The Mother of Geese

Background: I did stories, prayers, songs, teeth were brushed, clothes set out for next day, kissed and hugged them so I was DONE with my duties for the day. Perspective: Abbie likes using Amelia as her lackey to do things she knows will irritate me but...who is going to get mad at Amelia, right? Scene: Doors opening, slamming, laughing, all kinds of shenanigans happening. Mommy goes up and firmly tells girls that's enough and its time for bed. (rinse, lather, repeat 2 times..) Mommy puts on her really mean face, and uses her really mean voice and tells the girls that its time for bed and that I don't want to hear or see them until the next morning. Brad even commented on my excellent Nanny 911ness and how good I did with the situation. When the morning comes around I find this little gem. (Translation-it says...) Do I love you No (answers own question) ROND UWA (runned away) Abbie D. (so I won't confuse her with the other Abbie's in my life) angry scribbling signatur...

For Abbie's birthday Brad thought it would be a good year for a pet. (We briefly considered a bird but I. just. couldn't. do. it.) We settled on a fish tank. Amelia gave her rocks. She was a little confused. When she first felt the bag through the wrapping paper she thought it was filled with M&Ms. Max gave her the little plants. I love how she is trying to be grateful and polite but really she has no idea what to do with a bag of rocks and pink plastic plants. Now its finally coming together.... Now she's figured it out! She is so excited for her pet. Getting the tank ready. Meet Richard and Lucy. They are a bit shy. In the next few days she hopes to add to the fun. (On a separate note I feel I must document this...When we went to the pet store I was holding Max and showing him the puppies. He was touching the window and the puppies were all climbing all over each other trying to attract his attention. It was so cute that I thought to myself someday I'm gonna buy m...

I was trying to be cheerful this morning and channel my inner nie chi at breakfast. I present to you: Eggs 4 ways Eggs number 1 : Hard boiled. Kosher salt. Period. Eggs number 2 : Scrambled yolk only. Barely tolerated. Eggs number 3: Scrambled whites and yolks. Cheddar Cheese. Requests for more. Eggs number 4: Over easy, english muffin, leftover asparagus. Ridiculous that I make 4 different types of eggs? Yes- its self-inflicted and I do the same for oatmeal. (steel cut for me, Harvest for Brad, Quaker instant for the girls, Gerber for the boy). What can I say, if I channel the nie chi I will do this happily, in an apron, and with red lipstick on.

I print off my blog and send it off once a month and I noticed a definate void in my youngest. It is sucha shame because he really is so pretty. Here is a little sample of what Maximo has been up to this week. He likes going out for pancakes with his sisters. But he loves sleeping on me while I eat his pancakes. He likes the after-party mess. (He rolled into this box then it fell on him.) He loves daddy's computer. He opened up his first web browser here. We are so proud.

There are a few things that I choose not to blog about for my own personal reasons. One of those things is where I go 3 days a week for a few hours-my job. I teach special needs seminary and have so many fantastic experiences but I am finding I am forgetting some of the precious things so I am breaking my rule today. We have special needs missionaries whose role is to assist in the classroom. For the past 3 years I have had one who has been somewhat of a challenge for everyone, but he finished his mission and I want to remember a few things about him in case our paths don't cross again for awhile. As I am thinking about this I am realizing that it won't make sense to anyone but me and you really have to know this kid. I know that most won't understand his "humor" or his more irritating behaviors, but I do and am really going to miss him. He calls me Sunny. (I think its from Danielson, son, sonny. not sure) On most days its Hey, Sunny! (I really tried to get him to...

Guess who turned 6 today? Yesterday was the birthday party at Build-a-Bear and we just keep a partyin'I decided to celebrate the whole day by taking her on 6 adventures. We went from place to place singing "Adventure number (insert number)" at the top of our lungs to the tune of Farmer in the Dell. It was a great day, but "I want to take a nap" can also be sung to the tune of Farmer in the Dell. Adventure Number 1: Jim's for Breakfast Adventure Number 2: Library to get her own library card. (you might think this was one of the more budget friendly stops, but actually we had like 30.00 in fees. Frickity Frick.) Adventure Number 3: Trip to the Dollah, Dollah, Bill ya'll store Adventure Number 4: Sundae at B&R. Bonus meltdown from Amelia-not on the agenda but whatev. Adventure Number 5: Get nails done by a professional (read-not mom) Adventure Number 6: Rent a red box movie on a weeknight and watch it in the basement so mom can sit and blog and think...

 

On a recent roadtrip with my brother in rural Oregon we saw this and it made me laugh. Look closely at the sign. I like how this carpet business is: A. Showing their support for the writer's strike by shutting down their own operations. B. Hoping that the Hollywood execs will drive by and decide to end the strike (this was in January). Anyone else amused by this sign? It might be something that can only be appreciated by my friend here.

Abbie, Grandma Stocker and I had a great afternoon excursion at here and I even found my pinky finger extending the more I sat there. I have been wanting to do it FOREVER! and we couldn't have picked a more perfect date. Take a lookey. They made Abbie her own special PB&J. Too bad she was more interested in the cucumber and watercress sandwiches. (Which was garnished with caviar. ooo laa laa) She did the most wonderful job as the hostess with the sugar bowl. I was trying to be discreet and take a picture of the table but I wanted to also make sure I captured the beautiful and talented harpist. (I'm sure she hates being recognized given her somewhat public status and most likely with horrible memories. In case she googles herself and afternoon tea I will just say that her name rhymes with Panizadeth Lart) And finally dessert. Abbie's little fruit tart fell on the floor. Her eyes welled with tears. (the bad mommy in me was tempted to say that it was really too bad that i...

Yesterday was "Dress as your favorite literary character day" at school. Of course, she mentioned this to me a good 10 minutes before hopping on the bus. I suggested she go as page 9 in David Shannon's No David! (the Come Back here David page) but we settled on Little Red Riding Hood. We pulled this off at the last minute. Speaking of literary character's, I might dress Amelia up as Daisy in Kes Gray's Eat your Peas. I'm pretty sure she learned this trick from her aunt Karen. On Second thought maybe Amelia could dress up as the little girl in the book "Get off the friggin' table for the 19th time today and don't take the cheese off the pizza while its still raw please and thank you" by Heather Danielson.

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Conversation with Abbie this morning: A: Mommy, the weatherman said it was going to be really hot today. Me: Oh yeah, how hot is it going to be? A: Like 30 degrees!!!! Now that's just sad that we are excited for thirty.

Yesterday was Abbie's 100th day of kindergarten. She made a poster using 100 things (she chose 100 smiles), they made necklaces using 100 beads, made hats, glasses and had a ball. She wanted to wear a shirt that had 100 stripes (I did NOT count them all), and wanted me to curl her hair using 100 curls (it was a little rodeo queen for my taste) They make quite the to-do out of it and since I am always up for a celebration thought I should make my own 100 list of Abbie in school: 100 days of: Louise, how long does it take to do her morning jobs (answer-2 hours)? 100 days of: Snap, where did she put her backpack? 100 days of: Hurry-Get your booty over here so we can say prayers cause you are going to miss the bus. 100 days of: Ahhh-I love the sound of the bus taking her to school... 100 days of: Wow-that was fast there's the bus dropping her off again 100 days of: Dang it-I better hurry and make her an after school snack before she walks in and loses it. The sad thing is she thoug...

As a mother I try to be firm, loving and fair. I try to teach my kids that for every choice there is a consequence, and if you break a rule, you will get punished. Well I'll be darned, did you know that if you leave a 2-year-old in a room with a pen you will likely have something that looks like this? It is much better after I checked the internet, sprayed it with hairspray, goo-gone, stain sticks, alcohol, oxy-clean, and 3 times in the laundry. Before I dole out the doom (not really) I had to stop and consider all the guilty parties to this fiasco and decide who really deserves it. Is it the one wielding the pen? Seems like she is the obvious choice since she actually did it, but what floors me is that there was plenty of paper right next to her on the desk. Is it the one who left the pen to tempt the offender? She can't help but tag or write something (albeit usually backwards) no matter where she goes. Plus she was in the room when it happened AND they were supposed to hav...

I am sitting on the computer watching the events of super Tuesday unfold and Abbie is sitting on my lap. I am explaining who the different people are and what they believe. I explained to her why some people don't think Clinton will win. (she's a woah-MAN) I explained to her why some people don't think Obama will win. (he's young and he has different colored skin and that scares some stupid people). I showed her a picture of McCain. She said, "Oh, he should not win because he is old and may die soon or somepin" I believe she has cast her vote for the young, hip trendy guy.

Or something like that. Perhaps Max has a future in dentistry just like his uncle and Grandpa.

Once a year I give Brad the opportunity to have some control over what is placed on the table. I usually need to present a few different menu options to get his mind rolling but generally as long I don't have "chic food" he's ok. (side note-oh yeah, I suppose the purpose of the party is to watch the super bowl but I so don't care about the game and I am torn about who I want to win--the team with the coach who wears a hoodie with the sleeves cut off-so classy, the team with dirty, dirty Tom Brady or the other team. Mostly I don't care) Since there was going to be more chics than dudes at the party (sorry Dad) I stretched the no chic food rule a bit. Chic food factor on a scale of 1-5, 5 being the highest. We had: Anne's balls-still laughing as I'm writing that. Chic food factor: 3. Chicken wings-no bleu cheese dipping sauce. Chic food factor: 1. Spinach dip-Brad's non-manly request. Chic food factor: 4. Obligatory Veggie Tray-chic food ...