The Greatest Gift

This morning, Claire's first grade teacher, Mrs. Lozano, asked me if I knew that Claire had given her soap last week.  I did not know that Claire had given Mrs. Lozano soap last week.  Mrs. Lozano said, "It was my favorite gift I have ever received from a student!  It was a used bar of pink soap that Claire carved a big letter A with a halo around it for the Angels.  I showed it to all of the other teachers in our pod and took it home to show my husband!  I figured you didn't know that she brought that to me."
Oh, Claire!  My silly little artist.  She really did just grab the pink bar of Hello Kitty Soap out of her bathtub to make that gift for her beloved teacher.  We will have to have a talk about appropriate media for creating her works of art.  A yucky used bar of soap is not really a socially acceptable gift - no matter how pretty it is decorated.  Ha-ha!

Just Like Her Big Brother

So today Kate accomplished 2 new skills.
#1 - I put Kate in the seat of a shopping cart for the first time ever today. It took her about 15 minutes to figure out how to turn around backward and stand up in the cart! Boy was she mad when I told her, "No no Kate" and sat her back down, tightening the strap as tight as it would go!
#2 - For the past couple weeks, Kate has been standing at the bottom of the stairs, just staring up trying to figure out how to get the top - especially when she can hear her brothers & sister upstairs having fun without her. She would lift her leg, but it wasn't quite long enough to get to that first step. But tonight, while I was making dinner, Claire yelled out, "Oh no! Look at Kate! She's on the stairs!" And oh yes, my little Pixie was proudly standing on the first step, holding onto the banister, smiling that adorable toothless smile. Good thing I found a gate for the stairs & it should be delivered tomorrow.
I have a feeling that Kate is going to take after her big brother, Matthew. She is too little to be doing these daring things! I guess the fun is just beginning with My Katherine Lilly!

How to Win at Rock Paper Scissors

Last Sunday during Sacrament Meeting, I heard Matthew say, "Claire, let's play Rock Paper Scissors. Rock, paper, scissors." Instead of making a rock, paper or scissors, he made a gun with his hand and exclaimed, "Boom, boom, boom!" I guess that's the guaranteed way to win. Gun beats paper, rock & scissors! Ha-ha!

Under the Bed

A couple nights ago I heard an awesome conversation between Tyler and Claire that went something like this:

Tyler:  Claire, you should really clean your bedroom.
Claire: I know.
Tyler:  You should clean it just like mine.
Claire:  I can't.
Tyler:  Yes you can.
Claire:  No, I can't.  I can't put everything under my bed.

Touché Claire!  I was dying laughing as I heard Claire's smart remark.  Tyler cleaned his room the other day by shoving everything under his bed.  He was shocked when I called him on it.  "How did you know????"  Um, I have eyes.  I don't know why my kids always forget I can see things.  Claire has a daybed with drawers under it so shoving things under her bed is not an option for her.  Maybe I ought to buy Tyler a bed with some drawers or a trundle underneath.  That might make him do a decent job of cleaning his room.  Ha-ha!

Counting to Five

Every mother knows that it is impossible to use the restroom without children interrupting.  It's some sort innate magical power to know when Mom is taking care of her own business. Tonight I tried to provide myself an extra buffer zone of privacy by locking my bedroom door while I was in the restroom.  Matthew was quick to find that I was in the restroom, and quite unhappy that I locked the door.  After a bit of pounding on the door I heard, "Open this door right now!  I'm counting to five and this door better be open!" Then he actually proceeded to firmly count to 5!  I almost died laughing!  When his counting didn't work, he pounded on the door a couple more times and gave up!  That little stinker is so cute & so funny!  I'm so glad I get to be his Mommy!  :)

Lost Key

We keep a locking doorknob on our pantry.  We started this when Tyler was little in a effort to keep him from getting into food that isn't safe for him.  This morning Claire and Matthew found the key and removed it from its holder, then locked it into the pantry.  I'm no dummy, I keep a spare key so that situations like this don't occur.  Unfortunately, the little container that holds the spare keys is hidden away somewhere.  Could be in a random box somewhere or maybe even still in the cabinet at our old house (we brought the doorknob from the old house - we're cheapskates like that).  Now Claire and Matthew are in big trouble for their sneaky behavior.  I told them we can't go to Grandma's house until we get the pantry opened.  Claire really wants to get to Grandma's house so she's tearfully trying to find a solution.  One of her best solutions was that we need an ax and then we can buy a new pantry door!  But the winner is that we need to buy a new doorknob.  I told her that a new doorknob would cost $22 and she would need to get the money from her piggy bank.  She said ok and ran off to get the money.  I laughed and told her that she doesn't need to use her money to buy a doorknob.  She said, "Mommy, kids don't care about money!  We don't spend it."  Now her Rapunzel piggy bank is sitting next to my keyboard and she is begging me to just use her money to buy a new doorknob so we can go to Grandma's house.  I think I will have to give in and agree to look for the key when we get home from Grandma's house.  I hope all of the tears will make her remember that we do not lock the key in the pantry!!!!

Gotta Laugh

A good sense of humor is definitely a necessary character trait to survive as a mother of 4.  So far today I have a few things that had to make me laugh....

Tyler:  Mommmmmyyyyy!  Kate is covered in something yellow.  It's even on her arm.  I think it's poo!
*And it was definitely a big poo mess!  So fun!

Claire's behavior calendar from school was yellow today.  (Green is best.  Then it goes yellow, orange, red.)  Claire tried to scribble out her teacher's note explaining why she was yellow.  Lucky I'm skilled in reading messed up writing from my years as a teacher, so I could make out "Making inappropriate noises."  When I asked Claire to demonstrate what noises she was making, she put her forearm up to her mouth and made a nice loud fart sound.
*Yes that would be my adorable little 5 year old girl making  noisy fart sounds in 1st grade!

Matthew:  Mommy, check.  Did I get all the poo off my bum? (As he bends his full moon over for me to inspect his wiping skills.)

*This brings me great happiness because it sure beats wiping the poo myself.  :)

Me to Kate:  We don't eat dirty diapers.
*Don't need to say any more.

Matthew jumped into the air, pulled his arms in to his chest and made a full spin before he landed.
Then Matthew asked me:  Do you know what that was?
Me:  No
Matthew:  A tornado!
*That one made me laugh so hard.  :)

And the very best moment of my day goes to Claire.  We were watching a movie tonight.  Claire climbed up in my chair with me and ever so seriously and compassionately looked at me and said, "I'm sorry about your fat tummy."
*Gotta love her sincerity!

I'm sure there will be plenty more funny things.  But these were my favorite.