It's That Time of Year Again

Spring is here and with spring comes spring soccer for my son.  Somehow the soccer ball always gets left in my car.  My son says it's there "just in case." 
I understand. 
You never know when an emergency will arise and you will need a soccer ball in your car.  How many times have you heard news stories about people stranded in their cars and the only way they survived was because they were fortunate enough to have had a soccer ball with them?
Don't worry, now I am prepared for any soccer emergency.
And every time I go down a hill or make a turn I can hear the soccer ball rolling around in the back.  Just to remind me how prepared I am.

It Must be a Sign

The strangest thing happened today.  I cleaned the mats in the bathrooms.  And that's not the strangest part.  I put them outside to dry.  And it didn't rain.  Not a drop the entire time they were outside. 
They finished drying so I brought them inside.  And then it happened.  It started raining.  Strange, right?!  Every other time that I have left something outside to dry, like my kids shoes, coats, towels etc...  Every time it rains!  But today it waited until after I brought them inside.  Amazing!
I think it's a sign.  The end of the world must be near.  What else could it be??

My Apologies

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to all of the children in the Seattle area who were hoping for snow this winter.  I feel it is completely my fault and I want to extend my sincerest apology. 
Let me explain.
We moved to Seattle 7 years ago from New Jersey.  It snows every winter in New Jersey and sometimes it snows a lot!  When we moved here we were told that it never snows in Seattle.  After living here for 6 years, I wasn't sure if Seattlites were all liars or just in denial.  It has snowed every year.  And some years it has snowed a lot!
This year Santa brought sleds to my kids.  Their first ever new sleds.  Before that they had one sled that they shared.  We got that sled when we bought our previous house in New Jersey and the previous owner had left it in the garage.
So this year my kids got brand new sleds.  And it hasn't snowed.  Not once.  For the first time in 7 years.
Coincidence or conspiracy?
So I'm sorry to the kids who have been waiting all winter for snow.
And you're welcome to all of the parents who were dreading a snow day.

Broken Water Heater?

Last week I started noticing that the hot water wasn't get as hot as it usually gets.  It was warm, but not hot.  I mentioned it to my husband and he didn't say anything.  He acted like he didn't even notice.  One day I was shivering when I came out of the shower.  It was just too cold!  So I told my husband again.  Again, he acted like he didn't notice anything different about the hot water.  But he did have a solution for my problem.  He suggested that I should turn up the hot water on the faucet.  Brilliant!  Obviously I had already tried that, and after another luke warm shower I went back to my husband in exasperation and said, "Do you want to take a look at the hot water heater or should I call someone to come in and fix it?"
He said, "It's not broken.  I just turned the temperature down."
WHAT?!
Why hadn't he mentioned this to me before??
Did he really think I wouldn't notice?
Did he think that I would get used to taking cold showers??  Maybe he should have tried this trick in the summer, but it's freezing now!
He begrudgingly went into the garage and fixed the hot water heater.
Hot showers have one again been restored in the Cookie household.

Jaywalking

The other day I was out walking with my kids.  We came to an intersection.  The light was green and the white man on the small blinking sign indicated it was time to walk.  But my 9 year old was hesitant.  He was afraid that since it was already our turn to cross the street, maybe we would run out of time before we made it across.  I checked for cars and assured him that it was safe.  Then he said, "But no mom, I don't want to get caught jaywalking!"  (Let me just remind that the light was green and since no cars were coming, it was likely going to stay green for a while.)  Before I could reply, my 10 year old spoke up, "Don't worry.  There is no such thing as jayrunning.  So we'll just run across."  My 9 year old was thrilled with that solution and they both took off running across the street.  By the time I meandered across the street, the light was still green.  Whew!

The After Party

Tonight I made curry for dinner.  It is my 10 year old's favorite dinner.  My 9 year old asked what's for dinner.  I told him it was curry.  He said, "Yay!  It's just that I don't like the after party."
I wondered if it gave him heartburn, or something like that.  So I asked, "what do you mean 'the after party'?" 
He replied, "I don't like the leftovers that come the next day."
Funny.

Useless Greek Mythology?

I asked my fourth grader what book he was reading in school.

He answered, "I like reading about Greek mythology. Now I'm reading the Adventures of Useless."

I was confused for a second and then asked, "Do you mean Ulysses?"

"Uh, I guess so."

Then I tried to hide my laugh.

Can You Guess??

What do these things have in common:

A huge card box for a TV

A garden hose

My 9 year old's homework binder

A side table

4 pencils

Any guesses???

No, they aren't things on my son's list of class supplies he needs for this year. But that was just as absurd.

If you lived in my neighborhood and looked out your window this week, those are all things that you would have seen me carrying up the sidewalk. Not all out once of course. That would be ridiculous. In 2 separate trips. On 2 separate days. Why? Because those are things that my kids took out of our house and brought to neighbors house to use in their yards.

It almost makes me look forward to the rain that should be coming soon.

What I Like About You

My boys have been fighting. A lot. I could say they have been fighting since school got out but that wouldn't be true. I think they started fighting when the younger one was old enough to spit.

Almost everyday I have to be the referee. I'm tired of it. I told the boys that they should respect and love each other. I sat them down and asked them to compliment each other, to tell their brother something they like about him.

My 9 year old started. He said, "I like that you're not in the way too much."

We were off to a great start.

My 7 year old said, "I like your nose."

That went well.

A Home Run

The other night we decided to take the kids to play tennis after dinner. My boys are ages 7 and 9. This was their first time on a tennis court. They had been asking for a while to go so we thought we would give it a try.

The ball was all over all 6 courts.

Everywhere.

My 7 year old hit the ball really hard and it went out of the court. He smiled and said, "I hit a home run."

"There aren't home runs in tennis, honey."

"But mom, it went over the fence."

"Yes it did."

One nice thing did happen. We started out with two tennis balls and ended up with 4 when we left. How funny.