Proof...

The more children you have, the more adaptable they are.

Poor Sam just petered out this morning. Despite a blaring television and screeching siblings, he sacked out right on the playroom floor.

Lunch and beyond

A little chocolate on her shirt (and face) to go with the yogurt IN HER HAIR.

Luke, Maria and Sam were all eating a nice lunch. Then the phone rang. It was a very nice woman from Uppercase Living calling me in response to an email I had sent. The kids continued eating as I paced around the kitchen while on the phone.

Hearing laughter in the background, the woman I was speaking to remarked that it sounded like my kids were having fun. Having fun alright - drawing on each other with their yogurt.

Where do they get these ideas?!?

Maria (as you can see from the picture below) didn't just have a small glob in her hair. No. It looks, instead, as though she washed her hair in yogurt. Blech! So, what did I do? Throw her in the tub? No, I grabbed the camera and now I'm blogging about it.

Speaking of phone calls, my kids seem to be at their worst when it's my sisters that call. You read about The Little Boys in yesterday's blog when Caroline called. Today, Margaret called -- just as I was getting the kids out of the car after picking Jack up from school. I think she got in a quick question before Jack managed to open the door to the house , throw his stuff inside and LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN while he got set to ride his Big Wheel. With the phone to my ear and the baby on my hip I see the dog shoot past me. I must have made some type of panicked sound because immediately Margaret said, "I'll talk to you later!"

Got the dog. Got the kids inside. Got onto the computer to find a solution to Margaret's problem. Call Margaret. Talk for 30 seconds. Maria comes running to me screaming that Sam is falling off Jack's bed. Hang up on Margaret. Go into Jack's room to find Jack and Luke on the bed and Jack pulling on Sam's arm (the only thing I can see of him). Sam is stuck between the wall and the bed. Screaming.

I rescue Sam.

And give up.

I'm really happy to have my book club to go to tonight.

Maggie 'n Me

Wooohooo! My sister and I are in business together! She just signed up to become an Uppercase Living demonstrator. I am so excited. I never thought I'd be in business for myself, much less with one of my sisters (who, by the way, lives quite some distance from me).

If you haven't checked out Uppercase Living yet, you should - it's really neat and you can do so many things with it. I'm really looking forward to comparing notes with my sister - she's extremely creative and has terrific ideas. This is a picture of what she did with a custom expression from UL. Everyone I've shown it to just loves it.

Watch out - Maggie 'n Me are going to change the world (or at least your homes) - one expression at a time :-)

Phone Radar

My kids have phone radar. Doesn't matter where I am or where they are. If the phone rings or I start dialing, they appear as if I had screamed "ICE CREAM!!!!"

As I was fixing dinner this evening I thought (foolishly) that I'd give one of my sisters a call. As you know from previous posts, this wasn't one of my better ideas considering the time of day. However, I was just calling to touch base, since I hadn't talked to her in a couple of days and I planned to keep it short. Very short.

I don't think I was able to talk for more than, oh, 30 seconds before I had to circumvent disaster. Sam got into the dog water and Luke, thinking it looked like loads of fun, proceeded to help his brother splash it all over my kitchen floor. Mid-scream I accidentally hung up on my sister. I pulled the boys out of the water, put Luke in time out and put the dog bowl with remaining water in the pantry on top of the dog food bin.

I redialed the phone and as I'm trying to sop up the mess, Sam comes crawling at super speed through the water, goes into a skid and slams into the wall. Starts BAWLING.

I gave up on the phone attempt and told my sis I'd call her tomorrow (while I have a babysitter and am far, far away from the house). I continued to keep an eye on my cooking dinner and steped into the laundry room to feed the cat. During which time Sam got into the pantry and DUMPED THE REMAINING DOG WATER ONTO THE PANTRY FLOOR.

Sheesh.

I'm a member...

...of the PTA!!! (Okay, at Jack's school it's the HSA, but same thing). Me. Susan. Formerly known as I'm-never-going-to-have-children-as-long-as-I-live girl.

My name is Susan and despite my first 27 years, I married a law-abider. I had kids (not just one or two spaced out, mind you, but FOUR in five years). I drive a mini-van. And, now, I'm a member of the PTA.

You know that movie with Nicholas Cage... the one where he's this rich guy, powerful, drives an awesome car, lives in a penthouse apartment? Then suddenly one day he wakes up and he's got a wife and a gaggle of kids and he works selling tires? The Family Man! That's what it was. Anyway, despite all he had before, it turns out he likes the new, kind of frumpy, life better.

I guess that's like my life. Except I was always kind of frumpy and I was never rich, never powerful, never drove an awesome car and never lived in the penthouse. Still, I never imagined that I'd be married with a bunch of little kids. (And, neither did anyone else who knew me!)

The checker in Wal-Mart today (yes, I shop there - we can't afford to make a political stand against it) asked me, "Are they all yours?" When I told her yes, she responded that they all looked around the same age and I must have my hands full. They hire the observant ones!

Seriously, though, I love it all. Here's a little something you don't hear without little ones around:

Jack: All right! We're going to an ice cream party tonight!!!
Maria: Do we all get to go, Mom?
Mom: Yes, we're all invited
Maria: Yay! We're all invited! Jack's invited, I'm invited, Sam's invited and you're invited, too, Luke!
Luke: Noooo! I'm not. I'm Lukie
Maria: No, Luke. You're invited.
Luke: No!!! I'm Lukie!
Maria: You're still Luke, but you're invited... to the party. You get to come to the ice cream party with us.
Luke: Ohhhhhhh.

Hehehe. Stuff like that cracks me up. Here's another one... We spell lots of things around this house, especially names. Luke is just learning a little.

Mom: Let's spell your name Luke! Repeat after me... L
Luke: L
Mom: U
Luke: Me
Mom: No, U
Luke: No, Me
Mom: No, UUUUUUU
Luke: Meeeeeeeee
Mom: K
Luke: K
Mom: E
Luke: E!!!

We've all tried very hard to explain that his name is spelled L-U-K-E, but he doesn't quite get it yet :-)

Not Quite There

Well, I guess I'm not quite adjusted to Jack having started kindergarten yet. New things keep happening. Today was the first day I dropped him off. I didn't walk him in. I let him out right in front of the school's front door and watched him walk in - without me. I'm so proud of him! Why do I feel so depressed?

At least I'm not alone. My friend called this morning... she said she cried when she dropped her son off this morning (no names to protect the bereft).

It sure is hard letting them go. And, God help us, this is just the beginning!