Well it's true that we love one another.....

There are more than this....but birds are popping up everywhere in our house....and we have started changing out art. We can't afford to redecorate, and things seem stale, so we finished the kitchen yesterday (what else are you going to do when you are stuck in the house with a sick kid who only wants to play with his sister?)

Anytime I pull out the camera these days, GI GI is lazing nearby. It is becoming a bit of a joke.



Sooooo....Daddy has gone back to work and the kids and I are falling into our routine. "School" starts here next week. We've been insanely busy with appointments and such, so I am going to be interested to see how well we buckle down and work.




The kids (and I) are on a smoothie kick. Several mornings a week, we make smoothies to have with breakfast. I generally freeze some fruit (blueberries, blackberries, mango) and throw those in the blender with bananas and soy milk. We like to put in a touch of vanilla too. If I don't have frozen fruit on hand, I just crush a little ice. I've made them in the past with yogurt too. We are trying different fruits each week, and the kids LOVE to help. Thanks, Katie, for the blender!

Sooooo, here is my question for all you parents: My kids insist on having a banana every morning, which is fine, but then they often decline breakfast. They won't give up the banana. I generally offer yogurt, toast, applesauce, oatmeal, eggs, waffles, or pancakes for breakfast. They are getting bored and so am I. What do your kids LOVE to have for breakfast????? Mine are even tired of banana muffins. I have tried breakfast "cookies" and casseroles and they HATE anything that is a combo meal. They like things simple and tasty. So, ideas....PLEASE...send me some ideas. And, yes, I do a cold bowl of cereal (no milk) once a week. I am a normal parent. I just know how important this meal is and I want to make it count. They were such great breakfast eaters until about a month ago. Advice? Thoughts?

Currently Ben loves: Hot Wheels cars, Kinects, CitiBlocks, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, his sister, Lucy, blackberries and blueberries, cherry Icees, foot massages, soccer, and speaking in a dialect with Alya that I do not understand.

Currently Ben hates: "Itchy sticks" (throat swabs), the smoke detector in his bedroom (because the light blinks), and milk.

Alya loves: Anna (her favorite doll that Ga Ga bought her for Christmas), Stacey (Maceo), having her hair "fixed", dancing, imaginative play, the color pink, and goat cheese.

Alya hates: Every other thing on Earth that is not listed in the "like" section.

I know I bragged about it recently on Facebook, but I need to gloat again. My EP took a moment suring our serious discussion this morning to comment on how well behaved the kids are. He said his kids would have had the place turned over. It makes me so happy. Wait for it.....here it comes....it is like an erruption waiting to happen....the downside is that people surely do not believe me when I tell them my children can be absolutely hideous at home. They don't act put out, they just have smart mouths. They come by them honestly.

They do get in trouble for talking back and being "fresh" (yeah, apparently my word that I put out there years and years ago for "nice" or "good" now meanswhat it meant in the 80s....you know, fresh, like getting frisky or being inappropriate).....but when they are not being fresh, they are still being smart mouths....and it is funny, so I get in trouble, because they get positive reinforcement for something I do not want them to do.

So, Friday morning the kids and I went to an estate sale. Of course, Ben was curious about why the sale was indoors, and he was a bit concerned that everything was being sold. I realized later he was probably putting 2 and 2 together, because he said that he "felt very sad that people die and don't see each other any more". Now, our conversations about death can be counted on a hand and the information I have provided has been limited, BUT, with an Atheist father and a mother who believes in reincarnation, I realize he has probably stumbled upon the conclusion that death is death. Done. Apparently it is time for me to elaborate with him. However, since we were driving and I could not look him in the eye, I simply explained that a lot of people believe in heaven and that you get to see the people you love when everyone is dead. Crickets. I don't think we are going to have a taker on that. Maybe, when the time is right, we can discuss the different ideas about what happens to our souls, and he will feel more at peace understanding that the energy leaves our bodies (he is confident about that) and that it doesn't just fail to exist.....it is energy....it must go somewhere, so, surely, somehow, someway, we still get to be "in touch" with those we love and adore....in some way or another. But that is not where I wanted to go with this today....

He is just so frank, and thoughtful.

Oh, yes, the freshness...

So we left the estate sale and went to a yard sale. I asked the kids what they wanted to have for lunch...."TENDERS".....of course, because, as Alya put it, "[she] didn't want to eat at home, [she] wanted to go somewhere to eat". ;]

**************************************
Something in the editing of this got screwed up. I apologize. I cannot revise the post...and it is now incomplete. So now you will probably never know the fresh/funny thing Ben said....oh, well...okay....better late than never.

Me: "Let's go to Pizza Hut, not Tenders."
Them: "NOOOOO TENDERS...."
Me: "What's not to like about Pizza Hut?"
Ben: "The way the pizza tastes."

Right? See what I am working with here?