Back to School

I thought I would be able to get my house back together yesterday. Well we had a Snow Day, so no school after a week long vacation. So all the catching up was done today. We purged closets this past weekend. I am finally letting go of pants that are 10+ years old. Even if I fit them again I think it would be best to just get a new pair. It was very liberating. I dropped off 3 large garbage bags at Goodwill today. It makes me want to do more. I did start on my scrapbook stuff and was able to do a little but it needs more to actually be finished. I listed a whole bunch of rubber stamps on ebay. I cleared out a whole drawer. Hopefully they will all sell and then they can make someone else happy.

L's new trick is to take his binky in and out of his mouth. I also catch him with his thumb in his mouth. I am trying so hard to keep him a binky boy so it is something I can take away at the appropriate time. We shall see. I also can't keep socks or shoes on this kid. Thank goodness for my friend Allie who puts her boys in cotton tights. It is such a fabulous thing. He can't kick them off. I had them in the wash and so he has been going sockless, this kid has rubbed his left foot and right pinky toe raw. When he gets excited he rubs them back and forth, or if I put shoes and socks on him he does it as well to kick them off.

Day 5: winter break

Well we have survived. Back to school next week!
Justin and I were discussing stuff and he said, "It's not like we have money to burn!" M piped up and said "I have money I can burn." And she does. G&G sent her "funny" money for Chinese New Year. They received "Red Packets" with 100,000 bill in it. What the Chinese people do is buy things made out of paper and burn them, and it will then send the item to their ancestors in the other world. Apparently you can buy just about anything made out of paper, including cars. So on the first day of the Chinese New Year A burned his money. M didn't want too.

Day 4: winter break

Mom is surviving. L still has a fever and decided to have a rough night last night. We still went to the children's museum with playgroup. I am glad that we did go. I ended up buying a family pass which will allow us to go to many of the science museums and kids museums all over the place. I am tired of trying to figure out what to do and now that it is paid for, hopefully it will be an easier choice and make it more enjoyable.
M found a friend at the grocery store today. A five year old girl came up to M and said," I suck the same two fingers." They both bonded immediately, sucked their fingers and they stared at each other, sharing their comforting moment together.
It is amazing to me the things that my children haven't grown up with, for example: stove top popcorn! I bought at Target a stove top popcorn popper. So we bought the popcorn kernels today at the store. My kids were amazed, they said, "Dad you put the seeds in the pot and they turn into popcorn." Thanks to microwave popcorn, I think they thought that the bag just inflated and out comes popcorn. I have many fond childhood memories of my Mom not getting the lid on the popcorn fast enough and having it pop all over the stove and floor. My kids have been missing out! Though I hope to not have the popcorn pop all over the place.

Day 3: winter break

Well L has a fever so we are not able to have a play date. Lucky for me the weather seems to be a little warmer today so we were be able to go out and play for a little bit. We spoke with G&G on Skype this morning. It is so much fun to video conference so the kids can see them even though they are halfway across the world. M was sad when we had to turn off the video because we were getting slow connection. She said "But Mom I want Grandma's details on." (meaning the video) I LOVE the way kids explain things.
L has discovered the love of metallic wrappers. It is hilarious. If he drops it he bursts into tears and then when I start crinkling it again he gets really excited and kicks his feet, he drops it and cries simultaneously. He has been so obsessed with his left hand too. He will stare intently at his hand and watch his fingers open and close, working so hard to control the movement.

Yeah for once I have a better picture of A, he is getting to the age it is a little harder to photograph as he tries to pull funny faces. I have to get his mind off the photo and then I get a more natural look from him. I was having him tell me knock knock jokes. Yes it has arrived at our house the infamous stage of knock knock jokes. He came home from school the other day, "knock, knock," whose there? "Boo" Boo who? "You did need to cry about it." The magical age, I am sure people have done studies on it but it is amusing to me how it seems every kid this age goes through it. The other day we had some friends over and we were relating a humorous story we had heard from someone else. After our friends left A said giggling, " I know what you where talking about. That is funny!" I think it was cute that he waited until after they had left. I am sure he was just bursting inside.

day 2: winter break

Well the kids are out of school for this week. Today we went swimming at the Y with some friends. It was nice. Yesterday being Presidents' Day I forgot the post office would be closed so I had many packages to go out today. It was lunchtime, I had to get gas in the car and the kids already patiently waited for 30 min. in line at the post office. I thought I would reward them by taking them to Wendy's. Little did I know how long that was going to take. I waited in line for another 30 min. and had horrible customer service as well as everyone else in line. They messed up everyone's order. I thought I would be exempt because it was a simple order, oh no! They messed up 2 out of 2 sandwiches. Oh well! The kids were angels. Thank goodness I had fed L right before we went inside. Everyone was amazed at how well they behaved even though they were so hungry. Then A wanted to go outside and play, one of the older kids threw an ice ball (because we really don't have snow) at him and hit him in the face so now he is settled watching a movie. School break...it is tough on everyone. Hopefully I will be able to get a couple of pictures of him, I need to take advantage of the time, usually he is at school until after the "good lighting" is gone.

girls and curls

M wanted her hair curled for church. Of course with our later schedule I was glad to take the opportunity. She wanted to make sure that I emailed the pictures to G&G in China. She is such a girl and a cute one I might add. Of course I am very biased I am fully aware.

I made a pact with her, if she will stop sucking her two middle fingers we will get her ears pierced ("stabhole earrings" as she refers to it) So far day 1 at least she is reminding herself. It is a long shot for an almost 4 yr old but worth a try. ( I had to wait until I was 12 yrs old to get my ears pierced.)

It's about time

Well I am entering the realm of blogging. Why? Everyone is doing it!? My best friend told me "it's about time" ;) I am not sure... something else to try and figure out, I guess.

I have thought so many times oh I wish I had a blog and I would post that. I am not good at keeping a journal so maybe this will help? It is wishful thinking probably but hey I can still try, right?! Let's not burst my bubble too quickly.