Kids’ Choice

Lacy stays up late.
Lacy wakes up late.

I break the cycle once in a while, but lately I haven’t really bothered. Maybe I’m too tired. Maybe I secretly like late night company in the form of a talkative 4 year old.

Which reminds me: remember a few posts ago when I said something along the lines of hoping my belongings didn’t get smashed?
Remember our candlestick friends?

The taller one is no longer with us. I thought about proving it with a picture, but I want you to remember her like she was: tall. Regal.

Lacy’s sorry about it. She’s told about 50 times, “I’m sorry about that breaking accident, Mama.”
It’s really not THAT big of a deal since the whole thing only cost about $3, and I can buy another candlestick. Keep your eyes peeled for one, readers.

Anyway, the minute Lacy woke up yesterday she asked for a cinnamon roll. After she’d eaten it, she asked if we could go to the park.
I said, “Sure” and immediately decided that the KIDS would be the Masters of the Day. It was drizzling, sure. I had things to do, sure.
But something compelled me to just go along with what they wanted. It took a couple of hours to get out of the door (what? like it’s never happened to you…) and as I pulled into the vicinity of the park, I saw a crowd gathered around the cafeteria. I remembered that they serve free lunches to kids during the summer, so I decided to give it a try.

The kids LOVED it, but we were the last ones there. It took us longer to get our food because they ran out of little pizzas. My kids aren’t the fastest eaters anyway, so I was gently prodding them along.
“Take the biggest bites you can!” I said, brightly.
“Mom,” Lacy would say, “Look at all of this pineapple. We had pineapple before like just yesterday! I love pineapple, do I!”
“Lacy, Mommy needs you to use your mouth for eating and not for talking right now.”
“But -but I just saw the pineapple and I am so full about it!”
“Lacy. EAT with your mouth, okay? They need to clean up and they need us to move.” I said, trying to explain.
“Mom? What does that picture say over there about the guy?”
“Lacy. EAT.”
“But -but -”
“LACY! EAT!”
She sighed, cast her eyes down on her plate and softly said, “As you wish.”

I burst out laughing.

Once we got the park, I tried telling the kids to be very careful because it had been raining and everything would be wet.
Including the slides.
I guess I forgot that kids don’t care.

Lacy ran to the bridges and tried to keep from falling into the “water.” I remember pretending those same bridges were made out of water. or lava. Touching them would mean sudden, instant, and even immediate DEATH (can you name the movie?).

There were monkey bars that Lacy insisted on hanging on even though she couldn’t stay hanging without help.

And there were more slides. And more slides.
I told Trent, “Turn around and let me take another picture of your butt.” So he squatted down and pushed his little butt out. I was giggling so hard I could hardly snap the picture.

Pretty soon, Lacy told me she HAD to go potty. That meant we had to go home. We went home and the kids watched a movie for “rest time.”
Pretty soon, Trenton fell asleep. That meant it was girl time.
We played dress-up, puppies included.

There was hair and make-up:

Even the puppy was honored with some hair and make-up.

When I finished Lacy’s hair, I teased the HECK out of her teensy pony tail so that it would froofy and full. When she looked the mirror, she was thrilled.
“MONSTER HAIR! I love it!”

When we were done, I told her just as soon as we tidied up the house, we could make cookies. She was thrilled, and we went out into the living room to pick up her toys. Just then, tragedy struck: Trenton woke up.
“I just wanted him to stay asleep!” Lacy said through her sobs. This came from the girl who told me that morning that, “I decided something. It can’t rain today, so we may go to the park.”

After her tears became contagious and HE started bawling… I sent them both to bed. When they emerged happier, we set to picking up. Lacy picked up a copy of “The Friend” magazine, flipped it open to a page and said, “I want us to be like this, Mom.”

I told her I’d try.
After cleaning up, the kids weren’t in the mood to make cookies. They were playing happily together to I let them. Around 9 pm (yikes!), I asked them what they wanted for dinner.
“PANCAKES!”
It was her job to clean the table off. She’s always been very “outside the box.” I might have to try cleaning my table this way:

I let him mix the ingredients, but I had to be sure and teach him that you have to HOLD the bowl with one hands while you stir:

But everyone’s favorite part of pancake making is my old school egg beater:

After dinner and clean-up (during which the kids’ favorite of my alter-egos came out to play, Auntie Hilda, a loud woman from the deep South), we got the living room ready for a sleep over.
I have to say: the kids love Auntie Hilda more than they love Mom. Whenever Auntie Hilda comes out, the kids are all “Yes, ma’am, Auntie Hilda” and “We love you, Auntie Hilda.”
When Mom comes out, all I hear is, “I thought you were Auntie Hiwwda.”
I might make the change permanent if Auntie Hilda’s roll wasn’t so exhausting.
As I tried to drift off last night, I thought about that. My kids love it when I pull out my fake accents and pretend to be someone else. In fact, I heard Lacy playing yesterday and she was speaking in a BRITISH accent.
“Impossible!” She said, “Take this man immediately to Castle Greyskull!”

After dinner was cleaned up, scriptures were watched (Thank you, LDS scriptures on youtube) and prayers were said, our sleepover commenced. We all cuddled up on the futon that had been laid down into a bed and watched a Disney Movie about the Princess Protection Program. The PPP. Every time they said “PPP,” Trenton would giggle.

Boys…

Lacy hates the flash.

After the movie was over and Trenton fell asleep, Lacy was all energy.
“Let’s draw cinnamon rolls on paper!” She said.
“Lacy, it’s 12:12. That means it’s WAY past your bedtime.”
“But -but I thought I wanted to really bad,” her bottom lip started quivering.
I finally talked her into getting her blanket off her bed. She came back out with her little flashlight from grammy. She shut all the lights off, and we made shadow puppets in the dark. I made one that looked like a dinosaur.
She made one that didn’t look like anything, but it talked!
“I’m going to take some money and give it to people!” She said, using her shadow puppet to talk in a higher voice.
“Who are you going to give it to?” I asked.
“Lottsa people!” she said, her voice still in character, “Just Me and EVERYONE!”
“Where are you going to take the money from?” I asked.
“Wal-Mart!” She didn’t miss a beat.

Someone call the cops. My baby girl is going to embark on the greatest heist of her life.
Wal-Mart? Lock your door. Bar your windows. You have no idea what you’re up against!

Be very afraid.

Just before we fell asleep, she apologized one more time for breaking the candlestick. I pulled her close and told her story about when I’d broken something of MY mother’s when I was her age. I don’t remember what it was exactly -Mom does -but I do remember that it had a beautiful heart locket on it, and how I YEARNED to just hold the locket. I told Lacy about the heart necklace and how badly I had wanted to touch it.
“I didn’t obey my mom, and I broke her special present.”
Lacy’s eyes were as big as saucers.
“I felt yucky inside,” I said. “Did breaking my candlestick make YOU feel yucky?”
“Mom,” she said seriously, “I will GO to the store and BUY you a heart necklace.”
Ahhhhh, MELT MY HEART!
Now if you’ll excuse me, My Very Own Modern Day Robin Hood is finally rolling out of bed.