I’m So Busy I Can’t See Straight

Hi Everyone!

You may have noticed that I have not been blogging as much and more than likely will not be able to for awhile. It’s not because I have writer’s block or creativity block. It’s actually quite the opposite! I have creativity overload right now and have so much I want to share but have so little time.

I have my daughter’s 8th birthday coming up and with that a big party with all of her friends at our house. I have been working on getting things ready for the big bash this weekend. Soon after that we will be hosting my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary at our house. Right around the corner from that is Bency’s 6th birthday and another party to plan. Two days after his party we will be leaving for a 2 week cross country trip to visit our family in Albuquerque, NM.

In between all of this exciting stuff to plan I have been trying to do spring cleaning. My attempts are absolutely fruitless I fear because everywhere I turn there are:

Spills everywhere!

Kids bringing jars of bugs into the house….

Besides kids spilling things and bringing jars of bugs into the house the weather is warming up and we are getting some rain so the house is constantly being tracked up with mud….

It’s finally getting nice so we can play outside…look at all of the mud. Also notice Bency is only wearing socks!

Along with all of this fun stuff I am also working on a children’s book. Not to get published or anything mind you, just a fun book that I can give to my kids to read and I will also get an extra one made up to do a giveaway on my blog. I have the story written, 5 pictures done and 8 more to go!

Even though I am extremely busy I will still continue to read blogs. It’s the only way I can start my day. I try to wake up by 4:30 or 5:00 am everyday, grab a cup of coffee and read blogs. If I get behind, please forgive me….I will read them all eventually!

So I leave you today as I go start cleaning up all of the mud in the house that this weekend brought, make a snack for my son’s Kindergarten class that I will bring in when I go volunteer later and put the finishing touches on my daughter’s birthday party!

Best wishes to you all,

Melissa

It Wasn’t a Nut

My 5 year old son, Bency, is a collector of things. Really he is a scavenger of sorts.

I can relate to this. I have been doing this since I was a young child as well. One of my earliest memories is trying to get the biggest toad collection in the world. I would spend all day in search of these creatures and put them in mayonnaise jars. Later I would put the sealed jar in my windowsill. I soon learned that animals needed air to breathe and would bake to a fine crisp in the hot sun.

Bency’s collections usually come from his extraordinary finds on his walk home from school. I am quite certain we have one of the biggest acorn piles in our ownership, despite the fact that we have nary an oak tree in our yard. He thinks he is nearly a millionaire with his growing “jewel” collection. In actuality, they are just sequins that have fallen off some girls dress. During the warmer months, at the height of bug season, you will find many containers and buckets located on our porch of Bency’s growing insect tribes.

The other day, Bency arrived home from school with yet another magnificent find. It was a white marble. I noticed both children were quite wet, muddy and carrying quite a stench mixed with sweat and another putrid odor that I couldn’t put my finger on. I put the white marble on the counter and questioned them about their day and walk home.

As the children walked out of the room to put their school things away, I noticed the smell didn’t leave with them. I began frantically searching their boots and coats to track down the culprit of the thing that was annihilating my nose.

I finally discovered that every time I went near the counter where the white marble was, the smell became more obnoxious. That was when I examined the white marble more closely and found that it was a moth ball.

I quickly put an axe to Bency collecting any more “white marbles.”

Yesterday, the kids and I spent the day at my parent’s house. The kids went down to the woods to play.

After a bit, the kids returned to the house excitedly! They had filled some plastic bags with wonderful treasures.

They showed me the pine cones they found, turkey feathers, pheasant feathers, a stick and then Bency pulled out a very interesting nut and asked me what kind it was.

I examined it carefully. It was unlike any nut I had ever seen so I asked my Mom if she knew what kind it was.

It wasn’t a nut at all.

It was a turkey turd.

I laughed and told him he should bring it for Show and Tell at school. He didn’t find this humorous at all. He was slightly perturbed that his scavenger hunt had produced poop.

In life, there are lessons all around us. I learned at an early age that everything needs air to breathe. Bency has learned that some things aren’t as they appear….not everything is a marble or a nut.

This was a day out in the woods last Fall! I would have included a picture of the turkey turd but we forgot it at Grandma’s yesterday!

The Old Bug Trick

It was going to be GREAT!

It was going to be EPIC!

It was going to go down in history as the funniest moment in our family’s history of all time!

I was so sure April Fool’s Day of 2012 was going to be the best of all that I laid awake the night before giddy with excitement!

I woke up early and prepared the kid’s oatmeal. I then tracked down my son’s little plastic bug and lizard collection and sunk them in the oatmeal with only the heads and antennas poking out!

I grabbed my video camera and called the kids to the table.

I was absolutely certain that oatmeal was going to go flying everywhere. Even though oatmeal is the same equivalency as Super Glue when it comes to trying to clean it off of walls, I didn’t care! This was going to be epic after all so it was the price I was willing to pay.

I was absolutely certain there was going to be screaming. Shrieks so loud and earth-shattering that our neighbors would come knocking on our door out of concern. This was going to be so funny that it was entirely worth it!

The children approached the table and stared into their bowls for a second. Simultaneously, my son and daughter pulled the plastic bug out of their bowl, looked at each other, shrugged their shoulders and muttered, “I wonder how toys got into our bowls.”

No oatmeal flying all over. No screaming.

It was an April Fool’s Fail.

Yesterday, April Fool’s Day 2013 rolled around. I actually forgot about it. It’s really not fair that it was the day after Easter, a Monday, and my daughter wasn’t feeling too well. There was just too much going on that I didn’t have time to plan one of my favorite days of the year.

At lunchtime, after I finally realized what day it was, I decided that I was going to try the old bug trick again. Certainly last year had to be a fluke.

I served the kids their lunch and called them to the table. They approached the table and stared into their bowls.

No noodles flying all over. No screaming.

From now on I’m just going to keep these pranks to myself, because in my head it was epic and it was great!