You Learn Something New Every Day...

And Today It Was Two Things - Both of Which I Preferred Not Needing to Know

Today was one of THOSE days.  This afternoon as we were all getting ready to take Claire to soccer practice, I ran upstairs to put some laundry away.  Kate came upstairs with me and somehow located several Sharpies and had a little fun.

Bad News:  She did all this while sitting on my bed.
Good News:  The duvet we currently have on our bed is solid black, so we'll never even know if she got some on there. 
Bad News:  Her feet are STILL covered in black marks.
Good News:  Her legs were spared.
Bad News:  Her legs were spared because she was wearing leggings, which got Sharpie on them.
Good News:  The leggings were dark blue.
Bad News:  Not quite dark enough blue to disguise the black marks entirely.  And they were new.  This was only the 3rd time she had worn them.
Good News:  I learned today that, just as the internet suggested, isopropyl alcohol DOES remove fresh Sharpie from clothing.
Bad News:  It takes lots and lots of isopropyl alcohol and lots and lots of clean rags.  And I had a cut on my finger.
Good News: Thanks to the leggings being dark blue, I think I got enough of the Sharpie out that it isn't too noticeable.
Bad News:  While I was elbow deep in rubbing alcohol, Kate found a bottle of lotion that Claire had decided she no longer needed to keep in her backpack now that the dry winter air is gone.
Good News:  Kate didn't get lotion ALL over the house.
Bad News:  The cap WAS open and it was on her hands.  And a little on her dress.  And all around her mouth.
Good News: There was still lotion in the bottle, so she didn't drink all of it.
Bad News:  I don't know how much lotion was in the bottle to begin with.
Good News:  I now know how to call poison control. 
Bad News:  We were late to soccer practice. 
Good News:  It was "Mint Chocolate Chip" lotion, so Kate smells minty fresh now.
Bad News:  The diarrhea she might get from potentially ingesting lotion will probably be not so minty fresh.

Effect and Cause

Last weekend was general conference for our church.  Over the course of the weekend, we got to hear from the leaders of our church via internet broadcast in several 2 hour sessions. 

It's wonderful, but not always easy with the younger set.  Really, Claire and Scott did surprisingly well.  Kate did pretty well during the first session on Saturday morning, then she was asleep for the second session.  But by Sunday morning, I could tell she was wondering, "Why are were doing this again?!?!?"

After a while, a restless Kate started folding her arms and acting like we were going to have a prayer.  At first I thought she was misinterpreting the talk as a prayer.  I'm sure when you're in the middle of it, a prayer and a talk don't sound that different to a toddler.

Then I realized I wasn't giving her enough credit.  She was trying to end the meeting.

Normally at church we have a closing prayer, and then the meeting is over.  So if she could just get us to start praying, then this long boring meeting would be over, right???

Sometimes Your Big Sister Draws on Your Forehead with a Marker

Yah... I really don't know what else to say.

 

Granted, It's a Simplified Edition, But STILL!!!

  
I hate to admit it, but sometimes I catch myself yelling at my kids.  I had hoped it wouldn't happen, but really I kinda expected it.

What I didn't expect was how often the words I would end up yelling would be,

"STOP READING!!!"

I mean, I'm grateful that Claire and Scott love reading.  In theory it's a good thing.  But sometimes it seems like nothing gets accomplished in our house because halfway through doing it one or both of the older kids sees some sort of reading material and gets sucked in.  Scott especially can sit for well over an hour in his room, halfway dressed and reading an Andrew Lost book.  Each time I come in to check on him, I tell him to stop reading and get dressed.  That usually gets us one article of clothing further along in the process before he starts reading again.

I try to corral all the books, but I swear they get up and sneak into new places when I'm not looking.

The other day I went into Claire's room and saw Scott like this:

Yes, he was snuggled up in Claire's floral bed reading Anne of Green Gables.

  

Injustice

Why is this okay...

 

But this isn't???

Seems to me that either way it's sugar on a stick, but the latter skips straight to the chocolate center and makes it actually delicious!