Pucker Up

Jerry and I like to joke that we have Sour Patch Kids, at first they are nothing but squeeze your eyes shut and pucker your mouth sour.  Then, if you can stick it out with them for a bit they get sweet with a little time.  

The Kingdom of Whine

Now that summer is in full swing we are all trying to settle into the new normal routine.  Which means the wheels are coming off a bit from our finely tuned (ha!) machine.  The kids are totally confused because some rules have been completely and gleefully abandoned (bed on time? no way - who cares!), and others have been reinforced and clamped down even more (TV, iPhones, or iPad in the afternoon? no way - the sun is shining! get thee and your kin outside).

In the wake of all the confusion over rules there has been lots of whining and complaining and pushing of limits to see who can get me to crack first.  They're getting close.

Sometimes I just don't even know

I was hosting Book Club (reality check: Wine Club) a couple weeks ago and as I was prepping in the kitchen doing some intense chopping fueled by a Kirkland brand margarita I heard Frank scream.  This scenario is not abnormal in my house in any way on any evening be it the intense chopping rushing to get dinner on the table, the margarita, or the screaming.  I have finely tuned my Mom Ears to pick up the screams I need to listen to and those I need to ignore and pore a teensy bit more margarita in my glass.  This was one I needed to heed, in double time.

I drop the chef knife and book it to the toy room to see Frank screaming and crying in obvious distress.  He is too distraught to even tell me what happened.  I spy Dave sitting quietly, too quietly, too still, on the window seat avoiding my eagle eye glare.  I ask him with all the accusation I can muster in my voice what happened to Frank.  Dave gives me the expected puzzled look and slow head shake indicating he has no idea why his brother is screaming like he'd like to meet his maker instead of go on another minute.  I narrow my eyes and ask again but this time with a threat - David Christopher you better tell me what happened to your brother because he will eventually stop crying and when he tells me what happened it will be much worse if I hear it from him.  I see Dave size up Frank (who is wrapped into my maxi skirt by this time) mentally calculate how long it might take Frank to stop crying and decide if he has time to pack a bag and find alternate accommodations.  The realization hits him that he either has to crash through the window and run for it, or own up.

Here's how the conversation went down.
D: Frank asked me to kick him in the weiner.
M: What?
D: Frank asked me to kick him in the weiner.
M: ... ... ... ...

Usually I've got the punishment at the ready to be meted out to the correct offender, but this one caught me completely off guard.  Then Jerry walks into the situation...

J (stern Jerry - ready to support me in whatever insanity I'm trying to referee): Boys, what's going on?
D: (blank look, not wanting to admit this again)
F: (down to sniffling, still cowering in my skirt, but looking up at me to see if he's in trouble too)
M: Frank told Dave to kick him in the weiner.
 J: (quietly dies laughing behind my back)
M: You're both stupid.  I'm going back to the kitchen.

^^^ helping move worms into the right place in Grandma's garden

Tub Time

My cousin Emily and her sweet bebe Louie came over for a visit the other day and we had a great time letting the little crawlers paw each other and watching Louie try to knock George over in the friendliest manner possible.  We decided to throw the two little boys in the bath together before they headed home so Em would have a sweet-smelling, clean baby all ready for bed when she got home. 

Louie had been making some pretty interesting faces indicating that he was having some gastrointestinal, shall we say, issues, during dinner.  Basically he was working on his business and seemed to get the job done.  We got the little dudes into the tub and soaped and cleaned up and were letting them play. G started fussing and wanted to get out, to eat, and go to bed.  We barely got George out of the tub and next thing we know Louie is letting round two rip in the tub and we were left with this…

7 Medium-ish Takes

Just hooking up with Jen today for some 7 QTs of stuff.  They really don't go together, it doesn't really flow or make sense, it just comes out fo my brain this way sometimes.  Keep going...

1 - We finally had Dave's first day of school on Monday.  Holy cow this seemed like a loooooong time coming.  I've been hearing and reading other parents expressing that they can't believe their little muffins are off to school so soon and they can't believe that the time has passed so quickly.  I could not disagree more. 

Parenting Changes

When one has four children, even when they are V*E*R*Y close together, a few changes take place in how one parents the first child in comparison to how one parents the fourth.  Let's take a quick look at a couple examples to make this concept clear.

Augument #1 - Dreft
Dreft is the super soft, baby-sweet smelling laundry detergent with the pink cap.  Just smelling the stuff makes me swoon for baby days.