More times than not, when I peek in on my girls before heading to bed, I find them sleeping together. 

Sometimes this means they are both down on the bottom bunk.

Sometimes, it means they are side by side in their drawers (truthfully I find them like this almost as often as I find them in the bottom bunk). 

Sometimes they are both on the floor.  (haven’t found them like that in the last 2 weeks)

And once, last week, I even found them side by side in the same drawer. 

As I peek in on them snuggled up together, it gives me hope that as they grow, they’ll share secrets, slumber parties, and hopefully a life long friendship, side by side….

I think 4 is a great age for a lot of reasons… one of which is the funny little things 4 year olds say…

Today we were walking to the van and she was carrying her coat, Kit, and her baby.  I said, “If you wear your coat you’ll have more hands.”  to which she said, “No, Mom, I’ll still only have 2 hands.” 

Last week before she went into her gymnastics class I told her to work hard and have fun.  “Oh Mom, that won’t be a problem at all… when I’m doing my back hip circle and I swing back from the bar and flip around, it’s just like I am flying through the air.”  The look of pure joy on her face as she described flying through the air is one I want to remember forever. 

A few weeks ago I served split pea soup for dinner.  While my husband and sons both enjoyed it, my girls did not.  AT ALL.   I suppose somewhere during the dinner I said something about how I worked hard to make that meal for them and I didn’t appreciate their disgusted faces and comments about the food.  And I suppose it sunk in a little even though they didn’t really eat it all that well.  Because a whole week later out of the blue she says to me, “Mom, remember when you made that soup last week that I didn’t like?”  “Well, it wasn’t that I didn’t like that you made it for me, it’s just that when it was in my mouth… pause… well…. when it was in my mouth it just made me feel like I had to cough.”  (essentially she said, “Mom it’s not that I didn’t appreciate your cooking me food, it’s just your food made me want to gag). 

Seriously, I love this girl and am not at all eager for her to grow up anytime soon.

This afternoon my smiley, mild mannered, easy going baby suddenly channeled his inner Dennis the Menace and went all toddler boy on me for 30 minutes. 

First I looked over and found him standing on his tool bench (oops look who forgot to put away the advent calendar with her Christmas decorations)

I got him down and shortly after realized things had been mighty quiet for awhile and went searching for him.  Found him in the master bathroom STANDING on the toilet. 

After shutting all the doors in the hallway we headed back out to the kitchen/living room.  He attempted to get water from the fridge dispenser but thankfully it was locked.   So, instead he opted for emptying my clean dishes from the dish washer into the dog bowl. 

I didn’t get them out right away b/c I figured the harm had already been done, and I would go ahead and finish emptying the dishwasher before he got into more mischief. 

But, that plan was thwarted when he then decided to DRINK FROM THE DOG BOWL!    While I moved the bowl onto the counter and the dirty cups into the sink, I turn around to find him standing in the dishwasher reaching for my leftover pizza from lunch.

At this point, I decide that this has TRULY BEEN THE CRAZIEST HALF HOUR OF HIS LIFE and strap him into his booster seat with my pizza in hopes of keeping him safe and me sane! 

Every now and then, when I peek in on my oldest daughter before going to sleep, I’ll see something which instantly takes me back to her infancy.

And even though she’ll be 6 in a few short weeks, I see her as this sweet little 8 month old in her crib, sleeping folded in half. 

I’ll remember how she used to sleep like this every.single night… and suddenly all these pictures of her sleeping like this pass through my mind like a slide show. 

Pack-n-play, hospital hooked up to IVs, crib, toddler bed, bottom bunk, top bunk… she’s done it ever where.  It’s her classic sleeping position.  And it makes me smile every.single.time.  Sweet dreams my little girl!

Today had all the ingredients to be a very classic Monday… one of those days…  we got home at 1:30 AM after a 5 hr drive after losing in the first round of the playoffs after 1 play in overtime…seriously, who would want to wake up and start the week after a night like that? 

But, it was actually a WONDERFUL Monday… a truly great start to my first real week back in reality since Christmas break.  (last week we started back to home school but we didn’t meet at the tutorial… so we had no forced early wake ups… and we only had gymnastics one evening last week)  This week we’re back to the tutorial, back to gymnastics, cub scouts, business trips, dr appointments, MOPS meeting… and I was already dreading the realness of it last week. 

But it was actually a WONDERFUL MONDAY. 

Thanks to….

1.  Scott-  not only did Scott offer and willingly stay late at my parents last night so we could watch the game with them… he drove the whole way home AND THEN arranged things at work so he could take the oldest 2 to the tutorial for me this morning!  (Isn’t he the best EVER?)  Not only did I get to sleep in a little b/c I didn’t have to shower and get ready to be out the door, but I only had to get 2 kids out of bed and out the door instead of waking 4 kids up and hauling 4 grouchy kids to school this morning.  AND the 2 that were hauled out of bed weren’t all that grouchy b/c they got to ride with Daddy and that’s the best way ever to start the day!

2.  My momma-  she helped me wash all our clothes before we left her house last night which meant that I came home from the weekend with a  suitcase of CLEAN clothes… Scott dumped it on the bed for me this morning and combined with the basket of clothes I washed Friday before we left… all I had to do was fold and put away the clothes and we were set.  I was so set in fact that I went ahead and washed and put away the clothes we wore yesterday. 

3.  COFFEE

4.  My tutorial-  I had 6 hrs at home with just my 2 youngest and was able to take care of laundry, clean the bathrooms, clean the trashcans, unpack, AND put together a 100 piece puzzle with my 4 year old.  (FYI 100 piece puzzles mark the extent of puzzle putting together skills… I can not fathom attempt a puzzle with more pieces than that)

5.  SNOW- we were surprised with big white puffy flakes of snow this afternoon which STUCK and accumulated a whole whopping 1/2 inch of snow in our grass.  This of course delighted my big 3 to no end and in between reminding them at least 100 times to shut the door and take their shoes off before coming in, I was able to hunt down gloves and boots ands put gloves on at least 25 times per kid AND make bread rolls, hot chocolate, and cookies.  It made for a super fun, argument free afternoon for all. 

6.  NAPS-  Love, LOVE the fact that my lil man still naps twice a day.  Thank you sweet boy. 

7.  MOPS- I hadn’t been to MOPS in over a year but went back tonight to speak on a panel.  Great evening out and wonderful to reconnect with friends I hadn’t seen in awhile. 

Not sure what the rest of the week will bring, but today I am thankful for a surprisingly great day.

When talking to my oldest daughter about things to look forward to in 2012, I mentioned to her that the Summer Olympics were going to happen in 2012.

“Oh,” she exclaimed, “I’ll be 6, can I be in the Olympics?”

I told her that when she was 6 she can try out for the gymnastics team at her gym, but she has to be 16 to try out for the Olympics.

“Well,” she said, “I’ll have the 6, I just need the teen!”

I opted to leave it at that and omitted details about the selection committee, the Károlyi’s and the slew of other things that would stand in the way of her and London this summer.  No need to dash a young girls dreams!

Even though she isn’t on the Olympic team… or any team for that matter, I am super proud of the skills she’s accomplished this past year.   A year ago she couldn’t yet do a pullover… now she can do a pullover, cast, back hip circle and is working on her dismount.   A year ago I couldn’t have told you what any of those things meant… I guess we’ve both learned a lot this past year!  Here’s a clip we snapped of her at practice a few weeks ago.

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My four year old asked for a drink the other day.   I always pour the kids small amounts since we have a propensity to spill things round the circus.  When I handed her the glass she said to me, “Now Mom, that is what I call HALF FULL!”  I couldn’t help but chuckle, guess we know how she sees the world. 

As my 4 yr old sat coloring in the waiting room this afternoon the mom beside me commented on her neat job of staying in the lines. 

Then we both did a double take and looked over at each other. 

Don’t mind the fact that the dress is green and should “really” be yellow… I love the fact that my girl goes against the flow and colors it how she wants… sure give Belle purple hair and a green dress.  Why not?

But, what is up with that neck line?  Seems a bit low cut don’t ya think?  I am hoping that somehow the coloring book missed a line or something.  But it sure looks to me like she was coloring it in correctly…

Never expected that from Belle… Ariel maybe, but Belle… with her nose stuck in a book… ya gotta watch those good girls I suppose!

On the wall in my bedroom, tucked away in the corner on my side of the bed is a shadow box in which I pressed some dried flowers from my wedding bouquet.   I’ll confess I don’t look at it often, but when I do I smile and remember that special day.

My children, however, don’t share my sentimentality.

The other day my 5 yr old and I were sitting on my bed and she said, “Mom, why do you have those old dead flowers hanging on your wall?”  I told her that Daddy had given me those flowers on our wedding day.   I of course thought this obviously answered her question.   But she looked up at me like I was crazy and said very matter of factly, “But now they’re dead.”    (as in so why do you have them hanging there now Mom?) It was then obvious to me that she thought her mom was crazy for hanging dead flowers on her wall.  I then remembered the conversation I had with her brother a few years ago when he asked me why I had poop hanging on my wall.  I told him it wasn’t poop, they were dried flowers from my wedding.  “Oh,” he replied, “they look like poop to me.” 

Something tells me 50 years from now when the kids are cleaning out our house and divvying up our our belongings, none of them are going to be fighting for the right to take mom’s dead flowers to their homes. 

The other day I was driving my oldest two children home when they suggested I text their Nana to see if the younger two were asleep so we’d know if we needed to enter in the backdoor.

I told them I couldn’t text while driving, but maybe if I got a red light I could send her a quick txt.  (I know, I know….)

Well the light was green and as we got rather close to our street my 5 yr old daughter says, “Mom, you gotta send the text!”  “I can’t,” I replied, the light was green. 

“Well Mom, I’ll watch the road for you and tell you if your going to hit something.”

“Thanks, but it doesn’t work like that, I need to be watching the road myself.”

“Why Mom?  Don’t you know this road pretty well, you drive on it all the time?”

I then went on to tell her while I know the road, I don’t know what the other cars are going to do on the road.   And even though she promised to keep an eye for me, I think it would be better for me to watch.

Can you just imagine?  Well, officer, I know I wasn’t watching, but she was my lookout…yea… my 5 yr old in the back seat… she promised to keep an eye out for me….