Ladies Man II

Excerpt from an all-to-real conversation I had this morning.


Josh: Hey Mommy!  Guess what I want to give [insert name of little girl we know from church]?

Me (honestly intrigued): What?

Josh: A rose!

Me: Wha...?

Josh: Yeah, I want to give her a rose on Terraria! 

Me: Okaaayy... Why?

Josh: Because guirrels [girls] like flowers.  Then [little girl's name] would have something pretty to put in her hair.  Gueirrels like to have pretty things in their hair!

Me: You're very observant, Josh.

Josh: Yeah. I know.

Pay special attention, uncles Kyle and Kevin - you could learn a thing or two about women from Josh! ;)  (So far we know that girls like babies and girls like pretty things in their hair.  Use this super-knowledge only for good, not for evil!)

Updates

Update #1:

Remember the fun mentioned in this post?

So I stewed about it and got phone numbers of guys who could possibly fix it.  And then I called my dad.

Because dads know everything.

Of course, dads don't always know everything.  When you're 16 and your dad goes to the store in bib overalls and shoes with no laces, your dad knows NOTHING.  (At least, nothing of value to you.  And definitely nothing about fashion.)  But once you get a bit older, and especially once you start having kids, dads suddenly become an invaluable source of information.  Their fashion sense also generally improves.

Anywho, we talked about it for a while and I decided that perhaps it wasn't a leak - perhaps it was just cold enough outside that day that the paint couldn't dry and just ran.  My dad thought this theory plausible: with poor insulation in that corner and it being cold enough outside, condensation could cause the paint to run.  Plus, we had never seen any leaks or signs of leaks before.  (No water streaks, no bubbling latex paint, etc.)

So I decided to wait and see what happened.  We had the perfect weather for this type of waiting.  First it snowed and melted a bit and then it rained quite a bit.  I checked every day and guess what I found?  Nothing.  Dry as a bone.

HOORAY!  I guess my little tantrum the other day was rather premature.  But it did make me feel better.  And hey!  I ended up getting what I wanted, so maybe I'll throw more tantrums in the future.

I repainted the wall today and it looks fine.  Not fine enough to remember to take a picture of it, but whatever.

Update #2:

Several readers asked me what book I had just read that prompted me to write this post.  Oops.  I probably should have thought of that before.

I had just finished reading The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater.

It's about blood-thirsty, carnivorous horses who come out of the sea and the people who raise and race them.  Wait!  It's way better than that.  It was one of those books where you know nothing like this could ever happen and is just not real, but you forget because the writing is so good and the story and characters are so compelling.  Not life-changing in any way, but certainly a good read.  I highly recommend it.

Update #3:

Remember how Batman made his appearance?  Too much positive reinforcement has brought Batman out in full force.  Especially during inappropriate moments, such as during mealtime prayers where little brothers act as the perfect giggling audience.  I can only imagine what it will be like if Batman comes to church with us tomorrow.  Oy.

New Word

Random thought for the day:

There needs to be a word for that feeling of loss after you've finished a really good book.  You know that feeling - like you wish you could just keep reading about the characters for the rest of your/their lives.  Even if the ending is really good and the perfect stopping place for the story, it always feels a bit bittersweet to me.

That's how I can tell I really liked a book (or a movie, for that matter): I feel that unnamed sense of loss and I can't stop thinking about the characters.

Maybe that's why I can't seem to settle down and write the novel I've always wanted to write: I don't think I'd be able deal with saying good bye to the characters.  That, and I don't seem to be allowed to sit down for more than 20 minutes at any given time.  Great American Novel, you will just have to wait until all of my kids are in school. (Ha!)

I'm Batmat

Cole's been talking in a really low, scratchy voice lately.  I think he thinks it's intimidating, which is awesome. 

Yesterday the voice reminded me of someone... I thought Uncle Kevin would appreciate this!

Valentine's Day 2012

As per usual, Valentine's Day around the Madsen home was more of a family rather than a romantic holiday.  But that's cool, because Lance and I probably wouldn't do any of this fun stuff if it was all kissy-kissy.  Just sayin'.

We had fun Valentine's for the boys.  (Don't worry - Josh's Valentine was in focus.  Just the picture of it was not.)

 

We had heart-filled lunches.  (I make Spencer and Lance's lunches the night before.)

We had pink pancakes for breakfast.  (I tried to make heart pancakes, but they looked like amoebas.  Oh well.)

And we had our traditional pizza for dinner.  Only I didn't take any pictures of that, because do you really want pictures of pizza?  (Well, do you really want pictures of the rest?  Hmmm...)

We kept our tradition and gave each of the kiddos a new book. I used to give love-themed books, but you kinda run out of options quickly, so this year was more... secular?  I don't think that's the right word.  Normal books?  Whatever, you know what I mean.

Tess got the classic "Each Peach Pear Plum".

Cole got an ABC book that I made for him on Shutterfly.  Yes, I know I'm only enabling the addiction.  But he LOVES it.  (We've read it 37 times today already.)

Spencer got the third book of the "How To Train Your Dragon" series, which he is really getting into.

And Josh got "The Monster at the End of this Book", which he fell in love with at the doctor's office the last time he was there.  (I LOVED this book when I was a kid, too, so I was only too happy to get it for him!)

The boys also got their usual "Funky Monkey" boxes of chocolate.  Josh was pretty happy. 

True story: during his bedtime prayers the night before Spencer said, "Please bless that I'll be safe during my Valentine's Day party tomorrow."  Which just made me wonder what kind of party did he think he was going to?  I got my answer when he came home from school: the kind of party where you come home covered in foam heart stickers.  (There were more before this photo!)

Don't worry - romance isn't completely dead.  With our huge $10 budget I bought Lance a video game (which he had downloaded the week before) and he bought me this awesome syrup dispenser, which is just what I wanted.   A very happy Valentine's Day!

Boss of the World

Josh (running upstairs, slightly out of breath): Cole is the boss of the world!

Me: Cole thinks he's the boss of the world, huh?

Josh: No.  Cole IS the boss of the world!

Me: Why?

Josh: I asked him if he was the boss and he said yes.

That toddler is now one step closer to world domination.  Yes, you should be afraid.

Bring on Spring!

Tess is so cool* that she doesn't have to wait for warmer to start wearing her new spring clothes.

*And by cool I mean outgrowing her winter clothes.  Big.  The girl is big.  And cute - oh so cute!