Fat Tuesday

Remember when I talked about Ash Wednesday?  Well, this "funny" is a follow-on to that "funny". Since Ash Wednesday initiates the start of a 40-day "giving up" of something important, the day before Ash Wednesday is Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras.

In the days after Fat Tuesday 2012, one of my husband's co-workers brought in a whole bunch of Mardi Gras beads he received at his big party. And, my husband brought some home AND of course my daughters love accessories. SO, they've been wearing Fat Tuesday beads on an almost daily basis.

Don't mind the mess -- it is Sunday. Enough said.

I thought you'd get a chuckle, as have I, about the idea of my daughter wearing "Fat Tuesday" beads to church each Sunday.

Toothed Again

My older daughter just lost her first tooth. It had been hanging by 1/2 a thread for days and she wouldn't let anyone touch it. So, she literally just pushed it out with her tongue yesterday morning. Well, within 10 minutes (no exaggeration), she lost the tooth. Now, add the drama.

But, it is time for school, so I rush the kids out the door with promises of finding that tooth. Of course.

Cue the "why is everybody picking on me" music because I just didn't think searching on hands and knees for a baby tooth (hardwood floors mind you) was ever part of my parenting contract. But, I found the tooth and the girls' room looked much better after my dual cleaning/searching effort.

So, I put the tooth in a baggie and gently placed it under her pillow. Her first question to me after school was, "Did you find my tooth?" She was happy, I was happy, it was all nice and good. Within minutes again, I kid you not -- the tooth was lost. She didn't get to put it under her pillow. It even had the added layer of crinkly ziploc bag around it.

What is a tooth fairy to do?

The tooth fairy didn't show up for a second night, but I assure you, the tooth was found this morning, kept safe all day, and is still lying under a gently sleeping head. I think I will make my appearance now.

False Teeth

I started reading my children a book (fabulous treasure in my life) containing short histories of ancestors. I love many different types of books so I won't read this every night, but occassionally. Anyway, the ancestor I chose to read about is my Great-Grandma Maud.

Because I had to explain different things every other sentence or two (polygmay, false teeth, and courting), I haven't made it very far in her history. So far, my older daughter has really made a connection to Great-Grandma Maud because they share a birthday.

Well, we've done this for two nights and wouldn't you guess that what she has latched onto is the false teeth thing (people getting a complete set of falsies when they are in their twenties). So, last night in her very sweet prayer, she gave thanks that "Great-Grandma Maud's false teeth didn't break".

Health Points

My son, so sincere and curious asked me this question tonight:

"Mom, will boys die before girls because boys don't have as many health points?"

He went on to explain that boys like to wrestle and get hurt so that probably loses "them" some health points.

Now, I will back up a little bit. In one of the units my son's class studied, health points were determined based on what type of food the students ate, the amount of exercise they got, sleep, etc. Ever since this unit, I will get random comments about how "I am not going to eat that because it doesn't have enough health points." (Granted, that kind of statement sort of makes me crazy since I do try to feed my kids healthy food and when he questions the health standard of my food, I think I should throw him out.) Or, "I need some health points, so I am going to ride my bike."  Most of the time I get quite a chuckle by this kid's accountability and desire to be healthy.

I was so happy tonight when he announced he had made the decision to stop teasing Anniston, a girl in his class at school. Of course, he follows up with, "But she is still my arch-enemy". He has been losing some health points because of teasing Anniston. (He determined that.) He's had to lose recess privileges a number of times this school year because he is an almost constant teaser and she is smart enough to make some noise about it EVERY time.

Mulberry Street

And to think that we saw it on OUR street :-)

On our way to school, we were confronted with a humongous, picture that was the talk of the neighborhood today. One neighbor claimed she saw it last night in the dark. The rest of us are trying to think of a way to kife it so we can play a joke on someone.

Anyway, my husband and I had a good laugh about this today. It really is obnoxiously huge, I mean to have that in your bedroom? -- yeesh!

My daughter is always on stage - oh, and all the "waste" notes are just for good Seattle measure :-)

ASH Wednesday

Sheesh, this one is getting way past due. For those not familiar with other faiths, please read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_wednesday and be sure to notice the picture on the right-hand side of the page.  Anyway, I didn't know any of this before Ash Wednesday 2012, which was last week.

Tricked you didn't I? She may or not may not be SOUND ASLEEP -- whadya think?

Now to back my story up, a few weeks ago, my 3 yo rammed into someone at gymnastics and got the nastiest bump on her forehead. The pictures (above) don't really do the bump justice. I didn't use a very good setting on my camera. Needless to say, even today, the bruise is still there and the broken blood vessels have drained into the corner of her eyes. Yes, she's looked really sweet lately :-).

Back to my story, I took her into my 6 yo's classroom after school on Wednesday. After seeing the awful bruise, the teacher looked at me and said, "Oh, is it Ash Wednesday?" 

My reply (kind of in a whisper voice -- I really like this teacher and can joke around with her, only this time I really wasn't joking):  "What's that"?

Then she quickly said, "Oh, you don't celebrate Ash Wednesday, you are a Mormon."  Then, she laughed and laughed. She told me about how as a child, she had to rub ash on her forehead on Ash Wednesday.

Of course, that night, I looked up Ash Wednesday and learned a little more about it and the next day, I asked a different friend about it and she gave me more insight. When I saw the 1st grade teacher, she laughed again and told me that it actually was Ash Wednesday. I've gotten several good chuckles out of this story and feel especially glad I've learned something new about other faiths. So, if you are honoring Ash Wednesday or Lent -- what are you giving up? 46 days is a long time, but you can do it.

She loves me to read her that story and then help her copy the baby in the story's every move.