A sick Kelsey

makes the rest of the family miserable. My mom would agree that she takes after me. I am a horrible sick person. When I'm sick, I want my mom. That is not a joke, I really do. Kelsey doesn't necessarily want me. She just wants someone to listen to her cry about what hurts.

At the beginning of last week, Jack started getting sick. Will was already over whatever he had. Kelsey briefly got what he had, but it didn't completely take hold. Well, she has what Jack has. Mainly a sore throat. She also has a pretty nasty sounding cough and she's stuffed up. It's your normal cold virus. So we just give her medicine for it and hope for the best.

With Kelsey, that's not good enough. The main problem here is her sore throat. To give her credit, I think it really does hurt. And I feel bad for her. No one likes having a sore throat. She's taken Halls, Tylenol, and anything else I can think of that will relieve her sore throat. It's not good enough. She is constantly asking for medicine. Jack and Kelsey had a little exchange last night after she asked for medicine again for the fourth time in an hour.

Kelsey (walking down stairs w/ the whiniest voice you can imagine): My throat still hurts. I think I need more medicine.

Jack (HUGE sigh): Kelsey, we will give you medicine when it's time for you to get medicine. Stop asking for it.

Really, it's getting out of control. I know that her throat hurts, but it's like she's a six year old cold medicine junkie. So today, I went to the store. This is all the medicine we have for her. Just for her. This was all bought for one six year old child*.

Honestly, if this doesn't make her feel better, I'm going to tell her that it's impossible for her throat to hurt b/c she's had her tonsils out. Therefore it must all be in her head.

I also have to say that Will is the most perfect sick child I've ever seen. He normally gets sick on Friday night sometime, gets better sometime on Sunday, then goes back to school on Monday. God love that kid.

*Said six year old is not getting all this at one time.

Way to Work it, Girl...

Yesterday I blogged about my MIL coming to stay with the kids while we went out of town. Before we left I sat the kids down and had "the talk" with them. You know which one I mean, right? The "if you don't behave yourselves this weekend I will kill you" talk. For the most part, I have pretty good kids. I don't usually worry about how they'll behave when I'm not around (when I am around is a whole other story, though). They tend to mind their manners and be respectful to whatever adult is in charge. But they haven't spent a lot of time with MM's mom, and I was afraid they'd test their boundaries with her and cause problems. Since this was the first time I'd left them alone I was worried.

So we had "the talk" and then I went over the rules with them. When it got to the bedtime rule, The Girl interrupted. "Mom, our bedtime is 9:30, not 9:00!" Excuse me child? I'm the one who set your bedtime, I should know what time it is! I said, "TG, your bedtime has been the same for 5 years. It's 9:00." She sputtered, "No it isn't! It's 9:30! You said we had to start getting ready for bed at 9:00, but we didn't actually have to go to bed until 9:30!"

Sometimes I just can't believe her. She actually argued with me. Her mother! The one who set her bedtime to begin with. Who does that?

When my MIL got here, I gave her the kids' homework schedules (more about that later) and told her the kids' bedtimes were 9:00. I made sure to tell her to watch out for The Girl, because she'd try to stay up later if possible. She said she'd be on her guard.

Later that night The Girl and I were talking and she asked, rather slyly, "So Grandma is in charge while you're gone, right?" I know my child, so I was already suspicious. "Yes, TG, she's in charge while I'm gone." She smiled, "So what she says goes, right? Even if she breaks one of your rules." This girl. "Yes, TG, what she says goes. I'm not going to be here and she's in charge of you, so if she tells you to do something or says something is ok even though I wouldn't normally let you do it, you listen to her." Her smile got bigger and she nodded her head. I knew this didn't bode well.

Sure enough, MM gets a call on his cell phone Thursday night. We were in the checkout line at Target when the phone rang. MM rolled his eyes when he saw his mom's number on the screen. He answered and asked if everything was ok. It was The Girl. She asked if I was asleep (why she'd ask if I was asleep at 8:00 p.m. is totally beyond me, but whatever) and MM said, "I hope not, since she's standing right next to me." Now, if you remember, TG has phone issues. I guess she didn't understand what MM said, because he kept repeating it. "I hope she isn't asleep, since she's standing right here." After a few seconds of this MM pulled his phone from his ear and looked at it funny, then put it back and said, "No she's not tanning! Why would she be tanning? You're not the brightest of our children, are you?" Evidently she couldn't understand what he was saying and somehow got "tanning" from "standing".

When he said, "You're not the brightest of our children, are you?" I looked at the cashier and she bust out laughing. She'd kind of been snickering at the conversation all along, but she really lost it when he said that. Then she kind of paused when she saw me looking at her and her eyes got wide, like maybe she was afraid I was going to be mad. I just rolled my eyes and grinned at her. Freaking MM.

Anyway, it turns out The Girl was calling because she'd been trying to explain to Grandma that if she said the kids could stay up until 9:30, they could. Grandma wasn't buying this after the big production I made about their bedtime being 9:00, though. The Girl had to call me so I could tell my MIL that it was true, she was in charge while I was gone and if she said it was ok for the kids to stay up until 9:30 then they could. I couldn't help it, I just laughed. Only my child, people. Only my child.

My MIL got on the phone and I told her, yes, she was in charge and if she wanted the kids to stay up until 9:30 they could. She said, "Well, I don't mind if they stay up late, but since you made such a big deal about it...." In the end I said I didn't care what they did, since I wasn't home to witness it.

All this, over a freaking half hour. Manipulative little brat, my daughter. Still, I have to give her credit for working the angles.

(and no, I'm not going to share with you how MM later told me I had, in fact, told the kids their new bedtime could be 9:30 and then promptly forgot, but thanks for stopping by anyway)

Gotta Love Grandma

This past weekend MM and I went to Salt Lake City to see my brother graduate college. The school asked that we not bring our children if we could avoid it, so we asked MM's mom to stay with them. Both Grandma and the kids were excited to spend the weekend together. Grandma because she could spoil the kids and the kids because they knew they'd get spoiled.

Me? I don't get too worked up about it. I was a bit nervous about leaving them when I considered how much sugar they were sure to have (which was confirmed when my MIL showed up with a "funnel cake kit" and told me they were going to have great fun), not to mention what the state of our house would be when we got home, but overall I was just glad MM's mom was willing to stay with the kids.

Of course, that was before my brother-in-law started texting MM and I pictures. Pictures of the kids and dogs running a muck in the house. Pictures of the house, period. I about died when I got this one:

Yes, that is my house, people. Not that you can see it for all the crap every where. Apparently they decided to build forts and have a sleepover in the living room. Lucky for me (or maybe for them?) they cleaned everything up before we got home.

But yesterday I was searching for the tape and couldn't find any. I asked the kids where all the tape was and they laughed and said they used it all to build their fort. Yes, they used tape to hold it together. About 6 rolls of it, if memory serves. *eye roll*

Religion

The other day, the kids and I were in the car when Will asked me if we were Christians. I explained to him what a Christian was and then told him that he was Catholic. Then he started asking me about God and Jesus and all the things that would be answered better by Jack. We started talking about how Jesus died for our sins, etc. Then I explained about the Second Coming. Leave it to a kid to come up with this:

"So when Jesus rises from the dead, will he be a zombie?"

I couldn't even answer, I was laughing so hard.

Taylor or Miley?

When outraged parents came out several years ago complaining that their impressionable daughters' idol, Britney Spears, wasn't so wholesome anymore, it really wasn't a blip on my radar. My kids were both babies at the time and I remember thinking that the parents should do less complaining to the media and more talking to their kids. Little did I know that about five years later, I would be in that same position.

Kelsey loves both Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. Every night, she falls asleep to the music of Taylor Swift. Anytime I see her on any talkshow/award show/news show, I record it for her. She loves Taylor Swift. I love her, too. She is exactly the type of celebrity that I would want Kelsey to look up to. She never looks slutty. She almost always looks her age. The other day, Taylor was on Ellen and Kelsey was glued to the TV. She loved seeing the pictures from when Taylor was a baby and the video of Taylor singing when she was a kid. She literally felt joy just from watching this eighteen year old teenager talk.

Miley Cyrus OTOH? I feel like sending her a letter telling her that in case she forgot, she's only 15. She'll have plenty of time to dress like a 25 year old, please wait until she's at least 20. I know that part of it is just society today and how our kids are introduced to certain things so much sooner than we were, but come on. Miley Cyrus looks like she's 20 years old. Sometimes I forget that she's only 15. With Britney Spears, she was growing up so of course her image was going to change. Considering Miley's age, and what crowd she is most popular with, could she please try to set some sort of good example? Not that I'm going to let Kelsey start wearing makeup and dressing skanky. I count myself lucky that Kelsey just likes Hannah Montana. She doesn't really differentiate between Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus.

Another thing I don't like about Miley is how freakin' expensive it is to go to any of her shows. My sister and I were talking about how she charged $200 per ticket to her birthday party at Disneyland. Srsly? If you're in the position that she is in, you have to make yourself available for your fans, the very people that have made you as popular as you are. I know that I wouldn't drop down $400 for two tickets to Disneyland, even if I lived in Socal. Pul-lease.

Kelsey is only six, so I realize that it's just beginning. Lucky me.

They actually can get along

I admit, I am a horrible teacher. I was lucky that Will picked up reading as well as he did b/c I didn't have very much patience. That sounds horrible, doesn't it?

Anyway, teaching Kelsey is much easier b/c I have Will. He lets her read to him and I have to say, he's surprisingly patient. You know those times that you look at your kids and just think of how lucky you are? That's how I felt when I took this picture.

On an unrelated note, Will is sick right now. He has that seal-like barking cough that makes you shudder. Anytime he sneezes, he sounds like he's choking. Even knowing that, my heart still jumps every time he sneezes.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry