Winning.

I fail hourly as a parent. If you say you don't too, then I think you're lying. But sometimes, just sometimes we have those moments where everything lines up in the world, and you can't hardly breathe because the pieces of the puzzle just match up so perfectly, and your heart swells so big that you think your chest is going to explode.

I had two of those moments today.

We've been visiting new churches for a few months now, and the mice haven't really adjusted well to the frequent change (LM specifically). They were with us for the first part of "Big Church" at the particular church we visited today, and we were singing worship songs at the very beginning, and I could barely stand it to see my kiddos singing at the top of their lungs, praising our Father- because they knew the words from one of our cds we listen to in the car.

And then there's dinner, where LM scarfed down some butter noodles I made for her. As in, practically licked her plate clean. She's not much of an eater. Parenting win: pureed cauliflower. Don't judge me. Or do, I don't care. It's the only fruit or vegetable she ate today.

Lunch date

This is the exact conversation LM and I had during lunch:

I don't like avocado. Avocado is gross.

You shouldn't say stuff like that. Would it hurt your feelings if I said your goldfish were gross?

Yes, but they're not. I like goldfish and avocado is gross.  Look, my fork is dancing!

LM, you have a very good imagination.

I don't have any maginations.

That means you are good at pretending.

Yeah, I am. I'm going to pretend this green bowl is Rooster. My mac and cheese is Ms. Hannagan, and this white cup is her sister.

You mean Lily?

Yes.

Lily and Ms. Hannagan aren't sisters, Ms. Hannagan is Rooster's sister. Lily is Rooster's girlfriend.

Yeah, Rooster was dead and now he's alive again.

No, he wasn't dead.

Yeah, he just went to jail. And then he came back alive!

Do you die if you go to jail?

NO! That's silly. I'm going to die sometime.

Yes, everyone is going to die.

And then I'm going to be back alive on TUESDAY!

Well, no, if you die, then you'll go to heaven.

Yeah! I'll go to heaven. And BigM will go to jail.

Why will BigM go to jai...

LOOK MISTLETOE! Dashing through the snow, on a one horse open sled, dadada we go, running all the way... Will you sing Jingle Bells with me?

Sure after I finish my lunch.

Okay, I'm going to eat these goldfish out of Rooster, my green bowl and you finish your lunch.






Don't ask me why I still have mistletoe hanging from my kitchen chandelier. Anyone wonder why I'm exhausted at 9 in the morning?

On the 14th Day of February My True Love Sent to Me

Happy Valentine's Day. Until I had kids, this was my least favorite day of the year. Being told I need to honor my loved ones on a specific day just kind of goes against what I'm all about. I can do that any random Wednesday, any time.

But now that I have these three special little people in my life (thanks to my #1 in my life), I don't hate February 14th - at least not as much as I used to. In fact, I kind of enjoyed today. Be back in a bit to tell you why and how :)

Channeling my Inner Martha

I got this idea from pinterest, so I'm not as crafty as you think I am.

And yes, the suckers are organic and dye free and blah blah blah, but I already had them for LM (since she's allergic to food dye) so that makes me even more uppity than you already thought. I wasn't about to buy new suckers. (Okay I was, but Wal-Mart didn't have a small bag of dum-dums, they only had the jumbo bag of 300 for like $7. I needed 30, and not 270 extra.)

Regardless, Happy Early Valentine's Day from The Mouse House. xoxo

Belly Laughs

MM will laugh OUT LOUD if you zrrrbrrrt her tummy. (Is that how you spell zrrrbrrrt?)

Guess what I've been doing instead of cleaning the bathrooms?

Why, Hello Again!

We got a new computer, so I don't have to keep saving posts on my phone to write about later. (For some reason, I could save a post title, but I couldn't type any text in so I am well aware that you're hanging on to the edge of your seats wondering if LM ever potty trained. Some of you have even asked me if she still wets her pants. She doesn't...)

Give me some time to catch you up, but you will know what's been going on in the Mouse House for the last 6ish months and how we're doing from now on.

High Standards

For months now, LM has been telling us she's going to marry her daddy. She has no idea we've already arranged marriages for all of our daughters, so this whole discussion is moot anyway. Regardless, I was really surprised a few weeks ago when she announced in the car, "Mama, when I get big, I'm gonna marry D." (D is a little boy in her class at school, and his name is actually Davis, but they all call him D.) I told her that would be fine, but I thought she was going to marry her daddy.

"No, I'm going to marry D. He's m'boy." (Seriously, she said that. Took all I had in me not to crack up.) I'm a Rules kind of girl, so I asked her not to tell him and just let him ask her in say, 20 years. She agreed.

Yesterday, we were sitting at the table eating breakfast, and she gets this really sad look on her face and says, "Mom, I'm not going to marry D anymore." I envisioned some heartbreaking conversation by the slide at recess where she had professed her undying love and he didn't return it, or she passed him a note and because she can't write her letters yet it didn't have any boxes on it so he couldn't check yes...

"Why not, Honey?" (Gearing up for a discussion with my three year old about how dating is pointless unless you're really serious about a long term commitment...)

"Well, I'm going to be a Princess when I grow up, so I can't marry Davis because he's not a Prince."

Oh, well then. Okay. Duh...