Friday's Serenism is Brought to you by Dodge Caravan

We drive a Nissan Quest minivan as our family vehicle and we took it in for some warranty items before the warranty ran out.  The dealership is nice enough to provide a rental car to use while ours is getting fixed.  We really enjoy this part because we get to experience a variety of vehicles and judge how well they fit our family and our needs.

I was excited about getting the Dodge Grand Caravan.  Other than the Quest, in my opinion, it's the only other attractive minivan with a large engine I would consider for our family (although I'd consider Toyota Sienna and Honda Odyssey, but they're not attractive).

Mike was excited until he got in the Dodge and began to drive it.  He expected more of a 4.0 liter engine.  The Quest has a 3.5 liter and exhibits much more response.  It handles better overall as well.  And, the Dodge was slow.  Mike reminded the rest of us of this very fact every time he had to accelerate. 

We had to use this loaner vehicle to get to our all-day convention, which was a half an hour away.  On Friday morning, Mike pointed out that we would be an hour and a half late by the time we arrived.  Seren reminded us why this was: "Daddy, we're going to be so late because this van is SOOOOOOOOO slow!"  That wasn't the reason, but it works for me :)

This week's Serenism is brought to you by the Golden Arches:

Seren:  Daddy, are we going to McDonald's?
Daddy: No, we're going home to eat some food.
Seren: I don't want to eat food, I want McDonald's!!!

Me: EARL! Earl: What?

Today, I woke up to my tub on the floor.  Yesterday, I woke up to Earl attacking his reflection on my closet door.  It seemed to me that the cat he was attacking kept giving Earl dirty looks as well as possibly expressing his superiority.  Earl was having none of it and continually rammed his head into the other cat, who was conveniently located behind a pane of glass.

Crocheted Creatures

So, my mom made some toys for the kids, as you can see above.  They are very creative and artistic.   At first, because these creations look like they could possibly be used in a horror flick, I was afraid the children might run out of the room screaming at first glance.  Oddly, even though the children have become more aware of the creepy crawlies in the dark, possibly because of their presence,  the children seem to love them.  In all, I think they are cute too, but I am concerned about the eye we discovered at the bottom of the "pole" creature.  Is that it's head, or is it prairie-dogging something it ate???

My Identity

After renewing my membership at Sam's Club today and getting a new card, it occurred to me that my children have become a part of my identity.  Literally, my picture on my Sam's card is a picture of me, but fairly overtaken by two smaller faces.  As I checked out, the cashier looked at the card, then at me and the kids, comparing the picture with the person carrying it and correctly concluded it was me.  Likely wouldn't recognize me without my kids.

I get my driver's license redone next year.  I wonder if it will look the same?  If I try to buy beer, will they let me check out of the grocery store if I didn't bring my kids?  I can see it now:  "I'm sorry Ma'am, but this ID doesn't match.  The person who is old enough to purchase beer according to this ID has five heads, you only have one.  We can't let you complete this transaction until you can prove your identity and your age..."  Of course, this would only happen at some place like WinCo or Walmart, where the cashier would compare my signature on my driver's license to the one on my credit card, then conclude I'm not me because the signature doesn't match up just right. 

Defeated and embarrassed, I would head back to my car and find my husband towing four children on into the store for a potty-run because the beer-run was taking too long.  After bird-dogging three girls in the bathroom, I would lead them to an empty shopping cart and make my way back to the refrigerator section.  At this point, I would no longer be interested in the beer I had to leave at the register because it is too warm.

I head back to the cashier with my cold beer and Mike offers to take the kids back to the car to wait while I check out.  Xander is fussy, Penny is twirling like a ballerina endangering every glass object around her, Seren is stripping shelves of Cheetos, Doritos and other desired items, and Evy is inquiring about the chances of checking out with the never-ending list of things she cannot live without.  Me: "No, honey, it's less hassle this way..."

The cashier scans the beer, then looks at me and my circus, and says in jest, "This is well deserved beer and you're gonna need it tonight!"  Me: "Don't you want to check my ID?  I have all five heads this time..."  Cashier: "No, Hon, you look old enough I don't need to card you." 

*Sigh*

Ballerina Party

I apologize for the lack of updates in recent days.  The kids have been doing interesting things, but not necessarily blog worthy.  Although, I did take my oldest daughter, Evy, on a shopping trip yesterday (shopping for a ballerina party).  We were riding around in my 20 year old Volvo.  She's used to riding around in our 6 year old minivan, which is new enough to have a remote key lock.  At one point she asked me how I unlock my car!  Er, um, the old fashioned way, by sticking my key into the door and turning :) 

Then, this week, we found our back scratcher.  Seren was quite delighted about that and started reaching down the back of her shirt, scratching her back high and low.  I warned her to be careful about how low she goes because she doesn't want to give herself a wedgie.  She said:  "Don't worry, mom...I'm not digging that deep."

At any rate, here's some pictures of the party.  I threw in a few of Xander dressed for the party, although he didn't go.

Xander gets a new sippee