Paper, paper everywhere

Lately our pair of princesses have had a fascination with scissors. It started with valentines, but has moved on to cutting shapes out from stencils and coloring books, and then Princess D has moved on to drawing her own paper dolls and cutting them out. Grandma S gave us a set of scissors that all have different shaped edges last summer, and these have been the girls tools of choice. I have a curly haired paper D doll w/ curvy edges all around sitting on my desk right now.

Baby guy has also discovered the joy of art. He's too little for scissors, but has found deep satisfaction in learning how to scribble. He usually starts on paper, but right now prefers a larger canvass with a more vertical incline. He is especially partial to the color red, but today has discovered green. After all, some of our curtains are green. It matches.

All of this creativity has taken it's toll on our home. The floor of my back living room looks like we hosted a parade with extra confetti. Our vacuum has to be taken apart almost daily to clean out the paper clogs...the pieces that were too small to pick up easily, but when combined w/ the dirt from the floor make cement. I need to buy stock in Clorox Green Cleaner and Magic Erasers for all the wall cleaning I do each week.

Yes each week, not each day. Some days I just want to soak it all in. My bigger kids don't make these kinds of messes anymore, but they don't come to me with paper hearts cut out w/ bat wing edges either. Their world is not centered as much around mom as it is around school and friends. Our little kids will grow out of it soon too. The confetti on the floor is merely celebrating the joy of youth.

Happy Valentine's Day!

So far, my favorite valentine is a pink elephant with a heart on it. It kinda made me think of Dumbo at first. I really need to borrow that movie from Grandma. Princess D made a whole army of these yesterday, using scissors with various edges, giving her elephants very unique looks. She's an elephant addict.

Breakfast was the traditional holiday fare. Baby Guy had a cookie. Abe had a cherry turnover. The rest of them ate cereal and some candy.

It seems our kids liked all of their valentines. There's some contention about the bars of soap though. I guess I should have gotten them all one, not just the kids who were super-allergic. Really, it's not the soap they want anyway. It's the little plastic toy inside the glycerin bar. Who knew a butterfly and an octopus could start such a fuss.

And what about US? You know, me and dh? How about goo-goo eyes? How about candles? How about unmentionable underthings and saucy thoughts?

Well, I did buy Mr. M a Valentine's Day present, along with another small gift for our "real" anniversary as he calls it. He was very excited about receiving them. They kept him up until 11:30 pm last night since I gave him his presents a little early. Who knew Differential Geometry and Mathematical Logic books could be so exciting?
Perhaps what's even more pathetic is I called him from the bookstore so he could help me pick them out. The farthest I got in math was Calculus 2. The stuff he's into is way beyond me.

Our hot plans for this evening include him taking our oldest four to Blue and Gold with his parents, and me staying home w/ the toddlers. Hot dogs and beans are on the menu. At least he gets a pasta dinner. And I get to watch something besides basketball on a Saturday. Maybe it's a happy Valentines day after all.

Kids are so creative.

Sometimes in funny ways. This morning our youngest three were playing leapfrog, sort of. They knew they weren't supposed to jump on the couch, so they simply moved the couch cushions onto the floor. They were contentedly leaping in a line, then racing to the back to "do it 'gain."

Right now, Princess D is exploring the wonderful world of scissors with edges. Tomorrow is valentines day and she's trying to make the perfect heart, with an elephant on it of course.

Last night, after PTA, I got to see my second grader's art displayed in the hall. His castle is wonderfully created. His castle demonstrated a knowledge of how to make things look "3-D" beyond his peers. It's always nice to see your child's talents shine.

Sometimes siblinghood stinks

Sometimes it really stinks to be one of six kids. In the last twenty-four hours I've had two reminders of this.

This morning, our kindie called this morning from his teacher's phone.
"Mo-om. Could you bring me my backpack?"
"I'll bring it when I pick you up. We can take a couple minutes to load it then."
"But mo-om."
"I'm sorry honey, but it's cold. It's raining....and Princess P isn't even up yet."
No way I was waking up a sleeping two year old over a backpack. Mean mommy? Depends on who you are. I'm pretty sure all three of the younger kids were happier this way.

I can hear his teacher in the background. "Did she talk to ya?"
"Yes. She said no." The disappointment in his voice almost made me cry.
"Well, that's okay. Say goodbye" his teacher chirps.
"Good-bye." Click. Pangs of mommy guilt, but I have to do what's best for the whole herd. More guilt....he's only in kindergarten. Well, he'll learn responsibility this way. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Then, with that sinking feeling I think back to last night.
"Mom, Abe won't let me borrow his DS for the slumber party. ALL three of the other boys going have one."
"I'm sorry honey, but I agree with your brother. Besides, I don't think a DS belongs at a slumber party anyway."
"I'm the only one that doesn't have one!"
"Well, you can earn yours in third grade by getting straight A's the 4th quarter just like your brother did." I'm saying this, but I'm wondering if he didn't have four younger siblings if things might be different.

Then again, he enjoys his four younger siblings immensely. Seeing him baby talk to Baby Guy, race remote control cars with Chip, and how gentle he is with his sisters is really worth more than any video game system in the world. He just doesn't realize it now.

Some mondays just feel like Monday.

Today it is raining and windy. Our older kids were all out of sorts before school. Our oldest was in a huff because he hasn't had a hot lunch in a week. Our second grader couldn't find his lunchbox and forgot his backpack. Chip was just his hyper happy self, which annoyed the rest of us who weren't awake or cheerful yet. Baby Guy started the day with an overflowing poopy diaper. Wonderful. At least Mr. M stuck around to help this morning. He is my silver lining.

The girls sensed my mood and chose to play in their rooms until nine or so. Baby Guy played nicely after his diaper change. I got a bunch of picking up and vacuuming done. Somehow cleaning always cleans up my attitude. Nothing calms rage like a vacuum cleaner. Except possibly scrubbing the kitchen floor. So my usually messy house is really a sign of contentment. My kids worry when I serioiusly clean. Their first question is "Who's coming over?" If the answer is "no one" their next one is, "who are you mad at?" Darn them and their perceptive little natures.

Now I'm sitting at the puter, and Princess P brought me a mirror book. The first page is about the sun. So she looks in the mirror w/ the sunbeams framing it and I sing "You are my Sunshine." My kids really do make me happy when skies are grey.

Yesterday was groundhog day.

I can't believe how excited our kids were coming home from school. You would have thought they had had a party. The boys burst through the door after running all the way home.
"Mom. Guess what?! Phil saw his shadow.We have six more weeks of winter! "
(Uh-huh, as opposed to the 42 days if he doesn't see his shadow?)
Chip was sick, so today he caught up on his groundhog stuff. He is now wearing a groundhog hat and has a groundhog puppet that pops up out of it's hole.
What really cracked me up is that the zoo had "hedgehog" day instead. I guess any ole critter that casts a shadow will due. Why didn't they do "meerkat day?" At least they pop out of the ground.
Any way we look at it, I appreciate groundhog day. It shows kids that a holiday can be fun with no commercialism whatsoever, and that's a lesson worth learning.

Anyone who's been in our home knows that crayola gets a good chunk of our budget. Red twistable is apparently the "in" color for kitchens these days. At least that's what Baby Guy thinks. This morning he was putting red stripes on our wall by the fridge while saying "bad, bad,bad,bad." He then gleefully ran away and threw the crayon at me. Good thing he's only one.

It's not like us adults act any better. Last night I wanted an Angry Whopper from BK...so dh went through the drive thru and I was telling myself "bad,bad,bad,bad." What can I say? I'm a sucker for a burger with fried onions on it.

Who do we think we're kidding? We all know we're going to be "caught." Nap time comes a little early some days. We need new jeans for all the wrong reasons, and it isn't water weight this time.

Thankfully we usually have the opportunity to right things too. Twistables are usually washable, and always paint overable. A whopper tonight, an apple for breakfast tomorrow.
It's all good.