Tree Time

Story #2

Yesterday was a rough day emotionally for the girls. They were bickering and bickering all weekend and we actually had a fun weekend together...when they weren't bickering.
Saturday night we had kept them both up way too late. I was in my bedroom finishing up Harry Potter with Ren so that we could go to H. cousins house the next day to view the first Harry Potter movie right after reading the first book! Willa kept skittering out of bed and then was able to cash in on a Skype call to Canada with Grandma P., Grandpa P., Uncle Dax and Aunt Alli. Pretty good score.

The next morning was Sunday and they are strung out and edgy, we even threatened not going to church to put them back into bed and they both freaked out. Then when we were getting ready to walk out the door they both wanted to skip their classes and come into big church with us. I won't labor you with the that story. Other than, I don't think Willa will ask to come into big church again for a while. We don't have snacks.

Our church is in a mall so that means that a neighbor is a horrible place called Playworld. It's one of those indoor, giant, mouse maze sort of places that children adore. On the way out Willa yelled that she wanted to go to Playworld. We both of course told her "no" as we were walking across the very large parking lot to our van. Willa burst into tears yelling...now if you can't guess ahead of time what she said then please go back to post Story #1. Alright, I'll tell you what she said as she was screaming and yelling across the parking lot.
She said, "I CAN FIGURE IT OUT!"

I was just Skyping with my sister in law and retelling this story saying, " I wonder where she is getting this phrase haha?"

Allison couldn't help, but point out that she thinks she remembers me saying something like that. Me? And then I heard the faint possibility of that being true. Or absolutely true, but we're getting off track from my story.

We get home, but all the way home we had been saying, "you will eat something with protein for lunch and then you will get into a Quiet Time/we hope you pass out and take a nap, and then we will get up and go watch Harry Potter/a Hello Kitty movie for Willa to watch and have dinner and fun!"

After lunch we get them into said QT and then David and I crawl into bed and he passes out while I read and start to pass out, but can't because the girls are banging the bed, barking at each other and not being QUIET in their Quiet Time. Then there is a part where I snap and storm in their like a rabid bear and yell and plead and realize, oh crap, I'm screwed and I'm exhausted (INSERT:the girls had stayed up till 10pm, but the adults had stayed up till 1am)and these kids are driving me crazy! I tell them that they have to stay in their QT for 15 more minutes and then I take some laundry downstairs and in that time of a 5 minute laundry trip they both fall asleep. Seriously.
They take a healthy 5 minute nap and then pop open their eyes and I tell them they are free and to start cleaning their room and make their beds before we go to the Harry Potter ParTAY!

They begin to clean their room and bicker.

I don't have a square to spare.
I also really didn't have any good, solid, non-yelling, parenting ideas.

I walked down the hall and came in the door saying, "OKAY! I'm done with the fighting. YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO TALK AND WORK THIS OUT (I wonder now ironically if I said, "figure it out") AND STOP FIGHTING AND GET ALONG OR WE"RE NOT GOING. I AM GIVING YOU 5 MINUTES. TALK TO EACH OTHER! I know that I'm writing it in caps, but I actually wasn't yelling. Instead I had that icy, "calm", ticked, "but I"m not yelling at you mom tone." I think my girls are way more freaked out by it.

I then shut the door and walked down the hall to David and covered my mouth giggling and said, "I don't know?, That's what I came up with."

Then I walked back down the hall to listen in and heard this.

"WILLA! Stop putting on that costume!" You could hear Willa grunt a little in response.

Ren then said, "Willa! This is important. Look at me. Look at me. Did you hear Momma? We have to talk or we can't go to our cousins to watch Harry Potter!"

Once again Willa gave some sort of grunt.

Ren continued, "Willa, we can fight ANY OTHER day, BUT NOT TODAY! You drive me CRAZY and I drive you CRAZY, BUT NOT TODAY! Okay?!"

I then swallowed a giggle and walked down the hall to tell David about Ren's stellar pep talk to get the job done despite all odds.

Despite all odds...

Alison actually found a copy of Harry Potter to rent at one of those places you rent dvd's that hadn't gone out of business.

The said, dvd was so old that when you watch it on a new HD tv the resolution ends up looking like a high school film production and the best of actors seem to be horrible.

Also, said dvd started to malfunction mid way through viewing. Paul and Christopher went to above rental place and had it resurfaced.

Upon returning with the newly resurfaced dvd we popped it in only to find it was still skipping.

Hmmm, on to hooking up different dvd player and we are back in business!

About 20 minutes into the functioning dvd AND well working dvd player when David realized that it was 9pm (even though we had arrived at least 4 hours prior to insure us getting home and the kids in bed on time) and then started insisting that we find out how much time was left in the movie.

45minutes left in movie. Prinsens decide that they should exit and finish it up tomorrow.

Eden has been complaining of a throbbing headache for the last 20 minutes or so.

Prinsens getting coats on and my sister escorting Eden upstairs as she releases her insides all over the upstairs like a roaring faucet.

I get sprayed on by tiny sprinkles of puke and we leave.

Monday was a new day and Eden wasn't puking. Willa wasn't pitching a fit that she could NOT figure out. We all sat down again and finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Ren has started to read book number 2 on her own!

Can't wait for the Second Harry Potter Movie Night!

Story #1

Willa's new phrase when she gets into trouble and certainly when she is put into a "time out" by David or myself is, "I CAN FIGURE IT OUT!" She usually has one little pointer finger in the air in a very menacing sort of way and her face is bright red with fury. At this point I bury my head in my arm or chest and inhale so that I don't laugh too hard.
The other day we went through this same pattern, but when I came back in to retrieve her she was calm and said,

"I figured it out mom."

Surprised at this news I asked her what she figured out.

She said, " I heard Jesus say something."

"What did he say?"

"He said, 'I'm number one and do a number one thing.'"

At this point, I was really hoping that she meant that Jesus was the #1 and not her, but I wasn't necessarily banking on it, but I asked.

"Who is the #1 Willa?

"Jesus."

"And He asked you to do a #1 thing?"

She confirmed that He did.

All I could say is I thought that was probably a good idea and thought I should probably do that the next time I pitch a fit too.

Rose Sprinkles

I love these girls so much!

As I type I am having a discussion with Willa saying, "Are you Sprinkles yet?!"

"NO!" I say.

"Mom! I want you to come with me to get all fancied up!" Yells Selena, or Selenie or whomever she is now.

"So what are we going to do when you become Selena and I become Sprinkles?" I say.

"We're gonna do, uh, hang out together and maybe go to a park with my little baby."

I thought I was either Rose or Sprinkles, but Willa corrected me firmly, because apparently my name is Rose Sprinkles. It all gets confusing folks. I think that might be the name of our new band. I pulled out David's guitar in hopes of me starting to strum a little, horribly, whatever it takes. Anyway, I digress the point is that before she decided to get fancied up she was on the couch with the guitar across her lap strumming and I was holding a bird shaped whistle, whistling with passion unabashed.
Then she decided that I kind of stunk at the whistle and moved me on to a childhood toy of mine that spins wheels and makes a tinkling noise that I loved and still do. She was not too fond of that either, but we both loved her voice, lyrics, guitar playing and over all showmanship.
Keep your eyes out for "Rose Sprinkles" new album.

Ren pinned this silky scarf in the middle with a pin and loved the way that it opened like this. These heels and gingham apron were given to her when she was between 3 and 4 years old. She is still jamming her tiny body into both of them.
I have a few funny stories coming soon...

"Staten is a cool name, BUT he is NOT cool!"

Two things going on a LOT around here. One, is lots and lots of dress up and pretending. I never know when my friend, Selena is going to come over and yell, "Rose! Come to my store!" This is one of my favorite stages in kid life. Fancy and pretending. As I type, I have a "Fancy Mom" sitting next to me at my "movie theater." She arrived with her briefcase sized purse, baby named Bowie, Barbie, and a nameless stuffed animal. They all rolled in with her shopping cart to the movie theater.
Yesterday she was wearing this get up and had a massage parlor in her bedroom. David came home and she said boys weren't allowed. I asked David if he was thankful that she was keeping men out of the massage bedroom and yes, he was thankful.

On to the second thing we are thinking a lot about... Staten. Or Satan as you all might say. I vaguely remember Ren being at the Satan stage about this age. In fact I think I might even have a post where Ren was asking if Satan uses the bathroom or something like that. As I was running around cleaning and preparing to teach Willa was sitting at the table finishing her breakfast. Out of nowhere she said,
"Mom, what is the opposite of God?"
It took me a second and then I said, "do you mean Satan?"
"YES!" She said.
Then we talked about him for a while about as much as you can with a 3.5 year old. I think my girls are just enamored that someone could be SO NAUGHTY! It's fascinating and scary all at once to them.
I thought we were winding down the principalities conversation when Willa said, "Staten is a cool name, BUT he is NOT cool!" Shaking her little head like it was a shame to have a cool name and then to waste it by being so horrible.
Let that be a lesson to you all with cool names...please wear them well.
Happy Friday Everyone!

Halloween 2011