Oh Love and Other Joys

Despite what I thought of all the rain last week, Kalea really took the time to enjoy it. This was day one of the week long torrential downpour. I didn't realize Kalea had snuck out back while I was washing dishes and she was loving the rain on her face. I took a lot of pictures. She would giggle hysterically when the rain hit her face, it was TOO CUTE. She is a handful, but she sure enjoys life and all the little things that us big people sometimes take for granted. After this picture she rapidly disrobed and let her "inner nudist" out so to speak. She is wild. I was trying to snap a shot of Brynlee being cute and a diaper came flying into the frame! I'm sure Freud could explain why my child so often likes to run around in the nude, but sometimes it boggles my mind. Especially in the cold and rain and even in the snow?!?! Who's kid is this?
On the topic of my wild child, she is a klutz and sometimes gets so confused about what I'm telling her to do. Case in point, this morning she wakes up saying "I hun, I hun" (two syllable words are not her favorite, she means "I hungry") anyways, even when we're carrying her downstairs the desperate plea echoes through the house. I sit her at the table and she continues, I show her the cereal boxes and of course she chooses her apple cinnamon cheerios- is there a better variety, I think not. Anywho, almost as quickly as I put her bowl down in front of her, it mysteriously jumps into her lap?! She just looked at me and said "I hun now, mom. I cold, brrrr" Um yeah, no kidding. Case in point number two, today she was playing with an old bracelet I had lying around, it was made from elastic cord and seed/bugle beads. I was contemplating stealing it from her later because I could probably still use it. So I asked her to be careful and to make sure not to break it because the beads would probably go everywhere...ahem... about 2.5 seconds later I hear a delightfully high pitched sing-song-y "I BREAKED IT!!! Mommy mommy I breaked it!" Sigh... She is such an adventure in parenting for me. Last night she and her friend almost got themselves run over, but I wasn't home and I don't feel like talking about it. Let's just say, I have always felt impressed that I need to watch her like a hawk, and in the last few weeks she has given Steve and I both a run for our money in the "vigilant parent" department. Joy.Shall we move on to the second hoodlum in my house? Brynlee is starting to follow her sisters' lead in the nudity department, along with most of the other unflattering things Kalea does. She likes the phrase "Go way!" and usually pairs it with an open-handed slap. It's awesome. On the bright side, this child listens to me- for the most part. I can always count on Brynlee to help me put the container of wipes away after I change her- it's the small things people! She has been growing little fangs for the last few weeks- all 4 of them at the same time! I know, you're totally jealous of all the fun that we've been having with that. She is generally pretty good even when she's teething, but we've had some "moments". I noticed today that they are all basically thru, and thank the heavens her runny nose is starting to subside. Someday I would really like to know why runny noses and my kids growing teeth are so inextricably intertwined, it drives me nuts every time. Brynlee is a fan of brushing her teeth, and when I say that I really mean it. She is such a good little tooth-brusher! She is also a very frequent tooth-brusher. She asks me to take her to the potty just so she can brush her teeth. Smarty pants. Oh yes and she has decided that she doesn't like to urinate in her diaper anymore, but she doesn't like to tell me. She takes her diaper off and pees in the same spot every single day- at least she's consistent. Curse Steve for trashing the little potty that Kalea refused to use, for Brynlee might be half potty trained by now if we still had that thing! Seriously, she's a superstar, a few weeks ago she was scared to death of the toilet- I have no idea why- now she loves to just sit there and make faces... one day soon she'll realize what it's for, I hope. Bryn also loves to hide from me. Whenever I try to change her diaper, even if I say nothing about it, she instinctively knows what's about to happen and will run for her life away from me. I promise my diaper changing skills are not as traumatic as my kids make them out to be. They are just strange little creatures. Anywho, that is the latest with them.
And as far as my money saving plans. Meal planning is going so good, in fact it's painless. We've basically stuck to the plan or just switched a few nights around, but other than that it's working! Today will be the first day in 2wks that Steve has bought any fast food, but only out of necessity. My grocery bill is infinitely smaller because of the meal plan, which is working out great for other expenses this month. I figured out we don't have to cut our cable because the promotion we're on with Shaw right now basically means we aren't paying for it- I know, we hit the jackpot with that one. When the promo is over in December I think we're just going to get AppleTV and be done with cable companies as far as tv goes. I ordered the kids' birth certificates the other day, I know, took me long enough. Anyways, I was ticked with AMA, they were such a rip-off. I know this because when I worked at a privately owned registry office, if a mom were ordering bc's for her kids, we would only charge her one "registry agent fee", since it's an extra $14 or so and it's only one transaction, we weren't out to make people feel like we swindled them. AMA charged me two fees, one for each birth certificate. I was thrilled...