A Magical Laundry Basket to Freedom

If you are two years old, than something as simple as a laundry basket can be the key to your freedom! With a magical basket in tow you can reach; the kitchen sink to play with running water, the tall dresser that Daddy keeps all the fun stuff from his pockets, the entertainment center where they keep your DVDs hidden away from you, and don't forget all that great stuff on the high shelves in the freezer (thats where Mommy keeps the ice cream bars)!

So where does a two year old little boy find one of these magical baskets? Well in a house with four older sisters of course. Hey, don't worry about all that folded stuff inside the magical basket, it won't help you anyway. Just dump it out and you can go anywhere!

What to do when you are caught with the magical basket is simple. First you must smile adorably, giggle a little, and then do something really cute like climb inside of the magical basket and act like thats all you wanted it for, maybe they will even pull you around in it for fun. If its one of those four older sisters or even Daddy then you will be fine, they fall for that every time. If, however you are unlucky enough to be caught by Mommy, well then, the gigs up. You can't fool the Mommy. She is the one who spent all that time making those weird folded piles that get in your way in the magical basket, she will probably be unhappy. Maybe next time buddy (like as soon as she leaves the room).

Pink Toenails and Purple Teeth

Today is the last day of school for the girls. Which means summer has begun! I will think positive and only rant and rave about the kids home all day if and when there are specific things to complain about. Thinking positive!

Haley will be spending the majority of the summer at her moms since she will be going full time with us once school starts again, with every other (plus some if her mom would like)weekends at her moms.

Her mom will be picking her up today after school. So last night we had her favorite dinner and this morning I spent some time with her doing her hair as she requested (ponytails, part up and part down) and we painted her fingernails and toenails pink.

Well the only other child home at this time was Ethan. As we are sitting at the table cleaning up her nails, clipping them, and then setting her hands out on a papertowel to paint. So Ethan climbs up next to Haley, gets a papertowel, and puts his hands on the towel the same as Haley has. He wants his nails sparkley too. Haley immediately turns to him and says, "Ethan boys can't paint their nails, its only for girls". Well he looked heartbroken and then tapped his hands on the table.
So, I painted his fingernails and big toenails too. Whats the big deal? He just wants to be included and have fun too.
And Daddy can relax, its not the super strong polish, its scented (ice cream cone), glitter, kiddie polish. After 2 baths it will be gone!

So Haley laughs and gets carried over daddy's shoulder to the bus stop. He was busy working during the polish session, so shhhh...he still has no idea his son has pink nails.

Now for the purple teeth (and what will follow later); I cleaned up our messes, Sesame Street was on, and Ethan was running around playing. He likes to color with Haley and I guess there were a couple crayons that missed clean-up last night. Ethan walked into the livingroom trying to wipe his tongue off making spitting noises. I looked up at him and his lips, tongue, and teeth were purple and had little pieces of purple crayons stuck to his face and in his mouth! Thankfully crayons are non-toxic.
Why do children like eating crayons? Or at least enjoy chewing them up and then spit them out? Is there some texture thing that crayons have that is appealing? They don't smell like food and I am sure they don't taste appealing. There is plenty of food available upon request in the house. I just don't get it.
Well later today, once the purple crayon pieces that were ingested make their way out, that ought to be interesting!

Pink Toenails and Purple Teeth!!!

Books in the Dishwasher and Socks on the Fridge

As Ethan grows every day he becomes more and more fun to play with and watch. (not that he wasn't fun to begin with).

We have a game cabinet that is basically a storage cabinet just shoved full of games. It has two large doors and three drawers below the doors. This cabinet is overflowing with games and we still have two boxes in the garage that never got unpacked.

Ethan loves to pull the games down, open the boxes, and play with all the pieces. The more games he can combine and play with all together the happier he is. Well I have gotten a bit tired of cleaning up game after game and I am certainly tired of running after him saying No over and over while he heads to the cabinet.

So the other day I got frustrated, took a wooden spoon and slid it through the handles to keep it shut. To say he was not happy is an understatement. He was pissed! He cried, yelled, pulled on the doors, told me to go (while pointing at the doors), and then just ended up crying in my lap. It was pretty funny. I did not laugh outloud at him. First I didn't want to hurt his feelings and second temper tantrums are not funny and if I laughed he might have repeated it for a laugh later. No thank you.
But it was hard not to laugh. He was down right adorable!

So he finally calmed down, had lunch, played some, and took a nap. When he got up from his nap the first thing he did was go and stare at the cabinet. This time he wasn't mad or crying. He just looked at the cabinet and I can tell you now he was thinking how to solve this problem.

He looked at the cabinet very quietly for a good two minutes. Then he turned and walked into the livingroom. He went to his toy bins and began searching (dumping some toys out) until he found his mini broom. He walked straight back into the gameroom up to the game cabinet and took one good swing at the spoon with the broom handle and knocked it out of the handles. He had a huge smile on his face as he put down his broom, picked up the wooden spoon, and brought me the spoon.

It was so funny. He was so proud of himself that I allowed him to secretly pull out a couple games, make a mess, and then I put them all away.

So the wooden spoon didn't work. SO I stared at the cabinet, looked down to the unmatched sock basket, grabbed a long pink and white sock and tied the damn thing shut. He didn't notice me doing it this time and when he did try to open the cabinet next, he didn't get mad.

So the sock worked! Well alright! Wait a minute...I have the same problem with the refrigerator and Ethan! He loves to unload the condiments from the door shelves and rearrange things (so that the door won't close). He also enjoys just opening the door and sitting on the little ledge.

So now we have a all white unmatched sock that is for tying the fridge door shut! You know what else it helps with? Teenagers who are bored starring into the fridge hoping they will find something grand in there or maybe something to do. If they have to untie the door just to get in, well that's too much work. So they move on. Genius!!! Even if you don't have kids, tie the fridge door shut, maybe you will go in there less!

Books in the dishwasher...yesterday Ethan opened the dishwasher before I walked in the room (he loves to open it while it is going) he tossed in his Polar Bear board book. I grabbed the book out quickly, closed and restarted the cycle. I dried the book off, wrapping each page in a paper towel and put a nice heavy book on top for it to dry. I never even thought that there could be more than one book in the dishwasher.
Well a couple hours later when Macy was unloading the dishwasher she found another board book farther in. Wow does that heating element work! The book was soaking wet except for one area...the very burnt cover from the heating element. Thank goodness the book was soaking wet before the drying cycle started!
I guess I need to figure out a way to lock the dishwasher...a sock will definitely NOT work. Anyone have any suggestions? LOL

Teenage girls and their moods

I don't understand the constant fluctuation between happy and mad emotions of teenage girls. I know that at one time in my life I was a teenage emotional roller coaster...but I don't remember it being anything like what my girls are.

Is it like childbirth? Do you suddenly forget the bad parts once your finished going through it? Ok, maybe not suddenly but quick enough.

The amazing drama that unfolds every morning begins with the arguments over brushes, make-up, clothes, and of course bathroom time and space. All of which I could really care less about as long as they all make it out of the house dressed and made up (I was going to say groomed but that sounded too much like a dog) in a manner which is appropriate before their buses leave.

The personal styles and lack of style that each one has is entertaining to watch. Haley being 6 (excuse me... 6 and 352 days) has a style of comfort. Clothes that match is more of secondary concern (if a concern at all). I find myself talking to her the way I did my Great Grandmother regarding color choices and patterns. "Yes, they are all shades of pink, but all of the 6 shades of pink at once are just too much." or "I understand that the polka dots on your shirt and the strips on your pants are the same colors but your so busy it hurts my eyes to look at you." And of course weather appropriate is a difficult stretch (long sleeves in 98 degree 100% humidity isn't the best choice, as is shorts and a tank top in 30 degree weather).

The twins and Macy are much more interesting. Jessie for example really doesn't care if her socks are the same color as long as they match in size (at the carnival this weekend she took her shoes off for a ride and I wasn't surprised to see her wearing one green with multi colored polka dots sock and once solid pink sock). Tori likes to wear her black ankle high chunky boots with jean shorts (and its actually very cute). Macy drives me nuts with her cotton dresses and jeans underneath! Her argument is she likes the dresses and she likes the jeans.

Once they are out the door, I sigh and wooosaaaw. Until 3:15 when they burst in the door. You never know what they will be like when they come in. Its a grab bag. But the emotions are generally low key until chore time. And then, oh my goodness, everything that has happened the entire day is made into a dramatic emotional show! Thankfully the universe generally only dishes one basket case to me at a time.

How to handle each blow up is a mystery every time. Some are brief, like opening a hot oven, you knew it was hot in there but somehow leaned in a little too close and had to jump back just a little to complete your task. Other times are like the movie 2012, out of nowhere solar flares erupt and its the end of the world as we all know it! There can be a recovery but it will take time, patience, you may loose a few good people along the way, and it may cost you billions just to be saved.

I am not sure what it is about chore time that brings all this out. Is it the lack of wanting to do chores, the sudden change of focus from themselves to the family, disruption of doing what they were focused on, or maybe the negative association of chores? I don't know. But they complete their chores every night. I wonder if they even have a clue that it would be half the energy to just do the chores without the drama?

We generally have dinner all together every night. Occasionally I call a FFYS(which stands for fend for yourself) when something distracts me from cooking (Dr apt, illness, or occasional frustration). Most of the time dinner is just mildly annoying with disruptions. And most of the time it is me who is irritated and frustrated with them. The noise levels can get high which usually means I will yell to get them under control. Which means Doug will wince and roll his eyes. Then he will generally make huge exaggerated threats in hopes they will listen so I won't yell again.

I have found that if one of the girls helps with Ethan's bath after dinner than I can actually clean the kitchen up before bed. I hate a messy kitchen. When you wake up the next morning and your kitchen is a mess, it just sets the tone for the whole day (for me). They, for the most part, like to help with bath time. And we rotate thru, everyone taking a turn.

Then its bedtime! And you would think that we would have problems with the kids watching TV, a movie, or playing on the computer (because they each have a computer and TV in their room). But those are not the addiction which keeps them up late...they read. How the hell can you get mad at your child for reading? Well, I do now because the mornings are much worse if they stay up all night reading. But reading, that's what they can't stop doing. Grandma Ginger helps feed their addiction by receiving wish list and fulfilling them. We get books in the mail, and whoever its for, seriously, jumps up and down, grabs the book, and runs off to their room to read! Its not illegal, harmful to their bodies, but somehow it seems to be just as addictive as crack!

You think it stops there with the books? NO! Then there are the fights that occur because one wants to talk about the book they are reading and the one they are talking to doesn't want to hear it because they are waiting to read the same book. And then occasionally a book disappears from the readers room in mid read... this is usually because one of the other girls doesn't want to wait anymore and takes it.

We are lucky that all of our children do their homework on their own, get good grades, and care about school all on their own. We do help when asked but honestly with 4 school age girls, we don't get asked for help very often!

So back to my original topic... you would think that being a girl who at one time was a teenager would help me have a better understanding of my girls who are currently in a teenage state, but I don't. I don't get it at all! Why does everything have to be so dramatic and emotional? You never know how the day will go with teenage girls and their moods!

Mornings in Madness

Every successful weekday morning starts at 6 am. I wake up each child (while trying to keep Ethan asleep) by opening their door, turning on their lights, and verbally telling them its time to wake up. Then about 10 mins later I do the same thing all over again.

Successful mornings mean the children all get up, get ready for their day, and catch their buses on time. There is always some kind of argument, I have given up trying to have a fight free morning. It could be over clothes, bathroom time, food, a look one gave another, and so much more (the reasons get worse as they go). When on time they go out the door in shifts; 7:05, 7:15, and then 8:40.

The majority of our weekday mornings are what I would call semi-successful. Everyone makes it to their buses on time and thats pretty much it. I am surprised how quickly each of them can move when it is neccessary.

Yesterday morning is what Macy would refer to as an "epic failure". They all overslept, missed their buses, and I had to drive them all to school. Macy, Victoria, and Jessica's schools start at the same time, but they are on opposite sides of city. Macy's high school is only 6 miles away while the twins middle school is 12 miles away.

After getting them dropped off Haley and I returned home. Her elementary school starts an hour later than the others. She apparently hadn't gotten enough sleep because she was seriously dragging ass and somehow managed to walk out the front door as her bus was pulling away. Rather than get upset with her which would have just started her school day badly, we just hopped in the car and drove her to school. Which is the closest school thank goodness at only 3 miles away.

Regardless of how well the mornings go or how badly, the best part is the quiet Ethan and I get to share once all of the girls have left. Until 3:15 we are alone and can watch whatever movies he wants over, over, and over again uninterupted!