Skip to main content

Stupid Cupid

 "Sawyer won't let me use his blanket," Fischer complained at bedtime.  "Even if I put it on top of my other blankets.  He says I make it stink."

Brother love.  Isn't it sweet?  

We've been talking a little more about love as we approach Valentine's Day, but Fischer keeps confusing it with Thanksgiving.  I believe he has his heart set on all-you-can-eat turkey and carbs.  He might be a little disappointed with the box of conversation hearts I got him.  

"No turkey, no rolls?!  This holiday is garbage!"  

I'm not a huge fan either, kid.  Maybe I should make the Thanksgiving dinner...

This Valentine's Day is stressing me out.  It's the first time, we've had a kid in school where Valentine's are exchanged.  I've been planning on having Sawyer make them.  Because I'm cheap.  Because it's more personal than store bought cards. (And I'm cheap.) But tonight I found out that they used up all of their colored construction paper to get a fire started.  

Yes, they are seven and five.  Yes, they were starting fires (partially) unsupervised.  They are very mature for their ages, never mind their poor grasp of holidays.  And fire keeps them occupied for hours.  Listen, they had permission to start a warming fire if they could with their flint and steel.  Those usually go out as soon as the cotton balls burn up.   

Cotton balls are great for tinder.  They also make a great gift/bribe for the boys.  Santa brought them cotton balls for Christmas this year!  They were good boys and Santa rewarded them with 300 cotton balls apiece.  It's the thing dreams are made of.  Also, did I mention their parents are cheap?

Back to the fire.  They have literally been out before the sun is up, in below freezing temperatures, the last week working on starting fires.  They don't usually have a lot of long term success.  A couple of days ago, however, they actually got one to take off.  The kindling caught and then some logs.  I was shocked.  The fires always go out before the logs catch.  They have studied Bear Grylls and for once have listened to their dad on the ins and outs of the campfire tepee style.  This time, they nailed it.  I was giving them props, and they did mention they had used a lot of paper, but I assumed paper bags - our fuel of choice.  I didn't know about the construction paper.  Until tonight.  The night before, the night before the Valentine's Day party.    

Sawyer asked what our plan was for tomorrow, and I confidently told him we would not have to leave the house.  We had no plans of going anywhere.  We just had to do school work.  "And make Valentine's," he interjected.  That's when I found out about the entire package of paper up in flames.  So construction paper hearts are out.  Sawyer is now in charge of a plan "B."  I can wait to hear what he has in mind because chances are it means more work for his very uncrafty mama.  Can we just recycle Christmas cards?  I mean, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day, Christmas...are they really going to notice?  Isn't it just about the prize inside? 

Are fake tattoos a terrible idea?  Is that like giving out raisins on Halloween?  Is Sawyer's reputation about to be defined by his mom, the candy miser?  Last party, I brought the carrot sticks, and now this.  Sorry, Son, you drew the short stick and got the "not cool" mom.  

We're going to have to change schools.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sheltering in Place

In the past three months Corona Virus has more or less turned the world on its head.  I feel almost guilty for not being more stressed or put out by the whole thing.  We have been extremely fortunate. What we thought was a most impractical move on our part, wound up being a huge blessing.  With our two boys and our two newborns, we moved out of our house with no yard in the city limits and into my parents' house in the country while waiting for our new house to be completed.  The weekend we moved "quarantine," "social distancing," and "shelter in place" became the new mantra of our state.   Moving in with my parents meant ten plus acres of play space and two extra able bodied adults to help even out the score with the four kids.  Win for the St. Clair's!  Unfortunately, my parents are beginning to realize they may have made an error in judgement.   Yesterday, Sawyer gave their cat swimming lessons.   Last week th...

For the Love of Kids

I love the contrasting sides of our children.  It's one of my favorite things that I didn't know I was going to love.  I think it's fair to say that when we have kids, we all know we will love the squishy babies, hearing kids laugh, seeing holidays through their eyes, and dressing them in the cute little outfits (I'm told boys don't wear outfits , but it's my blog). I didn't know how much I'd love seeing my loud, dirt loving, gun fanatic, wrestling maniac five-year-old turn into the sweetest and most gentle big brother while holding his baby sister.  He sits and quietly tells her stories about his fishing and hunting conquests unaware of anyone else in the room, and my heart absolutely melts. Then we have my slightly crusty, flannel loving, mismatching three-year-old that will choose a princess dress from the costume closet because although he likes sand and rocks and sticks and filth, he also likes and appreciates things that are beautiful. I lov...

Fear Factor

 Did you know that it has been not  scientifically proven that a baby can smell her mother's presence through a closed door.  It's probably the smell of fear that they are actually attuned to, but nonetheless.  I hold my breath and walk on tiptoe past the baby's room and still get busted nearly every time.  My fear is pungent. Besides waking the babies, I have another fear currently in the forefront of my mind.  Don't mind me, this is just another episode of True Confessions.. .  Here it is: the boys are getting so much outside time that they are building up incredible endurance.  It's great really, but it is   becoming  so hard to wear them out. It used to be an hour at the playground and we were golden.  Now, they basically put in an eight-hour workday, and it's just a warm-up!  Does anybody have a treadmill....?  Real school is going to be a bit of an adjustment for the big guy next fall.    Speaking of s...