Apple, cranberry, or orange?

Sydney has this thing she does when she's in a "mood"--she argues just for the sake of arguing. Just to keep the "angry" going a little longer. Just to screw up her brow and doubt that anyone around her really knows what they're talking about. Just to be...three. It's kinda her version of most 3-year olds' WHY? game. Instead of answering every why question with another why--she answers every argument with another argument. Fun game.

So that you'll know what started this, you should know that Sydney FINALLY went cold turkey with the pacifiers on Christmas Eve. We did the whole, "Santa is gonna take these to little children who need them" routine and whathaveyou. (Like ANY kid would've taken those nasty things...the 3 remaining pacifiers were about 2 years old, and had just about that much gunk and crap in them...eww eww eww. )

You're basically up to speed. Here's the conversation on the way home from Target today.
(and when reading Syd's voice, make it really whiny & angry-like. Not yelling--more like growling...you won't even be CLOSE, but try.)

Syd: Mommy, I want my paci! I need to have my paci.

Mommy: Sydney, when we get home, I'll snuggle you up on the couch with your blanket & you can close your eyes for a minute.

Syd: When I open my eyes will my paci be back?

Mommy: (stifling a smile) No, Syd. The pacies are gone. Maybe you should learn to suck your thumb? You have TWO, ya know.

Syd: I can't suck my thumbs.....THEY HAVE GERRRRRRRRRMS. I'll DIIIIEEEEE.

Mommy: (working harder at the not laughing) Seriously, honey? Where did you hear that?

Syd: I didn't HEAR it. I LEARNED it! (getting really mad, now)

Mommy: Syd--seriously...you wash your hands plenty. So--sorry--where did you learn about germs?

Syd: At school...Ms. Greenwood taught me. Ya know, I don't even like school.

(she loooooves school...remember...arguing just to argue)

Mommy: I'm sorry to hear that, because you're going back on Wednesday.

(****long pause while she works up her next argument****)

Syd: Mommy, do we have Hannukah?

Mommy: (hardly able to contain my interest to see where this is going) Nope--we have Christmas.

Syd: Why don't we have Hannukah?

Mommy: Well, ummm...because we're not Jewish?

Syd: We're not what?

Mommy: We're not Jewish people.

Syd: WE ARE TOOOOOOO JUICE PEOPLE!
I LOVE JUICE!
I LOVE APPLE JUICE
AND CRANBERRY JUICE
AND ORANGE JUICE!!!!!!!
DON'T SAY WE'RE NOT JUICE PEOPLE!!!!

And then I laughed so hard that Sydney forgot to be mad, and laughed right along with me. And these are the moments in time you just don't ever want to forget.

Snow day!

Just a day before the kids are let out to spend ELEVEN consecutive vacation days home with me...they've called a snow day. I don't get what's up with these wuss bus drivers...c'mon...it's not the frontier, for Pete's sake.

So our office here at home is now the site of a large "secret club" fort. Because nothing says "I love my Mom" more than emptying the entire linen closet into a mess for her to clean up.

Awesome.

Let it snow...

We're in the throes of the first of TWO Nor'easter snowstorms this weekend. We've gotten 8 inches in about 5 1/2 hours so far, and it's still snowing. UGH. Eric's out of town tonight, I hate to shovel, the plow guy hasn't called back, our snowblower thing-a-majig is broken--and the only one who knows how to fix it? Yeah--out of town, remember? So--I'm in a mostly FOUL mood, and was lamenting all of the above both under my breath and aloud in the living room with the kids before bed. They were standing with their little noses to the window watching the snow fall, and I spewed out...darnit!!! I have to be out of here at 8:45 in the morning, and I don't know HOW I'm gonna get my car out of the garage and this totally stinks, and onandonandonandon. Until Colin says quietly, "Sydney--it's like God sprinkled our Christmas trees with powdered sugar". Then Sydney...having heard the words powdered sugar...yells, "LET'S HAVE FRENCH TOAST!!!". And then my heart was so full I felt as though it just might finally burst.

Merry Christmas--

The anal picker-upper

A little while ago, I sent the kids upstairs to clean Sydney's room. And by clean, I mean PLOW THROUGH and find some sort of order before even being ABLE to start to clean. Dear Sydney decided at some point today to take out every last piece of clothing, sock, underwear, hair barrette, and EVERYTHING from all 1-2-3-4-5-6 yeah SIX of her drawers and spread it all over the room. Nice.

I just stuck my head around the corner to listen upstairs & see how it was going. Colin is not only giving her a minute-by-minute pep talk (Sydney, it's almost over! Mom's gonna be so proud! You can do it!), but he's also encouraging a level of detail in her efforts that I never would have anticipated or expected. See--I'm also hearing, "okay, long sleeves in this drawer; short sleeves here; put all underwear in a pile and we'll get to those in a minute; jeans here; long pants here; white socks and pick socks separate" and so forth. I also heard him tell her to line up her books on her bookshelf better.

Autism ROCKS. I'm just sayin'.

HA!

While this is an adorable little video clip, it also quite accurately portrays what it must look like when Pooch & I are sitting on the couch watching TV at night. All is peaceful, Mom chomping on snacks, when suddenly...BWAH!!! Pooch lets out a bark that swear-to-God takes a YEAR off my life! Enjoy!

Are they their parents, or what?

A classic exchange last night that was a spot-on portrayal of their parents' relationship:

Sydney: wearing a tutu, talking incessantly, thinking she's hysterical, singing silly songs & spinning around the room. She singsongs, "Colin, aren't I funny?".

Colin: where he once was laughing & playing along, he is now just staring at her. He deadpans, "Yeah, Sydney. You're like a big joke. Except that the joke isn't funny."

(Replace above names with Jen & Eric... and welcome to my life....)

Happy THANKSGIVING!

AARGGGGHHH!!!

And HERE are the pictures after I gritted my teeth and said, "listen, you people--you begged for costumes, and you will wear the costumes mommy bought you and daddy paid for, and you will be happy and this is fun don'tyouknow so you WILL have fun and blahblahblah" right until my head popped off and landed in one of their ghost buckets.

Happy Holler-Weenies!

So, there's what the kids WANTED to be for Halloween. Sydney announced about 1/2 hour before we left to trick or treat that actually, thankyouverymuch, she'd just like to forgo her original costume and be a "hula fairy". See above. COLIN announced that he'd also like to go as something else--himself. Once again--see above. He looked at me and said, "I don't even LIKE candy, geez!". Ummmm...alrighty then.

Tastes like chicken

Sydney: "Mommy, kiss me."

Me: **kiss**

Sydney: "Smell my breath."

Me: "ummm...okay...sniiiif."

Sydney: "Kiss me again."

Me: "Really? Okay-- **kiss**."

Sydney: "Kiss me one more time."

Me: "Okay, Syd--this is it. **kiss**"

Sydney: "HA! I just let Pooch lick inside my mouth!"

Ewwwww....

Ooh Ooh Ooh...just one more!

Okay...looks like that last link thing worked. So--just one more for tonight. Check out http://facesinplaces.blogspot.com/ How very very very cool is this??? PROMISE you won't be able to stop seeing faces everywhere you look! (thanks, dooce!)

HA!

So, I'm gonna try something here. I find so many things just hilarious each day, and I'd love to be smart enough to figure out how to link them here on our little blog--so that ya'll can laugh. I just might be opening myself up to some serious ridicule here, though...as I can pretty much GUARANTEE that many of you aren't going to find even HALF of the things that I find funny to be all that particularly so. (Read that sentence again--it'll make sense. ) So, for what it's worth--here's the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewbaldwin/472963329/in/photostream/ You're gonna be so bummed if it doesn't work, huh? And you're probably sitting there thinking, "what if it DOES work, but I don't get it or think it's funny?" or "what if I'm getting linked to something other than what she meant to link me to?". No worries...here's a hint--Colin's turtle's name is Franklin.

God bless!

One out of two ain't bad...

I'm putting the kids to bed tonight, and it's Colin's turn. We have a good snuggle, pray, kiss, and I lean in for my final words. "Colin, I love you very much". "Mommy?" "Yes, baby?" "I love Daddy better". Ummm...do I laugh or cry? Colin sees my shocked expression, and before I can answer says, "Don't be sad--Sydney still likes you better". Before I can even laugh, it gets better. He pats my leg and smiles & winks. SMILES AND WINKS. Like this is gonna soften the blow?! He may LOVE Daddy more, but he's ME all the way.

Miss me?

Yup...been almost a year. Honestly, I just forgot about this blog thing--and every time I remembered, it just seemed like so much WORK. Finding time to pick. my. nose. in a day is a big thing, and as you know, my nose is always with me. The computer? Not so much...so thus the time problem, see?

All is well. So well. I will make a point of trying to hit this blog with some stories & pictures at least monthly this year. There really just is so much to share, and this is such a great way to do it. Stay tuned for more in September. For now...here's Pooch. He joined our family last December. He's a jack-a-bee. Part Jack Russell, part Beagle, part jackass. He's naughty, loud, and we're pretty sure his parents are related--if you know what I'm sayin'. Look for many more Pooch stories in the future.