Sunday, September 30, 2007

M.I.A.

I'm putting out an APB on one of Anna's possessions she didn't even know she had but is distraught on not being able to find it. We were happily reading a little story about different parts of the body and what they are for. Arms are for hugging and reaching way up high. Tongues are for tasting and singing la-la-la, etc. etc. Lips are for giving kisses and whistling. It was at this point Anna became distressed. You see Anna has lost her whistle. At first I thought she forgot where her lips were. Nope. She knew about lips, it was in fact her whistle. She can't find it and wants it back. She is very upset, understandably. Please, if you find a little two-year old whistle, it belongs to Anna.

Finally!

Not-so-Fantastic Sams has been vindicated. Finally! I thought after three attempts it had to go right eventually, right? Right! After church I dropped my kiddos off to visit with Auntie Sally, Matthew is out of town. I then proceeded to do battle with another stylist. I was thinking I probably wasn't giving them a big enough challenge and thought maybe I should add highlights to my list of wants. I haven't had those in close to 6 years, why not? I showed the stylist the style I wanted and we picked a color for my 15foils.

She finished. I looked. I liked. I tipped. I'm going to pretend I went to A'la Mode. I will now enjoy the 6-8weeks before my next battle. I may never win the war but if I can win a battle once in awhile I'll be happy.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Not What You Think

Isaiah was explaining to me about one of his favorite friends at school. Her name is, "C" and she's a girl who happened to be in his kindergarten class last year as well. Isaiah and C usually play together at recess time, along with other friends, and play some sort of chasing game. Yesterday, however, Isaiah and C joined some boys playing football. Isaiah expressed how much fun it was to play football with C. He said he really liked playing with nice girls. He also mentioned how he likes fast girls. I'm positive he was merely commenting on the speed in which they run. It just sounded funny after I processed how he said that statement. I was very tired and definitely ready for bed.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

AWANA First Graders

AWANA again! So much fun, and hectic, the first night. I received my list of yellow dogs and was so excited to find out I have the same crew. One little girl hadn't registered so I'm missing only one cherub from last year. Also, one little boy brought a friend from school who is new to our church and club. How exciting! I've always had FCC kiddos and am so excited to have a little guy who hasn't been to our church home before.

If you're so inclined say a prayer for Jacob and his mom that they feel welcomed and encouraged to visit more then Wed. evenings for AWANA.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Just for Fun!

Anna really enjoyed her supper on this night. Believe it or not she got lots in her tummy, too.

















One of the guys that works at our shop is a volunteer firefighter. Neil, let Isaiah try on the gigantic set up. Isaiah felt pretty cool wearing the official gear.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Bet You Never Knew...

We were running some errands and both kiddos were in the car with me. Isaiah ponders things while we drive and informed me he would really like to have a "jumpoline". Oh really? Yep, he thinks they would be fun.

While doing the bedtime routine Isaiah filled me in on a conversation he overheard between some first grade girls in his class. Apparently the garment that mom's wear on the upper part of their body is called a "brawths". I pretended to be confused at which point Isaiah explained further. Isaiah didn't feel the need to join in the conversation but told me he thought so-and-so was wrong and that it's just called underwear. I told him he was in fact correct and that if so-and-so feels the need to educate her classmates on this topic further he could just state that isn't really appropriate to talk about at school. Good grief!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

The Power of Forgiveness

Anna has recently been learning what a time-out is. This is the only punishment I can come up with that is remotely successful for my strong-willed dolly. There is no time-out chair, corner, mat, etc. It's my lap, why? There's no way that 2-yr.old would sit anywhere during a time-out unrestrained. She must sit on my lap until she apologizes to whomever she has been naughty to. It is working and most of the time she apologizes and appears remorseful before we even get to the time-out on my lap.

Today at nap time, Anna's least favorite activity, she did her usual cry and rant and rave on the horror that is nap time. She then stopped right in the middle of a scream looked at me and said, "Sorry, Mama." I asked why she was apologizing and Anna said, "Ummm, hmmm yet's see...what I do wrong Mama?" When I informed her she had, in fact done nothing wrong and had no need to apologize she was simply lying down for nap time she realized her plan malfunctioned and continued the ranting and raving for another 5minutes.

At least she tried...I guess? She obviously dislikes the time-out strategy of being confined to my lap and although she was merely in her bed for a much needed nap she knew how to "get-out" of it. I suppose I'll have to take what I can get. One can only do so much.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Foreigner

No not the band. It's me...according to Isaiah.

Isaiah: Where is the first house you ever lived in?
Mama: Well, I was born in Iowa.
Isaiah: (said in complete awe) You were?
Mama: Yep, Grammy and Gramps lived there for a short time.
Isaiah: Wow, what was it like? Did you like the Iowas? (said like Dakotas)
Mama: Well I was just a baby and only live there for about 9 months.
Isaiah: That is so cool now we can learn about Iowa and Mexico.

In my head I'm thinking.....what?!?! What does Mexico have to do with Iowa? Later on in this conversation I learned there is a little girl in his class that lived in Mexico and that Mrs.O said they'll have to learn a little more about Mexico. Apparently Isaiah is going to school to tell Mrs.O that his mama was amazingly born in Iowa! Can you even imagine his teacher's excitement to have two opportunities such as this. There will be brightly colored blankets, pinatas and maracas, not to mention the corn and pork chops that I'll be bringing in to share with the class.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Creative Parenting

Those that lived in the Twin Cities area during the 80's may remember a local show called Good Company. It was sort of like Regis and Kathie Lee but in St. Paul. The hosts were a married couple Steve Edleman and Sharon Anderson. They had a lot of segments with local experts and one of them was Donna Erickson. Donna was the creative parenting expert and would come on the show and do fun little projects that parents could recreate with their children at home. How nice, right?

Well I think creative parenting is a bit more than art projects and picture magnets on the fridge. I think a creative parent has to actually be creative in their thinking and answer giving. You could nearly start a nuclear meltdown with the wrong answer.

Anna noticed a leaf on the grass. She was NOT happy about that! She did NOT authorize this leaf to be ON the grass. How dare this leaf fall from the tree! The horror! So can you sense her disgust yet? She asked me why the leaf was on the grass and I said calmly that the leaf was blown off the tree from the wind. No Mama it go up dere. (pointing to the top of the tree) I'm sorry dolly that leaf won't go back on the tree. Yes Mama put it back. Okay, I'll try. I picked up the leaf and tucked it into the bark of the tree. Dat be good Mama.

In an effort to ease her into the inevitable sorrow that is autumn, I started to brace Anna for the entire season. I mentioned that soon all the leaves will turn to pretty colors like red, orange and yellow , the trees will get ready to take a nap at which point, gasp, the trees will let their leaves fall to the ground. NNNNOOOOOO! It did not go over well. I re-explained the whole pretty leaf colors situation and she appeared to slowly be okay with this fact of nature as long as there are some "boo yeaves". I did not want to cause more heartache and did not argue. Maybe there will be some blue ones? I then explained how fun it will be rake up all the leaves into a great big pile that she can jump into. The lights went on in her little head. She said, "I be fine, dat be fun, dat be good fo me." Thank you Anna.

Anna is prepared and ready. Let the fall color-rama begin! Take that Donna Erickson, mending broken hearts and having fun all in less then 5minutes!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

My Anna

These are a couple things Anna has said or did today that had me wondering.....

At snack time we were eating yogurt and fish crackers. Anna's yogurt was banana and our fish crackers happened to be the Pizza Blast flavor. Anna insisted on mixing the two together. I told her repeatedly that pizza fish and banana yogurt probably wouldn't taste the greatest....but then again what do I know? Being the Anna that she is, she mixed. I waited with a "Yikes" facial expression and anticipated a major spit-out. Nope. She loved it. She happily finished her delicious creation.

After snack, she was taking care of her babies and took them shopping at the grocery store. Anna brought me a basket of "food" from the store and told me to eat the french fries and chicken noodle soup. I then thought it would be fun to point out that her beautiful green purse was still on the floor and oops! do you need to go back to the store to pay for your groceries? She replied, "No Mama, I fine. I not cold." No idea what she thinks purses are for but, apparently, they have nothing to do with paying for groceries at the store.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

It's ALIVE!!!!!!

Went to the grocery store yesterday. With the onset of this chilly weather I thought I'd pick up some yeast to make bread. The house always smells so good when it's cold out and there is warm bread in the oven.

Isaiah returned home from school yesterday and I hadn't put all the baking supplies I purchased away at that time. I had other goodies, for baking, on the counter and didn't want Isaiah to snoop. I told him please do not touch what's on the counter as he was investigating the yeast packets. Isaiah replied, thinking I was specifically talking about the yeast, and said, "Oh yeah, that stuff's alive."

I turned back to chopping my tomatoes for tacos and imagined what his little boy mind must be imagining is in those yeast packets.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Question

This is just something I've been wondering about today. If you eat corn, whether it be on the cob, frozen or canned it's considered a vegetable, right? So take those same kernels dry them out and pop them and they're now considered a grain. Why is that? Why can't popcorn be a vegetable? I just don't understand. Raisins are still considered a fruit are they not?

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

It Dropped!

I'm just saying...

Actually it wasn't too bad. Besides nearly falling asleep in his spaghetti at 5:20pm, he didn't do too badly. I'm just hoping this "jet lag" doesn't last as long as it did in kindergarten. I will pray for a speedy adjustment.

The Other Shoe (will eventually drop)

Due to a change in my husband's work he has requested supper be at 5:30. We usually eat at 5pm which, I know, is early. It all started when we had children and they were born to be early birds. Early birds are crabby birds if they don't go to bed early so, as a result we always eat supper early and start the bedtime deal early.

I'm excited about the prospect of eating supper at 5:30. It is 30min. closer to an actual normal supper time. I think it's possible and since Anna is a little less of an early bird than Isaiah it may work. Isaiah being nearly seven can certainly handle this change.

This change will not be happening the first week of school however. I know from my vast experience with a kindergartener that children come home absolutely, totally, 100% completely exhausted. This lasted a good two months last year. My little boy would emotionally hold himself together all day long and then once at home......look out. I had to very creatively phrase things so as not to create any nuclear meltdowns. Very rough evenings.

I reminded my husband that 5:30 won't really work for a couple of weeks yet because Isaiah gets off the bus at 4:30 and by the time we eat and give two kiddos a bath that boy is done. Done I say. He was in bed and asleep by 6:45 last school year. Matthew is willing to hold off this first week to give Isaiah his extra sleep. (thank you Matthew)

That being said yesterday Isaiah came home in a remarkably super-duper mood. I kept watching the clock. We ate supper at 5pm. (thank you Matthew) Still no meltdowns? Gave the kids their baths. Checked the time 5:45 and still no meltdown. Brushed teeth, took one last bathroom break, read books and still no meltdown? Huh. Isaiah was asleep by 7pm last night and was still in a perfectly good mood. I was a bit shocked and then remembered the Isaiah Rule: When having fun and not getting enough rest you never, ever lose contol until day #2.

I forgot! If Isaiah spends a Friday night at Grammy's he's always fine until Sunday afternoon. Oops. Today will be the day for WWIII. Silly me. If you hear lots of crying and screaming while you're eating supper (at 6pm like everyone else in America) it'll most likely be coming from our house as my son will think it completely irrational of me to request him to fetch a towel for bathtime.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Random Thoughts

Last weekend of summer vacation. That was THE fastest summer ever. I have decided that summer has past so quickly not just because we were a little too busy but because of percentage. What do I mean? Every year you get older so that would lead me to believe that the three months of summer vacation is a smaller and smaller percentage of your life. Summer vacation for a 12mo. old is 25% of their little life. Three months of summer for a 32-year-old is quite a lower percentage of time therefore, the reason things seem to speed by as you get older.

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On Saturday Matthew and I took the kids to the Minnesota State Fair. The kids had never been there. We knew it would be expensive but before we even got into the fair we had spent 50$ on parking and admission tickets. Sheesh! My favorite part was the Miracle of Birth Center. We watched the early stages of a Holstein laboring. It was too warm in the barn for Matthew and Isaiah so they left before the big event. Anna and I watched the two front legs emerge and then the beginning of the nose peek out. All the moms in the audience were pushing for the cow during the contractions. Sort of funny. I did feel sorry for the cow though. Can you imagine having such a large audience. Maybe she didn't care? Either way it was fun to watch what we did.

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Isaiah starts first grade tomorrow. We are all so happy about which teacher he'll have. She seems kind and organized. Very good. Isaiah mentioned how he'd like to stay in first grade forever because he just knows he'll love his teacher. I'm hoping that sentiment changes by the start of 2nd grade next year. Sending him to first grade is so much easier then sending my little person to kindergarten. What a difference a year makes.