Hooray for the Police!

We went to a visitation tonight. That reminds me of something else, so I'm going to interrupt my story already....

Sarah was playing with a little gold bead the whole time we were in line. When we got up to the front of the line, she dropped it, and of course it rolled right under the casket. She started crawling under to get it right at the time when she was supposed to be saying her rehearsed line: "I'm sorry for your loss." Mike made her stand up and say her line, and then she went right back to focusing on her own loss. I ended up dragging her out from under the casket.

But back to my original story.... The line moved slowly, so when I left the visitation I only had five minutes to get to my harp teacher's house all the way across town, so I was speeding. Not just a little speeding, but a good 20 mph over the limit. I also hadn't taken the time to put on my seatbelt. Mike was taking the kids home in the van, and I was driving his car. My purse (with driver's license) was in the van. I was so focused on my rush to get there that I was only vaguely aware of the flashing lights in my rearview mirror. They followed me all the way down Jefferson Street before they finally registered in my consciousness and caused me to think, "What IS that annoying flashing?" As soon as I looked in the rearview mirror, I knew I was in major trouble. Speeding, no seatbelt, no license, and he had to chase me a long distance before I stopped.

There he was shining his flashlight at me and asking if he could see my license. I dumbly said, "No." He said, "You don't have a license, or you don't have it with you?" I wanted to say, "It's in my safe minivan, which I always drive very slowly when my kids are with me," but I didn't think he'd believe that I'm the one who ALWAYS sets my cruise control at 50 mph on the interstate, and the one time I break the law in four different ways, I get caught. So I just said I didn't have it with me. He took my name and date of birth and went to his car to look me up while I scrounged around for the insurance card he'd asked me to produce. To my absolute amazement, he showed mercy. Instead of writing me a whole slew of tickets, he told me to be more cautious and have a good night!

I got home in time to tell my kids a great bedtime story about God's mercy on us by not giving us the punishment we deserve, as reflected by a very kind police officer.

Kid-isms

Our kids are old enough now that they rarely make funny word mistakes anymore, but today, they make three of them:
1) Noah was watching me make tortilla rollups. He asked me if he could have one, and I told him they were for Daddy's potluck at work tomorrow. He said, "What pothole?"
2) Mike asked me, "What's in this Pyrex?" and Noah said, "What pirate?"
3) Noah and Sarah were having yet another stuffed animal wedding, and Mike (the minister) asked which one was the groom. Sarah said, "The mouse is the broom."

Snow

Sarah coined a phrase awhile ago that we're now all using. She calls snow pants with the overall straps "snoveralls".
Today we were outside in the snow again. Noah was looking closely at an undisturbed section of level snow. He stared at it a long time and then said, "Come and look at these tracks in the snow!" I went over to see, and there was, of course, nothing. I said, "What tracks?" and he said, "Don't you see those tiny, tiny tracks?" There was absolutely nothing there, so I was trying to figure him out, and he said conspiratorially, "They're snowflake tracks."

Legumes

I don't like many members of the legume family. In fact, I even dislike the word "legume". Nevertheless, I was roasting some chickpeas this afternoon, because Noah has always liked them. As he was crunching away on them, Sarah asked him what he was eating. He said, "Chickpeas. Here, try one." She tried it, spit it out, and declared, "I don't like chicken peas."

Hot Water

Noah had just finished eating and came over to the sink where I was washing dishes. He asked if he could rinse his hands off in my dishwater, and I said yes. He put his hands in and jerked them right out and exclaimed, "How can you stand such hot water?! You are the bravest woman in the world!" It reminded me of being in that same position as a kid and thinking the same thing about my mom. She would crank the faucet all the way to the left to get the hottest water and then plunge her hands right into it and wash the dishes. I used to think she was a superhero with hands covered in some material other than skin.

Personalities, Part 2

I asked the kids what they would take with them if they were going to a deserted island and could only take 5 things. Their responses were very revealing of their personalities. Noah took about 10 minutes to answer, and of course there were questions involved. He said, "First I would take God. Do I have to count that, since He's always with me anyway and doesn't take up any space?" I said he didn't have to count God. Then he said, "I would take food, water, Barney (his security item), a blanket, and a pillow. No, wait. I guess I don't need to take water, because there will be water all around, but it will be salt water so I'll have to boil it, so I better take some matches to start a fire. OK, so I'll take food, matches, Barney, a blanket, and a pillow. Oh, but my food would run out pretty quickly, and I guess I don't really need to bring that anyway since I can find food and cook it on my fire. Take off food and add a cooking pot instead." He was satisfied with that for awhile, but then he said, "I won't really need a blanket if I have a fire, and I could use Barney for a blanket if I had to, so I'm not taking the blanket. I'll take a fishing pole instead. Well, if I don't need a blanket, I sure don't need a pillow. I'll just make a pillow out of sand. I guess I only need to take four things. Oh no, hang on...how am I going to make fire if I don't have wood? Will there be trees on the island?" I told him there would be trees. He said, "I'm taking a cooking pot, matches, Barney, a fishing pole, and an ax." He smiled triumphantly. Sarah had been listening with amazing patience the whole time, so I thought her list would be influenced by his. But no. When I asked her what she was taking, she said, "I'm taking One Blanken and Two Blanken (security items), my Webkinz bluejay, water, and a pillow. Now let's go play!"

The Bathroom Is Clean!

Not blog-worthy for most people, but a big accomplishment for me. Even though I'm surrounded by great cleaners and organizers (my parents, in-laws, and son), none of it has rubbed off on me. This morning I put the kids in the tub with shaving cream, squirt bottles, and food coloring and let them make a huge mess so that I would be forced to clean it afterwards. Just one of the little tricks I have to play on myself to get motivated to clean the bathroom.

Update

Well, I didn't achieve all my goals for the day. We made tortillas, shoveled snow, went sledding, and cleaned one bathroom, but the other bathroom remains. It's supposed to get cleaned on Mondays, but I can usually find some reason to put it off. Have to do it tomorrow for sure. I do have a pretty good excuse today though. We were very cold and walking home from sledding, and I promised a warm bath and hot chocolate to the kids. Got home and discovered that we were locked out. That's a long story, but suffice it to say that Noah made an error. Sarah started crying pitifully, and by the time we got to the neighbor's house to use the phone, she was wailing, "I want to go home! I want to go home!" The wonderful neighbor let us in, and while I was calling Mike, she made popcorn for the kids and turned on something for them to watch on TV. Sarah was too upset to eat, so you KNOW she was really upset. Noah wasn't bothered at all and seemed to be enjoying himself. Mike confirmed my fear that we didn't even have a key to this particular door, because we never lock it. The neighbor's husband came in then, and I asked him if he had any lock picking tools. He was able to get the door unlocked, and we were very thankful to be home, but alas, no time to clean the bathroom.

Dreams, Goals, and Acrostics

I had two great dreams last night. I dreamed I was eating a big, cheesy pizza. Then I dreamed I was pregnant, and I got to see a sonogram picture of my son. I woke up with my hands on my belly and a smile on my face.
My goals for the remainder of the day are for us to make tortillas, clean the bathrooms, and play in the snow.
The kids made acrostics this morning. Sarah did this one about Noah:

Noodle lover
Opens doors
Always loves Sarah
Happy

Noah made this one about Papa Marty:

Mike's dad
Aunt Kathy's dad
Reads a lot
Tickles us
Yucky coffee drinker

They did lots more of those too.

Korean Americans

Sarah was in the tub playing with shaving cream. She mixed some shaving cream with water in a cup and said, "This is how Koreans make milk." Then she put the cup on her head and said, "This is how Africans carry Korean milk." She was pretending she was pregnant. She rubbed her stomach and said, "My baby is still in my tomb, but it's coming soon." I explained to her the difference between a tomb and a womb, but I don't think she was listening, because she went right back to talking about Koreans. She said, "I'm Korean because I'm brown. You're American because you're white." I told her that she's Korean because she was born in Korea to Korean birthparents and that she will always be one hundred percent Korean. I told her that she's also one hundred percent American, because when we adopted her she became a legal citizen of America. I told her that she's Korean-American. She went to find Noah and told him excitedly, "Noah, we're Korean-Americans!" I'm sure heritage and adoption issues will get more difficult as they get older, but for now, she's thrilled to be a Korean American.

Personalities

We were in Peoria today and decided to visit Mike at work. He had a meeting after work and wouldn't be home until after the kids were in bed, so they needed a Daddy fix. The kids each took a Webkinz animal in with them. We ran into one of those guys who likes to tease and joke around all the time, and he was messing with the kids. He asked Noah why he was carrying around a rat. Noah politely told him it was a mouse. Actually, I was surprised that he talked at all. Then the teaser asked Sarah why she had a bat. She was immediately indignant, and told him loudly and firmly that it was a NOT a bat but a bird. Typical Sarah response. On our way out, we saw the same guy again, and he asked Noah what he had. Noah said quietly, "It's a rat." Teaser didn't know what to say to that, so he turned to Sarah asked her what she had, and she declared, "A BIRD!" He asked her how she knew it wasn't a bat, and she explained loudly and slowly (as if he were the dumbest person she'd ever met), "Because it is a BIRD!" When we got home, Noah said, "I wish I would have shown that funny guy the tag on my mouse. It says right on there, 'white mouse'." The whole incident so clearly represents the differences in their personalities. Noah is easy-going, agreeable, and will say whatever he thinks you want to hear. He's a thinker and a people-pleaser who cows to peer pressure. And then there's Sarah. She's a strong, forceful, opinionated, independent woman, and she'll tell it like it is, no matter who you are or what you think. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and it's so interesting to watch them develop.

Ears

Sarah is completely healed this morning, and she is HUNGRY! In fact, she woke up in the middle of the night saying she wanted spaghetti. That didn't happen, but when she got up in the morning, she wanted a bagel, cantaloupe, and tea. (The only thing she asked for yesterday was tea, but she went to sleep while I was making it). She was very demanding and the things she wanted weren't appearing on the timetable she wanted, so she said, "I SAID give me some cantaloupe! I asked nicely." I told her that she didn't ask nicely but I was working on it anyway. She argued that she had said "please", and I said I didn't hear it. Mike and Noah agreed that they didn't hear it either. I said, "Apparently, you're the only one who heard yourself say please." She said, "Of course, because my ears are closest to my mouth."

Lepers

Sarah is very sick today. She didn't eat all day, just laid around in misery and slept a lot. She's been alive for almost 5 years, and this is the first time she's ever puked. It was a good one though, because somehow she puked on her hair and I had to give her a shower. She had a fever and the shakes, and she cried all through the shower. She fell asleep on the bathroom floor after I got her dried and dressed. Noah covered her with his special fleece blanket that he named Brownie. He said she could keep it until she was well again, and then we'd have to wash it. As he was making her a get-well card (and carefully choosing her favorite colors), he said, "I hope she will enjoy this." I told him that she might not appear to enjoy it because she's so miserable, but I was sure that she would appreciate it deep inside. He said, "Sometimes I do that too. If somebody does something for me, I might not think to thank them right away, but later when I think about how nice it was, then I say thank you." I told him he's like the tenth leper in Luke 17, when Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one comes back to thank Him. Noah said, "And Sarah is like the fourth leper."