Ambitious

Today is election day so i have the boys all home today. I also have the sweet "extras" that i keep here. my house is a MESS, my lovely sister in law, husband, and her 2 sweet babies are coming up for a visit on Friday, and this is my only day "off" work... i have lists of things to *try* to get done today, and am so totally unmotivated to try any of them. I mentioned in passing to T earlier this week that on his day off from school, we would get some baking done (he LOVES to help cook). he has a list of things he wants to make today: brownies, pumpkin bread, "goldfish popcorn chicken", pumpkin cookies w/ choc. chips., "popcorn lifesavers" (cooked on the grill, of course... (what???) , and the boys i watch are voting for cupcakes.... i have exactly 6 eggs, 6 kids, and not enough patience... there will, I am sure, be pictures later.

hmmm... ok. my kids are very perceptive. (darn it..) and pay attention to EVERYTHING. (again, darn it) I have learned that i cannot say something w/o spying ears, and we are way past being able to spell anything. so now T wants to know who i am voting for president, and why people thing Hillary is playing the "gender" thing. (i think he was looking for the word card there.) WHAT??? since when do 7 year olds pay attention to politics?

anyways, as i was thinking about my kids, i made this mental list of things i have decided my kids think:

couch cushions, shoes, coats and backpacks BELONG on the floor. they have no other home or place they belong.

whining gets exactly what you want. all the time. right now

checks and credit cards buy anything you want, you just write the checks for the amount you want

when sent to clean the playroom downstairs, it is ok to play the whole time instead, as long as they don't come upstairs and play.

tattling ALWAYS helps

blaming the youngest ALWAYS works.

here are things I have learned:

only 1 room in the house can be clean at any 1 time. (the theory of relative speed of toddler vs. aged hobble of parents.)

baby wipes clean everything (kids, floors, toilet seats, cars (but not the windows so much), etc.)

boys feet stink. all the time, even when bathed everyday.

by leaving the vacuum in the middle of the dirtiest room, you can always claim you were "just abt. to vacuum" when unexpected company shows up.

kids wet the bed the day you FINALLY wash all the sheets

school is always boring, the teacher is always mean, and they never do anything fun.

a tantruming 2 year old will stop and pose for pictures before resuming tantrums.

uh-oh is the scariest word out of your kids mouth, closely followed by "i was just..."

a 5 year old who listens to urinetown can tell you what exposition is.

kids who watch too much tv can tell you all abt the infomercials and why they just have to have whatever was being sold. ("mom, if you buy this bed, you can jump on it w/o your cup falling over"-T. "Uh, T, you aren't supposed to jump on your bed at all"-me; "yea, but you could!"-t...

so, what have you learned???