We Are Just So Classy

Today in Alabama the kids were out of school for MLK Jr. Day.... and Robert E. Lee's Birthday. I kid you not. What decade is this? Can the south still not give Martin Luther King his due? I mean, truly, this is embarrassing.

Now, back to my regularly scheduled story. I took all 4 kiddos out to get a birthday present for one of Piper's friends. I don't particularly love toy stores, and I absolutely detest them when Kai and Ash are with me. There was grabbing and snatching and an endless onslaught of "I want this.. I want that." I tried to get the kids out of the store about 5 times before we finally made it to the front door. Once outside, we made a huddle to decide (aka. vote on) where we were going to have lunch.

JD: I want Chinese.

Piper: No way, I want Subway.

JD: But we had Subway this weekend!

Ash: I want whatever Piper wants.

Me: Thank you, Ash, for being cooperative.

JD: There's a Chinese restaurant right over there.

Piper: What's that noise?

JD: Mom, look over there!

Me: (mumbling under breath) #*(#!$&($#!*&^!

Yes, my blogger-mommy friends, I had left Kai inside the toy store. Since this was a small, mom and pop store instead of a giant box store, Kai had noticed that we were gone and made his way to the front door (where he could see the rest us discussing our lunch plans.) Unfortunately, little Kai was either too short or too weak to open the door. So instead of quietly walking outside, Kai ended up beating on the glass door until we noticed him. I'm sure this little incident will put me in the running for Mom of the Year. What do you think? Have you ever done anything nearly this awful?

But I digress... After catching my breath and giving Kai a huge hug, we walked over to the Chinese restaurant. We eat Chinese all the time, but this is a new restaurant for us. Needless to say, Wan's was a really bad choice. The restaurant was pretty busy but completely silent (or at least it was until we walked in.) You honestly could have heard a cricket chirp in there. This meant that you could hear every. single. word that Kai and Ash said (they have yet to learn about "inside voices".) Ash said "I want noodles" about every 10 seconds until the food came - which was a good 15 minutes. Kai said "I don't want Pizza" about 30 times until JD and I convinced him that there was no Pizza on the menu. To make our lunch even more interesting, the owner of the restaurant, who speaks very little English, was either enamored with or confused about the little boys. She truthfully stood directly beside our table for over half of our meal. It was totally creepy. She did ask once if all the kids were mine and then wanted to know if Kai and Ash were Chinese. Other than that, she just stood over us, watching, and smiling every so often. If I had a rude bone in my body, I would have said something to her. But, I honestly didn't know what to say and my momma taught me not to say anything if you can't say something nice. Thanks mom. We topped off our meal with Ash yelling at me from across the restaurant (I was paying the bill while he was still at our table.) Of course, in line with the rest of my day, Ash just had to scream, "Momma, I gotta go pee-pee!" We are so classy I can't get over it.

No One Gets Left Behind

Never leave your brother, or your underwear, behind.

We took the kids out to dinner last night to a crowed restaurant. Before we had even ordered our drinks, Ash exclaimed that he had "an accident in my pants." Oh, goody. Since Dave was exhausted from a night of very little sleep and a terrible day at work, I took the little guy to the bathroom. It didn't take long to discover that Ash's underpants were not salvageable. I threw them away and by the grace of God, found one ancient Pull-Up in my purse. We headed back to the table, scrubbed clean, and resumed our dinner out. About an hour later, as were we grabbing our coats and leaving, Ash realized that he was missing something very important. He blurted out, "Daddy, where's my underwear?" Dave, naively assuming that Ash would hush if he ignored him, did not respond. So Ash asked louder, "Where IS my UNDERWEAR?" I believe Dave grabbed Ash and carted him outside somewhere between the third and forth time he asked the question. As we were walking out to the car, we all lost it - with deep, snort-inducing laughter.

I guess a boy's underwear is kind of like a good buddy. You don't leave either behind.

Catching Up

Getting ready for Christmas Eve service

Ash favorite toy - plastic violin

JD's favorite - his 1st cell phone

Piper's favorite - DSi

Kai's Favorite - cheap remote control car

Another favorite - dress up's

It's officially been a long time since I've sat down and visited my blog. No, nothing's wrong. Quite the opposite, actually. David has only been away from home 2 nights over the last month. J.D. and Piper both got straight "A's" on the their report cards. Kai is continuing to be our little angel and it even appears that he may be ready for kindergarten in the fall (which was truly doubtful just a few months ago!) Ash, although still a handful, is melting our hearts more every day. His verbal skills are really impressive, especially if you take into account that as of tomorrow, he has been home exactly 6 months.

Christmas was fabulous. I can't explain how wonderful it felt to be with my entire family, staying up late, eating junk food, and playing games. It's as close to heaven as it gets.

The favorite gifts this year were as follows:

JD - his first cell phone (his quote after opening it - "Finally, I won't be the laughing stock of middle school.")

Piper - Nintendo DSi

Kai - Policeman dress up costume and remote control car

Ash - Knight dress up costume and violin

And I can't close this post without saying a big ROLL TIDE! Alabama won the National Championship this week and we've been on cloud 9 ever since. David and I were offered free tickets and lodging to the game but with airfare running around $700 (per ticket) we decided to stay home and watch the Tide on tv. It was an amazing night that we'll never forget.