Plugging Along

I know I need to blog more. Well, really I don't know for sure. Maybe no one is reading this, so it's just my own inner critic and guilt fiend telling me that people want to see more here. But then, some of you have become "followers," so I assume that means you want to know what is going on with us. Anyway . . .

I'll try to blog more. Lately life is normal. We're in the midst of busy season, so Tobin is not home much, even though he isn't really doing any tax work this year. Someone please explain that to me. No, don't. I know he is extrememly busy at work. Luckily they have hired a couple new people so hopefully we can meet the guy who sometimes sleeps in my bed sometime soon. :)

Peyton and Maryam are closing on the their fourth birthday. I'm not going to do a big friend party this year. We'll save all that drama for the big 5th birthday next year. This year will just be family and a few close friends (who qualify as family in our eyes). Peyton has been praying for a car race track for his birthday. He started asking for one just before Christmas, but I . . . *ahem* . . . Santa, had already spent his budget for the year. Since then we've heard of nothing but a car race track. He seriously prays for one every night before bed. I think I better get on that soon. I'm not sure what is out there, and I don't want to spend a fortune because I didn't do my homework. Peyton wants a dinosaur or shark cake. He decided the other day that a shark cake is probably better because sharks are more scary to people. I love it! I better work on that too. I'm not too skilled at cake decorating, so I'm thinking a blue cake with shark toys on it. Yeah, that's my style. Too cheap to buy a cake; lack the skill to make a fantastic cake on my own. Maybe there are some better ideas on the internet . . . .

Maryam hasn't mentioned anything particular that she wants lately, so I asked her a couple of days ago. She wants a Beauty and the Beast cake with the real toys on it - just like her Cinderella cake last year. That way she gets a cute cake and a present all in one. She's a smart girl. I asked her what she wanted for a present. She said, "I want car keys like you and Daddy so I can practice driving." I explained that you have to be 16 (maybe it's 18 in Cali now?) before you can drive. Well, she likes to pretend that she is 16, so that will be fine. Seriously, that's her explanation. She likes to push my buttons by telling me that her boyfriend is calling on her toy cell phone. A few days ago she told me that she broke up with Gape (her boyfriend - the name is really Gabe, but she thinks it's Gape). Now she has another boyfriend already, Jesse. Her boyfriends are from a couple different episodes of Hannah Montana. I may have to ban that show for her! This girl is 3 going on 16! She's a serious crack up!

Well, that's our life in a nut shell. We've been battling a nasty cold/virus thingy. It hasn't been too fun, but I think we are all on the mend now.

If you have any fabulous ideas on the birthday cakes or presents, please share! Do your kids have a car track they really love? I'm thinking something compatible with matchbox cars, since Peyton already has a lot of them. And what do you give the girl who wants car keys at age 4??? Do they make toy key fobs? (How do you spell that anyway?)

Feeding the Chickens

This afternoon I suggested the twins go upstairs to play since they were driving me crazy playing downstairs while I was sewing. They were more than excited to play in their room for a while. I didn't hear anything out of the ordinary and figured they were probably building their secret hiding place again (think blanket fort). A little later, I heard them playing at the bedroom door, keeping each other out/in. I headed upstairs to see what they were up to.

I turned the corner in the hallway to their room, and this is what I saw.


The blob on the floor is the inside structure of one of the twins' arm chair style bean bag chairs. The white spots on the floor are styrofoam "beans" from the chair. I stepped into the twins' bedroom and found this . . .

They emptied the beans from both of their chairs onto the floor of the bedroom. I quickly asked them why they would empty out their bean bag chairs onto the floor. Maryam replied, "To feed the pretend chickens, Mom." She used this tone of voice like their actions were perfectly logical. I had to work really hard not to burst out laughing right then. I explained to them that this was probably not the best idea and they would need to help me clean up the floor. They agreed, and I ran downstairs to get the camera and some beach buckets.

We spent 45 minutes scooping "beans" off the floor into beach buckets and then into trash bags. Then the kids were great helpers vacuuming all the remaining beans from underneath everything in their room.