My song...

If you walk by my house today, you may hear me singing this song over and over (and just know that there is a goofy little dance that goes with it that I'm not going to show you, for both our sakes ;-) ).

Woo hoo

I got an A!

Woo hoo!

I'm happy today!

Woo hoo

A four point oh!

Woo hoo

I'm all a glow!

When you only have brothers...

Friday, a kid in Alecia's kindergarten class had his last day of school before moving out of state. His way cool parents brought pizza and root beer for the kids to eat, and they had a little good-bye party for the boy.

When I picked up Alecia and all the excitement and the hugging the poor kid ten million times died down, Alecia gave me a little more party info.

She said, "Mom, they gave us root beer, and I drank it fast and I had a bunch of little burps in me, but I didn't let any of them out." [at this point I was thinking to myself: Wow. That's awfully ladylike! Then she continued...] "I waited and I waited, and then I let them out in one humongous burp that was SO LOUD that it shook the entire classroom!"

I chuckled and said, "I've never been more proud of you than I am at this moment."

Gosh. Maybe I should be showing her the princess movies.

Ever Have a Hard Time Not Laughing?

My middle child, the adorable hunk of little boy that he is, has been experiencing Middle Child Syndrome lately. Especially the feeling-like-he-is-getting-picked-on-from-both-directions part. As a result, he has had a severe case of the Poor Me's (as my mom used to call it. Actually, I take it back-- she still calls it that).

My kids seem to be driving each other nuts for the pure sport of it lately, and this child was complaining of some song lyrics that his siblings changed not in his favor. Rude, I know, but really, they weren't something you'd consider negative and get all offended about. But, when you feel like you are getting it piled on you, I guess each shovel full bugs you (even if it was a Barbie-sized shovel). I told him that some of these things are just sibling things, and he needed to learn to just ignore it.

He responded with a "Then why do I get in trouble for doing it and they never do?"

My youngest walked into the room just before this and said, matter-of-factly, "Well, duh. It's because we don't get caught."

Out of the mouths of babes. Isn't it so hard sometimes to not laugh at incredibly inappropriate times?

A Princess? Help!!!

Last September, I walked into my Communications class, and a girl told me that my hair reminds her of a Princess's-- especially Princess Aurora.

I knew she was giving a compliment, so I managed a "thank you" and sat down at my desk, thinking "Crap! I look like a Princess? And who is this 'Aurora'?"

After class, I called my friend JaNae. She has four girls, I figured she would know. She responded by letting me know that Aurora is Sleeping Beauty. I said, "What? Sleeping Beauty has a name?! I thought Sleeping Beauty was her name." I couldn't think what she looked like, so I went home and looked her up.

Now, looking like a Princess isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just not me. As a little girl, I never dreamed of being rescued by a handsome prince, then being whisked off to the palace where I would wear pretty dresses every day and dance at balls. (I mostly dreamed of being a knight... holding her Lance. He he he he he-- get it?) I don't even think any of my kids have EVER seen a Princess movie.

So, I got rid of the layers in my hair so I could wear it straight, I take the curling iron down the length of it to make it more straight if it is looking at all fluffy, and I generally make a conscious effort to NOT look princessy. Other than that, I tend to not give a whole lot of thought to my hair (which is probably why it looks exactly the same every single day). Today, the curling iron was hot so I figured I'd mix it up a bit and curl my hair. When I got done, I looked in the mirror and went "Crap! Crap, crap, crap!! I look like that princess again!!"

As a result, I'm getting my hair cut on Wednesday. I could REALLY REALLY use some help figuring out how I can keep it long (because it does matter to Lance, and I've had it long almost my whole life, so it wouldn't feel right on me if it wasn't) without looking princessy. Any ideas?

Top 5 Reasons I like Grocery Shopping with my Youngest in Tow

1. 1. She dances through the aisles as if there were no other place she could be at the moment that would bring her more joy. Since I can always think of about 57 places I'd rather be than at the grocery store, it's kind of refreshing! Plus, I know she is always willing to go with me- I never have to try to talk her into it.


2. I always come home with one unplanned treat (that's her limit).
   
3. I can out loud talk to myself (which I frequently find quite useful), without other shoppers thinking I've gone completely sack of hammers. Not even Alecia looks at me like she thinks I'm wierd. :-)


4. She often climbs inside the cart and keeps it organized and neatly stacked.


5. When I am pushing my cart out to the parking lot, I can run ten feet, then jump on my cart and ride it the rest of the way to my car, without anyone giving me the aforementioned "sack of hammers" look. When she isn't with me, I have to hold onto the push bar tightly, reminding myself with each step to keep my feet touching the pavement. It's a little tough when all they want to do is jump on the cart!

Had Your Excitement For The Day? Your Kids May Have

I went to the elementary school this morning, and was happily switching out books, when we heard over the intercom, "Teachers, lock your doors!"

We figured they were having a drill, but we shut our door anyway (there's no lock on it, so we were kind of hoping there weren't any crazed lunatics in the school). We finished the crate we were doing, but before sending the two cute little kids that were in the room with us back to their classrooms, we called the office for permission. They said to keep them there, asked for their names, and told us it is not a drill.

So, we hung out, of course dying to find out what was going on. Soon, we started discussing the merits of one of us walking up to the office to get some intel (after all, what were they gonna do? They're not the boss of us!), when we looked out the window, and saw two uniformed officers, and one was carrying a rifle!!

Shortly after the call came telling the teachers they could unlock their doors, we got our answer from mom who had been locked in the office during the police action. Apparently, a parent was dropping their kid off at school, and saw another kid walking in with their civil war reinactment marshmallow rifle. This parent freaked out, called 911, and said a that kid was taking a gun into the school!

Now I should add that the school handled the event beautifully! It was quite impressive, really. And it's always better to be safe than sorry. And really, who doesn't like a little excitement in their day every now and then?


I thought I'd be helpful, so I have included the instructions in case you want to make your own marshmallow rifle. If you do, though, I highly recommend you don't walk around the outside of a school holding it!

April Fool's Fun

I love holidays! It's just that usually, I don't plan in advance much. I've heard of some great April Fools Day pranks that take advance preparation (like a good friend who has picked up their kids after they fall asleep on March 31 and switches them with another kid, so that when they wake up on April Fool's morning, each kid wakes up in a different bed), and I never think about those kind of things early enough to actually do them. But, we did a few that didn't require preparation! Here they are:

We switched the coffee table in the living room with the kitchen table. We actually ended up eating in the living room.

I re-made each of the kids' beds with their heads at the wrong ends! Cory and Alecia liked it that way so much that they slept with it wrong for days.

Oh, and I also filled their pillowcases with books! Hehe- they didn't find that one until they went to bed at night.

I also switched a couple of dresser drawers- making sure I was switching the one that contained pj's, so they'd be sure to find it that night.

Looks like a normal loaf of bread, right?

But inside is a surprise!

But this was my favorite. Alas, my family is a family of computer nerds. With the possible exception of Alecia, none of us can really handle a day without our computers. So, I made a little graphic that read "Warning: Your Computer Has Crashed. Everything as has been Deleted" and switched it out for their background wallpaper, and freaked my kids out a bit when they first booted up. They were all a little worried.