Tiger Face

My son is creative.  I'll give Henry that.  He requested Viv's black leotard so he could make her a tiger for play in the basement.  I heard water running in the hall bathroom as I prepped a slow cooker recipe, and I quickly discovered he had used orange and black markers to draw tiger stripes all over her face, eyelids and lips included.  She now has remnant black that turned an ugly green like old bruises.

A few days ago he excitedly encouraged me to look at Viv's back.  "Mom!  Mom!  Doesn't she look JUST like a kangaroo with hair all over her?!"  As she turned, I saw 1" + long wisps of blonde hair all over the back of her dress.  I sucked in all of my breath and said, "Did you use scissors on your sister's hair?"  He said, "Yes," like he was shocked by such a silly question.  How else was he going to get her hair all over her to make her look like a kangaroo anyhow?  We had a long talk, and I found hair all over the carpet downstairs.  I hid every pair of scissors I could find, and I discovered we own a lot of scissors...paper, crafting, sewing, safety, kitchen...

The most unusual thing Henry has done lately involves his sock drawer.  I made the discovery after Vivian alerted me by saying, "Henry is trying to make some fi-yuh in his room!"  In just one afternoon, I found the following items in his drawer.
4 boxes of matches (Which he said he climbed to get while I was showering.  They were hidden in a bowl and 7 feet high in a cabinet with doors!  However, they were near the gum jar.)
1 can of tuna
6 Q-tips
Sparkle nail polish

Aside from the tuna, all of these items are contraband.  We had a long safety discussion and I detailed the consequences of playing with fire and issued his consequence.  When I asked him about the tuna, he said, "I like tuna."

Olivia had her first ever cross country meet on Saturday, and the whole family cheered her to a great 1 mile finish.  She beat some older boys, which I thought was pretty awesome.  It was really fun.  She's playing the flute, studying ballet three nights a week, learning piano, and doing well in school.  Evelyn takes ballet class, and she is her usual crafting and reading self.  She makes me laugh.  This is a special year of sacraments for Evelyn, and she's really excited.

The last few months have been the most stressful and up and down that I have experienced since 2000 with Anthony's leukemia diagnosis, treatment, and the simultaneous planning of our Illinois wedding from Houston while working full-time.  Selling our house For Sale By Owner has been a long process.  It is the kind of thing that had I known all of the obstacles we would face at the beginning, I would have been paralyzed to go forward.  However, Robbie and I are a solid team.  We have been forging ahead week after week, and we can almost see the light.  Praise God for that.  That work has been compounded by the blessing of finding a wonderful next house that we get to plan.  We just have many tasks and too few hours.  And then...there's the fact that I'm soon leaving for Poland.

Babybel hell

Yesterday Henry got some Babybel cheese as a snack.  He then tore the wrapper into tiny pieces and stuck red wax from the small cheese round on four windows, in eight places on my red wall, on some door casing, and on the floor in a path every 3' through our whole house!!!    "I was making a trail," he explained.  I think he rolled the wax in his hot meaty hands to warm it to make it stick.  It was very difficult for him to remove from the surfaces, so I hope this will leave an impression.  I told him he lost the privilege of getting more of that cheese from the store.  He loves it, but before this cheese disaster I found that he can been saving the half-circle wax wraps in his bedroom.  They were hard and gross.  Robbie also discovered that Henry had a tube of my red lip gloss hidden under his bed.  He put that on Vivian.

Last night during our cookout with the Finlasons and my parents, Henry and J.T. peed in our garage.  Can any boy moms explain to me what would possess two little guys to pull that number?  Emily and I kept enjoying our wine, and we put Robbie and Mike on it.

"How do you like them apples?"

Oh, my son.  He did it again.  Viv got very sticky #2 all over the toilet seat and down her legs again today.  Henry AGAIN tried to "clean" it off with his you know what.  What is wrong with this child?  Apparently, he's plenty smart, because after I discovered unapproved gumballs in his mouth, I found a disassembled gum ball machine downstairs.  I was pretty impressed.  It was no simple job to take the thing apart, AND he managed not to shatter the glass globe on the basement floor.  Bonus!!  Most of the change was missing, but he and Vivian won't admit to any bank robbery.  I took their gum, and shook my head.  Naturally, the top screw is missing, so I can't yet restore the integrity of the machine.

Today Olivia said that when she grows up and has a car she plans to get Lopaka on her license plate.  Our friend from Robbie's med school class gave him a key chain with the Hawaiian version of Robbie on it, and it is always in our backdoor.  She made me laugh out loud.  Evelyn, my most devout Catholic of the bunch, inquired as to whether or not Adam and Eve made it to Heaven.  Hmmm, Ev.  Food for contemplation.  Will Catholicism for Dummies have that information?

We have been working hard to organize our basement this week, and I made it up to the kids by taking them to a distant pool that is on our summer pass today with water slides and various pools.  They loved it.  Henry will now ask to jump off the side in water over his head, and he'll swim around and back to the edge.  Vivian puts her face in the water and wiggles and strokes and kicks herself underwater to me again and again.  So cute!  Ev and O practiced their true strokes, and their improvement this summer is wonderful.

I went off Paleo dinner tonight and let the kids get Pizza Hut personal pans with Ev's accumulated free Book It awards.  I sent them into the restaurant to "pay" like big kids.  However, they didn't listen carefully to my instructions.  I had pre-placed the order, and it was supposed to be ready for pickup at 5:05 pm.  They were greeted with, "What can I get for you?"  Olivia told him the type and number of little pizzas, then I was waiting forever for the girls to pick up my order.  When they entered the van we figured out that they did not give the guy our last name and pizza order, they just ordered.  I went in to explain, and I left with four more little pizzas for free.  That's how my dinner plan of leftovers turned to one of warm bread, gooey cheese, and greasy meat.  The girls' lack of listening actually brought benefit to me for once.  I'll take it.  As we shared the story with Robbie I got to the part where I said, "So that's how we ended up with eight free pizzas."  Henry, with perfect comic timing, added, "How do you like them apples?!"

Olivia is off with her daddy to select an instrument to play for her first band experience as a fifth grader.  Music really clicks for her, and I'm thrilled she's eager.

Vivian just asked when we are going to Disneyland.  I explained that we just went to Disney World, and that the children are very lucky.  Many children never get to go.  Henry asked, "Lucky that you are our parents?"  I said, "Well, I hope you think you are lucky to have us as parents, but I meant lucky that you got to go to Disney World."  Henry, age five, said, "That's not the important thing.  The important thing is that you are our parents.  You are a gift from God."  AND...there you have it.  I will not end Henry for peeing on the bathroom wall twice in two days and stealing gumballs.

"Hi! I'm Daddy.", Too Much Pee, and SPRINKLE DISASTER

My husband is obviously concerned about eye safety.  He wears safety goggles when he mows the lawn to protect his eyes from flying sticks, rocks, and debris.  After wearing a pair to jump start our battery after an unnamed child left a light on in our van and our battery was dead as we loaded the vehicle to go to church, the goggles were found by Henry on the kitchen table. He put them on his small face.  He lowered his voice, changed his face, and said, "Hi!  I'm Daddy.  Vivian, use a fork.  Henry, you're bad!  Julie, I luuuvvvvv you!!"  We died.  He was hilarious!

What was not so hilarious was the unknown small person who twice peed on Vivian's quilt, bedding, and favorite blankies yesterday.  I found the first wet area before naptime, and I washed it all.  I found the next huge pee area at bedtime, and I flipped out.  Robbie played bad cop and got both of them to individually admit to peeing on Viv's bed.  What?!  We have no idea which child really committed the crime.  I just know that I did a lot of loads of laundry.  It got even better in the middle of last night when I heard talking from their room.  I discovered they were awake and having a little pow wow.  Vivian said, "For some reason my bed is all wet."  I said, "HENRY!!!  Did you pee on your sister's bed?"  He replied, "Not this time."   There is nothing like doing linen laundry in the middle of the night.  When it happens I am reminded of a great book called The Book Thief in which the kind father figure in the story set during WWII patiently washed the little girl's sheets after she wets them in her sleep night after night.  Who created that character, and where can I get that kind of patience?

Vivian used the potty today, and she left a big streak of yucky on the seat.  Henry saw it, and he decided it would be a really good idea to clean the poop off the potty by aiming his pee spray at it.  You can guess how that turned out for me.  Pee spray was on the toilet, the wall, in the air vent, and all over the tile.  I handed him the Clorox wipes and put him to work fixing the gross problem.  He then threw the unflushable wipe into the toilet after I specifically said not to do so.  What kind of an idea was that, and why in the world did I have to say, "Never use your pee to try to clean someone's poop again, Son!!!!!"

Today after they managed to get crumbled ground beef all over their dining room table chairs and floor, they entered the unfinished part of our basement.  On the storage shelves they made an amazing discovery...small bottles of various sprinkles used for decorating baked goods.  They had a grand old time sprinkling the floor with green sugar and red/white/blue candy coated chocolate sprinkles sticks.  They didn't just utilize a little small area on the floor, then went to down and really emptied those bottles.  Sprinkles were ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!  I am pretty sure they covered a 6' by 3' area of floor.  Then they walked around on it, which turned their feet blue and brown.  Next, they left a trail up the stairs and into the main level.  That did it.  I yelled for Robbie.  We decided on a consequence, and they are in bed.

My life is full.  My life is not dull.  My children are healthy and inquisitive and creative.  I always love them no matter what.  Someday they will grow up, leave me, and I'll miss them.  I will most likely survive their childhood.

Henry and "The Griz"

After I got the chance to ski a little slope with Henry, I told Robbie that I really thought we should put him in another day of ski school.  It seemed like a bad idea to stop his training the moment everything finally clicked.  The original plan was for Robbie to ski the next day with the girls, and I'd spend the day with the little two.  Of course, another day of lessons from 9 am to 3 pm equates to a dollar amount and another day of rental costs.  Robbie didn't argue the point, but he was thrilled to share that I had accidentally gotten Henry the best value of our entire trip.  Henry got an all day private lesson, because no other little kids happened to fall into his skill level that day.  He went up on numerous chair lifts, some of which were the high speed quad versions.  He skied down all kinds of green runs, some of which had more pitch that the ones I went down.  Yes, I'm timid, but Henry skied the real deal!  Robbie said that The Griz, Henry's ski instructor, really enjoyed his day with our son.  He took him all over the mountain.  Henry asked Robbie, "How come yesterday I couldn't ski, and now I'm good?"  Robbie and Olivia took Henry on the little slope once ski school was over, and Robbie said he pretty much went straight down the path in a little snow plow position.

Robbie had a lot of fun with the girls.  Even Ev went through the ski parks that day, and she caught a tiny bit of air on a ramp too.  He said Olivia moved much more toward parallel skiing.  He took her on blue runs after Vivian and I met them for lunch and returned to the condo with Evelyn.  Both girls really improved this year, and they have the desire to challenge themselves with tougher runs.  The weather was sunny and gorgeous that day.  I can't get over the majesty of the mountains.  I so loved looking at the view from our 4th floor windows.  I could see people skiing down the mountain on numerous runs, and they looked so peaceful from my distance.

We drove all the way home yesterday.  Robbie had us up at 4:40 am, and the kids were soon in trouble for wrestling and squealing on the floor.  They didn't seem to mind rising early.  We left the parking garage before 6 am, and a bright sliver of crescent moon hung beautifully above the dark silhouette of the mountains.  Gosh, it was a stunning sight.  We had a little early fright when the headlights didn't seem to be doing anything as we went around turn after turn high in the mountains.  I urged Robbie to pull off on an exit, and we wiped our headlights....problem solved.  The funny signs entertained us again.  Robbie said he was going to start using one of the phrases from a sign on me, "Truckers, are your brakes cool and adjusted?"  I am so thankful that my man makes me laugh hard every single day.  Plus, he can call a spade a spade.  The runaway truck ramps are a little disconcerting too.  We saw a sign near Denver that read, "Truckers!  Don't be FOOLED.  4 more miles of steep grades and sharp curves."  Ahead of that we saw a lane filled with sand and then about six rows of yellow barrels for the trucks to crash into to stop!

Robbie is wonderful.  He spent two evenings of our trip doing our laundry (the machines are not in our unit) so we'd come home with clean suitcases, did the majority of the packing,  and loaded the entire van.  Granted, he appreciated my pre-trip efforts and van loading.  We are a sensational team.  That's a quote from the spy novel that I'm reading (Code Name - Verity), which I had the privilege of reading all the way from Colorado to Kansas City.  I hate driving, and Robbie took care of it for us.  We had a fun, active, and safe family vacation, and we feel very blessed.

Mama Mogulled

Well, I can now say that I have inserted my contact lens at the top of the side of a mountain.  Imagine my shock as I was skiing down from the highest elevation of our trip, when I was suddenly blind in one eye.  I yelled to Evelyn, "Go ahead, and tell Daddy my contact fell out."  Luckily, she heard me, because I was stopped for a long time praying to God that I would not drop my key to sight into a pile of snow.  I had rewetting drops in my jacket, and the lens fell inside my goggles.  By the grace of God I very carefully got it into my eye and had clear vision once again.  That was nerve wrecking!

Yesterday was amazing.  The sun shone all day, and the temperature was comfortable in the 30s.  If anything, we were too warm.  Henry had another day of ski school, but we decided to keep the girls with us all day.  That was a first.  I've never skied with my daughters.  It was good for me.  Instead of focusing on my fear when the edge of a ridge loomed ahead of me, and it looked as though I could easily ski off the mountain's edge, I was in protective mama mode.  I focused on concern for the safety of my girls, and that did a lot for my confidence as a beginner skier.  I now know that I can control my path and manage my speed when the slope gets steep.  We all fell very little.  The girls just crisscross the paths in wide S curves, and they are in control.  At one point, we came upon a really steep part.  I was nervous, and Robbie started giving me turn by turn instructions about how to make it down.  That irritated me, and I mouthed off something along the lines of, "I can figure out how to get down the slope without you telling me every move to make."  He took off, and the girls followed.  However, I had misunderstood that we were supposed to go to the left side of a fork.  Therefore, I had to change the path I had planned, and I ended up right in the bumpy area that Robbie had tried to tell to me avoid.  Mommy mogulled on accident!  Robbie later told me that he looked up and thought to himself that he had just told me not to ski over there, and that I was going to crash and burn and be furious.  I made it, and it was hilarious and kind of fun.

Robbie took the girls on paths through trees with some moguls in spots too.  He and Olivia went down a ski park with ramps, and they both got to where they could catch some air and land okay.  I can't believe how confident and daring our little girls are compared to their cautious mother.  I fear for next year when we put carefree Vivian on skis!!  She'll likely tear down the mountain.

Henry's skills improved by leaps and bounds yesterday, so his instructor took him up on the chair lift.  The guy said the first time, Henry was terrified of falling off.  Once he skied down the first time, he was excited to go back up to ski down again.  After Henry's ski school, Ev's feet hurt so Robbie took off with Olivia to try some harder slopes.  Robbie was gone when I learned that Henry had been on the lift, so I made the decision to take Evelyn with me to ski down a real slope with my little son for the first time.  Henry's instructor said he controlled his speed well and listened well to instructions to stop.  When we first started down, Henry went right up behind Evelyn, and their skis lined up like two Vs.  He almost made her do the middle splits.  We then gave Ev more of a head start, and it was awesome.  Nobody else was up there at that time of day,  so we had all the space we wanted.  Henry fell a few times, and we got our skis crossed as I tried to get him situated.  It was funny.  At the bottom, I heard Evelyn say, "I am NOT going down with him again until he is older!!"

Viv and I are going to soon go explore the village while Henry goes up higher in another day of ski school, and Robbie takes the girls on the slopes.  The mountain view here as I type is so pretty.  We're having a really wonderful time.

The Backwards Scoop on Our Ski Trip

I have the worst headache.  I can't believe how the altitude impacts me.  Today was quite a ski adventure for our family.  This is only the third ski trip of my life, and it snowed the entire day.  We got 7" here in the mountains, and the powder surface conditions were very new for me.  Ev's ski instructor said that in some areas the snow was a foot deep, and Evelyn was up to her knees trying to get through it.  It was fun skiing through virgin snow in places, but the depth of snow made it tricky for me as a new skier.  The temperature was around 25 all day, and the winds were 20 - 30 mph.  Olivia, Evelyn, and Henry were in ski school all day, and they all did well.  Robbie and I spent the day together on the slopes, and I practiced what my ski instructor helped me with yesterday.  I feel like I'm going to end up going 80 mph less and less with each run, which is a very good thing.  Robbie very carefully indicated that I would make him feel more comfortable if I would ski the center 50% of the run, and leave the 25% on each side near the trees alone.  I guess I was getting too close to the line of pines for his liking.  My sweet husband packed us a wonderful Paleo lunch of homemade beef jerky, spinach leaves with cherry tomatoes and red sweet peppers, mixed nuts with berries, and cut apples and oranges.  I wore Emily's ski jacket again, and the bulge on my left side was something.  The lunch was perfect.

Vivian showed up at my bedside at 4:39 am today, and the other kids were awake shortly thereafter.  God help us.   She said something along the lines of, "I love you, you cute little mama!" in a full volume voice.  They all share a bedroom, the three oldest are in a king-sized bed, and Olivia can run the remote for early cartoons.  Thank goodness.

Last night Robbie found a chapel for us, and we walked to mass.  The mountains were visible through a cross shaped window behind the altar, and the view was lovely.  Then the snow began to fall, and the sense of peace I experienced was memorable.  Little Henry was so exhausted from his first day of ski school that he fell completely asleep in a seated position in the pew.  At the end of mass, Vivian raised one of his eyelids with her index finger.  Robbie carried him home through falling snow.

Olivia was in a class with all boys yesterday, and she got to go on some blue runs and runs with bumps.  Evelyn was a little rusty after a one year break, but she quickly got her snow legs again.  Vivian went to babysitting, which we call Baby Ski School for the fact that they take the kids to an outdoor snow playground in their snowsuits and boots.  She told me when I picked her up that she cried and cried for me, but it didn't work.  Finally, she said to the caregiver, "My mommy is up on the mountain with my daddy?  And she'll ski down and come back to me?"

Our first morning in the condo, the kids all entered our room at 4:52 am.  Henry asked for warm milk.  I told him it was NOT six.  Vivian showed me a six on her light up cell phone that my mom gave to her, then she turned on our bathroom light and left her phone playing Yankee Doodle Dandy on my nightstand!

On our drive to Colorado, Vivian exclaimed, "Oh, MY GOSH, that's pretty!!!" when she saw the mountains ahead.  We stopped for lunch in the smallest town in Colorado and dined  in a dive and were served by a 60-year-old waitress with purple hair.  The table had slats, so it was covered with a clear vinyl tablecloth.  Evelyn and Olivia looked worried the entire time, and they hated the old bathroom.  I think my girls have become citified.

We left our hotel in Hays, KS just after 7 am.  Henry unhappily announced the odor of smoke as we walked in 14 degree weather past a smoker.  Vivian looked at the bleach blonde culprit and said, "Oooh, that's gross!!."  The woman looked caught in the act.  Her eyes turned to me, and I just gave her a slight shoulder shrug as we proceeded to our van.

I managed to shatter into a million tiny pieces a hurricane globe on the table of the restaurant where we ate dinner the evening we left home.  The sound was tremendous, and I froze half-way out of my seat in shock and embarrassment.  I still don't know how I did it.  I told the girls, "At least it wasn't Henry."  Finally, the evening before we left home, Henry told me that last year his ski instructors picked him up like a puppet.  That was such a cute description, but the kids do wear belts with handles on the back for just that purpose.

Snow, beautiful snow!

We got a foot of snow yesterday, and that is no stretch in the numbers.  Robbie had to go see post-ops at his office, so I decided to shovel our drive as an act of love.  He hates packing down the snow with his car's tire tracks, and our little house has a one lane driveway.  I prayed Hail Mary while I knew he was braving the roads to return  to us, and I couldn't have been more thankful when I heard his honk.  He was safe.  God bless.  He was also thrilled with the clear drive and walkways.  We helped neighbors clear their foot of snow, and we were exhausted last night.  I've never removed deeper snow in my life.

This morning I awoke to a child wet with pee and a soaking bed at 1:19 am.  I took care of that, closed my eyes, and a blink later heard the rapid pitter-pat of little feet at 5:46 am.  Vivian stood by my bed, and sang, "Rise and shine, and give God the glory, glory," again and again.  I expressed my love, then informed her it was not six.  "Go potty and quietly get back into your bed, Viv."  Instead, she went to the living room and discovered her daddy was outside shoveling snow in the street in order to make a path to the lane the plow cleared on the OTHER side of the street so that he could back out of our drive.  It was 26 degrees F with a wind chill of 12 F.  I made hot coffee and planned to cook him a hot breakfast of eggs until I discovered salmon defrosting.  I then recalled his plan to grill some fish for breakfast.  Just before 6:40 am, when he realized the grilling was taking longer than he anticipated, he went to the shower and asked me to please check the salmon in five minutes.  I was in my robe and slippers, and I was kind of shocked and a little bit unhappy about the request.  I did it.  Granted, all I had to do was test the doneness with the twist of a fork, remove it with a spatula, and turn off the gas.  However, when we said, "I do," 12 years ago, I somehow never imagined a day when I would be in temperatures that felt like the low teens, grilling fish in the six o'clock AM hour.  It is a very good thing that I love my man so much and fully understand all of the sacrifices he makes on behalf of our little family..one of which, is eating fish for breakfast in an attempt to live a healthier life.

Green Hulk Food

Miss Vivian is ready to go to Colorado to baby ski school.  She asked me when we are going, and my, "Not yet," answer did not satisfy her.  I gave her a specific month and day, and she said, "What's that?"  I replied, "It is a date."  Her little face scrunched in confusion, and she asked, "Aren't I too young to go on a date?"  She and I have funny little exchanges like this quite frequently.  She got a new and quite gorgeous Disney Store Snow White gown from my mother for her 3rd birthday.  We have been watching Superman movies on our family movie nights, and I gave her little Superman and Wonder Woman figures to play with in Henry's bat cave.  She dressed herself, then asked, "Do you think Superman will think I'm so pretty?"  The funny part about the dress is that her daddy helped her pick a less fancy one at Costco for Halloween.  She wore it to shreds, and it was almost like a security blanket.  We weren't certain she'd accept a newer model of the gown.  The new dress came with a warning tag about glitter falling off of it.  I'm not kidding.  I'm also not even kidding that all of our barefooted kids have glitter stuck to the bottom of their feet.  The girls and I have it on our scalps, and I saw a spec in Henry's ear.  Robbie does not want glitter in his hair, I can tell you that for certain.  I can just imagine the surprise on his patients' faces as they notice gold sparkle in the hair of their doctor as he examines their eyes.

The sweet potato latkes were loved by me, but the kids were not impressed with the fruit of all of Robbie's labor.  As Robbie placed her latke, fried egg, and bacon on her plate, Vivian said, "What IS this food?"  Henry asked when Robbie was going to make his good pancakes again...meaning from scratch buttermilk pancakes with 100% pure maple syrup from Michigan and berries on top.  Vivian finally finished her Sunday breakfast this morning...Monday.  Robbie shredded seven cups of sweet potatoes, and the kids WERE GOING TO EAT THEM.

Henry likes the Incredible Hulk, so I can usually sway him with, "Buddy, this is Hulk food," if the vegetable is green.  He happily took sugar snap peas to preschool when he was snack friend, and he shared this news with his buds.  Vivian isn't into it.  "Viv, that's Hulk food," I told her.  "I don't want to be strong as a Hulk," she stated firmly.  Henry asked her if she wanted to be strong as a princess, and she didn't.  Olivia asked her if she wanted to be strong as a little mouse, and we all laughed.  Another interesting meal experience awaits.  I spent over an hour this afternoon preparing a new Paleo recipe.  Evelyn plucked cilantro off the stems, and Olivia charred two pounds of tomatillos for the Chile Verde Pork Stew.  It smells amazing, BUT it is green.  Hmmm...

"Bye-bye, you cutie." (Wink!)

The temp is 29 degrees Fahrenheit, and Robbie is out running with 9 1/2-year-old Olivia.  I love how their Daddy-Daughter dates evolve.  Evelyn just decided to train Henry with some workout moves, and she rewarded him with homemade ribbons constructed of yard and construction paper that read, "#1 Henry Overlease," and, "Good Job!"  Vivian is in her favorite floor-length flannel Hello Kitty nightgown (which she changes into in the middle of the day right before we are supposed to leave our house), and she's playing with her castle set.

Evelyn's reading exploded this past week, so I got her seven new fairy books from the library.  Olivia was into those at the same point in her life.  Ev is honestly reading by the backpack load, and I love this new found literary freedom she is experiencing.  I've been working with Henry to point out and teach short sight words as we read storybooks daily.  He's learned quite a nice string of them, and Evelyn ran with this yesterday.  She produced her old kindergarten Busy Bee Binder, and set to work with a handwritten list of sight words for her brother and a yellow highlighter as used by her teacher.  She added PIZZA to Henry's word list.  I love it.  Olivia is a voracious reader, and she's blazing through her Battle of the Books list of 20+ titles for an upcoming team competition. While in the van with the family she said, "What's cat piss?"  Robbie and I exchanged looks, and he said, "What book are you reading?"  I knew it was The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate.  We explained that the word about which she inquired, which I spelled back to her, is a slang bad word for urine.  Robbie wanted additional information about the context in which the phrase was used.  In the book a granddaddy said this to a young girl, and Olivia read it aloud..."I have managed to take perfectly good pecans and ferment them into something approximating cat piss."  Obviously, Robbie and I laughed out loud.

After passing through my initial fury over Robbie's decision to eat a Paleo Diet and forego all dairy (read...CHEESE, BUTTER, MILK, YOGURT!!!), beans (which I love) and legumes (No peanuts?  Really?  Sweet peas and beans are bad?), and grains (no rice, bread, pasta, etc., etc.) I am pleased to share that I am in a better place about it.  Robbie bought me three Paleo cookbooks, and we are working together to figure out the new contents of his lunchbox and our family dinners.  On that note, last night after mass we went to a health food store.  All six of us shopped, and the place was busy for a Saturday night.  Henry had his own small cart, and he was thrilled to load it with fruit and nuts.  At one point I left the group to go for some carrots, and I happened to look over my shoulder as Henry was sprinting towards me up the frozen foods aisle.  Unfortunately, he was racing to catch his runaway cart!!  I've never seen a cart roll so fast in a grocery store in my life, and I'm lucky it was pint sized.  I'd love to view the surveillance footage of that scene as I turned and caught it just in the nick of time before it bowled me over.  I'm certain it would go viral on YouTube.  We had a serious discussion about his use of little carts. Vivian has learned to wink, and she made friends in the checkout lane with a rather effeminate Asian male.  She winked at him, and got a big smile and chuckle.  As we left the register, she said in a slow and flirty voice, "Bye-bye, you cutie (wink!)," and the kids and I roared.

Vivian turned three on the 8th, and I made her the much requested for many months...pink Hello Kitty cake. I researched decorated cake images and pink cake recipes.  I ended up with a delicious pink strawberry cake with pink strawberry frosting and buttercream marshmallow white icing for Hello Kitty's star piped 3D face.  Hello Kitty had a hair bow made of pink marshmallow hearts.  Vivian asked to help me bake the cake.  Henry assisted, and we had a great time in our aprons.  However, once the pink cake was cooling, Vivian appeared and said, "Henry says my cake tastes GOOOODD!!"  I ran to the kitchen and discovered that my son had taken a couple of handfuls of cake out of the edges of one of my cake layers.  I was furious with him.  He was sent to a lengthy timeout and ended up falling asleep for three hours.  That part was good.  Vivian and our guests loved her birthday cake, and Robbie ate some too.

For all of Henry's typical little boy antics, he is really a darling and loving child.  I asked him one morning if he wanted to make up a gym class.  "No, I want to stay here close to you."  I said, "You are a funny little guy."  He told me, "You are a sweet, precious, little mama."  He just walked into the room where I'm writing this in my big fleece robe, bed head, and glasses and said, "You are soooo pretty."  I suppose love is blind.  On Valentine's Day I said to Vivian, "I love being your mommy."  "I love being your baby," was her sweet reply.

I hear my sweet husband upstairs, back from his run, and his plan is to make sweet potato latkes and try to pass them off as "pancakes" this morning.  The time he made sweet potato pancakes with almond butter and coconut milk, Olivia entered the kitchen and asked if he was putting squash in our breakfast pancakes.  It was pretty funny.  The kids are trying to get used to our carb-free weekend breakfasts and dinners too.  Change is a process.

So Funny and Not So Funny at All

Olivia received Taylor Swift's new cd, Red, for Christmas.  We're getting to know the songs, and Evelyn misunderstood some lyrics.  22 is about friends going out dancing.  "I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22..."  Evelyn said she thought the words went, "I'm feeling sweaty too," from all the dancing they were doing.  This is our little joke when we sing the song in the van, and the kids get the giggles.

On another note that is less than humorous, I was sorting laundry in the hall this morning when I heard inside the little ones' closed bedroom, "I have to pee."  I then heard Henry encourage, "Do it, Viv.  Do it!"  When I opened the door Vivian was naked in her crib with her legs apart.  She was squatting and pee was splashing all over her sheet.  I was not a calm, cool, understanding, Mother Mary version of myself.  I flipped.  Once I got that mess under control...laundry started, child bathed, calm discussion completed, I found a turned over sippy cup of milk in Robbie's leather chair.  This makes the second milk stain caused by young Vivian, and I am not so happy about it.

When I sat down to blog this, I saw a friend had emailed a request that I send her the words to a prayer she heard me say before Christmas.  I think God knew I needed to spend a few moments with those beautiful words.