Blast From The Past

Yesterday I got to go on a field trip with Callie's class to see a play. I love field trips - I remember how fun and exciting they were when I was a kid. Callie begged and begged me to ride on the bus with her. I haven't riden on a bus in such a long time, it was actually kind of fun to remember that bus "smell", the way you have to brace yourself around every turn and bump, and that huge mirror the bus driver has up front where he can see everything.

My little Callie has gotten the "courtesy" smile down perfectly. When I ask her to smile for a picture, and I get a small fake smile, but this smile is definitely not her courtesy smile. She was in heaven with me on that bus with her, which made me feel like one great mama.

Kinda, Sorta, Not Really

With the storms we have been having lately, and hearing about the conditions in Haiti, Jeff and I have started thinking about how prepared are we really for an emergency.

Then, the power was out for more than half the day yesterday.....

The house started to get a little chilly and dark....

The "extra" batteries I have on hand for the flashlights, were long gone, being used for something else....

I started to wonder what we were going to eat for dinner....

My little world slowed waaaaaay down. The laundry cycle was half done, and the clothes were soaking in dirty water. Bummer. I couldn't get on my laptop as my battery was half way gone, and I wanted to save it for essentials, if needed. Bummer. I couldn't turn on a movie to entertain Bells and myself during the down time. Bummer.

So, we sat down and went through an Emergency Essential catalog that came in the mail the week before, and made a wish list of things we needed and wanted in an emergency, while it was still fresh in our minds. I'm actually glad the power was out, as it made me realize I'm kinda, sorta, not really ready for an emergency, and there is much more I can and need to do to prepare.

Skeptical

This past Christmas, Hayden was very skeptical about Santa Claus, which surprised both Jeff and me. What 5 year old starts to question the magic of Christmas? All month long, we would randomly get questions about the logistics of a man fitting in a chimney and how reindoor could actually fly. We figure that by next Christmas he will have figured it out, which truthfully, makes me a little sad.

Hayden surprised me again yesterday when he mentioned he had his first loose tooth. We talked about how cool it was and that I needed to make him a special tooth pillow to put his tooth in for the tooth fairy.

That started a mountain of questions about the logistics of the tooth fairy. "how does she know where my tooth is" "where would she put the money" " how are there such things as fairies" "how does she fly" " is she really real".

I wasn't ready to come out with it and say "actually, it's just something grown-ups do to make you feel special when you loose your teeth", so I quickly said, "I'm not really sure how it all works, but I think it's pretty cool", hoping it would end his questions.

That pretty much ended the conversation, except as he was walking away he added, " But really, I don't really believe reindeer can fly, I mean, how could they mom? Right?"

I was stumped. Do I come out with the truth? Cross my fingers and wink my eyes and babble about magic reindeer dust? At this rate, I should start anticipating questions about the birds and the bees, which would be much harder for me to explain. I don't think my response, "I'm not really sure how it all works, but I think it's pretty cool" would work or be very effective. So for now, I should be grateful we are only talking about the tooth fairy and flying reindeer.