How Nintendo brings us all together

Owen: "Climb up that ladder!"

Hazel: "AAUUUGH! Stop killing me!"

Owen: "Press A! Press A!"

Hazel: "I AM pressing A! It's not doing anything!"

Owen: "I won!"

Hazel: "Mooooommmmm! He's not letting me win!"

Me: "Turn it off."

And there you have it! We managed to all interact and bond this morning.

Chapter One

Since the day that Carly the cat discovered Max the fish, she has spent all her waking hours watching and waiting....hoping against all odds- odds that her tiny little cat brain can not comprehend- that Max will soon break through that glass and finally be within reach of her anxious paws.

*Disclaimer: This counter is on the other side of the kitchen from the one we use for food prep. The ONLY reason I permit this to happen.

Up for discussion....

Why is it that almost every time I walk into the locker room at the gym, I am forced to see nudity? In the past, I have complained that it always seemed to be the women in their 80's that liked to walk around in the locker room air-drying after their water aerobics class. And these women sit their BARE rear-ends on the benches that other people set their belongings on. I have personally witnessed a poor, oblivious girl walking in and throwing her gym bag and towel down and a recently bare-bum occupied bench.

Somehow I convinced myself that wrinkled, sagging nudity is worse than the regular kind. But then I walked in there today to see a semi-young person walking around nude....and I realized that it's pretty much innapropriate for any age or body type. I mean...this lady was obviously proud of her body (especially her unquestionably fake breasts), but why did she feel the need to show US?! Why would she think a bunch of stay-at-home moms have any desire to see her NAKED?! I just don't get it. And frankly, it disgusts me.

Yesterday, I took Hazel to the new children's museum with some friends. We stayed for 4 hours to make sure we got our money's worth! This place was so much fun. Hazel could have stayed all day. And I could have spent all day ogling the art work. They had used recylables in the most creative ways to decorate. It was really impressive- I will have to take pics next time. Once again, I didn't have my camera, so you will have to suffer through some more pics from my phone. These are worse because we were indoors, and those girls didn't stand still for a second!

The girls LOVED the grocery store. It was SO realistic. They just couldn't get enough.

Brookie acted as cashier while Hazel cranked the belt to send her the groceries. Unfortunately, Gracie, Paige and Hazel didn't want to wait in line, and therefore they all probably looked in their bags when they got home and thought "Hey! I didn't buy that! And where is my oatmeal?"

Right next door was a huge kitchen (every little girl's dream) where you could make a pizza and decorate it with all sorts of "toppings." They loved making pizza after pizza and serving it to us. Us moms got very full.

Hazel serving a fresh, hot pizza to Ruth.

Dropping balls onto the ball ramp/maze and watching them roll down

In the noodle maze

There were little reading stations in every room, and Gracie and Paige actually took advantage of one!

All the girls loved painting this house. Gracie went crazy with her brush and managed to cover herself (and Paige) with pink paint. Hazel, on the other hand, painted for about 2 minutes and then realized that she was getting paint on herself and wanted to quit. Just as she was trying to take off her smock, she accidentally hit herself in the forehead with her brush and got reeeaaaallly mad. I wish I had a picture of the look on her face when she yelled to me "It's NOT funny!"

After all that fun, we managed to muster up a little extra energy so we could join Owen's class for his Valentine's party. It was really cute to watch them all acting embarassed as they read their valentines.

What is this face?

At one point, I was talking to Owen's friend Jack. He was telling me that he was about to have a baby sister. I said "Really? I didn't know your mom was pregnant!" and Owen got a really concerned look on his face and said "Did your mom get married yet?" HA! At least he knows the proper order of things.

And still I love him....

Five minutes ago (at 11:00 pm), my husband pulled a new dress shirt from it's packaging, turned to me, held it up and asked,

"What time do you need to get up tomorrow to iron this?"

Oh, how he makes me laugh!

Buyer Beware...

This post is not going to be funny, and is not fun for me to write, but I feel the need to use myself as an example for all you mothers out there.

Last night I went shopping with my kids. I left the store at 8:00pm and walked to the car with the two kids and several packages. As I was digging for my keys in the dark parking lot, a young man walked by us and made eye contact with me, but kept walking. I got an uneasy feeling, but chose to ignore it. The kids were whining because it was so chilly outside, so I put them in the car, started it, and turned the heat on. Then I decided to take the cart back up to the store. I didn't think this was a big deal since I was parked in the very closest parking spot to the store. I had Owen sit in the front seat and told him to lock the doors and not unlock them until I got back.

As I walked back up to the store, I saw the same guy sitting on the wall in front of the store. As soon as I reached the door to put the cart inside, he stood up and put his hood over his head and started for my car. I turned to follow him, thinking he couldn't possibly REALLY be headed for my car, but playing it "safe" either way. When I realized he was indeed going straight for my car, I sped up and started yelling at him. He walked right up to the driver's door (where my son's face was on the other side of the window) and pulled on the handle a couple of times. When he realized it was locked, he just walked off in the other direction like it was no big deal. This whole time, I was screaming at him (while dialing 911) and said "What the hell are you doing?! Were you just going to drive off with my kids in the car?!" to which he replied "My bad" and then flipped me off.

That's right. He said "My bad" about attempted car theft and kidnapping. I am so angry. There are people out there who treat these serious crimes as no big deal, and they are just waiting for someone like me to be careless. I am sharing this experience because I know there are so many moms out there who do the same thing I did (in one form or another). I, for one, will never again feel guilty about leaving my shopping cart in the middle of the parking lot. Do not leave your kids unattended for even a second. Who knows what could have happened? Maybe he just wanted something as simple as my purse, but the ideas of what could have happened....what I could have lost...are tearing me up. I can't stop thinking about it, and I have a feeling I will be shaken up for a while.

I was able to give an extremely accurate description, since I had been so close to him and walked by him twice, but the police never found him. The kids are fine. Owen was definitely scared last night and kept saying "That guy was trying to take us," but I think he has pretty much forgotten about it this morning. Thankfully, I think Hazel was pretty oblivious the whole time.

I told Owen how proud I was of him for obeying and keeping the door locked and that I was so glad he was safe. Maybe, if nothing else, this will be an experience that will teach me and my kids about the dangers that are out there, and they will heed my warnings a little more carefully.

Night Running...

...deserves a quiet night. I love R.E.M. I need to put some on my ipod so I can sing that while I run.

So- running at night is my new obsession. I LOVE it. You would think it would be more motivating to be at the gym and have people around me (you know...I would run longer because people were watching me!), but I have discovered that I can go forever at night. It's dark, and quiet and cool. Just me and my music. Oh my gosh. It feels so great. And then I sleep SO much better after a run and a hot shower. Heaven. Maybe if I can keep it up, I will actually start losing some of that weight that is making me so depressed!

As for other random ramblings, I took the kids to McDonald's tonight so that I wouldn't have to cook for or entertain them. It was quite nice. They filled up on nuggets and fries and apple dippers and then played on the slides for an hour while I read a book. Hazel said "This is my best life ever."

Mine too, dear....mine too.

And when she plays with her harmonica, she calls it her Lukeledian.