look what i found on my camera

It wasn't Miles and it wasn't Ben. Just Miyo playing around with something she's been told not to touch.

the mcdonald's experience from hell

As many of you already know, I DO NOT under any circumstances leave the house with all three children without one or more of the following: PCA, friend, or husband. It is just impossible, but with two weeks off of school and Ben and the rest of creation at work we were all stir crazy. Yesterday I took all three kids by myself to McDonald's Playplace, and it went off without a hitch. One could say it was even pleasant. So I decided to tempt fate and return today for some more. Today went much differently.

The first thing that went wrong was completely my fault. I told Miles to go get two baby cones for Murphy and Miyo, I thought they were free, or used to be, but just in case I sent along some money. He came back with two LARGE cones. So I gave them to Miyo and Murphy and sent Miles back to get himself one. I should have just given one to Miles and let Miyo and Murphy share. But I apparently was not thinking clearly. So they are licking them and dripping them everywhere and tipping them over the sides, which isn't bad, just wasteful. Miyo is lactose intolerant so I brought her pills with. They are chewable and I just give her one and she eats it, no problem. Well today, after handing it to her, I later find it on the tray. I track her down in the playplace and hand it to her and make her put it in her mouth again. She looks sad, and says, "Icky." And takes it out. I make her put it back in, lecturing her on how she has to take it or she will have a stomach ache...blah blah blah. But she keeps spitting it out and saying, "Icky." So I think... Uh oh, is this a Tylenol? Did I give my baby a Tylenol? The bottles are exactly the same shape, except for totally different labels. So I go in my purse and sure enough I tried to give my two year old a large 1000 mg Tylenol. She wouldn't do it thank goodness, for once, that she doesn't listen. So I gave her the correct pill, she ate it and ran away playing.

After a while I hear her screaming bloody murder and look up to see Murphy throwing her leg warmers and socks out of the netting at the top into the area that is blocked off underneath. So I try coaxing the screaming banshee out of the playplace, telling her not to worry, we'll get them. Miles goes and gets an employee and I explain what happened and where they are. I thought the lady could just walk right in no problem. She could go in a certain part freely after unlocking it, but then she had to crawl/lay pulling her body under a 1 ft. area of dust and McDonald's grease to get the legwarmers. So she comes out and I want to die when I tell her thank you, but there is still two pairs of socks on top of the tube. So she goes inside again, and has to do a pull up and lug herself up onto the tube to get the socks, the first one is right on top, but the second is around the other side, so she has to maneuver even more. I thank her profusely and look around at the PACKED playplace eating area of parents who are all staring at me and say to them, "We are so out of here!" No one laughs and I die a little more. So I get my hands on Miyo and start bundling her up in her coat and boots and mittens, while yelling to Miles to get Murphy out of the top of the playplace. He hadn't come down in over 20 minutes and didn't plan to. I can hear Miles huffing and puffing and saying, "MURPHYYYYY!" And everyone can hear Murphy screaming, "WE ARE ALL DONE!" So I go to the bottom of the slide because I can hear Miles corralling him at the top. I am trying to be positive with my, "Murphy, come see mommy." And finally after an eternity Miles gets Murphy in a headlock and they come smashing down the slide headfirst. I get Murphy into his winter gear while he screams, "WE ARE ALL DONE!" and look for Miyo. She is back in the playplace with all her winter clothing on. Miles is now running after her while she screams piercingly, "NO! NO! NO!" "LET GO A ME! YOU BE NICE-A ME! NO! NO!" So they are all corralled and I look around again and loudly declare to all the parents around, "We are never coming back here." And again no one laughs.

The best part of the whole thing is we finally get in the car, everyone is buckled in and I am putting the car into reverse and Miles says, "DRIVE, WOMAN, DRIVE!"

i stepped in a pile of shhhhhaving cream

Murphy was perfectly sanitary about all of this (to the best of a kid's ability not to get it anywhere). The little bit that got in his hair was Miyo touching him.

Miyo got it on the wall, the blinds, the curtains... and after clapping her hands a big clump got on Alason's shirt. When she touched her ponytails I made the mistake of laughing so she did it again.

And the biggest offender? Miles. This was a surprise. I thought he'd be the easiest, he is almost 9 and the oldest. After Alason and I got Murphy and Miyo into the tub, Miles showed up at the door to the bathroom with it everywhere, even on his feet. I followed the white footprints down the hall, towards the front door, through the kitchen, onto a chair, and up to the top of the counter.

i love this picture

We could only convince Murphy to sit for this picture for about 3 snaps of the shutter. But I think this one turned out cute. Miles is the king of the fake smile. Miyo is the queen of the over done smile. And Murphy is the king of the sly smile.

i am in love with miyo

Ben left for work this morning at about 6am. Miyo of course had climbed in our bed in the middle of the night. While he was dressing in the dark morning, she said, "It cold, okay? You wear a hat, okay?" Then later that morning I was preparing her to go to a funeral for a man from Ben's work and I had her dress on the chair in my room. She pointed at it and said, "This my dress. It beau-foe!"

miles verses the blowdryer

alert*do not read*if you have any morals whatsoever

All three of the kids are in the bathtub. Murphy is at attention (if you get my drift). Miles is dying of laughter and he says, "I've never changed it's color!" I might regret this post, but right now I have no foresight.

I miss them being so little:

murphy, my love, it's you i adore

Murphy and Miyo were in our bedroom watching a Baby Einstein video. Murphy came into the living room where Ben was and said, "No no!" So Ben came into our room to see what was up. Miyo had an entire bag of Mission tortilla chips emptied onto our bed and was in the middle of the mess playing. I am so excited. I have another tattler to spy on Miyo! I cannot tell you what a good thing this new school and classroom has been for him. He is doing so well. Today he came home with a ziplock with three Oreo Truffles with a note that said, "Oreo Truffles made by: Murphy". The "Murphy" part was obviously hand-over-hand help of him writing his own name. Super cute. On the other side was the picture you see above. So to all from his school that are reading, thank you so much, we not only appreciate everything you do,we love it.

Yesterday his note home said, "Murphy ate well @ lunch, and was in a great mood all day. *Aweful gas today." H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!

murphy and miyo love/miyo's friend is a hanger

Miyo is walking around this morning with a hanger. Yes, a clothing hanger, the kid's size plastic type, it's white. She dropped it and was like, "Are you okay? Are you okay?" She hugged it and patted it's back sadly, which was actually herself because it's a skinny hanger.

When Murphy leaves for school in the mornings she says, "Have a good day! See you. Bye bye!" When he comes home at night she says, "Miss you!" Then she tries to hug him, sometimes he hugs her back and sometimes he keeps walking, whether she's right in front of him, and in the way, or not.

The above pictures are the day he really discovered her existence. She was a couple weeks old. I had her in a chair and was taking pictures of her. He walked in the room and crouched next to her. He looked her straight in the eyes and started laughing. He looked her over and touched her lips, her nose, her eyes, her hands and fingers and feet. He put his arms around her and hugged her and smiled the whole time. She looked at him too, he was so close to her and they studied each other for like 2 full minutes. Not only did he notice her, but he liked her a little too. It was beautiful.

all the crazy snowflakes/scarfy-wrappy-thingy

murphy is cute/kasey is a maker of home

I know Kady has this on her blog too, but people read from Murphy's school so I am adding it to mine as well. Murphy was wearing cargo pants and someone asked what he had in his pockets and he said, "Posies." He's got a pocket full of posies, too bad it derives from people dying from the plague and having to have fragrant flowers put in their pockets to conceal the smell of death. Ew.

On a lighter note: I have taken up knitting as well, and I love it. I am addicted. I have already made a scarf and am on my second scarf/wrap. Next up dish rags! Isn't life exciting. I was also thinking of making a throw for the living room. The only problem is affording my new addiction, I want to buy yarn up the wazoo. Hanna taught me how to cast on and off (is that the right terminology? or as Ben would say, "Amish talk"). She also taught me how to make snowflakes with paper and scissors, I had to be reminded okay. So the entire kitchen is covered in snowflakes. I don't know, but I think I might be making them more for myself, because the kids aren't acting like they care very much. I feel very homey today, knitting, cutting snowflakes, I even made baking powder biscuits and all kinds of tea that I jarred in old bottles. Tomorrow I am making/jarring more peanut butter hot fudge, because the supply ran out (I want to say Skete and Hanna ate it all, but I helped).

murphy; the evolution of crazy hair.

Murphy at 20 months, just 4 months before diagnosis (two months after pediatrician said he wanted to see if he made any more progress at his next checkup in developmental abilities).

Murphy age 3, the first year of preschool.

Murphy aged 4, in his second year of preschool.

Murphy in Kindergarten, age 5.

Murphy age 5, in the second half of his Kindergarten year.

For some reason on Murphy's picture days in Kindergarten, I forgot that it was picture day, so the first time, I rushed to school and gave them gel to do his hair and brought him a shirt. The second time, Ben sent him to school and I forgot to tell him. Anyway...maybe because he doesn't care what he wears in his pictures, like Miles does, he always looks quite disheveled. I love it.

miles getting more and more scientific

Miles at 18 months:

Miles at age 4:

Miles in Kindergarten, age 5:

Miles second half of Kindergarten, the end of age 5, starting of 6

Miles in 1st grade, at 6 years ("I want to look scientific."):

Miles in 2nd grade, age 7(mohawk combover-haha):

Miles in the second half of 2nd grade, at the end of age 7, starting age 8 (getting more and more scientific):

miles the optimist?

We were watching Avatar, a cartoon that Miles loves. So the main characters are walking and they come to a bamboo stucture and Miles says, "It's so inspiring, it's so beautiful.! It's so spiritual, so...so incredible! It's...it's...it's an outhouse?" Super hilarious. It was just the background and had nothing to do with anything, except scenery. He really makes my day.

miles' parents vs spanish class fees

Miles had Spanish last year, and got above grade level scores. So this year when I received a note home saying that Spanish is now available after school two days a week it was my goal to sign him up. I just got the registration form. It is $375 + materials (which are approximately $22-$40). And in order to qualify for a scholarship you have to qualify for free or reduced lunches, which we don't. So I think the class will be filled with doctors' children and welfare students, but not Miles.

miyo is not good for the environment

This morning Miyo walked straight up to the garbage can and threw away a pacifier Kady bought in an emergency to have her spend the night. It isn't her brand and is too small, and she knows she has others. She is so deceptive too, she thinks I didn't notice and she was all quiet. I had asked her to throw away a crumb from her poptart that was on the kitchen floor, and she threw the pacifier instead. But there is a hole in her story: she left the crumb on the floor, and I heard something fall into the can. I am smarter, for now....

She just ran in singing, "Neber! Neber! Nebeeeeeeeeeerrrrr!" Which must be "never". Before that she was saying, "Seben, eight, nine." Now she is in Murphy's books pretending to read and being very animated. And she just walked in with his toy broom. Wow, she really goes from one thing to the next in 5 minutes.

this morning murphy

The bus driver told me it is very warm on the bus, so I shouldn't dress Murphy too warm, or he will want to strip on the bus. Murphy always plays outside before school, ever since he started riding the bus and going to school, (since he was three in preschool). So the point of all of this is: this morning Murphy had his snowpants in his backpack and proceeded to play all over the yard of deep snow. Even where Ben shoveled piles from the driveway where it is 3 feet high, he plowed right through. I kept trying to brush off his pants and encourage him to play at the van brushing the snow off (he really likes it, I'm not using him). He even came up to me and said, "Climb tree." So he was REALLY INTO playing outside this morning. I hope his pants aren't soaked at school, but he does have a backup pair, and I'm assuming that they have a dryer like at his old school, but maybe they don't want this inconvience, so tomorrow, he will be wearing his snowpants on the bus.

The teacher's note last night said that Murphy at calendar time said, "Monday, vegetable, 8." Like Monday, December 8. So adorable! I think it is from the Eric Carle book where they do food for the day of the week. Monday is string beans, but he always says vegetables instead of string beans.

Ben and I have become innovative! Maybe every one else out there is already good at this, but we are beginners. Murphy had huge cracks in his winter boots, they would get full of snow and were falling apart. Ben brought home super shoe glue and totally fixed them. Murphy and Miles both lost one glove/mitten, so this year until we can afford a new pair, Murphy has been wearing one glove and one mitten (the water proof kind). Miles has been wearing the regular cloth gloves, so he gets them soaking wet. Not using credit cards is good for the environment, one less pair of boots and gloves/mittens in the landfill because we didn't go out and just buy new.

miles is getting older

Miles has had two incidents that make me wonder if there are more. The first time it happened I talked to him and thought it was just an accident and he was innocent. But it just happened again. This time Skete was holding on to Miles and Miles said, "Get your hands off me you hobo." Of course I told him why he cannot say that. His excuse, "I said 'hobo'". Ugh! He is totally a boy too. The other day he said something about kicking someone in the "cash and prizes". And while these are funny things coming out of his mouth, I wonder what kind of man I am going to end up with?

miles takes after his grandma dianne

Miles, as you can see in the above picture, was at a karaoke party last spring with us. My mother was laughing and said that while he was on stage singing he was "feeling a little cocky." We all laughed and Miles overheard. So this morning I scratched myself (I know this is personal, but it's so funny I'm sharing). Well, Miles saw me (whoops). Miles said to Ben, "She's feeling a little cocky." So thank you Grandma Dianne for the hilarious story continuing 6 months later.

murphy gets what he wants

Last night Ben and I were on the computer with Miles. Murphy was in the room with us and he knew there was a video he liked in the DVD player in the computer. So he said "watch computer" and we let it play for him. Then he looked at us all and waved and said, "Bye." Ben and I were laughing that he let us know he wanted us to get out.

murphy last summer

murphy says begabows/hamburger/poop

Ben grilled hamburgers when it was still nice out and Murphy took one look at it on his plate and said, "Poop." Then he stood up and left the kitchen.

Murphy's teacher Anne writes us notes each day from school. Yesterday he counted to 30! He can identify numbers also, but not all of them. He has been bossy at school, he will say a students name and then tell them what to do, like sit down or get down. He keeps on saying "begabows" for vegetables and its adorable, but I couldn't help take offense when he pointed at my face and said it laughing (j/k).

Last night it snowed, so this morning before school he kept eating the snow off the fingers of his gloves. Then he would pick up handfuls of snow and throw it over and over again onto Ben's freshly shoveled driveway. He throws it with a motion like a farmer who throws seed to chickens. The footprints point to a child's size 13 boot-so I know I am safe from speculation.

When he was in the bath last night Miyo threw a bunch of unrolled toilet paper into the water. He would scoop it up and mash it into balls and when Ben was cleaning it all out (I love you Ben, thank you) we looked up to the ceiling of the tub and there was dozens of large wet balls of t.p. sticking to it. It was so funny. It looked like the ceiling of study hall, but instead of little spit balls it was big wads and little wads, some weren't exactly round either, but he slapped them up there.

miles' phone call

I just got off the phone with Miles' teacher. With his last year's MAPS testing he was above his grade level in math. So he was tested again this year and he failed the test. His teacher and the test administrator this year decided that he didn't focus and was distracted so they tested him again with him wearing headphones. The test results show that he should be in the "Gifted and Talented" program (their words, not mine). So she was calling me to ask if he could switch from his regular math class and start this new class today. He had a note in his backpack, but we went up to Cook, for the 4 day weekend, the second he got home. I had taken his backpack and just thrown it in the house and got him in the already packed car.

He had been telling people that he was going to go into advanced math, and we had been saying that he might not know what he was talking about. I seriously thought the whole class was just doing better in math and the teacher was maybe saying that they could all go up a level or something. So it turns out Miles does know what he is talking about. It's kind of like this weekend when he woke up next to a pile of puke and said he didn't do it. We didn't believe him. We smelled his breath and looked at his clothes and he was completely clean. Quite a while later he was found innocent when Kim woke up and told us that Murphy had thrown up in the middle of the night and went into her room and thrown up again. She washed him up and he got into her bed and she threw towels on the puke and went back to bed.