Hamsters, tomboys, & superheroes, oh my!

Don't you hate it when you go to save your post and it erases? So happy that happened.

So, starting over--my favorite quotes from this week?

CBC: "I'm half-boy and half-girl. That means I'm a tomboy and I can do whatever I want."

Buddy: Playing with his Superman and Batman toys: "You killed my father!" and "Wanna piece of me?!"

This has been a busy month, as usual. I went on a 3-day weekend trip to Oregon with my sister-in-law--we shopped and went sight-seeing and had an overall great time! (Enjoy the picture of me practically blowing off the coast.) The kids missed me a lot, though, so I tried to make up for it by taking two days off this week to spend with them while Clark was at a work conference. Right before we left, we found out Buddy had the flu and pneumonia, so that was a definite drag for him (poor guy!), but I think Toys R Us, Target, and Chuck E. Cheese made up for it :) Buddy seriously thought Toys R Us was the greatest store ever, and feeding the tickets into the ticket machine at Chuck E. Cheese was a definite highlight. And CBC loved playing the big sister and showing little brother how everything worked.

This month we also were happy to see friends from college--we used to live by them in Arizona and haven't seen them in a few years, so it was really enjoyable to show them our fair city (Seattle, not Maple Valley :) ). It's so crazy to see friends' kids growing up when you remember them as babies.

Now that school is back in, we've started swimming lessons again. CBC loves jumping off the diving board, and just overall being in the water. Buddy walked the plank but couldn't actually bring himself to jump off. I presume he was imaging himself as Spider-man at the time. Or Superman. Or Batman. Or Lightning McQueen. Or Buzz Lightyear. I think I've overdone it with heroic toys :)

And to top it off, CBC decided she wanted a hamster instead of a dog. Of course, this lasted all of a week before she admitted she just wanted the hamster as a warm-up. Good thing Superman held me off from buying one! Now her plan is to learn how to take care of dogs by walking neighbor dogs. Her flier is very impressive.

And the violin came home this week! You should hear my girl play! I'll post a video as soon as I think the general audience can stand it :)

Rat Part Deux

Superman and the kids climbed into the crawl space in search of the rat (or rat family, knowing my luck). The kids loved it and enjoyed seeing all the rat poop and footprints. Superman laid sticky traps (the idea is that the rat will be lured by the food onto the sticky trap, which will be so sticky they then can't escape--supposedly humane, but then the box says to throw the rat and trap away, wrapped in a plastic bag. Hello, rat still alive!!!) and poison. Well, when the sticky traps were checked a day later, all the food was gone and nobody was stuck on any traps. The next day the poison was obviously taking effect because Superman emailed me at work to tell me he found a rat clinging to life. He quickly dispatched it to a better world, and then left it out front for the neighborhood cats to eat. Like that would be a tasty meal. Anyway, when the kids got home, they wanted to see our "catch," which CBC then described as "heartbreaking." I swear, she is such a tender-hearted person. Anyway, she told me she said a little prayer and then told herself the rat was "in a happier place, where he can run and be free." The bad news is that this was much smaller than the rat I saw outside, so there are (were?) at least two rodent inhabitants.

Do you honestly want my $0.25?

Wow, a little extra excitement at our house--CBC swallowed a quarter. Yep, she swallowed an entire quarter. With absolutely no problem. She found one in her backpack, put it in her mouth, and before she knew it--gone! She related the story of telling her teacher thus: "So I went up to Ms. Kitz and I told her I found a quarter and put it in my mouth. She said, 'Go on.' Then I told her I swallowed it and she said, 'We better call the nurse.'" I laughed so hard at both of their nonchalant reactions--teachers must seriously hear everything! Anyway, the nurse called Superman; he called me; I called the doctor's office; and Superman took her to get an x-ray. Shiny quarter, settled right in her stomach. So for the last week, we've been examining her "piles" (ahem!), with no one being the richer. We never found the quarter, so Superman took her back for another x-ray today, and all is well. It "passed" without excitement, and now I can throw that "special" fork away. My co-workers will no longer call her my little piggy bank :) Amazing that OCD girl could put money into her mouth--think of the germs.

SO GROSS!! And yet fascinating. . .

Buddy Boy and the Green Shirt

So, you know how two-year-olds are famous for their stubbornness? As you already know, we experience this daily, but yesterday was a new low (or a high, depending on who you are in the story). Buddy is obsessed with wearing green. He only has three green shirts and he wants to keep one of them on at all times. Well, yesterday, they weren't so easy to find (blame the laundry!) so Superman had to force him, amidst much screaming and carrying on, to wear a different shirt. Well, Superman reported that he cried and screamed so much in the car on the way to day care that Superman eventually pulled over, stripped the kid clean of his shirt, and took him to day care shirt-less. That is how strong-willed my cute little boy is. Can anyone say "trouble ahead?" :)

Planner Extraordinaire

Superman has officially been recognized for all his hard work in Enumclaw with a title change--he is now the Planner (versus one of two Assistant Planners) for the city! We are so proud of him--he has sacrificed a lot of family time for work in the last 6 months and he definitely deserved this. Super job, Superman!! :)

Where does the time go?

How did May sneak up on me? I am somehow surprised by May's arrival, without all the nice sunny weather I am wishing for. I've been trying to eat healthier than normal (which for me would mean eating a vegetable a month or cutting down to 4 Dr. Pepper's a day--okay, slight exaggeration but you get the point). Anyway, I've joined a gym that I visit occasionally (and if any of you have suggestions on how to get by on less than 5 hours of sleep a night successfully, I would love to hear them!) and I go jogging with a good friend at least twice a week during my lunch break, but I am seeing no results at all. Makes me super frustrated, and then apathetic, followed by wanting to go back to my old habits. Ah, whatever.

This post is probably going to be a long one 'cause we've been SUPER busy at our house. Two weeks ago Superman got sort-of fancy tickets to the Mariners, so we enjoyed them (see pics). Kids were pretty great most of the time and it was fun to see them get so excited. Food was good, too :)

Then we decided to dig into another painting project, so we painted our great room (kitchen and living room combo). Coincidentally, the color we agreed upon was "Twilight"--I personally find that pretty darn hilarious. Once we put it on a wall, we realized that was a crazy color for so much space, so we went back and had them darken it. You can check the contrast out between our original wall color and the new one in these pictures. Let me know what you think! All I know is my husband is the bomb and is seriously able to do pretty much anything--I can honestly say I am amazed at his skills and talents. I am also jealous, but being the lackey comes with perks--I'm in charge of Buddy, so I get to take 3 hour naps with him to keep him out of Superman's hair :) I LOVE our new color; hope you do, too! And I hope you enjoy the funny pics of the kids painting. Buddy was killing me in his tidey-whiteys today after church :)

In other news, CBC was picked to be included in a music program within our school district, so she'll actually be attending a new elementary school next year where they will teach her to play the violin. We are so excited!! She and I checked the classroom out this week and enjoyed having some extra Mom/Daughter time. Her OCD has been affecting her again, and manifesting in different frustrating ways. Makes me feel bad for her, and I really need to remember to be way more patient. This new school is a definite blessing because she's been having boy/girl issues with her best friend that have been painful. Those of us who are tomboys can relate to how painful that is--it's not our fault when we can do things better than the boys! She's started reading a Choose Your Own Adventure Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew from my collection, and is really enjoying it. She also jumped off the diving board again in swimming lessons. Fun!

Buddy's vocabulary is increasing daily. This week, he came in from the ride home from school and said "I missed you!" to me before I had said anything else. Absolutely made my day. So cute!! I'm not so great with the video in this blog, but I'll try to put one in that shows him talking. Funny!!! He is responding to something CBC said about him not being stupid. He's doing well potty-training and has found a new love--Trix cereal. This morning, he ate three bowls, which is really a lot for Buddy, who can get by on one gogurt a day.

Last thing--next week is the Mother's Day program in church, and I will be playing the piano for the kids in sacrament. I have a feeling it will be entertaining for all :)

Okay, a couple more funnies

This weekend we had a lot of fun together as a family and a few funny stories came out of it.

First of all, I have to admit that sometimes I forget how enjoyable it is to watch kids learn new things. Buddy has picked up on size differences, and is really doing his best to make sure we don't treat him like a baby. We had pizza yesterday for dinner, and Superman fixed Buddy's plate with a half-size piece. Upon seeing the pizza, Buddy got kind of agitated, wouldn't take it, and kept saying, "NO! BIG one." So Superman gave him a large piece, which satisfied him.

Then this morning, CBC called me from the car and asked me why I picked a job that makes me leave so early in the morning. Kind of threw me for a minute. Then she asked if she could take her Book of Mormon to school to show her friends, which made me feel like a successful mother for about 3 minutes. Then I began to worry that somehow I'd get a call from the principal regarding religious materials at school. Guess we'll see how it goes :)

But most importantly, CBC had "the talk" with Superman about what she needs to do so that she can get a dog. She gave him until Friday to decide, but then asked if she could have his decision right then :) We had to remind her that he had the whole week to think about it. She is so excited about being reponsible enough to have her own dog again! When asked why she needs a dog, she said she wants a friend that is always there for her, that she would like a toy that she can always play with (!), and that everyone else has one. We nixed the last one for a reason, so she then came up with that she would teach Buddy not to be afraid of dogs.

Crazy blogging

Should I explain the nicknames I gave us? A friend of mine said that you should use psuedonyms to protect your kids' identities online. So I spent all of 2 seconds to think of ours, but they make me laugh every time I type them. The kids' nicknames--CBC and Buddy--are real, but no one really calls me Lois, nor the spouse Superman (although it is appropriate). In case you don't know, Morfar and Mormor are Norwegian for Grandfather and Grandmother, and so refer to my parents. Blogging is really pretty fun! (And, yes, I get carried away with the labels!)

Also, does anyone know--since I am a perfectionist, I go back and edit these posts repeatedly. I also add several posts at a time. If anyone is "following" this blog, will they get repeated emails from me saying I entered a new post? Sorry!

Puppy Dog Tails

Everyone who knows us knows this, but CBC wants a dog more than pretty much anything else. (She's been pushing for a little sister lately; when asked if she would rather have a little sister or a dog, she thought about three seconds and then picked the dog!) So when a puppy was brought to our house for an Easter visit, she was pretty much in heaven. And when Superman allowed the puppy to inhabit CBC's room during its visit, it just got that much better.

A little history here--we actually have a dog. But it lives at Mormor and Morfar's house. We bought Sprinklers (CBC picked the name) when we lived in Arizona--she's a toy poodle and maybe the dumbest dog I've ever met. Plus, she's afraid of almost everything. So combine an over-enthusiastic CBC and a fearful Sprinklers and you get a lot of shaking and hiding from the dog, and a lot of dragging and pulling from the kid. So when we moved to an apartment in Washington, we asked Morfar and Mormor to keep the dog for us "until we moved into a house." Well, the dog still lives with them and we live in our house. (They are VERY patient and loving grandparents.) CBC misses Sprinklers something fierce, while Superman and I definitely don't. But I do love dogs, so we're working on Superman to see if we can find a labradoodle or a goldenoodle (sp?) that doesn't upset his allergies but has enough energy to keep up with CBC and not drive me crazy. This will be the perfect dog :)

Okay, back to the story. So she loved this puppy that came to play, and came running over to me crying about how she really wants a dog, and gave me an ultimatum--"you can either buy me a dog tomorrow or on my next birthday!" I told her to go ask Superman and see what he says since he's the hold out, which she did. She came running back out to me, still crying, and repeated the ultimatum. I asked her what Superman said. She said, "I can't remember what he said, but it was 'something something no'!" Just about fell over laughing--I'm pretty sure if "no" was included, his intention was definitely no :)

To explain the title of the post--Superman told me later that I needed to wash her sheets because they smelled like puppy. I thought they smelled like little boy, which reminded me of the nursery rhyme about little boys being made of "frogs and snails and puppy dog tails." To add to the funny--Buddy is pretty afraid of dogs, ever since one jumped our fallen fence and came running over to him, and CBC deserted him while running as fast as she could from the attacking monster. But even HE loved that puppy :)

Easter

Well, we managed to miss both the community and church Easter egg hunts this year. The church one we missed because I got pulled over on the way and got a speeding ticket (nice one, Lois! My first in over 10 years) and the police officer took such a long time that we missed the egg hunt. Then the community one was at the same time as CBC's first swimming lesson in her new class, so we went to swimming instead of the egg hunt. SOOO . . . when one of Superman's sisters suggested we have Easter dinner at our house with the whole family, we agreed, and planned an Easter egg hunt with all the kids. This occasion was a great example to me on how different my kids are from each other--CBC raced right off to find eggs, and Buddy couldn't handle everyone getting eggs he could see, so he cried most of the hunt. Even when one of my nephews was helping him, he would stop crying, reach for an egg, see someone else pick up a nearby egg, and start crying again. Kind of funny, actually :) CBC is in the white coat with the pink pants and Buddy is in the white hoodie.