Passion and Drive

So as you can guess 6 years is a long minute and in that minute my beautiful little babies are now . . .  well . . . beautiful big babies (since they will always be my babies no matter how old they are). Grace is 14 and stunning and Ben is 12 and handsome as ever.  They bring amazing amounts of joy into my life every day in a million different ways.  When they were little it was all about the cute things they said or did and now it is real life accomplishments and still some silliness along the way.

I have seen my son become a budding artist with a creative brain that astounds me with all that it can conjure and create.  He plays the saxophone and is generally one of the most thoughtful people I know.  On the other side of the coin, he is still Ben . . . always in motion, with an activity on his brain or in his hands.  I have seen him turn a cardboard box into a desk, literally swing on his pull up bar into some type of flip, and complete a variety of "life hacks" in his room (can you say bread ties as cord keepers.) He has grown so much, but the crazy little boy that couldn't sit still for one television show still reigns supreme.

Grace has developed the most beautiful voice and has accomplished great feats in choir, from all region to just recently all state here in Georgia.  She is dedicated to her music and has even started teaching herself piano.  She loves school and her friends and strives for that A in every class (she is her mother's daughter.) She is a social butterfly and shows kindness to others that makes her friends and her family adore her.  On the other side of the coin, my little princess still drinks chocolate milk, eats cheese, grapes, and chicken exclusively and still hates all sauces of any kind.  She is studious and loves to read and when she is into something she is IN to it.  When she was little it was the Disney Princesses, now, its Riverdale.  Ask her anything and she can tell you.  There isn't a video, interview or post she hasn't seen.  She is the ultimate fan.

My babies bring amazing joy to my life and as any proud mom would, I had to take a moment to put down in writing . .  for posterity . . .  what amazing people they are.  They are gifts that God blessed me with and I cherish them so much. 

Toys and Swimming

My kiddos love to swim and they love playing with toys, mix the two and you have a match made in heaven . . . most of the time!

Sometimes toys can take a turn and become something altogether not what was intended.  If your a mom, you totally know what I'm talking about, a matchbox car becomes a missile, bracelets become handcuffs, and goggles become x-ray glasses.  A child's imagination can be a whimsical place.

We were recently at a hotel pool and being the sweet, kind parents that we are, Peter and I bought the kids little toys while we were in Walgreens for toiletries.  Grace chose a little pony and DVD combo and Ben in his infinite wisdom says, " I am getting these motorboats (wind up) to race in the pool tomorrow!" I thought, great that will give him something to play with (thinking of the ultimate combination of swimming and toys) and me time to read my book!

So the next morning we trek down to the pool and Ben tries to play with his $5 motorboats.  After about 2 or 3 minutes I witness this:

Yes, that is my little man chucking his boats across the pool and yes his sister is doing the same.  I ask him what in the world he is doing and he explains very matter of factly, as if this is what the boats were made for, "We are having a contest to find out who can throw the boats the farthest!" And then he proceeds to chuck the boat and I watch as it sails 10 feet, hits the water, and the motor pops off.

I don't want to laugh, I want to look at him and ask him, Son, what in the world are you thinking, that is not how the boats are supposed to be used? Why did I spend $5 on boats for you to throw them? Then teach a lesson on respecting your toys and give him the lecture about not getting him any other toys if you can't use these properly along with a timeout! But before my righteous indignation can get the best of me, I see his tongue out, full body throw and huge smile as it sails across the pool and I can't do anything but chuckle.

Then it dawned on me, so what if that isn't how the boats are supposed to be used? They were having a blast, laughing up a storm and having a great time.  Isn't that what toys are supposed to be for? Last time I checked toys were for bringing happiness to the kiddos we bought them for and they seemed to be doing that in a . . . non-traditional way. Now don't get me wrong, if I saw them playing football with their Nintendos I would have to call a no-go on that one, I mean you have to draw a line somewhere right! But in this instance, talking about $5 boats, there wasn't any harm in what they were doing and it was highly entertaining to them and in all honesty, me too.  Plus, when I asked him why he was throwing them he made his case that this was completely the right activity by telling me, "Mom, they don't motor good in the pool and the motors go right back on! Plus this is way more fun!"  How can you argue with the logic of a 5 year old.  No one can morph a boat into a missile better than kids!

Needless to say, they had a blast and Ben won throwing it the farthest the most times, which he was very proud of and let me know that boat throwing was now one of his special talents. My little man and his "special talents" I will add that to the list which currently contains, a handstand, locking locks, and drawing people.

Now whether or not the man trying to swim laps appreciated the boat chucking, I can't really say?

Portal Potties and Porta Potties

So today on the way home from picking up Grace, Ben decides to let us know that if he could he would have a "portal potty" right in the house and it would be like his own private little room.  Now your first thought is probably we must have been talking about bathrooms! Porta potties? Or he see a porta potty somewhere?  The answer to all of these is no.  Ben's mind is a wonder.  How he decides what he is going to say and where it comes from is a mystery to me.  None the less, he declares it would be a blue "portal potty" and it would be so cool.  Now Grace is completely disgusted by porta potties - she WILL NOT use one (and I don't blame her they are totally gross).  Before she will even respond to his suggestion, she informs Ben that its a Porta spelled p-o-r-t-a potty not portal potty and she would not ever want one of those disgusting things near her house or room. 

At this point I can't stop snickering as they discuss the validity of having a portal/porta potty in the house.  I finally gain my composure to ask Ben if his "portal potty" portals him anywhere and that is why it's called a "portal potty." He looks at me as if I have two heads and the "you can't be serious furrowed eyebrow" look (that he gets from his father) and tells me, "No mom, that's ridiculous, a portal potty doesn't even have a flusher! That's just its name." I am holding back snorting laughter at this point.  Then Grace in her quest for correctness, with BIG hand guestures whips around and reiterates her previous point more slowly since he clearly didn't catch it the first time. "Ben I already told you its PORTA P-O-R-T-A potty NOT portal." I then (through tears) ask Grace, "What is a porta?" She shrugs and in the most matter of fact way tells me it's the brand name of the potty because porta isn't really a word.

Before I could respond they were back at their debate about the pros and cons of a porta potty in the house as if they were discussing serious life altering world issues.  The both have their hands a flying, their voices raised at times, shaking their heads, and interupting each other.  It really was so funny and if you have seen either of my little bugs in action during one of these discussions you will be able to picture their vigorous defense of their stance on the issue. 

In the end there was no winner because both remained staunchly on their side of the porta potty issue.  The debate ended when Sonic slushies hit their lips.  Only tomorrow holds what the next debate will be . . . maybe whether or not we should put a gas station in our front yard so we don't have to drive so far? Whether a jungle gym would actually fit in the play room?  Who knows, but I look forward to it!

Tears

So it finally happened. My go with the flow, everything is alright, I can pretty much go along with anything little man cried over missing his Daddy today. I hear him crying back in the playroom and he comes out and crawls up in my lap and says, "I miss daddy. I want to show him all my moves and he isn't here. I just miss him." Then he snuggled his head in my chest and cried. Break my heart into a million pieces please. We talked about Daddy and how they were going to have a boy's night at El Chico when he gets back and then he felt better. I have to say seeing tears in your babies eyes is one of the hardest parts of deployment. Although I am always amazed at how resilient kids are, 5 minutes after I let him go he was back to wreaking havoc on everything in his path as "The Sheriff" courtesy of his treasure chest pick from school today. Love my little man and the tenderness he showed today. Grace and Ben are just too sweet for words - they are amaziningly special in more ways than I can count.

Preschool Profanity

If you are a parent of preschoolers or toddlers you know what preschool profanity is. Is it the four letter words that we grown ups are so familiar with? Nope, I am talking about those very interesting threats and name calling that can only come from a 3-6 year old's mouth.

For example, my son looked right at his sister and called (or should I say yelled) with all the fury his 3 year old little body could muster, "Diaper Butt."

Or how about the ultimate preschool profanity, the king of all the "four letter words", screamed "Fine then, I'm not your friend!" which garners the response, "Fine, you're not my friend!" The ultimate insult.

They are like those Orbit's gum commercials, the ones where they curse by calling each other names like "lint licker." They are so funny when they try to be mad. Sometimes when I watch how they act stomping around, getting all huffy I think how I sometimes feel that way on the inside and unfortunately I can't stomp around and throw a hissy fit even if I wanted too. No I'm a respectable 30 year old mom who sets an example for her kids, but I think the next time some cashier with a bad attitude crosses my path I might just pull "diaper butt" out and lay it on her, see how she likes that!

So don't cross me I might just have to tell you that you're not my friend if you don't watch out.

Milk

Can someone explain to me where all the milk goes in my house? I bought two gallons of milk, a half gallon of chocolate milk, and my neighbor gave me a gallon milk because they were going out of town and all I have left is a 1/2 gallon of 1% left? I swear someone is drinking milk in their sleep!

Is it even healthy to drink that much milk?