God and peanut butter sandwiches

mommy insists on making the peanut butter sandwiches herself, to save mess and because we're getting to the bottom of the jar. I explain this, ending with "... so I guess we have to go to the store to buy some groceries, God help me."
Riley responds so quickly I had no idea what he was referring to.
"I wish we had our own God so he could make whatever we needed"
Mommy "God would make us peanut butter sandwiches?"
Riley "no, he could make us peanut butter. and he would make me the President, and Hailey the Mayor, and Elliot the Judge"

Hailey running narrative

Hailey is sitting next to me at the computer, having a rambling conversation with me. She makes some crazy statement, and before I've really reacted to that, says something else really kooky :)

Hailey "...how old you need to be to wear earrings..."
Mommy "to get your ears pierced? that depends..."
Hailey (fingering a dangly pair of mommy's earrings) "they don't use screws, because that would really hurt!"
Mommy laughs really loud, takes a breath to answer...
Hailey "this looks like a blood orange" (the plum she was eating)
Mommy laughs again, opens blog to record conversation
Hailey "...sometimes blood looks like red water! ... I was distracted by the blood orange ... it's like blood, but only like that when you bite into it."

I should probably just leave the videocamera charged and handy if I want to keep up with her :)

April 1-16 facebook statuses

4/16:

Gorgeous weather, went and had early lunch at beach, drooled (figuratively) over potential new couch, now introducing the kids to Inspector Gadget on Netflix. Tonight out with some girlfriends! :)

SAD NEWS - Please join me in remembering YET ANOTHER great icon of the entertainment community. The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes to the belly. He was 71. Dough Boy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children, John Dough, Jane Dough, and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the Oven. Services were held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes. (copied Niamh's status :)

4/15:

Is happy about many things :)

4/14:

running through my head right now: "laundry, laundry!" sung to the tune of "Monday, Monday" by the Mamas and the Papas. went and looked up the lyrics, and they're not really that good of a fit, though the kids dumping out the one basket of sorted, folded laundry almost made me want to cry ;)

4/13:

Tomorrow morning: back-to-back parent-teacher conferences starting at 7:30am, volunteer in E's preschool, then all kids home by 12:45. Think I shoulda been asleep an hour ago, whoops!

going through pictures from last few weeks - sooo behind on pictures, journal, etc...

4/12:

just had to go pick up my 5.5 yr old from school because she stuck a piece of crayon wrapper in her ear. she "wasn't thinking" and said it "really hurt" so I had to dismiss her an hour before the end of the school day, and once home, it took all of a second with tweezers to pull it out.

4/11:

Wishes she'd realized she stepped in dog poop _before_ she got in the car and used the brake pedal (you know, the one with a million ridges for it to get stuck in?) *crinkle nose*

4/10:

Frustrated by the state of her chapter of the MOMS Club. may have to disban our chapter soon if things don't improve in the next week :(

Riley "daddy, I figured out where the mines are!" Elliot "look, look, I'm going down into the dungeon!" LOL that's what all kids sound like at the playground, right? ;)

4/9:

had a good time at Big Basin, despite E getting pukey bug on way there. 2 of 3 passed out in car now, headed back to hotel to do laundry and eat in

Breakfast at a little cafe in Watsonville, playing at cool playground for a few minutes, then Big Basin.

Well, drive was shorter than expected, despite driving through snow (surprise!). Hotel not what expected either, but we'll see what tomorrow brings :)

4/8:

road trip for the second weekend in a row and this time daddy gets to come with us! just booked a cheap hotel in Northern California for tonight and tomorrow, gonna see us some redwoods :)

4/8:

Disgusting how expensive airplane tickets have gotten! Partly annoying because the reasons behind the increases are so questionable...

4/6:

Loves the casual way she is being used by Elliot as a game chair :
- Not so good for my productivity, but does help me keep an eye out that he's not erasing saved games etc :)

4/5:

3 crying kids, 3 time outs. Is today over yet? #^*%!

thinks it's time to start the caffeine drip. maybe with two kids home today I'll actually get more done (it's like rewinding a year to when just R was at school all day, kinda fun, though I'm sure H + E will take this opportunity to make huge messes too :)

Is glad she got extra sleep last night, since tonight she's up with a pukey kid

4/4:

's hands smell like maple-garlic-teriyaki marinade. hope the pork chops taste as good as my hands smell, pretty much all I've accomplished this afternoon! *sigh*

4/3:

Few more hours of fun w friends this morning, then back to LA we go

4/1:

Riley "this is gonna be the best night: we have pizza and lemonade, what more could you ask for?" :). Mommy and Jamie (sipping hard lemonades) couldn't agree more! :)

Teasing the kids by telling them how Death Valley is the hottest place in the US, then following the exit signs for "Death Valley". Last stop before Vegas :)

Gotta finish the other science fair poster, pack, and load up the car. then we're good to go! Legs a little crampy, hope they relax before the 5 hr drive :)

April 17-26 facebook statuses

so often I only write down the hilarious, wrong, hilariously-wrong, funny, infuriating, etc things the kids do and say only on facebook. If nothing else, it's not a good way of keeping a record, so I'm going to try and go back and cross post the kid/family relevant ones here. (side note: sometimes I go several days between posts, sometimes a few hours :)

Tue 4/26:

bwahahaha - kids are in the bath, talking about being superheroes who can spew lava from their hands and stuff, Hailey "so you can be hot boy (E), and you can be hot dad (R), and I'll be hot wife! (H)" *excuse me while I go separate the fighting monkeys*

I was yelling at Hailey, exasperated at why he would use her Popsicle to write on the table and then lick it off (she tried to remove the evidence w her sleeve when I started yelling). Riley says casually "Hailey, the Popsicle just _looks_ like a crayon"

Is so impressed that Elliot just counted to 100 all by himself on the way to preschool!! H & R were trying to teach him last week, he only just turned 4 :)
- And I'm equally impressed that he knows all his tens to do it, they make a big deal of "skip counting by tens" in kindergarten :)

Mon 4/25:

Hailey, telling me about this week's spelling words "they're -it words!". I had a hard time snickering, the first -it word that came to my mind wasn't on the list ;)

is actually psyched to start her new diet-and-fitness regimen! so far weighed in, made tasty low-carb bfast (resisted all the left-over Easter junk food) and went for a 15 minute brisk walk after dropping the kids off at school :)

Sun 4/24:

Our Easter so far: eating slightly overcooked apple strudel off hello kitty plates. Daddy off to work for few hrs. Unsure whether we'll dye eggs, maybe later. We had
peeps on our sundaes last night though :)

Sat 4/23:

On weekends we like to make the most of daddy being home by doing everything together. Gotta say, really enjoyed having a girls day just me and Hailey (and sure daddy and the boys enjoyed their boy time too :)

I hold a dress up on myself and ask Hailey what she thinks. She giggles and says "looks funny". Guess I won't be buying that one LOL

4/21:

Hopes that the preschool parent who put whistles in the Easter eggs ended up with at least two tweeting/chirping kids in her household

Mommy, scoffing at Elliot (4) wanting a lid on his sippy cup "you're too big for that!". Elliot, pouting "my mouth is still little!" hehe

While Elliot's in preschool this morning: can't run errands b/c forgot my purse, can't take pics b/c camera ran out of batteries, so at a playground trying to keep R & H's squabbling from bothering the whole neighborhood

4/20:

Elliot, in a whiny voice "but I don't liiiike coffee cake!". Mommy, in an equally whiny voice "I don't liiiike whiny kids!". Hailey from other room "mommy, I like yours better" LOL

4/19:

Has had several reminders already this morning of how fragile life is, will be hugging my kids extra today...

4/18:

Was joking to herself that she could make scolding the kids into a drinking game, then realized she would spend the next 7 days roaring drunk
- They are totally on volume 11 today once I turned off the tv: hurtling from one end of the house to the other, screaming or squealing loudly, and somebody's always being left out or wronged. *sigh* it's gonna be a long week!

Has a full-blown cold now, but is grateful that hubby and kids helped reclaim the house yesterday, and grateful that school vacation meant I could sleep past 9 :)

4/17:

Dayquil with a double-espresso-mocha chaser, breakfast of champions! (at least those who've gotten waaaay behind on housekeeping and are facing a week of having the kids home on vacation ;)

kids' measurements

Jeff found back the contact paper ruler we used to have on the doorpost to mark the kids' heights. the numbers written next to the lines aren't super accurate, but in case we lose it again:
Riley 43.5" 5/09, 42.75" 2/09, <42" 9/08 Hailey 39.25" 5/09, 38.5" 2/09, 37" 9/08 Elliot 34" 5/09, 32.5" 2/09, 31.5" 9/08 newest height measurements, 3/11: Elliot <40", Hailey >45", Riley 49"

grand opening of Dixon O's restaurant

On the way back from the farmer's market this morning, the kids came up with the idea of having a restaurant.  They pretty much figured it all out themselves, with Oma and I making minor suggestions.  Mommy was going to be the cook, Riley the cashier, Oma the server, Elliot the dishwasher, and Hailey the hostess.  It would be a hot dog restaurant called "Dixon Orders" - Dixon O's for short :)

When we got home, mommy got to work cooking the hot dogs, Oma set up the dining room with Elliot's help, Riley set up the cash register, and customers Hailey and Panda waited patiently outside (with her "car") until we were ready to open.

Riley took the orders, mommy prepped the food, and Riley delivered it to the customer.  everyone ordered hot dogs and milk except Panda, who ordered pretend bamboo.  The waiter and cook also took their lunch breaks, food was delicious!  Then Riley brought everyone their bill and Oma made sure everyone had enough quarters to pay (except the cook, who got her food for free).  Then the waiter had to share that money (including tips) with the cook and use it to pay for the supplies LOL.  Hailey left to go to her car, and Riley ran after her "don't forget your panda!".  We then saw the sign Riley made for the front door - it meant to say "Dixons O" but accidentally said "Dioxns O" which gave Oma and I another round of hard laughter ("dioxins, oh!")

Riley's cashier station, complete with "tips" jar (Oma and I laughed so hard at that), waiter notepad, and Oma's bill (hot dog & milk)

the menu, which had "hot dog 2$ on one side and "mike 1$" (milk) on the other

The restaurant sign "Dioxns O" - I mean "Dixons O"

Riley's roadtrip journal

I think that's a picture of the wind

for day 2, there's snow

the picture for day 4 is a pretty accurate drawing of the bakugan toy he got in his happy meal.  and it says "I hit mom with a snowball" in case that didn't come through the scan

his suggestion for the 3 sentences that day "boring! boring! boring!" so we compromised and had him write this :)

"We went back to the playground.  To get there we walked over a bridge.  It was hinging (high) over the river."

He carefully drew every aspect of this dinky playground: metal slide, seesaw, metal car thing with three steering wheels, bench, and 3 tires.  "mom bot (bought) some trets (treats) at the (camp) store"

"We stopnd (stopped) at a petting zoo.  It had a monstur truck so big I cud sit in the tires.  We feddid (fed) deer and lorikeets."

"We got home that Day.  we had pizza that Nit.  I Was Happy to be Home." (puppy helped him draw the picture of home :)