the grand and the gross

I know that when a kid is doing something gross, it's best to not make a big deal of it.  But the younger goes too far sometimes.  We attended the end of year middle school orchestra performance recently (with neighbor Rachel on viola).  The seats were of the fold up sort with chewed gum stuck in various places on the now-seat-back in front of us.  Janny reached out to touch the most colorful pieces.  Janny tried to scrape a piece off.  I could not keep my cool face nor pay attention to the music.  We fled to the hallway.

A few days later, Clara had a mini potty accident on our patio.  I sprayed the puddle to dilute it some.  Janny put her hand in the puddle and drank some .  That's gross.

On the brighter side, when mommy makes a particularly good meal (waffles for dinner or hamburgers), the kids say, "Thanks mom!  This is yummy!" with gusto.  It melts the heart, I tell you.

Returning to the theme of messes, this is what our table typically looks like after a meal.  Why are there cut-up bananas scattered throughout the table and a pile of rice not on a plate?  Why are there so many plates and bowls?  Not shown is the pile of food on the floor.

The kids definitely aren't troubled by the mess.  Mommy remains unfazed by the extra work.  I should add that Jill is less fazed than ever now, and she attributes this in part to her exercise at 5:30 am class.  She does "boot camp" for an hour and then hangs out in the coffee shop before returning home to feed and clothe and whack the kids.

Fort, house, and beach making with all of the pillows in our family room is a big hit right now.

We celebrated Memorial day with a visit to our state's capital.  Hint:  it's not Chicago.  It turns out that Mondays are the best day to visit the city as many smaller museums (like the Frank Lloyd Wright house) are closed.  What wasn't closed?  Our state legislature.  We popped in to listen to a debate about pet warranties which was not of general interest.  What was interesting was the chaos on the floor.  About 3 persons were listening to the debate, with the remaining 50 or so talking in groups of 2 or 3 or working on their lap tops.  It was dizzying at first, but I quickly got into to it.  Anybody need a lobbyist?  I've already got a suit that fits so-so and will work on growing my goatee and styling my hair asap.

The capital building was just fabulous.  Marble everywhere with a really cool domed ceiling.  We rode the elevator and walked some stairs.  Even the lovely buildings at our fine local University pale in comparison.