Spelling reality check

You’ll note that after the word noisiest my daughter wrote “AKA Joe,” her little brother. Later she did the same next to “craziness.” I didn’t complain since both statements were accurate.

I went over my daughter’s weekly spelling words with her to be sure she knew their meanings. Most were easy, but some, like ascertain, required an explanation. Others I pointed to and asked, “Do you know what this word means?”

“Yes.”

“And this one?”

“Yes.”

“Let me tell you what this one means.”

“I know what cleanliness means!” she said.

“Based on the state of your room, I don’t think you do,” I countered.

She grinned sheepishly.

Pardon, puppy?

Alphabet puppy looking so sweet and innocent.

Joe has a dog toy with alphabet buttons along its back. When you hit one of the letters, it says the letter name and gives an example of a word beginning with that letter.

For instance, if you hit the D you’d hear, “D, dog.”

If you hit two letters rapidly, you get odd results.

Where are they learning this?!

My younger two girls decided to dress as tourists, complete with hats, purses, and a camera. Interesting, I thought.

Then one gave me a bright smile and said, “We’re robbing a museum! We’ve got our ninja clothes on underneath.” She lifted her pant leg to show me her black pants. “We packed gloves to cover our fingerprints, and I’ve got ninja stars in my purse.”

The younger daughter pulled out a toy phone. “And I’ve got this to communicate with!”

They set toys up around the room to pretend to steal.

A new hope… for a new generation of Star Wars fans

This is a super-cool coaster for sale at http://www.givethedogabone.co.uk/star-wars-coaster-a-new-hope.ir.

We took to the girls to school to watch Star Wars on the classroom’s big pull down screen because if you’re going to watch Star Wars for the first time, you can’t watch it on our tiny tv at home.

All they knew of Star Wars is what the Lego movies have taught them, which, while truly entertaining, just isn’t the same.

My husband and I decided it was time, so we brought them to his classroom under false pretenses. We distracted them with kids meals from Sonic (also a first) while hubs hooked his laptop up to the projector.

They were none the wiser until the iconic music began blaring from the classroom’s speakers. They looked up from their tater tots with wide eyes. Then hubs pulled the large screen down and the magic began.

#MomFail

My sister-in-law told me this story:

One of her sons really liked a certain pair of socks with palm trees on them, so she got them for him for Christmas. Little did she know, until the package was removed and the socks were unfolded, that they weren’t adorned with palm trees at all.

Being deflated by a four-year-old

Getting dressed in the morning in my home doesn’t always happen. The rule is, you must be dressed by lunch, and if the kids are okay with a late lunch then….

Not being a great role model in this regard–I mean, why bother taking off the clothes you’ll just be putting back on in a few hours, am I right?–I tried one day to be better.

“Let’s see who can get dressed first!” I called to my girls enthusiastically.

“I’m halfway there!” I soon announced from my room.

“One more arm hole to go!”

Then, triumphantly, I stood in their bedroom doorway, arms raised, announcing, “I win!”

My half-dressed youngest said disdainfully,

Alas, poor butterfly. I knew him well.

It was my fault, really. I spotted the butterfly just standing there on our back patio. I called the girls over to see it. They came on tiptoes. Then they sat in awe and spoke in hushed tones, not wishing to disturb it or scare it away.

Attempts to get them to eat breakfast were thwarted by the mystique of the orange, black, and white. Soon sketch pads came out and whole pages were being devoted to the majesty of the monarch.

Suddenly the silence was broken as one girl called out to me a curt but anguished, “Mom!” I rushed to the scene, sensing the distress in her voice.

Two signs of needing a change

Sign number 1–Change needed: sheets

English: flat sheets Deutsch: Bettlaken. You just learned a little German there. You’re welcome! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I changed the sheets on our bed. Admittedly, these probably don’t get changed as often as they should. The proof? When my daughter walked into the room, saw the folded sheets ready to put on the bare bed and asked,

The time I ate my kid’s popcorn

My husband and I were watching a video clip on youtube when our three-year-old daughter pulled out a bag of microwave popcorn from the cupboard and brought it to us. “What a wonderful suggestion,” we thought. So the video was paused, the corn was popped, and my daughter climbed onto my lap with her little purple bowl of popcorn as the video resumed. Adorably, she turned to offer me some. I politely accepted.

That’s when her trouble began.

Grandparents do the funniest things

A Tau Emerald dragonfly in flight (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At my grandson’s birthday party there were about a dozen kids watching him open presents. One of our presents was in a stationery box filled with cotton from jewelry boxes. Laid nicely on top of the cotton was