Value of a Dollar

Claire and Elliot eared money cleaning out the playroom.   Claire found a Dora puzzle on Amazon she wanted to buy with her money.  I told her it cost ten dollars so she counted out 10.

She counted 10 coins. 

Thankful for Small Favors or Just Dumb Luck

Last night Claire (3) decided to turn the hot water on in her bathroom, full blast, plug the sink, and go to bed.  Now, of course, caused overflow and then flooding down to the main floor and then the basement.  At first I was furious and frustrated and worried about damage but once it was cleaned up I started thinking about how much worse it could have been.  Normally, Jade and I go to the basement and watch a movie or TV.  This day, however, I received (from amazon) a book I have been waiting for since last year.  So instead of being in the basement, I was on the main floor where I heard the dripping from the ceiling into the laundry room right away.  This was also lucky because I had the radio on earlier.  The only reason it was off was because it was too laud and I couldn't hear what Jade was saying.  Instead of turning it down, he turned it off.  Later, my book was so good, I didn't even want to get up and turn it back on.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have heard the dripping.  If I look back even further...I saw the book I was waiting for at the grocery store on Monday.  MONDAY.  It was not supposed to be out until Tuesday.  Someone at the grocery store made a mistake.  If I had not pre-ordered the book and known it was too late to cancel, I would have bought the book Monday and been done by Tuesday and we would be back in the basement with a loud movie.  One other possibility was if I hadn't been to lazy on Monday to go to the basement and get our last netflix movie to put in the mailbox, we would have had a new movie to watch last night.  I like to make my book last as long as I can so if we had a new movie, I would have watched and we never would have caught the leak about 20 minutes after it started. 
It remains to be seen just how much damage there will be but at worst, a few spots of drywall will have to be replaced.  And luckily we are experts at replacing drywall.  The water only went into the laundry, bathroom, and the only room in the basement that isn't finished.  We got really lucky and I need to remember that while I spend hours sucking water out of the carpet with a SpotBot.

Elliot

While Claire and Oliver were sleeping I went outside with Elliot so he could practice riding his back (Michelle and Elliot both learned about a week ago).  He brought two identical Shrek dolls from McDonalds outside with him and set them on the driveway facing each other and said "They're having a staring contest".
Then he faced them toward the street and said whichever one watches him the most wins.  I would take a picture but one of them is already lost.  i wonder if it's the one that lost the watching contest.

Irritation Replaced Picture Taking

Yesterday, Claire freaked out because there were some ants on the floor (she actually runs screaming from the room).  I wasn't home but my babysitter sprinkled some cinnamon around their area (a home remedy for ants when you have kids who eat things off the floor).  Oliver must have seen her do this because this morning when I was downstairs vacuuming Claire came running down screaming about ants.  By the time I got to the kitchen Oliver had shaken a whole container of Ground Ginger on the floor.  When I told him no, his response was "Whyyyyy?"  I was too irritated (since I had just swept this spot less than half an hour before) I cleaned it up before thinking about taking a picture. 

Oliver

I just want to write a few things about Olivers personality so I don't forget. 
He doesn't like to eat at the table.  He prefers to put all his food in a bag and carry it around.  He also loves to put the food bag in a backpack or truck or electric bike and walk/ride around with it.  the worst part is he doesn't eat it, just carries it. 

He also like to put food in any open container and add water.  I caught him up at the bar pushing strawberries into a water bottle.  When I asked if he was putting strawberries into the bottle he looked right at me (with his hands on a strawberry on top of the bottle) and said "No".

If you tell him to do something he always says "Whyyyy?" in this high pitched little voice.

I can't keep him out of any cabinet that isn't locked, which pretty much means the high cabinets.  If we turn all the stools over, he drags a chair.  If we turn all the chairs over, he drags over a toy or, even worse, a scooter, to stand on. 

Sad Trees

So we had a heavy wet snow last night and when I got up this morning Claire pulled me to the window and said "Look.  All the trees are sad."
The trees have bloomed (as it is May) and the heavy snow bent the branches down so they look like frowns.
Just a few minutes ago she pointed out that the trees are happy again (the snow has melted off). What makes it even funnier is she really believes the trees were sad and now they are happy!