I just sit back and laugh

Ellery

The girls have really been on a mom-is-not-girly-enough kick lately. I feign injury, but really I think it is pretty funny. I just wonder when they started picking up on it. Anywhoo, Ellery comes up to me the other day and said, and I quote,

"Mommy, do they have classes for grown-up ladies?"

"What kid of classes?"

"Classes for you. You know....help with beauty."

The confusion and shock must have been evident on my face.

"No, you are BEAUTIFUL...... (She back-pedalled) Just help with like, make-up and shoes and stuff. Just cuz you aren't really into that."

Too funny!

Bailey

We purchased some "Flarp" the other day. Flarp, for the unknowing is silly-puddy stuff that makes fart noises. Really annoying stuff, but the kids love it. They were so excited that I actually let them have some. I said they could not open it in the car, but they wanted to just "hold" it. I look back and Bailey is gazing at it like it is a new born pup I swear. Then I hear her reading with excitement.

"It is made in CHINA!! Cool."

Then very quietly almost with reverence...."Those chinese are geniuses."

That is it, that is all the qualifications needed for becoming a genius, produce flarp.

Another one

I over heard the other day Bailey talking to Taite. They were having an argument, but no yelling, no rudeness so I was letting them work it out. Neither was budging from their stance and Bailey was getting irritated. All of the sudden she says with a firm, deep voice...

"Taite, you are going to rue the day....RUE the DAY!"

Taite

I was working on the computer the other day and the kids were driving me C.R.A.Z.Y!!! Every five seconds something. I went in to solve the last federal emergency, issued a stern warning and returned to my business. Not before I hear Taite issue a warning of her own to her fellow siblings.

"Hey, Mommy is starting to look irritable. Puleeeeez don't make her irritable."

I decided to pretend to be coming back in with "irritable-ness" overflowing. Entering the room with grumpy face and all, Taite looked up at me and when she saw my face said,

"Oh, crap. It's too late."

When she saw I was kidding she thought I had made a pretty good joke.

"You are kinda funny Mom!"

The rest of the afternoon was shot for my obligations, playtime and tickle wars had already begun.

Cyrus

I have mentioned our potty-training drama, so our life is a lot about potty training and all the glories that come with it. Including awareness of ones body :) So if little boys discussing body parts bothers you...skip on down to Gus, actually you just might want to be done!

Cy is very aware of his pee pee now that we are trying to get the ball rolling on this whole potty thing. We have tried all the suggestions and things we already know to do to no avail, including going naked quite a bit. He was not really a fan at first of being naked, but then he discovered the joy of it (I mean, joyful isn't it really:))

This is how I knew he was changing his opinion. We got home from swimming and he took off all his swimming gear. He looks at me and says,

"Hey Mommy, can I leave my wiener out? I want to leave my wiener out."

Days later he was again, sporting the all-natural look. He walks over and says whilst squishing his man parts,

"Hey Mommy, what are these balls in my wiener?" I about fell off the chair laughing. He did not understand my laughter, he wanted answers.

Lastly, but not least he barged in on me getting out of the shower and his eyes got big and round momentarily. Then he chuckled to himself and said,

"Oh, yeah! (chuckle, chuckle) I forgot someone took your pee pee Mommy."

Gus

This little man is just so full of fun and is so obviously adorable there is not much he can do to take away from that. Even his little phase of taking off all his clothes and diaper 14 times a night. Or when he insists on going from room to room and drawer to drawer emptying all the contents into a big pile. Or when he puts toothbrushes in the toilet. Or when he gets IN the toilet. Or when he eats the cat food. Or empties the pots and pans cupboard 22 times a day.

Except........ when he shoves things up his nose multiple times a day. We are talking way up there people, so far that I can't reach it with tweezers. Here is a small list of only his favorite items ;

*grass

*curling ribbon (8 inches, yes I measured. It just kept coming)

*a pen lid

*caps and lids of all kinds

*the last piece of gum that Taite really wanted

*bugs plural

*chewed up pieces of paper. (chewed up? why?)

*candy

*tape

*beads

*polly pocket's hair brush

*little, itty, bitty wheels

*erasers

*pretzels

*wrappers

*a straw from the broom -all the way up there

*a small grape

*cereal

The list goes on

Yesterday he had a rock wedged so tightly I thought we were toast. It is not just his nose, but ear too. And it does get worse.

Worse when he packs poop ~ YES I said POOP in his ear. It was like a poop earplug people! What the heck!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am at a loss!

But I love him SO!

Just trying to find a little relief

Well as you all know by now, I am NOT... I repeat NOT a fan of heat. I know the whining gets old, but I can barely stand it. Especially when around here it gets to be 95* with 96% humidity ~ that is just wrong, I don't care who you are.

So our remedy to keep Mom from going insane was to purchase a pool pass (thanks Grandpa!) We are there literally 5 or 6 days out of the week and the kids LOVE it :) It has this fabulous little gated toddler area and then the girls can play all they want in the "big kid" pool too. A mother's dream, I just get to sit back in the kiddie pool and watch the happy madness.

Hooray for the Pool!

Sisters showing off their new swim suits from Oma because they

completely wore out their other ones!

He is a spaz in the pool, but spends and equal amount of time doing this....checking out the drain and shoving random things down there. I am sure the pool staff loves us.

Now to close this post I am going to share this awesomeness with you. These ladies are at the pool every day and they bring me joy because they truly work it. Princess Leia totally rocks in this metallic material swimsuit. Shiny delight. The pic doesn't do justice, it truly shimmers in the sun. I love her.

This lady sits there and literally does not move for hours. Except one time when she jumped in and then back up out of the water and yesssss..... her top slid right off. Classic.

There you go, I share a little bit of my view with you. You are welcome :)

It will be me

Look at that face.

Here is how the conversation began, the other night at our daily dinner time discussion Ellery said something about how fun it will be when they all have kids and I am an old Granny. That is what I will be called, I have already decided ~ Granny. We were discussing what Matt would like to be called and he was being difficult. Abuelo (however you spell it, I am not Spanish you see so I don't know. I wish I did speak Spanish, add that to my list.) He kept saying Abuelo, Matt isn't of Spanish descent either, it doesn't fit and we were irritated that he was messing with us. My Mom is Oma, but she is German and went to Germany on her mission, it fits. But no Abuelo. This is a tangent.

The kids and I decided that Gramps was more fitting :) Granny and Gramps. "Mommy, can we go to Granny and Gramps' house? Puleeeeez?!" That is what they will say.

That discussion led me to ask (perhaps stupidly,) "So who do you think is going to get married first?" My point was that the 3 girlies are so close in age they could possibly all come to that stage at the same time. I should have known better. A competition was implied, I guess, as I asked who would wed first. As soon as the words left my mouth Taite blurted out...

"Oh, it will definitely be me. Cuz I am really the prettiest." She said smartly without even so much as looking up from her plate. Just stating a fact in her world, she even had to add "really."

It was dead silent, except for the word duh running through my head. That is how she said it, "Duh" could have been the last word she said. I was just so stunned and didn't know whether to laugh or scold her. Bailey and Ellery were NOT amused. Taite saw their faces and quickly added an insincere and hollow "Well, well.....we're all pretty." With a rather disingenuous smirk on her face it was less than convincing. Is she really just 4?

She is rather filled with adorableness though!

This is her first little summer piano recital. It is very casual, but she surprised us all when they went off to the side and then all came back on to "stage" for bows. She had slipped her sun glasses on. Very cool and full of "tude"

*For the record I think all my girlies are equally beautiful and scrum-diddly-umptious! I could kiss each one of their faces off and eat them up! Just ask them, I try on a daily basis.

Nice, nice Papa!

Well Papa and Oma came out for a visit,which is always a fantastic thing. The Hello is the joyous part, Goodbye...well that is just painful for the kids. Every stinkin time. It hasn't really gotten any easier.

My Dad has this little game/greeting he does with the little kids every time he sees them

"Nice, nice Papa"

From the time they are born until they can do it themselves, every time he sees them he takes their little hand and strokes his cheek saying

one time- Nice

two times- Nice

A little pat on his cheek- Papa!

It doesn't take long for the little one to walk up to Papa and just start rubbing and patting his face. I couldn't believe it, but Gus remembered it just by hearing my Dad start to say "Nice, nice Papa!" It was precious.

Gus LOVES his Papa!

They all do :)

My Dad had to leave before my Mom did and I don't think Cy quite understood that he was not coming back to stay like Oma. He kept saying that Papa went to work like Daddy did. I knew it was going to hit him. It did and he cried a lot. Then the next day he comes up to me with 3 pennies.

"Here Mama."

"Thanks Cy."

"I wanna buy a ticket"

"A ticket?"

"I need to go see my Papa today."

How many stories have we had about missing Oma? Too many to count and it never seems to change. Taite still struggles the most, but all of the kids talk about Oma and Papa all the time. I don't know, we might just have to move back some day :)

What do you think?