Vincent Van Go-To-Your-Room!

Hmmmm...where to begin?
OK - I'll keep it simple. Me making lunch. Kids in basement. Coloring. See pic to the right, from a few weeks ago, for how it should be done. That is, on the paper.

NOT. ON. THE. CARPET.

Oh yeah. You heard me. On the carpet. They colored the carpet. Which is possible. I didn't know that until today.
I knew it was too quiet down there, but did I check? Nooooo. I decided to remain blissfully ignorant. Which lasted all of about 7 minutes. Then the mac-n-cheese was ready and Andy and Andrea Warhol came upstairs. Q proclaims that Hey! Keira colored the carpet! What? Yeah, she did; really. Hmmmm...could she really do much damage in such a little time, I thought. Will crayons even write on carpet? As I'm contemplating this over a few seconds, K fires back an accusation of her own: Gege color too! Oh no, I foolishly say, he knows better; Quinn knows we color only on paper.
They traipse off to wash hands. We eat. Play outside a little afterward. Keira naps.

Then, I inspect the damage.

Yikes.

Not only did she color the carpet, but she colored about a 12x24 area. In orange and blue. And then a foot or so away, there's more. Not scribbles though, but well formed letters. Including a Q. Hmmmm....curious. I'm starting to see now why Quinn didn't rat out Keira right off the bat, as she was coloring (as he typically does for even the most minor infractions). No, not this time. He didn't have time to tattle...because he was too busy doing some coloring for himself! Arghh!
Initially he denies my accusations, insisting that Keira made the Q. And the A, too. Oh really? I say. She can barely make a circle, let alone a Q. And that is one mighty nice Q.
Before I have to get all Elliot Stabler on him (pop reference to one of my favorite prime time detectives!), he confesses to being the brown-crayon-bandit, but maintains that Keira told him to do it. Uh, yeah, right....since when do you listen to anything your 2-year old sister tells you?
So, once I have a straight story, more or less, I do what any mom worth her salt does: I leave it for daddy to witness when he comes home from work, and then equip all 3 with buckets and rags to clean it up. Yeah, that's right. Somehow I managed to get hubby to lead the kiddos in the clean-up effort, even though he had nothing to do with it. How about that? Some finesse, eh? I know, I know - one could argue that it was my negligence (um, make that misplaced trust) that led to this whole thing in the first place, but I certainly wasn't going to point that out.

In the end, the crayon came out of the carpet. The kids will be coloring upstairs for the next couple of days. And Quinn drew pictures of Princess Mommy and Princess Keira as a peace offering.

Now that's some art I can appreciate.

Sweeeet!

The news seems all doom and gloom lately - financial crises, candidates nationally and locally taking jabs at each other, and - this arguably isn't of the same magnitude or importance, but still - the Colts are not off to a good start. So, in an effort to improve to aura of the universe, here are a few sweet things to take your mind off the ills of the world:

Sweet potato fries. Run - not walk - to your nearest Trader Joe's and scoop up a couple of bags of their Sweet Potato Frites. Yumm-mmmy! (or is that yammm-mmmy??!) Even Keira loves them. Keira, the vegetable hater. She loves these little sticks o' goodness. Mmm-hmmm. Of course, Q ranked them as the 4th best food on his plate yesterday...and he only had 4 things to start with. But still, everyone else in this house gives them a double thumbs up. (And while you're at TJ's, do yourself another favor and buy a tub of Oatmeal Cranberry Dunkers with White Fudge Drizzle...you can thank me later. And remember: anything containing oatmeal can, in good conscience, be classified as a breakfast food.)

Apples! Keira's playgroup went to a nearby working apple orchard the other week. She initially balked at the idea, thinking I was going to make her actually eat those apples. But once she realized she could just pick (not eat) ,and later get to ride on a wagon to boot, she was all in. Quinn's class took a field trip to the same orchard earlier this week and while he did not get to actually pick any apples, he gave a gold star rating to the trip overall. When asked what he learned, he replied as follows: "I sat with L on the bus and I think she's in love with me now, too." Oh brother. I'm going to be looking into all-boys schools soon.

Soccer. While technically not as sweet as apples or sweet-tater fries, Q sure has a great old time each Saturday morning, chasing down the little black and white ball. His coach has been so good about being sure that not only everyone plays as much as they want, but also that they all get a chance to score. Keira has a grand time as well, chasing around the little brothers of Quinn's teammates. And yes - you can see it coming already, right? I'm checking into an all-girls school for her. Do convents take Methodists?

And if all the above isn't enough to take your mind off the ills of the world, well, I'm sorry. It's all I've got.

That, and this little barrel full of monkeys.

Fox In Socks

Looking back on my last several posts, I realize there's been a recurring theme: Q and kindergarten. So in an effort to provide equal airtime, or as equal as things can get, I thought I'd take a minute to refresh your memory: There's a spunky 2 year old running around here, too. And she's been talking up a storm.

If you have or had a child this age, you know/remember what it's like when they start talking. It is like opening up floodgates. The words, phrases come blasting at you, faster and faster, until you are totally overwhelmed. Of course, you don't always know exactly what is being said. Just that a lot is being said.

And sometimes, what they are saying sounds a lot like something they should not be saying.

This particular example first showed up in the spring. However, with the onset of summer and therefore hot weather, I forgot about our little "problem". Forgot, that is, until today.

It is fall now, more or less. And a bit nippier in the morning. And cooler temps mean chilly 2 year old feet. And chilly feet need socks. And when K needs socks she means to say, "Momma, Kiki needs socks." However, said 2-year old has these 2 problems (among other verbal challenges):

1. She often swaps an S for an F....like she'll say "fost" instead of "soft". I'm told by a speech therapist friend that this f-for-s thing is not unusual at this age. Ok. Good. So "socks" should come out "fox". Right?

Wrong. Enter problem 2. She has trouble making words plural.

No matter what, it is hard for her to put an S on the end of things. I haven't asked my speech therapist friend about this yet, but I do know that in Chinese (which she heard exclusively in utero and for her first 12 months) they don't have plural words (they just make things plural by adding an adjective in front).

So now, put problem 1 and 2 together. Think about it. And translate "Momma, Kiki needs socks" into Keira-speak.

Got it? Yeah. Shocking yet funny the first time you hear it. Disturbing thereafter.

Needless to say we've been working tirelessly on Ss, before and after words, all day. And to no avail.

Today, she went to school in "sssss-fandal!".

With white you-know-what to go with it.

Oh! Did I mention? Her fashion-sense is second only to her vocabulary.

Yesterday

It was only a matter of time, I suppose. Not if, but when.

When would I get the first call from the school nurse? (Yesterday.)

When would Q miss his first day (or half-day) from school? (Yesterday.)

When would a little girl first plant a schmoocher-oo on my LMIK (Little Man in Kindergarten)? (Also yesterday.)

And when would Q score his first phone number from a little chickadee? (Yup, you guessed it - yesterday.)

Yesterday. Sigh. It all started smoothly enough. Quinn catching the bus. Keira off to preschool. Me at home trying to clean up the eternal chaos upstairs, otherwise known as The Purple Room. Then the phone rang. The words you don't want to hear: "Mrs. Quinnsmom?....This is Mrs. S., the nurse at his school...."

And silly me, my first thought was illness not injury. How inexperienced I am as a mom of a young boy.

As it turned out, after lunch (which they eat at 10:15am, btw, so as to completely quarantine kindergarteners from the rest of the general population), as the kids were lining up for recess, Q tripped over some kid's leg (who was butting in front of him in line, so he says) and he fell over a chair, onto a table, and crashed his nose. Bleeding ensued. Later a cheek bruise showed up. Thankfully, by the time I got there the bleeding had stopped and Q was in no major pain. Nonetheless, I was instructed that perhaps I should bring him home so he could spend the day icing it, off and on. Q was so brave through it all, although he did shed a few tears when I arrived....mostly because, as I found out later, he was bummed to be missing school; not because he was hurting.

Also as I found out later, a certain little friend from his class, and quite nearly a girl-next-door, snuck a little peck onto Q's cheek during circle time earlier that day. Of course, this is between you dear readers and me, riiiiiight? Please - NO mention of this to the one who says "it was so embarrassing!" (not becuase anyone saw, he says, it was just embarrassing.)

And the story does not end here. Later in the day, some of his classmates made get-well cards for Q. Among those doing the kind deed was the little smoocheroo herself. Although what distinguished her card from the rest was this: a Q inside a red crayon heart. And her phone number. Oh my.

Maybe teaching kindergarteners to read and write is overrated. I'm starting to think cookies, juice and a couple of stories isn't so bad afterall....

I Was So Tired I Almost Fell Asleep in School Today!

This is not what you want to hear your kid say, first thing off the bus. Yet, it is a direct quote from my son. Today, 3:02pm. Sheesh. Apparently, his near-brush with school-time slumber came at the end of the day, waiting in his classroom for the "bus kids" to have their turn leaving class. So it is not like he was falling asleep during "morning work" or anything, while practicing his Ss today (ironically, they learned to write Ss today....as in, S is for sleep!).

Anyway, before I had a chance to say that Hey buddy, looks like we will definitely go to be bed earlier tonight, he assured me that now, he was no longer tired (Um, yeah. Right.) and that he didn't need to get to bed earlier (Wow - am I that predictable?! They get good at this so fast!).

Tomorrow night is Meet the Teacher night, and so at this point, I'm crossing my fingers that we don't get pulled aside and given a little what's what about proper sleep habits. I'm hoping to keep my parental green card (and not the dreaded yellow or *gasp* red card the kids get for objectinable behavior).

Oh, and last week I asked Quinn to name the best three things about his day. (I'm trying to follow all those how-to-get-your-kids-to-talk tips and not ask yes/no questions.) Here is what he had to say: 1. We had recess; 2. We had corndogs for lunch; and 3. I got to ride the bus.

So there you have it. Kindergarten highlights from the trenches. And nary a mention of reading, writing, or 'rithmetic.

And while I don't have pix of the sleeping prince in action, I thought I'd post a photo of Q and K doing their best Michael P and Natalie C impersonations (a little Olympics withdrawal going on here).

Oh, and lastly, before I forget (hold the age jokes): thanks to all for the various b-day greetings I got today. You all rock. I will reply personally to each heartfelt message (including the helpful tips on aging from my sorta fav BIL) soon. I would've replied to you all earlier today, but, well, I've been going on and on in my blog instead....and before this whole blogging deal I was (are you ready for this?) playing with the awesome new Wii FIT (yes, let me shout that: WII FIT!!!!!!) that I got from my super-awesome super-resourceful hubby! Ladies, hear this: dropping major hints beginning 3 months before your bday is a good thing. Said often enough, it all sinks in.

A Gold Medal Week

The big story around the world this week seems to be the Olympics. We've been getting our fill here...staying up late (the grown-ups anyway) to see the swimming, gymnastics, volleyball, and glimpses of beautiful China.

Our Chinese-American gold medal toddler models her Olympic finery to the left. She was decked out and ready to go for the Opening Ceremonies. I picked out the t-shirt, she picked out her hat. The outfit pretty much sums her up, eh? (Of course, as far as the shirt goes, what was I thinking when I bought that thing back on our adoption trip? I totally overestimated her growth....she'll likely be able to wear that shirt again for the 2012 Games!)

Of course, around here, the Olympics aren't the biggest story around. The big news in our corner of the world is Super-Q's entry into formal education. So far, he gives a double-thumbs up to Days 1 and 2 of Kindergarten. He has safely navigated the bus to and from school, bought his lunch in the cafeteria (even choosing a vegetable as part of today's lunch!), and given me all necessary parent paperwork (intact, no less). On the right, you see the handsome guy decked out for his first day. He picked the shirt and I started to pick out khaki shorts to go with. "Mo-om, I don't need to look like a church man, do I?" No, no, I guess not. Jean-shorts will be just fine.

And notice little sis in her PJs. Not looking very happy. This, however, was nothing compared to her reaction when Q actually got on the bus. And the big door closed. And the loud yellow monster pulled away, taking her brother with it.
She. went. nuts. Crying, screaming, wailing. Gege, come back. Back, gege! Waaaaaah! It was sweet and heart-breaking at the same time.

I explained that the bus was taking him to school, yada yada yada, and home again after her naptime. That seemed to do the trick. Plus a walk around the neighborhood and another 2 bowls of Frosted Flakes. Tony the Tiger makes everything grrrrrreat!

Kindergarten-palooza!

Well, the last few days have been filled with all things kindergarten. Kindergarten "orientation" on Thursday (meet the teacher, see classroom, visit school library and cafeteria, sit on bus....that should've been ride on bus, but it stalled...but that's another story). School ice cream social on Sunday (get bus assignment, buy school T-shirt, desposit money in school lunch account, avoid PTO recruitment). And now, one final day of lounging around and enjoying summer...all the while, me trying not to say stuff like "Hey, this is your last lunch at home before school starts" or "Hey, tomorrow at this time you'll almost be done with your first day of school" and other assorted phrases which apparently annoy my 5-year old.

Here are various tidbits about Q's cool school: he has twice the number of kindergarteners in his school than I had in mine....and his school is one of about 11 in the district (not the only one, like mine was). His teacher started kindergarten in the exact same year that I started. Started college, I mean. His class is not filled with kids named Jennifer, Michelle, Michael, and Mark, but rather Meade and Callahan and Sofia and Isabelle. He gets to choose one of 3 entrees each day - not Shepherd's Pie, take it or leave it.

He will, however, learn to make his letters the same way and still, 2+2 = 4. So, some things I can help him with.

Now, off to figure out how I can snap a photo of him on the bus tomorrow w/o being noticed....I'd hate to be a totally-embarassing mom. Not on the first day, anyway.

Quit Being Such a Salsa Hog!

I'll take Overheard at Q&K's House for $200, Alex.

Answer: The family member who uttered the title quote.

You, playing along at home: Who is.....the man of the house?

Alex: Correct.

You: I'll take Overheard for $400, Alex.

Alex: The family member to whom the quote was directed.

You: Who is....Quinn?

Alex: Sorry, that's incorrect.

Another player rings in: Who is....the lady of the house?

Alex: Sorry, that is also incorrect. The correct answer is KEIRA.

How can that be, you say? Keira - the salsa hog? You've always been told Keira eats nothing but Goldfish, yogurt, and mac-n-cheese. Nary a fruit or vegetable to pass her lips. How could she be the one who is inhaling mass quantities of salsa, nothing but loads and loads of veggies and spices?

Well, let me set the record straight. She does eat some veggies - if you count zucchini bread, spinach and artichoke dip, and breaded eggplant as vegetables. And yes, she does like salsa. But until tonight, I didn't know just how much.

We had been getting Garden Fresh Salsa by the tub-full at Costco. She liked it alright, enjoying the crispy chips just as much. But tonight, we tried Trader Joe's Fresh Mild Salsa. And she not only liked it, she hogged the container. She kept standing up in her chair to reach across the table for more. She rationed her chips, biting off just the part with salsa and then standing to dip again. (The $600 answer would've been: The family member at the end of the "Hey - you're double-dipping!" accusation.) And, to top it off, by the end of the meal (yes, we were having chips and salsa as part of a Friday night hodge-podge) she was, well, you check it out....

As they say, Good to the last drop!

Wild About Books!

If I were to write a book this minute, it would be titled something like this: Never Let Your Child Wear Flip-Flops to the Library (and Other Parenting Tips No One Ever Told You).

It all started out innocently enough - a trip to our local library. A great place. A place you want your kids to love. But, maybe in our case, the library is too great. They love it too much. They feel too comfortable there. Where are all the old crotchety librarians hissing "Shhhhh" when I need them?

Before we headed out today, I led the kids in a rousing cheer-like recitation of the rules.

Do we yell in the library? Nooooo!
Do we speak quietly in the library? Yessss!

Do we run in the library? Noooo!

Do we walk in the library? Yessss!

Do we jump in the library? Noooo! (I threw this rule in there because I anticipated trouble with those wily flip-flops, but did I listen to that inner voice and make her change into sneakers? noooooo!)

Do we listen and cooperate with mommy? Yessss!

I was fooled into thinking that yelling with me in giddy unison indicated understanding of the rules. Apparently, when a 2 year old yells in unison, she is actually, well, just yelling in unision. Understanding. Cooperating. Doing as you are told. All totally optional in Toddlerville.

Anyway, off we head to the library. As we cross the parking lot, I remind again: no running; no jumping. What a waste of breath.

You see, our library is a big, fabulous building. As big as my high school practically. In fact, when we first moved here I thought it was a school. And, like a school, it has those wonderfully echoing hallways. And, as any 2-year old worth her salt knows, when you run or jump in said hallways in sparkly princess flip-flops it makes a loud, echo-y, slapping noise sure to irritate your mom. It will irritate her once, twice, three times over. It will irritate each and every time. A sure thing. Like death and taxes.

Twenty minutes later, after a few gentle (and a couple not-quite-as-gentle reminders), we head out, books and summer reading program prizes in hand.

And my mom wonders why I often prefer Half-Price Books over the library. Carpet, mom. Carpet. They have a lot of carpet there.

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

I can't believe I wasn't fully aware of the existence of such a day until just now. Apparently, in 1984, President Reagan declared July National Ice Cream month and the 3rd Sunday in July National Ice Cream Day! Republican or Democrat, there's no arguing with the brilliance of this idea!
My first thought about celebrating this fabulous occasion was to head to Handel's the use my buy-one-get-one coupon, but then just a moment later, I had a flash of mommy craftiness. I remembered having read a recipe somewhere about making your own ice cream! In ziplock baggies, no less. Fun and easy. Just our style.

By the way, this is my second bout of so-called craftiness this month! A personal best! I'm not one to often do "special' projects with the kids, but I have moments every now and then. And the other week, I decided we'd go on a nature walk and make nature collages with our findings. You can see the photo evidence here. Note that Q's collage is all done in rows, and Keira's is totally random. If that isn't a good insight into their personalities, I don't know what is. And the fact that I nearly went bonkers after letting K use a glue stick for 10 minutes is a fair insight into my personality...hence the reason we don't break out the craft supplies all too often. But anyway. Back to the ice cream.

After a lame dinner of leftovers, we got ready to make our ice cream dessert. The leftovers were really part of my master plan - after such a meal, the ice cream was bound to be a hit, no matter how it turned out, right?

There are really only 3 ingredients for this ice-cream-in-a-bag: half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla. Only 2 ingredients for our chocolate ice cream variation: chocolate milk and sugar.

You put it all into a quart ziplock bag. Put that quart bag into a gallon ziplock, which is filled with ice cubes and salt.
Then shake. Shake. And shake. For 5 minutes, according to the recipe. We shook it for almost 10 minutes the second time around, and it got a bit firmer. Either way, it was yummy.

The kids enjoyed the shaking. Well, for the first minute or so anyway. The bags get really really cold, so we put towels around them to make it easier on the kids. And us, too.
And of course, they enjoyed the eating. Keira kept singing "Happy Birthday to me!" And when I got to thinking about it, I realized that she pretty much only gets ice cream at birthday parties. Poor child....first a craft-less mom and now a mom who deprives her of ice cream! Sheesh.

Anyway, it was a fun project - fun to do and fun to eat.

So hip-hip-hooray for National Ice Cream Day! One of Reagan's greatest ideas. I'm not sure Obama or McCain could top this. Unless of course they declare a Free McDonald's French Fries and Diet Coke Day.

I Never Thought I'd Say This

I like Michigan.

There. I said it. My Ohio family is cringing this very moment. You see, being born and raised in Ohio - Buckeye style - no one, I mean no one (except a few crazies here and there, some of whom I am related to), claims to like Michigan. They stink. It stinks. Boo-hiss to the maize and blue. You get the idea. Of course, since my formative years, I've moved to the Hoosier state, gotten an advanced degree from Purdue, cheer for the black and gold on Saturdays, and well, have been generally ridiculued since. But that's for another time.

Back to Michigan.
It's nice up there. Seriously.
For the second summer in a row, we made a quick trip up north with the kiddies in tow. All for a little Lake Michigan beach time. South Haven style. And it has been much fun.

So, to borrow shamelessly from a well-known series of commercials, here's a quick run-down on our 3-day excursion.

Sand toys from Target: $4.99

Book to read on beach while hubby plays with kids: $11.20

Stale bread to feed the ducks: $0.59

New Wonder Pets video to help pass time on a rainy morning: $7.99

Making lots of memories: Priceless!

Blog, Schmog

Now that summer is basically half over, I think it's time for a look at just what in the heck has been going on here. We know what hasn't been going here, and that's blogging. My record so far during these summer days is about as dismal as that of the Reds. Sigh. But before getting too depressed, let me just move on to the excuses and the photos. Here we go.
I haven't been blogging because we've been.....

...at Disney.
OK - you all already knew this. It's been over a month now, so I've got to wipe that off my excuses list.
....busy telling the kids we aren't going back to Disney just yet. As you can see below, Keira is more than ready. The morning after we got back from sunny Florida, K put on her "Pin-cess hat" and "pack-pack" and declared herself "All set, mama! Kiki go tea cups! Kiki see Paw-paw!"

....touching sharks! At our zoo here in Indy, you can touch sharks. And Quinn did it a few weeks ago. About 10 times, no less. He would've gone for more, but his nervous mother ushered him and his increasingly brave sister from the Oceans exhibit before a certain little Asian delicacy flipped herself into the tank!

...celebrating Keira's half-birthday! We try to make it a little something special, since her actual b-day is amidst the hub-bub of Christmas. Of course, this year, our idea of something special was letting her eat all the "Fench Fies" (Rs optional in K-speak) she wanted at Red Robin (yumm-ola!) and then coming home and disguising leftover Quinn bday ice cream cake as a little slice of heaven for a 2.5 year old. With Spiderman sliced off and long ago eaten, this well-preserved piece of Oreo ice cream cake was just the ticket.

....at the movies! With a few rainy weekend days around here, I've had the chance to take Quinn to see a couple of movies. We saw Kung Fu Panda (just a mommy-son outing), and we also got to see WALL-E with friends the week after. In a head-to-head match-up between the panda and the robot, Q gives the edge to Wall-e, but I have to go with the panda. But you can't lose with either. I have a feeling both DVDs will end up on somebody's X-mas list.

....playing dress-up! Here is the lovely Princess Keira, still in post-Disney euphoria. (Don't worry Cousin M - we are taking good care of your Cinderella costume and will return it soon! Thanks for the loan!)

But mostly this summer, we are just plain ol' hanging out.

Hope you all are having just as much fun as we are.
I can't wait to see what's in store for the second half.