True beauty

Nadia's favorite movie is Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  She also thinks she has the cutest booty in the world.  She often sticks her butt out and looks over her shoulder at it to admire how cute it is.  The other day she combined the two and sang "tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, Booty and the crack!"
She has also become quite smart in her old age.  The other day we had to pick up treats for her birthday party at school and although I didn't think she'd know the answer, I asked her if she knew how many kids were in her class.  She casually answered, "yes, all of them.".  Later the same day we were talking about death because I used the term 'over my dead body' then looked at their innocent little faces and said, "you guys are never going to die are you?  You're just too cute!"  To which Nadia replied, "Mommy, I will die after I've had all my birthdays."

Truly Human

Yesterday at church I gave Luka and Nadia each a $1 bill for offering.  Luka doesn't like paper money and refused to take his dollar so I gave Nadia both the dollars and gave Luka two quarters.  When it came time to give Nadia proudly put in her money, passed the plate to me where I placed my money and then held out the plate for Luka.  He looked at the plate blankly so I told him to put in his coins.  He held them to his chest.  I told him again and explained that the coins were for offering and didn't he see how Nadia and I gave our money?  He looked at me, looked at the coins and then quickly reached out, grabbed the box of crayons that was sitting on the pew and placed them in the offering plate!

Broken or just bruised?

Ever since daylight savings time ended I feel like I've been put in a cage called night.  I get only a few hours a day in the "yard" and I'm tricked in to thinking it's 9 o'clock when really it's only 6.  This last week was particularly difficult because all four of us caught some sort of flu.  When we weren't trapped in "night" we were trapped at home, inside, all day, in our tiny home that was filled with the smell of puke and/or poop continually.  Ugh.  After all this I'm feeling tired and a little depressed; looking forward to the holiday weekend and knowing it's going to be too short.
To help cheer me up and have some kid free time Brad rented the claymation Rudolph and Santa Comes to Town movies.We put it on in our room for the kids while we watched football.
After the movies were over I was putting the kids to bed and I told them I wasn't in the mood to mess around and they needed to get into their pj's and get into bed.  Nadia looked at me very seriously and asked if she could feel my funny bone.  I gave her my elbow and she felt around on it and asked to see my other arm.  I let her feel my other elbow and after a short examination she said, "I don't think you broke your funny bone.  Maybe it's just bruised."
Turns out the fastest cure for a bruised funny bone is a funny bone exam by an adorable 3 year old.

If you don't stop crying...

They say the key to good parenting is follow-through.  I've read many times that you should never give a child an empty threat.  Sometimes I wonder about old sayings and how literally we should take them, do expressions count as empty threats?  For example, we've all heard the "if you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about!"expression. I personally always assumed that what was to follow was a major spanking.  After some thought, I decided; why a spanking?  There are many other ways to make a child cry, and besides, why do we need to express our anger and annoyance to our children physically?  Here are some spitball ideas I've come up with.
Situation: A child wakes up in the middle of the night from a bad dream.  Parent comforts child for a considerable amount of time but child won't quit crying.  Parent suspects child is just playing around now. Parent is really tired and has a long day so parent threatens, "if you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about.".  Child doesn't quit crying.  Parent may take child's favorite doll and break off one leg. This may be repeated with as many limbs and/or dolls as needed. (if you have a boy, tearing wheels off trucks or cars might work too.)
Situation: while at a park child starts to scream and cry when it's time to go.  Parent explains that they cannot stay at the park all day and that they need to leave now.  Child throws herself on the ground and begins a tantrum.  Parent leans over and quietly says, "if you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about.". Child does not quit crying and in fact begins crying louder.  Parent may then carry the child to the top of the highest slide and dangle the child upside down over the railing until the child is terrified.
Situation:  while shopping for groceries child decides she cannot live without the pack of colorful bic lighters at the checkout stand. Parent explains that lighters are not for children and besides, we don't always get a prize when we leave the store.  Child begins throwing a temper tantrum in the checkout line. Parent warns, "if you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about.".  Child does not quit crying and begins throwing any item she can reach at the parent.  Parent may then grab the child's favorite candy, open it, and eat it slowly right in front of the child making sure to impress upon the child how wonderful the candy tastes.
Like I said, these are just suggestions and are not the only way to give a child something to cry about.  Play around with it and be creative! I've never tried any of these methods on my (or any other) children so if you decide to give it a try let me know how it works.

Columbus Day?

Should we call this day Columbus Day? Should it be Viking Day?  Should we even celebrate a day that represents an event that began the slaughter of many Native American people?  I don't know.
If you follow my genes, most of me didn't start off in this country, a tiny (teeny-tiny) part did.  I'm thankful for my life and I'm thankful for my life in America.  

Has it really been that long?

I was so much younger than my cousins that I don't have memories of us playing together as children.  They lived in Iowa so we only got to visit once a year; we didn't get to many graduations or weddings, I never got to go to the hospital after one of my cousins had a baby.  That lack of family connection has always been a loss for me, especially because I feel so close to my immediate family.That said, I am completely in love with my hometown.  I always have been, when we were kids and my parents would talk about moving I would cry and cry, I just KNEW I'd never be as happy in some other town.  My Grandma Lois often reminds me that instead of just moving closer to family, I told her I would move Wilson closer to our family.  She thought this was so cute but when I think of it, whole families are the reason I love Wilson so much.  Families in Wilson have been there forever.  Everyone is a cousin to someone and the parents of my friends had many of the same teachers we had.  They went to the same high school building and shared the same traditions in that very town.  I've wanted to be a real part of that history as long as I can remember.
When I was a senior in high school, that dream came true for me; thirteen years ago this weekend I was Wilson's 1997 Homecoming Queen.  I know people joke about the homecoming queen but to me it was so special.  The two girls who were nominated with me were Joni and Tara, two girls I had known since we moved to Wilson in 1986.  They were both pretty and kind girls who had lots of friends and came from families just as special as they were, both families always treated me as one of their own. 
It would have been no surprise if either of them had been chosen as queen that year, but I was, and I'm so proud and thankful of that!  It was a dream come true for me, not just because I love being the center of attention or because I had always wanted to be a princess, or because it made me feel pretty and popular but because from that moment on, I cemented a place in Wilson's history.  I don't have a common last name or a family tree in Wilson but I felt officially adopted that night.
I think that will forever by my favorite childhood memory in a sea of great childhood memories!

Finger lickin' good

I have introduced Nadia and Luka to cinnamon/sugar toast.  Actually, we put it on mini bagels and the kids love it.  After giving Nadia a cinnamon/sugar bagel for a snack the other day I was helping her put on her shoes and socks when I noticed she had cinnamon and sugar on her ankle.  Like any good mother, I licked my finger and rubbed the streak. For some reason it didn't brush right off like I thought it would and we were in a hurry to get out the door so I re-licked my finger and started rubbing a little harder.  Just as I was licking my finger for the third time Nadia asks, "Momma, are you cleaning the poop on my leg?"
With my finger stuck halfway down my tongue, I realized why this smudge was so difficult to remove.  With my tongue still sticking out, I immediately smelled her leg then started wiping my finger on anything in site.  My mind started racing with thoughts of pink-eye, intestinal worms and my dog, Sleeves, chowing down on poop when he was a puppy. Yes, my darling daughter had been trying to wipe her own butt and somehow managed to track poop from her bootie to her ankle. Granted, it was a light (very light) smear, but the fact that she knew what it was and didn't ask for help to clean it is beyond me.  Also why she waited until I had already licked my finger before bringing it to my attention leaves me to believe she secretly hates me.
Finally, after what seemed like years of scrambling, I got to the sink and washed my hands, scrubbed my tongue, brushed my teeth and rinsed with mouthwash.  After I was able to put my tongue back in my mouth, the smell of her leg wouldn't leave my nose.  Even now as I write this I am afraid to breath through my nose for fear of smelling that terrible smell!