Oh, Snap!

Yesterday Carson and I were talking about something. I can't remember exactly what it was now, but it had something to do with her not being able to do a particular activity that she wanted to do.

When I told her she couldn't do whatever it was, she said, "Oh snap!" I laughed, recalling that that is what the characters in Chicken Little say when things go wrong.

Then she said, " Don't worry Mom. 'Oh snap' isn't a bad word. But 'oh crap' is a bad word, huh?"

I guess I need to come up with a different word to use when things go wrong.

Why Do I Do This To Myself?

I have mentioned before that I'm not the world's greatest housekeeper. This weekend, Brad and I are having our first ever house guests and I have a very deep need to present a clean home for them to stay in.

I know what you're thinking. Yes, we just moved into this house. How messy could it be, right? Let me enlighten you.

In the last two days, I have done approximately 385 loads of laundry. Sheets, towels, light clothes, dark clothes, whites, and then allover again. Then I stuck the kids in there so that the clothes they were wearing would be clean. Oh, don't worry, they loved it.

I have vacuumed my living room so many times that I won't be surprised when my vacuum finally says, "ENOUGH!" and blows up.

I have cleaned the bathrooms and the kitchen, but with eight people living in this house, that effort is futile until the last moment. If you have any tips on how to effectively teach kids to clean up after themselves let me know. Right now I just threaten them with an atomic wedgie, but obviously that hasn't been working for me.

I am so excited to have my brother and his family here that I want to make them as comfortable as possible so that they want to come back again sometime. I'm sure they would tell me not to bother, that they love me even if I am totally out of control. But, I need to do this. I'm convinced that if I had to live through the embarrassment of them seeing my house in such disarray, that the universe will implode. It's that serious.

It seems that Cody has inherited my defective cleaning gene. Her room is a constant disaster. Sometimes, when I walk in there, I think I am in the movie Poltergeist and that her room must be possessed to have become as messy as it is.

I recently relayed this to my mom who said, "Like mother, like daughter." Thanks mom. "Exactly," I replied, "that's why I'm trying to save her from a lifetime of messiness." And Mom reassured me, "I tried that too." Great. I cried in despair, "So my efforts are futile?" With doom in her voice she answered, "Yes, I'm afraid so."

I am currently searching for a support group for us to join.

Silas' Take

Hi. I think my parents named me Silas, but they always call me "baby Si." I'm pretty new to this world, I'll be seven weeks old tomorrow. I have learned a lot in my short little life though. I know that when I cry my mommy will pick me up and cuddle with me. And if she's busy then my daddy or one of my brothers and sisters will take over.

Sometimes my short brother with the blond hair bonks my head and I cry really hard because it hurts my feelings. This is what my brothers and sisters look like:

I think everyone here loves me very much, but I can't figure out why they are always putting their lips on my face. Oh well, I guess I'll get used to it.

I like to eat. It's really my favorite thing to do. This morning my mommy said I look like a little sumo wrestler, whatever that is. My mommy looks like this:

I like it when she holds me and I expect her to do so all day long.

I'll tell you a secret. I have my daddy wrapped around my little finger. He looks like this:

I like music very much, almost as much as I like pooping. And when I'm awake and lying on Mommy and Daddy's bed, I like to look at this:

Fascinating, isn't it? I could stare at it for hours.

Sometimes my mom puts me in the kitchen sink with some water. I find it very relaxing.

I am learning to smile. Every once in a while I manage to smile and coo at Mommy or Daddy and they just go crazy. At first, it scared me but now I really like it and I'm doing my best to smile more.

That's all for now. Check back later because I get cuter everyday!

Lemonade Anyone?

Brianna, Cody, and Carson have been begging to have a lemonade stand for about a week. The weather had other plans. But today we finally had a nice day and they were very excited. Brianna came up with the idea of having a "wacky" theme for their stand, hence the costumes. If you look closely you can see a very unhappy Memphis trying desperately to join the fun.

The scene was pretty adorable. Every time a car passed, Cody ran around hollering like an Indian, Carson would do the hula, and together they would shout, "Buy some wacky-tacky lemonade!" When I finally liberated Memphis, he would raise his arms and shout with them, only his sounded more like, "Ahhhh-da-da-ba-doo-ma!!" Or something like that.

I guess their gimmick worked. They made $11.50 in just over an hour. Not too shabby.

Comfortable?

Worm Art

Today we did worm art. That's not a typo. Carson's science lessons lately have centered around soil and how it has everything that plants need to grow. The suggested art project for yesterday was to put a blob of paint onto a piece of construction paper and then to drop a worm into the paint. The purpose was to illustrate the tunnels that a worm makes in soil.

The worms are supposed to inch along the paper dragging the paint with them. This happens when the worms you choose are young and spry and not deprived of oxygen. I am obviously not someone who cares for worms on a regular basis because I didn't think twice about keeping them stored with their tub inside a plastic bag. Worms have to breathe too ya know.

Of course, I knew the more kids we had grossing out over the worms, the better, so I invited Nicole and her kids to share in our fun. She was very grateful. I believe her exact words were, "What if the boys eat the worms?" A valid point.

So, this morning we set seven kids at the table and we had a total of eight worms that survived. A couple of them even squirmed in the paint a little. Overall though, the worms were a flop.

Carson livened things up when she shouted, "Mom! I need a new worm because I broke mine." Sure enough, she had two pieces of worm. Nice. That coupled with Claire feeling the need to toss her dead worm's carcass from hand to hand and give everyone else an extreme close-up of the corpse, really made this project less disgusting. Needless to say, no worm autopsies were performed. Cause of death: oxygen deprivation followed by drowning via paint.

Misdirection

Cody went to Girl Scout camp this past weekend. She had a great time hiking and swimming and bonding with the girls in her troop. I think it was really, really good for her to do new things with girls her own age. She can't wait to go back.

While she was there, she sent me a postcard. I got it yesterday. In the message section it simply says "I love you Mommy," which is perfectly cute all on it's own. But, the address section is so precious that I will be saving this postcard forever:

Mommy
456-7890

(Of course that's not our real phone number, so please don't call it. Unless you're still 14 and enjoy that sort of thing.)
It's good to know that she has our phone number memorized, maybe it's time to work on the address?

Twins!

My baby looks just like her Daddy. People have been saying that since she was just a few hours old, and while I agreed then, I have never seen them look so much alike as they did this morning. I'm just hoping she doesn't inherit his 5 o'clock shadow.

Lesson Learned

During the painting of the kids' room, Memphis' crib was on it's side and covered in plastic. I suppose we could have uncovered it at bedtime, but I wasn't too keen on the idea of having my asthmatic child sleep in a room that was saturated in paint fumes. So, I decided to let him sleep with Brad and I. It was really our only choice.

Have you ever tried to sleep with a tornado that never stops talking?

He was up much later than usual so I thought he would be so tired that he'd just conk out. Wrong. When we finally got him to sit still he kept chanting, "MA!....MA!....MA!....MA!" at the top of his lungs. This went on for probably ten minutes and nothing would make it stop. At one point, I even got about two inches from his face and said, "Stop saying MA!!" and it didn't slow him down one bit.

He finally dozed off and Brad and I were very relieved. Stupid. What Memphis did in his sleep made me realize that he's going to have to be in his crib for at least another six months. I didn't know that a person could be so active while sleeping. He thrashed around smacking Brad and I in various places all night long. He was on the pillow, then at the foot of the bed, then laying on Brad's head, then on my feet. I swear, it's no wonder the kid only weighs 22 pounds.

Of course, at some point, Silas woke up to eat and Memphis was also awakened. He lay there very quietly for a few minutes and then positioned himself directly over Brad's ear and said, "DOH!" I'm not sure I'll ever forget the response Brad gave from his half-comatosed state. He looked at Memphis and without missing a beat said, "Go to sleep, DOH!" I had to contain my laughter.

Anyway, we have learned our lesson. No more sleeping with Memphis.

Color?!?

I am going to do something I've never done on this blog before. I am going to publish some color pictures. I know, I know crazy, right? Don't get used to it because I'm switching back immediately after this post.

My dad and step-mom came to visit last weekend and somehow let Carson convince them that they needed to paint her and Memphis's room. Here are the results:

The houses represent our house, Brad's mom's house, my mom's house, Brad's dad's house, and my dad's house. There are three different cities connected by a single highway. We plan to add some more detail here and there, but overall I think it turned out really neat.

This was Carson's contribution:

Meyson took one look at it and said, "Hey! Who added the death sticks?" It is now hidden behind a bookcase.

Oh, and yes, the ceiling is now the sky.