A few funnies

I've been trying to keep track of some of the funny things I've heard lately, but they're starting to fade. So I'd better record what I still remember before they're gone for good.

Morgan asked me if I went to Kindergarten. I replied, "Yes."
Then she asked if I went to third grade. "Yep."
"Did you go to college?" I did. And it's a good thing, too, as she then extolled the virtues of a higher education.
"In college you learn all kinds of things, like about football, and basketball, and even baseball!"

I finished reading Morgan a bedtime story, and she started to ask for a second.
"I wish I could have have a short, super short story. Like a hundred calorie short!"

Marissa was feeling a bit under the weather and asked for chicken noodle soup for dinner. She got up for a second serving and then ate it standing at the counter. Jeremy asked why she didn't come and sit down. Aiden reasoned, "Maybe it's because she's constipated."
We all looked at him, puzzled, until Jeremy realized, "I think you mean contaminated."

This song's been stuck in my head ever since

Our family bought into the rage of the Seven Peaks Pass of All Passes last year, which ended up providing some unanticipated perks. One of those perks was "free" tickets to watch Fiddler on the Roof at the Scera Shell Theater this summer. The tickets available were on the same day as Jeremy and my 16th (16th!!!) anniversary. At first I thought, C'mon! I don't want to take my kids on my anniversary date. But then I got over myself and decided it would be a worthwhile family outing.

There we sat on our blankets on a lovely August evening enjoying a very polished performance when the song Sunrise, Sunset started playing. I looked back at Jeremy and we smiled. This song is significant because my mom sang it at our wedding luncheon. It hadn't even crossed my mind when we decided to see the musical, but here we were, 16 years later (16!!!), surrounded by our kids, wondering the same questions Tevye and Golde were asking in the song:

When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn't it yesterday when they were small?

It was tender. I cannot lie.

Mazal tov!

Summer flashback: fish tales

As the season changes and the temperatures cool, I find myself thinking back to summer. Here is something I meant to post a few months ago but neglected. While we were at the cabin we wrote letters to my brother, Spencer, who is on a mission in Wisconsin. Aiden's letter was so great I had to copy it down, and now I wish to share it. I've tried to preserve his wording and spelling as much as possible. Please enjoy.

Dear, Spencer

Me and my dad went fishing and the pole bended so far and so I reeled the fish in and it was tiney. And we went snorkel-ing. We oiled the outhouse. And also I went fishing by the shore and then all of the sudden I lost all of my bait and so I just chose to cast out my line and so it only took me two cast's and then a fish jumped in the air about at least 3 feet in the air it saw a fly and jumped to get the fly and I hirred and cast it out and hit it in the lip and I lost my breath oh wow I caught a fish and I reeled it in and took it to my dad and then about two days later I was fishing and I was chust sitting there on a rock and then there was 3 to 5 fish just right by the shore and so I reeled it in and then Marrissa came and she said hi Aiden and I said shhhhhh and then droped the worm and the bober. And waited about ten seconds and then the fish bit the worm, and then I was like woohooh but then it lost it but the fish was still not done it bit it again and it did that a couple times wait a secon-d. I forgott somthing to menchon Marissa was sitting next to me and Marissa said I don't see anithing daaaad she screamed and ther was three fish right by her left foot and then I said I told you. And then droped my bober on the shore then I caught the fish and it was bigish and littleish and they lived under the boat then I took the fish back to my dad and then the same exact thing happined in about 20 minuets after

the end

from

Aiden

 

Deja vu

People keep asking me how I like having all my kids in school and what I do with my time. Well, considering days like today, being a mom of school-aged children has not equaled rest and relaxation. I got a call from the office which reminisced a call I received exactly one year ago. This time it went like this:

Office: Anneka?
Me: Yes.
Office: This is Kerri [who also happens to be my neighbor] from the school. Morgan's here in the office. She bonked her head, and she's bleeding.
Me: Okie dokie. Be there in a minute.

When I got to the school, it became clear that this wound was not nearly as dramatic as Marissa's, but it was still bloody and in a difficult place to treat -- right in the back of her head. Add this to her awesome haircut, and she's a sight to behold. I don't think we'll do stitches. Maybe some super glue will save the day.

As for what I do now that all my kids are in school? Let's just say that being a mom is a 24-hour job, no matter what phase you're in.

P.S. When I brought Morgan home from school, I let her watch a movie. She chose Beauty and the Beast, so of course I had to sing along. "Mom," she said. "Your singing is not helping my head." Oh, blast!

What did you do in the summertime?

Did you ...

... build a Barbie zipline?

... eat a ginormous ice cream cookie?

... prepare for warfare?

... use the [fish] force?

... flex your muscles?

... welcome alien lifeforms?

... invent a game named "Card Wars" ...

... inspired by a cartoon?

... dance by an outhouse ...

... that you oiled?

... plant yourself in the sand?

... see life through the eyes of another?

If not, you're missing out! But no worries. There's always next year.

It was one day bound to happen

Before - 1st day of school

I was in the bathroom one morning last week when Morgan knocked on the door. I opened it to her smiling face, hair bedecked with an assortment of clips.

"Oooh!" I appropriately cooed. "How pretty! You did such a good .... wha-a-a?"

I spied something amiss. I looked closer. Oh, the horror! The hairdo was NOT pretty. The clips were disguising bangs clipped ever-so-efficiently to the scalp. I responded with the stupidest question a parent can ask, repeating it several times as if the answer would miraculously change.

"Morgan, what did you do?!?"

She knew immediately that she could no longer show off her work with pride and ran crying to her room. I persuaded her to come out eventually, myself a mixture of laughing, crying, and scolding. I discovered the extent of the damage as chunks of hair fell into my fingers, but somehow collected myself enough to take a couple of pictures.

As you can see by her refusal to look at the camera, her shame was complete. I dragged her from her hiding place in her bed to take her to the salon to see how we could remedy the 'do. She kept her blankie securely covering her head until the nice lady at the salon coaxed it off and previewed the damage. Her first suggestion was a pixie cut, but I couldn't bear it. So we opted for pulling some hair from farther back to create the illusion of bangs and then evening up the back in a little a-line. Considering what she was given to repair, I think the end result was all right. We can work with it -- at least for the next three to four months while her bangs grow back.