To the Left

My kids say the funniest things! And I always think, "I should write that down." And then I don't. And then I forget what they said.

Last weekend Laurie stayed with us for a couple of days on her way back from Florida. I made my awesome slow cooker, French dip sandwiches and I was telling Laurie that the recipe called for a can of beer but that I used beef consomme instead. She said she had an awesome beef stew recipe that called for red wine and that she used the actual stuff.

Upon hearing that Eli and Cara both blurted out, "Laurie, you're not supposed to drink wine!"

Cara followed up with, "Laurie, you're supposed to choose the right, but you chose left."

The little urchins crack me up!

Cara the Character

Cara: "Mommy, heads or tails?"
Me: "Heads."
Cara: "I pick tails. So if it's tails I win, and if it's heads we both win. Got it?"

A TYPICAL PRETEND PLAY SCENARIO WITH CARA--------------------------------------------

"Mommy let's be elephants, you be the Mommy and I'll be the baby."
"Okay."
"Let's go over to the mud pit."
"Oh, baby elephant it's raining, do you want to get underneath me?"
"MOMMY, we're in a house, we're just "pretending" we're baby elephants!"
"Oh, oh now I get it."
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Yesterday we were playing with mini Strawberry Shortcake dolls Cara got for Christmas. Cara was S.S. and I was Orange Blossom.

Me (as Orange Blossom): I'm sad I don't have a Mommy? Will you be my Mommy?
Cara: No. You don't have a Mommy.
Me: I know that's why I'm so sad. (Choking back the tears)
Will you please be my Mommy?
Cara: Grrrrrr......... You don't have a Mommy. I've seen you on
the cartoon. No mommy!
Me: I really want a Mommy. I feel so alone, will you please
love me enough to be my Mommy?
Cara: .......................(agitated silence)
. . . . .

ARGH! YOU CAME IN A BOX!


Cracked me up. I couldn't stop laughing. I don't know why, but it really struck my funny bone.

Evil Times and Cornfused

Driving home from the corn maze today I happened to notice a home along the road that looked like a castle. I pointed it out to the kids and said, "Wouldn't you like to live in a castle?" "Yes!" squealed Cara. "No!" proclaimed Eli. "Yes you would Eli," continued Cara, "Then you would get to meet the king!" "Cara," said Eli in his all knowing voice, "Castles don't have kings any more, only in Evil times." "No," chimed Cara, "Castles have kings in Evil times and nice times."

The corn maze kicked us in the butt. We could not find our way outta the thing. Never-Say-Die-Kelly wanted to continue until we conquered it, but the kids were hot and whiny and eventually I convinced Kelly to wave our flag and surrender for assistance so we could be led out of the F.S.I. (Farm Scene Investigation). We were definitely mazed and cornfused.

We also went on a hay ride and the kids played on the many play structures and tried their hands at the games.

Very tired and thirsty by the time we left, we bought a gallon of the local apple juice and a bag of kettle corn and headed home.

Decided to go to the maze this year instead of Cox Farms because Joel broke his arm last Sunday (long story) and he wouldn't have been able to participate in the rope swing and other attractions at Cox Farms. Corn maze was also cheaper -- bonus!

Back to the Drawing Board my Sweet Boy

Cara was building a lego/bath toy tower when it suddenly toppled down. "Oh well, back to the drawing board," she sighed. I love listening to my kids developing language. When Cara talks I can hear phrases she got from Eli, Kelly, me and Joel. "A litle help here," is her favorite way to ask for assistance. She got that from Joel, but where he picked it up I don't know.

"Mommy, how can I save the world if I don't have a cape?" Also from Cara. If only it were that simple.

We went to Joel's hip hop recital today. He did really well especially considering he's totally uncoordinated and he's never had a dance class before, but he held his own. He was really nervous about it.

Last week when I told him it was time to go to class he started crying. Not unusual as transitions are difficult for Joel and if his mind is in the middle of something he has a really hard time accepting the change in routine. Usually he calms down in less than a minute or two and psyches himself up for the next activity by bucking up and resolutely saying, "I'll do it!"

But last week he kept crying and crying. I kept encouraging him to tell me what was wrong, but he couldn't. So I asked questions, "Are the kids mean?" "Is the teacher mean?". He shook his head no, but was still too upset to be able to verbalize and vocalize his feelings. Finally I asked if he could write his feelings down for me. I thought he would say no because he hates writing, but instead he proceeded to write me a note. That he readily accepted the writing "assignment" told me that he was feeling something deeply that he really wanted me to understand.

"Even though you try to make a healthy body for me and the kids understand, I still wanna take a break from hip hop. I'm not enjoying it. It's TOO much for me."

I felt really bad after reading it. I know I need to push Joel (or he'd never get off the couch), but was I pushing him too hard? I felt especially bad that he'd said he wasn't enjoying it. I told him we could definitely skip hop hop that day, and he let out a big sigh of relief and said through tears, "Thanks for understanding me mom." Ooooh, little pang to the heart, what a precious boy. I did ask him after he'd calmed down if he thought he could go next week (today) for the final performance, and he gulped and said yes.

So we went today. Joel was teary again, but he'd resolved to do it, so he was gonna. After all was said and done and I could tell Joel was proud of himself, I realized he wasn't enjoying the class because he was so stressed that he wasn't doing the dance perfectly. I know Joel has anxiety, but I don't always realize how much stress he feels in certain circumstances. I bolded and capitalized the word "too" from Joel's note because that's how he wrote it. While writing it he was gritting his teeth and bearing down on the pen as hard as he could.

While I do feel back that so felt so much stress. I'm glad he finished it out and came through feeling that it wasn't so bad afterall and that he'd licked it!

Hi I'm Joel

A couple of days ago I overheard Joel introducing himself on a pretend game show he had created. His intro went something like this, "Hi, I'm Joel Ethington, I'm a cub scout, I have a lot of cool dance moves and I can climb really high in trees." It's interesting to hear how he defines himself and I'm thrilled that he has such high confidence. I hope that's a characteristic that he never loses.

Cara saw me putting mascara on and said, "I wanna polish your eyelashes Mommy."

She's a character with personality plus. I can't quite figure out who she is going to be.

I'm way spoiled. Kelly took the kids grocery shopping today and hauled them all off to soccer. Then I went shopping all afternoon (the retail therapy kind) and then Kelly took all the kids to Microcenter with him when I got back. Then he had the gall to ask me to help him put them to bed. Je suis si sure!

Things the Kids Say

Joel and I were watching Project Runway and Joel was doing his usual scene by scene commentary, i.e. "I love the pink and the brown together, looks fabulous. That is so sexy." (He has no idea what he is really saying). Anyway the designers were surprised and annoyed about who was chosen winner and one of them said, "How could he win? What bleeping show is this anyway?" Joel responds, "Project Runway you idiot!" That made me laugh. He's so literal and can't imagine that one of the designers is so ignorant of the show she's starring in.

My mom was in the car with Kelly and the kids a little while back and Cara was singing. "Cara you have really good pitch for such a little girl," my mom commented. Enraged, Cara screamed back, "I NOT A LITTLE GIRL, I BIG!" Geez some people just don't know how to accept a compliment.

Cara was eating something the other day and says, "Umm, mommy this is really nummy!" Wanting to gobble on her little cheeks I responded, "You know who else is really nummy?" Before I even finished the sentence she shrieked, "NO! I not dessert!"

While driving to the playground today the kids and I noticed several American flags, one of them was at half staff. I explained to the kids that the flag was only halfway up the pole in remembrance of the innocent people who were killed on Septermber 11th (today) and Eli responds, "Oh the flag is lower because there is less people in the world now?" Uh, yeah kid, kinda.

Joel and Eli just completed their first week of school. Eli's first week of Kindergarten and things seem to be going well. I was pleased with both of their teachers and hope the year continues with that sentiment.

It's A LOT quieter at home. Eli's gone. Nuff said.

I'm so Talented!

Cara turns to me tonight and says, "I'm so talented!" She definitely thinks she's the cat's choicest meow, and I love it. I think everyone needs that overdeveloped sense of ego to make up for the knocks you're gonna get from the world once school starts and forever after.

I tried to cut the boys' hair the other night which a new (whatdaya call those things that are electric and have the graduated tips you attach to achieve different hair lengths?). Anyway instead of applying my usual method I followed the instructions and really screwed up Joel's hair. I tried to clean it up with scissors and convinced myself that it looked okay. Joel looked at himself in the mirror and said, "I look goooooood!" Later I asked Kelly what he thought of Joel's haircut and he said something like, "It's interesting." I asked him if it really looked that bad. "Uh, yeah." After hearing our conversation Joel again looked at himself in the mirror and yelled, "I look like a freak!" Kelly ended up giving Joel a full buzz cut at my request.

I Felt Lovely

Yesterday Kelly and I took the kids to the temple to walk around the grounds. Joel spider walked up the columns in front and all the kids climbed up the grated temple front doors. Any place is a jungle gym!

After leaving our mark on the grounds we headed to the visitor's center. One of the sister missionaries turned on the sound by the Christus statue. "Jesus talking!" Cara very excitedly pointed out to the rest of us. The sister missionary asked Joel if he'd written down how he felt after he was baptized. "No," Joel said, "But as a matter of fact I felt lovely."

Is that kid the best or what?

On the way to the temple Eli asked me if I had any more babies in my tummy. He let me know that he wanted another Cara. I decided not to attempt explaining that Kelly has had a vasectomy. I feel kind of bad that we're not having another baby for Eli's sake because at his age he would really get into feeling a growing baby in mommy's expanding tummy and be very excited at the birth of a new little one. He was a little too young when I was pregnant with Cara to appreciate the whole experience.

That having been said, there are a myriad of reasons we're not having another baby with the vasectomy being the least of them.

Cara's busy right now playing with her "Blue's" i.e. two Blue figurines and one Magenta. I LOVE to watch her play.

"Going to school Blue?"
"I wanna go too."
"Let's go to dancing class!"
"I have dancing class on Friday"

All said in that two year old girl voice so full of sweetness, wonder, pink rainbows and innocence. So yummy. It's beyond adorably adorable and I appreciate it all the more because I know what it's like to have a child that was unable to pretend play. And that ability is connected to so many abilities that we need later in life.