the simple life

groups of 3

I found my first grey hair today.  Boo to that.

I was reminded of when my Mom found her first. Hers came in a group of 3, and she said that she had one for each kid.  I panicked and quickly scoured my head for any more greys.  And then I thought, "What if this is only the first that I can see? What if this one that is prominently in the front of my head is just a sign of what's hiding in other more obscure places on my scalp?" 

Annabelle walked into the bathroom and since she's usually pretty good at making me feel better about things (she has a great outlook on life)  I pouted and showed her the tiny grey hair I had just plucked out of my head.  "Look Bella", I whined. "My first grey hair."  

She looked at it and then looked at me and said, 'Hmm...yeah. Mama, that's probably NOT your first grey hair." 

Then she spun around on her little twinkle toes and waltzed out of the bathroom.

DISOWNED.

Dear Tooth Fairy:

It is a well known fact that the Arkansas tooth fairy pays quite a bit more than the Iowa tooth fairy.  When Julian had his first wiggly tooth, Annabelle tried to convince him to leave it alone until Summer vacation when we would be in Arkansas visiting the Grandparents. 

On our last trip to Arkansas, the Tooth Fairy paid through the nose for a tooth pulled on the last night of our visit.

So this past week, Annabelle pulled a tooth and asked me how much I thought she could get for it.  When I said she would probably get the usual $1 bill for it, she scoffed, reminding me that she could get $5 for the same tooth in Arkansas, EASY.

(I did not mention that she would be lucky to get anything the Tooth Fairy could dig out of the couch cushions, if she continues to lose teeth on the day BEFORE payday!) 

Before placing her tooth under her pillow, she penned this cute little note to the Tooth Fairy,

"Dear Tooth Fairy,

Can I get 10 dollars? You do 'relise' that this is the 13th tooth that I've lost so far."

Annabelle

PS  I LOVE MONEY

*Puppy dog eyes do not work on the tooth fairy* 

 

LEDERHOSEN!

Isn't "lederhosen" a fun word?  I wish we wore lederhosen in the US, just so I had more opportunities to use the word with a funny accent.  One of my Mom's friends brought these outfits back from Germany a few years ago when Julian and Annabelle were too small to wear them.  As I cleaned out my laundry room a few weeks ago, Ezra found the bag and claimed the "Leprechaun" clothes for himself. 

THE WORST PAINFUL THING IN THE WORLD!!!

My little Annabelle is quite the dramatic child.  She never gets hurt, but rather is always within minutes of death.  Julian doesn't just push her down, but instead "THROWS her to the ground using ALL of his muscles, nearly breaking her bones!!".  Ezra didn't accidentally scratch her with his too long fingernails, but he does "try to RIP HER SKIN OFF with his CLAWS!"

Every pain is accompanied by eardrum shattering shrieks and screams of anguish, and as much as I want to be a good, caring Mama to her and help her feel better, I'm guilty of telling her to "STOP SCREAMING, NOW" before I even glance at her wound of the day. 

Yesterday, she tried to do better.  She has realized that screaming only frazzles me, and that talking through the pain gets my attention.  So when she fell from the swing set, scraping a layer of skin from a small area of her back, she ran inside with wide eyes, determined to not cry, but talk about what happened.

I wiped the dirt from her back and applied a thin layer of Neosporin to the area.  She asked me to blow on her skin to make it feel better and as I did, she yelled out in pain to soothe herself.

"THIS IS THE WORST PAINFUL THING OF MY LIFE!"

"I CAN THINK OF HUNDREDS OF BAD THINGS THAT I WOULD RATHER FEEL THAN THIS PAIN!!"

"I'D RATHER BITE MY OWN HAND OFF THAN FEEL THIS PAIN ON MY BACK!!", she screamed, while biting her fist.

"I'D RATHER CHOKE MYSELF (simulated choking herself with her own hands) AND THEN UN-CHOKE MYSELF THAN FEEL THIS PAIN!!"  (un-choke, because only death by choking could be worse than this pain)

"I'D RATHER BE OUTSIDE ON THE MOST FREEZINGEST DAY IN THE WORLD THAN FEEL THIS PAIN!!!!!"

And to be honest, that's when I knew that Annabelle was truly hurting.  You see, my kids have come to hate Winter.  Winter was no big deal, a rather fun season when we lived in the South. We got to wear warm clothes for a few weeks, experience one or two snowy days, and a few freezing days that allowed us to "ice skate" from sidewalk to car.  But now that we are here, in the land of 6 month long Winters, my kids hate it.

Last year, as we usually do, we went to Arkansas to visit family during Spring Break.  We left behind icy temps and enjoyed a week in the sunshine, grilling dinner and eating outside, rolling around in the grass, riding bikes in my parents driveway.  We returned home to Iowa at 2am one morning, greeted by large mounds of dirty snow along the highway and piled in our yard.  Julian woke up and realized that we were home, and grumpily said, "Why did Daddy do this to us?"  "THIS", being, move us to a land where Winter was a real season. 

While we try our best to make Winter fun, with frequent sledding excursions and lots of hot chocolate and building forts inside under covers on the worst of the snow days, in my kids eyes, Winter will always be just slightly better than "BEING THROWN FROM THE SWINGSET AND RIPPING ALL OF THE SKIN FROM YOUR BACK UNTIL YOU CAN ALMOST SEE YOUR BONES!!!"

At least, according to my dramatic daughter, who was stung by a wasp on the playground today.  Lord help us and her very patient school nurse.

first day

no time to blog  yet, but a few pictures for the grandparents.  :) 

She's going to be CS Lewis when she grows up

Dustin's been sharing "Narnia" stories with the kids from memory.  Every night, before tucking them in, he searches deep into the recesses of his mind to share bits and pieces of his favorite stories from his childhood, no book necessary.

A couple of days ago Annabelle woke up and came to ask me for a pen.  I told her that she should just use one of her colored pencils or markers, as pens vanish quickly around here.

She said that she couldn't, she had something important to write.

When pressed further, she said, "Well, I'm going to write a story about a place called "Narnia".  Daddy's been telling us these "Narnia" stories at bedtime and I've just GOT to write them down."

Sweet girl, she thinks she's stumbled upon a goldmine of an idea.  Too bad C.S. Lewis beat her to it.  

***********************************************************************

In other news: I failed miserably at the color project last month.  Yellow is quite scarce in the Bartell household and I think I need to do something about that.  I'm continuing to search for yellows throughout May, and possibly June!  As for the rest of May, search for PURPLES!!  

Sorry for this late post, it was confirmed that our computer has a virus explaining the slooooooow loading issues.  We may just use May and June for purples until we get this computer thing worked out.  I know I may need 2 months for purple as well.  It's obvious that I have a color bias in this household, which worked out perfectly for green blue and pink!  :) 

little froggy

Last week to take your GREEN pictures for March's photo challenge! 

Rules

Annabelle posted some rules in the dining room this week:

No playing at the tabbl.
No toys.
No smoking.  (made me laugh so hard.  I guess this is directed at me and my bad cooking?)
No roud manars.
And no yousing you're hands.
No any roud nis. (rudeness)

Toe the line, people.  Toe the line.
She's going to make a good bossy Mama some day.

Annabelle's Valentine's (09)

2009 Annabelle Valentine, originally uploaded by mindibartell.

I enjoyed the easy/inexpensive/personal process of making photo "cards" for Bella's Valentine's last year, so we did the same thing this year. We were supposed to pick them up at Target yesterday, but due to our never-ending string of sickness, we'll pick them up tomorrow.

Staple some candy to the top, sign the back and we're done. :)

Bella LOVES them. she told me that she "should probably be a model when she grows up, b/c she's so good at taking pictures".

I promise, she is a very gracious girl, she is just pretty impressed with her cuteness sometimes. :)
I love her to pieces.

Yoda grammar

This little girl is such a smarty pants.
She's got this amazing vocabulary and she seriously gets a HUGE kick out of learning and using new words.
She loves to watch "Word Girl" on PBS, and shares her "Word of the Day" with us as soon as she gets in the car after school.

It's fun to watch her incorporate her word of the day, and then high five herself for using it.

Last week, Ezra was being a wild animal, as usual, and Annabelle said, "Mom, Ezra's being SO frantic".  

"Frantic?"  I asked. "What do you mean?"

She said, "Well, hmmmm.   Let me give you an example.  When somebody is running around the house naked, yelling and waving his hands in the air...that's frantic.  Oh, and WOOHOO!  That's my word of the day!  I can't wait to tell Mrs. L. how I used my word of the day!!"

So she's kind of a nerd that way too.  As a fellow nerd, I LOVE it. 

She's reading really well, and is earning "Book It" awards for free pizzas, which I also love.  I was a "Book It" junkie when I was in Elementary School.

Yesterday, we were pulling out of our driveway to go to Annabelle's Daisy meeting, and she read the Obama sign in our window, "Change We Need".   (I got it at the Obama rally last week, after much arm wrestling with one of the volunteers)

"Change We Need....    Hmmmm.... Shouldn't that say "We Need Change"?   she asked.

I wasn't paying much attention, so I just said, "Nope, that's right".

"Hm.  Ooookay." she said sarcastically,  and then she looked out the window and muttered, " But that doesn't make ANY sense." 

It made me think of this:

pajama day

Annabelle being a "rock star", complete with self-manicured pink fingernails

Annabelle had a minor melt down this morning.  She was tired, but jumped out of bed quickly when she remembered that it was "pajama day" at school.

She's been talking about pajama day all week, but there haven't been any notes in her folder to let me know about it. 

When she jumped up and asked for her p.j.'s, I let her know that she would need to wear regular clothes, but I would send a bag with her that held her p.j.'s and pink flower slippers.  IF the teacher said that it was pajama day, she could go change in the bathroom.

She cried and cried and cried.

*I can't change in the bathroom, it's against the rules
*The bathroom is too small
*These are the wrong pajamas!
*Believe me! It's pajama day!

Over and over and over....

Finally, I told her that it was against the rules to wear pajamas to school UNLESS the teacher sent home a note, and that if she wore her pj's to school without a note, she would get into trouble. 

She relented, and I agreed to walk her to class and ask her teacher if she could change in the bathroom.  That is IF it was pajama day.

We walked into the hallway, and I immediately spotted an older girl in satiny pink striped pajamas.  I was so relieved to see that it was, indeed, a pajama day.  However, as we walked down the hallway, I noticed no other pajama clad students.  When we made it to her classroom, I spoke with the teacher as Annabelle put her backpack away in the locker. 

It was not pajama day.  There was an older class having a pajama day, but she said that she will always send a note home if there is a special event in class.

I went to break the news to Annabelle, and she just calmly nodded and hugged me as I left.

And then I got into my car and cried and cried. 
I wanted so badly to be wrong.

I don't understand where all of these emotions come from.  I am not the kind of mom who cries on the first day of school.  I look forward to school, actually, and love to see Annabelle gaining more and more independence.  However, these last few weeks, I have randomly cried over the silliest things as I drive away from the school. 

Independence is fine, as long as she doesn't grow up. 
My little kids becoming big kids just makes me sad.

first day of first grade

Annabelle started first grade this week.

We attended her school's open house on Tuesday and school began on Thursday.
We were excited to see that she got another really great teacher, although as of now, nobody compares to her very first teacher, Ms. Y.

I was just excited to see that her teacher seemed so patient and calm.  I always worry that the teacher is going to be really loud or agressive.  For a very short time, I had one teacher like that in elementary and my stomach always seemed to hurt when I was in their classroom.   I just hate to think about one of my kids getting a teacher like that.  We've been very blessed to be 3 for 3 in the GREAT teachers department!

We dropped off supplies, saw Annabelle's new LOCKER (yes, we've moved up from the little cubbies!) and were excited to see that there were a couple of friends from her K class in her new 1st grade class.  More importantly, we were excited to see that one boy that gave Annabelle a bit of a hard time last year was NOT in her class.  We've been talking all summer about how we can better deal with him, and it turns out that we were a little nervous for nothing.

Ezra gave Annabelle lots of extra hugs and kisses before leaving her in her new classroom, and by Friday, everything just felt normal.  She is loving first grade, has made friends with the boys at her table (but don't you DARE call them her boyfriends!) and is hoping that next week is sunny, since Thurs. and Fri. were both too rainy to play outside.

Now if only I can get that silly Veggie Tales song out of my head...
"...it's your FIRST DAY, in the FIRST GRADE!  FIRST DAY! IN THE FIRST GRADE!..."

sorry Uncle, no naps for you

it was really cute how Uncle CJ thought that grown ups got to take naps in the middle of the day, in the MIDDLE OF THE LIVING ROOM. 

the kids quickly corrected him. 

despite his lack of beauty rest, he still managed to be ridiculously good looking when he was awake. 

toad cakes

tonight we were Skype-ing with my parents, when my Dad surprised us and said, "We're coming to visit Iowa....TOMORROW!" 

actually Wednesday, since they'll stop to feed my mother's gambling addiction along the way (i joke, i joke).

my Dad's birthday is Thursday, so i said "We'll have to have a party!" 

the kids quickly claimed their contribution to the party.

Julian screeched "I'LL MAKE POSTCARDS!!  NO WAIT, INVITATIONS!!!"

Annabelle asked Poppy, "WHAT KIND OF CAKE DO YOU WANT? I'LL MAKE IT!!!!"

Poppy, who I should mention has a very strong Arkansas accent, said he would like a 4-layer cake, or a 3 layer cake, or a 7 layer cake, "you know, a "code" cake".

"Code" is how my Dad sometimes says "Cold".  However, in this case, we all thought he said, "A TOAD cake". 

Annabelle wrinkled up her nose, looked at me out of the corner of her eyes and said, "Looks like we gotta kill some frogs". 

note to mom: amelie style raspberry eating

MOM,
this is how Annabelle eats raspberries, "Amelie" style. 
she also eats black olives this way.

little tiny questions

tonight i was putting Annabelle to bed, and she said she wanted to ask me about something.

about two weeks ago, we were in the post office and we saw a tiny little lady, so small that she rode a tiny scooter around instead of walking. 

fortunately, Annabelle hadn't commented, just glanced at her a few times, and she finally remembered her tonight as she was going to bed.

"how did that lady get so little?"  she asked.

i explained in basic terms that some people just have very small bodies, and then commended her for not making inappropriate comments or staring when she saw her.  i told her that if she ever sees anybody that looks different, that she should never say anything until we are alone, and then she can ask me questions.  it's all about being polite and not hurting feelings.

she said, "i know mama.  thank you for saying that i was good.  i learned to do better when i was 3.  remember that time at the bookstore (Barnes and Noble)?"

i ran through a hundred scenarios and had no idea what she was talking about.  seeing the puzzled look on my face, Annabelle helped me to remember by saying,
"When i called that big man a Fatty?"

aaaaaah.  and the terrible memory of my very loud and precocious 3 year old pointing at the "great big fatty" man at the bookstore, not 2 feet away from him, came rushing back.

if only Julian would catch on to the whole "maturity" thing.  the last time he saw a little person, he stopped, pointed and started laughing as loud as possible.  he thought the person was wearing a costume.

wishing on a star

star light
star bright
first star i see tonight.
i wish i may,
i wish i might,
have this wish i wish tonight.
i wish Charlie would stop pooping and peeing in the house,
and being a wild dog.
Amen and thank you.

annabelle wished on a star last night.
she's wished on stars for such a long time, hoping for a puppy.
she realized last night that she should have been wishing for a house trained puppy.
but we're happy with Charlie, despite his stinky ways.

introducing: Charlie

Meet Charlie.

The day before our big move to Iowa, Dustin called while we were grocery shopping (me, kids and Mom)  and told us that he had found a rental home.

What?  You mean normal people arrange rental agreements BEFORE they move to a new city?  We may have to try that next time, it might have cut off a sliver of the stress that we've experienced with this move.

Anyways, he gave me the basic layout, asked how I wanted the kids rooms arranged, all that stuff and I gave him a few ideas, told him I was sniffing bananas right now and I would call him back later.  10 seconds later, the phone rings and Dustin asks to speak to Annabelle.

She returned the phone to me and let me know that Daddy had said it would be okay if we got a pet.  We could even keep him inside, and he will probably sleep in her bed.

I love how Daddy rushed in and stole all the glory for granting a puppy wish that was 3 years in the making.  I guess Daddy deserved it, but come on.  Who dealt with the daily sighs of, "It seems like everybody in the world has a dog but me,"????  MOMMY.  that's who. 

but it's okay, i'm over it.

Not 10 minutes later, we are pulling out of the parking lot, when we spot a lady peddling Shih Tzu puppies out of the back of her SUV.  At that moment, there was no doubt to Annabelle's mind that this was a divine appointment.  A miracle to rival that whole "parting of the Red Sea" thing.

Something about a cage full of hairball puppies, and a squealing 6 year old convinced us to stop the car.  Yes, I had a 10 hour drive the following morning.  Yes, I would be alone with 3 restless kids.  Yes, I did send the hamster with Dustin in the Penske truck, yelling that I didn't need ONE MORE LIVING THING to take care of.

And still, I stopped.   I stopped, knowing full well that it would be nearly impossible to handle one of these little guys and NOT take him home with us.

As I talked to the owner, and contemplated all the pros and cons of this little puppy, Annabelle picked Charlie up, (known at that time as "Horton")   slowly but methodically crept to Mom's Expedition, and carefully climbed to the furthest seat in the back and buckled herself and Charlie in. 

Shortly after, Charlie joined our family.
(right after pulling away from the store, Julian enthusiastically announced, "OKAY! Let's go get my cat!"   After the initial disappointment of learning that we would not be getting a cat anytime soon-probably never-the kids reached the agreement that Julian would now be fully responsible for the hamster)

the trip to Iowa, was in a word, torturous.  but in Charlie's defense, it can be blamed entirely on Ezra's compulsion to scream--not cry--SCREAM for 7 1/2 of the 10 hours we were on the road.  and trust me when i say, that is NOT an exaggeration.  i had a headache for the next 4 days. 

but Charlie was a trooper.  he slept in Annabelle's lap for long stretches, occasionally moving to his bed in the floor to chew on a toy or beg for a snack.  we stopped at truck stops with large grassy lots across the road and let the kids run wildly as Charlie nipped at their feet and flounced around.

and then we got him home.  he's a great dog.  he sleeps well after 2 long nights of training.  he is ever so patient with Ezra's "love".  we've taught Ezra a new phrase, "Soft hands".  it basically means, "stop trying to pull Charlie's head from his body".

the only thing we're having trouble with is potty training.  he simply prefers to poop on carpet. 
he spent the better part of 6 hours outside today (it was the nicest day we've experienced here so far), and within 5 minutes of coming inside he pooped and peed twice.   

He gave me a look that said, "I thought you were never going to let me inside!  Do you know how long I've been holding that in???!! Sheesh!"

but the look on Annabelle's face as I met her after school with Charlie in tow....oh man.  that made it all worth it.  She was surrounded by new classmates, all going nuts over Annabelle and her little puppy.  she beamed  like a proud mommy showing off her new baby. 

sweet charlie, he doesn't even know how long one little girl has been waiting for him.

annabelle's #6

This is the picture we used for Annabelle's invitations.  Obviously we were having a "Littlest Pet Shop" party.  :)

Here's Annabelle and her bff Madison.  In every single picture, Madison is making this face. it cracks me up. 

here's the cake!  i had a lot of fun making this.  we made a "practice cake" a few days before the party to make sure that i could handle it, otherwise we would be making frantic phone calls to bakeries.  :)

Thanks so much to Tanya, she sent me a massive email with explicit instructions and recipes for a few of her favorite buttercream icings.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out and so was Annabelle.  Apparently Julian was too, as you can see where he began to dig in with his fingers right at the edge of the cake!

 

of course, no party is complete without equipping our children with large dangerous sticks and letting them bust a pinata.

ezra, as usual, avoiding eye contact with my camera.  only this time, it has less to do with the camera, and more to do with not wanting mommy to take the gum and candy away. 

we had such a wonderful weekend, Annabelle was happy to see lots of friends and family and of course, be spoiled rotten. 

We got home on Sunday, and as we were looking at our calendar, I pointed out that her actual birthday was on Tuesday.  She said, "My birthday is in 2 days???  Who's coming to my PARTY?"

um, nice try sweetheart. 

Tuesday was filled with lots of fun phone calls, a birthday ribbon and songs at school, special treats and ended with (as I mentioned in an earlier post, but I'll record it again just to remember) Annabelle determinedly pulling a tooth.
 

strong and courageous

we had such a fun day. 
our girl scout Daisy troop went to a Rock Gym here in Austin to have a rock climbing day. 
we were working on our badge for being "Strong and Courageous", and i will tell you that Annabelle definitely EARNED that badge today.

i had no idea how Annabelle would do.  She is fairly adventurous, but gets nervous easily, especially if it is something that she has to do alone.  Plus, she's a little little girl.  her tiny little arms and legs just didn't look capable of climbing to the top of any wall...but today, they made it up and down SIX TIMES.  not counting all the times we spent on the back walls climbing without the ropes and harnesses.

this girl was amazing.  fearless.  she climbed like a little monkey, and all this time, i thought Julian was my little monkey.  turns out this girl is too.  and SO proud of herself.  there's this amazing confidence that i saw come out of her today that blew me away.  it was beautiful.

my favorite part was she constantly looked down at us, with her nose wrinkled up in a big smile, just totally powered along by all the support from below. and every time she made it to the top, she turned and looked for me, with a huge smile on her face, knowing that i would be there cheering, camera in hand, loving the photo op!

i hope it's always like this.  her always exceeding my expectations, trudging along confidently and supported, and looking for a quick thumbs-up from Mama every time she reaches "the top". 

Valentine's Day, Commitment and Democracy

i'm so happy with how these turned out.  the colors are a bit off in this picture, but they turned out great!
we created an assembly line tonight.  Annabelle placed 21 cards on the coffee table. 
Julian topped each card with one Laffy Taffy.
Mama stapled the candy to the card. 

then kids talked Mama into "just ONE piece" before bedtime.  i'm a sucker.  i totally gave in b/c we had a really hard day with Ezra being SUPER sick and needing 99% of Mama's attention (and that extra 1% went to Mama's desperately needed 15 second shower). 

Annabelle is so excited for the party tomorrow.  i don't know how Ms. Y. will make it with 21 overly excited 5-year olds, waiting for a 2pm party. 

on a side note, Annabelle is learning about American symbols and government, which surprised me that she is already learning about such things. Being an election year, they are learning a lot about government and a little about voting and such.  Annabelle brought home something that made my heart swell a little bit.

yes, annabelle participated in her first vote.  see the dark line pointing to the Lays Chips?  that's Annabelle's vote.

although, there seems to be a slight discrepancy.  she told me she voted for Cheese Nips, which are clearly not on the ballot.  Ms. Y's Chinese accent, while very cute, is surely to blame.  "Lays Chips" and "Cheese Nips" sound deceptively similar with an accent.    :-) 

and one other funny thing.  Annabelle came home today telling me that she learned a new big word: "commitment".  we discussed commitment and how it applied in our family.  then i asked her if she had learned any other big words.

she proudly declared, "Yes.  Democracy." 

i asked, "What is a democracy?"

she said, "Hmmm.  I can't remember.  But it's good, realllllly good.  Democracy is HOT!"

Democracy is hot?   i think i see a new campaign slogan forming. 

girls are so funny.

#2 wins it!

if i had put a little more thought into her Valentine's i would have tried to find a cute Valentine template to use.  as i am not one to think more than a few hours ahead at a time, this is the best i've got.  :)

the most important thing to me and annabelle is that the font is big and easy for the kids to read, and that it has pink somewhere.  i think it is quite pink, don't you?

i am fussing over it too much, so i quit. i need to upload it to Target's photo center now! i'm sure the other 5 year olds won't be critiquing my pathetic design ability, and will just be looking for the candy.

thanks for voting!  annabelle is very happy to use #2.  i think she would have chosen #3, but she found about 12 more Pet Shop toys under the coffee table after i had already taken a picture, and it drove her little obsessive heart crazy to not have some of her favorites in the picture.  i'm the same way, so i totally understand.

a valentine vote

please oh please, which would look best as a Valentine?  (i'll decorate it up and make it into a Valentine card).  Bella thinks #1 is out, b/c you can't see the heart sucker very well.  her favorite is #2 and #3...

thanks so much!
*mindi*

xoxo honeymoon xoxo

On our way to HEB, we spotted a woman on the street corner, dressed as the Statue of Liberty, holding up a sign advertising speedy tax returns.

I pointed her out to the kids, and Annabelle was really excited, because they are currently studying famous American symbols and landmarks and they had talked about the Statue of Liberty just that day.  I asked her if she knew where the Statue was located, and she couldn't remember.  I told her that Daddy and I saw the Statue of Liberty on our honeymoon, thinking she would be curious about our trip and how we saw it and all of that.

Instead, I caught her wrinkle up her nose in disgust.  "Ewwwww....your honeymoon???  I don't wanna hear about THAT!!!!"

"What???  Why don't you want to hear about that?  Do you know what a honeymoon is?"

"Yes, i do and it's SOOOO disgusting."

I'm starting to sweat a little bit.  Who in the world has discussed a honeymoon with Annabelle, and just exactly how much does she know???

"A honeymoon is when you and your husband go somewhere that has no people around, and you kiss the whoooooole time.  Soooo gross."

I quickly replied, "Yes. That is exactly it, and nothing more.  But we did see the Statue of Liberty between kisses." 

going through old pictures tonight and found this little gem from Annabelle's 3rd birthday party (Hello Kitty!)  in Mexico. 

the big guns

thank you all so much for the support and advice.  i know it is a big deal, but after thinking about it all day, i kept worrying that i was making too much out of it. 

i took annabelle into class this morning (the boys in tow, of course) and spoke with her teacher.  Ms. Y. is VERY anti-bullying and assured me that annabelle would be safe and the boy would be talked to.

after picking up annabelle from school, Ms. Y.  told me it was taken care of. 

1. she spoke with the boys 3rd grade teacher.  we found out that he does indeed have a twin brother. as to whether i spoke with both of the boys yesterday, or only one pretending to be two, we don't know, but it doesn't matter at this point. i am glad that though i thought it, i didn't accuse him of lying (to his face) and spoke to him as though it really were his twin brother that had been hurting annabelle.  i would have felt terrible if i had told the innocent brother that he was a big fat liar.  :-) 

2. they spoke with the principal, and learned that one of the two brothers has previous records of bullying smaller kids.

3. they will be speaking with his parents.

4. Ms. Y. spoke to the boy during lunch time (after Annabelle pointed him out to her).

5. the boy will no longer be allowed outside during "lunch walk" with the smaller kids.  (after lunch all of the kids walk a large trail around the school for about 10-15 minutes.  it was during this time that annabelle and some of her friends were being bullied by him). 

that was the biggest thing that surprised me.  i would have been completely happy if they did all of these things  and then just promised to keep an eye on him during the lunch walk, but to keep him inside while the smaller kids were doing their walk makes annabelle and me feel so much more safe.

annabelle had a great day.  she was a little worried at lunch time, and "coincidentally" spent an extra long amount of time finishing her lunch (to have as little time outside with the boy as possible, i think).  she was so surprised when she went outside and the only kids there were pre-K, K and 1st grades.  she was definitely relieved, and came home very "enthusiastic" about her day.  ("enthusiastic" is apparently a new word that she's  learned, and is using it as often as possible).

overall, i'm very pleased with how it was handled and feel so much more confident knowing that there is now very little chance that Annabelle will ever have to be anywhere near this older boy again.

but we WERE prepared to bring out the "big guns"  if things didn't get taken care of today...

have you got YOUR tickets to the "gun show"???

boys boys boys

this little girl came home with a crumpled up note in her pocket.
she opened it up to show me that it was a boy's phone number.

i was so surprised. "why do you have A's phone number, Bella?"

she said, "he gave it to me, in case i want to call him sometime."

last night, i was on the phone with Dustin, and we were both falling asleep, talking in low, monotonous voices.  we were just about to hang up, and i told him one funny thing about each of the kids from the day.

for annabelle, i mentioned, "she came home with a boy's phone number in her pocket."

hushed voices no more, dustin shouts, "WHAT???  WHY??? SHE'S JUST A LITTLE GIRL!!!"

"Dustin, the boy isn't 16, he is 5.  He sits next to her in class, he's pretty shy, and they're learning to memorize their phone numbers this month, it's very harmless."

in a low, tired voice again, Dustin apolgizes, "Sorry, I overreacted there.  I'm really tired.  But she is just a little girl...I better go to bed now."

Oh Dustin, look at this sassy attitude.  This is the easiest this will ever be.  Thank the Lord we  had 2 boys and not 2 more little girls. 

one more picture for poppy and tata.  so much attitude.

the day that Mama goes far far away for a long time...

 

this little girl spent our entire dinner discussing with Julian all of the things they would do if "Mommy went far far away for a long time". 

crying, and worrying about Mommy's sudden disappearance was NOT mentioned.

they would, however:

• open the hamster cage and let Wendy live in a big box next to their beds, so they could play with her anytime they want.
• Julian would get a BIG TALL STOOL,  so he could reach the blueberry waffles in the freezer, and toast them himself.
• they would operate the microwave whenever they want.
• play with mama's "crap stuff", especially her paints.
• Annabelle would play on the computer all day long, since Mama wouldn't be here to "hog it". 
• they would "trash the house".  when asked what that meant, Annabelle explained that they wouldn't destroy it, they just wanted to bring the toys into the living room any time they want, without picking them up at bedtime.
• eat lots of treats whenever they want, like ice cream and gummy fruit snacks,  and popsicles and cookies.

To get to the bottom of that, I asked why she thought Mommy and Daddy didn't like for them to have "treats" all day long.  (trust me, they do get treats often, almost daily, just not on demand, and not several times a day)

She explained that too many treats gave them stomach aches, and that they would have to go to the dentist if they had too many sugary treats, and they DO NOT WANT THAT. (dentist)

"So why would you eat treats all day?" I asked, totally curious.

"Hmmm.  That's a good question, Mama.  I guess it's because we don't know how to cook, so we can't cook healthy things.  We wouldn't have to cook ice cream."

I thought that was a really good point.  Not what I expected.  This decision to eat sugary snacks was based mostly on survival, and only a little on unlimited access to sugary treats. 

She smiled and said, "I know!!  I could eat lots of apples all day long!"

I then told her she could eat lots of fruit, there are granola bars and she could make sandwiches and things, and there's lots of cereal...

"NO, We can NEVER eat cereal." 

Thinking I had just discovered a well kept secret regarding their cereal hatred, I asked why.

"That cereal is on the TALLEST shelf in the world, and none of our chairs are high enough to reach them.  Which is sad, because me and Juju love cereal."

Finally I asked what they would feed Ezra. 

"Mama, Ezra would be with YOU."

"No, Annabelle, if I ever ran away for a long long time, I would probably be alone."

"Oh, well, i would feed him yogurt with a little baby spoon.  And then i would carry him over to Mimi's house to change his diapers.  And he could live over there."

annabelle, playing dress up with Dustin's nerdy sunglasses and Julian's Lightning McQueen rolling backpack.  She's such a little jet-setter.

friends are forever.

we took the kids and a cousin (annabelle's bff madison) to see Alvin and the Chipmunks this weekend.  before the show, we ran into Target for a few things and got sidetracked by the new Valentine items in the dollar spot.

Annabelle found a little cardboard book called "Puppy Love" with pictures of puppies all over it, and as she looked through it, Madison said, "Hey, let me see!"  and took it from her. 

and then Madison decided that she wanted it.

Annabelle looked for more, but it was the only book like it, so after much searching, she settled on some lip gloss.  but she was pretty disappointed over losing the puppy book.

mom overheard Madison ask, "Annabelle!  Annabelle, are you mad at me?"

Annabelle, in her most mature, Disney influenced voice replied, "No, I'm not mad at you.  I won't let a book come between us.  We're friends and friends are forever.  That is just a book."

i am now on an Austin-wide Target search for that puppy book. 
a response like that just deserves it, you know? 
although, had it been Julian that took her book.  well, she would have pummeled that boy.

****
a few pictures for mom.  click on the picture, then right click and save to your computer.  :) 
all i can think of with these pictures is "CHEESE". 

a grocery list

i stumbled upon a grocery list that annabelle had made before the holidays:

eg
melk
flowr
shcocr  (i'm assuming that is sugar)

it appears that annabelle is baking a cake.  :)

is it psychotic that i want to save EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. that she writes? 
i have a hard time keeping the special things and tossing the random scribblings. 
(like the love note that i found that she wrote to Scar.  or Skor.  you know, the bad lion from Lion King.  She's had a thing for him since she was 2, which is pretty disturbing when you think about it.)

4 days until Christmas

i'm in arkansas :)
we made it and i'm so proud of my kids, they're definitely starting to get better about traveling, even ezra.  it's really a hard trip but with three kids, one adult and 8ish hours in a car, it's to be expected. 

as we were driving tonight, the kids noticed all the Christmas lights and made sure that i noticed them all too.  at one particularly festive Church, Annabelle looked up in the sky, sure that she had just seen Santa's sleigh. 

she pointed it out to Julian and then started quoting the lines that she could remember from "twas the night before Christmas".

however, we've only read the story twice this year, so she couldn't remember much, and what she did remember came out a bit mangled.

my favorite line was when she declared, "...and he STICKED his finger inside of his nose and said, "Merry Christmas to all!  and to all a goodnight!"

(taken from this paragraph, in case you aren't too familiar with the story:

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

no pictures, as i can't upload any from mom's computer, but i will try to keep up with the blog from here :)

**edited to add a photo for the day**
yesterday i had to make a quick trip to drive through and pick up an emergency diet coke.  i told the kids to HURRY, just put on ANYTHING and get in the car.
"Anything?"  Annabelle asked.
"ANYTHING.  JUST HURRY." 
(coincidentally, i have decided to cut out soda in the new  year.  i can't handle the pressure of NEEDING a soda RIGHT NOW.  not with three kid sidekicks 24/7.)
this is how they showed up at the door. dressed up as each other. even cramming bella's long skinny feet into julian's short, fat shoes.

"you said anything." 

6 days until christmas

oh i love class parties.  love love love them. 
meme came over to watch the boys, and i headed to bella's school. 

well, first i made a little detour to target, for some super cheap huggies baby wipes.  there's a good coupon floating around and i got 9 tubs of huggies sensitive wipes and 7 packages of travel wipes for less than $4. 

if you don't have kids, then i'll just explain that this is a stinking good deal.  last week, i paid close to $3 for ONE tub of huggies wipes.  oh thank you coupon gods. 

sorry for that little detour.  so anyways, i went to annabelle's school and the class was sitting on the carpet watching a christmas movie.  several little kids started screaming, "ANNABELLE!  YOUR MOM"S HERE!!!!" 

i felt a bit like a rock star.  these kids love me.  could be because i brought candy to the lunch table the last time i visited.  :) 

anyways, all the kids wanted to know what was inside the present i was carrying (pictured at the top right of the picture).  it was for annabelle's teacher.  annabelle drew the best picture to add to the gift, of Ms. Y. with her husband, dog, and some of the toys from her stuffed animal collection.

we also included a rudolph candy cane.  i can't believe i haven't bought wrapping paper yet.  i'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but this butterfly wrapping paper is some that i saved from annabelle's baby shower.  (not from a roll that i had saved.  torn from a gift i received.  i liked the butterflies, and it was the perfect size to wrap ms. y.'s stuff.  not very christmas-ey but it worked :)

the kids had so much fun.  they sang some songs and danced for us. 
we ate yummy treats, and i took lots of pictures of some really cute kids.  i wish i could share some here, but i don't know that the parents would like that too much.

all in all, today kicked yesterday's booty.

a PS what?

Annabelle lazily leaned across my desk and casually mentioned,  "Mama, wouldn't it be cool if I had a PS2?"

Thinking she had just asked if it would be cool if she had a "penis too", I asked her to repeat herself, thinking of how to appropriately answer such a question.

"A PS2," she repeats.

"Oh," I said, relieved.  "What is a PS2?"

"I don't even know.  But Miles (1 of 6 boyfriends) has one and he said it is really cool.  So wouldn't it be cool if I had one too?"

"Annabelle, find out what it is first and then we'll talk about it." 

She dances away singing "PS Two-ooooh.  PS Two-ooooh.  I'm gonna get a PS Two-oooh."

Later that night, Dustin informs me that it must mean "Playstation 2." the video game system.  And then I wonder if Miles is actually just a really short 14 year old.  Do 5 year olds seriously play PS2's? 

sharing snacks

annabelle shared snacks with a boy during car pick-up today after school.
he offered her some yogurt-covered pretzels. 
she asked Ms. Y's permission first. (of course, such a teacher's pet)
then she offered him some of her "Mott's fruit snacks". 
Dustin is ready to buy a shotgun. you know, so he can sit on the porch and polish it once boys start coming around.
i think he has a better appreciation for my dad, now.

(she made this necklace in girl scouts. she is SO proud of it and wants to wear it constantly)

so very big.

throughout the day, annabelle randomly tosses out big words that she's learned at school.

as dustin was telling the kids goodnight, Annabelle casually mentions, "tomorrow i'll probably draw a picture of a dinosaur.  maybe a triceratops."

the night before,  as i was telling her goodnight, i said, "get some good sleep, you have a big school day tomorrow."

she sighed and said, "yeah, we're probably going to work with more parallelograms or something."

i shut the door and googled "parallelogram". 

a thousand hello's

Annabelle attends an IB school.    i don't entirely know what that means, but apparently it is something to be proud of.  I will attend a meeting next week to find out more about it, but so far, i've seen a few of the effects of attending an IB school.

One is that they are very big on studying other cultures. very very global, studying other countries and learning new languages.  flags from every country hanging in the cafeteria, and all over the school.

annabelle comes home saying "hello" in all the different languages that she's learned this week.

"Hello". (she waves at us after each word that she says)
"Bonjour"
"Hola", that's spanish, but i already knew that one.  you can also say "Buenos dias".
"Neih hou", that's chinese, mama.  (thank you Ms. Y.)
"Shalom".
"Howdy." 

umm...howdy?  they seriously taught her "Howdy" as one of the ways the world says "Hello"?
They really cover all the basics, don't they?  And my beliefs have been confirmed.  Texas really is like it's own little country within a country.

re: autographs

for those of you that have emailed requesting autographs, Annabelle's people will have to get back to you on that. she does have a pretty busy schedule, what with Kindergarten, pulling teeth and bossing her brothers around.
is it okay that she signs her "B" as an "8"?
as in: "Anna8elle"

hee hee.  i love that.

HOT OFF THE PRESS!!!!!

guess who is on the cover of October's "Scrapbooks etc."?????  my annabelle!

i've been keeping this a secret for SEVERAL months, in fear of it falling through and me looking like an idiot.  you have no idea how hard it's been!  but i finally picked up my copy at my local scrapbook store tonight (they should hit the shelves at Wal-Mart/Hobby Lobby/Michael's/other bookstores, sometime around September 11th, i think.

aside from the fact that they seemed to "edit" my photo and make it incredibly over brightened, i'm happy.  (as a photographer, the editing is really making me cringe, i have to admit, but hey, what can you do?) 

annabelle is so over the top excited and can't wait to take it to school.  dustin went out of town tonight for business, and took the copy with him to show everybody. 

as soon as i can, i plan to buy a few more copies and probably frame one! 

so here's how it went down:
i have a few pictures of my kids posted on a scrapbooking website (under photography) and one of the editors for this magazine (which is put out by Better Homes and Gardens) emailed me back in December, asking to use a picture of Julian as a possible cover idea for March/April.  She wanted the picture in color, not b/w which is what i had posted.  i sent them a copy, and they all debated it, and ended up going with a different photo.

however, for the next couple of months, i started getting submission requests that they sent out to a slew of photographers/scrapbookers, which you have no idea how excited/honored/flattered that made me.

then, a month or two later, another editor contacted me about possibly using Annabelle's soccer photo for the Oct. issue, since it was "sports themed".  I told them yes, but didn't really get my hopes up.  But this time, they voted to use it, and finally, months and months later, I have it in my hands! 

There is a little write-up about the photo on one of the first few pages of the magazine, that gives photo credit to "Mindi Bartell", and talks about what we were doing when we took the photo.  so neat, because 2 years ago, i added to my list of "goals", to
"Have SOMETHING published.  anything.  a story, picture, scrapbook page, anything."

finally, something to cross off the list.  although, tonight julian made me promise that he can be on the cover of a magazine next.
we'll see what we can do about that...

minor facial deformities

annabelle lost her first tooth!  she has a second that is loose.  ezra got 2 new teeth this week, so he's up to 6.  it's like they are in a race.  julian feels very left out and continues to tug on teeth, trying to find one that will magically fall out and earn him some money and a little recognition.

when my dad asked her how her tooth came out, she told him, "Mama twisted it around and round until it just broke off".  it didn't quite happen like that, but this is the story she is telling.  hopefully not to the entire kindergarten class.

in other news of bartell children's facial deformities:

julian has a black eye.  he was chasing himself around the living room when he tripped and fell onto either a basket or the TV cabinet.  (annabelle was at school and ezra was napping, so he was literally chasing himself, like a dog chases his own tail)

ezra fell off of the bed (under dustin's watch, this time) and has a big bruise on his forehead.  he also scraped his cheek across a chair and has a big red welp.

it has gotten to the point where i am literally afraid of taking the 3 of them out in public together.  one or two kids with bumps and scrapes is acceptable.  but when all 3 of them look like they've just stepped out of the boxing ring, people have to start being suspicious. 

i finally made those cupcakes this weekend.  like i mentioned before, annabelle has been upset about having a "boring" holiday, so i was determined to do something fun each day, even if it was exhausting and frustrating and required me to take all 3 of them out in public and risk having CPS called on us.

*the first day was a big trip to the library.  we also made a trip to Chick-fil-a for "ice dream cones".
**the second day consisted of me dragging the art easel, table and chairs and watercolor paints outside and letting the kids paint until they grew tired of being outside.  we also got popcorn and lemonade from Target, Julian's FAVORITE thing.
***the third day, rain spoiled my swimming plans, so Monday found annabelle and i in the kitchen, baking cupcakes.  i even let her use my beloved green kitchenaid mixer, who i lovingly dubbed "Martha", after the queen of domesticity herself.  i let them eat cupcakes before bedtime, which is UNHEARD of around here. 

after all of this, my Mom called to check on the kids and Annabelle's first declaration was, "We're not having any fun.  We're not doing ANYTHING."

i've thrown my hands in the air.  that is the answer she gives when we actually don't do anything.  so next holiday, i'm going to do exactly what I want to do.  lock the kids in their bedrooms with 2 big feather pillows,  (and the vacuum, so they can clean up after themselves when they are finished) and let them knock each other around until they are exhausted enough to go to bed without my persuading and pleading and threatening.  I, on the other hand, will make fresh lime margaritas and watch episodes of Big Brother, uninterrupted.   and i can guarantee that there will be chocolate somewhere in that scenario.

days 3, 4, and 5

day 3...a little rough waking up.  she complained of a sore throat, and needed "one more minute" of sleep.  but then she was up and had a fabulous day.

day 4 was wonderful.  she made a second friend, Melissa.  Melissa and Hannah both sit at the same table with Annabelle.  I asked Annabelle what her friends talk about.  She said, "we talk about us, and our homes and what we do at home.  Melissa has 2 cats, "Meow and Sparkles".  Hannah has two hamsters, like me, named "Rose and Smelly".

day 5, Annabelle almost cried when she found out it was a holiday and had to wait 3 WHOLE days to go back to school.  I told her that we would do some special things so we can enjoy the holiday.

Today, Annabelle made a "boy friend".  Mrs. Y. switched up the desks, and Annabelle was sitting with all different kids.  one of them, this little boy, is her friend, because,
"at math time, he ran out of triangles, and asked if anybody had any triangles that he could use, and everybody said no.  and i thought, it would be nice if i shared my triangles with him.  and then he said 'thank you' and now we're friends."

i then asked his name and she said, "um...Lovey." 

"Lovey?  seriously?"
"yeah, Lovey.  he's my friend."

3 hours later she remembered that his name isn't really Lovey, it's Peyton. 

Dustin already has big plans to "squash Peyton like a bug". 

day 2...

Day 2...so far, so good...

making silly faces

her humor is definitely a product of dustin and me.  this is a perfect mix of dustin's and my funny face.

she enjoyed day 2 more than the first.  she made a good friend, a little girl who sits at her desk.
her name is Hannah.

she told me, "I liked her name because it is like 'hannah and rachael', my cousins" (canadian cousins that she has met, maybe twice, but remembers them fondly).

she played lots of games and read lots of stories today. 
she came home singing 3 new songs that i didn't know, and saying cute little phrases that she learned from other kids.

tonight, julian yelled from the bedroom, "MAMA!!!! BELLA'S SAYING MEAN WORDS!!!!"

I asked, "Annabelle, what mean words are you using?"
She shrugged and said, "I don't know what he's talking about."
So I asked Julian.
He thrust his lower lip out in a cute little pout and said, "She said, 'criss cross, applesauce'". 
apparently he thought she was making fun of him.

first day of school

annabelle's first day of school was a success.

we woke up bright and early at 6:30, since the whole family wanted to see her off.
poppy and tata said goodbye's at our apartment.  it was a little emotional.  my mom leaned into the car to tell bella goodbye and tears were just falling everywhere. 
annabelle asked, "tata, why are you crying?"
tata quickly replied, in a very high pitched voice, "because i'm so HAPPY!"  and ducked out of the car.

*we all had very sleepy/weepy eyes this early morning*

we made our way to her school and the traffic was ridiculous.  we had to park quite a distance away and make the trek into the building.  we made our way inside and julian wanted to stay.  her classroom was very fun.

she posed for the obligatory "first day of school pics", and we left.  it was so strange being home.  just me and the boys.

julian, who normally slams the door in ezra's face, opened it wide and said, "Come play ezra!  come play right now!!"

we took long naps, watched sesame street, had lunch, talked about missing bella, and then it was time to pick her up.

i should mention that on orientation night, we met annabelle's teacher.  she is a young woman from China.  she is certified to teach english/chinese, so she said casually, "I would love to teach your children to speak Chinese if they are interested." 

I leaned into Annabelle and said, "OOOH!  That would be fun!"

Annabelle, already overwhelmed with everything that comes with the first year of school, plus a bi-weekly Spanish class, quickly responded with a FIRM, "No thanks." 

So, when bella got into the car, we quizzed her about everything from lunch, to recess, to the stickers on her shirt.

She answered all of our questions and then said, "Mama, I didn't learn Chinese.  I think the teacher forgot that she said that." 

Then she informed me that she had invited her teacher to spend her weekends off and Christmas with us.  annabelle fully believes that Mrs. Y.  will be coming over bright and early Saturday morning.  it's almost like we're sharing custody of an adopted 30 year old Chinese girl. 

God bless you, Food Network.

so, the kids have been quiet for the past hour.

ezra is napping, but the other two...well, i don't quite know where they are.  sure to find a big naughty mess somewhere in the house, i leave the kitchen, (amidst my baking fury) and find them in the living room.
they have made a pallet on the floor, and are lying peacefully, side by side, watching....the Food Network. 

one hour.  of the food network.  approximately one hour of Rachel Ray and Paula Deen.  Lord help us.  i can't stomach 2 minutes of either of these women, but to a kid, I can see how Rachel Ray and her childlike annoyance "charm" could seem like one was watching the host of a really obnoxious children's show. 

and Paula Deen.  what can i say about Paula Deen?  well, i'm sure she is the nicest of ladies, but oh. my. gosh.  that woman drives me crazy with her overkill accent and her eyeroll everytime she takes a bite of her butter-laden food.  her near orgasmic groans are enough to make me think i should "parental block" this channel.
but to a kid?  awesome, i'm sure, to see a lady make cookies using 18 cups of "shuuu-gah", and 12 sticks of "buuuutttt-ah". 

although, if i was going to parental block this channel, it would probably be less b/c of paula deen, and more because of miss giada's cleavage.  i couldn't tell you what she cooked yesterday, but i can tell you that she wore a peach color top that revealed about 7 inches of  boobage.

i can't really block this channel though.  i am addicted.  i spend a lovely time each day with annabelle and the barefoot contessa.  we are constantly in awe over that woman's home and garden and her way with baked goods.   
since annabelle starts school next week, i have replaced her daily naptime with "Barefoot Contessa" time.  we both really enjoy it.

*****DISCLAIMER:
my annoyance with these celeb chef's, is in no way related to my love for some of their food.  all three of these women could cook for me any day of the week and i would be a happy woman.  as long as i could omit the word, "yummo!" from rachel ray's vocabulary for that day.

the magic toolbox

i was recently reading about something called an "emotional toolbox", and how you can teach children that they have this "toolbox" that is full of all the "tools" that they need to deal with their problems. 

after reading the article, i thought it was a little over my kids heads, so i didn't think anything about it again until this week.

julian and annabelle are fighting like crazy.  lots of yelling and hitting and hurt feelings.  so yesterday, after the 2nd fight, i sent julian to my bed and annabelle to her bed.  when i was talking to julian, i thought, maybe i can modify that whole "toolbox" scenario to help him deal with annabelle.

i explained to him that he has a special "toolbox".  it is full of "tools" that he can use to help him fix his problems.
i told him that if annabelle is being bossy, and he hits her, that it doesn't fix the problem, it just makes it worse.
then i told him that if he looked in his toolbox, he would find a tool called, "Just walk away".  (this is something that we've really been telling him a lot lately, as he can't just leave a fight, he always has to fight to the death).

i said, "If annabelle is being bossy, you can dig in your toolbox and find this "Just walk away" tool, and it can help that problem go away."

then i said, "there is another tool in your toolbox that you can use, and it's called, 'let's talk about it'."

i told him that if annabelle was not sharing with him, or being selfish, maybe he could use this tool, and say, "Annabelle, let's talk about this", and then they can work out a deal where they are both happy.

Julian, being the tool lover that he is, grinned at the thought of his very own toolbox full of tools.

At this point, I thought, "I'm a genius.  This is really working for him." 
Then I asked, "Julian, can you think of any other tools that you can use if you are having a problem with annabelle?"

He thought for a few seconds and then replied without hesitation, "A HAMMER!" 

So maybe it is over his head a little...

****
Later in the day, Ezra was screaming at the top of his lungs as I was trying to prepare the enchiladas for dinner.  I said, "Ezra PLEASE!  Stop screaming!!"

Julian walked up to Ezra, patted him on the shoulder and offered helpfully, "Ezra...Just WALK AWAY." 

the Target game

like dogs, they chase each other breathlessly around the living room.
back and forth, around the coffee table,  along the path into the bedroom and back into the living room.
finally, she catches him.
"why are you running?"  she demands.
"because...you're... chasing... me.." he gasps.
revelation hits.
"oh.  i'm not trying to get you.  i'm just going to Target."
"oh, okay.  let me get my money." 
and they continue along the trail that they've created from the bedroom to the living room, only at a calmer pace, and discussing all of their purchases along the way.

the next time you think somebody might be trying to "get you",  you may just check to see if they are actually wanting to carpool to Target together.  no need to jump to conclusions.

funny kids. 

kindergarten.

i took annabelle to register for kindergarten today.  it was pretty uneventful.  i thought that we would meet her teacher/see classrooms today, but that will actually happen on the 23rd instead.  she was so big though.  she answered all of the questions that the ladies in the office asked.  she showed off her "Fido" shoes, and of course, her green earrings.

annabelle admired all of the student artwork that adorned the walls of her new school.  she loved every single armadillo picture/statue/painting that graced the hallway.  yes, her mascot is an armadillo.  in texas.  original, eh?

she tries to reassure dustin and me that she won't grow up too fast.  she promises to tell us EVERYTHING that happens every single day. she is such a chatterbox, so i believe that she will keep that promise.

time is flying.  i don't like it.

i remember my first day of kindergarten.  my bright purple backpack, matching my "first day of school outfit" that was also purple.  i remember my mom snapping photos in front of the big tree in our front yard and meeting my new teacher, who i quickly grew to love. 

i remember my mom walking me to the end of our long driveway, standing by the mailbox, waiting to see the dusty clouds, indicating that the big yellow school bus was chugging up our country dirt road.  somedays we would drive to the end of the driveway, because it was too cold to stand and wait for the bus.  we would sit in our car, on cold vinyl seats, heater blowing warm air onto my frosty pink fingers. 

4 more weeks. 
it's going too fast. 
time.  please,  move a little more slowly...

walking sticks save our lives

my kids have been terrified of bugs for as long as i can remember.  it is something that they come by honestly.  i am no fan of bugs and Dustin has been known to jump on top of the coffee table at the sight of a roach.

dustin, however, thinks that they have an unhealthy fear of creepy crawlies, so during the times that they spend at dustin's office, he introduces them to "good bugs".  he explains how some bugs help us by eating mosquitos.  the kids are extremely fond of "walking sticks".  ewww.  not a fan. 

last week, while at my parents house, Annabelle asks my mom what her favorite bug is.  Mom replied with something relatively safe, like a ladybug or something.  Annabelle asked what she thought about walking sticks, and mom said that she didn't really like walking sticks.  Annabelle then proceeded to lecture her on the greatness of walking sticks for well over 10 minutes. 

As we were leaving, Julian spotted a walking stick on my back tire, and made my Mom and Dad examine it and see how wonderful it truly was.  We all agreed that it was a fabulous walking stick, the best we'd ever seen.

The next evening, the kids were in bed, discussing their favorite bugs.  Dustin asked Julian what his favorite bug was.  He replied, "Wadybugs, buttafwy's, woly poly's, and walking sticks....because they save our lives." 

Dustin asked how walking sticks "saved our lives", and Julian said, "they eat spageetos (mosquitos).  so they save our lives."

in other news:  guess who learned how to cross his eyes?  it's a big day in the bartell household. 

2 kids down, 1 to go.  :-)

no more boyfriends for me, thanks.

today i took the three kiddos to mcdonald's for lunch.  we were choosing between two places: my favorite local fast food mexican food place, and mcdonald's.  and with my kids, the place that includes toys with meals is always the winner.

i placed the kids in a corner table, and then stepped a couple of feet away to get some ketchup.  as i was attempting to pump the ketchup into a small paper cup, it splattered all over, with each pump.  i felt a man approach me and he said, "good luck!  you may want to get some packets from the counter." 

i thanked him, and then looked up and realized that he was a very nice, older, man that works for a company that my family has long been familiar with.  i've known him and his wife since i was a young girl and he is one of the nicest men ever.   we exchanged happy hello's and then i returned to my seat with my ketchup packets.

before he was out of earshot, annabelle loudly proclaimed, "Oooohhh, did somebody make a boyfriend??"  in a sing-songy, smarty pants voice.

hoping i misunderstood her, as she has never said anything like this before,  i said, "Excuse me?"

She replied, "That man.  Is he your boyfriend??"

I became a bit flustered.  The joint was really busy, and this man was sitting alone, just a few feet from us.  There was another older man sitting very close to us, along with a group of older ladies, staring at our little clan.  I felt pretty embarrassed, like I was out "boyfriend shopping" with my 3 wild kids.

I quickly, and probably a bit too loudly, said, "no, he's not my boyfriend.  Daddy probaby wouldn't be too happy if I had a new boyfriend."

She wanted to know why and I, again loudly, said, "Because when you get MARRIED, you don't have boyfriends anymore."

This ended the discussion pretty quickly and we moved on to how cool her new Hello Kitty toy was, but I will probably forever be embarrassed if I ever run into Mr. W.  again.  Thank you for that, little smarty pants daughter.  Now go play in the ball pit and let me enjoy my chocolate dipped cone, please.

sneakity sneak

2 stories.  i must tell one for you to understand the other, though they may seem unrelated at first.

A few months ago, we were having lots of problems with Annabelle and Julian at bedtime.  No matter how much we threatened, begged, took away/rewarded, etc. we could not keep Julian in his bed. 

We felt like Annabelle had something to do with it, but she insisted that she was just trying to sleep and Julian was getting up on his own.

So, my brilliant husband took his little tape recorder and slid it under their beds as he was tucking them in one evening.  Within minutes, Julian was up, asking for some water.  Dustin walked him back to bed and played the tape for Julian and Bella.   Annabelle listened for a second before she realized what was happening, and her eyes grew wide.

"What are you doing?" she asked, a little panic in her voice.

A minute into the tape, Annabelle's little voice was heard whispering, "Juju...get up and go ask Daddy for some water or soy milk or something."

Annabelle knew she had been busted.  Dustin had a long talk with her and fortunately, we've had little problems since.
***

We've recently been having some issues with Annabelle being sneaky and then lying about her sneakiness. 

She recently sneaked some of my gum at naptime. 
The gum fell into her hair and rather than wake me up and ask for help getting it out, she rummaged through my desk for scissors and cut her hair off. 

I didn't know anything about it until I went into the kids bathroom to put some towels away and saw a large pile of hair, hiding behind the toilet.

I then noticed quickly that Annabelle had a few sections of hair missing from the left side of her head.

She lied about it quickly.

"Maybe it just fell out."
"Maybe Juju cut it out."
"That's not my hair on the floor." 

Finally, she confessed to the gum and the cutting, the whole bit.

Several other small things happened, all during the daytime when Dustin is not home. But one night, she had another incident when Dustin happened to be "on duty".

The kids each got a small handful of candy after they had gotten haircuts at the mall earlier that day.  Julian was saving his for the car ride to Arkansas.  He ate a few pieces and then put the remaining candy on the kitchen counter.  Annabelle's hair cut was much earlier in the day, so her candy was eaten earlier. 

As Dustin was brushing the kids teeth and getting them a final glass of water before bedtime, he noticed that all but 3 tiny pieces of candy were missing from the counter.  He asked me if I moved the candy or ate some of it.  He asked Annabelle and Julian if one of them had been eating the candy.  We all denied it.

After a few more questions, he finally declared that Annabelle and Julian would both receive the same discipline for sneaking the candy and not telling the truth about it.  Annabelle finally confessed (after about 20 minutes of questioning) that she might have eaten Julian's candy.

Dustin and Annabelle settled onto the couch for a LONG talk about sneakiness and truthfulness and all that we've been going over for a couple of weeks now.  They talked about appropriate punishments and consequences of lying and sneaking, and how it hurts everybody.  How it could have hurt Julian, even when he was innocent.

Dustin said, "Annabelle, the thing that I don't like, is that Mama and I don't know when you are telling us the truth and when you are just making up stories so that you don't get into trouble."

Annabelle very calmly and innocently, looked Dustin in the eyes and said, "Well Daddy, why don't you just check your tape recorder to see if I'm telling the truth or not."

She's a smart cookie. 

a joke that we don't make

i made the kids ravioli for lunch today.
annabelle and julian sat down at the table and said, "oh yummy!  what kind of pasta is this???"
i told them that it was ravioli and to sit down and eat.
after about 5 minutes, Annabelle said,
"I thought "crapioli"  was a joke that we don't make."
I said, "Annabelle, what is "crapioli?"
She pointed at her pasta and said, "this stuff". 
"Annabelle, it's RAVIOLI, not CRAPIOLI."
"Ohhh.  so we can say that."

i guess i must have mumbled when i said ravioli the first time.  :)

cake

today we were listening to Cake, "Love you Madly".
"...i wanna love you madly. i wanna love you now...."

after it was over, annabelle asked, "was that Bambi or Mambi?"

<insert my confused look here>

she says, "on the song, the girl he loves.  'i wanna love you Bambi', or 'i wanna love you Mambi'?"

made me smile.