Turtle

Tonight, we were getting the girls ready for bed when I looked over at Alessa's side of the bed. She had covered herself with "Super Soft Green Blanket" & was claiming she was a turtle.

I played along, "Oh no! But I miss my Lessy! Where did she go?"

"Close your eyes!" she giggled.

I covered my eyes and waited for further instructions from the "turtle".

"Now open them!" she screeched with her arms held wide, "I'm back! It was all Disney magic!"

:::sigh:::

Just Between Friends Sale

I was so excited on Wednesday. I had the forethought to register online as a teacher with the Just Between Friends sale (JBF), a little wiggle room with the monthly budget & a willing bribed babysitter. So off I went to the presale. Unfortunately, I got caught in monsterous traffic (the normally 20 minute drive took closer to 50) and didn't get there until a half an hour after the presale started.

As I walked into the convention center, I saw women talking excitedly on their cellphones in the hallways & surrounded by mountains of newly acquired baby equipment and clothes. The looks they gave me were those of wolves standing over their freshly downed prey. I kept my eyes downcast and hurried past them.

The equipment section had been devoured in the first 15 minutes by the swarm of locusts that were the expectant parents & rightly so - if I were headed there with something in particular in mind, my plan of attack would have been much different. I quickly looked around at the toy section, made the decision that none of the toys there were worthy of me cluttering my newly culled living room (looking forward to the Sacramento Mothers of Multiples Clothing & Equipment Sale in a few weeks) & headed toward the clothing racks.

Quite a few pieces were really cute & I ended up with an armful of clothes - mostly fancy dresses/skirts & sundresses for $7 - $10 each. Here's where I had my main complaints...

If you're going to sell at a sale, be sure your clothing is stain/tear/FADE free. I will not spend hard earned money for clothes that look like they're on their fourth hand-down.

&

If I paid $5 at Target for a Circo t-shirt or Walmart for a pair of Garanimals shorts, I'm most certainly NOT going to pay $3 or even $4 for your USED ones. Come now people, we all know where those brands come from.

I headed toward the front of the hall to the games & movies section for a quick browse. I picked up the "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" dvd selling for $4 and Little Einstiens "Firebird Rescue" going for $5, a cute book by Ronald Dahl called "The Birdwatchers" and a Tinkerbell fashion plate set (oh yeah - you know you remember how much fun you had with those things) before heading toward the line.

I didn't really have to move more than 5 feet.

The line stretched up the middle of the auditorium, along the back wall & back up to the very front. In the 20 minutes that I browsed, the line had grown from about 30 people to at least 150 people... all with huge piles. I sighed & stepped into line. As time passed, I did what every mom does: weighs the objects in hand against the price.

10 minutes. "Firebird Rescue"? Eh, the girls don't watch that show much anymore - even though Firebird Suite is one of their favorites. Down it went. 20 minutes. "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"? I can get it with 3 other movies new during the holidays for $10. Down one more. 40 minutes. "The Birdwatchers"? I have enough books to rival many small children's libraries. One more item out of my bag. An hour. The $10 fancy dresses? Eh, I can look at the SMoM Clothing & Equipment sale. Down they go. An hour. The sundresses & $7 fancy dresses? One by one I started nixing them all.

At an hour & 10 minutes, I took final stock of my situation. There I stood in line, not even halfway through, with exactly ONE item that I hadn't decided against purchasing. 2 hours of my time was not worth a Tinkerbell fashion plate set (shhhh - don't tell the girls). I looked toward the checkout & the FIVE cashiers they had to handle hundreds of people at a time, sighed one last sigh & put all the items back as I walked out.

What did I end up with from the Just Between Friends sale? A $6 parking fee.

Broken Hearted

Last night at dinner I allowed the girls to have fruit punch with dinner. I showed them how to tightly screw on the caps of their juice bottles & gave a lengthy lecture on how important it is to always put the lid on when the juice is sitting on the table. I scooped up an armful of towels I had just folded & went to the hall closet to put them away.

I only had time to open the closet door before I hear a highpitched shreak from Caleigh & Alessa shouting, "CALEIGH DID IT! CALEIGH DID IT!" Way to throw your sister under the bus.

Dropping my newly folded towels, I swooped into the family room to survey the scene. Caleigh had indeed managed to 1) leave the cap off her bottle 2) start fiddling around with a toy that was clipped to her belt loop & 3) hit her bottle with her elbow with enough force that it didn't just fall to the ground, it missed the "drop cloth" completely & splashed fruit punchy goodness across the carpet.

"Caleigh!!! I just told you to keep the lid on!"

:::sobsobsob:::

"Take your bib off, go into your room & don't come out until I tell you to."

:::sobsobsob::: "But I'm still hungry!"

"I'll talk to you when I'm finished cleaning this up." I growled while searching for the oxyclean.

"You're hurting my heart Mommy!" :::sob:::

"You hurt my heart when you don't listen to what I ask you to do."

:::sobsob::: "My little-" :::sobsob::: "heart is-" :::sobsob::: "BREAKING!!!"

And with all the drama of a Hollywood actress, my 4 year old turned around ran from the room, flung herself across her bed & buried her face in her pillow.

And the Academy Award goes to...

Naturalists

"Mommy, do you know which bird is the biggest & lays ENORMOUS eggs?"

"Mommy, do you know which bird is grey when it hatches, but turns all pink as it grows up?

"Mommy, do you know which bird has a heart-shaped face & is nocturnal?"

"Mommy, do you know which bird is all red with a black head & a crest?" (yes, she said crest)

"Mommy, do you know which bird makes their nest out of spit & spiderwebs?"

Yes, that's right, my children are learning all kinds of facts about birds at preschool for the next week or so. For those of you who know me personally, you know that couldn't POSSIBLY be more thrilled :) Those binoculars from Christmas will be coming in very handy.

I can't wait to go birding again.

Knock, Knock...

Last night we stayed late at our friends’ house watching a movie ("Gentleman Broncos" - terrible movie BTW) & chatting. Our girls are very good about going to sleep in their sleeping bags while they’re there. Rik & I carried our tired little bundles out & snuggled them into their car seats. As we were driving home, I heard a sleepy little voice from the backseat.

“Knock, knock.”

“Who’s there?” I inquired.

“Peach,” replied Caleigh.

“Peach who?”

“Peach aren’t you glad I didn’t say peach again?”

:::blink blink:::

We need to work on knock knock jokes a little more.

Star Light, Star Bright

It was a surprisingly crisp & clear night and the stars were shining happily above us as we tumbled out of the car. I pointed them out to the girls and told them if they wished on the first star they saw, they might get their wish. We went over the rhyme & in no time they had it memorized & were ready to catch their first wishing star.

What do 4 year old girls wish for?

Alessa said dreamily, “I wish the sun would shine super bright – so all the sunflowers can grow tall.”

Whereas, Caleigh stated with a giggle, “I wish lots and lots of ladybugs would come and crawl all over me.”

Puddle Trouble

Tonight was the monthly free give-away at the Lego store. I decided that the girls had been pretty good & it was a good excuse as any to get over to Walgreens to pick up the reprints I had ordered. As we drove along Alta Arden, the sky above us took on that interesting brownish tint. You know the one I mean. The one that tells you, “Heh, heh. You’ve got about 20 seconds before the sky is going to open up.”

And that it did.

It didn’t just open up, it was as if I had driven under a waterfall. I calmly (mostly) decelerated as I pulled toward the right. Suddenly, everything was white. At this precise moment is when I hit the fully engulfed section of the thoroughfare – a condition I would have seen and properly avoided had the rain gods not been smiting the Arden Area at the time.

Life Lesson: Water six inches deep will spray well over the height of a Town & Country – including covering the windshield – when hit at even a mere 20 mph.

“Wow Mommy! That sure is a lot of water!”

“Yes, it certainly is.”

“How will it go away?”

“It’ll soak into the ground or go down the storm drain or dry up when the sun comes out.”

“They’d better clean it up before it gets too dark,” Alessa stated with a somber look.

“Why is that?”

“Because if all that water’s out there tonight, animals will come out to lick it up & they might get hit by a car.”

:::blink blink::: What do you say to such logic?

Ronald, Eat Your Heart Out...

Boneless skinless chicken breasts were on sale super cheap at the grocery store. On a whim, I decided that I was going to pick up some shake and bake to have the girls try.

Caleigh, always eager to try something new, immediately ate it & liked it. Alessa hesitated & balked & tried to negotiate that “she likes the other kind of chicken nuggets”.

Eventually she tried the shake & bake. She took a bite, chewed a bit and got an almost startled look on her face.

“These are the best chicken nuggets ever! I NEVER wanna go to McDonalds again!”

Can I hold her to that?