Ice Day

So since we've had enough family togetherness to last us for a while, for our Ice Day today (is that what you call a snow day with no snow?), we decided to invite some buddies over to play. For 5 hours they ran and screamed and yelled and fought and destroyed - and pretty much had a great time. On my end, I just reminded myself continually that (1) my ears will eventually recover, (2) anything dumped on the floor can be picked up, and (3) when it's all done, I can send 4 of them home.

Happy Ice Day!


Ellie's Ice Day costume - I think. Actually, I'm not sure why she's wearing that.

Luckily, not too much ice for the pizza delivery guy.

I made up some sugar cookie dough, and the kids got a kick out of cutting them out and decorating them. Some of them had more frosting than cookie, but they seemed happy with them.

It Has Begun

It has begun. The 'real' winter weather, which means lots of colds and flu and lots of school delays and snow days and lots of really, really stir-crazy Sorensons.

This past week we got a bit of snow - and I do mean a bit (a total of maybe 3 inches over a couple of days). Of course there was the 2-hour delay, which was fine, but we knew there was more to come (and indeed, this morning, school is canceled due to ice). So we're spending lots and lots of good, quality time together. Deep breath.

And add to it the fact that Jared has been home sick for the past 4 days. It's like I'm being haunted by a moaning, groaning, shuffling, yet snotty ghost. And it also means that we've spent even MORE good, quality time together. Another deep breath.

Because that means that my kids get STIR CRAZY. And start to fight. And misbehave. And throw fits. And then Ellie ends up in her room in a timeout. Where she proceeds to yell and scream and insist that we MUST let her out because she really, really, really needs to pee (and poop and vomit, she says). And since she says that every time she's in timeout, we ignore her - only to find out a few minutes later that she indeed did pee. On the floor. (Your vote as to whether she really did need to go or if she's crazy enough to pee on purpose just to get out of timeout. I have my vote.) So then we get to shampoo the carpet. And the day wasn't even over yet.

And what's great is that winter has JUST begun. So we have lots more of this to come. So it's time to fully prepare for the snow days - which for me means cookies and hot chocolate and s'mores. Because cookies and hot chocolate and s'mores can pretty much prepare you for anything. Even good, quality time with your family.


He's sexy and I know it. Keep away, gals, he's all mine!

We all had fun, what with the pee-cleaning and what-not. By the way - the carpet cleaner? Best. Purchase. Ever.

Luckily, by Sunday morning we had all learned to cope being trapped together. Jack and Ellie even opened Jack & Ellie's Restaurant, where Jared and I were able to enjoy such delicacies as Eggo Waffles, Cheerios, and Toast.

No, this restaurant does not serve pets. Otis just doesn't realize that.

First Snow!

Well, we finally had a 'real' snow here - nothing impressive, of course, but we did manage to get a couple of inches. Which of course means that we had a two-hour delay at school. As far as the kids were concerned, they of course would have preferred no school at all - but at least we got to play out in the snow a bit before leaving for school. I drove carpool this morning, and let me tell, never a more hyper bunch of kiddies have I seen. I do not envy those teachers today. But hey, at least they're outta my house!


Jack was intrigued by the snowflakes, and kept talking about the lifecycle of water. Hey, Mrs. Sheppard, he DOES listen in class!

Unbeknownst to me, Ellie snuck snow into her pockets, and proceeded to pelt the other carpoolers with snow throughout our ride.

Derby Cars

We're getting ready for the Pinewood Derby in a couple of weeks, so Jared and Jack have been busy getting his car ready. Jack decided that he wanted to make a Hershey Bar car. Ellie's not a cub scout of course, but we decided she deserved a car as well, so Jared helped her make a glittery pink car with lots of bedazzling. Jared's a bit worried about whether Jack's car will be fast enough - I've been unfairly subjected to many a discussion on weight distribution and wheel alignment. And yeah, I totally didn't understand a word of what he was talking about. But man, is Ellie's car sparkly! Sparkly good! And clearly you know that I'm totally onboard with the Hershey Bar concept. So yeah, I'm not thinking that a trophy is in our future at the Derby - but our cars are sparkly and full of chocolatey goodness!

Exhausting

Our Ellie is an awesome girl. But she can also be an exhausting girl, because she is always always 'on.' She has difficulty relaxing, and always wants to be doing something. Even with talking - we'll try to just chat at the dinner table, but she always wants to do a quiz or a guessing game or a vote ("ok, we're going to vote on which ice cream flavor is yummiest").

Yesterday, we had a fairly quiet day - some errands, a trip to the mall. But with Ellie, I'm not sure that I would say it was 'relaxing.'

As we are walking into the mall:
Jared: "OK, Ellie, can you help me remember where we parked?"
For some reason, Ellie starts sniffing around like a bloodhound.
Ellie: "OK, now everyone remember - where our car is, it smells like ... sniff sniff ... minty barbecue. OK, everyone repeat after me - minty barbecue."

As Ellie and I are going to the bathroom at the mall:
Lydia: "Ellie, do you need to go to the bathroom? No? OK, just wait with me then while I go."
Ellie: "OK, I"ll guard you so no one comes in and attacks you. And I"ll watch your purse. Look, Mom, I'll stick my shoe out underneath the door so everyone knows someone's in there."
Lydia: "Or, you know, you can just wait until I'm finished."
Ellie: "Are you going pee or poop?"
Lydia: "Pee"
Ellie: "Well, pee is definitely more popular than poop. I bet if I took a vote of all the ladies in the bathroom today, pee would be more popular. Should I ask?"
Lydia: "Um, no, let's skip that."

As we're exiting the Disney Store, where Ellie blew all her allowance on Cinderella's horse and carriage:
Ellie slips and falls - and then proceeds to scream:
Ellie: "Ahhhh! I broke my butt! I broke my butt! Attention everyone, I need to go to the hospital so they can fix my butt!"

And on the car ride home from the mall:
Ellie: "OK, everyone, how many days until my birthday?"
Lydia: "Uh, I think 17 days"
Ellie: "OK, so here's the plan for my birthday. You'll all come in and wake me up with birthday waffles. And then you'll all sit around me in a circle and give me presents. So what are you going to give me for presents?"
Lydia: "Ellie, we're not going to talk about your presents. We're excited that it's going to be your birthday, and we'll make sure we have a fun day."
Ellie: "And that we'll do whatever I want since I'm the birthday girl."
Lydia: "Uh, no, but we'll make sure that we have a fun day."
Elie: "OK, let's get back to talking about the plan for what you'll do on my birthday...."

Needless to say, we were all very happy when we arrived home.

Persistence

You gotta give Ellie credit for persistence. She's going through a 'potty mouth' phase right now, and no matter how we try to discourage or ignore it, she's gonna wave that potty-mouth flag high and proud.

The other day in church, the kids were drawing. I wasn't paying too much attention, and then noticed out of the corner of my eye that Ellie was holding a piece of paper up and facing the back. I looked over, and the piece of paper said, in bold and proud letters, "POOP." I quickly grabbed it, grabbed her, and in my most convincing threat-whisper tried to convince her of the err of her ways.

But she's persistent, I tell you.

And last night, she brought me another piece of paper. Mom, she says, I'm having trouble spelling something - I've tried to write it in different ways - could you tell me which one is right?

Here it is:

Yup, she's trying to spell 'stupid.' I refused to tell her the correct spelling - no good could come from that - so she went to Jared and then Jack. We're all onto her by now, so no one would tell her the correct spelling. But don't worry, she'll find it out. She's very persistent.

Thanks, Miss Mary Kay!

The other night I got together with my good friends Crystal and Mary Kay. I talk with Crystal a lot, but don't get to see Mary Kay as often as I'd like. Which is too bad, because she's pretty awesome. I challenge anyone to meet Mary Kay and not think she's awesome. She's an audiologist. And a beekeeper. And a math geek. And a prolific reader. And a volunteer. And an ASLer. And, as you can guess from the photo above, a compulsive knitter. And she starts each sentence with "and" or "so."

Me: "How is working going?"
Mary Kay: "And, it's going great!"

Me: "How old is your dog now?"
Mary Kay: "So, she's 12 years old now!"

Sure, she COULD start sentences in the same old boring way that the rest of us do. But that's not Mary Kay. And I think that's awesome. So if you don't know Mary Kay, you really should.

Messy

Things have been getting messy up here in these parts. Normally, that would drive me into a royal tizzy, but things have been good messy.

It's Pinewood Derby time, so Jared has been helping the kids build their cars. (Ellie won't be participating, but she deserves a car too, so they're building a very glittery pink one with flowers and gems on it.)

And finally, Ellie has started playing with her toys. I don't know what it is about my kids, they don't usually play with their toys. But Ellie has been dragging her 'friends' around the house with her - they caravan in style in a royal carriage and the Mystery Machine and sit with her while she watches TV, plays on her iPad, or eats. It's a little creepy for me, since everywhere I go there are dolls' eyes following me, but hey, at least she's entertaining herself.

Oh, and guess what we ate over the weekend. Mmmmm, s'mores, baby. Messy, ooey, gooey, chocolatey, delicious s'mores.

You might want to look away - it gets messy up in these parts. Messy but good.

Because

They yell and scream and fight. A lot.
They make messes all over my house. A lot.
They demand food from me, then complain about it. A lot.
And yeah, I mean the grownup one, too.
But they're mine.
And I'm glad.

Same Thing, Different Day

Kid: "Mom, [insert kid name here] kicked me in the head!"

Kid: "Mom, [insert kid name here] keeps killing me in Mario Brothers!"

Kid: "Mom, [insert kid name here] peed on the wall in the bathroom!"

Kid: "Mom, [insert kid name here] put a booger on me!"

Kid: "Mom, [insert kid name here] punched me in the stomach/arm/leg/back/front/top/bottom/whatever part it was this time!"


....And how was your Sunday afternoon?

A Tale of Two Blankets

Let me introduce you to Purple and Pandy.

These are Jack and Ellie's blankets.

First, let me say that Jack's blanket is called Purple because it USED to be actually the color purple. But after a few gazillion times through the washer, it's more of a gray now. Jack got Purple when Ellie was born. It was actually intended to be HER blanket. When she was born, we were going to move Jack from his crib to a toddler bed, and give his crib to Ellie. Overly anxious am I, so I started to change the bedding on the crib while he was still using it - to the cutesy, girly purple bedding we had chosen for Ellie. So in went Purple - and before we knew it, Jack had claimed it for his own. He dragged that thing around wherever he went. And anytime he needed comfort? Get Purple. But you know what? A couple of months ago, I noticed Jack carrying his Purple - and he stuffed it at the bottom of our blanket basket - where it has stayed ever since. It has taken some time, my friends, but the blankie is no more.

Wish I could say the same for Pandy. Ellie got Pandy from her grandma for Christmas one year - and again, has dragged it around ever since. I don't even want to KNOW what kind of germs live on this thing. I try to steal it from her every week to wash it, but still, just imagine what that poor blanket goes through every week - dragged along the dirty floors, snotty face rubbed on it, ... I can't even go on after that. Let's just say you won't see ME carrying that thing around. But man, does Ellie love it. So now I just need to wait for the day when she too decides to bury it at the bottom of the blanket basket. Here's hoping that day will be soon!

Why I Yelled At Jared Yesterday

His day yesterday (like most other days):
1. Wake up when he darn well pleases
2. Drive to work
3. Work full day of work
4. Drive home from work
5. Eat dinner that Lydia prepared
6. Get into pajamas, grab iPad, turn on TV, and vegetate on comfy chair
7. Once kids are in bed, suggest you-know-what to Lydia

My day yesterday (like most other days):
1. Wake up when alarm goes off at 5am
2. Exercise and get myself ready
3. Wake up kids
4. Make kids lunches
5. Straighten up house, feed dog, and do dishes
6. Get kids ready for school
7. Take trash out
8. Drive carpool
9. Start laundry
10. Work full day of work (during lunch break, finish up laundry, make doctors appointments, plan for Jack's cub scout meeting, prepare visiting teaching report, set up Evite for Ellie's birthday party, and pick up Jared's drycleaning)
11. Pick up kids
12. Take Ellie to dance
13. Help Jack with homework during dance
14. Make dinner
15. Clean up after dinner
16. Straighten up house
17. Get kids through showers
18. Put kids to bed
19. Yell at Jared for bothering me about you-know-what