The Oatmeal Diaries...

In an effort to eat more healthily I introduced oatmeal to my girls today.... Here's how the morning went -

Brooke - Oatmeal's not so bad.  I like the peaches.

Tom - Sorry, this is real oatmeal, it has no peaches.  Or cream.

Brooke - What!??!  She looks in the pan... Gross!!!

And thus the tone for the morning was set...

Erin was a champ and ate her whole (tiny) bowl without complaint.  The only sign of how much she didn't love it were her flared nostrils with every bite. 

Alix ate half her bowl and then had a melt down.  Brooke just melted down from the get go.  We'd told them they had to eat their whole (really, really tiny) bowl or they wouldn't get a homemade cinnamon roll afterwords. (I know, not healthy, but baby steps...)  Brooke then pulled the "I'm full and you've told me to quit eating when I'm full" tirade.  Fine.  If you're full, quit.  Then you can have your leftover oatmeal for lunch. (gag)  "What if I'm not hungry for lunch?"  Then, please enjoy your rubber for supper...  

Sam cried, but we were able to feed her (like a six month old...) her entire bowl.  

Alix FINALLY finished an hour later, but at least she can have a sandwich for lunch now.  Brooke has a bowl of delicious, rubbery, cold oatmeal to eat for her lunch.  Super fun.  Now I do understand how they feel.  My mother force fed me oatmeal my entire growing up.  Which is why my children have never, until today, had real oatmeal.  But I ate some too.  And I'll be they didn't even notice my nostrils flaring... (oatmeal really is disgusting... some things never change.)   Won't the girls be excited when I tell them we're having oatmeal at least twice a week?  

I had no picture of the girls where they were all suitably miserable and whining.  So you get another pumpkin patch picture...  Maybe on Tuesday (our next scheduled oatmeal experience) I'll take a picture...

Siiiigh....

That's a siiiiigh of pure bliss.... Isn't this time of year the best?

Pumpkin Patch

I love taking the same pictures, at the same place, year after year and watching my girls grow.  The Pumpkin Palace is one of those places... 

Saw dust pile...

 Bowling...

 A little rodeo action...

 Pumpkin Tea Party anyone?

 Can you tell Brooke is being Grumpy Dwarf? 

 I really love these guys...

 The winners through the corn maze.  Not being poor sports at all... The twins and I raced against Tom, Brooke and Sam.  We killed them...

 One of Brooke's favorite activities...

 Finding just the perfect pumpkin...

 Posers...

 We don't even have to carve one of the pumpkins this year. It came with a face...

 And just to prove that I was there too...

Footprints...

Some people make footprints in the sand.  We choose to make them in road dust...

Hand it Over...

The Mom of the Year Award that is...  Here's why...

Yesterday I sent the girls off to school and got ready to go the gym.  Right as I was leaving, I got a call from Sam's preschool. "Mrs. Bishop?  Were you aware that Sam's right hand is all red and swollen and hot?"  Um. No.  "Would you come and check her out please?  We're kind of worried about her."  So I go to check her out.  They were right.  Her right hand was all swollen and red and hot from the knuckles on her hand, up all 4 fingers.  Huh.  How did I miss that?  So I take her home and call the doctor.  With this girl, you just can't be too careful...  "Bring her right in, please.  We take these kinds of things very seriously!"  Of course you do.  So off we go... I had no idea what could have happened, but her (very astute) father mentioned she'd fallen off her bike a bunch of times on Saturday. Sure.  She totally broke her hand and all four fingers and we're just figuring that out now?  Yeah right.... Well actually, Yeah right.  They ruled out infection because there was no scratch or means of entry for infection.  So she either sprained her hand and all four fingers or broke them.  Well.  Don't I feel the tiniest bit stupid?  So we go get xrays...  Turns out her hand isn't broken, just sprained.  Makes me feel a little bit less like a loser...  But I will tell you that this girl has the highest pain tolerance in the world.  Remember her UTI that she had for months?  And we only knew cause it almost killed her?  So in my defense, she never favored her (red, hot, swollen) hand.   She never complained.  She never anything.  So there you have it.  For the seventh time (this year...) please hand over the Mom of the Year Award...

Peanut Butter & Jelly...

Brooke has been blessed with some really great friends.  Here's a conversation we had the other day after school...

Brooke - "So, today I had some papers hidden in my shoe..."

me - "What?  Ummmm. Dare I ask why?"

Brooke - "So I can draw on the bus. (duh!)  But anyway... I forgot all about them until Sydney pulled colored pencils out of her boot!"

They were meant to be friends.  Some things just go together... (thus the title - in case I'm not as clever as I think I am, and nobody but me gets it...)  (And yes, they are the same age.  Brooke is about 6 months older, but on the (freakishly) tall side and Syd is on the (adorably) shorter side...)

Just like daddy...

One measuring cup full of cake batter later...

"Now I look just like daddy!"

Warning!!!

Woman Driver Ahead!!

So today the girls and I were Halloween shopping.  Which means I was driving around in our Suburban.  I do this all the time, you think I'd be good at it... We were parked at the Spirit Halloween store (note to self - never again take Sam in there.  She'll still be having nightmares 6 halloweens from now...)  After we were done, I go to pull straight out.  And go up over a curb.  Oh snap.  There must be one of those parking cement things there.  Oh well.  I drive a suburban for a reason, right?  I can go right over those things.  Turns out it was a flower bed.  Whoops.

I wish...

That you all (y'all for the southern followers of this blog...) could sit and take a ride in my car with me and the girls.  They all sing.  Different songs.  At the same time.  And not even trying to annoy each other.  Just (kind of) quietly to themselves.  For the entire ride.

It makes me smile.  (Just like this picture of them waiting to see Lion King 3D.)

Quote of the Day...

We were driving by the Seattle Temple on Sunday and I was talking to the girls about it when Sam interrupted with this...

"Why is that angel holding a gun?"