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.

Mischievous Mia

Our elders LOVE Mia. They keep telling me that she is perfect. They say she is the most obedient little girl and just too sweet. Don't get me wrong- I love that kid. I agree that she is sweet and practically perfect, but obedient? No way. Here are two example just from yesterday.

1. I lined up the kids and asked who had been drawing on the bathroom mirror with a toothbrush. Justin and Emma both said "not me!" Mia just looked around and giggled nervously.

2. Mia came home from school and told me that she had been silly at school with Christine. They planted a raisin tree. I stopped her and asked if she really buried the raisins I had put in her lunch. She looked up at me and said she didn't feel like having raisins.

Kids

Mia: At school, we watched a butterfly movie. It had a bird that ate a butterfly. It was very sad. I love butterflies and I love nature. Birds eat butterflies because it is what they eat and it is part of nature. But that nature makes me sad.

Sometimes we call Emma our rule follower. She wants to know all the rules and tries to follow them exactly. Emma brought home yet another terrific tiger award from school. She brings home at least one or two a week. I jokingly asked if she was cheating and making her own papers to bring home. She looked offended and said she is not allowed to do that! Then she went on and on about how she tries really hard to be good and obey. She said that when she gets more and more terrific tiger awards she knows that she is getting closer and closer to being ready to go to heaven.

I love my Justin. He is such a sweetheart, and maybe a punk sometimes too. He heard kids making fun of one of his friends at school and calling him names. He told them to stop and tried to make sure his friend didn't hear. Then he went to the teacher and threatened to take it to the principal if it didn't stop. He was hurt and offended for his friend and wanted to protect him. He didn't understand why people would want to be mean to such a nice kid.