Friday, March 7, 2014

Fuzz Head

Good news, my hair is coming back in and the hair loss is tapering off.  My shower walls no longer look like a dead puppy is glued to it.   In 6 months, I'm hoping I won't still look like a fuzzy chick with wings to boot.



 See the wings?  Wings and fuzz aside, my stress levels about balding by the age of 31 are fading.  Yeehawwww..

Thursday, March 6, 2014

The Big 6





The night before Z's birthday, I asked her if she knew what tomorrow was.  She replied, "It's my birthday! I'm freaking out right now!"

An interview with a fresh 6 year old. Word for word.

Me: How does it feel to be 6 years old?
Z:  Great!  And I feel like I am turning 7.  And I am loving 6, because I love all my toys and my sewing machine.  All of you, thank you so much, I love you and thank you for the presents and the cupcake cake. Mmmmmmm, yum, yum, yum.

Me: What do you think you will be when you grow up?
Z: I'm going to be a princess.

Me: Are you going to get married and have a family?
Z: Yup

Me: Where do princesses live?
Z: In a castle.

Me: You have a castle?
Z: Nope, but I could get one.  I could build one by your house.

Me: I would love that.
Z: And everyday I would walk next door to see how you are doing.  And one day, I will sew by myself with my sewing machine.  Because it is pretty hard growing up when you miss your mom.  It is pretty hard, you might miss her a lot, but it is okay because she is in your heart.  But, I'll stay little for a really long time. Because we have stayed at school for 100 days.  I'm almost growing up, I can't wait.  Just two more birthdays and I'm baptized.  Boom, boom.  It already feels like it.

Me: What is your favorite food right now?
Z: Cake!

Me: What is your favorite color?
Z: All the colors.  Red, pink, blue, white, brown, orange, green, purple.  I can't, there are so many colors, I love all the colors in the whole entire world.

Silence.  (I'm thinking of the next question)
Z: I know what you can ask, what kind of family do you like the best?
Me: Okay, what kind of family do you like best?
Z: You and Peggy.  And I love my friends and I hope one day all the kids, moms, family, and the whole entire world will be our friends.  I like our family and Peggy's family the best.  I think everything is special to me, everything.  Except bathrooms, because they are disgusting.

Me: What is your favorite chore to do?
Z: Chickens, because I love the chickens.

Me: What is your least favorite chore?
Z: Cleaning the whole entire house.  I don't like cleaning the whole entire house by myself.  (As if Z, as if)

Me: Who do you play with?
Z: Max, my friends.  Hannah, Quinton, Clara, Eric, Samuel, Beige, Gage, I can't say them all, my whole class.

Me: Are you liking school?
Z: Yup.  My friends are happy. I'm happy.

Me: What do you learn there?
Z: All the things.

Me: What are your plans for tomorrow?
Z: Letting friends come with us swimming.

Me: What are your plans for the rest of your life?
Z: Being six and having a good family.  Turning like you, all grown up.

Me: What do you think about our country?
Z: I would like to live in London, maybe we could visit London?  Not my friend London, the place London.

Me: Can you tell me a joke?
Z: Hmmmm.  Why did the hen wanted to sit on the cow?  To lay a egg on it! Put a smile face there.  :)

Me: What does dad do for work?
Z: Hmmm, pay money for us.  And do a lot of work.

Me: What do you think the year 2014 has in store for you?
Z: It would be March and be my birthday again and love one another.

And a joke from Dad to Zannah.

Dad: What do you like to drink?  Z: Milk   Dad: With cake?  Z: Milk  Dad: With your happy meal? Z: Chocolate milk  Dad: What is in the fridge?  Z: Milk.  Dad: What do cows drink?  Z: Milk  Dad: Noooooooo, water you silly goose! Z: Ahhhh, you tricked me.

The best of Zannah:

She has the best gut laugh you will ever hear.

She loves friends.  She asks to have friends over every day, multiple times a day.

She plays with Max.  They are inseparable, fighting and all.

She adores Metta.  She totes her around and takes care of her.

She still loves a good party, a well decorated party, any party as long as she is involved.

I decorated with streamers and balloons for her birthday.  She loved it.  She did not love that I wrapped her presents in newspapers.  After opening, she thanked me for her gifts and kindly asked if next time I could wrap them in pretty paper.

She still has a zest for life that most of us can only hope for.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

PLanking

Max doesn't know what planking is, but he has something inside that instinctively does. 


Monday, February 24, 2014

Finally, a Snowman

We finally got sticky enough snow to build a snowman.  It melted two hours later.

Strangers and Bathrooms and Nursing

Saturday, Max and Zannah were playing out front.  When we couldn't see them anymore, Marcus went in search of them.  They were down at the end of our street.  As Marcus approached a man was asking them where their parents were.

Later that night, I was alone with Max, so I talked to him again about why we don't go past our next door neighbor's house without letting mom or dad know, etc.  We also talked about strangers.
"Max, remember when you and Zannah went to the corner?  Were you talking to a man?"
"Yes! He was wearing a superman shirt!"
"Well, we don't know him, so he is a stranger.  Remember we can't talk to strangers without Mom or Dad there."
"Oh, he wasn't a stranger."
"Yes he was buddy, we don't know him, that makes him a stranger."
"No he wasn't, he doesn't have a tail."
"What??"
"He doesn't have a tail, he isn't a fox.  Remember the stranger book you read to us?  Foxes are strangers and they have tails."

OY.  A reminder to self: next time buy a stranger book that depicts humans, not animals.


A couple weeks ago, Marcus was out of town.  He left early Monday morning, and before 10 am, one of us had accidentally locked the bathroom door and shut it.  It is the only bathroom with a bathtub, plus the kids' toothbrushes.  But, I was confident that I or Zannah (the master-lock technician) could unlock it, though it had proved tricky in the past.  By Wednesday, we had had no such luck and we still had two more days until Marcus came home.  Zannah suggested breaking in the window, which turned out to be a fabulous idea as the window was unlocked, no breaking required.  So, I did what any great parent would do and boosted my three year old through the window.  Max did his duty and unlocked the door.  I popped the screen back in and was carrying the chair back in the house when I hear Max say, "MOOOOOOOOMMMM, don't yeave me!"  I turn around and he is standing on the toilet with his face pressed against the screen.  "Help me get out!"  I said, "Buddy, you just unlocked the bathroom door, just walk out of it."  He replied, "OH yeah..........I just tidding you."  



Metta needed to stay home from church as she has a cough and a runny nose.  I was playing the organ, so I had to be there.  Which means Marcus pretends to be a martyr and offers to stay home, in reality he feels like he just won the lottery.  Now, we just had to decide which of the other two were staying home because a 5 and 3 year old sitting by themselves on a pew could prove disastrous.  With a little bit of bribing on both ends (they both want what the other one is doing), we convinced Z to go and Max to stay home.

Before leaving, I was instructing Marcus on which baby food to feed Metta if she got hungry before I returned.  I hear Marcus laughing and turn around to see Max with his shirt up.  He was telling Marcus, "And if she doesn't yiiiiiike that food, just feed her with this. (pointing to his nipple)  Do you have one too Dad?"

He is an observant bounder.  


Friday, February 21, 2014

Sibling Relations

This picture and separate stories sum up Max and Zannah's relationship.
We all know he didn't tape himself up.

At basketball this morning a lady asked Max how old he was, he replied "I'll go home and ask Zannah."

Last night Zannah had earned ice cream because of good dinner time behavior and Max did not due to the amount of somersaults he was performing off the chair, which equals the amount of times we cleaned up kicked over milk cups and dinner plates.  He was very upset about not getting ice cream.  Suddenly all was quiet.  I walked into the dining room to find Zannah feeding Max her ice cream.

Siblings are a little bit mean, sometimes bossy, sympathetic and pretty great.  

The Constant Debate

When all is quiet, you can bet your bottom the kids are up to no good. When you know things are awry, you would assume that you would look into it and stop the escapades.  Every single time I have an internal debate.  Do I dare see what is up?  Nahhh, the quiet is too nice.  I'm sure they are making a heck of a mess.  Let's see, is the permanent marker, lotion, window cleaner, make-up bag, dish detergent, and chocolate syrup accounted for?  Yup.  The mess can't be too bad, deal with it later.  I'm sure they are ruining/wasting something that will make the tightwad in me rage.  But, my sanity is worth 10 bucks right, RIGHT?!?


You can't tell by the picture but Z had decided to decorate the house by painting all the light bulbs.