it his "viewing". I made Chad put it in a plastic bag and then put it back into the tank until they buried it so it wouldn't just be decomposing in the tank, but that ended up being gross too. Oh well, he was way too big to flush, and at least it's over now. Every one in my house is already talking about getting a new tenant for the tank, like a snake or a turtle, but I am demanding we leave it vacant for a while. I feigned respect for the dead, but the true reason is that I will inevitably be the one feeding ad caring for it, and I already begrudge doing that for the warm blooded animals that dwell with us. I would love to have a snake some day though, I like snakes. I do not however, want to feed it baby mice, so I told Chad to research alternative feeding methods before we get one. I have cleaned and removed the tank from the house, and so maybe everyone will forget about a new pet and we can all just enjoy the new found counter space in the bathroom!

CAUTION: This Story is About Fleas!--EEWWW!

We have, in the eternally precious words of Miss Brooklyn Beth Hiester, "bugs". That is to say fleas, which the sweet kitty we brought home six months ago is now apparently sharing with the rest of the house. We used Frontline on the cat and the dog at first, but after the fleas appeared to be gone, we stopped. Big Mistake. Ko-Ko showed up with them first, and no matter how many bath-and-tweezers sessions I had with her she just got worse. I finally had to take her to a groomer in shame, apologizing for the nature of my visit and avoiding eye contact at all costs. We got her cleaned up and Frontlined, so now she is happy and flea free. The cat has been Frontlined too, but unfortunately for Chad, you cannot Frontline husbands! For some reason that defies explanation, fleas love Chad, and so far seem to abhor the taste of me and my girls. This is not new knowledge, for we have had a run in with these little blood suckers before.
When my brother and sister in law went to Italy for their honeymoon, the five of us went and stayed at their house with the kids. We slept in their room (before Todd laid the new wood floor), and every night Chad would get eaten alive by these vile creatures. I of course believed none of it, since I had not one bite, not one, and we were sleeping right next to each other. He would get flustered trying to convince me, but after night four I had to concede because he WAS waking up with more bites than he was going to sleep with. I left that house with nary a bite to call my own. The man was tortured for days until they cleared up.
Now back to our present situation. I have not one bite, and the girls are clear too, but of course poor Chad is covered. I swear they lie in wait for him, and as soon as they hear him snore they unleash their masses upon his sleeping form!! He encounters fleas on the job occasionally, and the man reacts badly to them each time, but this is bad. The groomer said they wouldn't stay on us because our body temperature is too high, and Chad is a furnace as I have said, but the little buggers must love the taste of him to risk being seared alive during the meal! I fogged our room today, and tonight after he gets home, we will fog the house and leave for the recommended three hours, and then maybe he can get some sleep. The pest guy is coming Monday to spray the yard, so hopefully we can clear up the problem before I wake up one morning and Chad is just gone, eaten right out of his jammies! I have washed all of the bedding multiple times, and again today, but since we are renting this house we cannot just tear up the carpet, which is what we would like to do. Why can't every floor just be hardwood? That would solve so many of my cleaning problems, and I vow never to own a house with wall to wall carpet! I am sorry if the subject matter today has given you the willies, I would probably be more weirded out except that I never see any of them, just the devastation they leave in their tiny little wake!

Nothing Dignified About THIS Society Member! :(~

I woke up this morning with a burning desire to rearrange something. It is usually furniture, but Chad has forbidden me from doing that without him for now, and like a good wife I am trying to grant him his wish even if it is done with deep regret and a whole lot of heavy sighing. So I got Sydney off to school and Ashton is his bouncer and set off in search of something cluttered and neglected. I found many, many places that fit that description, but my kitchen "junk drawers"(yes, that's plural) won the makeover!
I spent the next three hours gutting and refilling the drawers, redirecting their purpose and finding a happy place for everything. I had let the twins out into the backyard to play, and they had been out there for the first two hours with nothing but squeals and make believe coming in through the back windows. They skipped inside both holding a bouquet of beautiful purple flowers......that smell kind of like a skunk that enjoyed a boat load of garlic right before it died! I don't know if many of you are familiar with Society Garlic, but it stinks. I cannot imagine anything so stinky being accepted into civilized plant society, let alone any other society you might think of. I would pull it out, but it smells so bad I can't get up the nerve to touch it. The scent lingers even after a bath, and clothes with the scent upon them must either be thrown right into the wash on hot, or quarantined in the garage until washing can be accomplished.
I am trying to paint a mental scent picture, am I achieving my goal? If you can imagine the scent, imagine my dilemma when these two beautiful girls come traipsing in holding handfuls of the offending blossoms. They were yelling, "Mommy, we picked flowers for you!", and Brookie is yelling "get a vase!", Payton is insisting that I smell them, and both are carrying the foulness into the house. I smiled(or grimaced) and thanked them and took the flowers, trying to touch them with as little of my hand as possible. I got out a vase and filled it with water and then spun a tale of how some flowers need to be out in the fresh air to last a long time. I convinced them that the vase should sit out on the patio table, for them to enjoy each time they played, and they soaked up the lie like the little sponges they are. Mommy is not only magical and super strong, she is also all-knowing!
I cannot get the smell of that plant out of my house, and am worried my hand scrubbing didn't do the job. Now it is 6:30 and I have developed a headache and a touch of nausea. I think it is half real and half in my head, but I am starting to smell it on myself, and am seriously considering taking another shower. Do you think stench can actually get into the folds of your brain? The thought, though absurd, seems sane enough at the moment, this is how badly affected I am by this smell. Sad.
If this story has a moral, I think it should be that a plant with an ironic name should not planted without a disclaimer!

* on a side note: I did not plant this offending flora, it was here when we moved in. :)

Toenails and Chinese Food

We all went to dinner with my Dad last night, and we went to our usual Chinese restaurant, Royal Palace. The food is pretty good and they are struggling to stay open in this economy, so if you like Chinese food and interesting Chinese art, please go try it, you get a 10% discount for the next three months! Now that the plug is done(the waitress asked us to please tell our friends), on to the meal.
We always order a couple of appetizers along with our usual entrees, so that the girls can try plenty of new things. This time we ordered shanghai scallops and paper wrapped chicken and pot stickers. The twins were digging the scallops, and also the freedom of being able to serve themselves from the dish due to their distance from me and their proximity to Grandpa. My Dad is always tickled pink that the girls eat so many different foods, and last night was no exception. I think they realize this, because the same girls that don't want mashed potatoes on Tuesday will eat steamed onions and squash and shellfish on Wednesday! Payton loved the mushrooms, and she would loudly proclaim each and every time she picked one out of the plate that it looked like a giant's toenail! Then she would tease Brookie with it, and then pop it into her mouth and announce that she just LOVED grey toenails! It got to the point where I could no longer eat the mushrooms on my plate, I get grossed out about slimy food pretty easily. They ate every vegetable on the plate along with the scallops, and Brooklyn even tried Chad's Mongolian chicken, which was very spicy. Sometimes I think maybe she doesn't taste spice the way the rest of us do, because the girl can handle some heat! They chattered away with my Dad, and listened to Sydney's jokes(she is quite funny) while they ate, and were being perfect little ladies all throughout dinner. I wish something funny and truly entertaining had transpired, but alas, they all behaved themselves and had a great time. They collapsed into bed as soon as they got home, and I had a horrible nightmare that I ordered food from a restaurant and each time I would go to take a bite, a huge toenail clipping would be right there on the fork, taunting me with it's very presence! Thanks Payton, mmm toenails! :(-

Fantastic Fashion and Mud Pastries!

Anytime the sun is out the girls follow me around all morning, causing all sorts of opportunities for me to trip and break my neck, asking if they can go outside. Today was one of those days, so I got them dressed right after breakfast and released them into the wild(backyard). Brooklyn doesn't really like mud, so she will usually swing and sing and yell at Payton to get out of her way. Payton on the other hand just LOVES mud, and she makes me lots of very interesting mud pastries, every one with a warning not to really eat it. Well, the roles were reversed today(they love to make a liar out of me), and so I watched as Brooklyn made mud castles(apparently she is not going to bake with her mud, the girl moved right to architecture) and Payton walked around the grass in my high heels and one of these gigantic purses my Mom gives them. Payton calls them "curses" which I think is quite fitting and so am in no hurry to correct. Brooklyn kept demanding that Payton join her in the dirt, and Payton just ignored her and strutted around, muttering to herself how beautiful she was in her new shoes. Brooklyn can be charming when she wants to be, but this day she has apparently chosen to be loud and forceful in her persuasion. She kept yelling to Payton, "Come play with the dirt!", over and over and with escalating ferocity. Payton continued to ignore her, digging those heels deep into the grass and then yanking them out with each step, singing, "Hallelujah, I'm a rock star"(she seems to enjoy mixing her worship music with her Hannah Montana!) Now Payton had done this very thing last week, but today she had the delightful addition of Sydney's training bra and a pair of too-tight pink cotton shorts! I promise(in case my mother is reading this) that I put regular-sized shorts and a matching T-shirt on the child after breakfast this morning, but the twins frequently throughout the day override my fashion choices with unique combinations of their own. I allow this because there are only so many ways a three year old can express herself, and I won't let them dress themselves when we are actually going to be leaving the house. Needless to say, many colorful and bizarre outfits ensue from this freedom! So, back to Brooklyn yelling from her dirt housing tract. She finally gets up and stomps over to Payton and stands in the way of Payton's continuous circle and reaches for the purse. "Come play with dirt!" she demands, and to my complete surprise Payton actually puts the "curse" down and kicks off the heels(hitting Brooklyn in the leg with one which they both giggled at) and followed her over to the soft dirt to bake along side her very dominant and usually successful sister. For the past hour I have been treated to the beautiful sound of the two of them giggling and talking and sometimes full out belly laughing at the things they are creating. Right now I glanced out to see them chasing a butterfly across the yard. Isn't motherhood lovely?!

Allergies and Algophobia

I am not feeling at the top of my game today, due to the horrible feeling of my head wanting to detach itself from my body. Though tempted to let it float away on the breeze, I must keep it firmly planted where it stands and attempt to drift through my day in this allergy fog. The imbalance this is causing me is unsettling, because I am not steady on my feet on a good day, and I have an intense hate/hate relationship with pain. I have stubbed my toe and bruised my left shin twice already, so you can see where the day is leading!
The twins have decided that today they do not want to get along, and have proceeded to torture me with back and forth taunting all morning. One minute it is Payton crying and running to me, and the next it is Brooklyn. Unless they are hitting I feel that they should deal with it amongst themselves, and so you can imagine the carousel of crying, running, and being sent on their way!
I just want to climb in bed and feel sorry for myself, but am getting nowhere near that goal, and complaining is certainly not being helpful. With no fever, no cough and no excuses, I must barrel through my day until that blissful moment when Chad turns off the living room TV, or puts down the book and asks, "wanna go to bed?". I look forward to that everyday, but today, it will surely have a magical quality to it! Why wait for that moment you ask? Why not go to bed before him, or take a nap? Well, my sweet husband goes to work Monday through Friday, regardless of how sick or tired he is, or if he has a fever, or is just suffering from allergies. I watch my cousin's baby, so there is the first and most obvious reason for no nap, but the second is that I feel horribly guilty taking a nap when the poor man is trudging along out in the elements, feeling the same way I do. If he came home and plopped himself on the couch and did nothing I would probably not feel so bad, but he comes home and helps me referee the girls and get dinner started and pick up the daily disaster that is our living room after the kids go to bed. I also do not go to bed without him because we get so little time together as it is, I don't want to waste it sleeping in another room when I could be up talking his ear off. We are both enthusiastic talkers, and so always have plenty to say! He is also a human furnace, and our room is cold !
I sat down to write this as an escape from the girls and all of their bickering, and amazingly not once since I have been sitting here has a fight broken out! They just came out of their room holding hands, to show me a "magical leaf" for their ponies that helps them to fly! It is just a silk leaf from the cats scratching tree(yes, I have ugly trees for the sole purpose of entertaining the cat), but until today I was totally in the dark about their magical qualities! No wonder they please the cat the way they do! Well, I have to go make lunch for these two little beauties, have a great day!

Glove Update!

Well, the deed is done, and it wasn't half as terrible as I am sure my sweet husband imagined it would be! So, my father-in-law is now sporting a fresh band-aid(minus any cool cartoon characters, we go through band-aids too fast for anything high-dollar), and Chad can take a deep breath and move on!

"Wear gloves, I'm serious." :0

This morning I am going to be doing something that after today will never be spoken of again. I will start by saying Chad thinks I am crazy, and all I have as a rebuttal to that accusation is that maybe I am! My father-in-law has asked me to help him remove a medical object that was inserted into his neck for drainage reasons. Lets not get into the details any further than that, for those of you with weak stomachs, but my dear husband has insisted that if I am going to do this that I MUST wear gloves. He is obviously much more affected by the thought of this than I am, because three times last night and twice again this morning he made me promise I would wear gloves. He refused to talk about it any further, just those little ominous comments, "Wear gloves, I'm serious.". I am slightly amused by his trepidation, because usually the man is Mr. Tough Guy when it comes to wounds and stitches and basically any kind of bodily fluid. Well, that is not entirely true, because he can't handle vomit or toddler diapers that contain #2, so maybe I have an altered perception of how tough he really is. I guess the man can only handle his own wounds and various bodily fluid. Just goes to show you that no matter how big they are, sometimes you need a woman to do the job right, and in this particular case, to do it at all! He got a phone call the same afternoon requesting his services while his Dad moves this weekend, and I guess good ol' Dad called the right kid for the various jobs he needed performed. Why am I always the recipient of such calls? I must have the equivalent of a neon sign that blinks the message over and over, "I cannot say no, so ask me!". Still, the color of Chad's face when he gravely glove-commanded me was worth saying yes! I love that silly man!!

Why I shouldn't have to do laundry.....

I turned the corner of the hallway today with a big basket full of laundry, and ran right into a hysterical Payton. I tripped over her and sent the basket flying in a vain attempt to keep it from landing on her head. Well, it wasn't completely in vain, because it only landed on her legs, which were horizontal with the ground, and not on her pretty little head. Small victory. I did however manage to hit the wall behind me, because in my effort to lunge the laundry basket forward, I had to throw my body weight backwards, and my legs were just not prepared for the sudden shift. Other than a bruise on my leg(there is a baby gate resting against the wall I fell into) and clean clothes all over the floor, I am fine, and bruises are nothing new for me, I run into everything. I probably got tied up in the umbilical cord trying to free myself from my mother, you should hear my husband sigh when he hears me or sees me tripping over something. It's like "here she goes again". I will even yell out to him on occasion, "remember I tripped over that shoe when this bruise shows up!". You see, there are often bruises on my shins and sometimes the backs of my arms I can't remember getting, and that bugs him to no end. It doesn't help that I am like one giant banana. But I digress.

Payton was running full speed around that corner to tell on Brooklyn. Apparently Brookie and Payton were having a discussion about birthday cakes and cards. Payton has been all about birthdays lately, talking about hers and what kind of cake she wants(chocolate elephant cake with giraffe decorations) and what color she wants her presents to be(pink and purple and green and orange). She is really very excited to turn 4, she wants to be a big girl so bad, I just know this one is going to break my heart come the first day of Kindergarten! Anyway, it seems Brooklyn started to tell Payton that her birthday was coming up, and not Payton's. Just being mean, Brookie likes to get a reaction out of Payton, and Payton never disappoints! I was in the middle of reassuring the puddle of Payton in my arms that it was going to be her birthday too(still sitting on the floor of the hallway mind you) when Brooklyn comes out of my room and walks right up to us and says, " No Payton, its not your birthday, its mine!" I corrected her, and she just responds with a small "Oh" , but then when I turned to Payton(who was reduced to a pile of tears and gibberish......again) that she shouldn't listen to Brooklyn and yes it was her birthday, they were born on the same day, I look up and catch Brooklyn not saying anything, but shaking her head back and forth very, very dramatically as I was talking!! The child was reinforcing her lie by implying that I was the one doing the lying!! All of this behind my back as I am trying to calm her sister down from the fit she caused. That child is devious, and we are starting to suspect, some kind of maniacal genius, out to control the world.
I got Payton calmed down, and thought I had the incident resolved. I sent them both into the backyard to play, and stopped just around the corner while they were putting on their shoes, in case either one needed some help. Well, Payton needed help all right, but not with her shoes! The minute I was out of sight, Brooklyn leans over Payton's shoulder and whispers, " My birthday, you don't have one". Chalk this one up to Payton though, because she just turned her little head around and screeched right into Brooklyn's stunned face, "IT IS MY BIRTHDAY BE QUIET!!", then she went back to her shoes, and the problem was apparently handled. They went out to play and I haven't heard about birthdays in about two hours. Brooklyn does not handle retaliation well, so hopefully Payton will start to take these matters into her own hands. They don't hit much, but do frequently resort to yelling right up into each others faces simultaneously. You can imagine THAT joyful noise. It's the most fun in the car when I can't get to them, but at least that doesn't happen very often. Lucky for them.

In case I am drawing Brooklyn in a bad light, she is a very obedient, sweet girl to everyone...........everyone but Payton. I think she flexes her mean muscles on Payton simply because she has always been able to, but lately Payton has turned the tide, and more and more we catch her returning some of the favor. They also get along far more often than they fight, but usually their fights are much funnier than their tea parties or their pony villages!

I love you Mommy

My precious Brooklyn is not feeling well, she has a fever and is all stuffy. Whenever one of my girls is sick, they get to sit with Mommy all of the time, and they get extra special attention from me, being allowed to bug me for even the simplest of things. Sydney says it's our "sick rule", and she tells people things like, "ya, I was sick, but it was good, because I got Mommy all to myself almost the whole time." Well, the twins are apparently picking up on this unspoken rule quickly, because today after I gave Brookie her medicine I made her a cup of warm tea with honey, and she climbed up into my lap. Payton came over and Brooklyn said, "No Payton, I'm sick, you have to wait for Mommy".( it sounded more like," No payon, I'b ick, you hab to ate bor Bommy") Payton climbed up anyway and snuggled in on the other side of me. I have to tell you, that is heaven having each twin snuggled up on opposite sides of me, just enjoying each other and the quiet. Brooklyn leaned her head on my shoulder and looked up at me with her beautiful flushed face and said, " I love you Mommy, you make me feel all better when you hold me."(again, imagine it said with a stuffy nose, so cute!) I cried! I know, I am a hopeless sap, but come on, how sweet is that? I was thinking back to when we first found out that I was having twins, and how so many people had something discouraging to say, normally along the lines of how hard it was going to be, or how expensive. I don't think any of them meant anything by their carelessness, and despite it Chad and I always felt amazingly blessed. We had both wanted three children, but knew this was going to be our last pregnancy. We were overjoyed to discover that God had given us our hearts desire despite ourselves! And so each time I have a quiet moment with these little gifts from God, I am overcome with the simple fact of their shared existence. Could we have had one without the other? Surely not. So this is just my heartfelt thankfulness for God's amazing grace. After all, I didn't deserve even one of these children, let alone three! I will take my shack on the Rock over a castle in the sand any day!

Going Shirtless......

I have just discovered something wonderful about having all girl children, something maybe you won't find as convenient as I do, but I figured I would share it anyway, you can always stop reading! I was cleaning my kitchen sink, and decided it needed a good scrub with some comet. I got the comet out and my scrub sponge and slathered the first side before I realized my terrible error; I still had my good shirt on. Now, if you have ever seen me you know I have these ridiculous boobs sticking off of my chest, and my belly is right there with them, grazing the edge of the sink every time I lean over it. I was in a huge hurry because we were leaving, and so I just whipped off my shirt and cleaned the sink in my pretty lace bra!! No one batted an eye except my husband, and that was simply in appreciation. :) Now I do not recommend doing household chores in your pretty lace underthings, but in a pinch I don't have to worry about causing embarrassment or confusion by whipping off my shirt! Ya for girls!

Fur Chunk Mystery Solved!

Lately I have been finding little rolled up balls of dog hair on the floor of our house. Now maybe this is normal for some of you, but our dog isn't supposed to shed, and hasn't up until now as far as we know. Even if she was to shed, what kind of dog sheds large balled up lumps of fur? I would never want to own that retched creature! I am sure it goes without saying that this hairball development was causing a great deal of extra vacuuming, not to mention confusion. Well, today I have figured out the mystery! It seems that the cat, our itty bitty kitty, has been ripping chunks of fur from the dogs face when they play. I cannot be sure that all of the hair is from her face, but since I have picked up balls of it with my hands on several occasions, we are going to go ahead and say that's where they originated, just so I can feel better, because I have seen the cat attacking the dogs rear and face with equal measure. I usually find said hair chunks either in front of my bedroom door(they sleep there together because we won't let them in), and in the kitchen scattered around the cats climbing tree. I was baffled by the locations of the dog hair, but starting to suspect the cat had something to do with it. So I set out to discover how and maybe why. I caught them at last! I got up really early this morning, and actually got to witness the cat ripping hair from the dogs head and then spitting it to the side before going in for another swipe. The dog doesn't seemed fazed by this, so I guess I have to learn to just live with the little hair gifts they leave. At least they get along, how many people have a dog and a cat that wrestle?

Bean Burning 101

Tonight we had fajitas for dinner, and I tell you that to tell you this: I burned some beans. Have you ever burned beans? Don't, that's all I have to say to you. Don't. Chad is really into Mexican food, and so over the years I have tried to make certain dishes from scratch so that they would taste close to what he orders in the restaurant. I have finally gotten the rice to where it is pretty much the same as restaurant rice, and so Chad wanted to try making homemade refried beans.
He picked out the beans, and then today when he got home he soaked them for a few hours, and then it was my turn to try to turn them into something delicious. Well, I started too late, and the beans were still cooking in the liquid when everything else was ready, so I used canned beans and we sat down to eat. Only, I forgot about the beans boiling on the stove, and after dinner Chad and I got to talking on the couch. Payton comes into the room and gets this hilarious look on her face, kind of scrunched up and disgusted looking, and she asks, " Mommy what stinks?". I looked up and smelled, and then cried out, "the beans!" and almost sent her flying as I bolted into the kitchen. Calling them beans at this point is almost a lie, because what was under the lid of the pot was more like burning poo poo. It was this gross lump of black and brown lumps, all of the liquid was gone and I am pretty sure the pot has seen it's last supper. Poor pot, it didn't ask to be left on the stove, and now it's cooking days have been cut so tragically short. So all of the girls got a laugh at my expense, and Chad very diplomatically stated that maybe he should be in charge of the beans next time while I did everything else, or else canned beans would be just fine. The Mexican food night dinner duties doled out, we are left to face this weird burned bean fart smell that I can't get rid of. Maybe I should fry some bacon, because that might just cover it up, what lingers like the smell of bacon? I mean food wise, because we all have that someone special in our family that can clear a house after a trip to the bathroom! :) I did however earn the delightful new nickname "beautiful bean burner", bestowed upon me by my ever clever husband! My eyes are burning as I write this, it can't really be good to inhale burned beans. So the lesson in today's story is a watched pot might never boil, but an unsupervised pot will burn the beans!!

So many S's in Sleeplessness....

Another night of sleeplessness. Wow, there are a lot of S's in sleeplessness. E's too.
I know I should probably pray, and I even tried half-heartedly when I got out of bed, but I am so darn tired I can't think straight. Though I am typing this blog, so maybe I am lying to myself just a tad. I won't bore you with self-analyzing! I need to go to bed, I have to get up at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow. Let me give you a funny for your time though.

The twins often fall asleep in the car on the way home from picking Chad up from work every afternoon. Today was no exception. What was funny is that earlier today the girls had been lining their ponies along the ledge by the front door, and Payton would let out this funny little squeal of distress every time one of them would fall off and hit the floor. She would race around the wall to rescue them, and then Brookie would just knock them off again(there were a LOT of ponies on the ledge). Typical scenario with those two, nothing special. The funny part came when we pulled into the garage and it was time to wake them up to go inside. Chad took the baby and Brooklyn and went into the house with Sydney, and I went to get Payton. (I always get Payton, because she tends to be fussy when woken up) I open the back door and shake her shoulder, leaning over her to unbuckle the seat belt. She lurches forward and smacks me in the face reaching for something, and she yells, " aahhh, get them get them get them!!"( you have to imagine it in her little Minnie Mouse voice to get the full effect). I shushed her and then asked her who I needed to get, and she looked through me with glazed eyes and started reciting the names of the ponies that had fallen earlier! Freaky accurate too. I know, because I played with My Little Ponies when I was little, and I do now too, I like Sparkleworks :). She didn't calm down until we got inside and I showed her that all of the ponies were still on the ledge safe and sound and packed in like sardines. Apparently she had a nightmare about Brooklyn pushing them all off of the wall ledge.


OK, I read over that and it's just not as funny as I thought, but I have to go to bed, so a sub-par funny will have to do

P.S. I will pray right now, just in case you were worried I was going to shirk my duties. :)

Marginally Maternal

I watch my cousins 9 wk old Monday thru Thursday, and the twins have been good about making sure he has his pacifier and that his blanket is tucked in tight in his car seat. I have taken this as a great thing regarding Payton, because she isn't as nurturing as Syd and Brookie, which is fine, but it's still nice to see growth. Well, today I was holding the baby and singing a silly song, and at the end I would lean him towards Brooklyn and she would kiss the top of his head and giggle. Cute right? Well Payton walks in, and so at the end of the song I lean the baby towards her sweet face and Brookie squeals, "kiss his head!". Payton backs up quickly and yells, "EW! he throws up from his head!" and runs away. So much for growth!! I had no idea spit up had such a lingering effect on her. She wouldn't come near me again until after he left, and then she inspected my shirt for spit up before she would agree to climb into my lap. The girl has no problem expressing herself, that's for sure.

I have to tell you about my sweet Sydney and her conscience. Everyday when she climbs into the car after school I ask her how her day went. Most days she says fine and then launches into a frenzied monologue about what she had for lunch and what she did for recess, etc. If anything at all happened(and I mean anything even slightly negative) she will shake her head and look into her lap. Then that always follows with " Mom, I just had to tell you, it was pressing on my heart so hard....." and then the offending behavior. This happens even if it was something like she got caught doodling on her work paper when she should have been doing math. Not a criminal offense. Today she got into the car and answered with the normal "Good". She stared out the window as I told her about something funny the twins did, and all of the sudden she bursts into tears. She tells me, "God is pushing on my heart Mommy, and I just have to tell you, I can't take it anymore!" I brace for something bad like study hall or formal warning, and the dear child tells me the teacher caught her passing a note for one friend to another, and she said her name in the front of the class when she told everyone not to pass notes!! I love this kid! Now lets just hope this penchant for honesty carries through until high school, and we are golden!

Questionable Beach Practices...:)

OK, the way three year old's process the information pouring in from the world around them never ceases to amaze me! Today on the way back from dropping Syd off, I hear Brooklyn and Payton having a heated debate about where the dog should go poop. Payton insisted that dogs go poop on the grass, and that they were generally disgusting in nature. Brooklyn kept proclaiming that dogs should go poop in the "beach", and the argument escalated until Brookie was reduced to yelling, "poop in the beach" over and over. I ended the fight with a threat of a time out, but I couldn't let go of the strange proclamation of beach pooping! Once we got home I asked Brookie what she meant by Ko-Ko needing to poop in the "beach". She actually laughed at my silliness, and pointed to the cat's litter box, "The little beach Mommy, the one you bring home in the box for Sasha to poop in, then she wouldn't be disgusting!" and then she danced off calling for Payton, probably to share my ignorance over a cup of pretend tea.

no holding your breath :)

Hello friends! All two of you! I just started this, and I cannot promise I will write faithfully, if at all, but I wanted to leave something to thank you for inviting me to share your stories!
Tara