Spiderman, Spiderman. Does whatever a six-year-old can.

This boy.

He's growing up.

He has his first loose tooth.

He told his father the other day, "You don't know what I'm feeling!" in regards to wanting to play video games. (His father responded that actually, he knew exactly what it felt like to be a little boy who wanted to play video games.)

He's getting more defiant.

But he's also learning important things about life.

This morning, the first thing he did was ask if I could help him with his workbook. He wanted to play on the (now password-secured) computer but knew he needed to do his chores first. I told him that I would love to help him.

We sat down for breakfast and he began working as he was eating. Consequently, he was a little bit slower to finish his cereal. The Hulk finished before him, and stated that he had been first. (Everything's a competition with those boys. I have a feeling it's a phase they will never grown out of.) Spiderman, who is nearly always the winner, started to get upset that he wasn't in 'first place.'

"Spiderman," I said, "you made a good choice. You chose to do your work book so it took you a little longer to finish your cereal and that's okay. Because now you have TWO things done!"

He perked up a bit at that.

A few minutes later, he said, "I like making good choices."

My heart melted a bit, and I told him I was glad he liked making good choices.

"Because it makes Heavenly Father happy."

My heart melted even further. I asked him, "Do you know who else it makes happy?"

He shook his head, not knowing the answer.

I pointed to his chest.

"Me? Oh, yeah! Good choices make ME happy, too!"

Slowly but surely, he's getting it.

Do you know what I just LOVE?

A bowl of cereal spilt on my freshly mopped floor.

Kids asking the same question over and over and OVER again when you've already given them an answer.

Little itty bitty spiders. IN MY HOUSE.

Going to bed exhausted, only to be unable to fall asleep until after midnight.

Then having a child wake at 4 am.

Mutant mosquitoes who give my kids bites that swell and pus.

When someone kills a bug, then just leaves it there.

Being so engrossed by a book, I can't stop thinking about it, but being too busy to read it except in the bathroom.

Migraines. Yeah. LOVE migraines.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You may have surmised that I'm being sarcastic. You are very clever. But for those of you unable to pick up on the sarcasm and think I'm bitter, here are a few things I sincerely love:

My boys talking about 'aminals.' And asking me to build Lego castles with them.

Miss Marvel *finally* saying 'mama.'

And being completely irresistible.

Superman bringing home a case of DPP from his work for me.

Blogging from my phone.

So what are YOU loving lately?

Three for Thursday

Three excuses:

1. He started it! (I HATE this one. I honestly, truly, do NOT care who started it.)

2. I was on my super-cool new smart phone.

3. The price of beef is going up. So is the price of milk, and chicken, and cereal, and chocolate.....

Three favorite children’s books:

1. The Piggy in the Puddle by James Marshall.

2. The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Sciezka

3. You are Special by Max Lucado

Three decorating styles I like:

1. NieNie's. {vintage}

2. Calico's. {simple, eclectic}

3. My own. {traditional, contemporary}

Three things I do differently than my mother: (Hi, Mom!)

1. My children play video games (though I'm pretty sure my mom had it right).

2. I blog.

3. My mother was surprised by the gender of each of her children, and I always thought I wanted that, but I don't.

Three things I’m waiting for:

1. A minivan.

2. Big Bang Theory 5 days a week on the CW in the fall.

3. The discovery of a rich, nearly-dead distant relative with a special fondness for witty/sarcastic young mothers.

Three things I want to be when I grow up:

1. A finisher

2. Organized

3. The kind of woman my daughter wants to be.

Three things I do because they’re good for me and NOT because I like doing them:

1. The dishes

2. Stick to a cash-only diet. (I should say TRY to stick to it. I really do try.)

3. Keep the cable turned off.

Three things I appreciate about my middle child:

1. The sparkle in his eye.

2. His most adorable metathesis's. Flosted Fakes, gollos (girls) (also probably not a metathesis but still cute) and I can't think of any more. At five he has lost most of his cute speech idiosyncrasies.

3. His sense of humor. The kid is genuinely funny.

Three truths about me:

1. I felt like a huge mom failure today. (Post for another day.)

2. I stay up way too late.

3. I need friends. Not saying I need more. Just that I, in general, need friends. I need other women.

Three pictures:

Miss Marvel edition

Just Monster being Monster.

I realized today that I never posted pictures of Lil' Miss' room. It's not as cute as I want it to be, but it is what it is. Her crib was under the window until she started messing with the blinds instead of going to sleep.

A better view of the shelves. This entire wall is book shelves. I hope to paint them white one day. Especially that lovely wood paneling behind the shelves. I'd like to paint the paneling and walls a pale pink.

So there you have it, posted last minute on a Thursday, as per usual.

On being vertically challenged

Did you know that I am short?

I think that most of the people reading this charming little blog have met me in real life and know that I am barely five feet tall. It's always a bit interesting meeting people who have known me only through blogging because they generally seemed a bit surprised by my lack of stature. I try to wear heels to most events, but if I ever have to take them off, I can count on hearing more than one comment about my "petiteness."

Since I have always been short, it is something I am simply accustomed to. It's not at all strange to me that I have to hop onto the counter top to reach anything above the second shelf in my cabinets. When I went to the store with my children in baby carriers, I couldn't put them in the front seat of the basket because I wouldn't have been able to see over it.

I am admittedly not a great housekeeper, and only dust when I see the dust accumulating, like on the end tables and piano. But every now and then when I go about dusting ALL my furniture, I am shocked at how much there is! But I don't SEE all the dust on top of my mantle, or the top of my book case. Out of sight, out of mind. I just forget that it's in everyone ELSE'S sight.

We went a few weeks ago to a small amusement park to drive go-karts with the boys. When I asked how old kids had to be to ride by themselves, the employee simply pointed to a red line on the wall, saying that they had to be that tall.

The line was at my eye level.

I'm used to always looking up to people when I talk to them. I always need to have the seat pulled all the way forward when I drive a car.

But even then, sometimes it's not enough.

Do you remember last week when I mentioned our Explorer breaking? Even then, I had a feeling it may have broken because I am short. That feeling proved to be correct. The mechanic told us, "It's like someone just stepped on the gas pedal at the wrong angle and it popped off. All we did was reconnect it."

That's right. I broke the gas pedal by stepping on it wrong. Because I'm too short. I could only touch the very bottom of the pedal, and that wasn't enough. (To be sure, the fact that it's a 1993 Exploder had something to do with it, but STILL. If my legs were 3 inches longer, it wouldn't have happened.)

For the record, we were charged $40 for the tow and another $5 for labor. Our total was $48.73. We love you, Mc Auto Repair!

So while I'm glad that the repair was relatively inexpensive, I'm still a bit angry that my lack of height is the reason that our car broke.

I find the whole thing embarrassing and amusing, and I am now going to Google medical procedure for lengthening legs.

Three for Thursday

Thanks, Evelyn, for bringing back my favorite meme!

~~Three confessions:

1. We sleep with the A/C blowing, a ceiling fan going AND a desk fan on, just so that I can continue to sleep with my heaven-made Vellux blanket. Energy-wasting, much?

2. I am a closet-nerd.

3. I am still struggling with teaching the youth in Sunday School.

~~Three things I do to beat the heat:

1. Head to Seven Peaks

2. Hit up Sonic's Happy Hour for a Rt. 44 Diet Dr. Pepper

3. Run in the sprinklers with the kids.

~~Three lessons, skills, or new tricks I have learned this past month:

1. I learned how to clean out my central vacuum filter. Lots and lots of dog hair.

2. Always wear sunscreen.

3. Even if you've got 500 lbs. of rice and beans in food storage, you can't eat them unless you have a way to cook them. (Application: we need a propane stove for our food storage. Or a fire pit.)

~~Three things that motivate me to be a better person:

1. Spiderman

2. The Hulk

3. Miss Marvel

~~Three things I would do if I wasn’t “Mommy”, married, and burdened with cares:

1. Shop. Till I DROP. Then pick myself up and keep shopping.

2. Travel Europe.

3. Finish my degree.

~~Three people I call first:

1. Superman

2. My Mom

3. Kelli (BFF/SIL)

~~Three things I changed about my parenting after testing them out on my guinea pig child (first child):

1. No more cups of milk in bed.

2. Preschool is no longer optional. It is a must.

3. Some things that DID work for Spiderman didn't work for The Hulk. I learned that every child is completely different. (A novel concept. I know.)

~~Three things that make me cry:

1. Patriotic songs. (The last verse of The Star-Spangled Banner really got to me on Sunday.)

2. Tender mercies. Story: Remember how I broke our car last Saturday? We towed it to our favorite auto repair shop and found it would cost less than $50 (including the tow!) to fix.

3. Youtube videos. Story: I was bored on the internet a few nights ago and ended up reading Post Secret Archives. Bad idea. After 10 minutes of reading about people hating their fathers, wishing they were dead and not believing in God, I was really depressed. So I went to Ellen's Youtube channel for a laugh. I laughed so hard at this video that I cried. Seriously -- how can a man not figure out jumping jacks?!

~~Three things I’m going to accomplish before the summer is over:

Sheesh. Evelyn, I am not a list maker. I don't have goals for the summer. Summer is for fun!! But if I have to come up with something......

1. Take a real vacation with Superman. Our first ever sans kids.

2. Get my garden weed free.

3. Finish the dishes, laundry and mopping so that I never have to do them again.

~~Three pictures:

Spiderman has made a new bedroom for himself in the closet in our family room. He's got his pillow and blanket and has been sleeping there each night since Sunday. He's got his backpack, robe, toys and an alarm clock in there, as well. Kids are so funny.

This is a picture of a picture. (Or a picture of a scrapbook page, to be more accurate.) This was The Hulk's first time doing fireworks and I practically get giddy over the expression on his face. He had essentially the same expression this last week when we lit sparklers and it made me remember this picture.

I walked past Miss Marvel's room yesterday and found her sitting in the glider, reading books. One of the cutest things ever. I hope to instill a love of reading in this girl.

That's it for this week's Three for Thursday! Feel free to join in and/or link up to Evelyn at Hanging by a Silver Lining!!!!

A Tragedy of Errors or A Comedy of Errors?

Today started out pretty great.

I woke up on my own around 8:15. Yes, that's right, I woke up ON MY OWN. Not one of my kids was up before me, asking for breakfast or yelping for a diaper change. It's a glorious thing to be able to wake up completely of your own accord.

Superman and I made a breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs for our family. It was delicious. I taught a piano lesson, then did the dishes and cut Superman's hair. After Miss Marvel napped and everyone ate lunch, we went shopping for a new cell phone carrier (tips, anyone?) then to a small "Colonial Days" event in our town.

As we came home and I pulled into the driveway, I stepped on the gas pedal for one last push into the garage. Now, I'm short, so I can really only reach the bottom part of the pedal. When I tapped it with my toe, it's like the pedal just gave out. Like I snapped it off. The pedal is still attached to whatever it is that it's attached to in the engine, but it's just lying against the floorboard.

Not. Good. I'm glad it happened as I was pulling into the garage instead of on the road, but it's still NOT GOOD.

We all piled into the house, and Superman and I sat around for about 20 minutes, trying to figure out what we were going to do about the car. Eventually, we decided to just cook dinner and worry about the Explorer (a.k.a Exploder) when shops opened up again.

I bought some ears of corn and a box of hamburger patties for this weekend, so Superman started up the grill. We put the corn on the grill first. Then we got out the hamburger patties and found that all FORTY of them were FROZEN TOGETHER. Bits of wax paper separated the patties, but they were all still frozen together. (This may or may not be related to the fact that it took me over an hour to get home and put in them in the freezer after buying them. Whoops.)

Superman tried to let them thaw next to the grill, but it wasn't really working. We broke a small stack off and put it in a baggie and under hot water, but that was also inefficient. We finally saw a note on the side of the box about thawing them in the microwave, and ended up doing that.

When we finally had meat ready to BBQ, we realized that the grill was out of propane. {Sigh.} Not a big deal, I told myself. I pulled out our George Foreman grill and proceeded to set it up in the kitchen.

At some point during all this, I realized that the hamburger buns were frozen. I pulled the package out of the freezer and put them in the sun to thaw. I thought that it had worked, until I pulled out buns for the kids. Partially thawed, but still partially frozen. I remember telling Superman, "I will NOT cry." I pulled out the toaster and warmed the buns.

When it came time for my burger, I wanted to make sure that my bun wasn't cold at all. So I upped the time on the toast a bit. After popping the buns in, I started getting drinks for everyone and chips and all the other stuff that comes with feeding kids dinner. About 2 minutes later I remembered my bun. It was still in the toaster, and STILL TOASTING. It was BLACK.

At that point, I actually screamed. "AAAAAUGH!" Then I took a deep breath, threw the bun away, and put another one in the toaster. This time I stayed by the toaster and waited for it to be done.

As I prepared my buns with mustard and ketchup (which I accidentally put on the top of the bun instead of the bottom) (which I HATE) I said, "This burger had better be good."

Luckily, it was. I washed it down with a Diet Dr. Pepper. I hadn't planned on that -- in fact, I had a pitcher of pink lemonade sitting on the table. But the stress of a supposedly simple meal had really gotten to me.

The burger was good, DDP was refreshing, and Cool Ranch Doritos are never a bad choice. I was beginning to think that I could just close my eyes and everything would go away.

Then Miss Marvel climbed on to the table and knocked over the pitcher of pink lemonade.

It was a laugh or cry moment. I knew I had a choice to make.

I started laughing as I mopped up the mess. Once I started laughing I couldn't stop. Superman looked at me like I was a certifiable loon.

Marjorie Pay Hinckley's said, "The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."

I have a testimony of that statement.

Laughing is SO much better than crying.