Casual Conversations

Claire: "I think we'll have to get a new car."

Tim: "Why's that, Claire?"

Claire: "Because this car's all dirty."

~~~

Kate: "Mom, I can't wait till we move."

Me: "Why? I like our house. Don't you like it?"

Kate: "Yeah. But I want a house with a fireplace."

~~~

Claire: "I'm playing with Tempie 'cause I love Tempie super super much."

~~~

Claire: [breakfast time, looking at me expectantly] "I wanna have chocolate cake."

~~~

On the subject of movie night...

Claire: "Kate, are you ever gonna like Chicken Run?"

Kate: "No. I don't like the mean lady who makes chicken pie."

Claire: "Tim, hear this! Chicken pie! Chicken pie! Chicken pie!"

Kate, somewhat hysterical: "No, Claire! Don't say that!"

Incidentally, they didn't watch Chicken Run for movie night.

The wiggles go to church

Here I sit at 8:45pm, with 6 seconds left on the clock in the Husky-Irish game, which, on my DVR, is tied 30-30. Funny, this is the same place I was at 4:30 this afternoon, except I was yelling at the TV and at the girls to get their socks on already, and muttering under my breath about the-things-we-do-for-our-children. I ended up turning the television off a few minutes into overtime, and rushing out the door to get to church. On the way there, I promised the girls we would go to Japanese food afterward.

A few times a year, the kids in pre-school sing at the Saturday evening service, and in an attempt to keep as busy as possible, I decided we would go. Also, it's so cute to see the children standing up front, trying to remember the words to their songs, and making muted arm motions.

Damn. Lost in overtime.

So we arrived with a few minutes to spare, and I wisely chose seats towards the back. At some point early on, I wondered about my sanity. I mean, who takes their three children, four years old and under, to Saturday evening church service, when none of the children are able to sit still for longer than 1.2 minutes, one of them is teething, and two of them find great humor in kicking the wooden pews to produce a fun hollow thud? Luckily, I was not the only one with unruly children, but even one of my friends mentioned later that she could hear us from her seat. Go on, ask me if I got anything out of the service.

Luke decided that tonight would be a good time to start practicing his banzai voice. Just imagine a lot of loud growling. I'm pretty certain we were turning heads, but I was too busy trying to entertain my bouncing boy to notice. After about 20 minutes of bellowing, song and prayer, the kids finally wandered up front to sing. The first thing Kate did when she got situated was to find me in the audience and wave with both hands above her head: "Hi, Mom!" They performed about 5 songs, and I was sad I didn't bring my camera. Claire was especially cute, singing with wide eyes and looking at all the kids next to her to see if she was doing it right.

After they had finished, we went back to our pew and I tried to calm the masses. The girls were pretty good, with only Claire tugging at me every few minutes, asking, "Are we going to Japanese now?" over and over again. It was Luke who ended up causing us to make an early break for it. He would not hold still, insisting on jumping on my bladder, and growling like a Tasmanian devil.

Sushi went surprisingly well. Claire even insisted on tasting my salmon and tuna nigiri, and both girls ate enough tempura to warrant a lollipop at the end. When I was getting the kids into the car, Kate was standing on the sidewalk, hands clasped, staring at the starry sky. I asked her what she was doing and she told me she was wishing on a star. She implored me and Claire to join her in singing the song one sings when making wishes. I asked her what she wished for and she smiled and said, "I wished that my Daddy would come home some day." Drama much? He'll be home in 2 weeks.

The great pants feud

Claire and I have been having a major disagreement lately: she vehemently declares her unwillingness to wear pants, and I disagree. Of course, I win, but it's a struggle every morning and every night (she is also opposed to pajama bottoms, as these could be construed as pantaloons). I remember when Kate was about this age and she became extremely, and possibly inappropriately, attached to her pajamas. This is somehow different, but has similar undercurrents. I just hope it's not some sort of obsessive-compulsive behavior showing itself in the toddler years.

I'm not sure if she realized I meant EVER when I told her no more pens after this incident.

On an entirely different subject, I have promised myself no Twilight series books today. I am getting NOTHING done. A glimpse into how serious my addiction is: I read New Moon in two days. It is 563 pages. I know. I have a serious problem. In my defense, I had already read the first chapter, which must have been at least 85 65 55? okay, maybe 30 pages, the night before, since it was printed at the end of the first book. After staying up until midnight the night before, I took the kids to the gym and read while I exercised on the elliptical machine for....a little while. Then I sat on one of the comfy chairs (after checking to see that the kids were happy playing in their pre-school room, of course!) for....a little while and read....a little more of my book. Hence the finishing in two days bit. I am hoping to make it until Monday before opening the precious third book. But I'm also trying to plan this whole thing out. I mean, I don't want to still be reading this series when Tim gets home, so really, I ought to be reading as much as possible over the next couple of weeks so I can finish before then, right?

Oh! And I have felt the baby move! Just sort of little stirrings, sort of like flutters, but it's very fun! I can't believe that when Tim returns, I will be almost halfway through the pregnancy.

Conflicting interests

What they want to do today.

What I want to do.

It's finally fall here. It's 42* outside, the air is crisp, and the sky is blue. I want to curl up on the sofa with my pumpkin spice coffee, finish reading Twilight (which has me SO addicted to it), then read some Christmas catalogs, and smell the sugar cookies baking in the oven.

The girls want to color everything with their new pens. And then wash themselves silly in the sink. I hear the water running now. Gotta go.

When a toddler isn't sleeping, but a mother is

The water level was almost overflowing before I got the camera. What is it with my children and water?

***

Edit

Even better, apparently Kate also decided that the kitty's food and water would be better mixed together, with some slop spilled onto the laundry room floor. Wheeee! My laundry room smells like the humane society right now.