Serendipity

A week or so ago I bought Zoey a pair of fairy wings and a little fairy tutu. They were at the dollar store and she really wanted them and I thought hey why not.

They sat in the closet until last Saturday when she saw then and asked to put them on.

She's been wearing them non-stop since. She wakes up and immediately wants to put them on. And cries when I tell her she has to take them to go to bed. She insists that I call her fairy, not Zoey. And she walks around the house turning everybody and everything into frogs.

So, last night for the first time I put Peter Pan in for my kids. We've had it for quite some time but they have never been interested in watching it. But I told Zoey it had a fairy in it and she got all excited.

She watched for a while and then came to me, very distraught, because Tinkerbell didn't ever talk. And she wanted to see a movie where Tinkerbell talked.

And here's where the Serendipity comes in. Because just yesterday while running errands and listening to Radio Disney in the car I heard that the direct to DVD Tinkerbell movie was set for release today! Seriously, could that have been better timing?

Zoey's so obsessed about it that she came wandering into my room this morning around 6:30 and typically the first thing out of her mouth is "I want a sippie of milk." But this morning she peeks up over the side of my bed and says in her best whiny voice "Mom, I really want to watch a movie with Tinkerbell talking."

And so, being the softie that I am I have promised that as soon as I'm out of the shower we'll go to Target and buy the Tinkerbell movie. And it will be a cheap made for DVD movie probably with no plot. But Tinkerbell will talk in it and that will make my 2 year old insanely happy for at least a week or two. Which is proof that sometimes money can buy happiness...at least temporarily.

It's my blog and I'll brag if I want to

I know you're all getting weary of the way I go on and on and on about how smart my kids are. But I'm really crappy about keeping a journal of all the funny things they say and do and somebody they may want to know and I know by then I'll have forgotten, so if I don't blog about it then it will be lost forever and then how will they know how smart they were? The point is, if you're tired of hearing about how smart my kids are then you'll just have to stop reading my blog because I'll likely just keep writing about it.

But don't really stop reading my blog. Because well, then I'd be sad. And I'd miss you. And you may not admit it now but you'd miss reading it, too. Because my kids are so cute and smart and funny. And I have a charming writing style to capture their antics. And it's the highlight of your day to read it. Or maybe it's not. But could you pretend it is? Okay, thanks.

So, where was I? Oh yes, my smart kids.

This morning Adam was playing with the letter magnets on the fridge. He asked me to help him spell Lion. Then he told me he was going to spell Lamb. So he sounded out the L and the A and the M. And then said "Look mom, I spelled lam." I told him he needed to put a B on the end of it to spell lamb. "No, mom, it's just l-a-m. There is no B." I tried to explain to him that some words were kind of silly and weren't spelled exactly the way they sounded. But he wasn't convinced. After about 4 attempts I gave up. At our house Lamb is now spelled lam because the 4 year old knows best.

This evening I had some vinyl letters that the kids were playing with. I was sticking them to their shirts and spelling words with them. I didn't have an entire alphabet. Just some random letters.

So Adam tells me he wants me to spell car on his shirt. I look over the letter and then tell him I don't have an R. He looks at the letters I do have, thinks about it for a minute and then says, "Okay, just spell vehicle then." And, surprisingly enough I had all the right letters to spell vehicle.

Seriously, where does he come up with this stuff?

Will the wonder never cease?

This morning Adam was telling me all about his day at Grandma's house yesterday. He's talking along, telling me about this and that, and then he says "And eventually grandpa put his socks and sweater on."

I know that it shouldn't surprise me anymore. Adam is always using big words, and using them correctly. But it still catches me off guard and makes me giggle just a little. Because until you've heard a 4 year old use the word eventually, well, you just really haven't lived.

There's no June Cleaver here!

I think Zoey must get up in the middle of the night, sneak downstairs, turn on the TV and watch old re-runs on Leave it to Beaver on TV-Land. I don't know where else she gets her ideas about how mothers act, because she certainly doesn't get such crazy notions from me!

Let me back track just a moment. See, for a very long time Zoey didn't play with girl toys. Like at all. She had a doll or two but they stayed on her shelf most the time because she preferred to play cars and trains.

But in the past few months she's been playing with her "girl toys" more frequently.

Here's where it gets funny though. She goes through a very specific ritual each time the "girl toys" are out. First she has to get all prettied up. She puts on her princess crown and her high heel princess shoes and all the princess jewelry. I mean all of it. Necklaces, rings, earrings, the works. And then, and only then, does she pick up her doll and feed it a bottle, or put it in the stroller to go for a walk.

And I seriously don't know where she has gotten the impression that she has to dress to the nines to take care of her baby. Because it certainly wasn't from me! Most days I wear sweats around the house, and my hair is in a ponytail, if I even bother to comb it. I'm really about as low maintenance as the come! In fact on Sunday I put on eye makeup and Zoey is so unaccustomed to seeing me wear makeup she actually asked me what was wrong with my eyes. I told her I was wearing makeup and asked her if she thought it was pretty. She pulled a funny face and told me no.

So you see, it's not from my stellar example that she gets the impression that mothers dress up in heels and crowns to take care of the baby. Which brings me back to my original assumption. She has a closet addiction to Leave it to Beaver. That, or she's just trying to overcompensate for my lack. I better start saving money now, she may need therapy someday.

Simply Amazing

Right now everything is amazing to Adam. He finds ways to throw the word amazing into just about every sentence.

"Mom, I ate all my carrots. Isn't that amazing?"

"Zoey, it's snowing outside! Isn't that amazing?"

"Wow! Look how big the moon is! It's amazing!"

"I built a tall tower of blocks. Do you think it's amazing?"

Yes Adam, it's amazing. And so are you!

Would you like a hug with your fries?

We went to Iceberg for for dinner last night.

I was sitting in the booth with the kids, Adam sitting by my side. He slides across the booth bench and puts his arms around me and says "I love you so much mom."

I said, "Really? For how long have you loved me?"

He says, "Oh, for a day or a two."

"Well," I told him, "that makes it the best day or two of my life!"

Guess that Costume

Several of you have asked what my kids are going to be for Halloween this year. I haven't responded yet because it's top secret. Okay, not really. I just haven't responded yet because I just plain haven't gotten around to it.

But as I was working on costumes this afternoon while the baby slept I thought that instead of telling you it would much more fun if I made you guess. I will give you a few clues.

Clue 1: Harrison's costume, thus far.



Clue 2: The fabric (which is a thick upholstery-like fabric) I will be using for Zoey's costume, assuming I actually make it that far. The sewing is coming along painfully slow.



Clue 3: Ha, there is no clue 3! Because Adam's costume is already finished! (I'm borrowing it from my sister-in-law.) So I can't show it to you, that would be too easy!

But you should be able to infer what Adam's is if you guess what the other two are going to be because, and here is your real clue 3, all three costumes go together in a theme.

Have you guessed yet?

Didn't see that coming

As if i needed more proof, a few minutes ago Zoey and Adam were eating fruit snacks together. Adam was sitting on the bottom stair and Zoey went over and plopped herself next to him and said "Adam, you're my best friend." Seriously. And it was so sweet I was grinning from ear to ear.

In fact, I thought it was SO cute that a minute or so later I said "Zoey, who's your best friend?" Without stopping to think she smiled very big and said "Adam."

So then I turned to Adam and said "Adam, who's your best friend?" He sighed deeply and rolled his eyes at me. I waited a couple beats and then asked him again. "Adam, who's your best friend?" Again he sighed and then looked at me and said, "I'll just have to think about it first."

Smile pretty for the camera

I have hundreds of snapshots of my children. But the above portrait is the one currently hanging on my front room wall. Because it's the most current one I have. And this particular photo session was over a year ago. So, I thought it was time to update my wall portraits.

And then I remembered why it had been a year since we last attempted portraits. Because you know that old adage they use in Hollywood, never work with kids or animals? Well, it's because of kids like mine!

Because I pick out cute clothes and try to make sure they are napped and fed and I have brilliant ideas in my mind of how they are going to turn out. But inevitably they always turn out something like this:



I can still hear Zoey screaming as Adam tries to climb out of the picture.

or this:



What is up with that look on Zoey's face? And apparently Adam was concerned about being included in the picture.

Or my personal favorite:



Don't they just look tortured?

Why I can't I have a nice portrait like this to hang on my wall. I would order a HUGE canvas of that print.

Or one like this, because they may not smiling, but it still looks great! Because at least nobody is crying.

These girls sat in a truck. So why wouldn't mine sit in a wheel barrow? Why? Why?

Of course there are a few gems. See, we were trying to get Zoey to lean against the fence all coy like.



And, as you can see, she just wasn't getting it.

So of course, the older sibling felt it was his responsibility to show her how.



And he did a great job, too bad he's still holding that stinking train that I kept begging him to put down!

Oh well. Now you'll all understand when I don't send out Christmas cards with a family portrait on it.

Don't count your chickens before they hatch

Okay, this really has nothing to do with chickens. I just didn't know what else to title this post. It could've just as easily been called knock on wood.

Because, you see, Harrison has now slept the entire night in his own bed for two nights in a row now! And he slept in his own bed for his nap yesterday and he is in his own bed taking a nap right now.

It's a beautiful thing. And sad, too. Mostly good. But he is my last baby. And there is something really sweet about a sleeping baby and I'm sure at times I'll miss his sweet sleeping self next to me in bed. Yea, call me crazy. I actually enjoy (most the time) my baby sleeping next to me.

But they hit a certain stage when they turn into wiggle worms when the sleep. And then it's time to ship them off to their own beds.

And that time has arrived. Is it always so bitter sweet when your kids grow up? And if I'm this sentimental about Harrison sleeping in his own bed what on earth am I going to do when Adam starts kindergarten next year?