Kiddos

Sometimes I call Mia "Fred". She calls my name and I answer "Yes, Fred?" We were at a store a couple weeks ago and this happened. She looked at me, then said what she wanted to say. Later, when we got home she calmly said "Mom, you know how sometimes you call me Fred? Well, it is okay when you do it at home, but when we are at a store and other people are there it embarrasses me." I am amazed at how well she can express herself sometimes.

I was driving my kids, Ashley, and her kids in my car. Emma asked for me to play Adele's song Rolling in the Deep. I said Dad had the cd, but we could check the radio because it is played pretty often. A few minutes later it came on and all of my kids started to sing along. Then Emma told Ashley that her voice is so good, it just blends in with the music and you can't even tell which voice is Emma's and which is Adele's. This is hilarious if you have ever heard Emma sing. If you have heard me sing, it is pretty close- except she puts her whole heart into it.

I walked into Emma's room and found this... I don't think this is how you clean your room, and it's creepy.

Birthday Babies

July had two special birthdays in our family. Mia came first, then Justin. Mia kept asking in her prayers for a "perfect birthday." That put some pressure on us, but she was happy in the end. She had a special girls' pampering day with her BFFs from school, Emma, and me. We had pedicures and went out for lunch. Then our family went to the movies for Cars 2. We had the grandparents over for dessert and presents. She was pretty satisfied with her birthday.

Two weeks later Justin had his birthday. We took the family to Wild Rivers. I might have had almost as much fun as the kids. I was nervous for a bit because I sent Charlie down the first slide, followed by the kids, then me. As I was going down I was tossed all over the place. I was thinking what did I do. I imagined Mia all beat up at the bottom of the slide, but when I popped out of the bottom Mia raced up to me almost screaming with excitement and asking what was next.

Sisters

Charlie and I were able to go to England and France. My little sister, Ashley, lives in London and put up with us for awhile. We had a lot of fun and saw a lot of really cool things, but my absolute favorite part was getting Ashley all to myself, without having to share her with my other sisters. Now I miss her more than before. I can't wait for her to move back!

Here is a list of some of the things we did and places we went:
Tooting market, fish and chips, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, St. Paul's Cathedral, changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Bath, Wardour Castle, dinner in a pub, Stonehenge, Eiffel Tower (twice), Louvre, Notre Dame, Catacombs, Luxembourg, lunch at Borough Market (YUM), The London Tower, and a double decker bus. Let's just say that our trip was jam packed.

Dear Tooth Fairy...

Mia lost her first tooth. In our house the tooth fairy brings gifts and money, usually books. Justin and Emma both lost their first teeth well into their first grade year. We didn't even know Mia's tooth was loose until right before it came out. Let's just say the tooth fairy wasn't prepared with gifts for her. Charlie was working late and she didn't have back up.

Mia walked up to me and smiled. I said it looked like she had a loose tooth. She hadn't noticed it. I said it would be ready in a couple days, but I could try to pull it if she wanted. She said no and left the room to get ready for bed. A few minutes later she came back and the tooth was sticking straight forward, about to fall out. I pluck it out. She loved it. She screamed with excitement and said it didn't hurt to lose teeth. She called Daddy and told him to come home. She and Emma wrote the tooth fairy a note asking for pom-poms.

The tooth fairy came, but had just ran out of pom-poms. She promised to bring some next time. Then this morning Mia said her tooth next to the missing tooth was loose too. It was barely wiggling. Mia asked me to pull it out for her. I said it wasn't ready yet. She went in her room for a while and came back about 30 minutes later. She showed me that the tooth was getting looser. She had hit it with a chair in her room, then with a toy. I asked if she hit herself with a chair on purpose. She said "not on purpose, just to get the tooth out." She really wanted the tooth fairy to come back, and now she knows that losing teeth doesn't hurt (at least it doesn't hurt her.) I tried to explain that she shouldn't force her teeth out and pretty soon she would be out of teeth to lose. She decided to lose teeth in a pattern: lose a tooth, don't lose a tooth, don't lose a tooth, lose a tooth...

Super Freak

Justin's baseball team had their team party last weekend. We had a lot of fun and got to know all the parents better. There were three assistant coaches and a manager. Throughout the season I spoke mostly with the manager and his wife, the team mom. I barely spoke to the other coaches. When we left the party the coaches and manager were standing together. The manager gave me a hug, then stepped back. I turned to say goodbye to the coaches, but felt awkward because I didn't feel like I knew them well enough to hug them, but it was weird because I had just hugged the manager. So of course I voice everything I was thinking. There was an awkward silence that for some reason I felt I needed to fill. The more I spoke, the worse it got. I kept trying to stop, but the silence was unbearable so I kept going. "Sorry, I am not going to hug you. I am just not a hugger. It is okay that Robert hugged me, but I have a problem initiating hugs... I am okay with other people hugging me; I just don't hug other people...My parents aren't very touchy people. They hugged us and stuff, but we just are not touchy...I feel really awkward... I am just awkward and weird, okay?... Goodbye." It even hurts to type it.

Did You Know?

Emma: Humans are animals.
Mia: I know. We are mammals. Mammals are animals.
Me: What is a mammal?
Mia: They are warm-blooded; birds are cold-blooded just like reptiles. (birds are warm-blooded)
Emma: Mammals also don't lay eggs, except for platypuses. They are mammals and lay eggs.

Not bad for a five year old and eight year old; mostly correct anyway.

My Bad

So my parenting has been a little sub-par lately. I must be distracted. Yesterday I packed the lunches for the kids and sent them to school. When they got home Justin asked who had made his sandwich. He had two pieces of bread and nothing between them...Oops.