So the other day I went to pick Harrison up from school. While walking in the school parking lot I saw a big truck with a bumper sticker that read, "No names, just sex." I had a few thoughts on the bumper sticker then dismissed it.
When I picked Harrison up he seemed excited. He made me lean down so he could whisper in my ear that he had a girlfriend. His friend from another class had just asked him if he wanted to be her boyfriend. "Oh! Ok," I said as I started thinking about the conversation I was going to have with him at home.
Back in the parking lot a little girl leans out of a big truck to yell goodbye to Harrison. Harrison points out that she is his new girlfriend and I realize Harrison's "girlfriend" is in the same truck that had the oh so lovely bumper sticker on it! GREAT!

Traffic Stopper

Damon has a tradition of taking our kids to breakfast and then to his work on their birthday. So this morning Damon took Harrison (who turns 6 tomorrow!) out for his birthday breakfast. While they were gone I took Jackson and Lucy and my niece and nephew Dylan and Victoria, who are visiting for spring break, to buy Harrison's birthday gift. Then we got on the I10 freeway to pick Harrison up from Damon's work. While driving along I had the radio up and I was singing and dancing when all of a sudden I felt my car kind of studder. I'm ashamed to admit it was the familiar feeling of a car running out of gas. I looked at my fuel gauge to confirm my fear. I quickly pulled over before I came to a complete stop in the middle of the freeway. I called Damon so he could come rescue me with a couple gallons of fuel and the kids and I had a good laugh. How embarrassing to run our of gas and on the free way of all places! There was nothing else to do but sit and wait so I cranked the music up and continued singing and dancing when I noticed a car pull up behind me. Yep, it was a police car. He came to my window and asked, "What's the problem Ma'am?" "I ran out of gas," I sheepishly explained. To which he responded, "Are you serious?!" Then he went on to explain that what he needed to do was get me to the right side of the freeway. I was in the left lane when I felt my car tugging, I was not willing to have my car die in the middle of traffic so I just pulled over. "Here's what's going to happen," he explained, "you will put your car in neutral and I am going to push you across the freeway. It will take a few minutes because I have to call for backup." So we continued to wait, this time with much more anticipation. We kept asking each other, "What are they going to do? Close down the freeway?" That's exactly what happened. When cars were no longer sailing past the officer told me to put my car into neutral then slowly started pushing me. I looked in my mirror to see a wall of traffic about a half mile behind us. A single police car was swerving between all the lanes in front of this wall, stopping freeway traffic so a single car full of woman and children could make it safely to the other side of the freeway. There was nothing to do but laugh at how ridiculous we (I) were (am)!

My favorite part of the day

At the end of preschool during our closing time I let the kids take turns telling me their favorite part of the day. They get to wear the gazing glasses (a silly pair of sunglasses) and tell the class their favorite part of preschool that day and I write it down for them to take home. Today during Cate's turn she unintentionally said, "My pavorite fart of preschool was..." None of the kids noticed her slip up but I certainly did. Maybe I'm around kids too much and think potty talk is pretty funny but I have been laughing all day. And now you know my favorite part of the day.

When girls grow up...

Harrison and I were having a conversation about Santa Claus. Harrison asked why Santa needs so many elves. I told him it's because Santa needs a lot of help, he couldn't make all those toys by himself. Then I had a brilliant idea to tell him it's kind of like Mom, I can't do everything by myself. I was so excited to have a conversation about how my kids can be like elves and help me out but Harrison was thinking something totally different...
"That's why when girls grow up they need to find a maaan."

Healthy Foods

I was driving in the car with my kids when Jackson made a random comment that left me laughing and feeling quite disgusted. Jackson said to me in a very thoughtful/ wishful thinking tone, "Mom, I wish boogers were healthy." I was dying on the inside, trying not to laugh and at the same time feeling a little nauseous. On the outside I tried to stay composed and asked him why. His response, "because boogers are so gooood, just not healthy for us."
YUCK!
A few years ago I gave up on nagging my kids to stop picking their noses and focused my attention on not eating their boogers. I had to pick my battles and decided to make stepping stones. The first step would be to get them to stop eating their boogers. Then I would work on not picking their noses. After a few months of working on the no eating booger thing Jackson said, "I really want to eat my boogers. They just taste so good." Well, he's four and a half now and even though the tempation is still there he (for the most part) shows great restraint against the desire to eat his boogers. Picking is still another issue...