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!"

someone dropped the "H" bomb

I had quite a shock the other day when Carter and Paige were sitting at the table.  As usual Paige was being naughty and bugging Carter. He was getting pretty fed up and yelled out "Paige I hate you!" I of course heard this from the other room and took Carter aside and had a nice long chat about the reasons you never tell someone in your family that you hate them!(or even other people for that matter)  He apologized and that was that, well two days ago they were at the table again doing some art and Carter was starting to get really fed up with the "little monster" as he lovingly called her. I could tell he was getting ready to explode on her when I heard "Paigey, I really don't like you right NOW! I mean I like you, I just don't like you like you, but I love you, I just don't really like you love you right now, but I still love you, sorta." I guess that's an improvement over I hate you!

Back to school

School has started, along with that the morning ride to school, where if you remember from my older posts that is the place Carter chooses to tell me the most interesting things.
It was tuesday morning and as usual Carter and Paige were eating breakfast in the car because I have found it is easier to feed them while they are strapped in and can't move at all than at the kitchen table, yes my car may be a little worse for the wear but at least it eliminates some of the morning nonsense! That morning I had gotten him a couple pieces of cinnamon toast, a favorite at our house with some cherry yogurt. He snarfed down the toast and was beginning to work on the yogurt when he informed me that the yogurt was dead. (that's code for gone bad in our  house.) I looked at the lid and told him that it wasn't suppose to "die" for another month and that maybe his toothpaste was making it taste funny. He took another bite, made a face and said "no mom, i'm pretty sure the yogurt is ok, but there is something wrong with the cherries in it." I told him, well don't eat the cherries. He was a little befuddled and asked "how am I suppose to do that since the cherries are everywhere in it." I said, "well when you get a bite that has a cherry just spit it out onto your plate and eat the yogurt". He got on his face a look of indignation and replied "Ewwww mom that is really gross, I CAN NOT do that." this time I was a little perplexed and asked him "why would that be gross, you still pick your nose and eat your buggers!" He exhaled loudly and fired back "mom, what in the world does that have to do with these yucky cherries!" At that point I decided to let him figure it out!

Over the last week and a half we've had a couple of really bad lighting and thunder storms, where a couple of times it has made us lose power for a few hours. One night Paige was having a hard time going to sleep because all the noise and was making her a little scared. Rob was sitting in the hallway with her and asked her what was wrong, she told him " it scare me daddy! I dowwn't wike it!" so he asked her if she was afraid of the thunder and lighting. She looked and him and told him "Yess, that scary fundder and du whitning Maqueen he try to get me! That scary whitning Maqueen get my toes!"

nurse in training

I am now the second counselor in our ward Primary and one of the things I oversee is the nursery. So it was last Sunday and I had been bouncing back and forth between teaching sharing time and checking in on the nursery. Paige was in there and was looking really hot and tired, and when I picked her up I noticed the loverly odor coming from her cute little drawers. Fortunately when I exited into the hallway my loving husband was there for me to hand Paige off to. He set her down for a minute while I fished out my keys and told him where the diapers were in the car. We both look down at Paige who at that moment was looking very pitiful,  she looked up at Rob and I peering at us under her little blond bangs and red cheeks. I asked her what was wrong and she said with a slight whimper "Get me outta' here!" then turned walked two steps and laid down in the middle of the hallway head on her hands butt in the air! I think she might have been just a little tired. 

Yesterday I wasn't feeling so good and was sitting on the steps sorta hunched over, my darling little Paigey came over and sat down next to me and started to rub my back. She said "whatz madder mommeee? you tummy hert?" I told her yes, and she replied "it's alright, don't worry. you need a banndaid?" I told her I did, so she jumped off the stairs and started walking into my room to grab one. About halfway down the hall she turns to me and asked "you wanna prinnsess banndaid, or ferb and Phineas?" I smiled and said either was fine and she looked at me and said, "k i be wright back!"