Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween!

PINK WITCH Pictures, Images and Photos

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Spooky Picture Day

Monday nights FHE activity. They enjoyed those pumpkin guts a little too much.....it was spooky.



Last year (I went as my true self).


If I were dressing up this year, I would look like this:

Ed Grimley rocks!


*Our spooky Halloween tree in front of our house. When the leaves fall off it looks like frightening possessed fingers reaching down to grab you. At least that's what I tell the kids.

Speaking of houses, don't bother knocking this year. We won't answer. Get off my property!

EEEEEK! The spookiest of all. Weird. My hair keeps growing shorter.

Update! I totally left this one out (but just remembered it). This black cat, which I've never seen before, has been lurking around our yard since yesterday. Do you believe in omens? That is spooky!
BOO!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Scary Story

It was a dark, stormy night. The heavens were not in alignment. Babies were crying, dogs were barking, actually all living creatures, plant, animal & mineral alike, were restless & out of sorts. Some were even crying. Weeping. Curled up in the fetal position, sucking their thumb, rocking back & forth, bawling uncontrollably. Because this happened:


WINNER!!! The 44th President of the United States of America.

Our country has lost. The constitution is no longer relevant. History is rewritten. We are no longer free, but a socialist/Marxist nation. Well on our way to communism. With our guns taken away while they kill all the unwanted partially born babies. As we pay for other's homes, which they can't afford, through astronomical taxes. Gone are the incentives, ingenuity & industry of a capitalist nation. Gone are the ideals, liberties & freedoms given to us by our founding fathers, which they fought with their blood & lives, to pass down to us.......

AAAHHH!!! SCREAM!!! YIKES!

I'm sweating. That was a really scary story.

Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 27, 2008

My Edward

It's Halloween week! This year I've decided that I really love Halloween & all of the excitement & decorating that goes along with it (also, the candy). So, in honor of Friday's festivities my posts this week will be totally Halloweeny.

I think it's very appropriate to start off the week with everyone's favorite gorgeous vampire, Edward. What says Halloween more than a sexy, vegetarian vampire? I think everyone has their own version of him, your own perfect Eddy, so it would've been kind of impossible for the movie makers to cast the perfect Edward. Whatever, I'm content with their pick. But. The other day while I was watching The Princess Diaries II with my girls, I saw this scene & immediately thought about Edward. To me this guy would fill the shoes (the expensive Italian leather ones) perfectly. So, if I could choose the actor to play my Edward Cullen, this is who I would choose (take the next 2 mins {the first 30 seconds of the clip are dumb so bear with me, you won't regret it} to enjoy his yumminess. Also, I love his speaking voice & his posture.): Chris Pine.




Who is your perfect, or as close to as humanly possible, Edward?

P.S. I just want to be clear that Manly (the guy I'm married to) is the perfect Edward to me. Sometimes I call him Edward just for fun & he loves it. But, I didn't want to put him out there for all to see & oogle over. He's a married man. That would be totally inappropriate & I didn't want to make anyone jealous. And, I didn't want to treat him like a big piece of meat. So that's why I put Chris Pine up there instead of Manly.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Spontaneously Fun

In my past life, when I was a teenager, I was up for pretty much anything. I did have my limits & standards, but it may have been an understatement to have described me as spontaneous & fun-loving. Uh, yeah, slightly. The long lunches with friends on Wednesdays, or Fridays or any day of the week for that matter? Typical. The middle of the night road trips to Eugene (1.5 hours away)? Sure, why not. Going to the movies instead of math class? Do you even have to ask? Today those things might be called truant or delinquent or stealing (some consider it stealing when one drives their parents car to Eugene {full of friends} without permission). Believe it or not, I wasn't a bad kid, just a little crazy, lazy & irresponsible. In college (yes, I said college - I even graduated. Ha!), I was still up for pretty much anything. The all-nighters....... not studying, but staying up all night talking & playing. The middle of the night snowball fights. And I even came this close (picture thumb & finger squeezing together) to surprising my parents at home in Portland, a 12 hour drive, one weekend. If only my roommate & I had had enough gas $ we would have totally been there. Some people around me (actually everyone I'm related to) would say, and have said, Thank goodness she snapped out of it, I didn't have much hope for her. Rude, huh? But true.

Sigh.

Those were the days, and they are over. I got married, became a mother & grew up. In that order. I traded spontaneity for a routine, scheduled life & that's okay. It's better than okay, it's what I want. I enjoy who & what I am now. The responsible (stop snickering) wife & mother, the active member of my church, the classroom & community volunteer (also, please stop rolling your eyes. I'm just saying, that's how awesome I really am.). I am grateful for all of it & what I get to do every day (wiping bums excluded. I am truly not going to miss that.) But recently I've had a few simple experiences which have reminded me how being spontaneous can be like a breath of fresh air on a smoggy day. *Not that I'm comparing my children or husband to smog. It's me, sometimes I get smoggy.


Late one evening last week I got on the computer to "turn it off", *ahem. But, at just the right moment I received an instant message from a good friend of mine here in town (she's also a blogging buddy, I would like her better if she would leave more comments on my blog {hint hint} but I'm still a good friend to her. Anyway...) When that first message popped up on the screen I got all nervous & excited at the same time, just like how I felt when I was faced with the prospect of either going to the mall to try on formals or going to English class. At first I really wasn't sure if my friend actually meant to be I.M.ing me. Could this be a mistake, because I just don't do things like this. Did she really want to talk to me? Why? I'm not cool. I was just so confused. So after I made sure that it wasn't a mistake, I totally relaxed & started chatting & laughing. She called me an I.M. virgin & I called her an I.M. sl_t. Both are true & it was so great - total bonding experience! It was one of those things that just spontaneously happened. No planning. No scheduling. It just happened, I went with the flow & it was simply fun.



The week before that, I had gone over to another friends house, after FHE on Monday night, (to plan the pretty table) with the intention to get our plan on paper, make a list and go home. Soon after I arrived we started talking linens & then she asked, 'Do you want to run to Dillard's in Idaho Falls, before the mall closes?' Me? Can I do that? I.F. is a half hour away. My initial thought was, I can't do that. It's not planned, I should say no. But I couldn't think of 1 good reason why I shouldn't. It just wasn't scheduled - so what?! Manly was home with the kiddies getting them in bed. FHE was over. Dishes were done. I was good. So I agreed. Why not?! I felt like such a rebel (in a non-truant way), like those long lunches downtown giggling with friends. Going to I.F. last minute - unplanned - was spontaneous & fun. We had a great time & I felt young again.



There's more. The week before that a different, different friend (I know, 3 friends. I have 3 friends. These 3 friends will remain nameless because I don't want to spook them. If I publicly claim them as my friends I'm pretty sure they will mock me & denounce any claims of friendship I have made.) called me on a Saturday morning to see if I wanted to go down to Utah with her for the weekend. She lives in I.F. & was therefore a half hour away as she had just started driving. Um, can I even do that? Can I just pick up and leave for the weekend? Is that legal for a conservative wife & mother to do? Who am I, who does she think I am? After that brief identity crisis, came the answer.

It just so happened that Manly was sitting right there when she called because his big hunting plans for the weekend had been canceled. Then came the miracle. He agreed to it, & to do the whole taking kids to church by himself on Sunday thing. What!? Are you serious? I think he's even more spontaneous than I am (JK, that's like an insult to Manly, you are the most routine, responsible person there is!). 20 minutes later I was dressed, packed & on the road to Utah. I can't even describe in words how nervous, excited & happy I felt all at the same time. Those road trips to Eugene, had nothing on this unplanned, spontaneous weekend getaway to Utah. But the feelings were quite similar. My friend dropped me off on the side of the road, my mom picked me up & we had a great time. Totally unplanned & spontaneous. One of the best 2 days ever!

As I said before, I'm glad I've changed. I love being a responsible adult. I'm grateful my kids have at least one good parent to look up to (JK again, Manly. You're responsible too.) I wouldn't change the type of life I have, or who I am. But it has been so refreshing & fun to have these brief encounters with my past. To feel young & carefree again, even if just for an hour, or a day. They have made me laugh, smile & have fun.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Answer

Thanks for your responses. I know there were more of you who wanted to answer but you were too busy eating Oreos.

My answer is that I felt way worse about walking into the gym, to pick up a forgotten blanky (not mine) from the daycare, after I devoured 6 double stuff Oreos. Man, I guess I'm a liar too because I said that I didn't do either one of those things. Okay, okay, I did! I did both of those.

But you're right I don't feel bad about not letting my kids have more because really, if I did, then how would I have had 6? There would've only been like 2 left for me & that's not acceptable. I also admit that I have a problem with Oreo's. I have no self control, that's why they are only allowed in the house on special occasions. Probably next time I should have Manly hide them, instead of me hiding them & then being the only one who can find them. Or not. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. I've done that so I won't get hasty.

Have a great day!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Question

Which is worse?

Only letting your children eat 2 double stuff Oreo cookies, while you sneakily eat 6, because for 1 thing it's not good for them & for another they are not yet old enough to appreciate the difference between the double stuff & regular stuff, therefore the double is wasted on them.

-OR-

Walking into the gym, not to exercise but to pick something up, right after gorging yourself on 6 double stuff Oreo's in one sitting. Is that like walking into an AA meeting while you're drunk?

Not that I did either/both of those last week.


Please share your thoughts on this issue. The person with the correct answer wins. Thanks.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

What did I do?!

Really, the question is what did I NOT do?

As I was perusing through Mormon Mommy Blogs today I came across a title which interested me. I thought it would make me feel better about myself. It was over at the Bingham Diaries, titled, Hi. I'm MomBabe and I'm an Idiot. I thought to myself, Cool. I'm a Mom & a Babe too, but maybe I'm not as big of an idiot as she is. Well, it didn't work. What her post did was made me realize that 1st: I like this girl & 2nd: I'm an even bigger idiot than she is! At least she caught her mistake, I didn't realize I had made one until she told me. What is this all about? I will tell you.

It has to do with a Cause, a Contest & a certain blogger named Sue. I bet most of you know about all of the different, fabulous fundraising efforts going on to support & help the NieNie recovery. You know, that beautiful couple (the Nielson's) who miraculously survived that tragic plane crash 2 months ago. They are the ones that we can all relate to & have a hard time believing that something so random like this would happen to them (even though we don't know them). Because being the semi-egocentric beings that we are we imagine ourselves in their position since we too have 4 young children who we stay home with & since we also share the same faith. So we just can't imagine going through something like that & we want to help. Our hearts, prayers & accounts go out to them.

Well, the aforementioned Sue, who I also bet most of you know (in a bloggy way), wanted to do something to help. So she started a contest for bloggers to submit their clever blog entry's either previously published, but preferably not, to a book that she wants to publish, sell & donate the proceeds of which to the Nie Recovery Fund. What a great cause!

I kept that idea in the back of my head & rolled it around a few times before I actually did anything about it. The deadline for the contest was Sept. 30, & according to true Em fashion I submitted my entry either on Sept. 29th or 30th (are you kidding me? I can't remember that far back). I just know I got my entry in before the very end of the deadline.

Before I ever entered the contest I had read through Sue's blog entry about the contest a few times and once again in true Em fashion I thought to myself, she doesn't mean me. Mine would never get picked. I'm not good enough to enter something like this. I'm not funny or clever. Only confident people enter contests & I'm totally not like that. You know, I was lifting myself up & being a true to form female. But in the end I decided not to listen to myself & do it anyways. A sentence at the end of the post caught my attention. The part where she said something like, "If you're not sure if you're funny enough, don't worry." Okay, so maybe she was talking to me. And I entered.

This is where the problem comes in. I did read her whole blog post, I just didn't necessarily understand all of the rules for submission. I guess I was supposed to backlink to her post about this contest & to the Nie Recovery site before the deadline. Like many of you, I have my Nie button on the side bar of my blog, so I thought I was good. From what I'm being told now, I wasn't. This is the part where you remember that I'm a BIG idiot too (not that MomBabe is because if it wasn't for her, I would have always assumed I was rejected because my submission wasn't funny enough.) Not that I've been rejected yet, I don't know what's going on at this point. But. If I don't get in the book, now I can always assume that it was because of being an idiot & not understanding the rules clearly & not because I'm not funny. Because I totally am. And that would make the rejection easier to take.

So, if any of you who have anything to do with this wonderful cause are reading this, remember, I'm sorry. I made an honest mistake. I don't speak computer so words like backlink just go over my head & I pretend I don't see them, because obviously they weren't meant for me. But now that I've been shown the error of my ways I've tried really hard to rectify the situation. I hope I've gotten enough backlinks in the right places to the right sites. Like MomBabe said, I really hope it's not too late. Please. Not that I'm begging because I don't do that. PlEASE!

Also, Thanks again to my new friend & fellow idiot MomBabe. BTW, you're not an idiot. You've helped me out a great deal here.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Tag, you're IT!....the 2nd

So I've been tagged again. I'm really trying hard not to let it go to my head. I know you're all thrilled to learn more about me, & you know I'm totally not a bragger {I really don't like to talk about myself} but since you asked for it how can I refuse? Here's a little insight into the wonderful world of Manly & Me:

1. Where did you 1st meet your husband? We were both living in a little town in the Pacific Northwest called, Utensils. I was 16 when I moved there to live with my Dad. On my 1st day at my strange new high school, I sat next to him in Biology class. He had the most beautiful, powdery white skin & scary yet inviting black eyes. At first I totally thought he hated me with a PASSION! He wouldn't even look at me. He was so tense & rigid, like he was about to body slam the next person to cross his path. I almost asked him what his problem was when he slammed his books closed & stormed out of class...... Oh, wait. That wasn't me.

I guess we met at Ricks. I had this really beautiful roommate & Manly wanted to meet her. He met me instead and the rest is history. It was his lucky day.

2. What was the 1st thing you said to him? Hey hotty, you're hot! JK, it was something profound like, Nice to meet you.

3. Where was your 1st date? In Rexburg, Idaho. Duh.

4. Where was your 1st kiss? On the lips. So this is starting to get a little personal, I'm not sure I like where this line of questioning is going.

5. Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship? I don't want to talk about it. This is the only thing on which we disagree. So, I won't go there. Sorry, you lose.

6. Where did you get engaged? We were living in a quaint little village nestled in the countryside of England. He had arrived unannounced with his friend for a visit & we subsequently went for a stroll down the country lane. I was thanking him for the help he gave my family in the retrieval of my wayward sister, from the odious fiend, Mr. Wickam. He wouldn't let me go on in my profuse gratitude, he claimed he only did it because of his love for me......... dang, not me again.

At his sister's house in Rexburg, ID. He was living with her & her family while attending college. He made me a candlelight dinner & had my ring in an Easter basket (because it was Valentine's when we got engaged of course.). Fun, huh? I actually like this story too.

7. Where did you get married? The Portland LDS Temple. It was the coolest because we had flaming liberal protesters there who were picketing us as we drove away from the temple. They were so concerned for our welfare as they told us how it's all a scam and we're not married for eternity. I really appreciated their sincerity & interest in our lives. And they did add a lot of joy to our day.

8. How did the reception go? If you had been there you would know that you missed the most totally awesome party to ever happen in an LDS church. That's all I have to say. You should have been there.

9. How was the honeymoon? That's IT! I'm done. No more questions. You have crossed the line. BTW, for the record it was hot.........we were at the beach in August.

Now, I don't know if I'm comfortable with passing this Tag on. It's a little scandalous! But if you want to then I won't stop you. I am a little curious about my blogging buddies whom I don't actually know. If you're interested go ahead, make my day.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Miss me?

PHEW! Last week is over. I survived, which I seriously had doubts would happen. So now I'm back. Did you miss me? I missed you. Each time I was doing something I didn't want to do, like hosting a big, out of control birthday party with 10, 10 & 11 year old squealing girls, my mind would go to it's happy place & I would think about blogging & you blogging. 'I wonder what my blogging friends are blogging about right now', crossed my mind more than once. So here's a recap of what kept me from my computer last week:
*
1. Monday @ midnight (technically it's really Tuesday morn but who cares, I was tired) making these napkin rings:

We'll come back to this on Saturday.

2.Tuesday morning. Getting children ready.
Hey Hoodee & Sidysue, where are you going today?
It's your 1st day of Preschool! Hallelujah!!!


3. Tuesday night (after mutual). Staying up late again...
making these for Lundles school class on Wed.:

Sweet Sushi anyone?
*
4. Wednesday. Making this:
And this: (the b-day dinner, chicken pillows & chips)
So the b-day girl will do this:
Happy Birthday Lundles.......again.
*
5. Thursday. Neighbor calls & invites us over.....making children happy. Run children, Run!
because they get to do this:
Thank you Janice!
*
6. Friday: Clean, clean, clean. Hanging these up:
Setting this:
So the dining room will look like this:
For the friend party, which ended up like this:

Trust me, they were not as sweet & quiet as they look in this picture. WHERE'S A VALIUM?!
*
7: Saturday. Remember the napkin rings? They were for this:
The Pink Tea in Pocatello. It's a fundraiser to raise money for women to get mammograms. It's a breast cancer awareness thing. My friend Jaeme asked me to help her set a table for it. Here's her beautiful centerpiece & our table:
So that was my week & I reserve all the bragging rights to which I am entitled (even though I really hate that word, because that mindset is what's wrong with society today......sorry, tangent). I normally don't do really neat, creative & lovely things like these so I'm showing the world.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Through the Years

A photo essay (with as few words as humanly possible for me) of Lundles 1st 11 years. A lot happens in 11 years!




Day 1:

Nanny
Grandma

3 months:
1 year

2 years


3
4

5, Preschool:

6
7




8, 2nd grade. Baptism!

9
10

Finally! They're pierced.


1 month before 11 (so it still counts!)

Happy Birthday Lundles!!! We love you,
the gang

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

3 Things

Thing 1: Shout out!

I heart my new layout, it should last at least a week. I think blogs should be changed & updated like bags & shoes, actually I don't think that about your blogs, just mine. I like to makeover anything that will stand still for longer than a minute. So blogs are perfect for me. I love all of the fun, new & different looks out there & someday I might even put some $ into it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I would like to give a big blogger shout out to Julie at Leelou. Love her site & all of her fun templates. She is definitely a creative & talented WAHM. She is also very helpful to minimally brain functioning beings such as myself. Thank you Julie, for everything, I love it!

Thing 2: More to come.

I have a lot to post & will get to it soon. This is the BIG birthday week. Tomorrow is the BIG day for Lundles. And Friday is her BIG friend party. We don't do BIG every year for birthdays, but last year was especially unacceptable. Manly had started his office at this time last year & we told the kids they would be lucky to see their next birthday with us (we heard there were some really good private schools in Pakistan, who really wanted American kids to join them. They would pay for their travel expenses & room & board. Although the rate of return is very low. It sounded like a great deal.). Well, they're still here so we told them they could each have a friend party this year. As I've been trying to get things ready, I keep asking myself why we ever told them that. BIG is overrated. Pakistan is sounding pretty good right now.

Thing 3: Find pictures of Lundles.

Thing 4: Make cake & fake sushi.

Thing 5: Make dinner.

Thing 6: Shave legs.

Thing 7: Oops, did I post that out loud? I have a lot on my mind.

Thing 8: Post about why mom's should get all the credit for their kids birthday's. Why are we celebrating them? What did they do? They just came out, because we made them, against their will. Everyone, including said birthday person, should be celebrating the mother who went through the 9 months of whatever you'd like to call it (depending on if you're a glass 1/2 empty or full type of person), only to top it off with the delivery. And then all those months of sleepless days & nights to feed & care for, said birthday person. Those are the real heroes, the mothers. Being ripped to shreds isn't my idea of fun. My memory isn't short. I haven't forgotten, oh no! But I did it, to give you life. You owe me & so does everyone else who enjoys said creation of Manly & me. Oops, did I post that out loud too? That's totally not like me. I better go now.

Monday, October 6, 2008

He's so lucky.....again!

So, if you haven't guessed by now, I'm slightly obsessed with being a member of MoTab. I may have hinted at it a time or two before, like here & here. This past weekend as we were so reverently & peacefully (do I even need to clear my throat here?) watching general conference, which was THE BEST - consider me totally uplifted & edified, I started having another of my non-delusional conversations with Manly, in my head.

You guys, he is so sweet!

He was making his arguments about why I should be in the choir, how they need me & why they are the ones who are totally missing out. He's right, but still it's not very ladylike to say those things myself, it's so braggy (& as you all know, I'm not like that). But he made me swear I would blog about this 1st thing Monday morning because he's just so darned proud of me. I can't break a promise. Once again, I'm only going to give you his top 5 reasons (out of the countless ones he came up with) why I should be a member of MoTab:

1. My great fashion sense. If I were a member you'd see a lot more hot pink, bright green, bangles, bobbles & skin. Oh, & mandatory make-up. He admires my horse-sense when it comes to appearances.

2. I can sing. If you've ever received one of my singing emails then you already know that. He told me there's not a sound on earth that brings as much joy to his soul as the last note of the song I'm singing. You guys! How sweet. Anyway, I can hold those loooooong notes at the end without doing all of that staggered breathing & without fainting. I know the rest of them have to take breaths.

3. The camera loves me. Like he said, I simply belong on t.v. I would look really good singing up there especially when the camera zooms in on me & I would have a sweet, peaceful, angelic look on my face (without braces - not that there's anything wrong with that). Plus he said I'm hot.

4. I'm the best wife ever. He thinks that's one of the requirements to get in. He's probably right on both accounts.

5. I'm so much fun! He could totally picture what those choir practices would be like with me there to liven up the party. It would be non-stop, side splitting fun & games! Just think, whoopee cushions on the organists bench & spiders on the guys seats. He loves my practical jokes on him, they would too.

There you have it. The Manly, in my head, did it again. He totally made my weekend! As I sang along with the choir the past couple of days, & no one told me to shut it (why would they? besides that's a totally bad word in our house), I could really tell that they wished I was there singing with the choir too.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Playing grown up

So I just heard the cutest conversation, it made my heart smile. At least it didn't make me want to throw-up, hyperventilate or bind any of my children to a bolted-down table. The phone rang and my 10, soon to be 11, year old girlie answered it. It was her friend. She was calling to get a recipe. What?! Are you kidding me? Are 10 year olds supposed to care about stuff like that? I didn't start asking for recipes until after I was married, & I still don't like to do it too often because then there's all this pressure to actually make it.

Anyway, friend was asking Lundles for her favorite cookie recipe: Homemade Oreo's. Lundles found the family recipe book (wish I could take credit for that one) that it's printed in, looked it up, and then proceeded to give friend the directions, (all without help from either of her parents. Rude.): "A cake mix, 2 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, cream frosting (leaving out cheese). Mix 1st 3 ingredients together. Roll into balls. Bake at three five zero degrees, approx, whatever that means, 7 mins. Okay, bye." That was it. The call ended as quickly as it started. No chit-chat here. These girlie's mean business.


It made me think, playing grown up isn't all bad. We worry so much about our little girls wanting to dress skimpy, because so many of the other little girls their age, most of the teenagers & their moms do. It's the norm. It is the norm & it makes me want to bandage my eyes. We have side-aches over them wanting to wear make-up, & fake tattoo's because they look so real, and we have headaches because they want to start listening to way-too-old-&-inappropriate music. But this?! This is a growing-up-too-fast that I can live with. This is wholesome. This is good old fashioned fun. This is any age appropriate. She was playing grown-up in a totally sweet, innocent, and tasty way.

Now I'm off to find her. I want some cookies too.

Friday, October 3, 2008

My kinda kid

On Friday's SidySue has ballet (btw, it's seriously cute). So, Hoodee & I get to have a date. What's better than going to the public library with your 4 year old son? Going to the D.I. with your 4 year old son. These 3 places are in the same neighborhood & since Sidy's class is only 45 mins long I don't dare stray too far, because I'll be late. Her teacher doesn't like that. Trust me, I know. Whoops. Anyway, the library would be the perfect place to go, but guess what? They don't open till 10:30 - are you kidding me? Class starts at 10:00 so that leaves the D.I., which is an adventure in & of itself. Last Friday I met the coolest kid. A kid who says what's on his mind. Random stuff. A kid like me. Here's a recap of our conversation:


Kid: 'I have to buy something BIG with this!' as he holds up a $1 bill right in front of my eyes.

Me: 'Oh, you're lucky.'

Kid: 'Because I'm BIG, I'm 6! And the tooth-fairy brought me this last night. My Dad yanked it out really hard like this,' *he reaches in his mouth and twists and pulls on an imaginary tooth. It looked painful.

Me: 'You ARE lucky. The tooth fairy always forgets our house & it makes my kids cry.'

Pause. He stands and looks at me with wide eyes & a blank expression.

Kid: 'But I have to buy something BIG!'

He walks off.
A few minutes later:

Kid: 'Have you seen anything BIG? I need to buy something BIG with this,' as he once again holds up the $ bill for me to see.

Me: 'Haven't you found anything yet? It's hard to choose with so much stuff around, huh?'

Kid: 'Sometimes my head hurts in the morning from the pills I have to take that make me stay on task.'

I stand and look at him with wide eyes and a blank expression, until his dad comes over and distracts him, easily, I might add.

I like this kid.