Things Heard Around Here

Aric: Mommy, at 3 Daddy's wife will go off.

Me: You mean his alarm.

Aric: No, his wife.

Me: I'm Daddy's wife you mean his alarm.

Aric: Oh.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my husband who is now officially older than me since he is 33 and I'm only 32b.

I love you, and I'm happy I get to share my life with you.

Always.

Things Heard Around Here

Dear God, 
Thank you for this food.
Help it to nourish our bodies.
Please help us to have a good evening together.
And for Daddy and Mommy to be nice to Aric and Kellyn.
In your Son's name, Amen.


Translation:
When teaching the kids to pray we provided them with an example of a mealtime prayer.  They both latched onto the prayer and use it for every meal.  It surprised us a bit the other night when Aric said this prayer at dinnertime.  (I give you one guess which part he added to the prayer.)  It's not that we require them to say the same prayer.  We were quite happy that Aric is realizing he can pray for different things and talk to God.  We were more in shock from what he asked, because we didn't think we were that bad at parenting.

Just Like Daddy

For awhile Aric has randomly asked to have his hair cut like Daddy's.  Ryan and I have resisted for multiple reasons.  Lately, after hearing multiple people refer to him as our daughter or a girl, we both realized that Aric did indeed need a haircut. 

When I took Aric to get his hair cut on Friday I went with the idea that he needed to have it cleaned up, reshaped and that it was probably time to cut it a bit shorter.  While watching his hair transform it struck me that I really didn't like what I was seeing, only because it makes my little boy look so much older.  

Before:

After:

Aric likes his haircut, because to him his haircut is just like Daddy's.

Chocolate Pudding

...And that is why we don't give the kids chocolate pudding very often.

Things Heard Around Here

Kellyn: What'd you put in your hair?

Me: Mmmmmm.

Kellyn: Mommy, that's not an answer!

Translation: 
Aric has gotten into the habit of answering questions with either "Because I did" or "Because I'm not supposed to".  We haphazardly tried to teach him that those were not accurate answers.  Lately we have been more diligent about teaching him how to answer questions since Kellyn has begun to copy Aric in answering questions.  It's only natural for her to pick up on the response Ryan and I use and turn it against me.  I guess that was my reminder to be more intentional with my answers.

Cleaning and The Lorax

A week or so ago I caved and joined Pinterest.  It's an online pin board of all sorts of things that can be found on the internet.  I don't spend all of my time on it, but I have found some really neat ideas: tips for gardening, activities for the kids, sewing projects for me, etc.  The only thing that I have actually done is to make a household cleaner for my bathroom.  It is a simple concept and the only thing I needed to buy was a spray bottle since I didn't have an extra I could use for this project.  The recipe is easy: take 1 part white vinegar and heat it up, pour into spray bottle with 1 part dish soap.  Spray on soap scum and water marks, leave for two hours then wipe with sponge and wash away.

I poured 1 cup of white vinegar into a measuring cup and microwaved it for 2 minutes.  Then I poured 1 cup of dish soap into the spray bottle, mixed it with the warm vinegar and set to work spraying our master shower, which was nasty.  It was a bit noxious with the white vinegar, but no more so than if I had used a commercial soap scum remover.  I was also standing in our shower trying to get every spot that I could including our glass shower doors.  I used up most of my mixture.  Then I took the kids to see the Lorax.

I had forgotten how much the story of the Lorax is about tree-hugging (for lack of a better word).  The kids enjoyed the bright colors, songs, dancing and being in a movie theater.  I don't really need to see that movie ever again.  It was Kellyn's first movie and she was pretty well behaved.  I bought some gummy lifesavers and a bag of popcorn to add to the experience.  I found out that Kellyn is a popcorn lover.  I'm not sure where she put all of that popcorn since she still had room for dinner later, but she devoured as much as she possibly could.

After the movie, we went back home.  I fed the kids and proceeded to clean the shower while they were eating.  I didn't have to use much elbow grease, I just wiped the surfaces with a sponge while I washed the soap and vinegar away with warm water.  Our shower came out shiny and almost new-looking again.  My shower doors which were hazy with soap scum and scale are now crystal clear again.  It's amazing and I honestly didn't spend any time on it.  I'm not one to rave about household cleaners, but if you have a shower you'll never get clean again you might try this mixture.  I also heard that if I spray my shower doors with Rain-X or a similar product it will help prevent this from happening again.  I haven't tried that because I don't have any Rain-X but it's something I'll mentally file away for another time.

Things Heard Around Here

Kellyn: Mommy, I'm pushing your buttons. (Said while she is pushing the button on my shirt.)

Me: Yes, and you're pretty good at it.

Think she knew I was referring to more than the buttons on my shirt?

Snow

This morning I heard rain outside.  After awhile I looked out the window and saw big, fluffy snowflakes falling from the sky instead of rain.  Since we knew the snow wouldn't stay around long, Ryan suggested I take the kids out to play in it for awhile.  The kids were overjoyed to put their snow pants and coats on over their pajamas and go outside to play.  We were quickly soaked and didn't stay out too long, but it was well worth the effort to let the kids enjoy the snow especially since the snow is now gone.

32B and The Story of My Glasses

On Sunday I turned 33 32B.  Ryan had to work all day, but I had some wonderful friends who surprised me with lunch, ice cream and a wonderful time of fellowship.  The rest of my day was an exciting time of napping and enjoying the unseasonably warm weather outside with the kids.

My sweet husband made sure I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers on my birthday from him the kids.

I truly felt loved and appreciated by my family and friends who went out of their way to make my birthday special.

You may have noticed that I am wearing glasses in the picture.  It's kind of weird to be wearing glasses again, but they have helped me with the eye strain I was experiencing and I feel relief when I wear them. Sadly, I admit I'm wearing bifocals.  I was having problems reading things up close and far away.  All of the sewing wasn't helping either.  The eye doctor told me I have one eye that is nearsighted and one that is farsighted.  The only help for me is bifocals.  Thankfully they make them in the line-less variety so the general public doesn't know I'm wearing bifocals.  Except for the fact that I just told on myself.

I was self conscious when I first got them.  I felt like I was in sixth grade again and getting made fun of for having four eyes.  A month later I know how much they help me and I don't care what other people think because I can see better and my eyes no longer hurt.  Maybe someday I'll go back to wearing contacts, but for now I'm alright with the glasses.