zombie ducks

Tonight Phebe and I painted with water colors. I painted paper. She painted her paper, and her belly, and her eye sockets. She started off reminding me of a Toddlers and Tiaras character and ended looking like a zombie.

Later she looked up at me with her great big, sincere zombie eyes and said "Mom, when will you be a duck?"

I am not sure exactly what happened.

I'm sleeping

Caleb (4 yro) is a firm believer in tackling and wrestling, at all times.

Last night when putting the kids to bed we had the following conversation.

Hearing rustling and thumping sounds in the boys room-

Ethan :Go to sleep boys.

Phebe: I'm asleep!

Naomi :No you're not!

Phebe: Yes I am, I'm asleep!

And then they went back and forth a few times because Naomi can't let a fight go no matter how right she is or how futile the goal is. Phebe won't ever let go because... she's 3. 

On a side note Phebe was sent to get ready for church. So she slipped a dress over her jeans and t-shirt and put on a pair of snow boots. Since she was wearing a dress and I didn't have to fight her to get it on, I just let it go. I figured the extra coverage was better anyway. One week she managed to get to church without me realizing she wasn't wearing any underwear, or tights. 

My cute pants

Phebe has suddenly become very aware of clothing. Thus she is incredibly opinionated about it. The other evening I found all three of her drawers dumped on the floor because she was looking for pants. She couldn't find any. I could see six pairs, problem was they weren't the RIGHT pants.She loves her skirts though. We had the following conversation this morning.

Me: You can't go outside until you put pants on. (She was wearing a skirt that left her lower leg uncovered and it was cold.)
Phebe: NO! I am not putting on pants!
Me: Fine, stay in the house. Your legs will be too cold in that skirt so unless you put pants on you are staying in here.
Phebe eventually turns to do something else. A few minutes later she is coming down the stairs.
Phebe :Mom! I can't find any cute pants.
Me: Than wear ugly ones.
Phebe: I can't. I don't know how.
Me: It is the same way you wear cute pants Phebe.


She just walked away disgusted and eventually put on a pair of capris.

To tide you over

At some point I will sit down and write a real post about something relevant or possibly just about my children. Until then here is another thing that made me smirk.

Sometimes I feel this way about technology. Yup, I have an Ipad with wonderful apps on it. Do I sit down and use them though....? Um... Not usually.

Argh....

Sorry if you don't like the kid snippets videos. As I said before, I enjoy them. After having watched this video yesterday I keep cracking up because Phebe keeps making the exact same exasperated sound. If you haven't met or seen Phebe recently, let me give you a sample of what it is to be with her some days.

So when she was sent upstairs to get a new pair of pants because she had peed in the pair she was wearing but came back with a garbage bag full of clothes that are too big for Naomi and I sent her back for a new pair AGAIN, that is the sound she makes.

My agenda - their agenda

Today is a fantastic day!

It snowed a lot last night and there is a beautiful, thick, wet blanket of great snowman building snow out there.  School was canceled. So after a fabulous breakfast of bacon cooked by Naomi and a quick " cleaning" of bedrooms it was time to wrestle on snow clothing.

In addition to great snow, the temperature is " warm", relatively speaking...

So we tromped and built and I learned something. As a adult I tend to focus on the end product. " Let's build...!" So we would. We built three snowmen and a giant snow chair. Kids however are more about the process. After these things are built the only thing left to do is destroy them.  We did have three snowmen. Then Caleb ran and tackled his at full speed. Later I looked at snowman number to to find that someone must have kicked his second tier right off.  The largest of the the Naomi and I had worked on. After dragging Phebe around on a sled I realized that Naomi had stabbed a broom handle through the center and was seeing how big she could make the hole. 

My silly adult brain wanted to proudly present these creations to the neighbor and Ethan when he came home. The kids didn't care about anyone seeing their handiwork. It really is all about the process not the product. I have seen this with paint or with clay. Who cares what you end up with?  The fun is in doing.

Kids...

I came across this video a while ago and was highly amused. But then kind of forgot about it. You know, there are just so many amusing things to waste time on the internet... The people that make these videos have kids sit around and talk about a certain topic and then they have adults lip sync it and act it out. I find them to be hillarious.

If you have ever been amused by talking to small children these videos will crack you up.

Here are a few of my favorites, I think I have only found 2 that I didn't think were all that funny.

Logic

We just had this conversation.

Caleb (sitting in the tub): Mom, can I have more hot water. It is cold.
Me: No, when you're ready get out.
C: No! I am staying in here forever!

Why would you stay somewhere you were complaining about?

Goat trouble

This video just cracks my children and me up.

Hope it made you smile.

Reality Check

I love this quote and wanted to share it with you. Gordon B Hinkley was the most recent prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints before our current one, Thomas S Monson.

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to just be people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey…delays…sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling burst of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

I think my favorite part is that children grow up to be people. That makes me smile and remember my kids are indeed just people.