Page

Several months ago, I bought Kate an Anerican Girl book called The Care and Keeping of You to read with her to help her prepare for changes in adolescence.  

Apparently Ally found the book because last night I heard her exclaim, "Oh, Kate!  It's a 'bagina' page."

Keeping track

Luke was super grumpy on Christmas Eve.  When I told him he needed to take a shower, he got really angry. 

"You're mean!" he yelled.

I know you don't want to take a shower, but you can't yell at me.  Now it's time to take a shower.  Take your clothes off or I'll have to think of a consequence.

My words didn't change his mind at all.

"But, you're mean," he reiterated.  "Everyone is mean to me except Finley.  I'm going to go make a chart about who's mean each day!"

He stormed off and appeared later with a grid he'd drawn.  "Mommy, can you help me write Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday across the top of this?"

Christmas at the Melbyes

Christmas Eve I wanted to snap a picture of the kids with the milk and cookies for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer.

Then Anna passed gas.

Anna finds this hilarious.  Kate thinks it's a bit embarrassing.
Ally tries to keep a normal smile.  Luke is looking for the source.

The gas goes on a bit longer.  Then they all just crack up.

And crack up.

And Luke mistakenly blames Ally for the noise.

Happy holidays!

I came across this image when flipping through pictures I'd taken on Christmas, and it just makes me smile.  So silly!

'Tis better to give

Ally was complaining because one of her friends had given her a card even though Ally had given that friend a present.

I said, "Oh, but Ally... Why do we give people presents?  Do we give them presents because we want them to give us a present back?  Or do we give them presents because we want to make them happy?"  I accented the end of the sentence to serve as a reminder of countless discussions we've had this holiday season.

Ally, with a determined expression, looked right at me and said, "I give them presents because I want them to give me one back."

She likes to act like she's so tough, but she had such a great time choosing, wrapping, and giving gifts to her friends and family members.

Real estate

The other day, the kids were deciding how much of their money they were going to spend on each other's Christmas gifts and Anna told me how much money she still had saved.  She explained that she planned to keep that money so she could buy herself a house with a big circular driveway out front "and a waterfall, no..." she corrected herself, "a... what do you call those things that water squirts up out of?"

"A fountain?" I asked.

"Yes, a house with a fountain in front, like the one on the game of Life."

I told her that sounded really nice, but pretty expensive.  She said it was okay because she already had $50 saved and she and Joey could combine their money, so it would be even easier to buy it.

****

Then last night we were driving down Lake Drive looking at Christmas lights, and Kate commented on how the houses must be really expensive.  Anna said she wanted to live in one of them with Kate and Joey.

Ally started to worry about how much house she'd be able to afford.  She asked, "When I'm a grown up will I still have the money I have now as a kid."  I told her she could save it.

"And," she asked, "when you die, can I have your money, too?"

I just started laughing.  I didn't answer.

She waited a moment, and then asked again, "Well, can I?"

Happy birthday, Kate!

Although Kate's actual birthday ended up being ruined by having a substitute teacher 

and then throwing up the birthday sub sandwich and carrot cupcakes at school (twice) 

and having to miss her craft sale, 

she did have a great party the weekend before and got to have a fun trip to Chicago 

with Daddy the next week.

Can we?

Ally just asked me, "Are we Jewish?"

"No, honey.  We're Christians."

"Aww," she said with utter disappointment, "Can we be Jewish?"

Good guys and bad guys

Okay, so I love this.  I swear, I have so much to learn from my first born.

Luke was making space ships out of his magnatiles and he was telling Kate about the "good guys" and the "bad guys."

And I heard Kate say, "How about they're both good guys with different opinions?"

Although that probably doesn't make much sense in Luke's game, doesn't that make A LOT of sense in the rest of life???

Anna's Star Wars prediction

Dave bought a new Star Wars game to play on his PlayStation while he rides the exercise bike.  The kids watched it for a little while and later Anna told me, "Mom, on Dad's game Han Solo said, 'The things that I do for that princess!'"

Ally laughed and repeated, "The things that I do for that princess!"

Anna said, "Ally, you just called her 'that princess.'  That's rude."

"Han Solo said it," Ally replied.

"Yeah, but he loves her," Anna explained.  A moment later, Anna said, "I'd bet that's where Leia gets her kids from, Han solo."



Wow.

Flipper's great-grandchildren

I've been a little obsessed with dolphins for as long as I can remember.  I think it started with the Flipper TV show when I was really young and just continued the more I learned about these amazing creatures.

Anna also loves dolphins.  I'm not sure exactly where her love of them started, but I'd imagine it came indirectly from me.  I remember Anna sincerely asking for a dolphin for her fourth birthday.   When we told her we wouldn't have anywhere to keep the dolphin, she made detailed plans to convert a portion of the house into an aquarium.  In retrospect, this may have been what triggered the phase of her wearing a swimsuit every single day all winter long.

Anna with her fourth birthday cake.  Note her swimsuit rash guard under her cardigan.

When we were in Disney last year, Dave and the kids all loved Magic Kingdom.  Every few minutes, one of their faces would light up with the "magic" of it all.  I... I didn't feel the same way.  For me, both crowds and lines are forms of mild torture. So, a place where you're going to shove yourself in with way too many other people and spend the majority of your time waiting in lines is about the farthest thing from the "most magical place on earth."  But, I did kind of like Epcot.  I thought the ride where they show you all the new ways of growing food was fascinating.  (Dave said it was, by far, the most boring ride of our entire vacation.)  And there was a time at Epcot when my own face lit up.  We walked past a giant aquarium with trainers in front of it.  They were giving a talk and inside the aquarium the dolphins were interacting with what the trainers said.  I could have watched it all day. 

The next day, I was scrolling through Facebook when I saw someone had posted pictures of their kids in Florida kissing dolphins.  I said, "Now that would be a 'magical' thing to do in Florida."  Getting in the water with dolphins!?  It was a dream come true.  Really.  I mean, I spent a decent amount of my childhood day dreaming about swimming with Flipper.  

I looked into it a little, but it was ridiculously expensive.  I told Dave, "We can't spend the money right now, but, some day we have to do this!" 

When we were going to go to Mexico this year, our travel agent asked if we wanted to go on any excursions.  I said we probably didn't, but I looked through the list anyway.  And there I saw it, "Swim with dolphins."  I looked at the price.  It was way, way less than the Florida price.  I let out a little squeal.  We were going to swim with dolphins!  Every time I thought of it, I'd shake a little with excitement.  I felt like a little kid again.  I couldn't believe it was going to happen!

When we arrived at the marina in Mexico, we had the option of upgrading our package.  Apparently our package would let us kiss one dolphin while in a large group of people, but an upgrade would let us meet two dolphins in a group of eight or less and hitch a ride on the dolphins dorsal fins (just like in my childhood dreams).  We could also do a "foot push," which is completely unbelievable.  I did it, and I watched Dave, Kate, and Anna all do it, and it still strikes me as impossible.  You just lie in the water on your stomach, and the dolphins swim up behind you. They each put their snouts on the bottom of your feet and push you up and out of the water until you're, like, waterskiing on their noses.  How can that be?  They're so smart that you don'' even have to know what you're doing.  They do it all for you.  I felt one of the dolphins adjust my foot slightly.  Those smart things!  Incredible.  

She liked me so much, she's smiling, too.

I'm riding on two dolphins.  WHAT!?!

I love this dolphin.  Such a sweet girl!  Look at her cute teeth!

So, yes, definitely one of the top ten coolest things I've done in my entire life.  This is how Luke summed up the day in his journal.

One line.  The dolphins got one, four word sentence.  

Even the game we played in the pool where we pretended to be rubber duckies got a seven word sentence.