Clean Up On Isle 5

I had another amazing day at school with the boys.  The amount of learning that is going on, the amount of worthwhile activities, games, projects, and fun just makes me smile every time I think about it.  Unless I was yawning, I've been smiling since Tuesday!  Today was the day we have science, and boy did those kids eat it up!


After a long day at the school house, I jetting across town, took Anna home, took Addison to Randy and Linda's so that he could go to Aikido... and picked up the wild girls.  Ivey was in a particularly fabulous mood, gifting me with home decor from their house and saying sweetly, "I'm so glad you like it!"  Sugar and spice and everything nice, I'm tellin' ya.

On the way home, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up tortilla chips to go with dinner (which I started in the crockpot at 7:45am, mind you).  In the parking lot, I realized that the girls' shoes were still at their grandparents' house.  Ugh.  No fear, my car is so junked up right now that we located enough to go around.  Ivey went on and on about how much she loved those pink shoes I found in the back of the car.  Success.

Although we located the elusive "car buggie" at Publix, Ivey turned it down, opting, instead to walk like a "big girl".  She really is such a big girl now.  She walks right along with the buggie, doesn't run off, comments on how "Oh!  I loooovvvee these chips!" and "Oh!  I loooovvee this cereal!", tossing her long 'Ivey-punzle' hair back and forth as the bops down each isle.  I was only there for chips, but along the way we enjoyed ourselves.  "Hey, Viva paper towels are only $6.99 for 8 rolls!"  I thought.  "I wish I had coupons to know that down even further, but... it's still a decent deal." So, I threw them in the buggie.

Eventually, we found the tortilla chips.  They were on a shorter isle, over by the dairy.  Who knew.  As I looked for the best deal, I noticed Ivey stop, dead center in the isle.  She stood straight up, legs slightly apart.  Her eyes got HUGE and flashed with a glimmer of... horror... or maybe impending disaster.  She froze.  I knew exactly why.  I knelt down to her, saying "Ivey, no!  Please don't pee pee!  We can make it!"  She almost remained frozen, except her lip puckered a bit like it does when she is really upset.  Then, the trickle started.  Thin Dora panties and denim shorts that are a full size too big do nothing.  The shorts' legs just act as a tunnel of sorts, channeling the water down, partly into those pretty pink shoes, but mainly between the legs in a stream... creating a puddle on the floor.

I continued to try to verbally break through to her bladder control, grasping for some straw... or maybe a cork.  "Please stop!  Can you stop?"  I was squatting down low in front of her, speaking in a calming whisper.  Must. Not. Draw. Attention. Or. Make. Her. Cry.  It was no use.  Her bladder could not be reasoned with.  I know by the look on her face that she had also failed at her attempts of coercion.  The amount of liquid on the tile floor was unbelievable. 

For a split second, as I was softly trying to talk my almost 3 year old into gaining some urethra sphincter control in mid stream in a grocery store, I became aware of myself... and I did what we all try not to do... I broke into a poorly controlled grin.  I controlled my grin only slightly better than Ivey controlled her bladder.  At that time, a woman passed us in the isle.  Ugh.  Busted.  I apologized for my child's use of the grocery store isle as a urinal, and she accepted.  "Accidents happen."

For a split second, I have no idea what to do... that was, until I remembered that good deal on Viva paper towels!  I ripped that sucker open, grabbed out a few, cleaned up the full pond of urine, and put a soaking wet child in the buggie to high tail it out of dodge.  So glad Bounty wasn't on sale.  I'm a Viva girl for a reason... those things can do a clean up on Isle 5 in no time!

Given my last few posts, I am wondering if I shouldn't always travel with a) a change of clothes for myself and b) at least one Sham Wow with me at all times.

Hurry! Before Mom Comes Home!

So, I'm living with my parents again... which has it's definite pros and some understandable cons.  Luckily for all of us, we seem to get along WAY better than when I was 17.

One of the things that I find so funny about our arrangement... the arrangement where I crash here with my husband and four kids until the house is done... is how many times I think to myself, "I gotta hurry and clean that up before Mom gets home!".  It's a feeling that I know all too well, but now, it's not even my mess.  It seems that Olive will throw all the potting soil out of a plant, Ivey will have a potty accident somewhere unfortunate, one of the boys will use to much brute force on when opening the plastic bag in a cereal box, or a sneaky pencil will secretly write on a wall... any of the typical daily battle scars of a home of children... about 15 minutes before someone is going to be home from work.  Such situations would normally cause a "oh, crap!" moment anyways, but when it isn't your floor or rug or kitchen, it puts on a different twist.

Today, it was a rice fight.  Everyone was sitting to a nice dinner of chicken, rice, and broccoli, when I ran upstairs to grab my netbook.  It didn't seem like I was gone any time at all.  When I came down, there was a rice catastrophe.  Asa and Addison claim that the girls were throwing rice at them.  So, they were both sent to the time out couch while I tried to clean up the sticky rice confetti.  This was the first dual-girl-time-out experience, but I'm sure it won't be the last!

Oregan-ah-oh.

When you hear the words, "Yay!  Flying over the mess!" from the couch, you need to drop the spatula and go investigate.  In this case, it was a full container of Oregano poured out on the couch cushions, for all to enjoy.

Getting through the day.

Asa:  "This is only $19!  It looks like they took an animal and made it make babies with another animal... and they are selling the eggs for only $19!  Can I get it?!" 

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Last night, I had Chicken and Dumplings cooking on the stove.  Asa was helping me make the dumplings, and was sitting up at the counter rolling them out.  Of course, with my attention focused on kitchen duties, I took my eyes off of the girls just long enough for them to un-pot Mim's tree in the living room.  Again.  Before I could get my hands washed to deal with them, the girls had taken their very dirty selves and darted in two different directions, spreading their trail of fair- dust potting soil as they went.  With supper cooking and a huge mess to clean up, I handed off the girls to Papa, who whisked them off to the bathtub.  What.  A.  Mess.  Asa took over the entire cooking job on his own (which he completed, masterfully), and Addison retrieved brooms and the vacuum and whatever else he needed to do in a pinch.  As things settled down a bit, Addison commented on how crazy it is that things can go from calm to crazy in no time.  Boy, do I know it!

Today, Asa took a Fisher Price gun, that used to shoot a foam airplane, and rigged it to shoot tiny legos at high speed.  He and Ivey, armed with their projectiles and some protective eye-wear (of course, what kind of mom do you think I am?), had a good time in the large empty closet, shooting at targets and into bowls.  Hey, whatever gets us through the day.

Spaghetti Night