Why I have this blog...

Ahhh!! Now I remember what this blog is for...the purpose of recording crazy things that my kids say...

well, here ya go.

It's Christmas break...so hard to believe the kids have ONLY been on break for 4 days! Seems like 3 months! Well, I clean up from breakfast, sit down to do some work on the good ol' computer and #2 child is sitting in a chair across the room playing on her DS. The TV was on but didn't pay attention to what we were actually "watching" until Sophie says, "So we can do what!?" I look up from my computer screen and realize it's the Sci-Fi channel and Morgan Freeman's soothing voice is talking up some craziness about freezing organs for the future. I rewind to see what he actually said and it goes something like, "cryogenically freezing organs so they can be revived in centuries to come"...
my reaction: Whaaa...??? and why would those words even strike her curiosity? I mean, I didn't look up from my computer when he said that...why would my 6 year old be bothered to stop playing her Tinkerbell game on her DS?

So, I carefully hit the pause button on the remote controller and say, "What? What questions do you have?" hoping she'd ask, "what does freezing mean?" Because that, that I could handle.

Nope...her eyes light up and she asks, "Does that mean we can be frozen and they can bring things alive that are dead!?" I actually think the curls on her head sprung up even tighter.

My eyes probably lit up brighter than hers but in my head I was panicking and screaming, "Holy crap. Where is your dad? Who the heck put the Sci Fi channel on anyway!? What do I say??"

I played it cool, though...I said, "yes, I think so" and called the hubby at work.

He responds with a typical Fiona response, "Cool, right?" Yup, that's what #5 says when she does a tumble, or climbs up the back of a chair or does some wicked dance move and realizes someone is watching her.

The #2 child is happily back to being engrossed by the disney fairy game and I feel it's safe to hang up with the hubby at work. ONLY to be catch her pausing every so often to continue watching this "Wormhole" show...it's actually titled "Through the wormhole with Morgan Freeman. bah. WHY are we still watching this?

Well, soon enough she says, "Mommy! I don't want a horse! I want to live when I die!"
O. to the M. to the G.
Just to give you a frame of reference, #2 is the child who has been saying she wants to be an animal doctor since she was 3 years old. She LOVES animals, goes to the neighbors house to play with the pets instead of the kids, watches Animal Planet to see them rescue all the abused dogs and animals, and has been asking for a horse since just before her 4th birthday (I blame it on our neighbors/my babysitter who own a horse. We finally brought the kids to the barn to meet said horse and it was LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT.) She told the hairdresser one week before Christmas that she asked Santa for a horse, she wrote a letter to Santa asking for a horse and she even passed me her birthday list with 7 things on it, #2 being "a horse" and #5 being "another horse".

Sooooo....SHE REALLY WANTS A HORSE!

OY!

Well, in response to her outburst, I looked at her like "what does that mean"...actually, I think I said that out loud...and throw the word "hell" in there somewhere.

I said, "oh, instead of a horse, you want to be able to live forever?"

sophie, flashes her big dimples and smiles, "yes"...and goes back to playing on her DS.

Well, thanks to the Sci-Fi channel, she has given up her life-long dream, which truly, it is...I mean...she's only 6 so technically half of her young life, of loving animals and would rather just be revived with cryogenically frozen organs so she can LIVE FOREVER!

(cut away to whatever type of whacky commercial they play on the Sci-Fi channel...do they even play commercials??! It seems like we've been watching this forever!)

Really....It's 2011??

So it's been a while...I seem to say that a lot. We survived the holidays...9 garbage bags brought home from my parent's house and my 2 year old figured out that Lolo (my dad) is Santa. Every year my dad sneaks out and gets dressed up in his suit in the garage and then goes around to ring the doorbell. Yes...Santa, in our family, arrives at the front door waiting to be let in...not some jolly crazy man that just falls through the chimney. And he doesn't wait for the kids to be asleep in bed...he shows up just right smack dab in the middle of the family party on Christmas Eve...there's no waiting until the actual day for my kids. (When they grow up and share their memories with their friends...it will be interesting, to say the least!)
My 2 year old figured it out...because small children are smart like that...and my two older kids may know, but they were just caught up in the excitement and craziness that they chose to believe that Santa really made a special delivery (or at least I think that's how everything played out).
Now we're into 2011...WHAT!??
Sophie celebrated her 6th birthday during the big 2011 Blizzard. It kills Niko that they're the same age for 17 days. He needs to remind everyone that he's "GOING TO BE TURNING 7!! ANY DAY!!" and he'll count until the 19th and tell everyone he's still older. Yup...in true, "I'm the oldest AND only the only boy" fashion...it's quite funny.
Oh and we got a puppy....again...WHAT!???
I know...I'm addicted to chaos. Truly...what else can the reason be to adopt a 6 month old puppy when my 1 year old is toddling around digging in the garbage and trying to tear her diaper off?! I want you all to be honest with me when I'm 50 and sitting in the looney bin and I ask, "How did I get here?". She really is a great dog, and I bet I'm handling things with a much more laid back attitude AFTER kids as opposed to BEFORE and DURING kids. (Matt may not agree so much...after all, I have harassed him at work with "What the hell were you thinking!!??" at least a time or two. BUT I would've harassed him much more if I was walking around 8 months pregnant with 4 kids). Molly is closer to 8 months, as the vet informed us at her visit...she's not a bit of lab and probably part terrier and something else. The kids love her and she likes to chew on things that don't belong to her...but has a high tolerance and easy going with my babies.
I hope you all have had such a nice transition into 2011 as we have! Yikes!
Here's a pic of Molly and the kids playing in the 20+ inches of snow we got during the blizzard!...

Inquisitive 3 year old...

It's Monday morning...nice ease into the hectic week as Matt takes the kids to the bus and I get about 30 minutes or so before the littles start creeping out of bed.

I literally had the following conversation with my 3 year old about 5 minutes ago...
Livi asks, "Momma, what is in the cemeteries?"
Me, "dead people".
Livi:  "Are they coming back to life?"
Me, "No, their bodies stay there and some people believe they go to heaven".
Livi: "Is Jesus a Zombie? Lola said he died and came back. Isn't that what a zombie is?"


Serious...no, for real, serious conversation I just had...What would you say?? It's too early on a Monday to be having these deep conversations with someone, let alone a 3 year old...often I find myself thinking..."What the..."

So I responded, "I don't know Olivia. I guess that's what zombies are...but zombies are made up. They're just on TV." She seemed okay with that and walked off to continue playing with Mads. I know it'll come up again. Her brain is always stirring...

I've recently started drinking coffee...I thought it would awaken me and keep me "on my toes"...apparently, I wasn't born to be a coffee drinker. I'm either still dragging or my eyeballs are shaking from left to right waiting to burst out of my head and I can't focus and wanna do nothing but lie down and take a nap because I have a headache.

...now Livi, on the other hand, just walked by and took a sip of my coffee...
hmmm...that might explain a bit...

(cut away to a Starbucks commercial...)

They said, 'what'...?

My kids say the funniest things...

Earlier this evening, this actual conversation took place:

Niko: "mommy, were you a cheerleader when you were little?"
Me: "Yes"
Niko: "you were?!! That means you were pretty!"
Matt: "she's STILL pretty, Niko"
Niko: "oh yea! You're pretty now but when you were a little girl, how come you looked Chinese?"
Me: hahahahahaha!!!!! "what do you mean?"
Niko: "well, you know how there's pictures in Lola's basement with Uncle Neil playing football? Well there's a picture of you standing next to auntie crystal and you look Chinese!"
Me: still laughing...I know EXAcTly which pic he's talking about!!
"Niko, ask Lola why she cut my hair like that"
Niko: "yea, promise me you won't ever cut your hair like that again!"
Hahaha!!!!!

And then earlier, I witnessed Sophie sitting on the couch watching tv picking her nose...
Me: "hey, what's in there? You digging for something?"
Sophie: barely looks at me "gold. I'm digging for gold"
And goes back to watching tv

And tonight before bed...

I'm layingvwith Madi...
She's sucking on her fingers, sniffing her blanket...I was curious so I asked her to close her eyes...
I put my blanket up to her nose and asked if it was her blankie...she said no
I put her blanket up to her nose and asked "is THIS your blankie?" she just smiled...
So I laughed at her...
I asked, What does your blankie smell like?"
Madi: "happy! See...my hands are happy!"

Hahaha!!

(cut away to a Cash for Gold commercial...)

I'm a lover AND a fighter...

isn't that how the saying goes?? It's been an emotional and mental roller coaster around here these past few days...
Hmm...where shall I begin??
Some unexpected things came up with Hazel Brown Designs...I won't go into detail at this time, however, I am dealing with it and while it's a HUGE annoyance, I have contacted who I need to contact and will continue to march on.
While dealing with said annoyance, I spent several hours on the phone instead of tiring my kids out and enjoying the day with them before the 1st day of school. The leg on my kitchen table fell off...yup, was trying to move it over so I could fit the baby's jumperoo through the back door and it just fell off. It's a new table!! Well, fairly new. I told you, that's part of the fighter in me...I'm like Hercules.
Then, I tried to get some work done in between phone calls but it didn't last for long because I realized my iron was broke...didn't want to work.
Did I mention my awesome husband who works for an awesome company came home like a superhero to fix the table, work from home, and help keep the kids quiet so I could have some grown up phone conversations to deal with previously mentioned annoyance (please see above, I know, details will come later).
I realized yesterday at 6pm that dinner was not ready and I had neglected to go to the grocery store as Niko will be spending his first FULL DAY of school today and I needed to pack his lunch. So my wonderful and supportive husband ran to McD's to pick up dinner for 7. I broke down and cried at the though of having to pack his lunch...ridiculous, I know...but if you know my son, his energy level functions at a 9 for a good chunk of the day, and Lord knows he eats and asks for a snack at least 12 times before noon, so trying to think up what would keep him satisfied at lunch until 2:45p when he walks through the door was kind of challenging. Well, uh, yea, THAT and the though of not having him around for lunchtime was kind of...sad...ughh...here come the tears...hold on...

OKAY! So fast forward, got the lunch packed, got his school bag ready, laid out his clothes, slept like a baby! I was exhausted.

This morning, I managed to get them out the door and to the bus stop and snapped a few shots...

Ahh...the traditional "Stand by the front door" back-to-school shot...

Walking to the bus stop, praying that Niko makes a wise decision to stay out of the sprinklers!!

The gang...

Getting on the bus...I didn't even cry...

That's right! I didn't cry...I cried the night before thinking about lunches...and earlier in the morning when he told me he wanted to walk to the bus stop alone. Somebody please freeze time...now...PLEASE!!

Now with all that said, I will continue to work on this annoyance today, I have a photo shoot to prepare for on Sunday for Hazel Brown Designs...the little models will be ready so it sure would be nice if I could have their clothing ready, get emotional as Sophie will have her kindergarten preview tomorrow and her first day on Friday, get the house cleaned so I can have people over to celebrate Mom's birthday...hmmm...if you need anything, DON'T CALL ME!!

Okay, and last but not least, some wonderful people whom I don't even know helped me out a ton yesterday. Thanks to them and to the great friends, old and new, who got me in touch with them....and to my awesome husband who always has my back. In the whole scheme of things, I really do feel blessed to be surrounded by some terrific people...and when all is said and done...they are what's important...not some stupid annoyance...

(cut away to your favorite children's clothing designer commercial...hmmm, say, a Hazel Brown Designs one! : )

7 days and counting...

Holy cow! Is it already time to go back to school!!? The kids start up next week. I have yet to get Nikolas a school bag and lunch sack. I know, I'm such a procrastinator. I swear, I had more time left! The kids have been spending the summer in the pool...we got a metal framed intex pool...so bigger than their blow up kiddie pool but smaller than a "real" pool and not too difficult to maintain. They love it! Nikolas, Sophie and Livi took 2 weeks of swim lessons and the 2 older ones are swimming now! Olivia is still a bit hesitant to try but still loves the water. It has been such a hot summer that it's been great. I was just telling Matt that the kids hadn't even been on the swing set at all since we got the pool.

Here's some pics of my little water babies...

The girls at swim lessons...

Even Fi enjoyed the water!...

(Cut away to a Little Swimmers commercial...)

Lookin' good...

Niko has been wanting to cut his hair short like Daddy. I haven't let him because I love his hair longer with curls. Well, summer has a crazy way of getting you to do things you wouldn't normally do or allow...
so...I find myself gobbling down my lunch, Matt running out the backdoor with clippers and calling Niko to follow...
Matt strategically places a chair out in the yard directly in my view and I go running out back. Now it may seem as if I had no idea he was gonna do this. I don't wanna steer you wrong. Niko brought it up over lunch, I looked at Matt and said "Well, I guess. But do it outside. I don't want that mess in the house!"...and then yes, in the blink of an eye, they were outside.

And this is where I start thinking, "uh oh...what was I thinking?"...

Look at all his hair!! It looks like little hamsters in the yard!

 

We thought he could sport an "original" side mohawk but he wasn't going for it...

Here he is...just getting cleaned up...he looks like a little man : (

So I laughed and laughed because I think now he TOTALLY looks like a mini-Matt. Well, Niko LOVES that he's daddy's little sidekick and he says, "Daddy, Daddy...do you know who's calling you?" and Matt says, "Who?" and Niko answers, "Junior!" haha...
He tells me he's gonna keep his hair like this even when he's a daddy. He tells me he never wants to grow his hair and have curls ever again. I'm not gonna argue with him. I'm gonna let him enjoy it. But between you and I, being his mommy and all, I think curls are in his future!

(cut away to a Fantastic Sam's commercial...are those still around??)