Desperation!

Molly is asleep and I desperately want a nap. Matthew and I actually had this conversation just now:

Me: Matthew, are you sleepy?

Matthew: No.

Me: Matthew, I'll give you five dollars if you'll take a nap.

Matthew: No.

Me: OK--(I'm totally desperate at this point) how about ten dollars? (thinking he couldn't possibly resist and also that this is a really terrible thing to be saying to my child).

Matthew: Well, if you'll give me a thousand dollars, I'll do it.

Smart boy. But no nap.

April Fool's!

Matthew has discovered the greatness of April Fool's Day. He LOVED it! The first thing he did this morning was run down stairs and say "Daddy! You have a cricket in your underwear!" Mike said "Ahhhhh!" Matthew yelled "April Fools!" "Mommy! You've got 100 mosquitos in your hair! April Fool's!" And it went on, and on. So funny. This afternoon in the car, he asked me what silly April day tomorrow was. He thought every day in April was silly.

He also announced this morning that it was the first day of his Birthday Month. Now, I'm a proud Mama. I have celebrated Birthday Month for as long as I can remember. When it's your birthday month, you get double votes in all decisions (what's for dinner, what to watch on tv, etc.) It's grand. And now my sweet 4 year old has, all on his own, watched and learned from ME. Furthermore, he totally GOT the concept AND has put it in use. I am so proud.

One other note: we spent all of last week with Mike's parents in Alabama. We had lots of fun and I have about 7000 pictures. I can't wait to show you the faves. I'll get right on that. AFTER I clean the house because we've got Adventure Guides at our house on Friday night. Oh, there is much housework that will be taking place between now and then. MUCH.

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

Hi Friends--did you miss me? Well, let me just say that much fun was had at the retreat. I came back exhausted, but refreshed from some good girl time! I spent the morning cleaning--not spotless, but good enough.
Just one quick story. I made spaghetti for dinner last night (for the 374th time) and Molly likes her noodles with just butter and milk. I made some extra for Matthew and put those on his plate, along with regular spaghetti. I was making drinks for the kids and saw him get a piece of paper and a pencil. When I went over, he had written "I D N L S"
I asked him what he wrote and he said "I Do Not Like Sauce." I'm so proud! He's learning--he really is!!!

Two Sickies, One Mugshot, A Car Race, and OH yes he DID!

Well, I've had two little sickies in the house this past week. First Molly had her ear infection and then Mr. Matthew got his own version. They are both on their way to a full recovery, and I am a happy Mama!

So yesterday, I was trying to get dinner made before Mike came home and I knew something was up. I just knew it. Molly was playing by herself and it was quiet. Eerily quiet. I knew I should have gone to check, but I didn't. I asked Matthew where Molly was and he said "sitting over there." I looked "over there" and I could see her little head bobbing back and forth behind her toys. I thought "wow! I can't believe she's sitting over there playing so nicely!" Well, that' because she wasn't. The little toot had gotten my purse down off the table and was hiding behind her toys. She found a bag of m&ms, opened them, and went to town. Then, she got into my lipstick and proceeded to make herself up. She tore out her hair bow to complete her glamorous look. I caught her red-handed. This is her mug shot.That picture cracks me up because it totally looks like those celebrity mugshots you see on tv and in magazines where the normally beautiful celeb looks trashy and dazed. That's my beautiful girl--looking dazed from way too many m&ms and lipstick in her nose. Hopefully this will be her only mugshot!

Fast forward to a much cleaner and cuter Little! (By the way--we call her Little alot. I don't know how it got started, but that's one of her nicknames that we use quite a bit. We also call her Mollypop, Molly wobbles, Mol, Miss Pants, and Sister).

This is Little in her first pig tails (or puppy dog ears)! She's getting so big!

This weekend, Mike and Matthew had their Adventure Guides Pinewood Derby Race. They built a car, painted it, and off we went to the Derby! Matthew got a badge and a medal and lots of memories with Daddy! Priceless.
And Finally . . . Oh Yes He Did. It was bound to happen. I did it myself several times as a child. Mike told me that he did it, too. It happened last weekend. He spent the night with my parents, went into their bathroom and said he needed "privacy" (HA!), got out my dad's clippers and trimmed his hair! This happened about 2 days after our $17 haircut. He trimmed right in the front, middle of his head. So funny! You can really see it better in the last picture.

Happy Wednesday! It's supposed to be 80 degrees here tomorrow! Woo hoo!

Do you hear what I hear?

Matthew's quote of the day (spoken to my cousin, Jennifer)

"Sometimes I DO tell my mom the truth, and she is very impressed."

(and other times???)

Matthew's 20 questions

I saw this on someone else's blog and thought it was cute, so I gave it a try with Matthew. Matthew's comments are first, followed by mine in ( ). I love this!

1. What is something mommy always says to you? Good throw, Matthew!

2. What makes mommy happy? Minding (He's right!)

3. What make mommy sad? Not minding (He's got it!)

4. How does your mommy make you laugh? By making funny jokes to me (We love to laugh!)

5. What was your mommy like as a child? Like a princess (I can hear my parents laughing now)

6. How old is your mommy? I think 45. Are you 45? (OK. Whatever. Last time he said 17)

7. How tall is your mommy? taller than me

8. What is her favorite thing to do? Take care of me and Molly and love us (Absolutely)

9. What does your mommy do when your not around? Make the house clean and suprise us (Does that mean it's a suprise if the house is clean???)

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? Tricks that you can do and dancing. (I like to do magic tricks for Matthew--he thinks it's real!)

11. What is your mommy really good at? Dancing (Well . . . I have been watching a lot of Dancing with the Stars . . . apparently I'm getting really good with the new techniques!)

12. What is mommy not very good at? Juggling (Right on. It's a good think that Mike is good at it.)

13. What does your mommy do for her job? You take care of us (And I don't even get any money for it!!!!)

14. What is your mommy's favorite food? Salad (Hmmmm. I do like salad. But my favorite is Mexican or Italian.)

15. What makes you proud of mommy? Doing what I want you to do (I bet it does)

16. If your mommy was a cartoon character, who would she be? John McCain. (Sooo funny!!)

17. What do you and your mommy do together? Love each other (I love that boy)

18. How are you and your mommy the same? We dance the same (Wow--we must really be GOOD!)

19. How are you and mommy different? By being girl and boy. That's the opposite, right mama?

20. How do you know your mommy loves you? Because you love me with all your heart. (He definitely knows me. I do love him with all my heart.)

I love this!

I have had a revelation!

OK--I like a clean house. I'm not a nut about it, but I need for my home to be clean. When it is messy, I am grumpy and more short-tempered and nobody needs that from me! Before I married Mike, I had a housekeeper. Actually, I had one until I quit working to stay home with Matthew. When I quit, that was one of the things we cut out. Fine. No biggie. When I just had Matthew, that worked out fine. I could entertain him and clean and everyone was happy. Well, now we have Miss Molly, and the cleaning has gotten a bit complicated. I can still entertain Matthew with a movie or playing or something, but I'm not just going to stick Molly in her swing and let her sit there while I clean. Furthermore, check out what happens when I TRY to manage two children and clean the house:




I believe Matthew's exact words were "Mommy, come look! I decorated Molly!"


Plus, at this point, the messes are bigger--there are some 3 year old-size messes, which grow when my back is turned. Then, there are the messes that I make while I'm rushing around trying to get us all ready and then I look up and--BOOM--messy! So, while I am striving to occupy my children, go to the store, cook some sort of dinner (if I'm lucky), take or pick up the cleaning, go to the bank, find one shoe, or Matthew's big rig shirt (a favorite right now), I'm doing really well if I can manage to keep the house somewhat picked up. I haven't even gotten to the actual scrubbing, actual cleaning of the house. So--I've decided that it's time to get a housekeeper again. I don't care what sacrifices I'm going to have to make--it's just got to happen for my sanity!

MY MESSY HOUSE:

So the good news is that I called Gloria, who cleans for Jennifer and Heather. She came over last night to survey the damage and give me a price quote. Now, she came over at 6:00 last night. Let me tell you, from about 3:00-6:00, I was a speed cleaning queen! I didn't want her to walk in, see our mess, and say "Oh, sorry, I don't have any openings right now." Or, "Oh, no problem, we'll charge $300 for this size mess." As it turns out, the house was in fairly good shape and she is going to charge me a tot unreasonable sum of money. SO--hallelujah! She's coming next Friday. I seriously can NOT wait. Praise the Lord! Seriously.