Hang On, Mom!

Today I was cleaning up Tori's room and Tyler walked in to tell me he wanted a snack. Before I could ask him what he wanted, he found my old (really old) cell phone and asked if he could play with it. It's completely destroyed, I really don't care if it gets thrown away or flushed down the toilet or taken apart as a science experiment. I told him he could do whatever he wanted with it. I asked him a few seconds later to pick something up for me and he said, "Hang on, Mom!" I am not used to getting such attitude from Tyler over something so small, so I asked what he was doing that was so important. He replied, "Ugh. I'm texting Nicole. I'll be done in a second."

Wow.

Missing Diamonds

This is Tori. Yes, she's insane. Yes her cheeks are always that red, and no, she's not usually that clean. Miraculously enough, she has her hair done. I know, I'm feeling pretty good about my parenting skills today. But yesterday, she was not quite as cooperative. I gave up on trying to make her hair cute (she was NOT in the mood) so I settled for just brushing it and trying to keep it from mingling with the snot on her face. While I was brushing her hair, I noticed something.

This is one side of her face.

This is the other side.

Notice anything different?





Here, let me blow it up for you...

Her earring is gone!!!! Nooooooo!!!!!

I realize you probably think I'm overreacting. It's just an earring, right? Nicole has her ears pierced and we have a gazillion little girl earrings all over the place. But these were special. There's a little notch in the back that makes them very hard to get off. That's handy for little girls with grabby hands. Also, they were tiny. I mean really tiny! They were the smallest diamond earrings I could find. I love having her ears pierced, but I don't want some huge gaudy bling on her face. These were perfect (and they weren't cheap) and she's been wearing the same pair for over a year. I was crushed. The bad thing about it being so small is that it would be next to impossible to find. Especially since I have no idea when or where it fell out. I searched her floor and managed to find the back. The back doesn't do a lot of good without the front! I searched her room, but I haven't vacuumed in a few days and it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. So frustrating! I had basically given up after about 45 minutes of crawling around my house. 
This is my carpet: (the earring is in this picture, do you see it?)

Fast forward to this morning. I had to change Tori's diaper and she was doing her best to escape. I managed to catch her (she's really fast!) and plopped her down on the floor. Lo and behold, her earring was right where I pinned her down! I was so excited! I cannot explain my joy! 

So, now she has two earrings in and her face is dirty.
 
Everything is right in the world. 

Potato People

This is Sponge Bob Potato Pants. Tyler had to make a Potato Person for St. Patrick's day and this is what he made. I think he lost an arm on his way to school and one of his curls is drooping, but not bad considering we walk to school. He had to write about him too.

Name: Sponge Bob Potato Pants
Family members: Adam and Jamie (from Mythbusters)
Funniest thing that ever happened to him: One time he was at McDonalds and the people tried to turn him into a french fry!

I love my son. He's so creative.

The Good, the Bad, and the Not Pretty

The Good

Tyler got glasses this week! I got a note from the school nurse reporting that his vision screening at school didn't go very well. Ben and I both had glasses (that's HAD because now we're lasered and cool) so it wasn't a huge surprise. I took him to the doctor (the same doctor that gave me my first pair of glasses) and sure enough, he's blind as a bat. I blame Ben. :-) We went to Lens Crafters to get his glasses (with my maiden name being Lenz, I got crap about that place a lot, but oh well, I'm over it) and now he's EXTRA smart and cute as a button. Okay, so Ben and I both think he looks a little weird right now. We might just have to get used to seeing him with glasses. Every time I see him with them on, I do a double take. Let's hope it passes soon. But so far, he loves them, he thinks he looks rad, and that's the most important thing.






The Bad

I had a book on hold at the library, so I took the kids over there today to let them play and I could pick up my book. Of course, our new library is awesome, but it has ZERO parking. I ended up parking forever away and had to drag the kids half the way there because their legs were tired. Seriously? It wasn't that far, they just need to suck it up. Anyway, the trip went as expected with Tori wanting to pound on the computers and my kids being way too loud, but no one got hurt and after 45 minutes, we left. I walk out the door and I hear this weird "flip flop" sound. I look down and the whole sole of my boot came off! I was so sad! I knew it was time for a new pair, but this solidified it. Then I tried to walk. It was not pretty, people. I had to left my leg way up otherwise it would get stuck and I'd trip. I tried to make it look cool, I tried to get the kids to walk like me so it would look like we were doing this for a good reason. They weren't falling for it. Instead, I looked like a doofus and they were totally clueless to my embarrassment.  After about 10 yards, I gave up and just took it off. Yes, I walked the rest of the way (on a wet sidewalk) with one boot on and one boot in my hand. People looked and then looked again and then pointed me out to their friends. Oh, did I mention that I was wearing a skirt and had Ben's basketball socks on underneath? Yeah, it was a really good look.





The Not Pretty

For a homework activity in October I took the kids outside for a "leaf hunt". We collected a bucket full of leaves, sorted them into shapes and sizes, then glued them on some black paper and I put it up on the wall in the kitchen. The kids thought it was great. When winter came around, they mentioned that the leaves needed to come down because it wasn't fall anymore. When I got them down, Nicole asks, "What should we put up there for winter?" I hadn't really thought about putting anything up there, but I figured, why not. So for Family Home Evening we made a family of snowmen out of construction paper and cotton balls. Then the kids made snowflakes and we had our winter decorations. Well, winter is over and the snowmen are down. The spot just looks bare to me! Something had to go up for spring. So, yesterday we made a family of flowers out of pipe cleaners, pom poms, felt, and googly eyes. I built the basic flower and the kids decorated them. Nicole says to me, "Oh Mom, my flower is the most beautiful. I'm so lucky! Poor Tori, her's is not pretty." Tyler starts to cry a little and says, "Nicole, it makes my heart sad when you say things that aren't nice." (he's very sensitive). Then Nicole comes back with, "Well, it's not pretty and if I said it was pretty that would be LYING and Mommy would put a mark on my chart and I would have to give her all my money!" I guess I can't argue with her there. (The flowers are --from left to right -- Mine, Tyler's, Nicole's, and Tori's. Ben hasn't done his yet. He might not ever get it done. I might just fake it for the kids sake.)