Reasons my Daughter is Crying

So, have you seen the website Reasons My Son is Crying?  I've seen it here and there on social media and when ever I look at it I have to laugh because I relate ALL TOO WELL.  People basically post pictures of their kids in the middle of a tantrum and list the ridiculous (but what the child perceives as completely rational) reasons for their meltdown.  So, over the past week I've been keeping a record of C's regular crying fits…  and it made it kind of fun.  Instead of rolling my eyes and being majorly annoyed, I ran and grabbed the camera for some classic pics.  You have to find the humor in this crazy phase of life, or you actually will go crazy. So without further ado, here are the reasons my daughter is crying: 

We're not having Macaroni and Cheese for dinner

I wouldn't let her have Pez for breakfast

I got the baby out of the crib, but she wanted to say "hi" to the baby while he was IN the crib

Emily finished her breakfast before she did.  (And no, it was not a race.)

I accidentally made the side of the bed that she wanted to make

And my personal fave… 

She couldn't find an envelope to mail Nana's letter

That's just what I got within the past few days.  I'm sure there will be more :) 

And I invite you to make your own… it puts an amusing twist on your every day ear splitting, hair pulling, want to go lock myself in the bathroom tantrum.

Hide the Thimble

Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest and least expensive.  Take Hide the Thimble for example.  Why do I spend money on games for my girls when this one doesn't cost a dime and it is their favorite?  I have fond memories of playing it with my family as a small child. I don't know why kids get such a kick out of it, but my girls could play it forever.  So I thought I'd share it with you.

You take a small object, such as a thimble, and one person hides it while everyone else is in another room.  Then everyone comes out and looks for it.  Whoever finds it gets to hide it.  The only rule is it has to be visible… like no hiding it under a couch cushion or something.  Oh, and whoever hides it says "hot" and "cold" to help the searchers.

And I am slightly embarrassed to be showcasing our messy house, but on Sunday I reserve the right to keep the Sabbath Day holy, so yeah, I don't really do any housework.  

The girls are hilarious when we play.  Whenever C hides the thimble, she makes such a racket like opening and slamming cabinet doors that she gives away the location before you come out.  And if you don't find it within the first ten seconds she gets so excited that she gravitates to it and keeps glancing at it and laughs and eventually points to it exclaiming, "There it is!"  

It's a really easy activity to do for FHE. 

A Good Laugh

I know, I know.  My blog has been really lame lately. 

 Really, there has been nothing interesting/exciting in our lives that merits a blog post.  

January is like the most dull month ever.  

Seriously dull.  

But, I did want to share this clip that Benny Boy came across.  We have had a great time laughing at these British commentators at the Olympics.  Their choice of words combined with their enthusiasm combined with their amiable accents makes for a hilarious listening to.  And I'm sorry I'm not better at embedding a video… I'm just providing the link.  Hope you all enjoy this, especially my older sister Beck who is a huge anglophile (lover of all things British).  

http://deadspin.com/bbc-snowboarding-commentators-are-a-blast-1520859805

And some shots of the girls in ballet.  Too bad all the ones of Caroline turned out blurry… maybe because she is like the Tasmanian Devil in there?  She has not quite perfected the art of being graceful or poised or listening to instructions.  She just runs laps around everyone else full speed. 

Em on the other hand hangs on to every word the instructor says, and does her best to imitate her perfectly, always with the most serious expression.  It's really cute. 

C is to the left of Em… can you see her?

In Sickness and in Health

"For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth" 
                                                                                      -Exodus 9:15

I swear this is what happened to our household last week… God smote us with a pestilence and no one was spared (except Ben who must have an immune system made of steel).  I don't know what we did to invoke His wrath, but I truly believe it was a call to repentance. Too much time on Facebook, not with the scriptures?   Yeah, probably.  Too much time watching Downtown Abbey, not enough time  sharing the gospel?  That's very possible.   In truth there's a myriad of things we need to work on, and believe me, we got the message loud and clear.

It started last Friday when it looked like death had overcome Emily.  You saw the picture from my last entry.  She spent the weekend in bed with fever, chills, fatigue, and just downright sickness.  By Monday she was on the mend,  but that's about the time I wasn't feeling so hot.  Monday night I gave Ben his steak salad and then plunked my head down on the table… tired with no appetite to eat.

 Tuesday I felt like I had been hit by a train.  Don't get me wrong, I get the occasional head cold and overall sickness just like everyone else… but this was different.  I believe (although I never went to the doctor) that I had the flu.   The scriptural phrase "laid to waste" comes to mind.  Fever, chills, fatigue, cold, couldn't get out of bed sickness.  I called Ben in tears asking him if there was any way he could come home because I knew there was no way I could care for the little ones feeling the way I did.

This is the part where I want to get all mushy about my husband (so hurry and read this before he sees it and makes me delete it).  He came home as soon as he could.  When he walked through that door it was like Superman had arrived. I closed the door to my bedroom and fell into a coma, not to come out for hours.  Ben took over and performed wonders.  He did every single geo puzzle with the girls. He fed the kids, put them to bed, cleaned up (well, his version of "clean"), and voluntarily slept on the couch.  He put the baby monitor next to him saying he would get up to feed the baby and get Emily off to school.  I slept soundly that night, but in the morning found out that not only had the baby been up for his usual feeding, but C had been up several times in the night puking! Apparently she picked something up from preschool!  Ben had taken care of everything.  He made pancakes for Emily, got her off to school, and then went on to work without having hardly any sleep at all.   Again, he was able to come home in the early afternoon and pick up Em from school so I didn't have to.  He did crash out on the recliner, but who can blame him?

All tuckered out after going to battle

That night he did the same thing… slept on the couch with the monitor next to him while I slept soundly in our bed with the door shut. This time though, I woke up at 3:30 to the sound of the baby screaming.  "Surely he's got to hear that" I thought.  I laid there awake but heard no movement from the couch.  I went out on in the family room… the baby's screams were blaring from the monitor but Ben was out cold.  If you didn't know him better you would fear he was dead. He has an uncanny ability to sleep through anything (he once slept through a bear attack, but that's for another time).  Anyway, I let him off the hook on that one.  

The second half of the week was as bad as the first culminating in James finally succumbing to the pestilence.  He started puking in the middle of the third night that Ben was sleeping out on the couch, and again, he took care of everything.  And then Friday, just when I thought I was coming around, I picked up what ever stomach virus C and J had… so yeah, it's been a LOOOOOONG week.

But at the end of this whole ordeal I can't help but stand in awe of how Ben was able to come to the rescue.  Really, when you're dating, do you even THINK about this kind of thing?  "How would he handle a situation in which me and my three children are violently ill and puking all over the place?"  It's more like,  "Oh we're perfect for each other!  We both like the same music AND the same flavor of ice cream!"  Or, "We are so funny together.  He makes me laugh and I make him laugh. hehehehe"  and all sorts of other nonsense.  But really, when it comes down to it, in this phase of life anyway, it's all about being able to depend on your battle buddy because we are in the trenches together.  Our married life is far from glamorous.  And believe me, there are things about each of us that seriously annoy the other.  But where it matters  most we've got it covered.  For that I can sleep well at night (as long as he's not snoring in my ear).