His poor wife

I am glad that you all enjoyed the part in my last post about our Landon.  It's funny when I write these things I rarely think about which part will get the most attention. Sometimes it's the stuff that I least expect.  I guess I should have expected that Landon showing his bottom in the bathroom at school would get some attention.

Got a few more for ya... this is actually for me to just write down so someday I can show his fiancee for fair warning...hopefully, we will have about 20 years to work on this...

A bit ago, a conversation we were having in the van took a strange turn and the kids were asking me if it hurt when I gave birth to them.  Um, awkward? I tried to deflect it and said that I had medicine to help me so it wasn't so painful. Even talked about the needle in my back hopefully scaring them enough to stop talking about it. Like I said, it took a strange turn.  But, this is what I heard Landon say to Taryn in the back seat: "Taryn, I am SO glad that I am a boy and not a girl. I don't have to get my ears pierced, and I don't have to have babies."

Then another time, during dinner, we were talking about how I had to cut off a tree branch since it had started to break off. Here's how the conversation went:

Taryn: Mom, you cut off the broken branch?!
Mom: Yes, I cut off the branch. I even used daddy's saw.
Dad (with sarcasm): Wow! Mommy you used a saw?! You must be strong.
Landon: Yeah, mom, show us your muscles. We promise we won't laugh!!

Finally, this happened just tonight.  The whole fam was snuggled up on the couch downstairs watching a home improvement show.  We were all into it wondering which house the couple would choose, and, then, waiting anxiously for the big renovation reveal... this is how a conversation with Landon went:

Landon: Mom! It's 5:50!
Me: Yes, it is.
Landon: Go upstairs and start working on dinner. We eat at 6:00 so you only have 10 minutes.
Dan just looked at me, shocked, and started laughing.

Thanks, Landon for your support and empathy. You make my mothering, um, interesting.

This kid.

Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?!

Do you remember that show? I LOVED that show! I can still sing the theme song sung by Rockapella for you if you would like. If you don't remember, this may refresh your memory (thanks YouTube!):




Just got caught up in a youtube spiral of old game show videos. Good times. I remember those kids were so smart!!

Sooo, what does Carmen San Diego have to do with me? Well, perhaps you have wondered where in the world I have been for the last 2 months since my last post. Or, more likely, you haven't wondered where I have been. But, now I have you wondering, don't I? O.k. still no? Just humor me.

I have been on a diet, so to speak. A social media diet.  I know that this blog isn't necessarily social media, but I needed a break and this fell right into it.  I had to take a step back and just "be off." Only Dan knows my facebook password, so if I NEED to login, he's the only one that can do it for me.  It's a bit humbling to come up with a reason to NEED to login to a mindless time sucker, so I rarely ask him for the password. It's been a good diet.

So where in the world have we been?

In September, I started working part-time at our school's preschool. Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings are spent hanging out with 14 endearing little 3 year old preschoolers.  Trust me, friends, they are not the only ones getting an education!! This could be another reason why I have been off social media, I am t-i-r-e-d! Seriously, you teachers out there don't get paid enough!!

Picture from my first day of Preschool :)

Annika has been enjoying being a part of a little Engineering Club this fall. She loves it!! I think we have found her calling. From the outside she looks like a mini-me, but on the inside that brain is all Dan.  I can't take credit for one bit of it. She also got her ears pierced. Yeah, it totally makes her look older (EEK!).

Taryn has been our soccer star this fall. That girl has a drive which, you guessed it, also comes from her father. Competitive much? She's also lost her front two teeth (not while playing soccer).  She looks more like a hockey player than a soccer player. :)

Landon has been Landon.  We are doing a parenting study this fall with our small group and I think that Landon is the one that we have used the most for application and examples.  That kid... some times there aren't any words. I will also blame this on Dan. :) The sheet below was from the end of a very long three days at school.  I kept it in his "memory box"... it may come in handy some day when he has children of his own.

Green days are good.  Yellow days..not so much. At least we didn't get to red!

Then there's Simon.  Sweet little Simon.  He's in my class at school.  I wasn't sure how it would go but it hasn't been too bad.  Once a week he goes to speech therapy to help him with some of his articulation.  He knows what he wants to say just needs some help in saying it.  This doesn't stop him from working on his musical skills. American Idol here we come! Move over Mr. Cowell, there's a new Simon in town! :)

This is kinda turning into a Christmas newsletter so I will just stop now. All this to say, we are here. We are living Our Plain Life. We have the theme song to "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" stuck in our head. We are good.