The many joys of parenting

Today after picking up Sareny from preschool, I thought it would be fun to go to Burger King and let the kids play there. We took Ty with us and had a great time...until Isaac got hurt. Are you surprised? He's always the one that things happen to, poor thing.

Here I am in the play area with 4 kids and a little boy who is screaming his head off with his mouth full of chicken nuggets. I'm scrambling around to find something to have him spit his food into, but there is not a napkin to be found. Before I can react, he gags and then throws up all over. So I carry him into the main part of the restauraunt, him still screaming as loudly as he can, but now also covered in throw up. If the nice people sitting there trying to enjoy their lunches happen to glance our way, which they can hardly avoid with all the ruckus we're making, the site of my boy covered in puke is surely going to make them lose their appetites.

In the bathroom I clean him up as best as I can, making a huge mess all over the floor. As we are passing by the registers, Isaac throws up again. I tell the workers what is going on, while we make our way back to the play area to get our shoes. As soon as we enter the play area he throws up yet again. By now we have completely covered the entire restaurant in puke, and Isaac did his part to make sure that everybody in there knew it. I made a hasty retreat for the exit as fast as I could.

Here he is in happier times...

As I'm thinking about this sticky situation and trying to see how everything went wrong, I think of the nearby mom in the play area who, as soon as Isaac had thrown up the first time, grabbed her son and said rather rudely, "Let's get out of here." Ignore the fact that I'm searching in vain for a napkin, or that I have 3 other kids I'm taking care of. However, once in the main eatery, I heard a different mom say, "Poor thing," and when I came out of the bathroom, she asked if I needed any help.

Anyway, I think the older kids still managed to have a good time...I hope.

Thank goodness for sudden bursts of energy

And for sleeping babies, and baby swings, and kids that will entertain themselves for a couple hours, and for kids that will do chores to earn the right to scrub the toilet.

I haven't felt very well for a couple of days, and things around my house have definitely suffered. Somehow today I managed to do a pretty good job of catching up. I did dishes, swept and mopped the floor, crushed a bunch of pop cans, scrubbed all three bathrooms and mopped them too, washed 3 loads of laundry, picked up the family room and vacuumed, cleaned up my bedroom and made my bed to boot. Lest you think I totally neglected my kids today, we did spend two hours at the park for a preschool field trip.
Still to come this evening: bathe the kids, fold all of those clean clothes, clean out the van, and hopefully, dinner at Panda Express. A mom and can only be expected to do so much, right?!

When daddies are in charge, and other stuff

Sareny is in a preschool this year with some of her friends. One morning last week I had a Dr. appointment, so Keith stayed home with the kids and dropped her off at preschool. When I picked her up afterwards, this is what I found.

It was immediately clear to me that she had been getting into my mascara before Keith took her. Apparently this was not so obvious to daddy. I wonder what her teacher thought...

She looked a little too happy about things when I took her picture, so I told her she should try to look sad.

On Thursdays I pick up her friend Ty to take him to preschool. I have really enjoyed listening in on their conversations as we drive. Today:

Sareny: I got in a lot of trouble yesterday because I didn't remember the rules about toys. Now I can't have any friends over until I clean up.

Ty: We have rules. My mom has lots of rules.

Me: (thinking perhaps we should be instituting some of these rules):What rules do you guys have?

Ty: No dumping soda on the floor, and no kicking people in the face.

I guess those are rules we should probably have as well!

Later their conversation turned to what they had brought for show and tell.

Sareny: I brought my springs lightning. That's because I got it in the spring. (This is her shake and go Radiator Springs Lightning McQueen car. Last year her friend Caleb only wanted to play with the Radiator Springs car, so Sareny decided that one was the best.)

For at least a year, Sareny has maintained that she is going to marry her friend Zander. If you suggest she might change her mind later, she gets pretty huffy and says, "I already decided, and I'm marrying Zander!" Today I asked her if Zander liked another little girl they know. She said, "He loves me mucher than her! And we came out our mom's tummies, and we love each other and that's why we're trying to get married. We're bestest friends." This is all stated with quite an attitude.

I was slightly encouraged the other day after preschool, however, when she said "Mom, don't tell Daddy I love Jonathon." She still plans to marry Zander, but at least now she is willing to look at her other options, just in case things don't work out!

Aah...a finished project

I am the Queen of starting projects. I love starting something new--I feel such a rush of creative juices. When I'm beginning a project I work on it almost exclusively, obsessively. I lay in bed at night unable to sleep because I am picturing what I will work on the following day and envisioning a completed project. I have to capitalize on that burst of energy because if I don't, I lose steam quickly. I have an entire room dedicated to my collection of unfinished projects.

For a while there was a rumor circulating around our house that Keith would be taking over said room since I was "just using it as a storage room." I quelled any such notions.

Each of my children has a quilt that I made for them when they were born. I have started sewing each blanket before my baby made their appearance into the world. In keeping with tradition, Finley Lynn's quilt was finished a couple of months after she was born. In fairness, I did finish hers about a month ago and am just now blogging about it. It feels so great to finish something, especially when you have put so much effort and love into it.

And yes, I am currently working on several new projects...

It's all about the poop

Lately it seems my life is all about poop. Not my poop, mind you. But when you have two kids in diapers, and one whom it sometimes seems like she should be, well, you deal with a lot of poop on a daily basis.

Today was just your average run of the mill type of day. Sareny went #2, then proceeded to climb up onto the bathroom counter to talk to herself in the mirror and made a big smear all over. Kind of makes me thankful that I was a day late on my cleaning schedule, since yesterday was bathroom cleaning day.

Isaac, bless his little heart, is just an extremely "regular" little boy who goes three times a day. In a diaper. That sometimes leaks all over.

And Finley just accomplished the biggest blowout I have ever seen in my entire life. When I picked her up, I figured I must have forgotten to put a diaper on her since there was poop all over her and the swing. (And yes Johnny, it was even worse than the legendary bumbo incident.)

So I go from one stinkin' mess to another, occasionally getting a little frustrated. And then I look into their little faces. And fall in love.

Ask Sareny to pose and you get this.

Ask Isaac to pose and you get this.

Fashion Show

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a clearance sale at Mervyns. They had so many good deals and I just couldn't resist getting my kids some clothes for the winter and next spring. I got 14 items and spent $42. When we got home Sareny wanted to try on all of her clothes. She is just a little model!

Isaac showing the proper usage of his new pajamas.

Silly Kids

Excerpt of an actual conversation I've had with Isaac multiple times.

Isaac: Nee Mom!

Mom: Well, where did you put your nee?

Isaac: 'Tuz.

(Nee is his word for his sippy cup.)

Funny Prayers:

When Sareny was 22 months old, she loved watching Winnie the Pooh. We watched it a lot. One evening at dinner we put the movie on pause so we could say a prayer. Throughout the prayer, she chanted while pounding on the table, "Wee the Pooh! Wee the Pooh!"

Several times when we have been helping Isaac say the prayer, he starts out normal enough, parroting back what we tell him to say. Then he decides to make things easier for himself.

Us: Thank thee for mommy.

Isaac: ya (this is said with a little head nod and pronounced with a German accent so that it rhymes with blah.)

Us: Thank thee for Sissie.

Isaac: ya.

It's pretty silly.

Several months ago, Grammy Jo was helping Sareny say the dinner prayer. Grammy said, "And bless it to nourish us." Sareny said, "And bless the nurses." We all kind of snickered. Grammy prompted again, "and nourish us." Sareny, kind of exasperated now, "and the nurses."

A clean toy room!

We have toys. A lot of toys. And lately, I have just been getting completely sick and tired of said toys being strewn from heck to breakfast all over my house. I don't know how so many of you out there manage to have it all together and keep your houses orderly and presentable, but this is something we struggle with over here. My kids can take a clean house and turn it into a CPS case faster than I can use the bathroom.

So it came down to this: either throw away all of the toys, or find some way to lock them away so that I can have control. We came up with the (rather expensive) solution of purchasing plastic bins with lids from Walmart and gigantic wardrobes with shelves from Ikea. And so, $600 and some serious hard labor later, I have a newly organized toy room.

Our new rule is they can each play with one bin at a time. If they want to play with something else, they have to clean up the first bin before they can get another out. And again, without the locks there is no way this system would work around here--not with these two around.

I am mad at how blurry this picture came out, but it is still cute.

In Matthew...

Years ago at my older sister's mission farewell, my younger sister Cassidy got up to give her talk in sacrament, began with "In Matthew," and then ran back to her chair and never finished. We never got to hear any more of her talk. I have no idea what anyone else said that day, but I remember that Cassidy said, "In Matthew." Well, now we have another "Matthew" situation to remember.
Today at church Sareny was supposed to give the scripture in Primary. We had practiced at home and she seemed very prepared. I was at the podium helping her, and I prompted her to say "Matthew chapter six." She loudly said "Matthew chocolate chips." I got a good chuckle out of that one. My friend Sheila said she enjoys the weeks the Sunbeams are giving the talks and scriptures because you never know what you're going to get. Anyway, good job Sareny!

little chefs

Sareny and Isaac were playing kitchen and Sare decided they needed to wear chef hats. She wanted me to wear one too, but sadly, they wouldn't fit on my head. However, being the smart little problem solver that she is, she improvised and put a pair of her panties on my head. It's unfortunate Keith isn't here to take a group photo.

Also, does everybody have trouble keeping clothes on their kids, or is it just me??

I have realized that Isaac doesn't like getting his picture taken. I have to chase him down every time and have used Brandi's "there's a spider on my head" trick a couple of times to get him to look at me.

Fin Lynn is so sweet--whenever I lay her down to change her diaper, she just smiles and smiles at me. She must know a nice airing out is coming!