10 More Days!?!?!?!

Oh, sweet blessedness that is the first day of school... How I long for you. How my children long for you. This summer has been miserable without your impending joy and entertainment.

Yes, people, even my children are ready for that first day of school this year! There is no dread in this household. Oh, no! Just the opposite. My kids are bored. I am preoccupied with everything baby and it's too hot to send the older 2 outside to play. When it hasn't been too hot, it's been too wet (like these past few days, but boy have we needed that rain).

*sigh*

The end is in sight. That light at the end of the tunnel. That glorious sunrise after a long, dark night. That first day of school.

The kids have been at each others' throats the past few days. It's getting old. Yesterday, Aurora kicked her brother. Today, Ryan punched Aurora--in the face! Now, in each situation, they both deserved it. I'm sure of it. However, we need more constructive things to do than practice our self-defense skills.

Unfortunately, everything to do here in Tulsa requires $$$. Something of which we are lacking since I have not gone back to work. Oh, we're making do. But, that extra few bucks to go to McDonald's or some other childhood form of entertainment is out the window. It's been too hot to spend even a morning at the zoo. My kids are too loud for the library--when I take them. Rob swears up and down they're good and quiet for HIM when they go to the library! Such a strange phenomenon, that is.

In the meantime, we have rooms to clean and more messes to be made. With the weather turning cooler these past few days, I'm hoping a trip to the zoo can be placed on the agenda. We've got cabin fever.

Poor Aurora (FOD)

It has been a rough day here in the Rose household. These kids are so restless and this Mom is ready for school to start again. (12 more days--HOORAY!!!!)

I have had a short fuse today and the kids have pushed every button imaginable--even the baby! Now, I preface this with: I do not spank my baby. At all!

But, the older 2, I do still spank. Aurora, not so much anymore, since you can talk things through with her, but Bubba got multiple spankings today. He was told to do things and didn't; he was told not to do things and did them anyway. It's been a tough day for him.

Anyway, to get to the point: Aurora was sent to bed early tonight because she refused to eat her pizza. What warm-blooded American child doesn't like pizza? This is always a contentious point in our household. Furthermore, we have pizza once a week, so you think she'd learn by now, right? Oh, no. Not Aurora. She's a stubborn one.

As a result, I sent her to bed. Ellie was FINALLY taking a nap during our dinner time, so Ryan and I got to eat together--just the two of us. That doesn't happen very often, so I took full advantage of it. We ate our slices together and talked about The Avengers (well, as much as my knowledge would allow us). After dinner, we ate ice cream right out of the container. It was a sweet time.

When I was getting Ryan out of the shower tonight, Aurora opened her door and informed me that I loved Ryan and Ellie more than I love her. I said I didn't, so she downgraded their status to "Favorites". I told her that if I had any favorites, SHE would be my favorite first-born, Ryan would be my favorite son, and Ellie would be my favorite baby. Not to be outdone, I further mentioned that if Ryan was my favorite, why did he get 3 spankings today and she got none? That threw her for a loop. Her response was great, though:

"You've given me, like, 5 spankings today!" she said.

"I haven't spanked you once!" --Me.

"Yes you have. You've given me brain spankings. Those are the worst!"

I just laughed and kissed her goodnight. Where does she come up with these things?

Polish the floors... Not exactly what I meant

Yesterday, Aurora and I went to ULTA to purchase some beauty supplies. I got more makeup and Aurora spent her money on sparkly teal nail polish. This morning, she wanted to paint her fingernails herself. Against my better judgment, I let her paint them on the floor of the playroom. Ryan was in there, too. Somehow, the two of them collided. It resulted in an explosion of teal nail paint all over everything. Fortunately, the furniture was spared such a colorful swash of polish. My floors sparkle now; I seriously don't think the tiny sparkles from the nail polish will ever come off! MY hands are sparkly, too!

This is the mess. Apparently, Aurora was sitting right at Ground Zero and Ryan stepped down from on top of the step stool. This resulted in the nail polish bottle (which is glass) flying into the air and leaving a trail of teal about 4 feet long.



The fan was on in the playroom. This nail polish was drying fast! I did the best I could to get as much of it off the floor while it was still wet. The nail polish remover was almost full when I started the cleanup process.



It took nearly an hour to get it all up. I sent both kids to their rooms because they were each blaming the other. No one really wanted to take the fault for the accident. I didn't see a need to place fault on either for something that nobody had seen coming. I mean, how were they supposed to know that the playroom was going to be redecorated in 1994's most popular kitchen color?

By the time it was all said and done, quite a bit of the nail polish remover was gone. I went through 2 paper towels. The step stool is permanently stained with teal and sparkles. I think the floor looks pretty good, though. There certainly would be tears if I had not been able to get that stuff up. I'm also VERY grateful that this floor is not actual wood OR laminate. The surface would probably have been permanently damaged from the nail polish remover. Fortunately, there is a nice sheen to the floor now. Of course, it's probably just all the glitter catching the light from above!


And, of course, my hands were not immune to the teal's glittery splarkliness. This was the result of my hard work. I do wish that I could blame either of the kids for the mess, but the truth of the matter is: I let her buy the nail polish. I let her paint her nails in the playroom. I didn't stand watch while said teal polish was in use. Nor did I think about the fact that the polish was in a glass bottle. As many of you well know, glass containers and young children do not mix. Lesson learned. The hard way.

We Survived the SBC 2011

Rob was in Phoenix, AZ working at the LifeWay booths at the Southern Baptist Convention for the past week. This means that I was left home alone with all 3 kids for a little less than a week. It really wasn't as bad as I feared it would be...

We took Rob to the airport on Thursday afternoon. Only a few tears were shed. The days kind of ran into each other, but I'm trying to do my best to remember.

************Public Service Announcement***************

I did not post on here or on facebook about Rob's trip while he was gone. I would like to take a moment, as a woman who has previously been stalked, to warn the dangers of letting people know too much about your life. Please don't let the internet know when you are home alone. Please do not use that check-in feature on your phone or social media device if you are anywhere alone. Please, use your common sense. Even if your facebook settings are set to a very secure setting, you are not truly secure online--ever!

******************************************************

Ok, now that's out of the way...

Friday went smoothly and the kids played really well together. Somebody was praying really hard for us. Not that my kids are hateful little you-know-whats, but they have a tendency to bicker like--well, like brother and sister, I guess.

Saturday, we went to a Lowe's Build & Grow clinic. The kids absolutely loved that! They felt so big with their hammers and nails. It was so adorable, I couldn't help but snap a photo.

We [barely] made it to church on Sunday. I tried to do both my hair and makeup. Since Ellie was born, the people at church only see me with either one or the other done up. This week, it was my make up. I may be too busy to notice that I miss Rob when he's gone, but apparently my slumber patterns notice. The bags under my eyes desperately needed cover-up.

It didn't help that Rob sent me THIS photo:

Yeah, not nice! He also mentioned how well he was eating. While he was out eating all sorts of high quality food, I ate 11 left-over sloppy joes while he was gone. Eleven!!! That's lunch and dinner every day, people!!! If I never see another sloppy joe in my life, it will be too soon!

I must say that it is kind of amusing that Rob came home with a sunburn. That's what you get for teasing this girl! God does really have quite a sense of humor.

We really didn't do a whole lot while he was gone; just a few projects around the house. The kids were pretty content with the things we did; painting, family movie nights, dog washing, bug killing, My Little Pony hair-braiding contests... You know, normal stuff. ;)

On Monday night, the kids tried to have a "Slumber Party" in Aurora's room. They were having a blast, hooting and hollering and playing board games. Around 10:30 p.m., Ryan came out and said Aurora was "bothering him" and that he would like to go to his own room. Hiding the smile that came to my lips, I told him he was welcome to go sleep in his own bed for the night. Within minutes, both kids were asleep. Hmmmm... I thought to myself, "I should let them do this more often during the summer. They're not bothering me and they're wearing themselves out."

That thought went completely out the window the following morning. Both kids were awake at 7:30 a.m. And, they were C-R-A-N-K-Y!!! *slaps forehead*

Tuesday was rough. The kids knew Rob was coming home that night and they were too excited to do anything. I did, eventually, get them to help me straighten up the house. It took vacuuming up a few items from their floors (which, btw, means that the vacuum's hose is now clogged with tiny toys and papers... Aaargh!) in order for them to actually clean their rooms!

There were storms forecast for the evening hours--the exact evening hours that Rob's flight was scheduled for arrival. Which meant that his flight was delayed. Which meant that the kids had to stay up even later. Which meant that they were going to be cranky again the following morning. But it was all worth it when they saw him in the airport. It was like watching those commercials when the soldiers come home. (Only, of course, Rob wasn't a soldier.) The kids ran to him and he picked them both up in his arms. A little melodramatic--to me, the military brat, for a week's worth of absence--but this is my family. I smiled and was so grateful for the scene that just played out. It fit us.

So, Rob is home now. Life is as it should be. I am hoping Rob gets a chance to go to the SBC in 2012. The city of destination? New Orleans!!! Oh, yeah! We will be going with him to that one!

My Interview

Aurora, with a french accent, came into the living room and announced that she was Marie J'Antae, a French "interviewer-kid". ;)

I went along with the act, only smiling while she was writing on her pad of paper. She asked me all sorts of grilling questions, like:

What is your full name?

What is your date of birth?

What is your favorite color?

Then, when the interview was over, she decided she needed to draw a sketch of me. She took her interview notes and her sketch and she is now writing a rough draft of my biography. (tee-hee)

I'm such a looker:

Funny of the Day via the Older 2

Aurora wears an old shirt of mine from my pre-Rob days. It is a graphic tee that says "BOYS ARE LIKE PARKING SPACES" on the front, with "all the good ones are taken" written on the back. Ryan can now read. He asked why all the good ones are taken.

Aurora answered: They're all married.

Ryan: Who's Mary?

Aurora: *sigh* No, Ryan, they are all MARRI-ED!!!

Ryan: Oh. Why are they all married?

Aurora: Well, the good ones are all married. The other ones are smokers and drinkers. No one wants to marry them! They stink!

Ryan: Oh! It's a good thing they're not married. We don't want a stinky Daddy.

Me: Shakes head and covers smile.

A Heat Stroke Waiting to Happen

So far this morning, I have spanked one child for not getting dressed and running around in his underwear. The other child did get dressed, but insists on wearing long sleeves, jeans and tennis shoes--with Christmas socks. The first child is still not dressed and the other child is still changing. How hard is it to put on shorts and a short-sleeved shirt? It's 2 items. I mean, come on! Even I did that this morning!

Oh, and to top it all off, they're both mad at me for making them wear weather-appropriate attire. This whole "train up a child in the way he should go" business is tough when your children behave like they should visit the Emergency Room for sunburn and heat stroke!

By the way, it's been half an hour since they started getting dressed. Neither one of them actually is dressed. Aaargh!!!

Yesterday's Funny of the Day

Ryan has been watching Super Hero Squad a lot lately. As a result, Aurora has been watching it, too. Last night, they had a conversation about the superheroes that went a little something like this:

Ryan: Are superheroes real?

Aurora: No, I don't think so. The only person with super powers that I know of is God.

Ryan: Yeah. He has the power of love.

Rob and I looked at each other and just smiled. I thought I was going to melt with the absolute sweetness that was oozing from my children. It kind of makes me wonder: Why don't we, as adults, ever think about stuff in that way?

Aurora's FOD (Funny of the Day)

Aurora's room looked like the Tazmanian Devil took a spin through it. I let her know last night before bed that she would have to clean it after school today. (I have to give nearly 24 hours of notice to psych her up for the task.) So, today when she got home she made sure to set the stage for proper bedroom cleaning:

"Closed for cleaning"

Under(wear them anyway)!!!

Aurora was getting ready for the shower this evening and came out with this puzzled look on her face.

"Why do we have to wear underwear?" she asked me.

"It helps keep your clothes clean." I answered. She looked at me like I had grown antlers, or something. "But, you still have to wash our jeans after we wear them!" She paused, crossed her arms and pouted, "It just doesn't make any sense!"

"Aurora, you have to wear underwear every day, whether it makes sense, or not!" I shooed her out of the kitchen and told her to get into the shower.

Her logic is sound, but I couldn't come up with a good enough reason for her to think underwear is beneficial. Any takers?

Why I Can't Have Anything Nice

I am dreaming of apartment living today. Back when we had no worries, no dogs, and no upkeep. Yes, I would much rather live in an apartment today.

We have been nursing our back fence for years, hoping it will last until the van is paid for in 2012. We've been patching it up and handling it with kid gloves. I'm just so sure that one of these storms is going to take this whole thing down. This fence has survived the ice storm in Dec 2007, the hail storm April 2008, various 40mph wind storms and tornado watches and warnings. However, it couldn't hold its own against an 8 year old girl.

That's right. Aurora took 3 planks out of this fence yesterday. I didn't notice it until I woke up this morning. Needless to say, I was livid! We have 2 dogs and they need to stay in our backyard. I told her she was NOT going to pull any more planks off, or we were going to make her pay for the replacement boards. I'm thinking about making her pay for at least a percentage of the cost. Little Stinker! I don't know why she gets these destructive motives in her head. What is it about things that she thinks she needs to tear it apart? I remember being a kid and wanting to build things. When I saw broken things, I wanted to fix them, not tear them down!

I've known about her Boppy for many months now. She decided one day that she didn't want her Boppy to have any more tags on it. No problem, right? Except the Boppy's tags are sewn into it! She pulled the tags off, which left a gaping hole in the side! I've made her live with it, since she obviously put a lot of effort into ripping the tags off. I mean, I can barely get those plastic tags off shirts--you know, the ones that fall off anyway after you wash and dry them 5 times? I have NEVER been able to get cloth tags pulled off anything. How does she do it? I am going to patch this hole up and put away her Boppy. It was the pillow I used when she was an infant and I'd like to say I'll hold onto it forever, but chances are I won't. In the meantime, it is worth it to patch it up. Fluff is falling out all over the place.

Upon inspecting the backyard, I noticed some other damages made by someone. I don't know who did this, but SOMEBODY has been peeling paint off the siding. The alleged culprit started with a hail mark, smaller than the size of a rice grain and began pulling the paint right off, one tiny piece at a time. All the paint chips are on the ground below the picture. For time and interest's sake, I saved you all from one more photo. *sigh*

And, then there are the dogs. I have many photos from all over the yard that look just like this one. It all started a few months ago with Salty digging for moles. We had moles in our yard and he would root around under the ground and get them. I don't know what ever happened to them, but shortly after he started digging for them, they disappeared. Good dog, right? Well, it was good until Sassy came along! My mom warned us that Sassy was a digger. I had no idea how serious she was! These dogs have come into the house with mud all over their paws and whiskers. I have tried to discourage it by giving them both baths immediately and saying no digging the whole time I'm spraying their faces with the shower head. It doesn't seem to be very effective. Their biggest hole is a foot deep and right next to our foundation.

See the photo at right:

Every time things like this happen, on top of all the other woes this house brings upon us (leaky chimneys, a potential sagging foundation, insufficient heating and air conditioning, water in the duct work, etc.), these little things are bugging me today. The one area of the house that we really didn't need to pay much attention to--the backyard--is now being destroyed. And, not by the elements. I can't blame Oklahoma for these things, can I? *sigh*