Sweet kid, isn’t he?

C and J were arguing over a puzzle.
C: But J, you have two. Let me have one. Pleeeease? You have two. Please?
J: <Pause> Hmmm. I’m going to say N-O, No.

How to confuse the post office in twelve difficult steps.

You might not need to do all of these. Use your own judgment.
Step one: Move to another town (we’ll call this addresss B). Forward your mail.
Step two: After six months move to another part of town (we’ll call this address C).
Step three: Consider yourself doing the post office a favor and put in a forwarding [...]

We got our weekends back.

I have to say, the worst part of traveling back and forth between two places is that we never really had a restful weekend. Fridays were always busy with packing, and driving, and then unpacking.
We spent Saturdays working and being busy; doing all the things we should normally do during the week, but that we [...]

How to get your normally non-indulgent mother to spoil you.

It’s actually easier than it first appears.
First, start eating the popsicle that she offers you.
Then, decide that “Yeah, maybe I don’t like popsicles.”
Then ask for a banana.
When she gets you one, go ahead and take a bite.

But then when she licks your popsicle, decide that maybe you will try it again afterall.

Just keep repeating until [...]

I’m on a roll.

The boys have started drinking hot tea with milk. Or as Mr. French likes to say, “Milk with a little tea.”
He doesn’t really approve, even though he claims to be an anglophile.
The other night, one of the boys had a cup of tea and since we were with some friends, one of whom is a [...]

Nobody said it would make sense.

The thing nobody ever tells you about having kids, is that you’ll lose your logic skills as fast as you lose your patience.
I just gave a kid a tootsie roll to get him to eat a couple pinto beans.

It may not be obvious, but the blue still outnumbers the pink around here.

I’ve been feeling guilty about all the Miss F posts lately. I do have three other kids, afterall.
Who all happen to be BOYS!
So, what have they been up to lately? Well…
1) They’ve been making and dressing up in the fiercest battle gear of any knights around.

They’d probably look doubly dangerous if they could shake that [...]

I think she needs a demotion.

Since turning the big number one, Felicity has made a few decisions for herself.
She:
Started walking.
Abruptly stopped nursing.
Turned into a Screaming Banshee.
Took a bottle of milk for the first time in her life.
Went back to being her happy, smily self again.
Started fast walking. (i.e. “running” with short toddler legs)
Got new shoes.
Decided that sitting in chairs, church, [...]

Against my better judgment…

Do you suppose all stories of childhood destruction begin with those words?
It seems like all of mine do.
So, against my better judgement, I let Felicity play in the pantry while I did the dishes.
I even saw her pull the bag of birthday/cake decorations off the shelf and didn’t stop her.
I’d like to say that I [...]

Why pay someone when you can do it yourself?

(One half of a phone conversation)
(Overheard)
(in my head)
“So, what was the quote from that kitchen designer?”
“No, the one for the big apartment complex account.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s outrageous! How hard is it to design a kitchen? Like that’s real work.”

“Oh, I know. Must be nice to make that kind of money.”

“You know what? It [...]