Good morning :)

I woke up this morning to the sound of my kids playing in their room.  As I grab my smartphone and go through my email, I hear the sweet little voice of my two year old (almost 3), Penny say from her bathroom, "Mommy, I'm out of tullet paper..."  At this point, I'm really glad she didn't mention arse cream (ICE cream, Penny).

So, I grab her a refill and when I walk in to replace it, I see a cute little bare bottom girl, wearing a leopard halter top and bright pink pants that have dropped to her ankles, and messy hair to top her off.  She looked directly at me and made an elegant motion with her hand to display the empty toilet paper roll much like the models would on The Price is Right, "See, mommy, it's all gone.  You need to replace it.  The empty one needs to come off."

This is not necessarily what I want to be doing first thing in the morning, but, in other ways, I'd rather do nothing else.  The scene was just adorable :)

Today's Serenisms

We went to the lake today, up in the mountains.  While Evy, Penny, and I were swimming in the water, Seren refused to come initially, because she couldn't see her feet at the bottom because the water wasn't clear.  Then I finally just tossed her in so she would start enjoying it.  She was swimming and having fun for the longest time.

I was sitting around the shoreline in the water and playing with Penny when Seren decided to sit on my lap.  I told her that if she was still, she could feel the fish come up and nibble on her as I felt them nibbling on me.  She sat and waited.  She felt one or two nibble on her legs and giggled.

All of a sudden she screamed, jumped out of my lap, out of the water, and accused a fish of biting on her toe.  She screamed as if she was being hunted by the very creature we all know as Jaws.  Of course, Seren has never seen the movie Jaws and, after today's experience with a teeny little fish, I don't intend to anytime soon.  I tried to convince her that it was ok to come back in and the fish wouldn't hurt her.  She screamed, "But Mommy!  Fish biting my toes is CREEPY!"  Eventually I had to throw her in the lake to clean her off and she forgot about the fish for awhile.

When we got home and unpacked the van, Seren was taking inventory of what was in the ice chest.  She said, "Mom, the sodas are getting icky.  It's because the ice is melting.  We'll have to drink them all tonight!" 

"The sodas will be fine, Seren..."

Downs' Syndrome

This is our version of Downs' Syndrome at the house of Downs:

So, as Mike was making breakfast, the kids were commenting on SmartBalance not being real butter.  The container was on the table and I commented that it tastes alot like butter because it's made with whey and milk, but also with canola and soybean oil.

Mike interjects that it includes palm oil and coconut oil...To which I counter that I didn't see it in the ingredients, which I was READING off the container...of course, I tell him that I see "Palm Fruit" and he argues that it's another name for palm oil.

Then he asks if it has vitamin B1 or B12 or B5 and I suggest that he inquires of the makers of Smart Balance whether it does and if palm oil is part of "palm fruit".

THEN Seren makes the observation that I have cheesy eggs.  Goading the Downs within her, I remark I have eggy cheese.  She insists that I have cheesy eggs...

AND, to top off breakfast, as I'm sitting there, minding my own business, trying to finish my eggs...Mike pulls a pair of the girls' panties out of the washer (as he moves the load to the dryer), holds them under my nose and exclaims, "SEE!  The carpet odor remover got rid of the peepee smell!"

I have technically been off work since Monday and on vacation through today and am supposed to go back to work tomorrow.  After the refrigerator breaking on Monday, shopping all day Tuesday for a new one, spending all of our vacation money on the new refrigerator, and spending the rest of the week sick or wiping the noses of other sick and cranky people, I think I'm ready for my "vacation" of my secular job starting tomorrow.

The Pennish/English Dictionary

In Pennish: In English:
Benchin' Convention
Elegator Elevator
Arse Cream Ice Cream

Penny: "(Gasp) We're going to Benchin'!" 
Mommy: "Yes, Penny, we're going to the convention."
Penny: "We take the elegator?  Where's the elegator?!"
Mommy: "The elevator is over there, Penny."
Evy: "And if we're good, we get ICE CREAM!"
Penny:"Arse cream?!!!"
Mommy: "ICE cream, Penny."

Welp

Seren survived her first 3 days of kindergarten.  Barely survived.  She "befriended" a boy on the first day. She came home with a scraped right knee the second day.  Today, she came home with a really banged up left knee.  I was informed that her friend pushed her down both days but the teacher saw it happen today and sent him home.  Seren proclaims his innocence.  Woe to him next week if he does it again and Seren no longer proclaims his innocence.  I'm not sure that there will be much of this "friend" left to send home.

Penny Thoughts and Humor

I was changing Xander's diaper in our minivan while Seren and Penny watched from their seats.  As I was wrapping up Xander's icky diaper and he was still "commando", Seren asked if I was going to put a new diaper on him.

I replied, "No, Seren.  I will not be putting another diaper on him.  I am going to buckle him up in his carseat and he can be just as he is the rest of the day."

"WITH SHOES!" Penny chimed in, as Seren contemplated how serious I was about Xander going without a diaper the rest of the day.

Now, the part I find interesting about Penny's comment is that I never put shoes on Xander.  Why would I?  He isn't walking yet.  So, as my 5 year old contemplated whether I would really let Xander go "commando" the rest of the day, my 2 year old recognized my sarcasm right away and immediately inserted her own sarcasm suggesting that I do something else I never do as well.  What a comical visual picture she painted with that suggestion!

On the other hand, Seren probably did recognize my sarcasm, but knows that I can be crazy enough to mean exactly what I say sometimes.

In the end, Xander did get a diaper. Pun intended.

Seren can read!

So, with less than two weeks before Kindergarten, Seren finally read her first word! "Puppy." I've been working on this girl for ages. Evy read her first word just shy of age 3. I've been working with Seren on her letters and sounds since she could talk (just like Evy), but this girl is SO stubborn about it that I had not made any progress until this past year. Although, she seems to know more than she lets on. So, I took her for a ride yesterday and bought some Puppy Chow for the cats (that's a different story) and she was expressing her frustration that she couldn't read. I told her she could read; she just needed to listen. When we got home, I took out the box and she refused to name any of the letters or sound them out. Stubborn! Then, I did the practice run and insisted she follow suit. Once she figured out the word Puppy, she wanted to work on the word Chow, which she did with ease. Of course, instead of being happy that she learned how to read, she threw a tantrum for the next hour because I was right...lol...Gah! From terrible two's thru to terrible twenties...and she's only five...

I remember when Evy first learned how to read.  Her first word was "kitten."  After that, she was trouble.  She was only 3 when we were standing under a menu of a closed concession stand.  Evy looked up at the menu and read, "P-I-Z-Z-A.  Pizza! That word spells Pizza! I'd like to have some of that!"  Mike looked up at the menu, "You're right, Evy.  The word 'pizza' is up there.  Daddy sees something up there he'd like to have too." 

(Insert long pause here as Evy considers the menu).  Evy, "B-E-E-R.  Yup!  I'll bet that's what you'd like to have!"

Now Seren will be as much trouble...lol