Maybe We Have Watched The Wizard Of Oz One Too Many Times!

Last Friday we had bad weather in our area along with some tornadoes. Since we live in a typical brick ranch house with no basement, our "tornado place" is in my daughter's closet that happens to be in the center of our house. Luckily, that Friday my husband had come home early from work because he was sick. I was thankful, and so were the kids, that he was there. It just made us feel safer somehow.

As the storm got worse the kids and I got into my daughter's room/closet and listened to the radio. J, oblivious to the situation, couldn't care less. As a matter of fact he thought it was fun being all together in a tiny space like that. M was a drama queen that just kept saying, " I KNOW we are going to have a tornado! I just KNOW it!," then she would add, "I'm totally freakin' out, Mom...totally freakin' out here." K was very quiet for the most part but you could just tell that her wheels were spinning in her head. After a while, K asked me in a soft, quiet voice (and quite calmly), "Mom, will other people land where I land?"

"What K?" I asked back, confused.

"You know mom, when the tornado picks me up and drops me, will I land where anyone else lands." she explained carefully.

I explained to her that although technically a tornado has done that and is capable of doing that, that hopefully that would not be our situation and that we were safe inside our house and people could rescue us here if in fact a tornado hit our house.

I just couldn't get over the differences in my girls thought processes. My oldest "freakin' out" and my youngest worried if she would "land where anyone else landed." She is such a deep thinker, but what's more amazing than that is that she has such a calm spirit. And if anyone is wondering which personality type I am...Well, that would be daughter #1. I was "FREAKIN' OUT" myself.. I have just learned to stay quiet in front of my kids so I don't make matters worse. It's hard though, REAL hard!

Interview

Here is an interview with my two girls, M (8 yrs old) and K (6 yrs old). This was originally posted on Facebook, but thought it would be fun to also document it here. It's amazing to hear what they actually think of me!

1. What is something mom always says to you:
M: No
K: I love you


2. What makes mom happy?
M: Being good
K: Umm, hugging.


3. What makes Mom sad?
M: Not being good
K: Being mean

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
M: Tickling me
K: Tickling me


5. What was your mom like as a child?
M: I don't know
K: Play a lot


6. How old is your mom?
M: I don't know
K: Wait, how old are you?...Maybe forty something.

7. How tall is your mom?
M: About 5 feet
K: About 5 inches


8. What is her favorite thing to do?
M: Love on her children
K: love on me a lot


9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
M: Nothing
K: she works every time


10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
M: Love
K: I don't know


11. What is your mom really good at?
M: Files
K: She's good at working


12. What is your mom not very good at?
M: Taking care of the dog
K: babysitting us


13. What does your mom do for a job?
M: Files
K: works all the time


14. What is your mom's favorite food?
M: Spaghetti
K: steak..that's my favorite


15. What makes you proud of your mom?
M: I love her and she is the best mom I have ever had
K: she makes me proud about hugging me a lot


16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
M: Minnie Mouse
K: Daisy


17. What do you and your mom do together?
M: Love on each other
K: sometimes we play games with each other


18. How are you and your mom the same?
M: We both have freckles
K: we both have a little bit of..umm..wait...I don't know...I just don't know


19. How are you and your mom different?
M: We don't have the same hair color
K: We don't have the same eyes

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
M: Because she is always nice to me
K: By kissing me


21. What does your mom like most about your Dad?
M: Kissing each other
K: Kissing

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
M: Disney World
K: Wendy's

Oink, Oink

Last night, getting the girls ready for bed, K said to me, "Mommy? This morning when I woke up I heard a pig noise."
"What? In your room?" I asked.
"Yes, it came from my mouth. A pig noise..sounded just like a pig," she replied.
"K, that was you snoring," I informed her.

That just cracked me up!

Embarrassed to say, she takes after her mommy! Maybe K and I should bunk together and saw a few logs together and my husband can get some rest in her bed!

Not So Berry Sweet Today

My 2nd child, K, is usually very easy to please. She has a great disposition. She is a people pleaser. She has a sweet nature about her. She is usually so very obedient. I say, "usually" because today she shocked me...

We were just about to head out to get M from school, when K asks if she could have some strawberries for a snack. We were rushed, so I told her that she would have to wait until we came back home from getting her sister. Usually this would have resulted in her saying, "Ok, mommy," but instead it resulted into a little meltdown for her.

K: "I want strawberries!"

Me: K, you will have to wait."

K: Crying, tears, stomping of feet, "I want strawberries now. It will take too long!"

Me: "K, don't talk to Mommy like that. You are not being very nice....Watch Out."

(By now we were on our way, driving to the ever dreaded car pool line.)

K: "But I want strawberries! Turn around the car. I want strawberries!" she continued.

(I am growing very inpatient myself at this point)

Me: "K, do you want me to pull over this car and give you a spanking?"

(Pause)

K: "I wish your Daddy was here right now...I wish Grandfather was with us in this car."

(Oh, I know where she is going with this. She is wishing MY dad were here to give ME the spanking! And he very well might if he reads this post..)

Me: "Why?"

K: "Because I love him, that's why."

I think she realized that the ugliness she had been displaying wasn't getting her anywhere, so she was trying to turn it around to being sweet and loving again. (Finally, my old K back)

So about two whole minutes passed of quietness. No more tears. No more fussing. Ahhhhh...this felt nice. Peace. And then from the backseat...

"I STILL want strawberries."

Sensei T

Big sisters can be so mean sometimes. The other night, apparently, M had been telling her little sister, K, about burglars. As I tucked K in bed, she informed me that she was scared of burglars. She asked if we had burglars in our town. I somewhat dodged the question, so as not to add to her fears, and so I told her that God would protect her and so would her daddy. She seemed comforted enough, so I turned out the lights, gave her a kiss, and was leaving her room when she said, " Mommy?"

me:"Yes, honey?"

K:"Does Daddy know Karate moves?"

me:Smile, giggle...."Yep, he sure does. You have nothing to worry about, I promise."

I know it's wrong to lie, but sometimes you just have to go along with it because it's so darn cute! Especially when they think their Daddy is a strong, karate master, "can do anything" kind of guy. I love it that they see their dad so strong and mighty...and he IS, even IF he doesn't know "karate moves."

Future Neurosurgeon or Botanist

The following was told to me today by K's little neighbor friend. Now, she is only five, but this might give us some clue to why our education system is the way it is today. Oh my....these kids are the future of tomorrow:

"Do you know who Johnny Appleseed was? He was, like, the first guy on the planet...ya know,like, when there were only leprechauns and Indians and stuff? And he is the one who made the apple. We got to wear these things on our heads at school to celebrate his birthday....Man..that was so cool."

I think she is a little confused.

No Elderly Fish Allowed!

M found a coupon for a free goldfish the other day and ever since she has been pestering me to go to the pet store to redeem it.

We have never been very successful with goldfish. I think we have had three or four and none of them has lasted more than a couple of weeks. The last one, I think stayed alive maybe about 3 or 4 days. I think a large reason that we couldn't keep one alive is the fact that M was so young that she would stick the little net in the bowl, get out the fish, hold it a minute and then plop it back in the bowl. I don't think she was quite old enough to grasp the fact that a goldfish is not exactly the type of pet you can hold, stroke, and love.

Never the less, here we are, probably about to enbark on another goldfish adventure. We will see how long it last. The funny thing is, when M was telling me to go to the store to get her fish, she said to me, "Mom, make sure that you tell the man that we want a new fish, not an old fish. I'm pretty sure that last time he gave us an old fish that was just 3 days away from dying."

She obviously holds no guilt for killing a few goldfish in the past, because she says it's not our fault at all.....we OBVIOUSLY just had an "old fish."

I assured her that I would indeed ask for a young and new fish when I went......Hilarious!!!

Panicked For Nothing

The other night J was crawling around on the floor and he bumped his head on the door. He started to cry, but nothing horrible, so I wasn't in any "rush" to get to him, although I was making my towards him, when M (the second Mommy in the house) hurries over to him, scoops him up on her hip and started screaming, "J knocked his tooth out! He knocked his tooth out! Oh, No...He knocked a tooth out!"

She was panicking and she was holding something in her hand that she had picked up from the floor beneath him. I was not panicked, but I was startled and upset by it. I grabbed him from her and just hugged him first, trying to console him...all the while thinking in my head, "Poor little guy. He'll have a missing tooth for the next 7 or so years....Poor little boy."

Then, I pulled him away to look at his mouth, expecting a face full of blood, and about the time I looked at his clean mouth, M says excitedly, "It's a piece of a goldfish. It's not his tooth.. it's not his tooth! Oh mom, it's not his tooth, it's just a goldfish cracker."

Ahhhh, sigh of relief from all of us. Then M and I just looked at each other through our tears and started belly laughing. I'll never forget that moment!

I guess if he had lost some teeth we could have gotten him a nice set of dentures, but then again, he might have turned out to look like this kid:

Future Fashion Queen...(I hope)

Yesterday M and I were about 10 minutes from leaving the house for the school's "Meet Your Teacher Night" and I was wrapping up something on the computer (let's be honest here, I was probably reading someone's blog!)when I noticed M and her sister were strangely quiet and no fussing or whining was occuring. It was time to go, so I called for M and she came out of my bathroom "ready" to go. She was dressed in a pair of white jean capris pants that were at least 4 sizes to small, a turquoise shirt (also too small), a pair of my high heels, and her face looked like Bozo the clown...no, worse. She had on blue eyeshadow, lip stick and mascara! She looked like she should be walking the streets, if you know what I mean. She certainly didn't look like she was going to an elementary school to meet her 3rd grade teacher.

Needless to say I quickly took off all of her makeup and made her put back on her other clothes, but the whole ordeal completely stressed me out. We were now late and there I was with a little girl that had remnants of mascara under her eyes and pink cheeks where I had rubbed with tissue to get the makeup off as quick as possible.

We were heading out the door when I realized my wallet was missing from my purse. I remembered to earlier in the day when I caught M going through my wallet and told her to put it back where she had gotten it. She obviously got side-tracked before returning it to where it belonged, and now I sat there fuming that she couldn't remember where exactly she had put it. We eventually found my wallet behind the sofa cushions, along with some cracker crumbs, a few cheetos, a hair barrette, a toy, and some things that were, ugh well, unidentifiable.

After meeting her new teacher, we stopped by a convenient store and as we were leaving I noticed a woman standing pumping her gas. She was dressed in crop black pants, a black and white top, black stilettos and a "Dick Tracy" type of hat that was ever so perfectly cocked on her head. I said to M, "Look at that lady. That's almost crazy."

Her response to me was, "Yeah....Crazy FABULOUS!"

I just couldn't help but think: All in one day my (almost) 8 year old daughter has dressed like a street walker, confiscated my wallet and credit cards, and has admired a lady in a very "mature" outfit. Needless to say, worry then set in and rightfully so.

I know this is just a funny story of my growing girl, but it got me to thinking, that I want to raise a virtuous young lady. She is just "on loan" to me and I so desperately want to always say and do the right thing, but know I fail miserably most of the time. I know God will step in where I make mistakes, and make them right and good, for he never makes mistakes. I know He cares and loves them more than I do. But right now they are here for me to care for, instruct, love and discipline and I'm finding all of that a little overwhelming at the moment. My children are gifts for which I am so grateful. All I want to do is raise them well, and most importantly, raise them to love the Lord.

Confusion with Words

Last weekend while visiting my brother and his family, my girls slept on a pull out sofa for 2 nights. After the first night K came up to me the following afternoon and said to me, "Mommy, my sheets last night were greasy."
"What!?," I asked. I was very confused because my sister in law is one of those "Super Moms" and always keeps a clean house.
"Greasy?" I continued.
K thinks long and hard and says, "No. I mean it was kind of crusty."
"CRUSTY??" I am still bewildered that she would refer to her sheets as greasy or crusty.
K thinks about it some more, knowing that she is just not saying the right word, and she finally comes up with, "No, It was sandy."
"Oh," I replied. This makes more sense to me, but still, SANDY?? In North Carolina? In the Mountains? No where near any sand?

That evening while crawling back into the sheets for her final night sleep there, we discovered that the sheets were actually CRUMBY...not greasy, not crusty, not really sandy. I am thinking that her older sister snuck some cookies in the bed the night before!

Cheeseburgers and Fries=Belly Fat

K likes to play pretend drive up. This is where she gets out her little cash register and her play food and she speaks in her microphone, "Welcome to ----. May I help you?" For some weird reason, she especially likes to play this when I am in the tub. Instead of what could be a nice, relaxing time for me is spent playing drive up window.

The other day we were playing "Drive Up" and she kept changing the restaurant name. ..."Welcome to Wendy's. May I help you?.....Welcome to McDonalds. May I help you?" and so on. She ran through the entire fast food chains that I know about! After having enough, I said, "You know, K..I think I don't need any more fast food. I'm getting a little fat." She looked right down at my belly and then looked up at my face and said, "Well, Mommy, let's just PRETEND."

I think I myself have been "pretending" long enough. Time to shed some lb's. Anybody have any ideas on how to lose it in 2 weeks before I have to go to the pool with my kids? Oh I wish I had a magic wand!

I love my little girl, despite her indirect criticism. She doesn't care what I look like in a bathing suit at the pool, afterall. All she really cares about is pretending she works at McDonalds and playing with her Mommy. I hope this doesn't indicate what her future employment might look like. (I couldn't resist putting the song "McDonald's Girl" by Weird Al on my playlist!)

K's likes & dislikes

(Told to me by K...these are her words)She is four years old

Five things I like:

1. I love my Daddy
2. I love my Mommy
3. I love my brother & my sister
4. I love when I get hot chocolate
5. I like M's Hannah Montana poster

Five things I dislike:

1. I don't like M hitting me
2. I don't like bugs
3. I don't even like if you give me coffee
because that's too hot
4. I don't like my baby brother naked
5. I don't like eating horses

(I promise I have NEVER served my children coffee OR horses!!!I have no idea where this came from!)

The Color Purple

Have you ever just tried to have a moment to talk with a friend or a loved one without the kids present? My mom was over this afternoon and we were trying to have a conversation without the constant interruptions from the girls, so I sent them to color in the next room. After a little conversation and still a whole lot of interruptions, (despite my efforts) the girls reappeared in the room with us and this is what I discover:

And of course the story was, K: "M drew on my feet."
M: "Well, K told me too."
I think I'm punching out for the day...Tomorrow is another day.

Cheese!? What??

My sister and her children live several states away from us, in TX, and we really don't get to see them too often. My children loved it last week when her kids (their cousins) came for a visit. Sadly, they left yesterday and my girls were so upset to see them leave, knowing it might be a while before they see them again. I guess K's wheels got to turning, trying to figure out a way for us to be closer to them--and then she had it! "Mommy, we can go live in TX. (brief pause) And we can take our cheese there."

O.....K....What? Not sure the brain is working so good....I guess, in her little brain she was worried if we moved to another state that they might not have her favorite snack there. I wish that was the extent of my worries, don't you?

From the Mouths of Babes

It's no secret to most of you that K watches too much television. I know this and am trying to do better. It's just so easy when I am working for her to watch tv. I know (mom)...books, puzzles..(trust me, I hear you every day in my head)! Well, apparently because of all this TV time, she has learned a few important things from advertisements. Like the fact that I, apparently, need the Purse Bright Lighted Handbag Organizer, or that she needs the tikki hut that goes with her Hanna Montana barbie. Just a wealth of information!

Well, last night a commercial came on (one which she had obviously already seen) and K says, "Oh mommy, watch this. You really need this". I want you to know that it was a commercial for Aveeno Ageless Cream that promised to reduce fine lines and wrinkles! (Gulp...reality check)
Reluctantly I questioned her..."K, why does Mommy need that?"
"So your skin won't be icky," she responded.

I seriously hope she meant,"won't GET icky" instead of "be icky". To maintain any level of self image I may have, I'm convincing myself that she was only trying to prevent the aging process, not stop it. Nevertheless, I think I really might try this cream in fear that if I don't, I might look like this in a few years:



Couldn't resist this picture! I thought it was hysterical.
You all have a happy day!

Lady and the Tramp

Tonight T and are going out! I don't think I've been out, alone with my hubby, in over 6 months, and then I was miserably pregnant and probably just dying to come home and put on my pj's. Well, NOT tonight. My mom has agreed to babysit my 3 for a couple of hours to which I am so grateful. I am watching the clock tick already and it's only 9:48 am. Can you tell I'm extremely excited about going out?

Yesterday I explained to my kids that their Grandmother was going to babysit them Saturday night and M asked, "Why?"

"Because your Daddy and I are going on a date," I replied.

"O.K. I know what y'all need to do. You need to go somewhere and order spaghetti. When you get it, you share a noodle together, suck it up....and then you kiss," M says.

I wonder where she got this idea? Maybe from a certain Disney classic?


Well, even so, it's still cute that to a seven year old this is her kind of romance. My how that will change as she grows older and has children...'cause my idea of romance these days would be a bubble bath, some candles, a good magazine and to be totally alone (sorry honey). OR, eight hours of uninterupted sleep would be even better. I clearly need to change my thinking on this within the next few hours, because a quiet dinner with my husband and good conversation sounds very romantic right now too.

Now, I just have to find something to wear ...better get started. That in itself could take all day.

Big and Squishy

Ok, only about 5 minutes have past since my last post, but I had to share this. I was passing K by the side of my bed (not very roomy) and she said, "Your big and squishy, Mommy." .......O.K. (gulp)....The Lord does work in mysterious ways, doesn't he? I think he was using my child to tell me something here. I'm not willing to overlook that, so, Girl Scouts, HERE ME NOW...I retract everything I just said in my previous post. DO NOT come to my house next year. I repeat, DO NOT. I don't need anymore "sympathy boxes" either. Stay away. I don't want to be known as "big and squishy" ANYmore.

And that's all I have to say about that.