From the mouths of babes

Mommy: Claire, who is your favorite aunt?

Claire: Aunt Deedra (I swear that is what she said)

Mommy: Ellie, who is your favorite aunt? (hoping she will say Aunt Dana)

Ellie: Ally.

Well, Ally is not an aunt, but so cute! For the record, I have amazing sisters-in-law who I am proud to have as sisters from other misters. They inspire me daily to be a geat wife and mother. I love you both dearly.

Oh Christmas Tree?

Tonight the girls and I put together our Christmas tree. We diligently sorted out the branches by color and piled them neatly on the floor. It was great! Claire read the directiions and made sure we put in the right colors, Ellie did all the bending and handed me each branch, and I put all the branches in the post and made them look "real". We get all done and stand back to admire the tree (we decorate tomorrow night). Ellie just looks at the tree and Claire says, "It doesn't look like a real tree." News flash...it is not a real tree and we won't have to water it or vacuum up pine needles for the next 6 months. Claire bends over and picks up a fake "needle" off the floor and says, "like this?". I hate when she's right.

Why we do not watch football

Mama Sue (directed at the TV): Shut up, announcers. Start talking sbout the game.

Mommy: Ellie, tell Mama Sue we don't say "shut up".

Ellie: We say damn it, huh Mom?

Um....right. Thanks Uncle Gary for turning your head to laugh. I appreciate it.

Funny thing about my girls

They are too smart for their own good.

When Claire started kindergarten, we were concerned she would be bored because she knew most everything on the kindergarten skill list and had mastered quite a number of skills on the list. Apparently Claire needs to learn emotion control and decision-making skills...see previous post.

I realized that Ellie has met many of the kindergarten "end of year" goals also. I suppose I should work on her emotion control and decision-making skills now.

Ellie has also mastered "cursing": holy holy. At least I think that is cursing to her....she says it in situations in which I would curse.

Big Girl Ellie

Ellie is now mostly potty-trained and it is an exciting time in our household. I'm thinking my budget line item for "diapers/pull-ups" can soon return to "Starbucks/coffee". While I'm mopping the kitchen floor or shampooing the family room carpet or rinsing out poopy panties (sorry, but that's the way it goes sometimes), I dream of vanilla lattes and Carmel Machiattos. It's actually quite sad.

Today I asked her if we could stop buying pull-ups. Her response "No way, hosey". I'm fairly certain she meant "No way, Jose", but just couldn't pull it off.

Kindergarten Claire

Claire started kindergarten a few weeks ago.

Now that I've stopped crying every day when I drop her off, I can see the humor in the situation. She's got an entirely new set of people to influence and terrorize with her Claire-logic.

I received a voicemail from the Assistant Principal at Claire's school recently. I would receive a discipline notice on Claire's behavior. She apparently hit, and then bit another student who would not give her the book she wanted. That weekend we had many conversations about making good choices and the consequences of poor decision-making. She told me the boy's name in her recounting of the events.

Yesterday I met the "victim". I think I would have bitten him too.

What am I?

Claire: "Am I Schultz?"

Me: "Um....sort of. You're a Wilson."

Claire: "How is Mama Sue a Schultz and you're a Schultz, but I'm not a Schultz. I must be a Schultz because I belong to you."

Me: "Ok. Good logic. Go to bed."