How Do You Eat an Oreo?

Tonight we had the golden variety (the less chocolate this girl eats at night the better...no more nights like this one!)...

First, Eliana takes the top off and sets it on the table; then she eats the creamy middle with her pointer finger.

Once that is gone, she eats the bottom wafer, in little bites.

Next, she eats any cream that may have stuck to the top when she twisted it off.

Finally, she finishes off the second wafer, which is actually the top of the cookie.  She told me so.

How do you like to eat an Oreo?

Lunchbox or Navy Seal?

This is a story about a lunchbox, a bunch of twits, and a smartypants. 

Meet Christian's lunchbox, bright and cheerful, stands out in a crowd, skilled in the art of carrying all manner of food items, hot or cold...

We've learned recently that it has secret skills, too.  Like secret agent, undercover, covert-ops  skills.

Christian's lunchbox has had a long summer.  Most of it was spent on a shelf in our kitchen; because Christian was having lunch at home all the time, lunchbox was not especially necessary.  There were two times when it got to put its excellent carrying skills to use:  when we went to the pool with all of our friends who stayed with us, and when we went to the Rangers baseball game with those same friends.  Lunchbox was so excited to be able to perform its duties; carrying food for someone is the fulfillment of its very purpose here on this earth.  Having to sit on the shelf the rest of the summer was about to drive lunchbox to the edge.

You can imagine how happy lunchbox has been since last Tuesday when lunches started at school.  It wasn't a full week, but three of the five days it was filled with Christian's lunch, so happy.  Hand-in-strap, together again.  In fact, lunchbox was so glad to be out of our kitchen that it sneakily stayed behind at school Tuesday and then again on Thursday .  We picked it up the first time the next day (Christian got out early, so no big deal; good thing for you, lunchbox!) so that it was ready for the following lunch day.  But Friday morning I was stuck with no lunchbox, and had to take Christian's lunch over mid-morning and just put it in his lunchbox which was sitting happily in the lunchbox line, amidst all the other lunchbox friends.  Totally unaware of the chaos it was causing in our house each of these mornings.

Friday Mike picked Christian up from school since Eliana was asleep and soon after they came inside I asked Christian where his lunchbox was.  It wasn't in his bag or next to the front door.  I checked on our porch, because Mike and Christian had been having a conversation out there before coming inside; I thought maybe he had put it down during their talk and then left it there.  Nope, just the front porch, the sidewalk, the grass.

Mike said,"You had it in your hand, buddy.  Did you put it down over there in the hallway before we left?"  He couldn't remember; he was convinced that he had brought it home.  I told them we would just walk over and check it out.  I didn't want to wait until Monday for a couple of reasons.  Obviously, I wanted to be able to pack his lunch on the first day of the week, especially since this morning I had gotten a call from another mom saying,"You might want to bring Christian's lunch over..."  He honestly thought Friday Pizza began right away.  I knew it didn't, but like I said, sneaky lunchbox had managed to stay at school Thursday night.  I also didn't want to leave it because Sunday morning the Sunday School classes met; I thought it would be best if lunchbox were just at home for the weekend and we didn't have to worry about the confusion of all the different people and possibly getting moved around or taken.

So once Eliana was awake we walked over to the school and looked in the hallway first thing.  No lunchbox.  We peeked in the classroom and no one was in there, although the door was still open.  I felt funny about going in there; I don't know why, but it just feels like I'm not supposed to do that.  I said,"Let's check the lost and found."  We went downstairs to the lost and found bin, and it wasn't there, either.  We ran into Christian's Spanish teacher twice; she smiled but I think she thought we looked a bit strange wandering the hallway after school hours like we were.  I tried to explain,"We've lost a lunchbox." 

She was very sympathetic.  Maybe it's happened to her, too.  She asked what it looked like, and Christian quickly replied,"It has cars all over it!"  Michaela added,"It also has car noises like 'Beep' and 'Vroom'!"  She nodded her head and said she would look out for it.

We went back upstairs since she had also encouraged us to go ahead and look inside the classroom; now that we had official permission I didn't feel so funny about going in.  We walked in the door and looked all around.  Christian walked the entire class, Michaela followed him, checking all around.  He looked inside his desk, over by the books, at the other door.  I looked on the counter right next to the door we entered, as well as to my right where a little table stood.

All the while I could hear Eliana in the background, chanting something.  She had been as quiet as a moonbeam up until now, so I turned to ask her what she was saying.  She had gotten up on her toes on the foot strap of her stroller and had her little arm and finger pointed straight up; she said again, as clear as a clean glass, "Christian's lunchbox!  There it is!  Christian's lunchbox!  There it is!"  I looked where she was pointing and right there beside my face, on the very counter I had looked at upon entering the room, sat Christian's lunchbox. 

It was laughing at me. 

I called the other kids, told them to come on, and showed them how Eliana had found the elusive lunchbox.  They laughed and laughed and we all told her what a good job she had done.  I still can't believe it; Michaela and I even had our glasses on! 

I might have to get one of those satellite trackers that you can implant.  Lunchbox, I've got my eye on you.  Actually, I've got Eliana's eyes on you.  Mine don't seem to work all that well.

This One Is All About My Mom and Dad

I can't believe it's been a week since my parents left.  I can't believe they did that, either!  I have furniture that needs to be put together!  I have walls that need to be decorated!  I have curtains that need to be moved!

Just kidding.  They tried to do some of that stuff, but making decisions just about kills me, so it's all my fault that the things that didn't get done didn't get done. 

Should there be a comma in there?

I've been looking at the pictures we took when they were here and remembering all the fun we had (remember all the fun we had, Mom and Dad?  Especially when you sorted through our six months of mail that had been stacking up on the bookshelves.  Or when you cleaned the garage, Dad.  Or when you got stuck outside of Kroger waiting for me, Mom, because I went to get a drink at a nearby drive-through and forgot to bring you one.  That was great, huh?).  My parents were such troopers while they were here.  They put up with a lot of my craziness, and offered to help out as we still try to get settled in this house, in all the ways they could. 

We put my dad to work as soon as possible.  In a previous post I mentioned the curtains that were hung that first night my parents were here.  That was to their advantage though, considering how the blinds with slats missing all the way across really didn't block out any of the sunlight first thing in the morning. 

The next thing on the to-do list for my dad was to organize our books.  Do you know how many books we have?  About 10,000.  Well, maybe not that many, and really, most of them are in Mike's office.  But the ones that are here got stashed quickly during the move on whatever bookshelf anyone saw first.  We have a lot of built-in bookshelves in a study/den kind of room.  We use the room for our computer table (which I have to say, looks GREAT!) (Please know that I'm being really sarcastic there.) as well as for a fun screen and projector we have for watching TV and movies.  I've jokingly called it "the dungeon upstairs" because it has had the unfortunate experience of being the room that got dumped in as we moved.  A lot of the dumped stuff has never found a permanent and reasonable home. 

Anyway, back to the books...they got shoved on shelves randomly, willy-nilly, in all kinds of chaotic ways.  Rows of books, stacks of books, piles of books and CD's.  It's actually an artistic talent to be able to fit so many things in such a small amount of space, without it falling over or off the shelves.  What can I say?  I'm gifted.

I'll tell you something else:  my dad is gifted.  With patience.  He plowed through book after book, shelf after shelf, CD after CD and managed to get a few of them organized.  I realize "them" is a dangling something or other.  That's because you can apply it to whatever you want-the books, the shelves, or the CDs.  It's sort of like those choose-your-own-path books.  I loved those.  Did you?

Speaking of paths, is there one in my train of thought?  I doubt it.  So grab some trail mix and make sure your hiking boots are comfortable; this might be a long one.

My dad also offered to clean up our garage.  This, too, was an area where things had been stuck quickly and without a great deal of thought.  Then time went by and we got busy with things inside and all of life that was going on, and soon the stuff in the garage was a distant memory.  Oh, we knew we'd get to it later or later.   I told my dad that he did not have to go in there and begin that project, but he said he wanted to do it.  He spent hours out there, in the heat (we did take him a little fan and some drinks), moving things around, trying to make sense of our stuff, using our shelving that's out there in a smarter way (he actually used them to store things!  I'm not sure what they were doing before...), and organizing the kids' outside toys as well as our yardwork stuff.

By the time he was done (which was dictated by the baseball game the kids, Mike, and my dad were going to attend) you could actually walk through our garage without stepping over or tripping on something.  It was quite impressive.  Seriously, he was so sweet to do that very hard work, very physical labor.  I know it was a labor of love.

Later in the week, after my mom, Michaela, Eliana, and I returned from Ikea (more on that in a minute), he got right to work putting furniture together.  We now have a new little table in our entry that makes it look so homey.  He also assembled a new desk and bed for Michaela. 

He hung curtains.

He cut the grass, too. 

And while he loves to do all this hard work around here, he also loves doing the Grandpa thing.  He hung out with Christian while the girls did a lot of shopping; he played games, and looked at books, and watched Star Wars so many times that he now has it memorized.

And then do you know what he did?

He thought he deserved a break!  I think he did, too.  I thought he looked as if he were dreaming of being an Olympic luge champion.  He ought to get a gold medal for something...like putting up with my nonsense.  I am his favorite daughter, though.  He tells me all the time.

No, I do not have a sister.  So what.

I've been talking a lot about my dad...let's switch to my mom.  She loves being a grandma. 

She loves being a part of the photo shoots...

getting the snuggles...

delivering the goods...

making sure the kids' toys work...

reading to crazy toddlers who won't go to sleep on their birthday even though it's midnight...

getting beat at playing Memory...

One of the things about my mom is that she always has a little bag of goodies and activities that slowly get doled out over any given visit.  Not everything at once, but a little project or present each day for the kids.  They love this tradition.  "Grandma, where's your bag?!", they implore.  This year she brought some lessons from their church's Vacation Bible School, with the crafts for the kids to do, memory verses, and some teaching.  They had a lot of fun doing their VBS; they got to write their names in heiroglyphics, make some funky headbands, and put a wall-hanging key organizer together.  We now have one for the front door and one for the back!  And no excuses for losing our keys.

Mom would read the Bible story and the lesson...

Then they would work on their craft...

She enjoyed this time with them, when they weren't breathing fire at one another.  For the most part, they had a good time.  You know how siblings are...

In the end, they had looked at several of the Ten Commandments, along with several Bible stories and verses; they had Dig Logs to record what they learned each day, and they had their completed projects.

Eliana thought she was part of it all.  Doesn't the world revolve around the two-year-old?

Another fun thing...my mom and I took Michaela and Eliana to...

We were on a mission; I wanted beds for the girls, a desk for Michaela, and a small (and inexpensive) something-I-would-know-when-I-saw-it for the entryway.  There were some other smaller items as well, but those were the biggies on the list. 

Even though this is not on the list, I'll take it!

(Wait, what?  Mike, what did you say?  We can't get this entire room?  Really?  But just look at how cute those red lamps are, and that ottoman...we could make it work with our denim sofa.  Oh, I hear you.  I hear you...but look, isn't it cute...)

They have these spaces set up and then you want to get everything.  Look at that rug.  It's adorable.  And actually, that little black table is the one I ended up buying.  It was one of the first things we saw when we went in the store.  Besides a slice of pizza.

We found the beds and wrote down their numbers (later you go through a self-serve furniture warehouse and get your boxes and then check out) and moved on to the desks.  Michaela is much more decisive than her mother.  She saw this desk and she said,"I like this one." 

I said,"But this one over here is bigger, and it might come in black, too."  She responded with a hearty,"No!  I like this one.  This is the one I want."  I wish I had that amount of certainty when I make decisions.  What should we have for dinner?  Meatballs?  Okay; no?  How about Meatloaf?  Sounds good.  Oh, what if we just have macaroni again.  Or maybe meatballs?

We went on through the store and got a small rug for her room, and a few other incidentals, then headed for the self-serve area.  Michaela thought this was neat and couldn't wait to ride this giant scooter push the boxes on the cart.

By now we had been at the store for about four hours.  I know!  I can't believe it either.  We got one thing loaded on the dolly and then Michaela said she was so hungry.  I knew she probably was, and I told my mom she should take the girls through the check out and get them some crackers that were right on the other side, where a small snack area was.  I could finish getting the furniture and then meet them.  They went toward the lines and I went about the herculean task of loading the boxes by myself.  I did a darn good job, too.  In fact, the lady who scanned my boxes said,"Did you do this yourself?" 

I looked at her, worried, and said,"Yes, is that bad?"  This was a self-serve warehouse.

She said,"No, it's just that all the boxes are facing the right way, with the label out so that I can scan them.  I figured you did it or the Ikea workers did, and they don't usually do that."

I said,"I read the signs!"  I felt like the kid who gets to wash the blackboard at the end of the day.  I don't know why that was a coveted job.  But it was.

I got through the line and saw my mom right then, all bug-eyed, holding a box of crackers.  She said,"You wouldn't believe the rigamarole we went through to get these crackers."  She couldn't go through the check out line without buying something.  She had to walk all the way back through Ikea and around to the other side of the check out area in order to get to the crackers; then once she tried to buy them, something went wrong with ringing it up.  They had to call a manager or something!  She finally purchased the box and met me as I was coming out of the line.  I didn't tell her that they sold the crackers on this side, too, so she actually could have checked out with them.  I had noticed too late.  Sorry, mom.

We got outside and the girls inhaled the entire box in ten seconds.  No, not really.  They had been very good during the whole visit; Eliana got fussy a couple of times, but I held her and then she was fine. 

We got our stuff loaded up and I asked my mom if she had fun at Ikea.  She said,"It was GREAT!"

Can you tell she had a GREAT time?  See the boxes shoved up behind her seat?  We were packed out.  Michaela had to ride home on top of the van.  She liked it, though.

What a visit.  They were so happy to be here. And we were happy to have them.

We celebrated Eliana's birthday together...

got to do some sewing together (remember those weird pins, Mom?)...

and just got to be...together...

Happy.

You Could Easily Skip It

I love it when I can get a deal. A little while ago I went to Gapkids and got Christian some clothes for school as well as a few things for Eliana for the fall. I also bought some things for Christian for next year because they were on sale, marked down an extra 40%, and I had a 25% off-your-entire-purchase coupon. I got long pants for him to wear to church next year for around $8.00. I think I got one swimsuit for around $3.00. They had a two-fer deal on their uniform clothes and I was able to use my coupon on top of that as well.

Well, today I went back to Gapkids because I bought Eliana a couple of pairs of pants that are a little wacky as far as the pattern goes, and I was hoping to find a top to go with them...the tops had not been on sale that previous trip. And these pants actually made her gasp when I held them up off of the rack, so they were a must, you see. I was happy to find several of the matching shirts on the sale rack today, and they also had a buy-one-get-one-free deal on all t-shirts in the whole store. Including men's and women's. I happened to see a bunch of women's t-shirts that were on sale and got one pretty, dark turqoise color and a brown one for me, as well as several (four, in fact) t-shirts that would mix-and-match with Eliana's pants, and a little pair of white leggings that Eliana can wear next spring.  I had a 25% off coupon for men's and women's clothing, and the folks who worked in the store were kind enough to apply it to my entire purchase. So, I got four t-shirts for Eliana, a pair of leggings for her, and two t's for me for a little less than $23! That included the tax! I was pretty pleased. Before all of the deals and the coupons just two of her t-shirts would have been $20. I had a selfish moment in the middle of all this, because today was also the last day that you could get a pair of jeans for $20 off, and they would have applied the coupon to that deal as well, which they don't always do. You usually have to pick one deal or the computer will only allow one deal or whatever. So I tried some on, and didn't come up with anything that I loved or that fit PERFECTLY so I didn't get the jeans. They still would have been about $35-I thought if they were less than $28 it might have been worth it, because I do live in my jeans, even when it's 98o and everyone else is out in bathing suit tops and short shorts. I don't know what to say, I just love 'em.

On a note that has nothing at all to do with the above, I was driving along today and the car in front of me had a bumper sticker on it. That in and of itself is not so newsworthy.  What I thought was funny is that it said "The Pat McGee Band".  Pat McGee was a student at my college at the same time I was there, and his band played a lot locally, and probably regionally.  This was in Central Virginia.  Now I live in Dallas and there is this bumper sticker in front of me conjuring up all sorts of memories and nostalgia.  I never knew Pat; I did hear his band play several times while in school.  And none of this really means anything except I thought it was kind of odd to see that sticker so many states removed from the land of my nativity and collegiality.

I think it made me miss home.  And these folks...

(the grown-ups in the picture, the little people are still here with me...)

I'm sure Christian misses them, too, because he got to stay home with Grandpa during all of the shopping expeditions; he did not have that luxury today. 

In keeping with the above transition from one thing to a totally unrelated thing, we are all trying to adjust to the school schedule, getting up much earlier than we had gotten accustomed to.  Christian has done very well, had a good attitude in the morning, and been cooperative about doing his homework this week.  I am very grateful for that, because who has homework the second day of first grade?  He has had fun doing it, and taken pride in his work.  Whew.

I suppose I need to learn from his example...I have some work to do myself cleaning the kitchen up, getting his things ready for tomorrow, tidying up the living room.  And shouldn't I take pride in these things, too?  Alrighty then, off I go.  I'm sorry I have no great big ideas or words of wisdom to impart, or a funny story to share.  Just randomness.  Doodlee-do.  Ha, that reminds me of Jack Black and Kate Winslet in The Holiday singing their little made-up duet.  Cute.

I told you.  Random.

Lovely evening, you all.  Or morning, whatever the case may be.

Fare Thee Well?

It's 9:30 in the morning.  Here's how I'm doing with getting up earlier in order to get Christian ready and over to school.  Eliana wanted more yogurt.  I got the yogurt out of the fridge and opened it.  I opened the dishwasher and plucked out a spoon.  While holding the spoon I put the lid back on the yogurt.  I put the yogurt back in the fridge and shut the door.  I saw the clean spoon in my hand and remembered that I was actually going to put some yogurt on it and give it to Eliana in her bowl.  I got the yogurt back out and accomplished my goal.

Michaela has a chemistry lesson on the chart for this morning.  Let's see what I can blow up.