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Friday, November 20, 2009

June Cleaver Would be Proud

Here's my daughter dusting the furniture in dress shoes and skirt.  Cute, huh?



And this is what happened when I turned my back:



She was "dusting" the bed.  Cute, huh?

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

This Day in Jones Family History



Still getting her sea legs under her, our one-year-old terrorized the house!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

What I Imagined Motherhood to Be

Normally, after dinner, the kids are ushered immediately upstairs to pjs and bed.  But last night I let them play in their rooms for awhile.  Elliot spent his time creating rocket ships out of legos while Betsy searched the dress-up box for the perfect theatrical costume.  She decided on a pretty pink dress which, she told me, was going to be a Sleeping Beauty dress.  As it was nearing lights out, the kids asked to perform a play and have a rocket ship race in lieu of a bedtime story.  I agreed and the next 20 minutes of my life counldn't have been more perfect.

Already being in full costume, Betsy wanted to have a princess play about Sleeping Beauty.  But when I explained that she had to lay down on the ground and fall alseep she decided that a good costume wasn't nearly as important as a good storyline.  So she opted for the Snow White play until, of course, I told her that she'd have to lay down and fall alseep.  After working through her somniphobia, we finally decided on a Cinderella play. 

Using a triceratops puppet as her cleaning sponge, our play opened to poor Cinderella scrubbing the castle floors.  Luckily, Prince Charming quickly arrived to try the shoe on her foot.  It fit!  And the happy pair climbed onto their trusty toybox and rode off together into the sunset.  The narrator (me) played a key role in the speed and interpretation of the play, but the audience (me) still thought it was a rousing success!

After our trip to Broadway, we escaped into outer space where an inter-galactic race was taking place.  Each child quickly picked up their rocket of choice and joined the chaos.  A couple of laps around the upstairs bedrooms and two winners later, we were all ready for kisses, hugs, cuddles and bed.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Scarecrow

My children create A LOT of artwork - both at school and at home.  I try to appreciate their scribbles as much as possible and when they create something especially artistic, I try to showcase it in our home.  Here is a scarecrow recently painted by Elliot during his Fall Party (the pc version of Halloween).



Pretty good for a five-year-old, don't you think?  Well, I did.  And as I was applying tape the scarecrow's back and preparing to display him on our front hall door, Elliot enlightened me with the scarecrow's gender.

ELLIOT:  "I drew a penis on my scarecrow."
ME:  "You did what?" (Not quite sure I heard him right)
ELLIOT:  "I drew a penis on my scarecrow so now you can know he's a boy.  See?"

Sure enough, there between the hay man's legs was a small but distinct male body part.  Thankfully, my son isn't into realistic-looking anatomy or I may have received a call from his teacher.  Regardless, we had a nice long talk about what you can and cannot draw on pictures.  And, for that matter, where your hands are and are not allowed to go when out in public. 

*sigh*  The joys of raising boys.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Slow Poke

Any mother will tell you that creativity is key to getting your children to do what you want them to do.  When getting Betsy into the car each morning, we have a race - I open Elliot's side of the car, she climbs in, walks to her side of the car and tries to get into her car seat before I am able to close the door, walk around the back of the car and open her door on the other side. 

She's quick and I am prone to distraction so, as it would happen, she wins our race every day.  One morning she was particularly proud of her speed and told me, "Mommy you're a slow poke and I'm a fast poke."  Sounds about right.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Mystery of the Universe # 3592



This, my friends, is the inside of my pant leg.  And that yellow band?  That is masking tape providing a new hem for my too-long pants.  Why do I have masking tape holding up my pants? 

The answer is simple:  1)  I am too short to wear pants directly off the rack, and 2)  I am too impatient to take them to a tailor and wait a week to be able to wear them, and 3)  I am too lazy to properly (i.e. with a sewing machine) hem them myself.

But, apparently, I am not too impatient or too lazy to carefully "hem" my pants before each wearing and "unhem" them before each washing.  And with 4 new pairs of pants in my closet, I am pretty much hemming (or unhemming) every day.