So much going on...

I've had so many stories going on in my head that I wanted to post about.  I create the perfect little story in my head...and wash another dish.  Reality.

For starters, my neighbor is currently lugging sleds and the snowblower out of the garage.  It must now be spring.  Perhaps I should do the same.  Except I don't have a snowblower.  Nor do I want one.  At least not right now.  Perhaps I'll change my mind in 10 more years.

But anyway.

We saw The Lorax today.  I have to say for a kid's movie I really liked it.  Sometimes these kids movies can be a little questionable.  The Lorax though.  Really, where can you go wrong?  Great message, fun soundtrack.  I found myself wanting my kids to just "get it."  You know, the message of conserve, be nice to the environment, think twice about what you spend your money on etc. I'm not sure they walked away with that but little by little perhaps it'll sink in.

This daylight savings thing has got me all messed up.  The hours seem to fly by and when it's "mealtime" I"m not really feeling it.  Hoping that irons itself out in another week.

For the last few weeks my kids have been in maddening stages.  Or phases.  Or something.  But it's been madness around here.  And I'm not sure how to get around it.  Or maybe I don't.  But getting through it is sigh....difficult.

And then they say things like this...

"Mom, when it's my golden birthday you can come over to my house and spend the night and we can have dinner and then watch a movie with popcorn!"

My response?  "Yay! I would love that"

It was a moment in which I found myself wanting to laugh and cry at the same time.  Because although I'm flattered that their 6 and 8 yr. old little selves want to hang out with me when they are 25 and 26 (golden b-days) I'm pretty sure that will not be the reality.

We discovered a new form of entertainment.  Matthew has been interested in the paper for a few years now.  Always the comics.  Everyday and weekends both.  But just recently he discovered the little puzzles.  Ours has what's called a word jumble, a crossword, and a sudoku.  I always laughed at the people who did those.  Although I didn't know any personally.  And then Matthew became interested in them.  And asked me to help him.

He and I have always played games well together.  We're game people.  And we like to win.  A sad but true fact; Jim and I don't play Monopoly together because we can't agree on the rules and it gets too competitive.  Probably because of me though.  He's pretty gracious when it comes to games.  I can be a little intense.  He usually beats me at games and I really hate to lose.

So much so that I had to do my newspaper jumble on my own piece of paper because I was unscrambling the words before my 8yr. old had a chance and thus spoiling his opportunity at winning himself.  Oops.  So now I can copy down the little puzzle in my own little space and still have the satisfaction of solving the daily puzzle.

Ella Jane is a little whiz at the crossword.  Seriously, who knew this about her?  Crosswords trip me up.  Last week, one of the clues was 'journalist'.  You know what she came up with?  'writer'. And she was right!  She's got an amazing talent for writing and creates beautiful stories.  Now she's using her word knowledge in the crosswords.  And so our little family can sometimes be found all grabbing for the same section in the mornings.  It cracks me up.

Well, I suppose I must get back to tearing off wallpaper.  Our laundry/mudroom is getting a little facelift!

We welcome spring...

Well, here we are into March.  I think it's safe to say that winter is on its way out.  We didn't get one chance to ice skate.  We took a few day trips this winter and whenever we'd pass a frozen pond, I'd point it out to Matthew and he'd say (while pressing his face to the window) "oh ice, I want to skate on you!!"  We were both really bummed that we missed that chance this year.  Perhaps winter will be kinder to us next year and give us lots snow and ice!

In the meantime we have been indulging ourselves of a different activity of sorts.  Eating.Lots.Of.Cookies.

They only come once a year and it's the only time HFCS passes the threshold of this house.  Can you see my top shelf?  The kids love them and so do I.  Perhaps a little too much.  I was a bit of a crazy lady for two weeks while I ate and ate and ate these cookies!

Because really.  Who can only have one or two girl scout cookies?

At least the girls made me shoe soup one day.  Perhaps that was a bit healthier?

Does this not crack you up?  Besides the obvious it's funny to me because these are her favorite pair of tights.  She wears them day and night, they are very ragedy and even a bit on the small side.  She wanted the feet cut off so that she could wear them as socks and then the others as leggings.  If you were to come over to our house you'd probably find her wearing one of three things here.  The tutu, the leggings/tights, or the pink ballet slippers.  All favorites.

And what about this magifier huh?  It's from Target a few years back and we are still having the best time with it.  We still laugh so hard and make goofy faces in it.

I thought it was finally time to grab a picture of it.