Action Shots

My children are crazy fearless when it comes to the kiddie pool.

You would think this hurts, but they love it.

1 - 2 - 3 - GO!

Dress Up

Often I catch the fun, silly moments that happen during the day on my cell phone camera instead of our nice one. I would love to be able to run and get the nice camera and snap a picture, but having tried this many times and missed the moment, I usually just get the picture on my phone. Some of these moments are catching my children in odd clothing, things they found around the house and decided to put on. Sometimes this could be them trading clothes (Elijah wearing Elena’s pink pants, Elena wearing Elijah’s underwear), something out of the dress up box (capes, hats, etc), or even things that aren’t meant to be worn (such as that animal cracker bucket on Elijah’s head…).

Stop Making Me Look Bad!

There are 2 things Elijah says quite often, which I have a feeling he will say for years to come.  And then at that point, he will be old enough to make it into a running joke (along with the help of his Daddy).  And then at that point, I will never hear the end of it.  I just know.

1)     When I am cleaning up, Elijah will come over, see what I am doing, and promptly ask “Oh!  Who is coming over Mom?”

2)     When I ask Elijah to go pick out some clothes to wear, or to go put on his underwear, he responds with “Why?  Who is coming over Mom?”

I will admit that there was a time (when Elena was a little baby and I was getting used to having 2 kids) that I completely dropped the ball on cleaning and making sure Elijah was actually wearing clothes.

Having admitted that though, now that Elena is coming up on 2 years old, I really am getting tired of Elijah making me look so bad!  I mean, I clean up some part of the house every single day.  But the kid acts like he never sees me doing it!  I don’t only clean up for company!  He also gets dressed every single day.  So when in the world are these questions going to stop?

My guess?  Never.  My oldest child is only 3 1/2, and already there are things that have happened that I may never, ever, live down.

Dinosaurs and Dragons OH MY!

First off, Elena got a new bed this week! She loves it, and was so excited when Grandma dropped it off. This bed used to be Anna’s, it used to sit right in between my and Erin’s beds! Lizzy repainted it for Elena, thanks Lizzy!

With a new bed comes the thrill of playing on it, so Elijah and Elena lost no time in getting right to it. They apparently were able to see all sorts of new things from the vantage point of the bed, looking out the window.

My favorite part is the end, with Elena. Do you think my children might have a flair for the dramatic??

Elena’s Friends: Peyton and … Elmo?

This post is for Erin… We realized after seeing you guys on Sunday that Elena is calling Mo-mo Elmo.  :)

Turn About

Elena is a good little girl.  She usually asks permission before she does something, or eats something.  She runs up, says what she wants to do, and then runs away happily when I tell her yes.

Recently however, she has been turning things around on me.  Our conversations go something like this:

Elena: Haz cookie?

Me: A cookie?

So far, so good.  But, because I ask a question in return in order to confirm what she is asking (because she is still hard to understand), Elena takes that as me asking her  if she would like a cookie.  This is how things end:

Elena: OK!  Thanks!  (As she runs away to get the cookie).

And I end up feeling tricked.

Bedtime Avoidance

Elijah is at that age where he will do anything to try to circumvent falling asleep.  It isn’t the getting in bed part that is a problem, he is great about that.  But once he does get in bed, everything changes and it becomes this game of how long-can-I-stay-awake-and-get-my-parents-to-do-things-for-me?

For example, his favorite one is dropping one of his pacifiers in between his bed and the wall.  He can’t get it out.  Over the monitor we hear “Mooom! I can’t get my paci!” {As much as this annoys me, he won’t fall asleep without it.  So I succumb.}

Or sometimes it’s something more creative like “DAD! Come up here quick! There is a raccoon outside my window that’s trying to get in and attack me!” {Bingo.  Got Dad with that one.  He knows how much his Dad hates raccoons, can’t resist.}

At times it’s completely legitimate.  “AH!  AH!  Elena is in my bed!  In MY BED!  She not supposed to be here MOM!” {Well that’s true, she’s not.  And besides that, she’s still in a crib… how did this one even happen?!?}

But tonight’s… tonight’s excuse took the cake.  “Mom, can you come here please?” {Said ever so sweetly and irresistibly!}  I come in, wondering what in the world it could be this time.  He pulls me close and whispers “Mom, I DON’T want a drink of water.”

What To Expect When Tutoring

When working with High Schoolers, here are some things you might expect.  They just might….

• Show up early.  So early you are still drooling in your sleep on the couch.
• Show up late.  They have things going on you know.
• Before knocking, they try the doorknob to see if they can just walk in.
• Be extremely aware of the time once they are there.  Wouldn’t want to do a minute more of homework than necessary now would we? It’s 2:57pm, time for me to go!
• Take frequent bathroom breaks.  During which you can hear them having phone conversations.
• Take phone calls in the middle of your important mathematical explanation.
• Ask to have some food from your pantry.  When you yourself are not eating.

Cats

“Sometimes, cats go all crazy. So I have to go all crazy on the cats.”

~Elijah, age 3

Student becomes the Teacher

There once was a Latin student who was rarely wrong.  This student worked hard, studied hard, and memorized all the vocabulary.

One day in class, the student was translating some text out loud for everyone.  The teacher was pleased with the translation, but noticed one mistake.

“Great work, but that should be a passive verb, not active.”

The student’s face froze. The teacher chuckled a little on the inside. The student -who is rarely wrong- can’t handle being corrected, thought the teacher. Ah well, it is good for the student.

However, the next thing out of the student’s mouth made the teacher’s inward chuckling stop.

“Actually, I don’t think it is passive. It’s a deponent verb.”

Yet again, the student had studied properly. Even more properly than the teacher. And now it was the students turn to chuckle at the look on the teacher’s face.

Note: This is a true story.  And I am the teacher.  And the student is my brother.