Who do kids with no siblings blame things on???

Paige has been potty trained for almost a year now, but as I'm learning from other parents the word "trained" can be used rather loosely sometimes.
Yesterday afternoon I was in the kitchen when I noticed that Paige who had been watching Snow White, was conspicuously missing and very quiet.  So I of course called out to her, to which I got more silence.  I walked up the stairs occasionally calling her name. She greeted me right outside her bedroom wearing only her panties and a very guilty look. "Oh, mom!" was the first thing out of her mouth, so I asked her, "what happened to your clothes?"  She looks down at her body and says "Nuffing. I jus feewl like wearing dees panties,"  So I ask again, knowing she'll eventually crack under pressure. "Paige, what happened to your clothes? Did you have an accident?"  Now she makes the most confused and innocent look ive ever seen and replies, "Nooooo"  Not geeting the answer I want I go at it from a different angle. "Paige those were not the panties I put on you earlier."
She stares back a little more sheepishly this time and replies, "Welllll I dinnt pee my panties!" she punctuates by throwing her hands out to the side in a frustrated manner.  So I said "oh really, then what happened?" I knew her explanation would be good, and I was glad to finally be making some headway. "Well Carter peed my panties!" of course now any resolve I had left melted as I tried to stifle a laugh. "Really, Carter peed in your panties while you were wearing them?" I get my answer in the form of a very enthusiastic head bob. There we stood in the hall in a Mexican stand off, her wearing a huge triumphant grin, me shaking my head with defeat.  So finally I took one last breath, knowing full well that this was a wasted argument, she had said her peace and was sticking to it! "Paige, carter isn't even home right now!"  she looked back at me and said "he's not? Well den I don't know what happened." shrugs her shoulders and went on her way.

Carters rewrite!!!!

For all of you who didn't have to pleasure of seeing this on Facebook!!!

Back to my roots

I must say I do very much aplogize for my inattention to my blog. I know each and every one of you have been entierly lost not having your weekly dose of my childrens insanity! So lucky for you the maddness continues!!! Paige and I had flown down to Georgia over the weekend to be there for my grandmothers funeral, my sister and her family came as well. Michelle has a little guy, Peter who is just a year older than Paige and needless to say the two were very excited to see each other. Now you have to understand that growing up in Dawsonville, GA. is not to far off from the Jeff Foxworthy jokes we all know and love. There are lots of double wide trailers, 10 cars on the front lawn and my favorite very hairy overweight shirtless men sitting on tree stumps picking their toenails with a beer in one hand and a piece of chicken in the other. (I actually saw this very situation while driving to my grandmas house one afternoon). My grandma and great aunt Bertie on the other hand have a cute little white house that sits on the top of a hill on about 10 acres. Going to grandmas as a kid was something we always looked forward to so taking my daughter there for the first time was a really moving experience, I realized as we walked up the stairs that she was the fifth generation to go through those doors. The day after the funeral we were all outside wandering around letting the kids burn off some energy. Paige was enjoying picking clover flowers and making necklaces out of them, Peter was wacking anything he could see with a giant stick he found by some trees. The adults were talking enjoying the nice weather when I look over and see a bare butt out of the corner of my eye. Peter, needing to use the restroom decided the front yard was as good a place as any and was proceding to do so. Laughing I indicated to his dad Travis, that I thought Peter might need a little help. Since Peter was midstream he figured it was better to just let him finish and then stood as a barrier. Paige picking up on the commotion comes over beside Peter to check out what he was doing. About a second later Paige heads over to me as she is unzipping her pants. "Mommy, I wanna go pee pee like Peter." she said excitedly, I of course expalined that girls were not as adept at peeing standing up as boys were. This did not sit well with her as she explained her case. "But mom, I wanna make the flowers grow beautiful with my pee pee like Peter!" We left that afternoon so I never got the chance to see how much of the lawn died that night!

That's why it's call a "universal" remote!

My dad being the kind hearted man he is had taken my kids to his house yesterday afternoon, giving me a little peace and quite.  Apparently While they were there Carter decided he needed a cookie, then turned up his nose at the offered Pecan Sandies my dad had on hand.  From this my dad decided he would bake a pie instead, he's famous for his lemon meringue and since Carter loves my key lime he figured it would be a suitable replacement.  Carter played on the computer to pass the time while my dad made the pie, but if anyone has been around Carter while he plays a computer game you know it's a very interactive experience.  At one point during a particular critical stage in the pie making, Carter began asking my dad for help with his game.  My dad told him he'd have to wait for a minute while he finished up what he was doing.  Of course that didn't sit well with Carter who figured his needs trumped the pie's and turned to my dad and said.  "Why don't you just pause it!"   I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that Carter actually thinks that was a reasonable solution!

tips on how to have a successful living!

Last week Carter came home with a note informing the parents that they would be having a school store on wednesday for the students, it gave a brief list of the stuff and prices. Carter haggled with us for a bit over how much money he should take to spend. His opening bid was $20! We eventually got it down to $5 and some change. That morning on the way to school Carter was asking me how much money he had and where i had put it for the day. At that point he asked me how much money I had. I replied "you mean how much do I have with me, or how much total?" he thought about it for a moment and answered "how much money do you have total?" so I asked him "how much do you think I have?" he scratched his chin and spat out "one million dollars!" laughing because I was curious to know why he thought I had that much. This was his reply. "Well cause you work really hard doing hair, plus you've been working for like..." he pauses to think back. "Like two whole years!" You could tell he was really proud of his estimation so I pressed a little more. "So do you think daddy made very much money when he played football?" Carter nodded quickly "Oh definitely! He probably made at least ten or twelve thousand dollars!" So to sum it up,  if you work two whole years doing hair you can be a millionaire, but if you play pro-football for eight you can plan on around ten to twelve thousand! I knew I picked the right profession!

They really should include chocolate in dietary guidlines

With Carter I was blessed with a very happy morning child. Sometimes even a little too happy! Esp. when it's 5 am and the last thing you want to hear is someone sing "Annie" in your ear. (He went through a bit of a musical faze around 4). I realize now that I would give anything if Paige were also a morning child. She is like the Bride of Chucky, not a pretty site! And then this morning, I wake up to a blurry face, not even 2 inches away from mine. Breathing a steady stream of hot, chocolatey breath on me. I open my eyes and Paige greets me with a very enthusiastic "Hwello Mommy!" Below is the video I took just seconds later to preserve one of the few moments where Paige was happy before 10! All I have to do is feed her a ton of Chocolate to get her that way! 

No rest for the weary

I apologize for the extended absence, but as with most everyone else it has been somewhat of a busy first couple of weeks for our new year. With lots of birthdays, and even a shoulder surgery for Rob, which he actually just had done 3 days ago. So Thursday was the big day, but we didn't even head down to the surgery center until 6pm that night, which meant it was going to be a very long evening. And true to any medical procedure it lived up to all expectations! We ended up getting home around 12 but neither Rob nor I were able to fall asleep till around 4am. Then of course Carter was up at 7 to get ready for school. So basically by that evening i was pretty much the walking wounded. It was around 7ish and Paige asks me if I can "weyy down, wiff me!" Of course I'm thinking, bed, sleep, sounds A OK to me! We read her favorite book and I already find myself dosing off. Thankfully Paige was in a very patient mood that night and when I would rouse myself she would be just laying there staring at me! I finally make it through the 5 page book and she snuggles up to me and within milliseconds I am unconscious! It was probably only a few minutes but I wake up to Paige smacking me in the face saying, "mommee, mommee, wake up!!! 
you's gedding me all wet!!!!" I drag open my eyelids and realize that she is referring to the puddle of drool that is collecting on her shoulder. I sorta half mumble an apology and try to wipe the area dry, then begin to lay my head back down. At that point she yanks the blanket up from under me and tells me "mommee, I fink you need to go to you bed now!"

And I thought Christmas was over!!!

This Morning I was standing in the kitchen over my favorite heating vent reading a bit, when my cutie little Paige came over to me. I had made a little pallet on the floor over our other favorite heating vent, where she had been laying all covered up and until that moment I thought, sleeping! She had her little hands up to her mouth, and was snickering into them! "Mommee, I got a supwise fur you!" I asked her what it was, thinking it was another imaginary animal in her hands or a birthday cake she wanted me to blow the candles out on! She smiled and said "you havfa come here!" So I took her hand and she lead me over to the pallet on the floor and pulled back the covers and yelled "Supwise! Wook what I did fur you! A bit confused at the surprise ( cause all I saw was a big mess of crumbs on her blankets) I asked, Paige is the mess you made me the surprise? She beamed up at me, with all her 3 year old sleepy eyed power and proudly announced "Yess!!! I did it! wook diden I do susha' good job!" I asked her how she had done it? She replied "I got da mini muppins and den I squish em up wike dis, (showing me a crushing motion with her hands) and den I smashem' down here!" pointing down to the stuff on the floor. I couldn't help but laugh, since she was truly very proud of herself! I then lifted up the blanket and saw just how busy she had been! The picture up top gives a very small idea as to the "present" she left me! Hey one man's mess, it another man's present to their mommy! 

We came, we saw, we conquered!

The day after Christmas, the whole crew loaded up and headed to Dallas for the BYU bowl game, which if you live under a rock or something and haven't heard yet....... We WON!!!!! Which was good cause it would have been an extremely long flight home otherwise! So the families and players all stayed together in one hotel and it had a great hospitality suite for everyone to go hang out in! The best part of it was chock full of all the goodies, video games, board games, and treats you could ever dream of! The kids were in hog heaven! So most of the time we kinda chilled down there or went to the pool! On last nite there I needed to get all our packing done so I told Carter he could go down by himself for a bit! And when I say by his self, I really mean no mom and dad but under the eye of The Webers super cute daughter KC! So about and hour later Carter is pounding at our room door and I open it up to find him totally red faces and dripping sweat! I asked him what in the world had he been up to? He trudged into the room and dropped himself on the bed, and informed me that him and his little friends were playing tag, but he all the sudden felt like I was probably missing him so he booked it up to the room! I told him to change into his jamma's and lay down to cool off! When I came back into the room he was sitting under the covers with his jammie bottoms and no top cause he was still to hot! I asked him if he wanted a cool rag for his face? He nodded weakly and replied " Mom, look at me! I'm sweating like a beaver !" Then tonite while I was tucking him into bed he was saying his prayers and it went a little like this.... Dear..... Thanks for this day please help us gets home safety,( at which point he looks up a me with a funny grin on his face and say's) "hey wait we are already home safe, so do i need to ask Jesus to just forget what I said or will that Carry over to the next time we travel? " not waiting for my answer he goes on, "and please bless the food and the drink, Umm, that we will be eating tomorrow and, well just bless us that we can sleep good and sound in our beds tonite!" Amen! He then slaps his forehead and says "mom, can i get a mulligan, I did that all wrong!"

all I want for christmas is??????

This afternoon on the way back from the Dinosaur museum the kids and I were talking about some of the things they were hoping to get for christmas. Carter bolted upright in his seat and exclaimed "mom, i'm in serious trouble! I never made my list for the elves, and I haven't even gone and sat on Santa's lap yet! How are they going to know what I want for christmas?" I told him that it was ok, because they have elves that there only jobs it to write down christmas wishes when they hear little kids say them out loud! I'm not sure if he believed me or not but it at least calmed him down at bit. Then he began to yell into the air a few last minute toys he was wishing for. The last, but not least on his list was...... A Million Dollars! I laughed and told him that Santa didn't usually fill monetary wishes, so he pondered that for a minute and looked back and me and replied, "oh your right, that's the tooth fairy!"

On the 12th day of christmas, Carter said to me.....

As we all know and our wallets can feel, Christmas is just a short 12 days away!!!! So in case anyone is feeling overly stressed about the holidays Carter has graciously supplied us with the antidote! Here are a couple quick stories to hopefully put a new spin on your day!

Over the weekend we had Rob's families Christmas party. We decided to do presents a bit different this year. So instead of everyone buying for everyone we broke it down so the kids each drew a name, as did the adults. Therefore leaving Vicki (my mom-in-law) free to buy just for the grandkids and save the money she would have spent on the adults! As the presents from G-ma and G-pa start flowing the kids very rapidly start losing their minds! *don't you wish as an adult you still felt that way about a pillow pet* Each kid would get to  open while the others watched. Which worked pretty well for the first few presents until the almost rabid children could wait no longer. Then the presents started coming out a couple at a time. Which is when it got really funny, the boys got lego sets and pillow pets, the big girls got an assortment of clothes, makeup and books. Then came out the little girls, they got a big bag which contained everything you need to be a fairy princess! Within minutes Paige, Claire and Lily were stripped down to undies and begging to be wrapped in their glittery wings and tutu's! Everyone was delirious! The air was littered with shouts at octaves only dogs can hear, for their parents to see what they got! At that point Carter must have looked up from his lego's that he had been salivating over and noticed what the little girls had on, to which he exclaims, "Hey, that's not fair! How come only the girls got princess uniforms?"                   ........ Really? 

As per our usual weekend torture, the cleaning of the playroom was underway! I was helping the kids and we were moving along at record speed, when I noticed that Carter had a big ole' bump on his forehead. I asked Carter what happened ? He reached up and felt it and said he wasn't sure? I came a bit closer and realized that it was in fact a pimple! His first pimple! Immediately he became worried that something was very wrong with him. 

(I don't think he know's what a pimple is!) He followed me around for a bit and kept telling me, "that it wasn't a zit, that it couldn't be!" Then with deep concern in his voice he asked, "Mom, are you sure it isn't actually a brain tumor?" That was a new one for me, next time I have a big pimple I'm going to tell everyone that it's really just a brain tumor! 

In our family we are like Christmas music junkies! As soon as thanksgiving is over the Christmas tunes start pumpin'! We were sitting a dinner one night listening as usual to our favorite playlist, which at the moment happen to be playing the old classic "Santa Baby" sung by the glamorous Maralyn Monroe, when Carter chimed in with an observation. Very proud of himself he declared "Hey, guys I know who's singing this song to santa!" Rob and I both smiled, looked at each other very curious to see who he thought was singing the song when he answered! "It's Mrs. Claus! Do you know how I know? Cause' she keeps calling him baby!"

Deck the halls with bells and Hollers!

It really is a good thing we have children! Because they not only make us laugh, but they also help us to remember what Christmas is really all about! For example, Rob and I decided tonite we should fulfill the annul tradition of putting up the tree, hanging the stockings by the chimney with care (aka the switch lit fireplace) and hoping that we don't kill each other or our children before the tree is even up! When Rob and I first got married we purchased a lovely fake tree, now 10 years later it is probably less than lovely and becoming increasingly the bane of Rob's existence! This tree is assembled in alphabetical order starting with "M" at the bottom and ending of course with "A" at the top. Rob had the stand up and already to "L" when Carter looked at him and the "tree" and asked "why don't we get a real tree this year?" that prompted a fast run down to the local Smith's to pick up our ohh so real, pine needles and the works, Christmas Tree!!!! The children were Jubilant! Music bursting from the background, and then came out the lights! Which were the beginning of a very long tirade of words not generally associated with the Christmas season. Once the lights were on the tree and they all finally worked we stood back to look at the sight before us..... which if one was being honest would say that it looked rather skimpy! So I told Rob as much, and asked if he could just add a few more. In my mind more twinkling is never a bad thing. Apparently the ones we had left over were outside icicle lights and turned out to be the straw that broke the camels back! Rob jokingly shouted out "That's it! Christmas is cancelled!" (A Morris family tradition)) but it sent the children into absolute silence! Really if that's all it took to shut them up I might have yelled it years ago! But Carter being Carter, walked up very calmly and put his hand on Rob's shoulder and asked him very softly " But dad, if Christmas is canceled, then why did we go through all that trouble to get that tree?"

A Scout is always pre......what?

Since turning 8, Carter has now been going to scouts! Which he of course loves and can't wait for each week! Today when I picked him up he was rattling off some of the things he had learned and when we got home he flatly refused to take off his uniform. I was getting his dinner ready and had it nicely nuking away in the microwave. It beeped and I went to take it out, but was cut off by a scrambling Carter who informed me, "I'm a scout now, and we know how to take things out of the microwave safely!" I backed off and let him proceed. A bit later I was shredding some cheese and walked away to go change out the clothes in the laundry. Again when I came back I found Carter where I once was, happily grating away. I told him to be really careful since it's sharp and didn't want him to cut his finger. He again replied "mom, I already told you, a scout is aways careful and aways prepared!" I let him finish and sorta chuckled to myself, wondering how long it would be before he came and asked for a band aid. But in the middle of grating the cheese he suddenly sprinted out of the room. I called after to him and asked what was the matter? He yelled back that he needed to go to the bathroom really bad!!! About an hour later I was going to put Paige in the tub when I noticed the all to familiar smell of urine and a nice big puddle on the floor directly in front of the toilet! I told Carter he needed to come into the bathroom and bring some paper towels with him. He was not altogether happy with the fact that he was the one that would be cleaning up the ominous yellow puddle on the floor. He complained that he was not equipped to be cleaning this sorta thing up! So I smirked and said "I thought a scout was always prepared for anything?" He looked up from his unhappily crouched position on the floor and said, "Mom, they don't cover cleaning up pee in our handbook!"

I have something to say to the big yellow thing in the sky!

Paige has a very strong love-hate relationship with the sun! She loves to play outside and really enjoys a nice warm sunny day (although a cold, snowy one doesn't seem to dampen her that much either).  Every morning on the way back from dropping Carter at school, Paige and the sun have a showdown! It's always at the exact wrong place in the sky for her eye level, so no matter how I fix the shades in my car it won't ever quite block the sun for her.  This morning, because of traffic, we had to take a different way to school so while the sun is usually behind her on the way to school, today it was shining in from the side and blasting her in the face. I was alerted to this when all the sudden Paige lets out her usual cry of agony, (much like the Wicked Witch of the West when she gets doused with water).  At this point Paige lets out her usual stream of unpleasantries towards the sun.  I knew that if we could just make it to the end of the  street that the sun would drop back behind her again.  I kept telling her that we were almost there and the sun would be gone. Then I hear Paige in the back, "OK come on jussa few more minutes, we gonna make it and than u sun be gone, almost dare!" We turned right and phewww! Paige also let out a sigh of relief and then said "mommee we made it!" We then drop off Carter and head up the dreaded hill to return back home, which is where the sun usually peeks it's beams on us. It's was really funny, but also sorta pitiful because Paige thought she had already had her dose of blasting for the morning! She was singing "B-I-N-G-ohhhhhhh  NO! IT'S BACK! Mommeee, I don't fink I can do dis again!" I did my best to block as much as I could but it just wasn't enough.  "Sun, u get away, i don't wike u doday! u weeve me awone!" Finally as I turned back on our street where the suns relentless rays can no longer touch her, she quiet's back down. Then in a very small voice I hear, "Sun, we going to Tracie's house, but pwease don't come dere! Ok?!"

"Tails" from the petting zoo

Today Miss P and I went to the petting zoo down at Thanksgiving Point. Which just happens to be one of her favorite places to go! Thankfully the weather today has been gorgeous and we had a free afternoon, so off we went! It was one of those outings where I wish I had brought a tape recorder with me and just caught everything she said cause she was on a roll! So these are a few of the precious things Paige had to say! When we first checked in the lady at the counter gave us a couple of apples to go feed with horses, so we began our journey around the place. We stopped and talked to the goats and then over to the Llamas then came the gigantic Clydesdale horses, Paige walked straight up and started having a conversation with a very large buttercream colored horse. I'm not sure if they could smell the apples in our pockets but when we walked up it was sorta like when a really pretty girl walks by and all the men in the area break their necks trying to look at her. Well the horses did the same, they did an about face and came right up to the fences and started pawing the ground and butting there noses against their fences. I told Paige they were ready for the apples, and all she had to do was throw the apples onto the ground and they would pick them up. So she tossed the first one in for the buttercream horse and starting giggly watching the horse chomp it down. So during this the horse next door who was an even bigger black one starting trying to stick it's head into the others pen. Paige see's him doing this and jumps down off the fence marches over to the next horse and say's very politely, "Now horsey, if u wanna habe a apple, you gotta wait u turn like ebey body else!" It was really funny seeing this little 2 year old stare down a 12 foot horse, and remind him of his manners. The next area was the pigs, and as we started to walk over there Paige commented on the smell, "Mommee, dis don't smell bery good! why day so stinky?" I told her that it was from the pigs and it was because that was also where they went to the bathroom. So when we got up to their pen, Paige looks in and remarks, "mommee it's dat one, he need to change he bumm, he stinky! why don't he's momma change he bum?" We did a few other things and then when we were getting ready to leave we visited the cows, most of them were back in the shade, but one very pretty Jersey was standing up front working on her tan. Paige went running up to her and started to admire her. "Oh she a very bootiful cow, i wike her nose and he tail!" then she noticed the tag in her ear and got very excited, "Mommy wook she gots a earring wike you! Oh you beautiful cow I wove u earring, u wook so nice!"

Oh to be young and self reliant :)

Yesterday Rob, Carter and Paige were all in the car taking Carter to his Hip Hop lessons! (He told us he wanted to learn how to dance like Justin Bieber) They were listening to the "Pink Elephants" song from Dumbo, and when it was over Rob kept chanting "Pink elephants, pink elephants" over and over. Paige piped up from the back and asked "Daddy where da pink ellepants at? where arre dey at?" Rob respond and told her that they were in her imagination! Paige did not agree with his answer because she told him very sternly "No dey not, they to big to fit in dare!"


One of Carter's chores is to clean up his play room, he doesn't like it very much but most of the time he's pretty good at obliging Rob and I. However on Wednesday he had his cousin from WY. spend the night and they managed to pull out every single toy that Carter owns, and Paige's as well. (I really don't want to know what they were doing with the tutu's and princess crowns!) So when I discovered their  handy work I told him that he couldn't have any friends over until he cleaned the whole thing up! He was not happy about it but still went to work. About 2 hours later he came down and had a new Lego masterpiece, I knew from the looks of it that what had most likely happened was he started to pick up a Lego and decide it would be of better use to be put into a new creation of his, rather than going in it's box. I of course was not to thrilled at the progress he made so I threatened to throw away every Lego he had if he didn't get on it right then. That sent him into action, but when I went up to check on the progress he was cleaning but looking very pitiful! He then said "Mom, can you please help me clean the playroom?" I told him that i wouldn't because every other time I've "helped" him I've ended doing all the work and he sorta wonders around the room trying to look busy. He didn't like my response so he countered with "But mom, that's when I was only 7, now that I'm 8 I'm self reliant!" I said well that's great, now you can do it all by yourself with out any help since you are self reliant! He looked at me and scoffed "No mom, that means your suppose to help me!" I smiled and replied that actually self reliant means that you can do things all on your own and that he doesn't need help from other people. He looked at me very thoughtfully for a moment then said "really, that's what that means? Oh well, just forget what I said then!"

The "Dress" code

As anyone who has met Paige can attest to the fact that outside of church they have rarely seen her in anything other than some sort of princess dress, tutu or some frilly pink something or other! ( and possibly nothing but her diaper! I wish this wasn't the case! I know I'm from Georgia and all but the half naked child running around out front is a little cliche') Earlier she had fallen asleep in a pink ballerina dress that btw has pizza stains all over it that I have in fact been trying to wash for the last two days. Her solution to the stain problem on her dress is to simply turn it around, Out of sight...out of mind, Right? Well I talked her into taking it off so we could get some jammies on her. Not 10 mins later she was sitting on my bed very upset because she can't find her dress. Being very distraught, asked me "mommeee, I really need to find my beautiful dress. Can you please help me find my beautiful dress?" I told her that it was time for bed, and we don't wear our dresses to bed! This did not sit well, she hopped down off the bed and went on the hunt. Not to much later I can hear her in the laundry room "Were, can my beautiful dress be? oh no, where did it go, it's lost!!" Then singing, "oh where oh where can my beautiful dress be? Oh where oh where can it be?" I like that she configures the songs to fit her personal needs.

come on sleep is for babies!

My little sweet pea Paigey has a real problem with sleeping, as in she doesn't actually believe in it! Sure we'll get stretches of her pulling a full 8 hours but for the most part it's generally in 2-4 hour shifts! A couple of nights ago was more of the same. Most of the time I sleep on the couch so that I can intercept  her mid hallway so she doesn't wake up Rob since he has to get up so early. Well this evening I had fallen asleep in our bed which was very lovely and uncommon, when right around 4 am I feel two little hands pulling on my covers trying to get her sleepy self up onto our bed. She was being quite which was a welcomed change, because we are usually greeted with the cry of a banshee when she first wakes up during the night, but Miss P is a horrible bed buddy! Think Hulk Hogan in the ring meets a Jack Rabbit! I have never met a kid who kicks as hard or does a better flying buttress as she does! So around 4:32 am, I move out to my now all to familiar spot on the couch, exiled from my bed, willing to be demoted rather than wake the Kraken! When 7 am rolls around I pull my sorry, aching self up to get the kiddo's ready for school. I am greeted with a very smiley happy Paige! I lay down on the bed next to her and she cuddles her cute self up to me, and I ask her how she slept? "GREAT" was her reply, then she tilts her little face up to me and asks as sweet as a little angel descended from above..... " So, how was u couch mommee?"...................... REALLY!!!!!!!!

Stockton, Malone..... Young?

This evening we were at a friends house for a BBQ, they had this really great restored covered wagon in their backyard where Carter and Paige were having a good time playing and exploring in it. A little later it had started to get dark and Carter asked if someone would come out to the wagon with him. Rob said he didn't want to since it was haunted by Bringham Young's ghost. Carter wide eyed told Rob that there was no such thing as ghosts, Rob smirked and told him he was right then asked him if he knew who Bringham Young was? Carter's reply was "oh sure he was one of those guys who's with the Utah Jazz!"
I can't be sure but I think somewhere along the line we may have confused the kid a little.

The battle on isle 9

As you know Carter is now 8, and Miss P is 2 1/2 which is when as we all know the "Fun" really begins. In other words she is absolutely getting into the terrible 2's, and all that comes with that! Now since Carter is 8 it's been a few years since I last experienced this and I think maybe something like PTSD has blocked from my memory what the 2's were like, otherwise I probably wouldn't ever have had another child :) For instance, Carter, Paige and I were at the grocery store on Monday and we were trying to grab a few things for dinner. Long gone are the days when Paige would sit in the cart and be pacified with either something to munch on or watching a video on my phone. Now she wants to be down with Carter, but unlike Carter she has no desire to actually stay with me! She is a runner!!!! Her favorite time to run is when I'm at the register checking out, right when I'm about to pay she takes off and I have to go chasing after her, which I know the people behind me are not to pleased  about! So monday was going much like other shopping trips, she would run I would go after her or I would send Carter to fetch her. After about the 10th break for the border I decided I had had enough and she was just going to have to sit in the cart buckled in. I picked her up to put her in and of course she did the worlds best limp body you have ever seen. She's slipping right out of my arms, just inches from getting dropped on her head when I finally get a good grip on her. Then as i'm trying to put her in again she goes completely straight so i can't even bend her to have her sit. So this little 3 ring circus goes on for about 15 mins., and might i add the whole time she is screaming at the top of her lungs which always helps the situation! But I have to say I was very proud of myself and kept my frustration in check and didn't get mad at her. So she finally sorta collapses on the floor cause she's so exhausted from battle, and I let her lay on the floor for a moment. Now I know most parents would have just walked away, and i did truly consider this but I knew if I did than basically she would have won cause she would have gotten exactly what she wanted, which was to be on the floor instead of the cart! Exhausted and deflated from defeat, Paige finally lets me pick her up and goes quietly into the cart, Click goes the buckle and it's over! As i'm standing there looking at my pitiful daughter Carter comes over to me and starts patting my on the back, looks at me and says "you know mom, you did good, cause she needs to know that your the boss and she just can't always get what she wants!" then after an approving sigh, "I'm very proud of you mom!"