Conversations With a 9-Year-Old: I'm a Pokemon Character

While watching Pokemon with my kids, a female character popped up on the screen....

CHASE: Oh, man.... She is EXACTLY like you, Mom.

MOM: (Not knowing the character at all) Oh yeah? How so?

CHASE: She's just so confident and she's always cheering everyone on.

I just LOVE that he sees me that way. Warm fuzzy!

Conversations with a 5- and 9-Year-Old: Boyfriends

Dinner conversation:

MOM: After dinner you'll need to brush your teeth.

CHASE: Ugh! I hate my life and everything in it! Except my friends and my games.

CHLOE: What about Mom?

CHASE: She should love herself.

MOM: I do love myself!

CHLOE: Yeah, you love everyone!

CHASE: Ew! That means Mom has like a billion boyfriends!

MOM: Well of course! I mean... DUH!

CHASE: (bursts into hysterical laughter)

CHLOE: What? Having a boyfriend isn't funny! IIII have a boyfriend!

MOM: Oh yeah? What's his name?

CHLOE: I don't remember.

We have it all together over here, folks! Haha!

Conversations with a 5- and 9-Year-Old: All About Mom

I saw this on Facebook and just had to try it.  Enjoy!

"Without ANY prompting, ask your kids these questions. Its a great way to see what they think."

Results... with my thoughts on their answers in italics:

1. What is something I always say to you? "I love you" (unanimous)

Awwwwwwww....

2. What makes me happy? "Boom Boom" (my cat), "when we listen to directions"

Agree.

3. What makes me sad? "When we don't listen" (Chase), and then Chloe added "It makes me feel sad for other people when they feel sad for us."

I have no idea what Chloe is talking about.  Not so sure she does, either.

4. How do I make you laugh? "By being funny" (Chloe), "When you say 'Don't laugh' in your serious voice" (Chase).

Hey.  Don't laugh.

5. What was I like as a child? "Funny and silly" (Chloe), "You wanted everything and said everything was yours, like 'That's mine! That's mine! Oh yeah, and that's mine!'" (Chase)

Wow, this is so telling.  I am pretty territorial about my space and my stuff.  Ha ha!

6. How old am I? 38

Nailed it.

7. How tall am I? 5' 3" (Chloe deferred to Chase on this one)

Nope.  5'8"

8. What is my favorite thing to do? "talk on the phone" (Chloe), "have fun with your children" (Chase)

I hate talking on the phone.

9. What do I do when you're not around? "watch TV," "work," "draw"

Draw?  Ha ha!  They apparently think I'm pretty tame.  Hilarious.  Makes me wonder what my tame mom really did when I wasn't around.  Food for thought.

10. What am I really good at? "ballet" (Chloe), "theatre" (both)

I used to be decent at ballet.  I'm glad she's impressed with my tendus in the kitchen.

11. What is something I'm not good at? "Geometry Dash"

It's a game they both play.  It's true.  I suck.

12. What do I do for a job? "theatre"

They got half of it!

13. What is my favorite food? "donuts and carrots" (Chloe), "oatmeal" (Chase)

I do not eat donuts and carrots together, just to clarify.

14. What do you enjoy doing with me? "coloring" (Chloe), "having fun" (Chase)

Me too.

Merry Christmas!

We have had a lot of Christmas adventures this month!  Of course we had to pick out our tree, and it's so nice that the kids are getting big enough to help me out more with it!

We also made Christmas cookies for their teachers:

Over break we watched holiday movies and played games:

The new obsession with both of the kids is Pokemon, so they wanted to play that... but Mom just did not get it...

...which the kids found a little frustrating (but hilarious!):

They also had fun making some handmade gifts for their dad and grandparents:

The kids weren't quite sure if they were on the nice or naughty list this year...

...but Santa delivered!  It was a close call, though.  The morning of December 23rd Chloe changed her mind about what she wanted to ask Santa for and I told her it might be too late in the game for Santa to change it. That night after I put the kids to bed Chloe came downstairs and said she couldn't sleep because she had a bad feeling about her Christmas present. She was close to tears so I sat her down next to me to talk about it and I reminded her that Christmas was more about what you give vs. what you get, and we talked about the things she got her brother, her dad, her grandparents... and how happy they were going to be when they opened them. She got the biggest smile on her face and then it was my turn to cry! She went back to bed happy and left me sitting there proud. That's what it's all about, y'all.

She didn't get exactly what she asked for, but she took it in stride.  And Pokemon took over both houses!

Gift opening came to a halt several times so they could look through every single Pokemon card they got...

...which was a lot:

See how they are sorted into piles?  And see that binder of sheet protectors?  Yup....  That was all Mom's doing.  I spent a good amount of time organizing and putting all those cards in that pretty little binder because I Just. Couldn't. TAKE IT!!!!

But I feel better now.

Cue: The aftermath!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Happy 9th Birthday, Chase!

My baby boy is NINE!  How is this possible??

Chase celebrated his birthday at Gattiland again this year, and every gift he received got a similar reaction to this:

I was so proud of how special he made each kid feel about the gifts he opened.  He showed genuine excitement for each and every gift, and made sure to thank each kid personally.  We didn't even tell him to do that!  I guess he really is growing up!

He had lots of fun playing games with his friends and family:

He had another Minecraft themed party, and this time for his cake he had a very specific character in mind:

I decided to attempt one of the heads, and I have to say I am incredibly embarrassed at how terribly it turned out.  I really don't want to post a picture of it at all, but in the spirit of my kitchen adventures I have always posted the good, the bad and the ugly.  So here it is (but disclaimer: I have a really good reason why it didn't turn out so great, so stayed tuned!):

Ugh.  It makes me shudder!

But I told you I had a good reason for this cake failure.  I was trying to be Super Mom.  I directed a show that went up 4 days before his birthday, so I was crazy busy with that.  But on top of that, I also promised him I would redecorate his room for his birthday, so I was on a time crunch to get that done.  And I have to say....  Where I failed in the cake area, I more than made up for in the redecorating area.  Look what I painted (in the spirit of his Minecraft obsession):

Yes, I did it all by hand.  Measured and leveled every square, drew them all out by hand, taped it off, painted the squares individually, removed the tape, and filled in the rest by hand.  This is what Chase's room looked like before.  Yes, you are looking at gray trim (and what you don't see is that all the doors were painted gray, too!), and a lovely purple wall:

And here are the after pics:

Pretty proud....  Not gonna lie.

Oh, and Chloe helped (which she was incredibly proud of, too)!

Happy Birthday, Chase-ma-face!

Conversations With a 5-Year-Old: Meaning of Christmas

Just had a "Hallmark Christmas movie moment" with my daughter.

This morning she changed her mind about what she wanted to ask Santa for and I told her it might be too late in the game for Santa to change it.  I had just put the kids to bed and was sitting here on the couch when Chloe came downstairs and said she couldn't sleep because she had a bad feeling about her Christmas present. She was close to tears so I sat her down next to me to talk about it and I reminded her that Christmas was more about what you give than what you get, and we talked about the things she got her brother, her dad, her grandparents... and how happy they were going to be when they opened them. She got the biggest smile on her face and then it was my turn to cry! She went back to bed happy and left me sitting here proud. That's what it's all about, y'all.

(Oh, and I have a feeling Santa will come through for her, too...)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had our 2nd annual "Favorite Foods" Thanksgiving. Since my kids don't care for turkey or any of the other traditional sides, we sit down and create our own menu of foods we love (while still covering the major food groups).  The menu this year consisted of:

• Lasagna
• Salad (for me)
• Mashed potatoes
• Strawberries
• Cream corn
• Pumpkin Cheesecake

We also continued our new tradition of writing down the things we are thankful for and hanging them over the table!

Chase was thankful for me, his dad, Chloe, God, heaven and life. Chloe was thankful for Chase, her dog and birds.

Geesh.... BIRDS?? I lost to BIRDS?!?!?

When I asked her about it she just giggled and said, "Next time, Mom."

Nice.

Over the week-long break we decided to head downtown for a one-night "mini vacation," where we spent most of the time at the hotel pool:

The next morning we got up to check out Voodoo Donuts.  Oh, my....  Deliciousness!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!