What?!

Conversation with Luke at breakfast:
L     Mom, what is a virgin?
M   What do you mean? ( Mentally asking self, where in the world did he hear the word virgin? It is not         Christmas, no one has sang Silent Night for quite a while. Does this have anything to do with Sophie's sex questions asked last week in the car while driving home?)
L     Virgin. Like Sophie's picture.
M    Oh! You mean version. (Initial relief...then realization that it is actually much easier to explain what a virgin is to a 4 year old then what the word version means.)

I muddled through some answer that I don't even remember to explain Sophie's version of some PBS characters she had drawn. Makes me laugh!


Conversation with Grace at bedtime:
G    If there was a singing contest you would be the winner!
M   Really?
G    You sing really beautiful.
M    Hmmm.
G    pause, big smile... Well, if we were the judges!

It should be against the law

Sophie is sick. She was home from school today. She hasn't been for more then a week because of winter weather and sickness. So we were working together on a homework project she needs to do. She needed a world map and I googled a free, printable one. When I opened the image it linked straight to porn. It took me 4 clicks, I am not exaggerating, to get the page off the screen. Luckily she was distracted watching her brother's play the Wii and didn't see a thing. It makes me really mad though!!!!!!! This was obviously to get kids who are on the computer doing school work exposed to porn.  I wish there was someone, somewhere I could write and complain to.

4's Company

This weekend we watched Toy Story 3 as a family. As I watched this cute movie about a little boy, now almost grown up, and his beloved toys, I thought about my kids. Toys really are not very beloved in our home. We have blankets that are adored and slept with, but none of my 4 kids has ever really bonded to one toy. I was thinking about this and why as I watched the movie.

Honesty, I was feeling a little bad. Were my kids missing out on an important part of childhood? They do play with toys, just not a lot and with little emotional attachments. What I realized is that my kids have always had flesh and blood play mates. There has always been a sister or a brother for each of my kids to play with. I think maybe they haven't needed toys as much because they have each other. I felt a brief lightening of parental guilt and had to ask why we beat ourselves up as parents so much.  Then I smiled as I watched them play doggie day care with the laundry baskets.

Laundry...never a mom's best friend

Check out today's photo on Awkward FP. I laughed...but if it had been another day or time of  my life I might have cried.

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2011/01/07/motherhood/

Happy 4th Birthday!

Luke and Noah turn 4 today. In some ways I can't believe how quickly the years have flown past. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were in the hospital holding these 2 tiny boys, full of wonder at their arrival and scared to death. Happy birthday my sweet boys!

Merry Christmas 2010

We are enjoying a magical white Christmas here in NC!

Merry Christmas from the Hardys

She wants to be a cowgirl

We were driving in the car this weekend and Grace pipes up with " I wish we lived in Texas. Then we'd HAVE to have a horse. Plus I like the music and their croutons."

I sometimes buy Texas Toast flavored croutons. The kids eat them by the handful and call them "the other kind of chips". 

Also - totally unrelated - I just had to share Luke's sugar cookie. The picture doesn't quite capture just how much frosting, chips and sugar sprinkles were loaded on it.