Things I've had to hear this week...

D:  Crouton's don't bounce very high.

I don't believe I dignified that with an answer.

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Belle's answer to EVERYTHING:

Me: Belle!  Why did you just (throw your pancake? put your pancake in your hair? rub your pancake on your face? ask desperately for a pancake and then NOT EAT IT???)

Belle (looking earnestly at me):  Why 'cause, I told you.

Oh, thanks for clearing that up. 

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And in the car my kids have been entertaining each other with silly faces. 

Silly face, gales of laughter, silly face, gales of laughter. 

So the other day when I was hearing moments of silence followed by peals of laughter I though lovingly of how nicely my kids were playing together.  But then I caught a flash of white in my rearview mirror and when I looked, a little white square fluttered behind my car and bounced off the van behind us.  While my brain is processing this I see another square of white flutter INSIDE the car, then whiz out the window. 

Peals of laughter.

That's when the brain recognized that little white square as a square of toilet paper. (Side Note: it had been less than 5 minutes since we had a conversation about what littering is and how it is BAD.  Very bad.)

Me  (yanking the rearview mirror down to see D behind me): WHAT ARE YOU DOING????

D (freezing wide-eyed and lowering his hands out of sight in the mirror): Um....you should keep your eyes on the road!

It is a sign of how annoyed I was that I consciously decided to file that response away for later, knowing I would then find it funny.

Me (pretending he had not spoken): ARE YOU THROWING TRASH OUT THE WINDOW OF THE CAR???

D: Um, the wind pulled it outside.

Me: WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING THAT?!?!?!?!?

Belle: Why 'cause, I told you!


Me: (deep breath then launch into a long, motherly lecture on littering and especially doing something your mother had JUST told you not to do...yada yada...normal long-winded motherly rant ending with...)  I left that toilet paper back there so you could give pieces to Belle if she needed a tissue.  She's not big enough to get it for herself.   I thought you were big enough!"

Long dramatic pause.

D's subdued little voice pipes up: "Clearly you were mistaken."

At which time I had just enough self control to snap off a "Clearly!"  before dying in silent laughter in the front, grateful that he couldn't see me.

Pictures

As usual, it's been too long since I posted pictures of the fam.  Lest you think I am hoarding pictures and am just unwilling to share them, I want you to know that I am probably the worst mother on the planet at photographing my kids.  I just don't think of it.  I know that some of you who take bajillions of pictures monthly have just decided I have some sort of mental challenge, but it's true.  My camera is woefully neglected.  So, here's the few I've taken lately...



First up, the Youngest Member of the household:

Meet Littlest Boy.  He's expected to make a more photographic appearance around August 12th, but for now, this is the best we can do.  Thankfully he was very cooperative last week during his ultrasound and showed his boy parts clearly as well as a well formed heart and all other important organs.  Which was quite a relief, if I do say so.


The Next Youngest:

Meet Abby.  She's a 10 weeks old yellow lab with blue eyes.  She and I have a love/hate relationship.  Everyone else thinks she's swell.  She hasn't peed on my floor in 6 days and she no longer has worms in her poop, so we're getting along better every day.  If she would stop nipping and snagging the few clothes that I have that fit since the Youngest Member is causing an undue amount of growth in all parts of my person, we'll be just fine.


The Third Youngest:

Cutie pie, huh?  The pigtails are new, and she leaves them in!  Love it!

Belle trying to convince the world she is SO BIG!  Just keep trying, kiddo.

In perpetual motion.

"Mommy!  I JUMP!"

And one where you can actually almost see her. (And thanks to Jennifer Walston for the adorable dress!)

The Eldest:

It is an unfair fact of life that there are irresistibly cute stages of growth and stages that are just, well, not so irresistibly cute.  Almost 2 with curly pigtails is the definition of irresistible.  4?  Well, he's still the most handsome 4 year old ever, but the kid never gets his picture taken any more.  I did think he was super cute when we got home from the library and he plopped down to check out his new books.

And here's a couple of D and Belle at grandparents in Colorado.