What Did I Just Say?

An interesting fact about my five-year old: she loves nature shows. She will become glued to the TV at the onset of any such program. It has baffled me in the past but, since they are probably more educational than a lot of other shows on TV, I let her watch them. I usually try and "edit" out the savagery the best I can. As soon as the Orca whale jumps out of the ocean to gobble up the cute little penguin I jump at the remote, change the channel, and ta-da...the show's over. It's worked so far for me.

Ian, however, doesn't seem to have the same censorship requirements that I do. While I was gone yesterday Ian and the girls had some father-daughter bonding time watching a nature show about Forest Tigers. At one point a tiger jumped out of the foliage to grab a passing deer. He then dragged it's torn and bleeding carcass through the trees to it's hungry family. Ian let it run and Lindy kept watching, intrigued.

Of course, I found out all of this much later in the day. Upon walking in the door I was greeted by both girls pretending to be animals. Lindy was a tiger. Ellie was a deer. (Guess whose idea that was.) And now?...I've actually heard the following phrase come out of my mouth more than once: "Lindy, please don't pretend to eat your sister." Sheesh.

The Graduate

Today was Lindy's last day of preschool. She has learned so much over the last couple of years. She absolutely adores her teacher, Mrs. Gray, and really seems to enjoy learning new things. It has been a lot of fun, as a mom, to see her figure out so much about the world around her and learn to express herself. They had a small graduation ceremony. Lindy was asked to give a speech on patriotism. She worked so hard to memorize the entire thing. When it was time for her to talk she was able to give her speech all by herself. I  was so proud of  her. 

Lindy will be going to kindergarten this fall. I feel like I blinked and suddenly my little baby girl grew up! I'm glad we have this summer. I'm going to need a little prep time before letting her go out into that big world by herself!

Lindy, we're so proud of you and all your hard work. Congratulations on making it this far!

That Man of Mine

About 10 pm last night our house reached melting point. As I was about to perish from heat exhaustion, my handy-dandy husband took some advice from A/C Repair Expert Aaron and headed out into the night to make one more attempt at fixing our air-conditioner. He did a little of this, then a little of that and lo and behold...it started working! I felt like giving that man the biggest hug EVER! (Ian, not Aaron...no offense).

It got me thinking...I have many, many reasons to love my hubby. So, in order to list a few of those reasons I've compiled a list of the Top Ten Reasons Why Ian's My Soulmate: 

10. He can fix practically anything. (I think he saved my life today!)

9. He allows me to be overly dramatic about the loss of air conditioning (and the many other things I'm repeatedly overly dramatic about).

8. He lets me plan trip after trip to Disneyland.

7. He not only puts up with my crazy family...I think he might actually like them!

6. He loves Waterton Lakes National Park as much as I do.

5. He encourages me to spend time away from him (and the kids) for things like book group, movies with the girls, lunches with my sister, etc.

4. He is usually willing to meet me halfway when having a disagreement or working out a kink in the relationship.

3. He believes in me and pushes me to do things I'm terrified to do. (Havasu...holy crap!)

2. He works super hard to support our family so I can stay at home with our brood.

And the number one reason Ian's my soulmate...

1. He sacrificed an orange roll thereby tricking me into loving him forever and ever. (Good move, hon!)

I love you, Ian Jones!

Holy Crap It's HOT

What would you do if summer finally decided to appear and you found out that your air conditioning unit has given up the ghost. Cry? Rant and rave? Beat someone up? Write an "Ode to Air Conditioning"? Swear like a sailor? What?

No really, I'm asking...I am sitting in a pool of my own sweat in an 85-degree house and I need to know what I can do to make myself feel better. So far nothing is working and I'm ready to do all of the above just for heck of it.

I miss my AC. I don't think I appreciated it as much as I should have before I found myself without it. Oh, the bitter pains of loss when you discover you've taken something precious for granted. 

I Turned My Back

You know that feeling when you suddenly realize that the house is quiet? Too quiet? I hate that moment...the moment when you realize that you've been distracted for too long and your two-year old is most certainly up to no good. I came upstairs to this:

For some reason this child loves lotion. She just loves to slather herself up. Unfortunately she also likes to cover every other surface imaginable (notice the mirror). Yikes!

Feeling Skeptical?

In answer to Natelli's question from last week, I thought I'd share what I learned about where the phrase "with a grain of salt" came from:

Example:

Dave has been known to stretch the truth a bit. Take what he says with a grain of salt.

Meaning:

With a healthy dose of skepticism, suspicion, and caution.

Origin:

Salt was thought to have healing properties and to be an antidote to poisons. To take (eat or drink) something "with a grain of salt" was to practice preventative medicine. One would do this if  they were suspicious that the food might be poisoned or may cause illness. 

Just in case you were wondering along with the rest of us.

I Am A Mom

This Mother's Day I feel so blessed to be called a mom. Without these little ones in my life I would never have known how deep and powerfully I am able to love. Whatever I am, as a mother, I owe to these three wonderful kids.

Lindy is such an amazing girl. She knows what she wants and is determined to get it. It causes a few confrontations now, but I know that her independent nature will help her stick to what she knows is right as she grows up and learns to make her own choices. She is SO smart. Her comprehension of the world around her amazes us every day. She has such a loving heart and loves to make others feel special. When her aunt Jody asked her what she could do for Mother's Day she said she wanted to get a robot to help me out with all the stuff I have to do...how thoughtful is that?

Ellie is our comedian. She makes us laugh all the time. She often avoids getting into trouble (even when she should) by simply being so blasted funny! She loves other people to be happy too. When I get a little miffed she'll come up to me, with a huge smile on her face, and ask, "You happy, mommy?" How can I stay upset when she so obviously wants me to be as carefree as she is? She calls everyone her friend...her friend "dampa" (grandpa), her friend Jody, her friend Paisley. I'm sure that she will grow up to have many friends and will keep them laughing with her antics.

Curtis is the cherry on the top! Even at 5 weeks he has impacted my life so much. (And I'm not just talking about the sleep deprivation.) He has taught me that my own skepticism and cynical outlook on life isn't necessarily the way it needs to be. I never thought I could love a boy like I love my girls. But this little man has a special place in his mother's heart. I can't imagine my life or our family without his sweet little spirit.

Lindy once told me that up in heaven she chose to come to our family. I'm so grateful that she did and that her sister and brother followed her. Thank you Lindy, Ellie, and Curtis for making me a mom. I love you!

Stupid Stupid Stupid

We've suffered a slight tragedy in our home recently. Last week my dryer died while Ian was out of town. Luckily my handy-dandy father-in-law was here for the afternoon and was able to give me an amazing "How To" tutorial on fixing such appliances. I got a new heating coil from Sears and replaced that. Unfortunately as soon as we replaced the heating coil the timing assembly chose to break. (Yes, my bad luck is just that bad.) I had to order the timing assembly online and wait for it to be shipped to my house. 

Finally yesterday the part showed up on my doorstep (I heart UPS). Since I'd had a lesson on replacing dryer parts I decided that I could go ahead and replace the timing assembly without waiting for my husband to get here. Now here's where I make my STUPID mistake...I did NOT unplug the HIGH-VOLTAGE ELECTRICAL CORD. Oh yes...I ended up scorching my wrist and a finger tip on my left hand and spewing forth some unpleasant words I hope my children never repeat. The feeling has yet to return completely. After that gentle reminder I unplugged the machine, replaced the part, put everything back together and TA-DA fixed the darn appliance.

I am woman. Hear me roar.

Wisdom of Children

We watched "The Waterhorse" earlier today. At one point in the show we found out that Angus' dad was a soldier in WWII but his boat had been sunk and "he wouldn't be coming home". Lindy asked why someone would want to sink the boat and make it so his dad couldn't come back to his family. I tried to give her a brief and simple explanation of what happens during a war. She thought about it for a minute then said, "Maybe we just shouldn't do war." You're right, Lindy, we shouldn't do war.

Give and Take

Each day is full of choices. We all know that. We prioritize and shuffle responsibilities to try and make the most out of the time given us. I realized a long time ago that 24 hours is never going to be enough to take care of even a third of my ever-expanding "To Do" list. So the things I accomplish in any given 24-hour period are usually the evidence of what I considered most important that day.

Today I broke my own well-established pattern. Here is what became priority number one today (taking pictures of my cutest kids):

And here's what took the back burner (and trust me these pictures don't do it justice AT ALL):

Now don't get me wrong...my OCD will kick into high-gear before I'm able to go to bed tonight and I should be able to get the mess to a manageable level. But, for now...I think I'll just spend a little time with my computer looking at all my cute pics. Happy Tuesday everyone!

My Newfound Nemesis

Who knew that a 35-year old, fairly coordinated adult, could be so easily bested by a child's toy? Yet it happened. Publicly. Humiliatingly.

We were out in the neighborhood chatting with friends. The girls had brought along their "wiggle cars" (see exhibit A above) and for some reason I thought an impromptu race against Ian would be a good idea. I hopped aboard the death trap and started down the sidewalk ahead of him. Unfortunately I also thought it would be a good idea to cut him off. I planted myself firmly in front of his oncoming assault and braced myself for impact. Ian might have actually stopped, given enough time, but my split-second strategy didn't allow him time to react. He charged ahead and ran into the back of my car...at which point the cute little pink beast shot out from underneath of me...dumping me fiercely on my ample rear end.

Now, I should mention that I've actually become used to embarrassing myself in front of other people (it happens ridiculously often) so I probably wouldn't have minded the public humiliation if it weren't for one simple fact: MY BUTT HURTS! 17 hours later my tailbone is still throbbing and it hurts to sit, walk, even stand. So if you see me wincing as I go about my life the next couple days just know that I'm reaping the reward of acting like a child when I so obviously need to act my age. Seriously.