Do you want to be my friend? Check yes or no.

Wherever we go, Anna and Lauren seem to make new friends so easily.  Heck, they even made a friend in the restroom at a restaurant the other day.  At the park they just walk up to the nearest kid and ask, "Do you want to be my friend?"  Then they all happily run off to play.  Wouldn't it be so nice to make friends as easily when we're adults?  We all need companionship and friends play such an important role in our lives.  Would that we could just let go of all of the insecurities, worries, and baggage and just offer a smile and a hand without worrying about whether or not we'll be accepted.  Being retired military, we've experienced the continual loss of good friends as we all seem to be on the move somewhere new every 2-3 years.  It wasn't until we had kids and lived on base that we actually began to make new adult friends.  There were years we spent living in neighborhoods without knowing anyone at all.  Although children open an easy door for conversations with moms we might not know, but would like to, it's still hard to find someone that you share interests with, and feel comfortable enough to be yourself.  I'm thankful that I'm at a time in my life where I have good friends, here and out of state.  I love the Bernard Meltzer quote, "A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked."    Goodness knows, I am a bit off! Speaking of being just "slightly cracked", here are a few of the latest crack-ups from our very own peanut gallery.

Anna caught an infomercial on TV and called into the kitchen, "Mommy, do you need stretch mark lotion?  Because the phone lines are open right now.  I was just wondering."

We drove by the new Bikram Yoga studio that's just opened in our area and Lauren said, "Mommy, that's the place I was telling you about.  If you want to be like this (she sucked in her stomach and poked her chest out), you need to go there."  Anna piped in and said, "Yeah, Mommy, if you want to be really stretchy go to Bike-Ram Yoga!"  After a good laugh and a good groupon deal, I took their advice and went to a yoga class.  I still have 9 classes to go but have decided that hot yoga is almost like childbirth.  With your first child (and your first class), you're excited and giddy and not really sure just what to expect.  When your second child (or second class as the case may be) comes along, you're not sure if you want to go through it again, at least not without a few drugs because well, you're scared and you know it's going to hurt.

We'll be visiting with the grandparents soon and the girls have been on the phone A LOT planning out all of their activities.  After one lengthy call between Lauren and my dad, my dad called me and was telling me about their conversation.  Lauren is planning on catching birds, hunting deer, and wrestling alligators.  My dad mentioned that at one point in the discussion Lauren said, "Mommy is mean sometimes."  My dad asked her what she did to make me that way and she responded, "Let's not talk about that."

We took a day trip to Empire Mines in Grass Valley a few weeks okay and Doug and the kids had the following conversation on the drive there.
Lauren:  When I grow up, I'm going to buy a motorcycle.
Anna:  Yeah, maybe I'll buy a motorcycle too....or a hot car.
Doug:  What kind of car, Anna?
Anna:  Ummm....a pink Chevy with a TV in it like Ryan and Mrs. Trish.
Me:  Mrs. Trish has a mini-van.
Anna:  Oh yeah.  Maybe a hot pink car with a TV in it or one that serves me burritos or McDonalds.

Jacob's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds.  He's a little parrot and repeats everything you say.  When I ask him his name, he responds, "J-tob Tiest".  When I ask him my names, he says, "Mommy Tiest".  When I ask his age, he says hes "Two!"  When I ask him how old Mommy is, he replies, "Mommy ooooold."

He tries to help out around the house and he'll get forks out of the drawer at meal time and place them on the table.  Unfortunately, however, at the end of the meal he takes the same forks (now used) and puts them back in the drawer.  He loves to help me unload the washing machine and put the clean laundry into the dryer.  He also likes taking the laundry from the dryer and placing it into the basket.  Walk away for even a second though and he'll have that clean laundry placed back in the wash and be trying to climb the machine to turn it on.

Doug spent a morning putting sticks in all of the windows so Jacob can't open them and climb out.  Even though he's figured out how to get by all of the other child safety latches we've put into place, my one consolation was that at least if he got out of the house, he couldn't get out of the backyard.  Yesterday I found him outside, climbing the gate, and removing the padlock (it was unlocked anyway).  He threw the lock on the ground and then started working on the gate handle.  If this keeps up, I really am going to be oooooold and gray by the time he turns 18.

Hawaiian Funnies:
At the Hilton Waikoloa there was a young man who ran along the shoreline each night, blowing a conch shell and lighting torches.  The first night we saw him, the kids were very impressed.  After he lit all of his torches and was making his way back, Anna yelled over to him, "Nice conch shell!"  I started to laugh, she asked why, I stifled the laugh and said I was just so happy to be there enjoying the lovely evening with my family.

The lighting of the torches affected Jacob in other ways, however. He spent all of his time trying to blow the torches out. He huffed...  (I know these aren't the clearest pics but I still love them anyway!)

And he puffed....

But he couldn't blow the torch out, much to his dismay.
 

We stopped at the Waikoloa market to get some gas and Anna saw the following sign.  Lauren asked her to read it out loud.  Anna read the sign quite accurately until she got to the end.  At the end, she read, "Violators will be subject to criminal execution!"  Worriedly, she turned to me and asked, "Mommy, they kill you??"  I calmed her down and explained the word prosecution.  Lauren asked Anna what it all meant and Anna said, "They don't kill you, Lauren, they just "persecute" you."

Oh, how I love our babies. I'll be in and out over the next few weeks as we're getting caught up on spoiling of the grandchildren by the grandparents, but will be back in July.  Happy summer!

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Lauren showed me a picture of a volcano she had drawn and said, "Do you know what that stuff coming out of the top of the volcano is?"  "Lava," I replied.  "No," she said.  "I didn't know how to draw lava so I just drew a mustache instead."  I looked again and sure enough it was a handlebar mustache.

We were at the dentist office for the girls' cleaning and Anna was looking around the office.  She asked the dental hygenist what the Sharps container was for.  The hygenist responded it was for needles.  She then went on to say they used the needles to help take away the pain in case anyone needed a tooth pulled.  Anna perked up and said, "I know a girl who had to have her tooth pulled.  Afterwards, she took it home, put it in a jar and named it Rachel."

As you may have guessed, Lauren can be rough and tumble.  She tends to give Jacob a hard time but now that he's a little older, he tells on her.  The funny thing is though, that now he blames her for everything, whether she did it or not.  He fell on a toy the other day and came over to me, rubbing his back saying, "Ow.  Back hurt.  Low-reen (his pronounciation of Lauren) scratch.  Hurt."  The next day he got the knee of his pants wet in the dog's water dish and said, "Low-reen did."  This morning, he was scratching an owie he had on his knee that he gave himself.  I said, "C'mon, Buddy.  Let's put some neosporin on that."  He responded, "Low-reen scratch.  Low-reen did." 

Sitting down to a dinner of shrimp and rice, Anna asked, "Did God say it was OK to kill shrimp?"

Some older tidbits I'd written on post-its that I came across while spring cleaning:

At the end of drama camp this past summer, Doug asked Lauren if she'd made any friends during the week.  She responded, "No."  He asked, "What about that little boy sitting next to you?"  Again, she responded, "No."  He asked Anna the same question.  She replied, "Yes, a ton!"  Doug looked at me and said, "Well, that about sums it up."

Conversation upon turning on the computer and seeing a pop-up that says it is a non-media day in America:
Anna said, "Lauren, today is No TV day.  It says we're supposed to turn off our tvs, video games, and cell phones and go outside to play."  Lauren thought for a second and then said, "Yeah, just click the X."

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

It's been a busy week.  Doug and I are finally coming down with the cold that the kids had and are feeling a bit under the weather.  It was another crazy 7 days in class, but after 2 discussion posts and replies, 6 supplemental media quizzes, a lab activity quiz,  two tests, and a midterm, I'm only one paper away from being done for the week...just in time to start again next week.  In my spare time, I've been working on a Queen Elizabeth I dress for Anna.  Her class is doing book reports on famous people and she's read 3 books about Queen Elizabeth.  The students are supposed to dress like their character and present their book reports as if they were that person.  I still have a few weeks to get the dress done so I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can get it finished and that it will fit.  I'm still new to the whole sewing thing.  I decided it was probably about time for another CWTPG.  The wee ones are coming up with new stuff all the time.  I need to put aside one notebook just for their "funnyisms" because I tend to write their sayings down wherever I have a piece of paper and then have to search around when it's time for a new post.  Here's the latest.

While watching the Super Bowl:
Lauren:  What's the Super Bowl?
Anna:  I don't know but if you win you get to go to the World Series.
Lauren:  C'mon Pack, go!  I want you to go to the Super Bowl.
Mommy:  Jacob, say "Go, Pack Go!"
Jacob: Balls.
Mommy:  Jacob, say "Go, Pack Go!"
Jacob:  Doe, Dat, Doe!
Tyler to Doug:  Did you hear that one of the guys in the group that has never missed a Super Bowl is in the hospital and can't go?
Anna:  What happened?  Did he get hit in the head with a football?

Eating dinner and playing the 20 questions game:
Anna:  Okay, it's a person.
Me:  Is it a girl?
Anna:  Yes.
Lauren:  Is it a boy?
Moment of silence.
Anna:  No, it's a girl.  Here are some more hints.  She is Jewish and she's from Amsterdam.
Me:  Is it Anne Frank?
Anna:  No.  She's also Indian.
Me:  Huh?
Anna:  And she helped Lewis and his buddy find their way across the United States.
Me:  Do you mean Sacagawea?
Anna:  Yes!!!  You got it.

Trying to get Jacob to the table for lunch:
Me:  Jacob, it's time to eat.  Do you want to eat?
Jacob:  Outside to bounce.  (He loves the trampoline.)
Me:  No, honey, we need to eat first.
Jacob:  Shush!  Outside to bounce.
Me:  Do you want spinach pizza or grilled chicken?
Jacob:  Bock.  Bock.

I showed the girls a picture my stepmom had sent of my dad with a deer he killed during hunting season.  This is the conversation that ensued:
Anna: Awww, is that PawPaw?
Me: Yes.
Anna: Awww, is that a baby deer?
Me: No, it's an adult. Look at how big his antlers are.  It's an 8-point.
Lauren: Let me see! Man! PawPaw killed that deer...with a gun.
Anna: Yeah, that's an elephant gun.
Lauren: No, it's a BB gun, right?
Anna: No, BB guns are smaller.

Me to Jacob:  Say Granny.
Jacob:  Granny.
Me:  Say PawPaw.
Jacob:  PawPaw.
Me:  Say Nana.
Jacob:  Nana.
Me:  Say Poppy.
Jacob:  Woof.  Woof.

Overheard from the family room:
Lauren:  Help!!  He's eating my project!!!!
I walked in to find Lauren in tears and Jacob eating the marshmallows and pretzels off of her snowman picture she'd made in her kindergarten class.

Tyler came out in January to spend 3 months with us.  The night before his arrival, the girls were busy making welcome signs and presents for him.  He came in around lunchtime the next day.  When Anna got home from school and got to see him for the first time, she gave him a huge hug and said, "Tyler, I have a present for you."  I assumed she meant one of the pictures she had been working on.  Instead, she took Tyler by the hand and led him over to her backpack where she had 8 french fries wrapped up in a greasy napkin .  She said, "Tyler,  I saved my french fries from lunch for you.  C'mon, let's heat them up, so you can eat them."

Looking at baby pictures of Lauren:
Anna:  Look at how cute Lauren was.  Now she's all grown up and has stinky feet.

After the girls' Starstruck Showcase perfomance at school:
Anna:  Lauren, I saw your dance and I was clapping for you very rapidly!

Anna's song at the dinner table inspired by her readings about Queen Elizabeth:
Anna:  I'm a princess.  Tyler's a prince and Jacob's a prince.  Alaina is a princess and Lauren is a princess.
Lauren.  Eww.  I want to be a prince.
Anna:  Daddy is the King and Mommy is the Queen.  Tyler and Jacob are princes.  I am a princess and so is Alaina.  Lauren is a slave.  La, la, la, la.

Overheard from the family room:
Lauren:  Anna, have you seen those pajama jeans they've been talking about on TV?  I'm going to get Mommy a pair of those for Christmas next year!!

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

I know this post is quite large but I'm trying to get in all of the conversations that I haven't posted before the end of the year.  Enjoy!

Too many infomercials perhaps??
Anna: Mommy, I have an idea. We can use oxyclean stainfighter. It gets the tough stains out, even the hardest ones.
Lauren: Yeah, even blueberry. Action Stain Clean Fighter is some sort of powder.
Anna: Guess what! Mr. Steamy is cool. You put him in the washer with some flower smelling spray and he gets off the stains. He irons them and he makes them smell good. Mr. steamy can do those three things in one wash!

Watching a show about the Titanic:
Anna: Are ships girls or boys?
Doug: All ships are girls.
Lauren: What about boats?
Doug: Yes, boats too.
Lauren: What about canoes?

Watching a show on” Animal Planet”
Lauren: “Look, everybody, pokey-pines!”
Anna: I think there is an animal kingdom and the king is a giraffe.

Despite our constant reminders to avoid snakes, Lauren killed a snake in the street the other day with a tennis racket. She then picked it up and put it in our garbage can where it revived as she had apparently only knocked it out for a moment.

Anna: Daddy, can we get a car with a TV in it?
Doug: No.
Anna and Lauren: Why not?
Doug: I don’t believe in it.
Anna and Lauren: But they’re real, Daddy. They’re real.

Jacob doesn’t want to sleep in his own bed anymore. He’s determined to be in bed with Mommy and Daddy. Putting him in his crib the other night we had the following conversation:
Jacob: Bay-ed
Me: You want a band-aid?
Jacob: Bay-ed.
Me: You want a family band? (We’ve been playing a lot of music recently).
Jacob: Bay-ED!!
Me: Bed? Mommy and Daddy’s bed? Is that what you want?
Jacob: Want!!

Lauren: I wonder when I’ll be old enough to go to the moon. I’m gonna bring my bike along and go to all the planets and that one with the ring around it.
Anna: That’s Saturn.
Lauren: Yeah, I’m gonna take my bike to Saturn and when you see writing in the sky that will be me.

Looking for a particular chapter in a Harry Potter book for Anna:
Anna: Mommy, just look at the continents. (Table of contents)

Where did we go wrong:
Lauren is so intent on contributing to her school’s recycling program that I have to stop her from emptying unused water bottles, ketchup bottles, and jugs of milk.

Thurman is hard of hearing now and we have to shine a flashlight at him to get him to come in for the night. He can’t hear us call.

I tried to put my tennis shoes on yesterday and found a ¼ cup measuring cup in my right shoe with a ¼ cup of raisins in my left.

Jacob keeps trying to clean the toilet in his diaper and his sister’s tap shoes.

The phone rang at 0530 the other day. It scared me because normally a call at that hour implies bad news is coming. Anna and I answered at the same time, she on the downstairs phone. A man’s voice said, “Hey, Baby.”
Anna said, “Hello? Hello?”
Me(to Anna): Anna hang up the phone.  I have it.
Me (to caller): I’m sorry but you have the wrong number.
Caller: Naw, naw. You’re the girl I met last night that I paid to (fill in the blanks here).
Anna: Who is this, Mommy?
Me (to Anna): ANNA, HANG UP THE PHONE NOW!!
Caller: Wait, baby, what’s your name…Anna? Yeah, Anna is the girl I met last night.
Anna: Mommy, he said my name. It’s for me.
Me: ANNA, HANG UP THE PHONE NOW!!!
We both hung up and he called right back.
Me: STOP calling this number.
Anna: Who is it Mommy?
Caller:  Is this Anna?
Me: ANNA, HANG UP THE PHONE NOWWWWWWWWW!!!
I called my stepmom and asked her to talk to me for a few minutes until he got bored and gave up. Afterwards I tried to explain to the girls that just because someone calls us doesn’t necessarily mean they know us or are good people. Later in the day the phone rang and the caller hung up. Lauren said, “Mommy, it might be that unwell-mannered man again.

Christmas goodies:
We asked the grandparents to only send one gift this year to each child as we just are overrun with toys.  Anna wasn't too happy with this plan.  I overheard her on the phone with my mom.
Anna: Nana, I only have five presents under the tree. Can you send me more?

On our way out of the parking lot heading toward the Nutcracker:
Lauren: Wow, look at those highscapers.

Making gingerbread cookies and houses:
Me: Girls, I’m going upstairs to get ready for our playdate. Don’t let Jakie get into the cookies. A few minutes later, I walked back downstairs to find several legs eaten off of unbaked gingerbread men as well as all of my roofs and two doors devoured by our busy boy.

This year my dad and stepmom sent the kids 12 envelopes for the 12 days of Christmas with dollars bills rolled up for each day (for example: Day 1: $1, Day 2: $2, Day 3: $3, etc.) At the end of the 12 days the kids split the money and each were left with $26. A few days later, the kids got Christmas cards in the mail. Anna opened hers and said, “Where’s the money?” Lauren said, “Yeah, all they sent were words.”

Watching a show about the life of Jesus a few days prior to Christmas, we learned that (according to Anna) Jesus was crucified by the Germans because he was political trouble for them.

Looking at “Bible Stories for Little Eyes” and a picture of the Three Wise Men at the manger holding gold, frankincense, and myrrh, Lauren said, “Oh, look. They’re taking pictures with their cameras.”

Jacob on Christmas Day:
Me: Jacob, say “Merry Christmas!”
Jacob: “Cheese!”

Anna talking to Doug about her new Barbie Video Girl Santa gave her:
Doug: Have you been taking videos?
Anna: Yes, but I’ve deleted them all.
Doug: Why?
Anna: Because I want to keep the news fresh.

Wrapping last minute presents while Doug and the girls were sledding, I ran out of paper and ran upstairs to get some more. When I came back down, Jacob had the scissors at the Christmas tree cutting all of my garlands in two. At least now, they cover the whole tree and not just the lower half.

After eating beef tenderloin on Christmas day:
Anna: What animal is this?
Doug: A cow.
Anna: Ooh.
Lauren: What other animals do we eat?
Doug: Pig, deer, lamb, sloth.
Anna: We don’t eat sloth, Daddy.
Doug: Sure we do. Haven’t you ever heard of cole “sloth”?

Lauren checked the oatmeal we sprinkled on the lawn the night before to guide Santa’s reindeer to our yard: “Mommy, I checked the oatmeal and it looks like the reindeer nibbled on it!”

The day after Christmas:
Doug: Sandy, have you seen the large key ring with all of the spare keys on it?
Me: I used it to take the kids to school a couple of weeks ago because I couldn’t find my keys.
Doug: So, where did you put it when you were done? Is it in a coat pocket somewhere?
Me: I don’t think so. I thought I put them back where they go.
After a few minutes of frantic searching:
Me: Girls, have you seen the big ring of keys?
Anna: No.
Lauren: Yes.
Me (to Lauren): You have?
Lauren: Yes.
Me: Where are they, baby?
Lauren: I buried them.
Me: You buried them?
Lauren: Yes.
Me: Um, where did you bury them?
Lauren: In the back yard.

Written in a card we received from Anna on Christmas morning:
Dear family,
Merry Christmas!  It's the joyfull day a savior was born!  It's also time to thank Santa, and open presents, and a feast!  Let's start!  Hooray!
Love,
Anna
P.S. hugs and kisses
 
See you all in the New Year!  Best Wishes!

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

                                                                                                                                                                              
In the past few days, Jacob has managed to throw a magazine, countless towels and washcloths, three shirts, a brush, a magic wand, a princess cell phone, a dvd remote, and a shoe into the bathtub while it was full of water.  He's tried to throw the large decorative pillow from our bed, a pair of boots, and several hardback books in as well but has been foiled.  The cell phone and magic wand he soaked started making music the next morning around 0200 and Doug and I  stumbled around in the dark to find them, wrapped them in clothes and stuffed them in various drawers to hide the sound.  I must admit our track record for stopping our busy boy hasn't been very good.  For a little guy, he's very fast and very sneaky.

So, yesterday morning I managed to get an early start and by 0700 I had folded and put away two loads of laundry, cleaned all four bathrooms, made a batch of pancakes, and ironed the kids clothes for the day all before Jacob woke up.  In his first 30 minutes of awake time he unlocked the back door twelve times, escaped out the door twice, pushed his high chair over to the island and stood on the tray of the chair with his hands on the island in an attempt to reach for a glass of water, and took his diaper off at least (what seemed) like 25 times.  We were expecting a new mattress yesterday for our guest room and I had just put a fresh diaper on Jacob when the mattress company called to say our new mattress had an ink stain and they were sending it back and we could expect delivery the following week.  As we planned to have family in town the next day, I tried to explain that next week wasn't good enough.  In that 10 seconds of conversation, Jacob pulled off his fresh diaper and I took him by the arm to get it back on him.  Unfortunately, he had pottied and when I spun his naked self around he plopped down onto the ground and left a lovely little poop stain on the carpet.

In addition to the Jacob situation, Anna was upset about having to wear a dress to school for the day.  I know, I know....how could Anna ever be upset about having to wear a dress??  Her new PE teacher has been giving her a hard time about wearing sandals and told her if she continued to wear sandals she wouldn't be able to participate in PE anymore.  She'd worn tennis shoes all week long and as it was forecast to be around 100 degress I had a sundress laid out for her.  To make her feel better, I had typed a note to said PE teacher quoting the school's dress code and telling him I felt her sandals were perfectly appropriate and she felt more than comfortable participating in them.  I asked him to contact me if there was any issue.  I dropped the kids off and headed off to run a few errands.  When I returned home, there was a message on the answering machine from Anna's teacher telling me Anna's sandal strap had broken  and she needed another pair of shoes.  So much for my self-righteous letter regarding appropriate school footwear, huh?

 On my way home from dropping off a new pair of shoes, I was feeling a bit flustered about how the morning had gone and not looking forward to working on the poop stain on the carpet, or to cleaning off the freshly smeared boogers I had noted on my way out the door waiting for me on the newly cleaned bathroom shower glass.   It was at that moment I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw Jacob making a fish face, clapping his hands, and bopping his head to the beat of the new Enrique Igelsias song, "I like it."  It was so darned adorable that I just burst out laughing.  He fish-faced and jived all the way to the house and it instantly made my day so much better.

Life with children can be so amazing; infuriating one moment, heart swelled to bursting with happiness the next.  The little ones can drive me crazy when we're together and I find myself looking forward to an hour or two of alone time.  However, the moment I'm away from them, I seem to do nothing but think about them and wonder what they're doing; until eventually I'm literally aching to see them and hug them.  Crazy and amazing.  Speaking of which, here are a few of the crazy and amazing sayings as of late.  (I've been a bit remiss about writing it all down as I usually do and then I forget what they've said!!  It kills me to have lost it!)

Anna dressed up as a bunny in her pink snowsuit and a set of bunny ears.  Lauren was dressed as a bunny also but as more of a Halloween bunny with orange and black stockings and an orange cardigan.  Anna was dismayed because she thought Lauren's bunny costume was much better.  She took off the snowsuit and put on an entirely black cat outfit with a silver and black scarf.  I asked her if she was going for a Halloween look and she replied, "I just felt like being a bit Goth."

Lauren upon waking from a nap in the truck on a road trip, "I need to stretch my neck but it's too tired."

I've been volunteering in the girls' classrooms lately.  The night before I was supposed to be in Anna's classroom, Anna asked, "Mommy, will you cuddle with me all day in class?"

Two of the children in Lauren's class showed up on Monday with casts.  Lauren came home telling us all about the casts, what had happened to the children and that the little boy was the lucky one because he got an un-itchy cast while the little girl with the cast was unlucky because she ended up with one of the itchy casts, probably because it was pink.

Doug popped the hood of his car to check the oil and Lauren ran into the house yelling, "Anna, come quick!!  Daddy opened the lid of this car!!"

Lauren's teacher recently had her bangs cut and it was the talk of the kindergarten classroom.  The day after she got her new hairstyle, we were in line for morning drop-off when we saw the teacher pull into the parking lot.  Lauren pointed and said to Anna, "That's my teacher.  She has a different hairstyle.  Now she has fangs."  Anna looked at her for a moment and said, "Lauren, vampires have fangs.  Those are bangs."

The girls have always enjoyed checking out all of the scary Halloween items in area stores.  We were at Lowe's looking at the skeletons when Lauren saw some Christmas decorations and a manger scene.  She went running over saying, "Look, Mommy, God stuff."

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Lauren’s class was learning about space and rockets. She came home from school with a stamp on her hand that said “Outta This World”. Anna asked her what it said. Lauren replied, “I don’t know. I think it says “Goodbye Forever”.”

Anna was trying to decide if she should draw a seahorse or an owl. I told her to pick one of my hands and I would help her decide. She just looked at me kinda funny when I put my hands behind my back. I finally said, “Say left or right.” She said, “Left or right.” “No”, I said, “pick left or right.” She chose right. I said, “Owl!” Anna said, “Oh sorry, Mommy!” I told her she hadn’t hurt me. I didn’t say “Ow”. I said “Owl.” She thought for a second and said, “I think I’ll pick the seahorse.”

Anna’s been busy singing cartoon show tunes she’s learned in school for an upcoming concert. Lauren has been listening and has started singing her own version of the songs. For the past few days, she’s been yelling, “Look for the bear o-cessities, the simple bear o-cessities.”

For dinner last night I made an eggplant, tomato, and basil pasta sauce to go with our penne. Anna said she just wanted only olive oil, salt, and pepper on her pasta. I told her it wouldn’t hurt for her to at least try the sauce. I also told her it would be good for her to learn to expand her horizons and try something other than olive oil, and mainly mac ‘n cheese. She looked at me and said, “Try this, try that. What’s next…donkey hooves?”

Anna asked, "Are all the bad people in this world locked up?  Because I've yet to see a bad person in my whole 6 years of life."  (This is a good thing!!)

We live on a quiet cul-de-sac and the neighborhood kids often play together on our street. We were headed in after an afternoon of play when a car took a wrong turn into our street. The young girl was driving way too fast and even though the kids were safely on the sidewalk, I yelled at her to slow down!!! She turned around at the end of the street and came speeding back even faster than before. She was driving so fast that Doug yelled, “Slow your ass down!” Yesterday, Lauren and Jake and I walked Anna to school. On our way home as we were getting ready to cross the busier street, a car drove by a bit quickly. Lauren was sitting on her bike and said, “I think she needs to slow down her ass.”

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Some of the latest gems from our little peanuts:

Anna and Lauren were talking about Heaven and Hell.  Lauren asked Anna where to find heaven.  Anna responded, "Heaven is on a cloud in space."

It's tax time and so  everywhere we go we're seeing people dressed like the Statue of Liberty; trying to get us to come in to Liberty Tax to have our taxes done.  One place had a blow-up Statue of Liberty that was waving.  Her hands were otherwise empty.  Anna asked, "Where's her trident??"

Our last family night meal was Papa Murphy's sausage pizza.   The girls both love pizza and were chowing.  Anna stopped for a moment and began to examine a piece of sausage.  Inside the sausage there was a small fennel seed.  Excitedly, Anna said, "Lauren, it's a seed!  Let's plant it and grow some pizza!"

Anna is always making books.  She penned a book about princesses the other day and was having trouble getting it stapled.  Lauren came to the rescue and finished off the book.  Lauren told her, "Isn't it cool that I could do that for you?  If you need help again, just call me like this..."Lauren COOLEST!"

They say that bad things come in threes.  Well, the past few Thursdays have not been so great.  The first Thursday Lauren was sick....everywhere (#1). We had our babysitter Amanda over both times and on the second Thursday she dropped a bowl and it cut her so badly she had to get stitches on the back of her hand (#2).  I decided maybe we should avoid Thursdays and had Amanda over Tuesday instead.  As I was leaving I told her that I wanted her and both kids to sit on the couch and not move until I returned home!! :)  A few days after that Doug missed a step on the stairs  and twisted his ankle....there was #3.

Yesterday, the day started off a bit ominously as well.  Anna left a bag of craisins near the baby and he dumped the entire thing in his lap.  He then toddled over to the spice drawer and dumped an entire jar of whole cloves.  Doug was tossing pancakes to the kids (they love Daddy's flying flapjacks) and one hit Lauren in the eye and left a big red scratch down her cheek.  Who knew pancakes could be dangerous??  Then Jake toddled over to the ledge around the fireplace and fell, scraping his chin and biting his tongue.  Arrggh.  The day actually went well from that point forward and actually ended on a high note.  Doug and I went out for a bite at a Chinese buffet.  When we opened our fortune cookies, mine read, "Your true love is sitting right in front of you."  How awesome is that?

{The picture of Jacob was inspired by a shot I saw on a photographer's blog a while ago.  I cannot find the blog or picture and I would like to give that person credit.  If anyone knows who did it first, please let me know!}

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

I know it's been a while since I've posted one of these. I'm sorry I've been remiss about updating but we've been busy with daily life as well as attempting to purchase curtains for our first floor.
Anna was eating lima beans at dinner and said, "I like these green things." I said, "Honey, they're called lima beans." Anna responded, "I'd prefer to stick with green things."

I asked everyone at the Thanksgiving table what they were most thankful for. In a sweet voice, Anna said, "Native Americans and our veterans."

Lauren was watching a movie preview on TV and asked Anna, "Was that in a movie or here on Earth?"

Lauren has been giving Anna the dickens recently. I walked by their room and noticed Anna had posted a sign on the door to the room they share that read, "No Laurens Allowed!" It even had a small picture of Lauren with an "X" through it.

Anna has been having fun this week drawing with stencils. When I asked her how she drew so neatly, she replied, "I used these utensils."

Both of the girls were busy the other day drawing Thanksgiving turkeys using body parts. When I finally got to see the finished product,  Anna had traced her hand and added an eye, a beak, and a waddle.  At the bottom of the page, it said, "Happy Thanksgiving!  Goble Goble!"  Lauren had trouble tracing her hand so instead she traced both of her feet!  They were the funniest and cutest turkeys I think I've ever seen.

Lauren has been learning Christmas songs for her school's winter musical.  It's always a challenge to figure out the mystery words that she's unsure of in the song.  There are some words, however, that are pretty easy to catch.  My favorite "Laurenization" of a song has been about Mary and Joseph trying to find a place in "Bef-a-ham" to stay for the night.  As Lauren sings it, "Knock-knock, knock Jofes and his wife..."

I was trying to get a Christmas wish list together for the kids to share with the grandparents and asked each girl what they most wanted for Christmas.  Lauren gave me the standard reply: puppy, guns, swords, dinosaurs, and any and all toys $100 or more (she inherited her mommy's crazy gene that allows her to pick out THE most expensive item in the store).  Anna, however, thought for a moment and said, I really want to fly."  So there you go, grandparents.  Good luck.  I'm not sure how you'll wrap that one up.

Every day the kids take an afternoon nap.  Every day they complain about it.  Every day they make excuses and find reasons why they should not have to take said nap.  My all time favorite came this past week.  I said, "Nap time!"  Anna yelled, "NOOOOO!  I asked her why she was so opposed to the idea.  She told me in no uncertain terms, "If I take a nap, I'll grow.  If I grow, I'll get clumsy.  If I get clumsy, I'll fall and hurt myself.  If I get a scratch it will hurt when I take a bath.  So, I cannot take a nap."

I asked Anna what she thought the tooth fairy did with all of the teeth she collected.  Without missing a beat, she said, "I bet she has a collection of teeth big and small, short and tall.

Jacob is learning to say a few words.   He says "Bath" quite often and has started calling "Ann-na".  He loves to "throw things away" as in the telephone into the garbage, his socks into the tub, and his spoon out of his high chair.  He also has learned that the toilet paper will unroll on the floor...he really enjoys this one.  He is finally crawling on all fours, as opposed to his normal marine crawl.  He's crazy fast and loves climbing up the stairs.  Unfortunately, however, he also seems determined to throw himself down the stairs.  He's a sweetheart though and adores his sisters.  They keep him in stitches!

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

The latest and greatest from our little crew...

At the grocery store, I told the girls they could pick out a treat. They thought about it for a few minutes and then each grabbed a mini-container of whoppers. They came running up to me saying, "Mommy, we want whOOpers. We want whOOpers!"

On the way home from church a few Sundays ago, we ran into an apparent motorcycle convention. The motorcycles were heading in the opposite direction and just kept coming. After several minutes, I started counting. At 630 bikes, I finally called it quits. There must have been at least 2,000 of them...no exaggeration. The girls got a huge kick out of it and kept wondering where they were going. Doug said they were probably on their way to a dog party. :) A few days after, Lauren mentioned that she thought she knew what was happening. According to her, one of the motorcycle guys called and said he knew where they could get their bikes washed. Apparently they were all on their way to get cleaned up.

Anna has been having issues trying to decide when it is or is not appropriate to mess with her nose. I've tried to give her guidance...repeatedly. After a day full of reminders to not pick her nose, she finally told me that it was just too much "responsibility" but she was trying hard to do the right thing.

The girls were having a snack and I heard Anna reading the ingredients to Lauren. When I walked back into the room, Lauren said, "Mommy, somebody made it taste real but it's pretend!!" Anna said, "Yea, it's artificially flavored."

I received a phone call from my neighbor at 0645 the other morning. "Sandy," she said, "Lauren is ding dong ditching us (ringing the doorbell and running away)." I nearly had a cow. I ran outside and saw Lauren slipping back through the gate, in her underwear mind you! I asked her what she was doing and she said she was just looking around. I reprimanded her for being outside in the front yard alone, for lying, for bothering our neighbors, and for not having clothes on while doing all of those things. Later in the day, I apologized profusely to my neighbor only to find out that this hadn't been the first time. It had happened 3 times the day before and numerous times prior to that. To top it all off, I learned that she had been doing it to 3 of our neighbors off and on for almost 2 weeks!!!!!! We have a latch on our front door so she can't get out without us knowing but what we didn't realize was the latch on the gate to the back yard was broken. She, however, knew it and would just slip out whenever she felt like it. Well, Doug fixed the latch and put a lock on it. Next she'll probably climb the fence. She scaled a 6-foot fence at our last house to "pet" the neighbor's dog so I'm not discounting it. Anyway, she got into a lot of trouble over this particular incident. I called all the neighbors to apologize and spent a lot of time telling Lauren again and again why it was so dangerous for her to have done what she was doing. After many explanations, I asked her to tell me why what she did was wrong. She responded, "Cause some bad guys might get me and take me to their secret code and turn me into a robot." Apparently, more explaining is required.

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Okay, so I do have "Alice in Wonderland" on the brain. I have so many ideas for the girls' Alice room and am really excited about them. I found some lamps and a chandelier and ordered some bedding. I can't wait to see it all come together!

Since we all are a little "mad" around here I thought I'd share the latest conversations with our crazy peanuts.

~Anna to Mommy: I don't want you to die. I wish we could all live forever but we will because we'll all be angels someday. Then I'll get my lifelong dream to fly.
~Lauren: Yeah, and I'll still like boys.
~Anna: You know what boys like best?? Not taking baths and to stink!
~Lauren: Yeah, I like that too.

Doug took down the track lighting in the girls' room left over from the previous owners. Anna was excited about her new chandelier but said she would miss the other lighting. According to her, at night it looked like a raindrop that was smiling and throwing a cannonball.

The other day our neighbors rang the doorbell to see if the girls could come out to play. I was upstairs cleaning and the girls told their friend Jason that they couldn't come out. A few minutes later we walked over and rang their doorbell to tell them we would love to play. Jason's mom said he was having a meltdown and they would be out in a bit. Anna ran to tell Lauren. Lauren raced up to me, very concerned and asked, "Mommy, Mommy, why is Jason melting??"

Later that morning, the kids were busy climbing our tree out front. Lauren was the first to make it into the tree on her own. When the other kids asked how she did it, she replied, "With a lot of practice and I never give up."

Speaking of Lauren, she'll be starting preschool next month. She still will not consistently take care of all of her bathroom needs on her own. Trying to convince her to take the next step, I told her she couldn't go to preschool if she wouldn't wipe. I was sure this would do the trick. Instead, she's decided she's just going to stay home with Mommy and Baby Jacob. Back to the drawing board on this one.

At church as the pastor was calling the kids up front for storytime, I looked over to find Anna standing beside the pew with her doll up under her dress nursing her. I got her dress back down and sent her up. For storytime one of the kids brought the story box filled with snowglobes from far away places. Everyone oohed and aahed over the globes from London, Paris, Madrid, and Cairo. Anna raised her hand and said, "My family goes to Las Vegas!"

The other day Lauren kept asking me when we were going to the "bathtub" again. I told her she would be getting a bath that evening. She continued to ask and it took me a while but I finally realized she wanted to go back to "Bed, Bath, & Beyond".

Why is it your children never say:
~My mommy made my favorite cookies today.
~My mommy colored with us today.
~My mommy took us to Wacky Tacky.
~My mommy took us to the park and out for ice cream.
~My mommy reads us stories at night and cuddles with us before we go to bed.
Why is that??
What they do say is this: (Going into the dentist office for a cleaning)
~We don't brush our teeth very often.
~Lauren never brushes her teeth.
~My hair is too long. I need a haircut.

I've always been sure that my children are indeed my children. The other day, however, a small bit of doubt was cast as to whether or not Anna's DNA truely matched mine. We were watching "So You Think You Can Dance", the results show. They were showing some of the Emmy nominated dances from past seasons. Chelsea and Joshua came on stage to tango. Now, you may or may not know this, but I love, love, love a good tango. I've tried repeatedly for the past decade to get Doug into a class with me. He did buy a tape for me one year and we tangoed like crazy in our basement; flicks, dips, passion...you name it. Of course, whenever we actually went onto a real dance floor surrounded by people, we always reverted to the 80's prom dance where you just hold on to one another and turn in a slow circle.

I digress.
Back to the story.
Chelsea and Joshua's tango began.
Anna stopped coloring her princess page and said, "The music sounds enchanting but TOO enchanting. It sounds like its from France....and there are tables and chairs from France. I don't like France.
Lauren piped in, "Me neither. But there could be toys there."
Gulp....not like France!!??? Gulp...not like tango music!!?? Who doesn't love the "City of Lights" and a good tango?? Maybe my babies were switched at birth. We'll be going in for a DNA test this week.:)

Not long after the tango ended, a group of dancers came on stage dressed in white masks and yellow hats. Anna asked, "What are they pretending to be?" Lauren answered, "Hiker builders." "Yeah," Anna said, "people who hike and build."

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

I LOVE to sing even though I really CANNOT carry a tune. I mean it's not as bad as fingernails on a chalkboard or a tom caterwauling at night but I'm no Celine Dion. Anyway, I sing when I'm happy. Lauren, however, does not like my singing. She's always telling me to stop and to turn the radio off. She never likes the songs that I like and will whine through the entire thing. Well, it took me a while but I finally found one station she'll listen to all day long, without complaint. It's Elvis Radio on XM. She loves it. I can't explain it but I'm going with it.

The King....

and a hunk-a, hunk-a burnin' love.


My stepdad has a nice little cabin built out behind their house. It's very rustic and it's where the family goes for cookouts. Anna calls it Poppy's cabin. Lauren calls it Poppy's "cabinet".

Anna found a watch at my mom's. She proudly wore it everywhere. One day I asked her what time it was and she replied, "I don't know. I can't tell the time. My watch is on speed dial!" (Stopwatch setting)

Anna wanted to call Doug while we were away. She dialed our new home number, listened for a second and then hung the phone up. She looked at me with a perplexed expression and said, "Some lady said my party had been disconnected but I'm not even having a party!"


On the drive to the pet store, we had the following conversation:
A: Mommy, can I have a fish?
M: No.
A: How 'bout a puppy?
M: Honey, we already have a dog.
L: I want a cunafish.
M: You mean you want a tunafish?
L: No, I want a CUNAfish. Just tell Anna.
M: Anna, Lauren wants a cunafish.
L: No, I don't. I want a lizard or a parrot.

By this time, we had made it to the pet store. Lauren was determined to bring home a lizard. I tried to explain to her why we were not going home with a lizard. She was none too happy about that decision. So, for the next day and a half, periodically, she would yell out, "How 'bout my lizard????"

We were at the grocery store and an ambulance raced up, sirens blaring. The girls asked what was happening and my dad replied that somebody must have had a heart attack. I heard them talking about it in the backseat of the car a few minutes later. Lauren told Anna that somebody had a "hat" attack.

The girls noticed the "Piggly Wiggly" sign while driving through a town in Alabama. Anna sounded it out and said, "Pigg-a-ly Wigg-a-ly...ooh, I wouldn't want to eat there!"

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

The girls were pretending that Lauren was a puppy and Anna was her owner. Anna was instructing her "puppy" on what to do. It went like this, "Beg, sit, roll-over, paint." Paint, pant, same difference.

Lauren ran up to me and said, "Mommy, I counted to eleventeen!"

Anna informed me that God must have given Jacob a smiley bone since he smiles so much.

Watching the Memorial Day concert, Anna said, "Hey, there's the Statue of Delivery!"

Doug has been buying different vitamins for the girls. The last batch he came home with was a jar of Flintstone multivitamins. The girls are always anxious to see "who" they got. This morning, Anna picked hers up and said, "Oh, I got Bob again." Bob, Fred, same difference.

Lauren told me she was the cops and she was going to "re-lest" me.

According to Anna, 1+1=One for each.

We were playing outside and Lauren kept saying, "Mommy, I'm spoiled. I am spoiled!" Again, spoiled, boiling, same difference.

We went out for lunch at Utopia Grill last week, next to Ruby Tuesday's. Anna read the Ruby Tuesday's sign and said, "Mommy, Daddy, I want to go to Rubby Tuesday's instead." We stuck with Utopia Grill though and while Doug was ordering for us, the girls perused the different drink choices. Anna read the options for Lauren. They came back to the table and Lauren informed me she wanted a "Month Dew" while Anna would be having a "Dr. Pepper Diet". We finally got our sandwiches and mine and Doug's came with the long toothpicks that hold the sandwich together. The girls wanted to play with them. Anna kept trying to get Lauren's so she would have two. Lauren offered it but then kept taking it back. Anna finally decided she'd had enough and said, "Fine, Miss Snippy Pants, just keep it!!"

I've been putting Jake's feet together and touching his belly with them. Every time I do it, I say, "Namaste". I overheard Anna the other day while doing the same moves but instead she said, "Nama-steak!"

I noticed the girls seemed extra tired the other morning when we got up. Before too long, Anna told me, "Mommy, we watched an entire episode of Little Bill last night." I knew they hadn't watched it before we went to bed. So, I asked her when she had watched it. She told me they had both gotten out of bed (I tucked them in 3 times that night) after I went to sleep and watched it in the playroom. I was shocked and asked, "So, what time did you finally go to bed?" She responded, "I don't know. I don't know how to tell time yet!"

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Psssst...Hey, have you heard the latest from my crazy sisters?? Here's what they've been saying. Just wait until I start talking, though. I'll give them a run for their money!

As Mommy was walking down the stairs the other day, Lauren looked up at her and said, "Mommy, I took some things out of my nose." Mommy asked her what she did with the "things". She replied, "I don't know. They disappeared into the couch."

Anna's class has been learning about oral hygiene. As she was brushing her teeth the other morning, she said, "Mommy, I'm attacking the plaque!"

I was asleep and Lauren asked, "Why is our baby chilled out?"

Anna was trying to sound out the word "geology". Mommy pronounced it for her and then gave her the definition. (Mommy looooves geology, by the way!) Anyway, Mommy broke the word down for her and told her that second half of the word meant "the study of". She mentioned biology and cardiology. Anna thought about it for a second and said, "So, butterflyology must be the study of butterflies!"

Lauren was rubbing my stomach a little roughly and Mommy reminded her to be gentle with my tummy. "Why?" she asked. "We already threw away his umbilical cord."

While eating her pancakes for breakfast, Anna noticed her plate. It was blue Spode and had a village scene on it. There was a barn and some farm animals. Anna said, "Hey, Mommy, it's a Jesus plate!"

My sisters love chicken nuggets. I'm not quite sure what a chicken is yet but Anna was doing her best yesterday to convince Mommy to stop in for a little Carl's Jr. Mommy tried to explain to her that we were eating healthier foods these days because Mommy and Daddy wanted to be with her, Lauren, and me for as many years as possible. Anna said, "Well, I want to be with you too but without any vegetables."

Mommy and the girls have been eating a new breakfast this week. It's a combination of old-fashioned oats, grape nuts, whole wheat cereal, flaxseed, raisins, strawberries, bananas, kiwis, and soy milk. Out of the many options there that a 5-year old could complain about, Anna chose the raisins. She told Mommy, "These raisins are making my tongue feel ill."

Mommy's turn to talk about something now....
Lauren....sigh. Let me just say that I could devote an entire post to my middle child. She's been very...uh...active, lately. Yeah, that's a good word for it. Come to think of it, I will write a post regarding her activities over the past few weeks. I will, however, tell you about what she did yesterday. I was upstairs changing Jake's diaper. She walked into the bedroom with her hands full of broken TV remote parts. I asked her what happened and she told me she had thrown it onto the hard floor to see if she could fix it after breaking it. I worked and worked on it but couldn't get it working. I told her we were going to have to wait for Daddy to get home to fix it. She immediately began to cry. She didn't want Daddy to be upset with her. She asked me not to tell Daddy and said she had already spanked herself and she was now sending herself to her room. I should tell you here that Doug NEVER spanks the kids. He did, however, spank Lauren for the first time EVER the other day after she almost poisoned our dog...two days in a row. Apparently, the spanking made an impression. We always try our best to talk to the kids and explain the situation but it doesn't always sink in. Conversations usually go like this:

Us: You can't put carpet and leather cleaner in Thurman's food and water bowls. Those are chemicals that will make him sick. You also can't bathe him in carpet cleaner, armor-all and windex. Those could make him very sick and irritate his skin. Do you understand?

Lauren: Yes.

Us: Now, why can't you do those things we just talked about?

Lauren: Um, I don't know. Why?

Arrghhh! It doesn't matter how high things are or where they've been put away; she still manages to get to them. Just wait until you hear what else she's been up to....

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Anna pulled out the tube of chapstick and said, "I'm going to chap my lips.". After she put it on, she said, "Okay, my lips are chapped."

Listening to Bob Seger singing "Night Moves" on XM the other day, Lauren asked, "Why does he keep saying "Guy-Fu"?" I guess "night moves" sounded like "guy-fu" to her.

Anna heard me telling Doug that I was worried Jacob might be getting cradle cap. "What's cradle crap?", she asked.

The girls were reciting a nursery rhyme the other day. It went like this: "Jack be numble, Jack be quick!".

We were discussing buying a new bed (headboard, footboard and frame). Anna asked, "Can it please be mine? I'm the only one without a head."

On the way to Monterey, Anna kept asking, "Where are we going again? Canada?"

Once we arrived in Monterey, Lauren started singing a song about being so happy to finally be in "Mon-te-pay".

In the hotel early Saturday morning Doug and I were talking about what we were going to do that day. Anna sat up in bed and said, "Could you guys please keep it down? I haven't had a dream yet and I'm trying to dream about mangoes."

Driving from Target back to our house, Lauren saw some construction work.

L: What's that for?

Me: They're building a new road.

L: Why?

A: So people can get to the pool easier. (The construction is right by the neighborhood pool.)

Me: Actually, they're building a bypass. Lincoln is too busy and this new road will route people around Lincoln.

A: God made too many people, right?

Me: Well....

A: Does God make people or do people make people?

Me: God plays a big role in it.

A: And I thought Daddy put the bones in there.

L: Is Nandy with God? (Nandy is their great-grandfather who passed away a year ago.)

Me: Yes, he is.

A: I miss Nandy. He was a good fellow.

Anna kept interrupting Lauren when she was trying to talk. Lauren yelled at her, "Anna, stop that! It's so fus-tur-ating!!"

Anna's class had to draw a picture and write a sentence about what they would do if they were elected to be President of the United States. Anna wrote, "If I were President, I would wear a sparkly dress and pick flowers."

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Life with little ones often reminds me of that line from one of the Star Trek movies, "Resistance is futile." I've been doing my darndest to get the house clean and keep it that way for the Mathews' going away party we're hosting on Saturday. For some reason, every time I throw something away the girls dig it back out of the garbage. I know I've thrown away an empty bottle of Johnson & Johnson baby wash at least four times now. Anna keeps fishing it out and hiding it in her desk. She's also holding onto some used popsicle sticks that manage to find their way time and time again out of the trash and into a design on her floor. I just threw that darned shampoo bottle away for the fifth time but I'm not holding my breath that it will stay in the garbage. Little stinkers.

Here are some of the latest gems that spring from the mouth of babes...

While driving to Wal-Mart, I happened to look in the rearview mirror and saw Anna making a huge grimace. I asked her what was wrong. She replied, "I'm just practicing my sad faces for when you go to jail or die."

On Valentine's Day Anna told us that she knew our "love story" or how we met. According to her I was flying on an airplane and Doug was flying on an airplane. I was handing out drinks and we liked each other. Then we got married and met.

Lauren keeps jumping on the scale in the bathroom and asking me to come read the numbers by saying, "Mommy, come tell me how old I am".

I've noticed lately that Lauren's belly button has been really red. I finally asked her what was going on. Apparently she believes that Anna has an outie for a belly button. Anna told her that it got that way because she pulled it out to be like that. So, little Lauren has been trying to turn her "innie" into an "outie".

I sat down to help Anna with her homework the other night. This is what she asked me, "Mommy, do you spell "C" with a "K" or do you spell "K" with a "C"?

The daily clothing battle with Anna seemed to be getting better for a while. I think Doug must have had a talk with her. That all ended a few days ago, however. It was raining and super cold outside so I told her she needed to wear jeans, rain boots, and a sweater. She started to complain and I told her I didn't want to hear about it and to just go get dressed. I forgot that I had the monitor on upstairs but she didn't. As she was putting her clothes on, she stood right in front of the monitor and yelled into it the following: "This is the worst day of my entire life. I hate these clothes. This outfit is stupid. I don't want to wear this. I won't be cold. I can't believe I have to wear this...yuck!" I was downstairs and had just started feeding Jacob so I was a bit of a captive audience. She was determined to get the last word in!

Lauren had to get her 4-year shots last week. Believe me it was not a pretty sight. She started the afternoon with her exam, followed by making a trip to the lab to have some blood drawn and to give a urine sample. This part was especially fun. It's always just a barrel of laughs to fit 4 people into one stall while attempting to catch urine in a dixie cup. When, by the way, did it become necessary to require this of a preschooler?? From there we moved across the hall to immunizations. They wanted to give her "5" shots but as it had already been a traumatic day, we opted for only two at this time. Heck, those two almost didn't happen either. She began to cry and each time I got one arm out of a sleeve and moved onto the next arm she would redress herself. She even began batting at the nurse. It was not pleasant. Doug is normally the immunization parent. He's started his new job and so it fell to me this time 'round. I just need to say to Doug "Thank you, Honey!" for all of those times I didn't have to be the one seeing all of that take place. Blehhh. The girls are right...shots stink!!

Lauren is becoming more and more articulate. Lately, she's been trying different phrases on for size. She doesn't always get them right though. The other day she called down the stairs, "Hey guys, what's going "up" down there?

Conversations with the Peanut Gallery

Anna was smelling Jacob's hair and said, "Mommy, it smells so good. It smells just like honey. I can't "exist" it.

Doug will be headed back to work on the 1st of February. Lauren asked him if they were going to have a band for him.

Lauren got "Biscuit", the fur real dog, for Christmas. It obeys your voice commands and responds to touch. Lauren loves it and keeps telling him to "Sit up and bag, boy. Sit up and bag."

Anna and I have huge "debates" every morning about clothing selection for school. She comes downstairs in summer dresses and sandals all the time. I've been trying to explain seasonal clothing to her. I try to get her to wear sweaters and pants. I usually compromise and tell her she can wear a dress but she has to wear a long sleeve shirt and tights underneath. I warn her over and over that she'll be too cold if she dresses in the clothing she prefers. She always responds that she'll be just fine and not cold at all. Yesterday she came home and said, "Mommy, Mrs. Warren (her teacher) told me to tell you that you need to dress me more warmly because I was cold today."