...The Darnedest Things

I'm making lunch, Cali asks from the other room "How do they make noodles?" This is their new thing. Well the last couple months anyway, they both like to spring these "How do they make...?" questions on me. I tell her I'm trying to finish lunch and will tell her all about it when I sit down... She says "That's OK Mommy. We can just ask Daddy. Daddy's know a lot of things. Mommy's only know a little bit."

From the mind of a 4 year old

The Night Before the Wild Things Came
the story of Hen, Ben, Ten, Ken, Pen, and Comast
by Cali

Hen and Pen were coloring on Diego's blankets and then they went to the potty and flushed themselves. After that they went in the pool and bounced a ball on their heads and the other monster, Ken said "No!" Then Hen and Pen said "I love you Diego" and Pen left to go draw with a pen (he likes pens because his name is Pen). Hen went to go back in the potty, he flushed himself down, then flushed back up. Then they all went to start over again.

And now a little about Swimmy, Timmy, Ham & Shrimp...

Shrimp looks just like a shrimp. Swimmy looks almost like a bear but he doesn't have feet, but he has hair because monsters are like crazy.

That's MY Daddy??

Finally at 630 am I got a call from Atalanta, he was on standby for a morning flight into our regional airport! After breakfast and all I finally told the kids that today was "Christmas Eve" and that Santa had called to tell me that we need to go somewhere and pick up a present that was too big for him to fit in the Sleigh. It worked so well! I never said "airport" but when we got there Cali looked out and said "why are there runways here?" So I said well the present has to come on a plane. After about 30 minutes of some seriously excited kids (and myself!) waiting as patiently as possible here he came...



Right after I turned the video off D started saying "That's MY Daddy?? That's MY Daddy??" It was the cutest ever. We came straight home for lunch and to play a little. Now its naptime and tonight will finally be our "Christmas Eve"!

Still Waiting...

Thank you for all the nice comments, but alas I am still waiting! And once again I have no idea where in the world he might be at this time. At least today we went out and about and didn't stay holed up inside. We went to a couple stores, I worried about people asking "how was your Christmas" and yes two people did ask at Sam's Club. Very nice people, too nice, but luckily the kids weren't paying attention and I quickly said "no, no, no we didn't have Christmas yet" and tried to whisper to them why. Later in the day we went for a walk to the park and Cali spotted a Christmas tree out by the curb. Yikes! We had a conversation like this...

C: Why is their tree outside?
Me: Umm.... maybe its broken.
C: No, trees don't break.
Me: Well.... maybe their cat peed on it.
C: Eww yuck.
Me: Yeah, and now its all smelly.
C: Maybe they had a new little puppy and it peed on the tree.
Me: Oh yeah, that's true puppies like to pee on trees.
C: What if the puppy is in a box and it has to pee?
Me: That's a good question...

And then we were past the tree and we had changed the subject. Phew!

Oh really?

D: Cali broke my pirate ship!
Cali: No I didn't. I'm a mommy... and mommys don't do anything wrong.

Scrub-A-Long Floors

My 4-year-old has come up with a wonderful invention. She calls it a Scrub-A-Long Floor and basically it is a self-cleaning floor! All you do is push a button and the floor scrubs itself, you can even choose whatever color button you want. She has three blue ones, her Baby Cali has pink in her room and pink in her living room, D has green for his babies in his room. The actual floor is white, just the button is that color. She says she always makes her babies eat by the Scrub-A-Long floor because they are very messy and they throw their food. Plus some of their favorite foods are ice cream and blueberries. I told her I would LOVE to have a floor like that... she says she is going to buy me one from toystore.com. They only cost $1.

Sweetest Things

Sometimes I think D is such a "wild child", a trouble-maker, or his name should be D for Destruct-o! But all that aside he really is a sweetheart, a snuggler, a hugger, a smoocher, and he says the sweetest things right now.

"Mommy, I like you and I love you"
"I love you every day!"
"No leave, I keep you forever"
"No, I kiss you mouth!" that always makes me laugh, he will hold your face and make you kiss his mouth, the cheek is not acceptable

This is his "I'm Sorry" hug for Cali after hitting her in the head with a large roll of packing tape. Twenty minutes prior he threw a juice cup at her head. Yes, he's all boy, but a loving boy at least.

Quotes of the Day

Cali came out from "nap" to find me mopping the kitchen. She said...
"Wow, mommy you are so good at cleaning... you're a hero!"

At dinner I had a cup of juice with ice in it...
Diego: What's in that?
Me: Ice
Diego: Oh, I eat you ice?
Me: No, you can't eat my ice. Eat your eggs.
Diego: I eat you ice?
Me: No, eat your eggs... pretend its ice.
Diego: Oh, ok. (starts eating eggs with hands)
Me: Diego, use your fork please
Diego: I no eat ice with fork!

Meet the Mice

Remember Allie the mouse? I mentioned Cali's imaginary friend before and that there was also a "whole gang" of other mice? Well I sat down with her today to get the full story. I had my pen and notebook ready! Turns out there are 11 mice in all. Here we go...

1. Allie Sally: wears polka dot jammies, she is the mommy (wait no scratch that).. daddy mouse

2. Allie Bally (rhymes with Sally): wears an ice cream shirt & skirt jammies, has a twin sister

3. Earth Wowee Wowee: wears polar bear jammies, goes in the forest to find Pogo Stick

4. Eleven-Two: wears alphabet jammies, he goes to school and can write his name with no help, also goes in the forest to find Pogo Stick

5. Penguin-3: wears a flower nightgown, likes to play with her dog Bow Wow

6. Butterfly Bee: wears a butterfly nightgown, likes to eat ice cream, pudding & milkshakes

7. Bally Wowee: wears puppy dog jammies, likes to swim with fishes in the sea & eat salmon with her twin sister Allie Bally

8. Pogo Stick: is rainbow colored... he is my personal favorite but Cali informed me that he ran away into the forest but later she decided that he is really just hiking and he will fly back soon on an airplane

9. Sog-bock Riding: wears fish jammies, like to ride in the bike trailer

10. Allie Wowee: wears a striped nightgown, likes to jump in the jungle & play with monkeys for friends

11. Shally Ka-Wowee: wears a heart nightgown and think about sleeping all day

There you have it folks, and just because I'm such a nice Mommy I actually drew pictures of each one in their special jammies. Trust me, drawing jammies on mice isn't easy.

Hiking

Cali: Mommy, can we still go hiking even when Daddy isn't here?
Me: Of course, let's do it!

Saturday morning we went to one of our favorite, nearby, easy-peasy hiking spots to enjoy the fresh air and savor that little hint of a breeze that signaled summer really might come to an end... eventually.


In my backpack... change of clothes for each kid, water shoes for Cali (D has amphibious Tevas), hooded baby towels (because they're light and compact), bag of snacks (granola bars, trail mix*, etc.), band-aids, ointment, anti-sting cream, hand cleaner, wipes, a full Camelback bladder, plastic bags for wet clothes, and of course my Canon Rebel (don't worry, I was careful!)

They were eager to walk out toward the waterfall area, splashed and played like crazy, snacked then were ready to head back. I will admit right now that I bribed them. Having only two hands and one (already occupied) back I wanted to avoid all of the "I'm tired"... "carry me"... "I can't walk" complaints... So I promised them each a handful of jellybeans if they walked nicely back with no complaints, and an "extra" (not that I counted them) jellybean to the one who got there first. Worked like a charm! Besides, isn't part of the fun of hiking/camping getting a little extra treat along the way?



*This trail mix = plain Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, pretzel sticks, Craisins, and cocoa roasted almonds.

Home

Well, unfortunately the kids have no idea what "sleeping in" means and were up at 715am this morning. As I mentioned yesterday though, they had been carried straight to their beds and proceeded to sleep like logs 'til the sun came up. When D got out of bed and we made our morning trip to the potty, Huey (our Alaskan Husky) came in to greet us. Well D must have gotten used to our friends little Jack Russell/Chihuahua because he kept exclaiming over and over "Huey bigger now! Huey bigger now! Huey bigger [than] me!" Then as D looked around the bathroom he started pointing at various objects (like the bath spout cover we've had for 4 years) exclaiming "New! New! My mommy buy that!"

Future Plans

Today in the car, Cali informed me that when D grows up he wants to be a scientist. And not just any scientist, the kind that digs. Digs for bones. She had it all planned out. She even told him he has to go to school first and learn a lot of things and also he has to be really big and grown up. He seemed agreeable to all her plans for him.

So after she made all his plans, I asked what does she want to be when she grows up. To which she quickly replied: "I want to pull out teeth!" Oh, so you want to be a dentist? "Yes!"
I guess that would help explain why she wants to brush her teeth 10 times a day and I have actually had to ask her to STOP brushing her teeth so much.

Little Miss Observant

Scene 1
Anyone who knows me well knows I talk to myself, probably more than the average person. I tend to have conversations with real people who aren't actually there at the time. So driving in the car this week I get off the phone then start talking again as if to the same person. From the back seat I get "Mommy, are you talking to YOURSELF!?" with half a laugh as in disbelief. I just laughed too and said, "Yes, Cali I was." Next day, same thing, same question from Cali and me again shaking my head and having to admit that "Yes Cali, I was talking to MYSELF."

Scene 2
Doing something in the kitchen, I can't remember what. Cali comes up and says "Mommy you should take a picture of that and put it on your blog for Daddy to see." What?? I had no idea she knew about my blog, much less the word "blog," I guess she just picked it up from an overheard conversation... well now that I think of it I must have been talking to myself about the blog at some point or another.

Sticky-licious

We made Dave one of his favorite meals for dinner tonight... delicious chicken soft tacos based off of this Lime marinade. By the way, marinades are a nice easy thing you can let the kids help with. The measurements don't have to be precise and they can easily do the stirring. Just handle the raw meat part yourself.

Anyway, for dessert Cali & I made Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats. As everyone was thoroughly enjoying their treat we asked Cali how she liked it. To which she replied, "It's sticky-licious!"

FTF

Three of my favorite things Cali has said recently...

1. "Daddy! Mommy is being so nice to me!" As we were scrapbooking together and I was giving her a couple unwanted 12x12 papers from my stash.

2. "Mommy you're amazing! You can find anything!" After finding a mitten she was looking for in the floorboard of the car.

3. "Mommy thank you for this delicious salad!" After she had repeatedly complained that she did not like salad, did not want salad, etc., etc. as she watched me make it.

ETA

4. "Mom, you're such a good killer!" After smashing a big wolf spider with Diego's flip flop this morning.

Snack Time

Cali got herself a bowl of cereal this morning while I got D out of bed. When I came into the kitchen she said "Mommy, I got a little snack.. for your vacuum."

Just a few little pieces of cereal, the perfect tasty snack for my little Dustbuster :)

Allie

Cali has a little friend. Her name is Allie. She is a mouse. She is invisible. Allie has been around for a few months now. She shows up sporadically, typically outside in the yard or at a park. She likes to play chase, climb trees, and eat lots of snacks. Allie has a whole gang of other mice friends too. They have some pretty creative names. Sometimes we have to roll down the car windows so the mice can jump in and ride home with us after the park. Today we had to keep the windows down because the mice were chasing us as Cali threw (pretend) food to them out the window. A lot of times they hang out in the playhouse in our backyard. Even Diego runs to the playhouse peeks in the window and exclaims "Mou! Mou! Lally! Lally! Mou!" The mice like almost every type of food I could name and they're very hungry. They like strawberries for dinner, and pickles for dessert. They also eat foxes. It's a good thing because the foxes ate all the dinosaurs and made them extinct. Now the mice can eat the foxes and the foxes won't eat all the dinosaurs. Whew! Crazy I know but that is what I learned today.

Vipers

I'm telling you this girl has a plan for everything... Driving around town looking at some awesome over-the-top home Christmas displays and the kids must be excited because they start laughing uncontrollably for about 5 minutes straight. Pretty hilarious. They finally calm down and Diego starts acting like a lunatic by opening his mouth really wide then taking deep sighing breaths at the same time. I ask "What are you? A viper?" So then Cali wants to know all about vipers and I tell her they have very big, very sharp teeth. "Why?" So they can bite "Oh, are they not nice?" No they are not nice, they will bite you. "If we see a viper we will have to stand close to the side of an elephant." Oh really? "Yes, elephants will protect you from a viper." Ok honey I'll have to remember that.

Sharks

My Aunt Zodie has been visiting from Florida but had to go back home today. We were telling the kids she had to leave but maybe we could visit her sometime in the summer and go swimming in the ocean. Zodie mentioned there are a lot of sharks. Cali thought about that for a minute then came up with a plan. She said we could bring a bowl to put over the sharks mouth so they can't bite us. "We will make the bowl out of paper... Mommy do we have one of those?" No dear we don't have a shark-mouth-bowl-cover we will have to make one. "Oh Ok."

Miss Manners

Cali: Mommy!! (calling from the bathroom)
Me: Yes dear?
Cali: I tooted and I burped so I said "excuse me, excuse me".