Boy Stuff

So if finally happened this morning. You know those shows where you see the mom pulling all kinds of weird stuff out of the pocket of their sons pants before they do laundry and you think, where did it all come from? Well, I don't know where it all came from, but my son had a bunch in his pocket!

He had 2 nickels (now those I do know where they came from...I give Madison and Marshall a nickel each time they buckle up the twins), a Bud Lite beer cap (gross, don't even want to think about it), a piece of his binky (it's his blanket that he used to sleep with but is now in little, tiny, miniscule threads), a blue wire, part of a sticky thing that "walks" down the wall when you throw it at the wall (you moms know what it is!), a lego, a Playmobile pirate sword, and an army man's arm.

He's my little collector. I used to get so grossed out when my nephews would pick up stuff off the ground and pocket it...I still think it's gross, but Marshall does it now and I kind of get it. They're boys, and it's what boys do!

I love my little Marshall! Just this morning, before the whole shorts thing, he says to me as I'm brushing my teeth, "How about I get a little kiss from my favorite Mommy?" Right after that he says, "Mommy, can I stay home from school today? I just want to be with you!" The little charmer!! (And yes...he's staying home today...just to be with me!)

Twins...gotta love 'em!

Emma was just looking in the mirror and turned to me and said, "Mommy, I look like Halle!" (Just in case you didn't know, Halle and Emma are identical twins...and they're 3, not 12, so the whole looking like your twin thing is just dawning on them!)

Cleaning

I'm in the kitchen mopping. Madison comes in to watch...she's fascinated by mopping and is always begging to use the Swiffer Wet Jet. We have a conversation which goes like this:

Madison: "Is Jillian coming over?" (That's our babysitter)

Me: "No."

Madison: "Is Grandpa and Grandma coming over?"

Me: "No."

Madison: "Are you having Bible study today?"

Me: "No."

Madison: "Then why are you cleaning?"

It's then that I realize the only time the kids ever see me really clean cleaning is when we are having company. I do pick up, straighten up, and neaten up. But it's pretty sad that if I'm deep down cleaning it means, to the kids at least, that someone's coming over. Now lest you think we are walling in filth, I do deep down clean when the kids are at school, playing outside, watching a movie, or some other activity that distracts them from what I am doing. It's just hard to do with them running all around!!

I am cleaning the kids bathroom when it occurs to me that each child (with the exception of Cooper, he only has one toothbrush and shares someones toothpaste) has 2 toothbrushes and their own toothpaste. That's 8 toothbrushes and 4 tubes of toothpaste. When did this craziness occur and where was I?

I better get back upstairs and finish deep down cleaning...who knows when the urge will strike again?

Oh, and John is sitting on the back porch enjoying the sunshine. Well, that's not fair, he is working on work stuff, but he's still outside!

We're back!!

So, when we went on vacation, I thought it was for 6 days. Almost 2 1/2 weeks later we got home...well, we've been home since last Sunday night, but it has been crazy around here. John's family in Jacksonville basically kidnapped me and the kids. When they found out that the kids had Spring Break the week after our vacation (I'm still not sure when we didn't go down ON their Spring Break, but who cares?), they told John to come back to Atlanta and to come back the next weekend to get us...that's what we did!

We first went to the beach with his family. It was FREAKIN' FREEZIN'!! I am not kidding. It was in the 30's at night and only in the 50's in the day. Now for up here, okay. But this is the beach. It's supposed to be warm. But the kids did brave getting in their suits and dipping their toes in each day for about 10 minutes. And we did hit the beach after Disney when we were kidnapped and it was warm and sunny.

The kids had a blast at Disney (HUGE thanks to my Grandpa and Dorothy for getting us all in for free, "renting" two double strollers for free, and discounts on food, etc.). We were there from the time it opened until ther fireworks were exploding in the air!! It was sooo much fun! Their favorite thing was meeting all the characters. We actually met quite a few this time. I just love to see the excitement on their faces and the joy in their voices when they say, "Donald Duck hugged me!"

After Disney we were just going to stop back by to see his family and spend the night. That's when they conjured up this plan of theirs. I'm so glad we stayed. The kids don't get to see their cousins as much as we'd like, so it was nice. And to relax and just chill with each day being blank with no plans what-so-ever was huge!

The night we got home I told John my throat was a little scratchy. I woke up the next morning to full blown sore throat, crouppy cough (I still get croup as an adult y'all...strange), no voice, and gross green phlegm. Nice. It took me three days to realize it was all this lovely Atlanta pollen. I am still coughing a bit and still have a hoarse voice, but after almost a week on Claritan, I'm much better.

Now I'm going to go upstairs and plop down in the middle of the toys, folded clothes, unfolded clothes, and sippy cups, I'm going to grab Madison's Power Puff girl pillow and ABC blanket I saw and take a nap right on the floor. I don't think I can make it much further than that!