Thankful Frustrations

So, on behalf of Thanksgiving, I am going to give a list of the things I am thankful for. I am thankful for all the normal things like a healthy family, job, house, food, and flushing toilets, but the following list is a bit different. I have taking a few of the incredibly frustrating events that has happened over the past week and have put a positive spin on it, as a sort of way to remind myself that things could be a lot worse.

·         I am grateful for the diaper that got mixed in with my dirty laundry, and exploded in my washer into a thousand tiny jell bubbles because it means I have the capability of washing the same load of clothes three times before they are finally clean.

·         I am grateful for the three garbage bags that an animal got into and dragged dirty trash all over the lawn because it means we have eaten well…both our family and the skunks!

·         I am grateful for the soccer ball sized dent I put in my new car because it means my husband built a sturdy mailbox.

·         I am grateful for my daughter who drew a huge mural all over my dining room wall a week before we have a huge family over for Thanksgiving, because it means she will be occupied for a least two hours as she tries to clean it up.

·         I am thankful for my husband who keeps moving the couch so the sun would be directly in my face because it means I have the capability to one, see the light, and two, punch out his lights ;-)

·         I am thankful for the pest control van parked outside the dining hall because it means students will no longer have to share their food with rodents.

·         I am grateful for my kids who fight over who gets to do the dishes because, well, this I am just grateful!!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone and try to find the good in everything life has to offer.

Kid Quips

I had fun writing last weeks blogs about a few of the motherly mishaps I have inflicted on my children.  This week I am going to write some quick funny things my children have said to remind me that even though I have messed up some things, I will have stuff to hold against them when they are older!

1. My daughter when she was five said to my police officer husband "Hey Dad, do you put bad people in jail? No, you probably just glue them to the wall, right?"
2. A deer was hit by a car then wandered to our house. There was blood everywhere, mostly on our main walkway. Each time we walked to our cars, my three year old said "watch out for the reindeer blood!" Poor thing thinks one of Santa's reindeer fell from the sky!
3. My husband asked my oldest daughter if she knew what St. Patrick's day was.  She seriously said "yep, it is when there  is gold at the end of the rainbow!"
4. On a very deep conversation with my oldest (who was three at the time) we starting talking about school, and how you go to elementary school, middle school, high school then finally college. "Mommy, what is college?" I told her "it is where you go to school to learn how to be whatever you want to be when you grow up." Without skipping a beat she replied excitedly "I want to be a boy!!!!"
5. After telling my three year old she was smart she responded with a know-it-all attitude "yes my are!!!"
6. We asked both our kids what they wanted to be when the grow up. My oldest said "a police officer like daddy", my two year old said "My want to be a Christmas Tree!"

I have tons of these!  More to come later.

Motherly Mishaps

I have been trying to think all week on what to write my blog about this week, and this morning, after catching my 6 year old nephew trying to burn our house down, it came to me. I should write about a few of the mistakes I have made as a mother. The things that were mortifying at the time, but later make for a good comical conversation.

I will start with this morning. I woke to the smell of matches burning but I just thought it was the smell of the wood stove smoldering or something. Come to find out, my nephew lit a bunch of matches and burned a big char mark in my window sill, another burn mark on my new white wicker shelves we got for above the toilet, and another on a decorative glass plate.  Each time I go upstairs I find more and more burn marks. Though sobering how scary things could have been, I am the one who left the matches in the drawer upstairs because I sometime have a candle going.  My Fault.  Fail #1.

When my first daughter was about one and a half, she was walking great, and learning to talk more and more.  This one particular night I was doing the dishes at my kitchen sink and not paying as much attention to my daughter as I should.  She kept coming up with a nose aspirator (one of those blue bubble like things you use to get boogers out of children’s noses). She kept putting it in her mouth and saying "yum, yum". I told her that was disgusting and to go put it back. She went to her room and I assumed she was putting it back.  Again she came to me and said "yum, yum" with the nose aspirator in her mouth.  Grossed out again, I told her to go put it back.....the third time she came up to me with it in her mouth, saying "yum, yum" I noticed a little water dripping from her mouth.  It all clicked then.  She wasn't going into her room, she was going into the bathroom. She was drinking toilet water out of a nose aspirator. Nasty!  Mother Fail #2.

This morning I was showing my father-in-law how to buckle in my four year old, after noticing he had the strap way too lose.  I told him you make sure you have it tight around her stomach, then you lock the strap.  I pulled the shoulder strap out as far as it can go.  Instead of letting it back in slowly I just let go and it snapped back and caught her right across the face. She started screaming and saying “mommy punched me in the face!. Oops! Mother Fail #3.

Daughter number two likes to gather various things from around the house and keep them in a basket in her bedroom.  This one particular night I was tucking her into her bed when I felt something under her pillow.  "Honey, why is there a lighter under your pillow?" her response "oh, that is my new night light.” Oh boy. Mother Fail #4.

Well, if there really is such thing as Mother of the Year, I am pretty sure I will never qualify as these are just a FEW of the mistakes I have made along the way! Have a great week everyone!