Sunday Summary

On Monday, Emma and Gabe OF COURSE informed me that it was "Dress up as your favorite character day" at school 10 minutes before the bus left. And because I am an awesome mother, this is what I came up with:

We are reading the Poppy series by Avi and so they were Poppy (Emma, with little ear buns, whiskers and a pink nose) and Rye (Gabe, with a furry hat, notched ear, and similar whiskers and nose).

We also had Miles,2, our cousin, over for an hour on Monday. Jane informed me (with Miles sitting in the car) that "I don't really like Miles, Mom, but I won't say that." Me: "Um, Jane, you just did." Jane: "I know, but now I won't say it again, because you will say it is a mean sing to say." Upon arrival home, she proceeded to play with him the entire time.

Emma also decided that she was done with piano on Monday. Her friends came over to ask her for a bike ride...and a lifetime of piano-playing was tossed out the window. Except I wouldn't let her, even though I was informed VERY emphatically that: "It's my choice, MOM!!"


On Tuesday, Emma and Gabe completed the much coveted (let's be honest, mostly by MOM) Reading is the Ticket Program, in which they receive a free ticket to the local amusement park if they read a certain amount. The month previous was filled with a bunch of (mostly idle) threats of "You are NOT going to Silverwood if you don't do this. I'm serious. Really. We'll get a babysitter and leave you home, because we can't afford to take this whole gaggle of kids to an amusement park. And you'll pay for the babysitter. I'm not kidding.) They were scared into submission.


On Wednesday, at Cub Scouts (Tammy will appreciate this) we learned about Litter to Glitter by reading children's conservation books, discussing how we can help and then Saving the Earth by collecting trash at our local park.

Friday we got to attend this Mexican fiesta:

at the Nebekers, where we ate steak, potatoes, rolls, spinach salad and asparagus. The plans for a fiesta were obviously changed, without the Albrechts knowledge, who came fully decked out and then forced the rest of us to dress-up and take pictures so they wouldn't feel dumb.

(we had SUCH a fun time)

Saturday was filled with the usual chores, basketball games and Ryan/Jessica date. Most notable, however, was Seth's nightmare episode, in which this bear:

kept us all up for a good hour.

I heard Seth crying and came into his room to find the bear lying on his face. He, crying hysterically, told me: "The bear is eating me, mom." I dropped the bear to the side of the crib. Seth cried louder: "NO! Dat bear tan't wook at me mom." So I dropped the bear, down the stairs. Seth, relented a little, checking: "Did dat bear go back to his mom's house, now, mom?" I white-lied, "Yes, he's back at his mom's house." I kissed him, tucked him in and left.

He cried again, on and off, for another half hour. Each time I would go in, check what was wrong and he would say, "I'n dust fine, mom. I'n happy. I'n scared, mom." After an attempt to have him sleep by me, so he would calm down, during which he chatted with me for 10 minutes about the whole scary bear problem, I laid him down and instructed him to sing a Primary song if he was scared. Upon returning to my bed, I heard in the other room, at the top of his lungs, Seth singing "I'm a Child of God." He eventually went to sleep but upon coming downstairs in the morning, was re-traumatized that the bear was not ACTUALLY at "his mom's house". He took him downstairs, and returned upstairs, telling me" Dat scawy bear is watching Amewcan Idol, now, mom." We're hoping Simon scared the Scary out of that mean Care Bear and that we'll have a good night's sleep tonight.

Sweet Dreams (Care Bear-free), from the Romneys.