Where's the Princess?

It's hard to tell which one is the real princess in this picture! And for the record, this pose was completely impromptu. Sassy little thing!!

Fact or Fiction

After months of talk about Harry Potter, I dusted off our copy of The Sorcerer's Stone and showed it to Osten. He couldn't believe his eyes and wanted to start reading it immediately. Wahoo!! So far, so good but I'm not sure how much further we'll continue after the first book (or maybe two) as I remember them getting pretty dark.

Anyway, both Osten and Marci are enjoying the story so far and we are about one-third of the way through the book . . . which is when Harry goes off to Hogwarts and things start getting really good. We've had lots of talks about real vs. make-believe, and so far, it appears they are both firmly grounded in reality.

On the way to school this morning, we were having another one of these talks, but this time it wasn't about wizards or magic or spells, but rather Harry Potter himself. Osten was asking me if he was real, and I was trying to explain that he is a person in a story and therefore, not real. "But, Mommy," he said. "He is real because he's at Disney World just like Mickey Mouse, and Mickey Mouse is real." Hmph! As I was frantically searching my mind for an appropriate response that wouldn't dim the magic of Disney, Marci piped up. And you will never believe what that four-year-old child said. "Osten, they might just be grown-ups in costumes, you know!"

What??!! Where in the world did that come from? I usually try to merely listen, enjoy and remember their conversations, but I had to jump in on this one to try to keep the magic of Disney alive . . . at least for a few more years. And then I quickly tried to change the subject!

Stairway to Heaven

Our children's fascination with heaven used to really freak me out. And then one day I thought about it from their point-of-view, and I was better able to understand their fascination with a place that must sound utterly magical to them.

We were riding in the car the other day, and Marci started up with some more questions about heaven. Recently, our neighbor's dog went to heaven so we've been having lots of talks about it especially in regard to our dog.

"Mommy?" Marci asked. "Will Wrigley go to heaven before us?"

"Yes, she probably will go before us," I responded.

"Oh," she said. And then she thought about it a little more. "So she's going to check it out for us?"

Telephone Talk

Osten answered the telephone earlier today and handed it to Daddy saying, "Daddy, it's for you. They said is Mr. Tom Sayers invisible?"

It was, of course, a telemarketer. And Tom's response? He promptly hung up the phone and said, "Why yes, I am invisible!"

TMI

As we were getting ready to load into the car to go to school this morning, Osten came running back into the house announcing that he had an urgent need to use the bathroom. I hurried him along and went to help get Marci situated in the car because in our house every minute counts in the morning especially the minutes just before we are ready to leave for school. Osten soon appeared by the back door. As I helped him get his shirt tucked back in, I inquired about his bathroom business. And his response? "I went poo-poo, Mommy. Three scoops!"

And that's what I call Too Much Information (and rather cute) . . . even for a mom who likes to be in the know about these kinds of things.

Girl Time

We were in Orlando this weekend to celebrate Osten's sixth birthday. On Saturday, the four of us were at the pool where we spent the better part of the day. Osten and Daddy were in the hot tub while Marci and I played on the water slide and enjoyed some girl time together. It's always fun to talk with her these days especially when there are no other competing distractions or responsibilities. As we were playing in the pool, we had a conversation that went something like this.

"Mommy?" Marci said. "Can we just have some girl time?"

"Sure," I said. "I love having girl time with you. What should we do?"

"I dunno," Marci said.

"Wanna chat?" I asked.

"Yes! Yes! Good idea, Mommy. Let's chat!" Marci replied.

[Short pause]

"Mommy, what does 'chat' mean?"

13.1 Fan Club

My same friend also just sent me this picture from the Rock & Roll Marathon this Saturday. Since the rest of Daddy's cheering section was at home throwing up on Grammi and FaFa's watch, I had to make a solo appearance. But I had my camera, family signs, gloves and phone in tow and got caught in the midst of a little spazz attack. (Yes, I realize I have completely lost my cool!) Truth be known, I was a nervous wreck until I finally found Tom in one piece with a giant smile pasted on his glowing face. (As he likes to say, his only hope was to finish the race in a vertical position, under his own power and ahead of the sag wagon!) I had really hoped to see him cross the finish line in person, but the second kid puking during his soccer game earlier in the morning really threw a wrench in my plans. In any event, with a time of 2:40, he more than met his goal!