Dinner Conversation...

I love when everything comes together at dinnertime and you get just those few minutes to glance into your kids thinking. I had called everyone to wash up and come to the table for dinner. Emily and Ethan got there and sat in their places waiting for everyone else. This is the conversation...

Emily: Mom are we having mashed pataties for dinner? (Yes that's what she loves to call them)
Me: Yes
Emily: I LOVE mashed pataties.
Me: I love mashed potatoes too.
Ethan: Well if you love them so much why don't you marry them?
Me: I can't I'm already married.
Ethan: No mom not you. (at this point I walk away from the table and the conversation continues) I mean Emily.
Emily: HEY!
Ethan: I now pronounce you mister and missus mashed potaties. You may kiss the bride.
Emily: If I kissed them I would want to eat them and I would even if he doesn't have gravy.
Ethan:(giggles) If you eat them then you could get married again because your husband would be gone. (giggles all around)

So ladies, husband doesn't take out the trash? Doesn't put his socks in the hamper? If he's made out of mashed potaties you could always just eat him!

Ethan says...

Mom, I would like nighttime a lot more if it wasn't so dark!

Do you know how mad your Dad would be...

Anytime the kids are home for extended amounts of time (Christmas, Spring Break, Presidents day, weekends...) they always seem to find highly creative ways to keep themselves busy. Sometimes it's root beer races off the loft balcony, sometimes it's forming a path with all the books on the shelf and skipping over them in an impromptu game of homemade Candy land, sometimes its makeovers on the baby. Sometimes, like today, its filling in the touch pad on the laptop with peppermint chocolate candy. I walked in to the delightful smell of peppermint and declared in my most serious voice "Who did this?" Followed with "Do you know how mad your Dad would be if he saw this?" Four pairs of eyes stared back at me and one squeaky voice dared "No, how mad Mom?"

Silence...hmmm what to say...they had finally got me...

Moms since the beginning of time have been using that phrase. I swear they have. Its in cave drawings and Egyptian tombs. Small pictographs of moms warning their kids of the great wrath that will ensue when their father gets home. Its the ultimate scare tactic right? Not only did you get "Mom" punishments but you also had to spend the remainder of the day stewing in the void of exactly what was going to happen when Dad got home.

Ok so I may have overused that phrase but it was working well for so long. I just never really realized how much until one kid decided to go rouge on me and question the logic that is, well, me. I guess they are on to me since anyone who knows Erik is probably asking the same question. I'm not sure if mad is even usable for him. Guess I need a new threat.

12 Days of Christmas

We love Christmas music! We play it in the house, we play it in the car, we play it on the computer. When we are in the van we can plug in the ipod and listen to music but when we are in the car we can't so we have to listen to music on CD. I discovered this year that our selection of Christmas CDs is really lacking. When I took Emily to Karate class the other day she kept asking to listen to The 12 Days of Christmas. We listened to it over and over again all the way up and all the way home again. We are almost home when suddenly she exclaims oh I get it turtle doves! They are birds like doves but they are shaped like turtles but why are they singing about a fridge? Doves that looked like turtles...fridges...where we listening to the same song? I had to ask. Emily says yeah mom is says two turtle doves and a part fridge in a pear tree. How did they get the fridge in the pear tree and why is it only part. It was really hard not to laugh. When we got home I showed her the words to the song and we looked up turtle doves on the Internet. She seemed a little disappointed but I hope she never forgets her version of the song

Halloween

Okay so way past Halloween but way to worn out for more than this...sorry folks I'll get back on the ball promise! Alek was a cyborg (he designed it himself this year), Ethan the skeleton, Emily the cheerleader, Andrew was supposed to be a pirate but wouldn't put on the costume so he was a golfer instead, Eleanore was also a cheerleader (Emily felt that if she had to be a cheerleader then Eleanore did too, loooong story). Enjoy...

Preschool Bound...

Yeah for preschool! We finally got everything squared away and found a preschool for Andrew. Andrew HATES primary and hates being left alone without either me or Erik so we weren't sure how this preschool thing was going to play out. He was pretty apprehensive but you could tell that he was really excited too. He wouldn't go unless we let him wear his Wall-E shirt.When we got there he was met by his teacher Mrs Jones. She is originally from England and taught preschool, kindergarten and first grade there. She has lots of fun new ideas that I had not seen before. I was very happy that he warmed up to her so quickly, not something he usually does.

Now there are four of the five of them at school at least four days a week. The house gets really quiet for at least a few hours of the day.

Emily's Birthday

Happy 7th Birthday Emily! I can't believe that our Pim is 7! She was very excited for her birthday this year and started reminding me about it a month and a half in advance. (As if we would forget)
She wanted a Tini Puppi dog, new markers, some High School Musical stuff, lip gloss (i.e. lip smackers) and a pink and purple flower cake. It took some looking but we actually found the Tini Puppini dog. Andrew gave her the new markers and Alek and Ethan went in together and got her a High School Musical purse and High School Musical lip gloss.

It doesn't seem that long ago that she was little and watching never ending episodes of Dora the Explorer. Now we have turned a whole new page and are into High School Musical, Hannah Montana, and Wizards of Waverly Place. Crazy how time flies like that!