Time To Make The Brownies

Last weekend Reese asked if I would make brownies, but I didn't have any brownie boxed mix left, so we checked the pantry and did have ingredients to make them from scratch...

Not sure what's up with the smile, but I'll take what I can get!

So we put everything together, and Reese kept saying over and over again how glad he was that we had "scratch" to make the brownies with today!
In the end, he decided he didn't like them. They were very cocoa-y and not so chocolate-y. I will happily buy the boxed brownie mix in the future...way easier!

DEFCON5

Today, while playing his PS3 in his playroom, he looks at Mommy and says...

"Set the level to Code Brown because I gotta go to the bathroom!"

Ah, boys....love that comedic timing!! :)

CooCoo Nut Cream Pie

How to make a CooCoo Nut cream pie? According to Reese, we need:

45 lbs of sugar, 3 tablespoons of love, and 14 ounces of cocoa and pie.

CooCoo Nut Cream Pie= Coconut Cream Pie :)

I (leg) Heart You

"I think I have a heart in my leg. When I laid on the couch I could feel it beating there! "

-Reese

I Do Not Want To Go To Egypt

Reese has decided he does not want to visit Egypt. According to Reese, they do not have bathrooms and must pee in the sand. And it's hot. Which apparently are two valid reasons for not wanting to go to Egypt. Ever.

However, grabbing a dishtowel & pretending you're Egyptian...

A-OK!

Sharing A Secret....

Driving around Maui two weeks ago, Jeff & I were talking about who-knows-what as we took in the beauty. Reese was in the back seat, buckled in & kind of quiet. As we stopped for gas, & Daddy got out of the car, Reese decided to confess....

Reese: "Mommy, if I tell you something I did wrong, will you not punish me?"

Mommy: "Well, I might get mad, and we'll talk about what you did, but I won't punish you. You know it's important to tell Mommy the truth."

R: "Remember when we were at Disney World and the Space Mountain man said I was too short to ride?"

**Side note...this was THREE Disney trips ago...about six months ago...nothing recent!**

M: "Yes, I remember. You were really sad."

R: "I was. Then I gave the Space Mountain man the middle finger behind my back. I'm sorry."

It was all I could do to stop myself from giggling! He's a very good boy, and he was so frustrated because he couldn't go back on Space Mountain after someone else had already let him ride.

He full well knows it's a "cuss word" with your hand.

He promised he wouldn't do it again.

But what on Earth made him feel the need to confess after all this time? I was proud of him for telling the truth, when he absolutely knew it was forbidden to put up your middle finger & telling on himself might get him in trouble.

I think *that's* the important choice in the whole scenario, you know?

Amen!

Yesterday, at EPCOT, Reese & I went to the show Turtle Talk With Crush. It's an interactive screen show with Crush the Turtle from the movie Finding Nemo. In the theater room, there's a floor-to-ceiling movie screen, and it looks as if you're peering into a huge fish tank.

Crush is computer generated, & interacts with the audience. A Disney Cast Member is in the audience with a microphone so the kids can talk to Crush!

Reese got picked to ask a question yesterday, and I fully expected him to launch into a story about something! But here's the conversation.....I was so in love with Reese's last answer....

---

Crush: (in his most surfer-dude accent) What's your question little dude?

Reese: Why are you a turtle?

Crush: (pauses & looks puzzled) Woah. Dude. That's really existential... I. Don't. Know. See this thing on my back...

Reese: That's your shell!

Crush: Right on! I'm a turtle because I have a shell. Tell me, little Dude. Why are YOU a human?

Reese: Because I was made by God!

AMEN, Reese!

#2, But Who Is Counting?

Tooth #2 is now out...

Daddy is the master Tooth Puller!

Ten Seconds To Longing Uterus

Hey, who wouldn't want to read a post about someone's uterus? Really, no uterus talk...just a little video clip I found on Jeff's computer yesterday.

Reese had just turned 1, and the funniest thing in the world was the put Daddy's necklace in his mouth, then pull it out. Magically, that made Daddy make a funny "beep" noise.

Here we are in Cancun (sorry, I don't have the spiffy green couch in my house).

That belly laugh...those little chubby legs...my uterus is protesting...

The Countdown...

Two weeks from yesterday....

We'll walk though here....

To make memories on this....
To visit here twice along the way...
To slide down this about 100 times....

We're counting the days until we leave for our 2nd magical cruise. We can't WAIT!!!

**Pictures of boat taken by Disney

Mama Called The Doctor And The Doctor Said...No More Corn Kernels Stuck Inside Your Head!

Once upon a time, in the land of Vacation, was playing in the room while Mommy took a


came into the bathroom & told Mommy "I put a popcorn in my ear!"


"You did what? A what in your ear?" Mommy said.
"A popcorn. Look!" And as digs his finger in his , Mommy yelled "Stop!"

From inside the , she saw in his .

"Tilt your head & jump up and down." says the soapy Mommy in the . No luck. The was firmly in place.

Greaaat. At least we passed a hospital about 5 minutes away from the hotel. Mommy had a feeling we'd be making the trip, so she told to ask to try & get it out.

As he's working at the computer, sees come over nervously & says "I have popcorn in my ear. Can you get it out?"

Thinking Mommy would be mad (and not knowing that Mommy aldready knew), and went quietly into the bathroom to look for a tool to remove the .

Luckily, found , and using his big, bad Daddy ninja-skills, he popped the out of Reese's .

Mommy was SO glad we didn't have to make a hospital trip, & we all understand NO popcorn kernels in the ear!!

What I Do Ain't Work, Apparently

Reese to Mommy (while he's sitting at the kitchen bar eating breakfast & Mommy is checking emails):

"You should get a job. You know, work to earn money. You should sell cheese. And quit typing on the computer. No more emails."

Anyone want some cheese?

The Mind Of A 5 Year Old

Today, Reese asks...

"Does SpongeBob Squarepants ever go pee?"

Where does this stuff come from??

I Wish I Could Do It...

Why is it that the local kid haircut place charges $16.95 for a haircut that lasts about 10 minutes? Add tip, and we're at $18.95.

That works out to almost $200/hour. Have you ever done the math?

So why do they charge so much?

Because they can.

I've tried taking Reese to SuperCuts, Fantastic Sams, & the like. Reese hates the clippers on the back of his head & usually protests and cries. Unless we want to go back to the chili bowl haircut or look like a hippie child, he's got to get the back clipped. Our local Fantastic Sams even has a sign that says "We will not cut the hair of any child who fusses" or something like that.

So we go to the kiddie haircut place, pay our wad of money, and come away with a successful haircut. Now that Reese is a little older, he loves to play the Mario Kart video game while they cut his hair. It serves as a pretty decent distraction for most of the cut.

At one point, I had purchased a $20 set of clippers to cut his hair myself. How hard could it really be. Big mistake. There is a lot of blending, clipping, & evening out that Mommy just didn't do right. Plus it took me wayyyyy longer to do his haircut, and it was so very messy.

I guess I'm stuck paying almost $20 for his haircuts for a while. Unless he'll go for a buzz cut all they way around. I think I could do that!

Only In Homeschool Can You Discuss Geography AND Hell Together

**While sitting on Mommy's lap, on the floor, in front of a big wall map of the 50 US states**

Reese: "What state is that?"

Mommy: "That's Missouri."

R: "Who lives in Misery?"

M: "It's Missouri, and we don't know anyone that lives there."

R: "Where is Hell?"

M: "I don't think Hell is on any maps we have."

R: "It's probably on God's map. And Heaven too."

Probably so, dear ;)

She'd Better Like Heels...

Before I talk about the birthday present Reese picked out for me (all by himself!), first let me introduce my style habits to those of you who don't know me.

I am & have always been somewhat of a tomboy at heart. I feel most "in-my-skin" when I'm wearing tshirts, sneakers, athletic shorts, jeans, etc. I feel most "out-of-my-skin" wearing things like tank tops, dresses, lots of makeup, etc.

A few examples of my daily wear:

Reese took this picture of Mommy playing basketball. Please excuse the cornball face. You'll notice the ballcap, tshirt, camo shorts, & chunky sandals. All some of my favorite items.

I love this fleece jacket that belongs to Jeff. Also love the visor. What you don't see: jeans & sneakers complete the outfit.

Visiting the aquarium. Some of my wardrobe staples: tshirt, soccer shorts, & sneakers.

OK. So you get the idea. While I love the idea of dressing in things like jeans & heels, it's rarely my first choice when dressing in the morning. Heck, it's not even my tenth choice. Usually.

God blessed me with a son who has some interesting preferences. It started about a year ago when I took Reese to Payless for some new shoes. We were in the kid section, found some shoes he liked, & caved into their "buy one, get one 1/2 off" sale and mosied over to the Mommy section.

He picked these out, & was very convinced I should purchase them. So I did...

And while they're really, really cute (with that white embroidery all over!) they just don't make my rotation very often. I go for comfort & these fall shy of that by a long shot.

So on our next visit to Payless, the same thing happens again. I can't pass up a good sale, so when Reese found these, and they were only $5, I couldn't say no. Mind you, he's picking these out for me...

Actually, they're really, really cute. And comfortable. And they go with two things I own. So I've worn them a few times & Jeff loves the way they make my legs look. Reese gets this heavenly look in his eyes when I wear them.

A visit to Target, & a stroll through the shoe aisle brings this cute find (by Reese):

Although I can't find the other one right now, these pointy-toed, heeled boots were a must have according to Reese. I have worn these with jeans and they are very cute. Can't run in them like my sneakers, but again, Reese gets excited when I'm going to wear something with heels.

So this whole thing brings me to my birthday gift story. Jeff took Reese to Tar-jay to pick out something for Mommy. It was completely up to Reese. Last year, he picked out a Star Wars action figure for me, so I was curious what he'd find this year.

I should have known...check it out!

All by himself, Jeff said he knew exactly what I needed. I had been looking for a cute pair of black heels a few weeks ago & we never found anything while we were out.

Reese went straight to the shoe aisle...straight to the size 7 rack (what a good memory he has!), and told Jeff that "Mommy has to have these."

I mean, seriously. Peep toe. Slingback. Heel. Ribbed fabric, so as not to compete with the patent leather black heel sandals I have. They couldn't be more perfect.

Two thoughts really stuck with me.

One, he's got a killer memory that his future wife will love. He got the shoe right, AND the size right. And he's 4 years old? I can only imagine how attentive he'll be in 18 years :)

And two, his future wife had better like to wear heels. This boy was born with a strong love for high heels!!!

"Mom, I'm going to learn Spanish"

Reese & I went by our public library today for story time, but because of the Great Blizzard of '08 we had yesterday, the story time was cancelled. Crud! So we putzed around the library for a while instead.



Our town has one library & it's book selection is....eh....not so large. It's sufficient, but it's certainly not a big extravaganza of cool things.



The Next Town over has a much larger library, & recently I found out that I was allowed to join that library as well!



The Next Town library has a CD we love beyond words (Seussical soundtrack) so I was excited to check that out again.



Then we started to wander the aisles. Oh my goodness...what fun things we did find! This library has the entire Hooked On Phonics set (and multiple copies of the sets!). We opened up one box and started playing one of the games...so we came home with a Hooked on Phonics pre-reading box.



Then we found Muzzy. I've seen Muzzy commercials on TV. I've heard other homeschool families talk about the greatness of Muzzy. But I couldn't see paying the price for what Muzzy cost, if I wasn't absolutely sure we'd do the entire program!

**Muzzy is a foreign language program with Muzzy as the central character**



I explained to Reese what Muzzy was, & he promptly said "I'm going to learn Spanish."



And he is. He put on the first DVD & has been loving it ever since. He'll throw out a Spanish word here & there. Go, Kiddo!

Excuse Me?

My son is currently mad at Mommy & giving some serious 'tude because we don't have any laundry to sort.

Did I step into a parallel universe or something? He wants to help sort clothes by colors & everything is sorted. Sissy had a few items that were dirty, & Reese was slightly miffed that there was only two shirts. "That's it?"

He gave Jeff a speech today about keeping your whites & reds separate in the wash because it will make things turn pink. I was surprised he remembered!

I promised the next time the laundry baskets get anything in them, he can sort for me.

Guess laundry is an important life skill, & grasping the basics by 4 is pretty darn good. Probably more important than that pesky handwriting that I stress about anyway. :)

We Aim To Please!

**Mommy in the kitchen making dinner**

Reese: "So, Mommy. Whatcha' doing?"

Mommy: "I'm cooking your dinner...a cheeseburger! And sweet carrots!"

Reese: "Well, the service is always good."

Mommy's Diner: Given 5 Stars by the peanut gallery!

44

Standing at the dishwasher yesterday, Reese looked at the countdown timer that shows how much washing time is left in each cycle. He studied it for a minute, & said "This says 44." And it almost immediately changed & he piped up "Now it says 43."

That tiny, little comment reaffirmed our teaching methods thus far...more than I could even express.

We have never looked at a 100s chart, never practiced writing numbers (he could care less right now), never purposely identified numbers 1-100 or any such activity. Whenever we see numbers in books, I point them out. Just yesterday, in The Little Engine That Could, the red engine had the number "7" on it. I showed him the number, asked what number it was, & moved on. When we talk about Chicago Bears football & the players, we'll talk about their numbers. Real life situations...I try to point out numbers as we encounter them in our day.

I don't know where he ever saw "44" or heard me talk about "forty four". But somewhere along the line, it connected & all on his own he came up with the numbers on the dishwasher. Perhaps God was sending me a sign....earlier yesterday I was contemplating what to do next year...full Kindergarten curriculum? Just a phonics program? Keep doing what we're doing & learning from daily life? Forget any curriculum things next year & start "Kindergarten" the following year (which is when Reese would be going to Kindergarten since he's a June bday)?

Maybe just that little affirmation of his constant learning was sent to remind me to SLOW DOWN and relax :)