Who's The Boss?

Getting ready for a family trip to Target yesterday, (yes, we Monsons know how to have a good time) Julia asked Craig if she could get an Icee when we got there. Craig replied that it was fine with him, as long as it was okay with Mommy. Julia, finally putting two and two together, said, "But you're a grown up. How come we have to ask Mommy, too?" 

Craig then went into a lengthy explanation about how Mommy and Daddy are married, and when you're married you it's important to make sure that you agree with each other about certain decisions. Julia seemed satisfied with the response.

I keep thinking that it might have been easier to use the short answer, though:

Mommy's the real boss.

We Need a Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute

Halloween is over, and, well, you guessed it...I have Christmas on the brain.

In a time not so long ago, I would cringe when I saw the Christmas decorations coming out in the stores on the very day that Halloween candy was put on sale. I would shake my head at how commercialized Christmas had become, at how desperate retailers were to squeeze all of the money possible out of unsuspecting consumers under the clever guise of promoting Christmas Cheer.

Fast forward a few short years, and you will find me unabashedly proclaiming, "Bring it on!" My new official position is that I love Christmas a little too much to be disappointed that the season has gotten longer and longer (and longer) over the years. I love to walk into a store and see Christmas trees, fancy stockings, shiny ornaments, cute Christmas cards, and dangerous snow globes. I love to smell the cinnamon pine cones at the entrance of the grocery store, hear the tinny sound of Christmas carols being piped over the loudspeaker, and think about my Christmas list a little too early (because a girl can dream, right?) I say, if the Christmas season wants to start the day after Halloween, then that's fine with me. Hey, the sooner the better.

I'm not saying that I want to rush into Christmas, either, though. I truly think that most of the excitement associated with this splendid holiday is the anticipation that goes along with it, the preparation and planning and wishful thinking. I just get to savor the season a little longer now that it starts as soon as the costumes get put away. I'll still enjoy Thanksgiving, (and all the rolls and pies and mashed potatoes and togetherness that that implies) but I will admit that the thing I'm usually most grateful for on that special day is that we get to put up the tree and start listening to Christmas music the next day.

I recognize that Christmas is still outrageously over-commercialized, but that doesn't mean that I won't take advantage of the bright lights and glittery store displays to get me into the spirit of things...nor does it mean that I echo the sentiments of what society tends to think Christmas should be. I will always value and appreciate and cherish what Christmas is really about. I will relish its true meaning of Christ and service and love, and I will share that message with my eager children. It just so happens that I will likely be doing that while sipping a delicious cup of hot cocoa and staring at a sparkly Christmas tree.

So, with Dr. Seuss, I proclaim, "Welcome, Christmas, bring your cheer. Cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas Day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp. Christmas Day will always be just as long as we have we. Welcome Christmas while we stand, heart to heart and hand in hand."

Let's haul out the holly, folks. It's almost time.

Halloween Preview

Since I pretty much forgot about Halloween last year until almost 3 weeks after the fact, I thought I would provide you with a little costume preview. This way, you will know what the girls looked like in their costumes even before all your candy corn pumpkins are gobbled up.

Happy (early) Halloween, everyone!

What They Don't Teach You in School

I knew, before I became a parent, one of the major prerequisites for mommyhood: being able to find a bathroom, in a reasonable amount of time, in any public place ever visited with children. And I was fine with that.

I was, however, unfamiliar with its implied co-requisite: being willing to abandon comfort, convenience, and the occasional shopping cart filled with not-yet purchased goods in search of said bathroom. This co-requisite then often requires the supernatural dexterity and flexibility needed to hold an infant while wiping a bottom, pick up a three-year-old who can't yet reach the sink, and, with infant still in arms, wash said three-year-old's hands as well as one's own hands in a sink that only works while the handle is being pushed down, all the while trying to keep one's purse from touching anything bathroom-related (i.e. floor, walls, door, sink, etc.)

Man, I wish that class had been offered in junior college.

Second Breakfast

Around here, there's a little girl who likes to eat half my cereal every morning. I frustratingly call it her "second breakfast." Sometimes it's only a few bites, but I know I have to kiss all my food goodbye when she goes and gets her own spoon so that we can "share."

Frustrated with only eating half of a bowl of cereal for breakfast every morning, I devised a plan: I would make her her very own second breakfast so that she would be distracted enough to let me eat my Cocoa Krispies in peace. The other day, on my way downstairs to get a bowl of cereal, I asked Savanna if she wanted some cinnamon toast. "Yes," she said. "And peas."

Really? Peas?? Blech.

Gross as it sounds to a pea hater like me, I knew she was serious. Van is my little pea-eater extraordinaire. She asks for me to open a can of peas for her snack at least once a week. So, second breakfast that day consisted of peas and toast. Yummy.

She's a nut, I know it. But such a lovable little nut. And peas are such a small price to pay for eating my breakfast without any help.

(Now, I know what you may be thinking. "Canned peas are gross." To that I have only one thing to say: all peas are gross.)

P.S. We might be giving peas a break for a little while. For the last two days, the second breakfast request has been toast and marshmallows.