The alternative to the cattle prod.

A couple of weeks ago I had a stroke of parenting genius.  It doesn't happen very often, and the results only are temporary, but sometimes it is really fun.  I was laying in bed immediately following my 6:45 wake up of the girls for school, right about the time the bickering starts.  The short tempered snaps.  The "that's mine, get out of my room and out of my closet" type comments.  It makes me want to pull the covers back over my head (yes, occasionally I go lay back down for just a minute, pregnant, remember? I am fully taking advantage of the fact that I can do that right now, knowing that in about three months my life of sitting down and relaxing for a minute will be over for another three years.)
So, I got out the Taboo buzzer.  Brilliant.

See this little gem? I am going to start using it every day I need a little parenting boost. I decided it's kind of like a cattle prod but without the electricity or visit from DCFS.
I push (and continue to hold) the button whenever I hear bickering, snapping, whining or complaining.
It is to serve two purposes.
One, it illustrates to the kids just how annoying their bickering and whining can be.  You see, it makes a really annoying sound itself.
And two, it makes them more aware of just how often they do the two a fore mentioned things.
We are blessed with kids that love each other.  I know they do and I am grateful for it. They hug in the hall at school and play amazingly well together a lot of the time.  But they are girls.  Lots of girls, with lots of emotions.  They are children.  Children (lack of self control) + emotions = lots of benign bickering that drives their mother up the wall.  That's cool.  I get it.  But I don't have to live with it forever.  The girls either think it is funny when I do it, or they grunt, stomp their foot and walk away, stopping whatever they were doing.  See?  Magic.  I even took it in my pocket to the bus stop on the first day, just as a threat.  Over the course of the last week I have used it many times and it nips all of those things right in the bud.  It's kind of awesome.

And now on the norm of what keeps us busy.

Haley did a science fair project with a partner this year.  It was fun, but mostly messy.

Note to self: avoid science fair projects that involve food coloring, especially when you are lucky enough to have tile countertops from the 80's.

Hers was for a science grade.  She got an A+, and looked cute while doing it.

 Abby decided to participate just for fun, and it was kind of fun (even though it included food coloring too.)

 (and Abby sportin' her post-virus rash that most of my children get.)

 When Hazel sees lots of pictures being taken, and none with her as the subject matter, she feels obligated to request "take a picture of me."  So I do.

I have mentioned the unseasonably warm weather we have had this year.  I think the entire world has experienced this.  Yesterday is was 74 degrees.  Unbelievable.  Beautiful.  However, it might be the reason I keep having dreams about the apocalypse.  We took a kite down to our neighborhood tennis courts and ran around.  Then we walked home through the woods.  There are daffodils in bloom everywhere.

 And these little guys.

It makes our barren woods look a little more cheery.

 We had a couple of extra neighborhood friends with us.  I love this path through the woods over creeks and bridges. 

I do not love ticks.

 And this is walking from the path up to the back of our house.  It is a fun backyard.  Private and closed in when the leaves come out again.  I like it.  I like looking out my kitchen window into our little space while when I do the dishes.

 Hazel found a little pig buried up to his snout in the ground.  She thought it was worth taking a picture of.  And it was.  The little boys that lived in this house before us left all sorts of little treasures everywhere...most of them buried in the yard somewhere.

 Mia finally lost her first tooth.  She will be 7 this fall and is probably THE last child in the first grade to lose a tooth.
She was very excited.
However, this in addition to the fact that Haley has lost 4 molars in the last month is putting the tooth fairy straight into the poor house.
Haley, though she fully recognizes that the tooth fairy does not really exists, still insists on writing her notes and receiving them back.  Notes from the tooth fairy usually entail tiny writing on teeny tiny cards.  Carpal tunnel is surely on its way.

Clark is preparing for his second 1/2 marathon which is coming up next weekend.  His training buddy came up from southern VA last weekend with a couple of his kids to do a run on the mall, because that's cool and its Clark's favorite.  I took a  picture because I totally dig men walking with a million kids AND black knee high compression socks.  Yowzahs!

 I took the kids to the Natural History Museum while the Dads ran.  I kept referring to them as "the Dads" while in the museum and wondered what other people thought I was talking about.  It amused me.

 This is Abby looking exceptionally old, holding an exceptionally large grasshopper.
And Mia wearing a hat to cover up her exceptionally crazy hair that she got cut a few weeks ago.

And now, I am going to go eat breakfast and maybe get dressed.
Happy Saturday everyone.