Thought for the day

If I cleaned our bathrooms every half hour, it wouldn't be often enough.

Why can my boys aim perfectly well if they are shooting their brothers with Nerf guns, but cannot hit the toilet when they go potty? I will never understand this phenomenon.

Another day, another spill

"There's a milk problem!!" my son yells, as he watches his little brother's milk spill onto the floor at McDonald's.

Watches is the key word here. Not - reaches for, or grabs, or rights the cup. No, all the brothers watch in disbelief as it spills all over the floor. Thankfully, my son's shirt was spared, but the seat and floor got a good dousing of chocolate milk. Sigh.

We had a busy night last night. The two older kids are in a dance recital, so we had a dress rehearsal at 4:30, then off to the golden arches for a nutritious meal, then back at 6:00 for another dress rehearsal.

I know this sounds like a normal night for lots of families, but we have limited how many extracurricular activities our kids can be involved in. Too many evenings like last night would wear us all out! Besides, we figure there's plenty of time to run from sport to sport (and with five kids, I may end up living in my van as a full time mom-taxi driver) when they are older.

All Joseph, All the time

Several weeks ago, I downloaded the soundtrack to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to my ipod. Since then, the singing hasn't stopped.

All the way to New York and back, we were begged to listen to it "just one more time!". While I would have happily sung along to it for days, there was the small issue of the children's father. Musicals aren't his bag. To be sure, this one gains points because it is a story he is quite familiar with and finds fascinating to analyze. Still, in his book, there is only so much storytelling-by-singing one can tolerate.

Regardless, we have still listened to it many, many times, with special requests by one of my sons for the Pharaoh song. They love envisioning him as an Elvis impersonator. My elder daughter has perfected her French accent after listening to Those Canaan Days repeatedly.

I have promised to take them to a performance the next time it is in town. I wonder if I can get my husband to accompany us?

Edited 2 hours later: We just got back from the library, with the biggest find of our lifetimes! Yes - you guessed it - Joseph on DVD! Everyone is frantically doing chores and homework so they can watch a little of it before dinner.

On the cutting edge

This morning was our monthly MOPS meeting (Mothers of Preschoolers). We had a great speaker - a gal who told us all about kindergarten readiness. After her presentation, we had our small group time and then made our craft.

Why is it I have no talent for MOPS crafts? Upon typing that, I realize it is because I have no talent for making any kind of craft. Today we were simply cutting out felt shapes to put on a felt background. Many moms were making elaborate designs and others were just cutting out many different shapes for their children to use. I was making something in between. I was attempting to make certain shapes (flower petals, a star. . .) and the results were rather pathetic. Someone said it looked like her child had cut one of her shapes out. Another mom said she thought her scissors were dull.

That last one really resonated with me. That's my problem! My scissors are just dull! I can't help that I am no good at crafts! My whole life, I have been given dull scissors. When I tried to scrapbook as a new mom, my scissors were to blame for my uninspired pages. It is because of my scissors that I never finished a cross-stitch project in high school, though many were started. Matter of fact, perhaps dull scissors are the culprit of lots of my shortcomings. I can't dance, I'm not really good at sports, I talk too much. . .maybe it's all the scissors' fault.

More commonly known as watering. . .

This afternoon one of my boys burst through the door into the kitchen.

"What are you and daddy doing out there?" I asked him.

Excitedly, he answered, "We're washing the yard!"

Musings on the Big Apple. . .

We got home late last night (after enduring a 15 hour drive home with all the kiddos) from our fabulous trip to New York City. I am too tired to write much, so here are a few reflections.

• NYC is HUGE and yet felt oddly quaint and small-town-ish.
• No one attempted to mug us, yell at us, attack us or trample us. In fact, everyone was remarkably friendly. Of course, we were quite a spectacle.
• Listening to my 3 year old say, "Stand clear of the closing doors, please", almost every time the subway departed never grew old.
• Spending time with our dear friend and tour guide was wonderful rewarding.
• Walking and riding mass transit everywhere should have made me lose weight. However, all the lovely eating we did made that quite impossible.
• American Girl with your 10 year old daughter is a memorable experience. Though we had been to AG in Chicago, AG in NYC off of 5th Avenue took it to a whole 'notha level.
• Seeing Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty again, this time with the kids was really meaningful.
• Standing at Ground Zero with our friend who was there on 9/11 was very humbling. Seeing all the places we had watched on TV that day really brought to the life the horrific events of that day. It was a very solemn experience.
• Attending our friend's 50th birthday party in a pub on Times Square was something we'll never forget!
  

It is hard to believe we were gallivanting around New York City just two days ago. Now it is back to the grind. . . laundry, laundry and more laundry.