Dot theHusband

I love sitting around talking with my girls, hearing their thoughts, spending time with them, and giggling like crazy. I love this time.

Today our conversation centered around Pixar movies. First came Remy (from Ratatouille).

Leah: "Mommy, is Remy a real person?"

Me: "Well, Remy is a character in a movie, but he's not real."

Leah: "So, he's not in our world?"

Me: "No, sweetie, Remy isn't in our world."

The conversation moved on to Cars.

Elise: "Mommy, why is Sally so bossy?"

Me: "Why do you think Sally was bossy?"

Elise: "Because she wanted people to come to the town?"

Me: "Yes, that's right. If no one came to the town, then no one would buy gas or tires, or stay at her car hotel. If no one was buying those things, then the town would run out of money, and everyone would have to move away."

Elise: "But Lightning McQueen helped. He bought tires and got his car painted."

Me: "Yes, he did."

Leah: "And, why was that green car so mean?"

Me: "You mean Chick Hendrix?" Well, he was selfish. He wanted to win the race, no matter who he hurt, and it's not okay to be mean to others so you can get ahead."

Now, I'd heard her refer to this person (I use that term very loosely) a couple of times. However, in my defense, we were eating at the time, and I was answering quite a lot of questions, so it took me a minute to catch on.

Leah: "Dot theHusband helped Lighting McQueen learn how to drive, didn't he, Mommy?"

Me: [Trying hard to squelch my laughter as I finally caught on to the fact that she was talking about Doc Hudson!] "Um, yeah, Leah. Dot theHusband helped Lightning McQueen learn how to take a sharp corner on gravel. Yes, he did."

Oh, yes, conversations with my children are always interesting, surprisingly poignant at times, and usually hysterical in certain points! This is, of course, when they're not talking back.

Isn't it amazing how quickly a bad habit develops? One time, you ask them to do something, and they jokingly respond with a "No!" You raise an eyebrow or warningly say their name to let them know that won't be acceptable. Yet, somehow, they test their limits again and again and again! After numerous warnings and time outs, I finally had to do it. It's been awhile, but I pulled the "free labor" card.

You may be wondering, "What the heck on earth is 'free labor?'" Well, "free labor" was a term we used back in my boarding school days to refer to some sort of job you had to do as a punishment for some infraction. It might be peeling tape off walls, washing walls, or some other unpleasant chore.

Today, Elise washed the walls in my dining room. Then she continued with her snotty back talk, so I sent her to her room for the remainder of the night (it was 5:30, and their bedtime is 7:30, so it's not like she was in there a ridiculous amount of time before bed). I've only done that one other time, but it was very effective. I'm pretty sure it's working again because after several tearful apologies, she also made me a little heart and wrote "I love you Mom" on it.

Oh yes, I love my sweet girls. Even when they're snotty talking back, even when they ask an incessant number of questions, even when I catch them dumping their bath water all over my bathroom floor. I love them even then! And, I'm so thankful each one of them is part of our family. I cannot even imagine what our home would be like without any one of them.

I'll leave you with a few pictures I took a couple of weeks ago, on a very warm Saturday afternoon (well, it was warm for up North, anyway).

Interview With the Chefs at "My Three Princesses"

Guidelines for interviewing a chef:

1. Be sure to repeat your questions often. Not only does it give the interviewee an opportunity to change their answer, but the answers can get crazier and crazier each time.

2. When you receive a crazy answer to a question, be sure to let them [the interviewee] know that's not part of the show, and that they'll be out of business when the public hears about their insanity.

3. Take over the entire show, including adding in your own recipe, complete with a rather nasty an odd list of ingredients.

4. Remember to act as ADD as possible throughout the entire episode, to add energy to your interview.

5. Don't forget to have fun with your "accent." It's a creative way to add interest to your show.

6. Above all, please tell the camera person to quit laughing while holding the camera! It detracts from the seriousness of your business!

Just in case you're wondering, we had Eastern Red Lentil Soup and cornbread for dinner.

Elise-isms

"Well, you know I'm going to be 10 soon."  [Ummm, yeah kid--in THREE years!]

[Spoken while leaving Great Grandma's house after trick-or-treating.]

"I don't know why royal princesses need to stay up so late [it was 8 pm at this point, which is late if you're usually in bed by 7:30].  Royal princesses need their beauty sleep, you know."

I swear, sometimes she really is 7 going on 10!  

The Transformation

Elise has had 3 more loose teeth.  Well, the other morning, she showed me that one of her top teeth was extremely loose.  I knew it was only a matter of time before it came out.  Still, all day long, and nothing.  That evening during dinner...OUT it came!  She was so excited to lose her first top tooth!  

As the girls were getting ready for bed, Elise and Leah asked if Leah could sleep in Elise's room that night.  Lily had fallen asleep at the dinner table, so I said it was okay.  They were so excited!  Now apparently, even though they know the tooth fairy is just mommy and daddy, somehow they must think we undergo some sort of transformation in order to put that dollar under the pillow. 

Elise:  "Mommy, I can't wait to see what you're going to wear when you're the tooth fairy!"  

[Um, yeah, kiddo....I think the dream is better than the reality!  LOL]

Knock Knock

Lately, it seems I've been bombarded by endless knock-knock jokes, which would be tolerable if the knock-knock jokes actually made sense.  However, it usually goes something like:

Girl:  Knock knock.

Me:  Who's there?

Girl:  Banana?

Me:  Banana who?

Girl:  BANANA UNDERWEAR!  (and dissolving into gales of laughter, while I pretend to be amused)

Or a joke like this...

Girl:  How can you tell if Tinkerbell (our bird) has been in your refrigerator?

Me:  I don't know.  How?

Girl:  FOOTPRINTS IN THE BUTTER (and more fits of laughter)!  

This is actually my favorite knock-knock joke, and Elise finally figured out how to tell it yesterday, so I heard it about 20 times until I finally had to say enough.  And, just so you all can enjoy, I'll share it with you now...

Me:  Knock knock

You:  Who's there?

Me:  Interrupting cow.

You:  Interrupting Co--

Me:  MOO!

Pictures are of the girls playing dress up the other day.