Sara is Smiling

Karma's a B!tch

Charlie is beyond upset about Quinn's keyboard renos to her laptop.


She's gone all high pitched and skreechy which isn't completely terrible since it's too high for my human ears to detect. It's her mouth movements and all the cat's trying to escape the house that clues me in there's something terribly wrong in Charlie's life.
Here's where karma comes in...when Charlie was Quinn's age she did the exact same thing to Quincey's laptop. Now that I think about it, he made the same high pitched skreechy noises. Of course, when I recall this story with a smile to my hyperventillating tween, she does not see the same universal justice. I think she was hoping my reaction would be something like this, "Hey Char, that sucks! Let's go buy a BRAND NEW LAPTOP!!"
But nope. Welcome to my world, Eldest Child!

Charlie has recently requested to move out of the girl's room upstairs and into the empty room in the basement. I think the reasons are pretty obvious :-)

Charlie's Journal

Do not, I repeat...DO NOT read Charlie's journal:


Not that I was..ahem..reading it or anything, but I came across this.
"If anyone reads more it's die time. The last boy who read on..." points to an image of her decapitated little brother's head in a pickle jar. She drew a heart on his shirt just to piss him off.

Stranger Danger

A few days ago Charlie and Max were playing with a friend in the school field after dismissal. From behind the wall to the outdoor hockey rink, a man in a ski mask was whistling for their attention. He had one hand in his pocket and the other hand was waving them over.
They grabbed their bags and started to leave.
"Come here! Come here!" he called.
They hurried away. When they looked back he was coming after them. Luckily, just across the street from the field was a friend's house. They went there and he dashed off in a different direction.

When I found out I was, obviously, very upset. I called the police and they came over and spent time talking to the kids. They thought it was so cool to have 4 policemen at our house! They acted very mature while they told their story. I was very proud of them. The officer told him that they did the exact thing they were supposed to do: don't talk to him, run away, find an adult you trust.
Max adds: Stop, Drop and Roll!

All the schools in the surrounding area were contacted and notices were sent home to all parents. The police were at the school the next day, and Charlie and Max were little celebrities getting hugs and pats on the backs from the teachers.

Charlie is a worrier and has been telling me for months that she's scared of someone taking her. Every morning when I'm dropping her off she begs to be picked up after school. I always assured her that the school is really close to home, she's not walking alone, and nothing is going to happen BUT if something did ever happen here is what you do....
I'm glad that we had so many opportunities to talk about it. Since the incident she has a million more questions: What if he has a gun? What if he says he'll shoot me? What if he just grabs me? What if he wants me to go in his car? What if? What if? What if?
She also told me that she would, and I quote, "Kick him in the balls if he touches me". I must admit I've never told her that, but certainly wouldn't discourage it :-)

It's horrifying to think what could have happened. I'm very grateful for their safety, and so so proud of them.

What are you training for??

THIS

 

Hiiiiiyaaa!!
Loves me some taekwondo <3
I've since belted up to green stripe :-)
Kids have since belted up to blue stripe.


Except Elly. She'll be white belt for awhile yet.

Dumpity Dump Dump

Ok..so suddenly I suck at blogging. So many reasons why my blogging has become sporatic at best, non-existent at worst. I won't bore you with why.
I'm still here, though, and my kids are still being silly and sweet and bad. Here's another slew of recent phone pics and little anecdotes.

We'll start with Max.
Emptying his backpack the other day I found this:

"One of my favourite people in the whole world is my dad, because he never let's me stay sad."
Meaning - When Mom gets mad at me and I run off crying, Dad always comes and makes it all better. Mom=Bad Guy, Dad=Hero.

Then I turned the page and found this:

"I love my Mom because she made me."
Meaning - I love my Mom because I am biologically designed to and culturally expected to. Nice.

One more:

Asked to write several proper sentences, Max finishes with, "I have the best teacher ever." lol
No wonder people like Max!
I was in the convenience store with Charlie after my taekwondo class last night, and there was a woman with a little girl walking in at the same time. The little girl gets all excited and says to her Mom, "gasp! There's Charlie!! That means MAX is here!!!"
I have to say, he is quite likable. I was set up in the tv room ironing all of Quincey's shirts (finally). Charlie comes up to me all surprised, "You iron?? I've never seen you iron...like..NEVER."
But Max comes up and says to me, "Mom, you need a day off. Why don't you take a day off with Dad and get Rachael to watch us." Someday it's going to drive his wife nuts that his crazy momma is so attached to him :-)

Time for another pic from my phone and a solid transition to Eloise:
I found them snuggled up together watching tv. When I see my kids loving on each other it is completely irresistible to me.


Elly's preschool teacher expressed concern recently that Elly and Aidan only play with each other and are always holding hands or hugging. She wondered if we wanted her to keep them more separate in class. Nope! we told her. They're just soul-mate cousins and we're fine with it :-)

At breakfast Elly asked me to get my phone and take a picture of her with her momma bunny and baby bunny. I, of course, obliged.

All the crazy gadgets the kids have, but the good old fashion stuffed animals remain Elly's toy of choice.

This is what a sleepover hangover looks like:

Being eight, Charlie's favourite thing in the world is a sleepover. She's recently discovered the thrill of staying up all night. Not so much fun the next day, though. Especially when Mom's dragging you out for your brother's hockey practice. The rest of this day was better off forgetting altogether :/

Amy and I took Charlie and Kenzie on a girl's day date. We got pedicures then went out for a sit down lunch.


I'm trying to do more of these kinds of things with the kids. I took Max and Charlie skating the weekend before, and this weekend we're going to go bowling.



It helps that I have someone to leave Quinn with. I love doing things with the kids, but it's tough with a toddler spoiling things. I used to think I was a baby person, but I'm certain now that I like kids. I just absolutely love hanging out with my big kids.

Max came home from school recently and told me that Dad got me pregnant by peeing on me! We were concerned that they're getting bizarre information from kids at school so decided to have a chat with them. Quincey asked, "Do you know what sex is?"
They both started to giggle. Charlie says, "Of course! Aaaaaalllllll kids know what sex is!"
Quincey asked, "Do you know what drugs are?"
Charlie answered yes again. Quincey asked, "How do you know about drugs?"
Charlie replies, "BECAUSE, Dad, I watch Dr. Phil!"
The conversation continues on about other dangers and vices. Quincey asks, "What happens when you eat too much?"
Max answers, "You get baaaad gas."

Ok, lastly for today (and only because I'm at work and need to finish a project) a picture of Quinn and Quincey at a 7am hockey practice. It is so much easier to control her when Quincey is around! Hopefully this constant travelling will subside soon!

Someone to go through life with.

The best gift I could give them was each other.

Even if they don't always realize it!

I recently referred to them as Irish Twins. (Is that still politically correct? Probably not.)
Charlie screeched and Max pretending to puke. "I am not his/her twin!!" they both yelled as if they had rehearsed it. I explained that it's called Irish twins when siblings are born within a year of each other. They were having no part of it.

We were laughing yesterday when we drove past the smoke stacks remembering when they used to think it was the Cloud Factory. They were so sweet and little once upon a time!

I used to get asked if they were twins back then too.
Ahhh, I miss my babies sometimes! I'd like to go back and smooch their little cheeks..but only for a moment. Those two as toddlers together put me through the ringer!! And they still make me laugh even as big kids so it's all good :-)

A Max funny: When my hands are dirty they have more flavour.
A Charlie funny: Quincey told me the other day that I was H-O-T. I heard Charlie saying to herself, "H...O...oh..gross."

Crazy hair and mustache day

Just found these on my camera from a month ago.
The kids had been home sick. It was their first day back and they insisted it was crazy hair and mustache day. I was very nervous sending them to school like this without being SURE it was indeed a theme day. In kindergarten I sent Charlie to school with a medusa-inspired 'do for crazy hair day only it wasn't crazy hair day :-(
I was pondering what to do when she suggested we just tie it in a bow. I agreed since it seemed like she could still blend in if we had our days mixed up.


But for Max..whatever, Dude, lick it off if it's not mustache day. Even if he got laughed at he'd probably join in and laugh harder than anyone.


No worries, though. I was indeed crazy hair and mustache day. Emotional scars avoided!

Evil Baby

This is my favourite drawing by one of my kids so far. Charlie did it.

It's Quinn (see the sticking-straight-up ponies and flower on her shirt?) riding an evil robot while holding a rocket ship in one hand and a gun in the other.
It's accompanied by a story about how when we put her in her crib at night she pushes a secret button that turns her bedroom into a mad scientist's lab (Quinn being the mad scientist).
You can see that Quinny's reign of terror doesn't just affect me :-)

House Arrest

It's day 9 of the plague at the H-B household. Charlie started it and Charlie shall finish it. Everyone's been sick and recovered except Charlie. She has yet to recover.
The anti-biotic ointment has worked wonders on her impetigo, but before she was better from that, she came down with the stomach flu that the rest of us have had.
Quinn is still covered in a thick layer of snot, but that's just more a nuisance than anything. She hasn't lost her..umm..spirit shall we say. Still as bossy, demanding and high maintenance than ever.
This afternoon she washed the kitchen floor with the cat's water and her shirt. While it was still on her body.

I'm thinking it's going to be another all-night-puke-a-rama. Oh boy. Get a few winks for me, people.

First Day of School

Max: UGH! I have to have FANCY hair for the first day of SCHOOL?!?
Apparently brushing=fancy hair

This was the best I could get for smiles. Max was upset about school starting, and although Charlie was excited to be going back she's having self esteem issues with her teeth so kept her mouth closed.
She's got her two front teeth in and now lost the two on either side of them. She says she looks like a bunny. I've tried to convince her it's no big deal and that eeeeeeverybody in her grade looks the same, but she's a girl and will obsess over it, I guess.

Otherwise an uneventful day. They slipped right back into routine with no issues. Yay!