I'm Diggin' It

I am the meanest mother in the world.

I MADE the boys go outside to play today.

In the heat.

I'm awful.

They took a walkie talkie outside with them, because I told them they only had to be out there for 30 miuntes and they want to make doggone sure they don't go a second over.

(Don't tell them I fudged and added 10 minutes to their timer. It won't kill them.)

So they've gathered all their tools and are digging holes in the dirt beyond our property line. Camryn and I are sitting quietly in the office working on our computers. It's dead silent in here.

Aiden just came over the walkie talkie and said, "Would you ask Daddy to bring home a hoe?"

After much laughter, I said, "Sure, Aiden."

Laugh, laugh, laugh. Snort. Camryn and I are seriously doubled over up here.

Aiden again - "Actually, ask Daddy to bring home 2 hoes."

Seriously? You can't write this stuff any better.

More laughter on my end.

Beep.

Aiden - "Why are you laughing?

Uh oh. Caught.

"Uhhh.... Because it's a funny request, Aiden."

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? I don't get it. Our hoes broke. We're men. We dig. You need a hoe to excavate holes!"

Ba dum bum.

Boo Yah

Eatin' dinner tonight.

The hubs was a twinge frustrated that the children hadn't made their lunches during the long afternoon they'd been at home. I felt responsible, since I am the AIC (adult in charge) during the post-school, pre-daddy arrival hours.

I was explaining how events had played out since we'd been home.

Come home.

Unload Hobby Lobby purchases from car.

Use the potty.

Change into comfy clothes.

Tell Aiden to shower.

Agree to stay in my bedroom while Aiden (who gets freaked out in my room alone) showers in my bathroom (the only source for hot water since Sunday. Don't ask.)

Decide that I can help Lillian with her homework while I'm on the bed.

Call for Lillian.

Wait for Lillian to remove her shoes and socks so she can get on my bed.

Argue briefly with Lillian about putting her shoes and socks in her own room.

Wait patiently for Lillian to return from her room.

Tell Lillian (for the 3rd time) to fetch her homework folder.

Wait for Lillian to whine it out, then actually retrieve aforementioned folder.

Snuggle a little more.

Listen to Lillian read.

Fill out the paper sent home with the book Lillian had to read.

Call for Quinn.

Call for Quinn.

Call for Quinn.

Start counting to 3.

Tell Quinn to fetch his homework folder.

Watch Quinn pool into a puddle of goo on the floor.

Start counting to 3.

Wait for Quinn to return with his homework.

Help with Quinn's homework.

Sign Aiden's reading log.

Write down 2 Bible verses Aiden is supposed to memorize for school.

Check the laundry.

Unload the dryer.

Load the dryer.

Start the washer.

Take a phone call.

Go upstairs to do a little office work.

I really was doing office work.

Really.

No, really.

After I finished saying, "...office work" Aiden pipes up.

"If, by 'work' you mean 'Facebook', then yes. You were working."

Boo yah.

Saturday Morning: A Play in 3 Acts

Scene One: 6:30 am, a darkened bedroom where a male and a female are blissfully sleeping. A 6 year-old boy enters the room. The 6 year-old boy (Quinn) bounces up onto the bed and squirms his way between the sleeping man and sleeping woman. He plops himself down right in between them. The man pulls the little boy to his side of the bed and rolls over to snuggle the boy. The woman rises and uses the bathroom. Upon her return to the bed she finds the boy in the spot where she was previously sleeping. She nudges him to the middle of the bed, climbs in and embraces the boy. Sleeping continues.

Scene Two: 6:45 am, a darkened bedroom where a male, a female, and a 6 year-old boy are blissfully sleeping. Heavy footsteps are heard pounding their way down a hardwood-lined hallway towards the darkened bedroom. The woman hears the footsteps and awakens in time to see an 8 year-old boy approach the foot of the bed. The woman snaps her fingers.

Woman: (whispered) Aiden! Come to this side of the bed. (turns to the 6 year-old and whispers) Quinn. Move over. Aiden's here.

The 8 year-old boy climbs into bed on the left side of the mother. She rolls over to hug him.

Aiden: (whispered) I thought Quinn went to the bathroom, so I waited and waited but he didn't come back. I remembered last night he said he wanted to come snuggle you this morning, so I came in here to find him.

Woman: He's been in here since 6:30. Try to go back to sleep.

Act three: 7:00 am. The 6 year-old boy whispers to the woman that he is returning to his bed. The 8 year-old cannot sleep. The woman hears him giggle a little.

Woman: (whispered) What's funny?

Aiden: (whispered) I was laying here thinking about Soarin' (the ride at Disney World). That made me think about Bee Movie, and I remembered the guy that does the video before you get on Soarin' (Patrick Warburton). He also does the voice for the boyfriend in Bee Movie, which is a Dreamworks film. But, he also does a voice in the Emperor's New Groove, which is a Disney movie. So, that guy works for two different movie companies. Funny.

Woman: (whispered): I love how your mind works, son.

Curtain.

Commentary: Seriously? This is what my 8 year-old son is thinking at 7 o'clock in the morning? Patrick Warburton working for two different movie companies? I really DO love how his mind works!

Nouns, verbs, prepositional phrases... oh my!

One day last week Stan sent Aiden to the shower. A few minutes later he went in to check on Aiden's bathing progress (you gotta check on him... he likes to get things done fast. Not well... just FAST, like he's constantly competing with an unseen force.)

So Stan opens the curtain and sees Aiden leaning up against the shower wall, arm raised, head resting on his forearm. Naturally, Aiden is startled, but recovers.

Stan says, "Whatcha doin', Aiden?"

His response?

"Ah, Daddy! I was classifying a sentence!"

Aiden's brain is a sponge. Once something gets stuck in there, it doesn't come out. He probably can't read without diagramming sentences, either.

Guess What?

I'm not doing a meme today! You get an actual, true life, it happened to me story!

Dinnertime lately has been a battle. Three of my children are pretty easy going when it comes to what I cook. They'll usually try everything on the plate without much hassle. It's just the one (ahem, Camryn!) that raises her nose in the air and refuses to even consider touching food to her tongue if it's not something she LOVES to eat (chicken nuggets and pasta, anyone?)

I'm at my wit's (wits'?) end with this child. I have tried everything I know to make this a tolerable situation, short of just making her favorite meals every night (that's not really feasible, nor is it fair, really). I didn't know what else to do.

My husband finally suggested that we let Camryn be involved in the menu planning and/or cooking. No, we're not having pasta and chicken every night, but at least she can suggest things she'd like to try to make and eat. Okay. Now we're getting somewhere.

Tonight she helped me peel, slice, boil and mash the potatoes. She added the butter, salt, mayo & milk and whipped up some great mashed spuds. They were tasty.

I made fried okra. She added the flour and shook up the bag. Then I showed her how to know when to add the okra to the oil and how to turn it and brown it.

I made a grilled chicken using an Asian flavored marinade, and Camryn actually complemented it. She ate the potatoes and all of her okra. It was the nicest, most controversy-free meal we've had in a L-O-N-G time.

So as we were eating dessert, I commented on how pleasant dinner had been. I said, "No one argued, no one left the table in a huff, no one slammed a door in frustration...."

And that's when Aiden said:

"NO ONE HAD TO CALL ANIMAL CONTROL!"

And that was it. We dissolved in fit of laughter.

It's been a great day. I hope it was for you, too.

I don't care who ya are; that's just funny right there

Our family's funniest moments always seem to happen in the car.

A little back story:

On Wednesday I took the kiddos to the neighborhood pool. On the way home, we passed a dead snake on the side of the road. Of course, we had to loop around and drive by it again.... s-l-o-w-l-y.

Today we were coming home from school and Quinn asked where the snake had gone. I told him that some larger animal had probably dragged it home and eaten it for breakfast.

"Or lunch," Quinn said.

"Or dinner!" Lillian replied.

"Or a snack..." I said.

Then, in his classic deadpan style, I heard Aiden reply:

"Or fourthmeal."

The kid is FUNNY.

Just so, so FUNNY.

ACK!

I can't believe I left something out of what happened this week. It was the whole reason I started writing the last entry.

Friday I pulled down my Google search bar and found the words "Naked People" had been typed there. I knew it hadn't been there that morning when I checked e-mail, so it had to be one of the kids. I asked Aiden if it was him. He said no. I called Camryn into my office and questioned her. She told me it wasn't her, either. Back to Aiden. I took a different, less accusatory approach the second time and he confessed that he had searched but had not clicked (I smoked but didn't inhale!)

We now have BSafe filters on all the computers.

Thank goodness for Google Safe Search.

The Tides of Trouble

Most of us, swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about, need only a bit of praise or encouragement - and we will make the goal. ~Jerome Fleishman

Today I was nominated for a "When Life Gives You Lemons" award by my friend Lindsay. I don't know what I did to deserve it, but Lindsay's award totally turned the tides of trouble for me today.

Today was doctor day for Camryn and Aiden. It's that time of year that I usually dread: annual check-up time. It's usually not so bad if no one needs shots, but with four kiddos, it's always someone's turn to be vaccinated.

Today was Camryn's turn. She thought she had until age 14 before she needed shots again, but the AMA (or whoever determines the vaccination schedule for kids) decided that the magical age for all those booster shots is now 11. Guess who just turned 11? Yep. Camryn.

It's Monday; it's raining. That's a bad enough omen right there. Camryn had to be coerced to wake up today, and she was late getting out to the car (I limited myself to two separate blasts on the car horn, but it was hard!) So you know as soon as her tushie hit the van seat she's all in-a-mood, right? It didn't get better when we got to the doctor's office, either. In fact, it was in FULL force. She had the whole bangs over the eye, iPod earphones in the ears, giving-Mom-the-evil-eye routine kicked up several notches.

GUH-REAT. This is going to be a BLAST. CANNOT WAIT. Bring it.

Aiden was fine with the whole appointment. He didn't care for removing all of his clothing in exchange for the flattering paper gown, but he sucked it up and got busy playing his Nintendo DS Club Penguin game. Barely noticed the doctor when she came in. Got through the exam just fine. No big.

Camryn, on the other hand, wanted to keep the earphones in her ears while the doctor was trying to talk to her. I grabbed the cord and plucked the 'phones out of her ears and demanded she give me the iPod. That's the height of rudeness to me, and I wasn't the only one feeling that way. I sensed some irritation in the doctor's voice as well.

And it just went downhill from there. Camryn's feet were terribly stinky, and Lillian kept making rather obnoxious observations to that fact, waving her hand in front of her face and being the typical annoying 4 year-old sister. I could tell Camryn wanted to throttle Lillian. (I kinda' did, too.)

We got through the exam, and after exhorting Camryn to give up soda and start eating more vegetables the doctor said the word Camryn was dreading: VACCINATIONS. Camryn needed two, which was less than the four she had anticipated. Aiden needed one (chicken pox booster) which, when it came out of the doctor's mouth went right over Aiden's head (he was completely absorbed by Club Penguin on the DS). I breathed a sigh of relief. I could break the news to him gently.

HA.

When the doctor left the room, the first thing Camryn blurted out was, "AIDEN! Did you HEAR HER? YOU HAVE TO GET A SHOT, TOO!"

Fiddlesticks and shamrocks. CAMRYN! That wasn't something that Aiden needed to hit him full force in the face. I needed to sneak up on him with that information. Goodgooglymoogly.

And the proverbial stink hit the fan.

Aiden lost it. He doesn't like shots. He barely got through the finger prick.

I could've killed Camryn. Or just seriously wounded her. Pinched her at least.

I restrained myself.

Aiden started crying and saying, "I don't want a shot! I don't want a shot! I don't want a shot!" Poor kid didn't want a haircut last night, either, but he was starting to look like the Shaggy Dog. He got a buzz cut anyway and cried for about 45 minutes afterwards.

And now this.

The nurse finally came in with the needles. She asked, "Who wants to go first?" I told Camryn she needed to since Aiden had gone first with the exams. Camryn flat out refused. I mean, dug her heels in and shook her head and just said, "NO. Aiden has to go!" I wanted to grab her and bend her over my knee, but I was stuck. So I turned to Aiden.

He ran away.

I grabbed him and tried to wrestle him into my lap.

The boy is strong. I mean, REALLY strong.

It took me a good 3-4 minutes to get Aiden pinned down and still so he could get his shot. I've never been more embarrassed. The poor nurse just stood there, aghast. I'm sure it's a story she'll repeat many times in the course of her career.

Camryn took her two shots with no complaints. Then she asked for her iPod back.

"ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN' NOT, " I said, gritting my teeth.

Needless to say, I did not have a good morning....

...until I sat down at the computer and found Lindsay's e-mail nominating me for the "Lemons to Lemonade" award. In her nomination she said:

"Beth - from The Right Regrets. If you don't know her, I am not even sure how to describe her. I can only tell you that I have had the pleasure of meeting her IRL and she is one of the most positive and funny people I have ever known."

So thanks, Lindsay. Thank you for bringing a spot of sunshine to my day. I'm not always so positive, but thanks to good friends like you, I can find the positive amidst the negative.

And now I'm supposed to:

Post the logo on my blog. Check.



Nominate blogs that show great attitude or gratitude.

I nominated my friend Cyndi, who just always seems to find the sunshine when there's nothing but rain and my friend Brandi, who has more difficulty thrown her way than anyone really should bear, but she keeps her chin up even when I'm sure she wants to throw in the towel (and tomorrow is her birthday!).

Link to the nominees within my blog post. Check.

Notify the recipients of the award by commenting on their blog. Will do.

Share the love and link back to the person from whom you received your award. That's Lindsay, and I linked to her above, so I think I'm done!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Problem Solved!

My wonderful, kind, creative friend Kesa asked me if she could make Aiden's birthday invitations for me.

Like she even had to ask!

The cool ticket above is what I'm printing and sending out. I think she did an AWESOME job. I LOVE it.

(Kesa does this as a side job on top of a bunch of other jobs she does... so if you like it, let me know and I'll pass along Kesa's info to you so you can give her some business!)

Wings (not the Paul McCartney band)

As previously mentioned, we all went to Quaker Steak last night because Aiden is crazy about hot wings. Wonder where he gets that from?

From Aiden birthday

Um, hunny? Little sauce there on your... yeah. There. You got it.

For those of you who know nothing about Quaker Steak, they have about ten trillion choices for sauces. You order wings or ribs and then tell the nice server taking your order how you want your meat.......

um......

er......

"lubed".

Heh. (The official name of the restaurant is Quaker Steak AND LUBE, but that just conjurs up so many things that don't need to be pondered when thinking about food, right? So at our house it's just Quaker Steak.)

Tuesdays are All You Can Shove in Your Gullet Wing Nights. Natch, that's Aiden's favorite night to go to Quaker Steak (did I tell you that this place is purposefully located right beside our local Harley Davidson store? You can get a better feel for the crowd now, right?)

So Aiden orders his usual: basket of kids' wings with fries. They offer Jell-O, applesauce and carrot sticks in lieu of fries, but somehow Jell-O and hot wings just doesn't scream "I'm a MAN!" does it?

From Aiden birthday

Aiden's choice last night? Buckeye BBQ. It's Scoville rating? 5,000. Not too hot, but it's up there. In fact, it's the 3rd hottest sauce offered.

The hottest sauce? The aptly named ATOMIC.

Every.stinkin.time we've gone to eat at Quaker Steak, Aiden has literally BEGGED Stan to order the Atomic wings. Every.stinkin.time we've told him no. For real, y'all, you have to sign a WAIVER to eat those wings. Their Scoville rating? 100,000. Shyeah, right.

Last night we lost all sense of right and wrong (must be the effect of the new administration) and we actually let Aiden try an Atomic wing.

Stan tried it first.

From Aiden birthday

Stan not likey.

Aiden tried it. Barely got his mouth around it. Decided Aiden no likey, either.

From Aiden birthday

And there it sat, poor, abandoned Atomic wing.

From Aiden birthday

And the dream, for Aiden, has died.

But he and his flaming tongue were consoled by ice cream.

Lots and LOTS of ice cream (good thing the birthday kid gets it free!)

I had a dream....

I hate when I am asleep and dreaming about having to go to the potty.

Right before I woke up this morning I was having such a dream. It's so bizarre I just had to share.

I was in a parking garage with Ashton Kutcher and actress/comedienne Mo'Nique (I know, right? Like those two would ever hang out. Maybe they're planning a remake of The Graduate together or something. Who knows.)

So we're all about to hop in a super tiny car. Me, Mo'Nique and Ashton. I called shotgun (wouldn't you?)

Right before I opened the car door I realized I needed to use the facilities, so after announcing that to Ash and Mo, I promptly sat down on the floor of the parking garage.

Fast forward to the next scene in my dream and I'm crossing the street from the garage to a row of buildings. Ashton and Mo'Nique are sitting at an outdoor cafe' table (probably discussing the Graduate script...) when I approach. I see a caption (YES, a CAPTION!) underneath where they're sitting that says, "2 Hours Later" like I'm in an episode of Spongebob or something.

"Hey!" I say. "Are y'all still waiting on me to go to the bathroom?"

"DUH." Ashton replies.

"Sorry. I didn't know what the plan was!" I retort.

So then I open the door to a bank and go inside. I walk all the way to the back and ask if they have a bathroom I can use.

The manager says, "We don't do that sort of thing here."

So I squat down on the floor in front of the horrified customers inside the bank and say, "Well, I guess I'll just go right here, then!"

Voila. Keys appear and I'm allowed inside a room straight out of a spy movie. It's all hush-hush and whatnot. Buttons are pushed and a hole opens up on a countertop.

Evidently, it's a top secret potty project. I'm instructed to hop up onto the countertop and try out the new high-tech, appear out of nowhere toilet. As I start to relieve myself in my dream, I awaken.

I hate when that happens.

As I was sharing the dream with my husband, he relayed a story about Lillian from last night (we took Aiden out to Quaker Steak for a 2nd birthday dinner, because he loves All-You-Can-Eat wings on Tuesday nights...)

Stan took the kids (minus Aiden) to the car while I finished paying the bill. There was an overcharge on the bill, so they waited longer than they expected to. Naturally, Lillian announced that she had to go potty. Thinking I would be right out, Stan told Lillian to get out and wait for me in front of the van so I could turn around and take her back to the potty when I came outside. She got out and started pacing back and forth in front of the car, moaning and groaning about how badly she had to goooooooooo.... I'm sure you can picture the scene.

Stan said she finally stopped and said, "Daddy! Can't I just squat right here in front of the van on the sidewalk?"

Bless her heart. She is so envious of her brothers that can go pee (practically) anywhere, anytime.

And that concludes today's session of "Potty Talk with Beth". Tune in tomorrow when we broach the topic, "Toilet Paper: Over or Under?!?"

Ahead... and Behind

I AM AHEAD OF THE GAME:

On Saturday I asked each of the kids to write out a Valentine message, then I took these pictures and uploaded them to Snapfish. I ordered one copy of each photo for each person in each of the kids' classes. I'm going to attach the pictures to paper and these will be the kids' Valentine cards. Easy Peasy. (Not my original idea... one I stole from one of the many scrapbooking magazines I read...)

So I'm way ahead of the game there. V-Day isn't for another 19 days! Woo hoo! Go Mommy! Go Mommy!























AND YET I'VE FALLEN WOEFULLY BEHIND:

Aiden celebrated his 8th birthday yesterday.

What? Huh? What's that you ask? What kind of party did he have?

(Hiding my eyes behind my hand as I mumble incoherently...)

None.

Bless his 2,921 day-old heart. All he wants is to have all the 2nd grade boys over for a movie party. All I have to do is pop some popcorn, buy some movie candy (in the boxes like they have at the cineplex) and rent a movie for the boys to watch.

For some reason I can't get past making the guest list. I got nothin' else. What's holding me up, you ask?

Creativity.

Sure, I could slap together a Word document and mail it out to the boys. They don't care. But for some reason, I do. If I make it, it has to have all the bells and whistles.

I ain't got nothin' clever in the way of boys movie party invitation ideas.

And thus the reason my son will celebrate his January birthday in, say, March? Sound good?

The Nativity

Our nativity set has been wrapped up in tissue in a bag ever since I removed it from the box it was stored in almost a month ago. It's been sitting on the table in our foyer needing to be set out on the den table. I just haven't had a moment to think about it, and the table has been covered in magazines, toys needing to be put away, laundry baskets holding clothing in various stages of "foldedness". Today, the first day I felt I could again breathe, I unpacked the nativity.

The boys and Lillian saw me and asked what I was doing. As I answered, I was setting the scene like I always do. Shepherds and their sheep to the left of the baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary behind the baby, and the Wise Men with their camel to the right of Jesus, admiring the babe.

Aiden said I had it ALL WRONG and set about rearranging things, offering his explanations as he worked.

The baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and the donkey they rode to Bethlehem go in the middle of the table.



The shepherds need to be placed far away from the baby, and the angel needs to be facing them telling them of the birth of the Christ child.



The Magi need to be on the opposite side of the table, because they're still on their way to find the baby.



And that is the nativity set-up according to Aiden.



He *HAS* been listening and learning and remembering in Bible class at school!

Overheard: 5 seconds of my life

From the den about 30 seconds ago:

Aiden: It's wrestling, not boxing!

(Grunts and groans)

Quinn: Stop it! You're no match for me!

Lillian: Aiden! Your wrestling name is Big Foot.

Aiden: NO! I'm the Stopper.

Just a little Living Room theater for you this evening. Enjoy.

Guest Blogger (Kind Of)

This sure is turning out to be an Aiden-centric blog lately. Didn't mean it to be, but right now he's my favorite kid.

What? You don't find yourself having moments (days, weeks) where you have a favorite child? I do love each of my children equally and greatly, but sometimes there are stretches where I prefer the company of one kid simply because the other 3 are DRIVING ME BANANAS.

Right now Lillian is in a Tourette's phase. She sings spontaneously and loudly and repeats things A LOT. It's most annoying. And there's the yelling and the growling. She's the living incarnation of the strong willed child.

Quinn is in a "I can't get the words out of my mouth fast enough and therefore it's impossible to comprehend what I'm saying especially because I refuse to pronouce the letter R correctly, making me sound like I was born in Boston" phase. Arrrrrrr. Arrrrrr. Arrrrr... I sound like a pirate when I correct his speech.

Camryn is female, she's 10, on the cusp of womanhood and she thinks the world revolves around her. NO has suddenly disappeared from the list of words she comprehends. She can dish it, but she won't take it. 'Nuff said.

So that leaves Aiden. Sweet, do anything to please me Aiden. He's like a lap cat, that one. So docile and compliant and loves to be stroked, physically and emotionally. We totally get each other. He's so like me it's scary. Maybe that's why I like him so much. It's a form of narcissism.

The following was plucked from his Friday folder when I cleaned out his backpack over the weekend. I just had to share. I have typed it just as he wrote it, misspellings and all.

CREATION

I am glad that God created the day so that I can play.

I am happy God created the season winnter so that I can play in the snow.

I am delighted that God created the color red because I like red lightsabers.

I am pleased that God created the fruit/vegetable Bannana because I like Pennut budeer banana sanwichs.

I am excited that God created the animal tiger because I like the strips.

I am thankful God created the Sabbath when I can rest and play legos.

And God rested, and played Legos, and it was good.

He NEEEEEDS a New Lego Set!

As previously blogged, Aiden lost a tooth at Disney World:



While eating lunch yesterday, he decided to pull another tooth which had become very loose in the past week:



The kid is now tied with his big sister (who's 10) for number of teeth lost in a lifetime.

I think he believes he can earn money for Legos by yanking teeth from his head.

"Psssst... hey Tooth Fairy! I'll trade you two of these babies for an Imperial AT-ST! What? Fresh? Of course they're fresh! I just pulled 'em this morning!"



He can't eat an apple (or anything, really) worth a darn, but he sure does have a stockpile of cash!

So Far

We're at Disney World right now. Today's our 2nd day.

So far on this trip we've seen:

a meltdown (who could blame her!?! It's hot as blue blazes down here! Florida, hot in August? Who knew?!?)



A sisterly heart to heart after the meltdown:



A lost tooth ("Does Tinkerbell leave the money if you lose a tooth at Disney?")



Growth (since our last trip, in December, when Lillian was too short to ride Test Track):



A ginormous couch chair thing:



Devotion (Lillian just could NOT walk another step, so Camryn carried her all the way to the boat dock):



And just plain old family fun (Aiden is in the shell with me, so he didn't make it into the picture):



Good times, good times, as Lillian would say. I think this vacation ROCKS so far, and we have five more days ahead of us!

Wish you were here!

Wordless Wednesday

I Need To Buy Stock In Lysol

I don't know which company makes Lysol, but I need to buy stock in whatever company it is. I've used so much of it this summer, I should start buying it in bulk. I wish they made Lysol bombs (like flea bombs). I could set one off and the whole house would be sanitized. Maybe I should e-mail the Lysol people. That's a brilliant idea.

I was watching Big Brother 10 last night when Camryn came into the den clutching her stomach. Yeah. You know the rest. She snuggled me on the couch for about an hour (and when I say "snuggle", I mean she moaned and groaned and whined while I stroked her hair...) When the clock struck 11 pm, I told her to get up and go to bed, 'cause that's where I was headed and I didn't want her staying in the den alone. She shuffled off and I thought maybe she would be okay. I was turning off lights, TV, etc. when I saw a flash and I knew instantly it was her, in the bathroom.... I couldn't even go in there. I was frozen. I felt like the world's worst mother, because I should've been in there holding back her hair, but I couldn't go. It was too close to my own experience. I knew if I stepped into the bathroom there would be two of us fighting over the throne. I wet a rag and waited for a lull in the action (if you know what I mean). I helped her get cleaned up and tucked her into bed and prayed with her, and then I went to bed, hoping that was the last tango for her and the stomach yucks. Maybe so. Maybe not. I feel like the JoBeth Williams character in "Poltergeist", screaming for the aliens to leave my children alone. I'm so ready for this cloud of sick to go away already. Seriously.

On another note, the most amazing thing happened yesterday. I helped the boys tidy their room and closet, and once we were done we had a whole bag full of trash. Things were organized and put away and the floor was clean. Best of all, their entire Lego collection was safely tucked into 2 boxes. No stray Legos in sight. Miracle of miracles. But the best part was that neither boy touched a Game Cube controller or a computer keyboard, nor did they ask to play the Wii. All afternoon long they built with Legos and then used their green plastic Army men to have a battle in their floor. Even more surprising was that the fighting was done solely by the green Army men. I didn't have to break up one skirmish between the boys themselves. It was a niiiiiiiiice treat.

Aiden loved his Lego setup so much, he asked to borrow my camera to capture his work. Below are the photos he took. Reminds me of the time I borrowed my dad's Topcon 35mm camera to take fashion shots of my Barbies.







(A note about those headless Lego guys in the photo above... they're not really headless. Aiden says those are the diving suits that the guys wear when they have to get in the water... just so you know....)



It looks like these guys rumbled, and the one on the ground didn't fare so well. Nice to see that guy on the right is still smiling, though.



Doesn't look like the kind of Lego you want to meet in a dark alley... Look at the size of that blaster!



Battle over....

Aiden Update

The kids came home last night and I smothered them with kisses. My husband checked Aiden's eyes and took a picture with his retinal camera and didn't find any lesions or abnormalities, so we didn't take him on to the pediatrician. He hasn't thrown up since last week, and the cycle had been for him to vomit every 2 to 3 days, so we think he's over it. Aiden says he feels better than he has "in weeks". We think he's cured. Thank you for your prayers and thoughts. I was one worried momma!