I Open My Mouth and the Words Fall Out

Sometimes, as a parent, we are required to do things that we never in a million years could possibly have imagined doing before we had children.  Things like wiping your child's nose with your bare hand, or letting them leave the house with 25 barrettes strategically placed (by them) on top of their head.

And sometimes we say things that you can't even make up.  Remember this?  The phrases come out of our mouths, and it's only once we've said them that we stop and think, holy cow, where did that come from?

For example, a few days ago the girls and I were all in the car with my mom.  The girls were in the backseat and things were getting a little heated, when I suddenly found myself uttering the following sentence: "It's not okay to call your sister a hobo unless you're willing to let her call you a hobo, too."

Being a parent is awesome.

Random Thoughts Thursday

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It's nice to be on vacation.  It's nice that right now my kids only have each other to play with, so they get along much better than normal.  It's nice to relax and not have anything to do or anywhere to go.  Unless I want to.

Best thing I heard this morning: (spoken by Lexi) "Ellie, you know what?  You're my sister and I love you."  Melted my heart.

I took the girls to see Brave today.  We loved it.

I loved hanging out with my (not so) little brother last night.  I haven't really seen him for about a year now, and it was good to catch up and just talk.  I'm 12 years older than him, so it's kinda cool to be able to talk with him as an adult now.  And, also, a little distressing that my baby brother is 23.  I'm old.

Pictureka is a really fun game.

There are 576 pictures on my phone, all from this trip.  And we still have over a week before we go home.  I hope I have enough memory for the other 500 pictures I'm bound to take.

I can't believe it's already almost July.

Being at my mom's house is bad for the diet.

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Random Thoughts Thursday

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I'm so grateful my kids travel well.  Our 6am flight (without Dad to help out) would have been a whole lot less fun if they didn't.  But it was a piece of cake.

Snowbird Resort might just beat out Lagoon for fun places to go in Utah.  We played in bounce houses, jumped on trampolines while attached to bungee cords, rode the alpine slide over and over and over, climbed through the ropes course, fell off a mechanical bull, climbed a wall, and rode a tram to the top of the mountain.

Too bad Chris is still at home.

Despite the fun we're having, a part of me is a little bit jealous of Chris being at home alone.  It's quiet there.  And clean for more than 10 minutes at a time.  And quiet.

There is nothing in the world quite like S'mores.

Today we're leaving the 80 degree weather and heading to 100+ degree weather in St. George.  Good thing the house there has air conditioning.  And good thing there's an indoor pool close by.  Us Oregonians can't take that kind of heat for very long.

I'm very blessed in the in-law department.

The world is a beautiful place.

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Adventures in Babysitting

I wrote this clear back in April, but life and school intervened and it never got posted.  Now that school is out and the only things on the "neglect this" list are cleaning my house and doing laundry, I can finally post it!

I babysit a few kids a couple of days a week.  One girl is Ellie's age and just comes home from school with us, but when the other two are here, it's all day.

The almost-2-year-old little guy still takes a good long nap in the afternoon, but his big sister is almost five, and naps are so not cool anymore.  We compromise and call it rest time or quiet time.  Sometimes she watches a movie for her quiet time, but usually she takes a bunch of books onto Lexi's bed (she likes Lexi's because it's the highest up) and chills for an hour or so.

On Tuesday, while both kids were napping/resting, I thought I'd do some homework.  I'm taking an Anatomy & Physiology class, which means I get to look at a lot of pictures of, well, basically...naked people.  Oh, and the class is online, which means I'm looking at these pictures on my computer screen.

I figured I had a good hour to do my assignment, which involved labeling a figure with the correct body regions, when in walked big sister, done with quiet time.

And there on the screen in front of me was my anatomically correct man, very visible on the computer screen in all his, um, anatomically correct glory.

Can you imagine the conversation at home that might follow an encounter like this?  "So, sweetie, how was your day today at Allison's house?"  "Oh, it was great!  I watched Scooby Doo and read Pinkalicious and Allison looked at naked guys on the computer!"

I guess I got me some 'splainin' to do.

Random Thoughts Thursday

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Schoooooooool's. Out. For. Summer!!!

I think I'm even more excited for summer break than my kids are.  It's been a really long time since I've needed a summer break.  Microbiology and Anatomy & Physiology in one term was exhausting.  Fascinating, but exhausting.

I absolutely love this:


Mr. Rogers was an amazing person.  I'm glad my girls know who he is.

Because the 4th & 5th grades at the girls' school are all blended classes, Lexi got to attend the 5th grade graduation, even though she doesn't move on until next year.  When I asked her after school how it went, she said, "Meh."  I told her next year would be better, and she said, "Yeah, because I'll be the center of attention!"  Sigh.  That's my girl.

I went with Ellie's class on a field trip to Peninsula Park, which, in addition to a huge playground, has a beautiful rose garden with a huge fountain in the middle of it.  When I asked a bunch of kids at the end of the trip what their favorite part was, one kid said, "Miss Allison, my favorite part was when I fell in the fountain!"  I love kindergartners.

Shrinky Dinks are the coolest things ever.

Hopefully now that school is out, I'll be better about blogging.  I have a lot of posts that I've started and haven't had the time to finish.

Vicki's been teacher her sisters camp songs.  They performed this one for me yesterday.  My favorite thing about it is how much their individual personalities shine.


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Random Thoughts Thursday (Friday Edition)

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I know, I know...but in my defense I started this on Thursday and then never finished it.  Bad blogger.

Know what makes a bad test day better?  Hugs in a parade from six Daisy Girl Scouts (apparently the Cadettes are too cool to hug their leader in a parade anymore.)

We are all ready for school to be out.  We've kind of lost our will to enforce bedtime.  9pm and the girls are still running through the hall "getting more books" or "going to the bathroom", and Chris and I just sort of halfheartedly holler at them from the confines of our bedroom.  Only four more days! (or three, because now it's Friday)

And not really even that for the younger two, because tomorrow is kindergarten graduation for Ellie and a swimming field trip for Lexi, Monday is a field trip for Ellie, and Tuesday is Field Day.  Vicki still has four days, though.

Friday night is the Girl Scouts' daddy-daughter dance, which means Chris gets to take all three girls and I get the whole house to myself for the evening.  This may be a first.  I plan to make the most of it by not doing schoolwork while they're gone.  I owe it to myself.

I have a paper, a quiz, and two exams which all need to be completed by Wednesday.  Then I can breathe again.

I love my book club, and I love that we can disagree about a book and still be friends.

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