Worms

On our walk home from school today, J ran ahead of us as he usually does.  E and I spotted a worm on the sidewalk, so we stopped to check it out, leaving J to stand alone in the rain at the corner about three-quarters of a block ahead of us.  It took E nearly five (wet) minutes to finally muster up the courage to hold it in her hand so she could proudly show her brother the slimy little creature.

And, just like that, we had an after school activity.  We spent over an hour out in the rain collecting worms.  In all, we found at least fifty worms and had so much fun doing it.  The kids were fascinated, and I took a trip down memory lane remembering all of the nights my brothers and I, armed with flashlights, went out to catch nightcrawlers.  Oh, sweet memories.

I wish I would have had a video camera with us to capture the moment, but I didn't.  I couldn't allow our experience go completely undocumented, however. When we returned home, I instructed the kids and their muddy, cute rain boots to stay outside while I grabbed the camera. 
J immediately responded in a respectful but assertive manner, "Mom, I know taking pictures is fun for you, but it's not fun for me, so I'm just going to go inside."

E wasn't quite ready to call an end to her wormy fun...

plus, she spilled the bucket.

The look she gave me after I called out her name eight times so I could get a picture of her face...see what I mean about the perfected screw-you expression?

There was a little sadness, but thankfully no one cried over spilled worms.

Now the sun needs to come out so we can go fishing.

What's Precious About That?

Nothing, absolutely nothing, could be wrong with something as precious as this sleeping beauty on a Sunday afternoon...

or so I thought until...

it was 11:00 pm later that night and the girl, having come up with at least a million and one reasons to come out of her room, still hadn't fallen asleep for the night...

and she woke up crabby, crabby, crabby the next day...

and she whined all the way to daycare...

and threw some major (MAJOR...like whipping her back pack on the ground, stomping, and then refusing to move) three-year-old princess attitude in the driveway when we arrived there...

and she, replacing the word "please" with a perfected screw-you expression, had a string of disobedience later that evening...

and she woke up whining AGAIN this morning.

Two whole days later and we're all still paying for that nap...

hardly anything precious about that.

Sigh.



No Junk Food Challenge

Q:  What happens to a Lenten "No Junk Food Challenge" when you have to prepare for a birthday party by making cakes, frosting, cookies, and candy?

A:  It goes right down the crapper.  In fact, two weeks later we still aren't back on track.  With a birthday party, five high school state basketball games (darn you, concession stand!), and a bout of strep throat for two members of our family (darn you, Sonic shakes!), staying with this challenge would have been nearly impossible.  Well, we are going to get back on track someday...just not today.

Date Night

A few weeks ago, we had a date night. 
J & I enjoyed ourselves while playing arcade games, dining out, and checking out the toy store.
At one point he said, "Mom, you are really beautiful.  That's what you say when you're on a date with a girl, right?"  Seriously, where does he get this stuff from?

E wanted to stay home and watch movies with her daddy.  Steve gladly obliged and picked up some of E's favorite foods for their night in.  Upon seeing her supper, E said, "This must be a special night because we have Cheetos."

Again, I love how the simple things make the world go 'round.

A Ninjago Birthday Party

Our sweet J turned six a couple of weeks ago.  Wow, six!!  He swayed back and forth between a Ninjago/ninja theme and a basketball theme.  He finally decided on the ninja route, so away we went planning but not really doing until the day before.  Unfortunately, several ideas were chopped due to time constraints, but the party still ended up as a smashing kicking success.

Here's a crash course for everyone who doesn't have Legos taking over their home. Ninjago is a Lego series featuring classic minifigures in ninja roles.  One of our friends put it quite well when he said, "Think Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but as Legos."

Photo credit
Every fighting character has a spinner that it stands on and spins while fighting the enemy. 

Photo credit

That's all you need to know about that (plus I really don't know much more about it...ask J if you need more details).

So, back to the party...

The invitations...

 (sent via email to most guests in an effort to save a tree...and I'm disorganized and lazy.)

 Name tags...

Location:  Local karate school to learn some ninja moves

The cake...

and candy...

The birthday boy was able to cut his cake with an authentic cobra sword.  He had to avoid cutting the ninja though because we feared that a wooden skewer would get lodged in a child's throat and ruin the party.  Such a fun-hater, I know.  My cousin asked if it was made of cake.  My texted response..."it's cake, a lot of wooden sticks, and a lot of f-bombs."  That is a completely honest and real description of that green ninja.

Snack time...

Party favors...

 (I have an immense appreciation for my husband's creative assistance with these.)

with this label...



Highlight of the party for J...

Our handsome and impressively strong six-year-old boy...

Awesome kid, awesome fun!

Valentine's Day

I'm sure everyone has lost sleep wondering if I was burned by my last-minute antics, but I need to back up a bit first.

Highlights of 2012 Valentine's Day...

1)  During our morning drive, E and I were talking about love and Valentine's Day. 

     E:  Mom, how much do you love me?

     Me:  E, I love you to the moon and back and as far as the ocean goes and then some. 

     E:  Mom, I love you to the moon and back and then all the way to Omaha.

2)  J and E had so much fun opening all of the school cards.  His favorite was from his classmate, Helen.  He has such a soft heart for her.





3)  I organized J's classroom Valentine's Day party.  At the beginning of the school year, I unknowingly signed up "to help with holiday parties."  I assumed that I would get a call from some super mom out there asking me to bring some napkins and show up to help some kindergartners with a gluing project or something.  Well, we all know what happens when we assume.  Turns out that no one else signed up.  I'm not exactly wired for organizing activities for large groups of children (and my name is not Missy), so praise the Lord for the good old Internet.  Thankfully, I was able to recruit another mom for help with the craft project.  Unfortunately, I'm not really wired for great time management either, so we did run a bit short on time.  Nonetheless, the class, an easily impressed and very forgiving group, seemed to enjoy themselves playing the love bug dice game (http://preschoolprintables.info/1725/valentines-day-roll-a-love-bug-game/) and being cupid (throwing Q-tip arrows and heart shaped bowls).  I was relieved to discover that there are only two holiday parties a year.   Lessons learned:  don't sign up for anything without knowing what you are getting yourself into AND teachers truly are special, special people.  Seriously, how do they do it all day, every day? 

4)  When I set our supper on the table that evening, J exclaimed, "This is awesome!  Can this be our Valentine's Day tradition every year?"  I love that simple things can make the world go 'round.

All in all, it was a day filled with fun and love.  Too bad my one true love spent the week working in Iowa and didn't get to enjoy the day with us.  However, it doesn't take a holiday for me to let him know that I love him to the moon and back and then all the way to Iowa. 

Last Minute...Again

I think I may have publically admitted this before.

I am a procrastinator. 

Always have beeen, likely always will be.  Undoubtedly, I would sleep more and yell less (and maybe desire less alcohol, too) if I started putting my thoughts into action well before a deadline.

Well, I did it again, so today could be a long, long day.

My old friend, Blood Mary, just might be making an appearance later today.  Honestly, I'd love to  whisper a gentle "good morning" to her, but I've got to start this creative process (or something like that) stat.  Time's a ticking!