Wednesday, February 10, 2010

sometimes it's fun being a mom



i must have been in a really good mood this week because i thought that everything my kids did was super funny. for example, we were eating dinner and gretchen told us a story about when her primary teacher didn't obey her mom and she got hurt. i said something like "uh oh, i hope she learned to obey her mom after that." this is the conversation we had after that:
gretchen: "yep. like when i ran away."
me: "oh, when did you run away?"
g: "when i was 4. we lived in virginia. i still had my dora bike."
me: "did you run away on the dora bike?"
g: "yep"
me: "where was i when you ran away?"
g: "gone. daddy was home."
liesel: "i used to run away all the time."
me: "oh really?"
liesel: "yep. i kept a little bag packed."

this conversation struck me as so funny. it seems as if there's a lot of running away in my family that i had no idea about.

here's what the rest of the week looked like. nothing spectacular. i just like my kids.

pace is still in guitar-man mode. this morning as soon as the kids left for school he asked me to turn on music so he could jam. he specified which song he wanted, then said "oh, this song's cool. it's rock n' roll." did i teach him about rock n' roll? no. i did not. he has his very own guitar pick that he insists on using. sometimes he plays the guitar with one hand and a drum with the other. when loren gets home from work, he and pace jam together for a few minutes. it makes me swoon with love for my two boys. today pace asked me to jam with him. that's something i'd never been asked to do before. i took it as a great compliment.


gretchen gave the family a "how to be fancy" lesson.






i caught the kids playing play-do together. i love it.

gwyneth drafted a list of rules that she posted on the fridge:

THE RULES

WEEKDAYS

1. Get out of bed when Gwyneth wakes you up.

2. Come down only with your shoes and clothes on with your backpack.

3. Eat if the oatmeal is ready too eat, eat it. If the oatmeal is not ready to eat, help Gwyneth or Liesel with your lunch or with the dishwasher.

4. As soon as you’re done eating, you can drink your smoothie, brush your teeth, and brush your hair.

5. When everyone is done with everything then we will say prayers and leave for school.

6. Remember homework and such.

OTHER RULES

1. No yelling at pace or making him yell.

2. Pick up five things in the playroom if you hit someone on purpose.

3. Practice piano.

JOBS

WEEKDAYS

Gwyneth:

Get up, take a shower, get dressed, go down stairs, make oatmeal, make Madeline’s, Gretchen’s, and my lunch, eat the Oatmeal, then drink my smoothie, brush teeth and hair, get backpack ready for school (See rules 4 and 5).

Liesel:

Get out of bed, take a shower, get dressed, go downstairs, do the dishwasher, make lunch, make the smoothie, and eat oatmeal.

After that, brush your hair and teeth, and then get your backpack ready for school.

Madeline:

Get out of bed, get dressed (see rule 2), come down stairs (see rule 3), (see rules 4 and 5). Get your backpack ready.

Gretchen:

Get up, get dressed (see rule 2), come down stairs (see rule 3), (see rules 4and 5).

MOST IMPORTINTLY HURRY UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


this was gretchen's response:

thak you geyneth I love you I will get up before you wake me up I love you varry much I will moneday

Friday, February 5, 2010

virginia girls in florida



a little bit of virginia came to florida last week. six of my bff's (i have ALWAYS wanted to use bff in something) came to visit me. we had a delightfully wonderful time. it was just what my january needed. i seriously have the best group of friends ever. moving every couple of years would be so much better if i could just take my friends from each place with me. i have had to do a lot of shopping this week to get over my girl-time withdrawal symptoms.

here are some highlights:

we went out to dinner and down to miami for a girls' night out.

pace loved the only child with 7 women. he called my friends "the kids" and was almost as sad as i was to see them leave
beach time!


i love cute pregnant people in great hats
it was great to catch up on my beach time
sadly, pace ate my sucker lips, so i was not able to be in this picture








pace asked me if he could give this alligator a hug
the everglades

we tried to get pace to get out of the picture. didn't happen.

ellie was the only one brave enough to get in my pool. it was freezing!!! she deserves some sort of prize for this.


thanks for a great visit, girls! i miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!