Crazed

Sooooooo.  This may just be one of those posts that gets written for the mere fact that September ends in a couple of days and I really just don't want my archives to go from August to October.  That would just be a reaffirmation that my life is indeed being sucked into a blue-gray fuzzy hole, with not a whole lot defining the day-to-day-to-day.

Let's see.  There was the afternoon that I just couldn't keep my eyes open and left the girls downstairs to be tended by Babar or the Fairies of Tinkerbell Hollow or some such animated character on the tv while Patrick and I took a power nap.  For an hour and a half.  Luckily for us all, Nana decided to Skype and took over the remote babysitting.  Turns out my girls aren't much swayed by the power and authority of adults speaking to them.  And since Nana could only suggest they put back the Nestle Quick chocolate powder and not pour the milk on the computer desk (literally - having missed the cups pretty entirely), my sweet children proceeded to create a chocolate swamp.  Of course, when I came to and descended upon the scene, I found every hand towel and a few bath ones soaked in chocolate milk with brown sticky powder anywhere I looked within a 4-foot radius around the computer.  Granted, Abby did make sure to clean off my phone well enough that she was sure I wouldn't notice that it had been submerged in the mess initially.  Awesome.

What else?  There's Abby's latest obsession with making multi-room forts.  This, of course, entails her need to gather every blanket and pillow in the house along with whatever other extras she spots along the way.  One evening as I cooked dinner, I noticed Abby and Ellie going in and out of the back door carrying what I assumed were the makings of a fort.  Abby confirmed this, and I - grateful that they weren't running figure eights through the kitchen, screaming and bearing their 5 o'clock fangs and claws at each other - just let it slide.  I even called Adam to warn him he might find a fort with children running in and out when he pulled in from work, so to be extra alert.  Oh, it turned out to be more than a fort.  A fortress would be closer to what we discovered upon his return home.  Somehow I had missed the kitchen chair being hauled out to the driveway and the 6 boxes of diapers.  Had I known this fortress was being constructed in the driveway, I probably would have objected to the pillows and bedspreads too.  Yeah.  Even Grammy backed herself into a corner the other day after suggesting that the girls play house with her in the toy room (in attempts to get them to clean without them realizing they were cleaning).  Abby excitedly jumped on board and immediately started rounding up the makings of her "room."  3 days later, the treadmill is still draped with sheets and blankets with who knows what home furnishings hiding beneath.

Ellie's latest craze entails experimenting with all things scented.  For example, spraying her legs with Shout while sitting on the toilet.  Or, spraying nearly the entire bottle of detangler spray on her head one afternoon.  Or using my shampoo as hair "sparkles" and lotion.  Or spraying herself with enough magnolia perfume to fill the entire house, putting Adam's deodorant on and smearing Adam's shaving cream all over the bathroom mirror all while she was supposed to be brushing her teeth.  (Or tooting and laughing hysterically when she realizes we're all about to pass out.)

Aside from that, hot pink nail polish spilled on the new carpet (Abby), fluorescent hi-lighter scribbles on every white surface from the girls' room down out the back door (Ellie), and some of us tipping the scales (Patrick...16 lbs 12 oz, Me...?) have been just some of the other really exciting things that have happened 'round our house this month.  (All that + my new-found obsession: Pinterest...where I find great sayings like this:)

(I just have to work on the happy kids part.)

Oh yeah.  And we did start school.  (How's that for fuzzy brain?)
Okay, October.  I'm ready.  Bring it on.

QFTD

Ellie, holding a Book of Mormon: "Can this be my scriptures?"  Me: "No, sweety.  That is in Italian and you don't speak Italian."  Ellie:  "Yes I do. Listen - 'macherione peesees'. That's Italian."

Abby: "Mom, where did we find my butterfly picture on the computer?"  Me: "I don't remember, sweety."  Abby:  "I think you just need to do 'butterfly google.'"

Ellie, as I handed her an Arby's (bleh) roast beef sandwich (after she and Abby had been looking at Mcdonalds coupons): "No, Mom.  I wanted a "Double Double.""

Abby: "Mom, you have been a nice mom today so I think I am going to teach you my mango smoothie recipe."

Abby, reassuring Ellie that her coloring skills could improve: "Ellie, what I did on my first day of school was try and try and try to stay in the lines.  At first I scribbled, but then I tried to be like Micah in my class because he is so good at math too.  He is really smart - maybe because he's 7."

Abby's family prayer: "...I'm thankful for my loving family and for my aunts and uncles and cousins and for all the people in the world, even the bad ones and the ones I don't know who will be my new friends..."

Abby: "Today (Labor Day) is everyone's day off.  Dad gets to stay home from work.  Me and Ellie get to stay home from our first day of school.  Mom gets to...well, Mom gets to just do what she does all the time - stay home."  Ellie: "Yeah, because Mommy doesn't do anything."

Abby, while "helping" clean out the car and upon finding a shimmery plastic necklace: "Oh! This is mine!"  Me: "Where did it come from?" Abby: "Um, I'm not sure. I think Nana got it for me."  Me: "Oh really? And where did she get it?"  Abby: "I think she got it in China." 

Abby: "Mom, Ellie's in the front yard."  Me: "Tell her to come to the back yard or she'll have to go to her room."  Abby, shouting to Ellie outside: "Ellie! Come to the backyard right now or you will be in your room for the rest of your life!!"

Abby, upon seeing the Butterfly Conservatory we visited:  "Look!  It's the Butterfly Esermatory!"  Ellie: "Yay! The Butterfly Herbatory!"

Abby, "Mom, what if your eyeball falls out?  How do you put it back in?"

Abby: "Mom, when am I going to be a mom?"  Me: "When you get older."  Abby: "And then I'll get a mommy knife?"  Me: "A what?"  Abby:  "I mean and then I'll live in a different house?"

Ellie to Abby who fetched a cup up high in the cupboard: "Wow - you're a good reacher"  Abby: "Yeah, I took reaching gymnastics."`

Ellie, after sizing up Patrick with a measuring tape: "Bubba is 60 finches old!"

Abby, the day after having watched Fantastic Mr. Fox: "Mom, can we watch that Great Mr. Wolf movie again?"

Abby, before letting loose to "All the Singe Ladies":  "Mom, did I get my dancing from your side of the family?"

Ellie, in reference to our dinner of grilled pizza: "This is very good, Mom.  Four thumbs up!"  Abby: "Yeah, it's so good it made my allergies go away!"

Me: "Ellie, will you find the can of chicken (yes - I'm trying canned chicken) on the bottom shelf?"  Ellie: "Is it on the tippy bottom?" (opposite of tippy top)

Abby, while singing to Patrick: "Row Row Row Your Boat, Gently Down the Stream, Merrily Merrily Merrily, Life's a Pot of...(pause)...What's life a pot of, Mom?"

Ellie to Abby, while playing house:  "We're going to Japan, right?"  Abby: "No.  We're going to Vegas."

Abby: "Mom, the other night we were hiding in Dad's closet and we popped out and scared him to death!"  Ellie: "Yeah! We popped him to death!"

Ellie:  "Here's your diet Coke.  It's without cafe."  Me: "Oh, without caffeine?"  Ellie:  "Yeah. It's cafe free."

Abby: "Dad, it's okay. You can stay home from work for one day because I have enough money in my piggy bank to pay for our house."

Abby, as Adam walked in from work at 5:30:  "Yay!  Daddy's home!  Why are you home so early, Daddy?  Was it just a half-day at work?"