Our happy, productive morning

Some mornings I'm able to get a lot done. I'm not sure how, or why some days are different that others.

Keep in mind, of course, that "get a lot done" is relative. I remember once hearing a mother of young children say, "These days I'm impressed with myself if I've showered and cooked dinner!"

This morning at breakfast I had the sudden urge to clean out the entire fridge. I started unloading the food and pulling the shelves out, and Rachael (age 6) asked to help. She took the food out, scrubbed and rinsed the shelves, then sprayed cleaner and wiped down the inside of the fridge.
In the middle of all this, Rebecca (age 4) appeared in the kitchen. "Can I help too?" she asked.

Wow, did I luck out this morning!

So Rebecca helped take the food out of the refrigerator door and put the food back when we were done cleaning.
It was very fun. And I love it when the fridge is clean.

While I showered, Rebecca made this card to mail to her friend Griffin:

By 9:30 am not only was the fridge clean, but the dishwasher was unloaded, the trash was brought to the curb, a load of laundry was put in, and me and all three Beans were dressed, in the van listening to the Indigo Girls, and arriving at The Playroom.

If you live in the area and have kids, you should really check out The Playroom:

http://www.theplayroom.us/

We were there for two hours. Both girls jumped on the trampolines, jumped off the tower into the foam pit over and over again, walked on the balance beam, and played in the inflatable castle.

Rebecca went into the toy room for a while and played with the dolls.

Baby Benjamin liked the wading pool full of plastic balls, the huge bouncy balls, and all the toys.

I myself found jumping on the trampoline very therapeutic.

Went home and had eggs, sausage, and toast for lunch. Baby screamed that he wanted a nap immediately. The other three of us piled into bed and read a couple books. And bed felt so good that I stayed there for a while as the girls ... well, I'm not sure what the girls did ... they were in the room, maybe coloring or something ...

WAAH! WAAH! WAAH! WAAH!

That never lasts long enough ...

Card-making Beans

Remember my sinus headache from a few days ago? Well when Robert came home that night, I basically fell into bed, and both girls ran downstairs into the playroom. Later they came running into my bedroom with these:


From Rachael ... I'm not quite sure why she called me "Jen." She does that sometimes. I remember when we all called her Grandma to sing happy birthday, Rachael quickly whispered to me, "Should we sing Happy Birthday Grandma or Happy Birthday Dolores?"

And the inside said FLAWRS R PRITEA JEST LIC YOU XOXXO

And the next one is from Rebecca ... whoops, you'll have to tilt your head slightly to the left for this one And then this on the inside. (You can turn your head back to normal now.) She used stencils to do the artwork.

What I thought was so nice about this was that nobody suggested that the girls make me cards. They just came up with the idea themselves. Makes me think that hopefully we're doing something right! :)

Cute Becca Sayings

Rebecca (age four) calls a hot dog and bun "a hot dog in a bundle."

She sometimes is concerned that there is too much paper in the potty because "we don't want it to overfloat."

She often talks about "a google." (Isn't that a one with a hundred zeros after it?) She'll say things like, "I played that I went somewhere and the people gave me a google of candy!" or "Doggie's having a birthday tomorrow. She's gonna be a google."

She calls donuts "bagels." I think she knows they are really donuts. She just likes to call them bagels. Interestingly, we had Long Johns (eclairs) in the house today, which aren't even round, and she still said, "Can I have my bagel now?"




Rebecca in her younger days ... probably about 18 or 20 months. This was in a park in North Carolina with her grandparents.

Rebecca, Rachael, and Mommy Doggie

I asked everyone in this picture what they wanted me to type about it.

Rebecca (blue nightgown) said very sweetly, "Say whatever you want," and then went in the next room and started to ride her bike.

Rachael (red and white heart nightgown) said: "This was in our chairs at Miss Karen's. We stay there for a whole day, eat lunch, go to the pool, and it's really fun." Then she continued to cut up the snowflake she's making.

Mommy Doggie (pink bow and collar) said, "Woof woof woof!" and then she and Rebecca ran into the next room asking Bean Daddy if they could have the last orange slice. (He said yes.)

Children's Museums and Nose Pots

Today Robert took the day off work and we all headed up to Gainesville, Georgia to visit the Interactive Neighborhood for Kids:

http://www.inkfun.org/

It made me realize that I really really need a digital camera. First of all, it would have inspired me to actually bring a camera, which I really wish I had, and second, wouldn't it have been much nicer to have photos to go with this post?

Anyway, it was fun. But you'll have to imagine your own pictures ...

Rebecca served me food in the diner while Rachael played The Ventures on the jukebox and put on a "dinner show" next to my table.

Both girls, especially Rebecca, liked The Beauty Salon. They styled each others' hair and the hair on the mannequin heads.

They put on the dress-up clothes and got on the stage. [Rachael put on a show called "Here's Oprah!" and discussed with the guests and studio audience different ways to save money.]

They climbed in the fire truck and police car and bought and bagged groceries.

Baby Be(a)n was endlessly going down a five-foot slide in the Preschool Room. He also liked the train table.

What was really neat was that you could come and go as you please, so we went there for a couple hours, had lunch at IHOP, then came back for a couple more hours. When we came back we were practically the only ones there.


And Oh! That's not even the best thing about today!

For years and years I've been getting horrible sinus headaches. I've even wondered if they were migraines, because at their worst they make my entire face, shoulders, and upper back hurt, and sometimes even start to make me feel nauseous.

Well, I had one yesterday, and again this morning. So when we went to IHOP, Robert ran into CVS to get me some tylenol or something. He came back with something I had seen on Oprah (and despite her being mentioned twice in this post, I feel the need to state that I really and truly do not watch that show very often at all; usually only when Dr. Oz is on). It looks like a tiny genie lamp, and you fill it with saline water, stick it in your nostril, and, well, pour it in, and, well, let it pour right out the other side.


So I took it into the restroom at IHOP and gave it a try. [Which, come to think of it, would have also made an interesting picture for this post]. Wow! Pain gone! It was amazing.

Swimming Lessons with The Play-do Balloon

Rachael, age 6, loves to write stories. She wrote "Swimming Lessons" this morning. It's actually one of her shortest stories!

She's very concerned that the top got cut off. I told her I would type in the text so everybody could read it. So here it is:

Once upon a time there was a Play-do balloon. One day she had a swim lesson and she didn't want to go in the pool. Her mother said, "Just hop in! I'll give you a floatie."
But she said no as she shook her head. "It's too deep!" she said.
Then her mother just put her in the floatie and put her in the pool. "It's cold," said her mother.
"No it's not. It's just like our hot tub," said the Play-do balloon.
And they swam all over.
Then her daddy came. "What a good swimmer you are with a floatie!" And they swam together.

THE END

BTW, a "Play-do balloon" is when you take an empty balloon, stuff it with play-do, then tie it up so you can squeeze it.

Meet the Bean Family!

Here's Baby Bean (Benjamin) in his baptismal gown. Hmm ... since Baby Bean is now 15 months old, maybe I should find a more recent picture one of these days.

And here's me (BeanMommy) and BeanDaddy with the Dancing Beans, Rachael and Rebecca!

When we found out I was pregant with Biggest Bean (Rachael), we looked at the pregnancy calendar that came with the test and saw what the baby looked like at 4 weeks. We immediately said, "Hey, we're having a bean!" And the name stuck. Since we never found out the gender of any of our children until they popped out, we simply referred to them as "Bean" until they were born. Well ... and sometimes even afterward.