Anyone Have a Manual?

For those of you that don’t know this about me, I am a huge Green Bay Packers fan. Although disheartened by how the season ended, we had a really great season and I am still and will always be a fan.

Anyway, for Christmas I received a Fathead of the Green Bay Packers’ player Clay Matthews. If you don’t know what a Fathead is (I didn’t until I was given one) it is a life-size wall graphic of a sports figure or any type of image you want made.

Once my husband hung up the Fathead on the wall, my girls and I took pictures of each of us with the Fathead. Of course, I being who I am and a fan of Clay Matthews…my oldest daughter took a photo of me in my Clay Matthews jersey doing the “Clay Matthews” pose. (If you don’t know what that pose is, I encourage you to Google Clay Matthews’ images and you will see.)

Lo and behold, a few days ago I was on Facebook and checking out the latest posts and what did I see? A picture of me giving my Clay Matthews pose. Guess what the title of the picture is…My Dorky Mom. REALLY?! Funny, I thought I was really cool and down to earth. I suddenly realized that my oldest daughter is at that stage where some of the things I do will render the rolling of the eyes from her and the “Mom, you’re embarrassing me.” This is going to be fun!

I told my husband of our daughter’s post and he laughed stating that such behavior deserves such action…or something like that. It’s all in fun. I was curious though and asked my daughter if she really felt that I was “dorky”. She laughed at my question and said that I was a dorky cool. I guess I can accept that, I am a little quirky. It’s all for the Green Bay Packer cause…we’ll get them next year!!

First of all, I have been a bit silent on my blog lately and I apologize…it has been a very busy time. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and will enjoy a happy and safe New Year!

So, my husband was very creative and clever when it came to filling my Christmas stocking this year. I believe it will be something our little one will not let down for a very long time.

We woke up Christmas morning and opened our presents and then moved on to the stockings by the fireplace. Our children emptied out theirs, as did my husband and lo and behold, my turn.

I pulled out this little sack and guess what I found, chocolate coal. I thought “what fun” but my youngest shouted out as loud as she could in a HA HA tone, Mommy is on the naughty list and got coal!!

I tried to explain to her that it was chocolate from Santa and that I wasn’t on the naughty list but she wasn’t letting it go. She was skipping around the house repeating it over and over again, Mommy’s on the naughty list…Mommy’s on the naughty list. Then my oldest decided to join in on the fun and began taunting me. I shot my husband a look of “thanks a lot honey” but smiled because it was funny.

As the day went on, the girls settled and it seemed as though the mocking would stop…guess what, WRONG! The next day we had family over and the first thing our youngest said as her aunty came in the door…Guess what, mommy is on the naughty list and got coal! I explained to them that it was chocolate coal from Santa but they laughed and my daughters were beaming.

We went shopping, and my youngest told the cashier that I was on the naughty list and got coal. I again, explained that it was chocolate. Everywhere we went, she was proud to share with anyone that would listen to her that her mommy was on the naughty list and got coal for Christmas from Santa. I finally stopped explaining that it was chocolate and just nodded and smiled.

I think it liberated her. After all the threats that Santa would not come if she didn’t go to sleep or if she kept fighting with her sister, it didn’t work. She received presents and mom got the coal. You know what though, it’s all good because I got the chocolate and it was very tasty.

It’s funny how children can create their own language and we respond to them because we know exactly what they mean. For instance,
how-ba-say…

Our youngest daughter is the easiest person to play pretend time with because she orchestrates every little detail of the game; it’s a no-brainer feat when I play with her. Lately, I have noticed when we are playing she tends to run her words together because she is in such a hurry to explain the game. It’s actually kind of funny and she has come up with the phrase How-Ba-Say…in place of how about you say.

While we were playing the other day, I finally had to ask her, “Honey, what are you saying?”

She repeated, “how-ba-say, I can fly!” (Yes, we were playing with her Barbie® fairies.)

I giggled a little and said, “how about you say?”

She said, “yeah, that’s what I said silly.”

Her older sister and I smiled and we continued playing. My husband was watching TV and listening to all of this and he whispered to me, “Just let it go…she’s only young once.”

Ok, I tend to be a worry wart and start thinking…well, if I don’t correct her will she think it is ok and then have pronunciation concerns or something like that. I know a bit extreme but those things run through my head.

So, we continue playing. Then she says it again and we all giggled a little now because we had a mini discussion about the correct way to say it, she stops; looks at me; and says slowly…how about you say… it was so darn cute the way she was really thinking about it and she stated every single syllable and enunciation perfectly! My husband shoots me a somewhat disappointed look, ok…I did it again BUT not a moment later she says, “how-ba-say” and gives us a great big smile and plays on. Recovered!!

Kids say the cutest things.

I love to take the time to read the comments posted on this site. I do admit that a lot of them do not make it to approval due to solicitation or the link submitted with the comment contains content I feel is not well-suited for this site but the comments I enjoy the most are when someone asks, “Are you for real?” or “Do you make this stuff up?” My first reaction is to laugh and my responses to everyone that reads this site, yes I am serious about what I post and second, no I don’t make this stuff up. This is life and I like to share moments that are quirky or incidents that happen that hopefully make people laugh.

Sometimes we just need to be amused. Take a look around you, memorable moments happen all the time. I just like to capture those moments and write about them and most of the time, if not all the time, it involves my family. So if you enjoy what you read on this site, it is for real.

Like this past week, my youngest daughter from out of the blue would sit on the couch and start giggling. She would call me over and with her hand over her mouth giggling, she asked…Momma, do you ‘member when it was storming and you flipped the chair over? I said…yes honey I do and gave her a big smile. That was a good memory for her and a chance for me to break up the intensity of the storm, unintentionally of course.

It was during the last big storm we had and it was about 3:30 in the morning and the sirens were going off, lighting flashing all across the sky, and the thunder was so loud. Anyway, the kids and I went downstairs and my husband was gathering up flashlights, candles, etc. I settled the girls in the basement with blankets on the oversized bean bag and I was getting ready to fall back to sleep in the “Catnapper” we have in the basement. Now, this Catnapper is an oversized reclining chair and I am a bit on the petite side and I have to literally put all of my weight on the back of the chair to get this thing to recline. So, as the girls were wide-eyed partially peeking out from under their blankets watching the lightning stream across the sky…I attempted to push back and recline this monster of a chair.

Next thing I know, the chair flips completely backwards and my feet are sticking straight up in the air. All I could hear from my girls was them taking a big breath and whispering…Mommy, are you ok? I started laughing and asked my oldest for some help! That’s when the girls lost control and were shrieking with laughter. I had my oldest hold the chair as I did a very sad backwards somersault out of the chair. That made the girls laugh even harder.

My husband came running downstairs because I am sure to him he heard nothing but screaming. He asked what happened and with all of us laughing and talking over one another, I think he finally got the gist of the story after hearing it a couple of times.

So yes, these moments are true and sometimes I am reminded of them even from my children. Stay tuned!