Never say never

This morning, out of the blue, Alice offered me a deal.  She like making deals these days.  She thinks that she benefits from these deals and has not yet learned that we (her parents) are indeed smarter than she is.

So this morning she says to me:  "OK Mom, I have a deal to make with you.  I won't say never anymore.  Well, except when I sing the song from Jake and the Neverland Pirates - Never Say Never, No Never.  That time it is k to say Never.  OK?  If I say Never, I will go to my room for 10 hours or I will go to the corner for 10 hours.  OK?  Is that a deal?

Me: "So what you are saying is that if you say something like "You never let me...." or "I never get to..." then I can send you to your room for 10 hours?

Alice: "Yes, is that a deal?"

Me: "Um, Yes, OK, you have a deal!"

Fast forward 4 hours to her asking me to go out and buy a birthday present for some random girl at school.  I told her that I was not going to spend my money on some girl I never met. So she told me that she would use her own money to buy a present.  I said no to that as well.

Alice, on the verge of tears: "You NEVER let me spend my money!"

Me: "Ah ha, you said never.  Please go to your room for 10 hours."

Alice, sobbing: "But that time I HAD to say never and I forgot to say that this morning that when I HAVE to say never, I can."

And that, my friends is a very typical conversation with my five year old.


It has been over a year since I have blogged here. Man, talk about a busy year.  Alice turned 5 in October and is going to private Christian school for Kindergarten (she missed the state age regulations by 12 days for public school) where she is learning far too much about loving Jesus and far too little about other pertinent things for my taste but she is enjoying it and that is more than I really can ask for.  She will be transferring to the local public school for first grade and I am eager to see how different the learning structure/style will be. 

Ben and Cooper will turn 3 in April and have been through a whirlwind this year.  They are both receiving speech therapy and next week we will find out if they will be accepted into a 3 year old pre-k program which will be half day and will carry them through until they start full day kindergarten.  We want them to get in to the program so badly for obvious reasons but also to start reducing the boatloads to cash we are pouring into daycare.

It is my aim to begin blogging here at least once a week.  I will most likely be not much more than funnies from the kids or photos but it will be something.

A Christmas Wish

Last year, all Alice wanted for Christmas was umbrellas.  She talked about it incessantly and would not be deterred from that one wish.  When she gets something in her head, she doesn't let go.  This year is no different and no less funny.  This year, all Alice wants for Christmas is a shower her size.  I know, right now you are thinking "Wha?".  Let me give you a little of the back story. 

When we lived in Alabama, the bathroom that Alice used had a detachable handheld shower.  I found a really neat suction cup holder thingy that would allow the shower head to be affixed to the wall anywhere.  So after Alice's bath, she loved to take a little shower as well, as you can see from the pic.

 

Fast forward to living in Virginia.  I still have the suction holder thing but the shower head in the bathroom is stationary so it has not been used in the year we have been here.  A couple of weeks ago, Alice took a super bubbly bubble bath and she was still covered with bubbles after the water drained from the tub.  In an effort to clean her off, I turned on the shower.  At first she freaked (she does not like water on her face) but then she decided it was fun.  She told me that it would be much more fun if the shower was her size.  Now she only wants to take showers and tells anyone who asks that she wants a shower her size for Christmas.  EVERYONE!  Take a look at what is hanging on the wall in her classroom.

 

A look into the hilarity

Things like this happen in our house on a daily basis.  Enjoy!  (there is no audio but you can use your imagination)

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Alice was very concerned this morning about our trip to Town Hall.  She was all worked up because she said she did not know how to row.  

Me: "Alice, what are you talking about?  What do you need to row?  Why do you need to learn to row this morning?"  

Alice: "Because we are going in a boat today to get a President."

It is so funny when kids half listen and make up the rest.  

Cooper the Dancin' Machine

The Halloween that Almost Wasn't

A lot of you have heard stories about my awesome nephew, Nate, so I will start with pictures of him.  He is such a character and when he wants to be something, he gives it all he's got!

 We do not have photos of Alice in her Halloween costume….let me paint you a picture instead:

When John and I arrived at school to pick up the kids, her teacher was clocking out.  I asked how Alice was that day, she laughed and said, “I promise, I only let them have two pieces of candy today.  Alice is bouncing off the walls!”  Alice was dressed as a cupcake and wore the costume most of the day until she drooled green lollipop down the front of it.  She decided on the way home that she wanted to be a princess for trick or treating.  We got home, ate dinner, and I started getting her layered up so she would not have to wear a coat over the dress/costume.  Meanwhile, Ben and Cooper were running around naked as John was trying to get them into the bathtub. 

Tights, socks, windbreaker pants, undershirt, long sleeved shirt, purple princess dress.  Her neck was bare so I went to the basement to find my purple scarf.  She followed me and discovered last year’s winter coat and hat which apparently is a princess coat and hat.  So she gets the coat and hat on, with the crown on top of the hat with the poof on top.  I tell her to go get her shoes on so we can go.  She comes back into the living room with her water shoes on.  Um no, sorry Alice you are not wearing water shoes outside go put on blank, blank, or blank.  She goes back to the mudroom and begins a full-blown meltdown because the water shoes were the real princess shoes and the only other princess shoes are sandals and I won’t let her wear them…. This goes on for about 5 minutes.  I told her that if she did not stop, trick or treating was cancelled.  She stopped crying when I started taking my coat off because “oh, here are my princess shoes, these are the ones I wanted the whole time, mommy”.  Of course there are only two houses on our street with lights on so we head down the block.  At the first 6 houses, she thought it was a candy exchange because she kept trying to give each homeowner her candy. (it was pretty cute and funny)  She had a lengthy conversation with a woman about the lollipop Alice was trying to give her.  We got about 5 blocks away and we had to turn around and go back  (she kept zigzagging across the street from house to house instead of doing one side then back on the other side but then she forgot so she did not understand why we were skipping so many houses on the way back).  So, 5 blocks to reach home and she tells me that her feet hurt…..yep, you guessed it.  I carried her all the way home.  We had only one knock at the door all night.

The boys were in bed by the time we got home – about 7:20, I think.  She had a bath and bed.  Then crawled into bed with us around 1:30.  And it was one of those horrid sleep with a kid nights, she spent the night kicking one of us in the head and smacking with flailing arms…it was rough.  In the car on the way to school yesterday morning she was whining that her chin hurt.  “Mommy, do you know why my chin hurts?”  “No Alice, why does your chin hurt?”  “My chin hurts because it did not get enough sleep last night.”  No fooling, Alice….

I MIGHT ask her to put the costume back on tonight to take a pic but I doubt it.  I am ready for Halloween to be over.  

Alice ended up wearing her cupcake costume all weekend and I managed to get a "happy" snapshot.

  

The Eye of the Tiger

Alice started soccer last week.  She has no idea what she is doing but loves it.  It is the funniest, cutest thing I have seen.  Check out these pics and video of our baller.

She definitely is going to be a player.

 

 

Never a Dull Moment

A quick look at this video and you can figure out why I have not blogged in a while...