Con Artist

Brenna is a very sweet and kind girl. She's a good friend and I hear all the time about what a nice kid she is.

She's also a con artist.

For two weeks now she's been on a quest to get us to commit to sending her to sleepaway camp with her friend next summer. She's been pestering and pestering and I finally said she could go if she saved up the money (knowing that's that's a complete impossibility because I could never save up that amount of money much less have her save it!) So now her focus is completely on what she can do to get cash quickly and with the least amount of effort. (Because although she's sweet, kind and nice - she can also be a bit . . . sluggish shall we say, when it comes to doing the hard work. wink wink!)

Yesterday I heard her talking to her sister.

B: "Molly, would you like to have two weeks home all by yourself?"
M: "I don't know. . ."
B: "Think about it. Two weeks that I wouldn't be bugging you all the time!"
M: "I don't know. . ."
B: "If I went to camp you'd be like an only child."
M: "I don't know . . ."
B: "Well, think about it. If it's something you'd like, we could arrange it. If you just save some money and give it to me, I could make it happen."

It was an honest-to-goodness shakedown! "I could make it happen" . . . Where did that come from? It's like my darling little blonde is a hitman or something!

The worst part? Molly went and gave Brenna her whole piggy bank!

Everyone's a Comedian!

I was making dinner tonight and I had the oven on as well as 3 stove burners with things boiling away. Evidently the combined steam affected the smoke detector (because I swear nothing was burning!) and it buzzed a few times but then stopped. I finished serving up the plates and called the girls to come downstairs. I could hear them whispering and then they both came crawling into the kitchen. Not even thinking I told them to get up and sit at the table. Molly was the one who blurted out "But Mom, we heard the alarm and thought should crawl to stay underneath the smoke!"

Hardy har har. And I swear there was NO smoke!! :)

Oldie but a Goodie!

I'm cleaning out my email files which is where I usually find little gems like this one. This I sent to my friend Joanne (who was my Catholic school best friend and a fellow rule-follower!) regarding Brenna's first day of Gr. 1 (by the way, her teacher was a nun) . . .

On Day One I ask :

Me: “Where's your desk?”
Brenna: “In the front row.”
Me: “That’s good. Where’s Sophia?” (her best friend, they're joined at the hip)
Brenna: “I don’t know”
Me: “What do you mean you don’t know? How big is your classroom that you lost Sophia?”
Brenna: “Well she’s behind me.”
Me: “Oh. Right behind you?”
Brenna: “I don’t know”
Me: “What do you mean you don't know? You don’t know where your best friend is?”
Brenna: “MOM! The rule! Eyes in FRONT! I can't look behind me to find out where she is!”

So Brenna knows that Reid is on one side of her and Zach is on the other and 27 other kids are somewhere behind her but she has no idea who they are or where they sit. The back of the classroom could be in flames and she wouldn't turn around to find out! Oh how I love Catholic school and my little rule-follower!

Well let's just say that Gr. 3 is proving to be a different experience! Her teacher this eis young and hip and really is bringing Brenna out of her shell. Hopefully not too much though!

Chew on this!

My kids don't like foods that are "mixed up" like stews and casseroles. Purists at heart, they are! Tonight I made beef stew and Dean was cajoling Brenna into just trying any of it aside from the bread.

Finally I said "Girls, I'll give you 5 extra minutes before bedtime for every piece you eat on your plate."

Molly quickly started tasting things (without completely eating any of it though) while Brenna stared at her bowl. Dean was encouraging her "C'mon that could be a lot of extra time if you just eat the carrots!"

She looked at him, the plate, me, the plate and rationalized, "Well . . . I probably do need my sleep anyway . . ."

Little bugger.

Superbowl Sillies

Having 2 girly girls means we don't watch a lot of football in our house. But today we made a casual dinner and settled in front of the tv to watch the first bit of the game.

Quotes of note:

Brenna: "Who are you rooting for, Miami Colts or Chicago Bears?"
Dean: "Miami is the Dolphins and they're not playing this time."
Brenna: "Oh. I like Miami though. I'll root for them instead of the Colts."

Brenna: " Whoa! Annapolis had a big tumble there!"

Molly (seeing a player down on the field) "Is he dead?"

Brenna: "Is this the last Superbowl for this year?"

That was about all Dean could take so we stopped the torture and put them to bed!