Saturday, March 27, 2010

"Don't Disparage Poppy"

Friday night we brought dinner to my parents' house - Mai Village for the parents and McDonald's for the kids. My dad, Poppy, was punching out toys from the side of the Happy Meal boxes, and I told him that he really should wait to do that until the kids had eaten their dinners. (We have REAL RULES in our house. Eat your cheeseburger and fries and drink your chocolate milk BEFORE you get your cheap plastic toys.)

Rose #3 looked straight in my eyes, and said, "Don't Disparage Poppy."

Monday, March 15, 2010

A Little Warmth

Things have been cold, cold, cold and snowy here in Minnesota, up until a few days ago. Here are some fabulous things about the first 60 degree day in the springtime:

  1. Kick children out of the house to the backyard (figuratively, of course; they can always come back in for a sleeve of cinnamon graham crackers or a large drink of water)
  2. Sweep tons of sand off the deck and the kitchen floor. Tip the dustpan full of sand off the side of the deck; surely the hostas (when they grow back) won't mind.
  3. Go to grocery store only in long sleeved white hoodie, rather than in large puffy parka and red mittens that are unraveling.
  4. Start planning garden. Dream again about a raised bed for vegetables, and remember again that the problem is that the raised bed would have to be smack dab in the middle of the backyard, where surely it would be tripped on and trampled by some of the same children that were kicked out of the house.
  5. Visualize in mind's eye garage, cleaned out for garage sale. Items carefully lined up and organized and lots of buyers taking away the kids' toys we so desperately need to be done with. That annoying plastic lawnmower that makes the loud popping noises. The 18 million plastic electronic toys (which if I put new batteries in I bet would fetch a decent price). Even the Hello Kitty camping chair has to go.
  6. Resign self to nightly baths again, for children (not for me; I actually do bathe daily year round). When time runs out for these baths on the first day they are needed (bad predictor for full summer), pretend not to see streaks of dirt on 3-year-old's legs.
Enjoy spring.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

A Night Without TV

No TV tonight. Instead, the Roses are:
  • Drawing detailed pictures of next Halloween's costumes (Rose #1 and #2 - we have Harry Potter, a vampire and a "chubby" princess on tap for October 31, 2010)
  • Playing with her coin collection (Rose #3)

If I could get rid of the TV altogether, I would. In my perfect world, I would have a really nice DVD player/flat screen in my bedroom, so I could watch movies when I am folding laundry or ironing and for 30 minutes before I go to bed. The kids would have ZERO TV. I mean ZERO. No more Disney channel, or Cartoon Network (I HATE channels that market to children. Every time my children ask for Blendy Pens or some contraption that dispenses toothpaste from a device you affix to the wall, I know they have been watching some ridiculous cartoon on Cartoon Network). Their behavior is vastly improved without TV and their capacity to engage in creative activities is vastly expanded.

Pipe dreams, though, to have no TV.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

#1 E-Mail You Don't Want to Receive From Child's Teacher

LICE UPDATE IN GRADE 2

Don't worry, we don't have it. At least not yet.

Lice! Ugh! My 100% most dreaded motherhood grooming hurdle! I have children with extremely thick tresses! I imagine just shaving their heads and being done with it, or else washing their hair in kerosene (like Thorn Birds, remember?). And my hair, I don't even want to get started with you. It is long and also thick.

Gross. Here's hoping the bugs stay elsewhere - where they belong.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Our Tuesday Night

So tonight is the last night of rec center basketball. After H and Rose #1 left for the warmup period, Rose #3 set up an elaborate picnic with paper plates and Disney princess cards in the living room. I stopped by for a ham (!) and watercress sandwich, a lemon crumpet, and a brownie.


Rose #2 made a picture for me on the blackboard in the kitchen. The boxes say "Love" and on the top of each box, she wrote "Mom."

After the picnic and the chalkboard drawing, Rose #2 and #3 and I went over to watch the basketball game! The game was short since tonight was the last night. Each kid who played got a new baksetball - here is Rose #1 posing with her teammate and our neighbor Sophia:

And last but certainly not least, dear readers, H and I posed for a photo in the gym. H bought himself a coach whistle for his one-night stint as the coach of Team Illinois. Isn't he cute?

Monday, March 1, 2010

MND, On Steroids

Guppy, Poppy, Abby, Ken, Lucy, Maicy, Laurel, Mark, Bob, Chris, Tamara, Connie, Lauren, me, H, the three Roses, Sam, Maddie, Beatrice, Gus, Heidi, Andy, Tonya, Charity, Eli, Brenna, Missy, Bill, Steve, Solange - 32 people for MND!

Here's a few things to know:

You do NOT need 3 crockpots full of spaghetti and meatballs to feed 32
You do NOT need 9 pounds of pasta to feed 32
You DO need everyone to bring extra chairs
You SHOULD HAVE said a blessing before dinner (Darn!)

It was a good night. My cousins, Chris and Bob, were in from California to visit Guppy. They are a funny duo. Bob told a story about one of his sons researching his geneological past and discovered that we are all descended from British royalty. I always KNEW I was super special...