Woot! Woot!

So this morning Collin decided that he would only come down stairs if I went upstairs and walked down with him.  The trouble was, I really didn't have time to do that.  I was trying to get the older 4 kids out the door to the bus stop.  After a few minutes of yelling he decided to come down on his own.  He was very miffed that he didn't get his way, so he went into my living room - the only room in the house that is verboten (where I keep the antiques and china we never use).  In fact in our house this room is known as the "no allowed baby room".  So Collin went in there and threw himself down on the floor and started throwing things about and wailing. A good old fashioned tantrum.  I went in there and helped him to calm down.  Then I made him clean up the mess he'd made. And while he was putting the cushions back on the sofa, eureka! (Motto of the state of CA) there it was!  The missing key. It magically grew legs and wandered into a room no one is allowed in!  I'm just glad it has been found.  So I guess tantrums aren't always a bad thing!

I still want to run over something though.  I mean, other than scooters, accidentally.  

All three of my girls are in the Girl Scout program.  Regan is a junior scout, and Devin and Lauren are Brownies this year.  But, they almost weren't.  The troop leader was having a hard time getting volunteers to help the troop.  So she was going to disband the troop unless one parent volunteered to be a "camping mom" and one to be  the "cookie mom".  In a weak moment, I caved.  (I went for "cookie mom" because I figured it didn't involve sleeping in a tent and pooping in the woods).

So, since December, I have been involved in organizing and selling cookies, collecting money, ordering more cookies, depositing money into two accounts, and

 planning those annoying booth sales where you are cornered every time you try to go buy some milk and bread.  We will be finished (assuming everyone turns in their money) on April 3rd.  

So today I start to count and organize the latest batch of money to make our next deposit tomorrow.  I count up everything people have given me from their personal sales.  Everything adds up!  Fantastic!  Then I go to get the cash box, to count the profits from last weekend's booth sale.  Small problem.  The key is gone.  And no one knows who took it, or where it could possibly be.  

At one point Declan insisted that Collin (who was napping) had taken it outside and thrown it into the bushes.  I am not sure what my neighbors thought when they saw us in the cul-de-sac swatting bushes and looking around.  He then told me that after Collin threw the key into the bushes Connor (who was at school) came and threw the key into the gutter. Or maybe it was Lauren(who was also at school). Yes, it was definitely Lauren.  At this point I went back inside. Keyless and clueless.  

My big plan is to go to Walmart tomorrow and see if I can find a similar one, and open the box. Plan B is running over it with my car. I'm actually not sure what this will accomplish, but it kind of sounds like fun.

New One

I am in the kitchen this afternoon unloading the kids' backpacks when I hear things being thrown over the second floor banister onto the floor in the foyer below.  A beloved (and forbidden) pass-time in our house.  "Who's throwing things over the rail?!" I yell out.  "It's me, Declan", yells Collin.  A pause.  "No, it's ME, Collin," yells Declan.

Claiming blame in someone else's name.  Good one.  I guess that's what brothers are for :)

Ironically though, it turned out to be Lauren!

Ever wondered...  if you made a birthday cake, a nice yellow birthday cake - with a whole stick of butter in it! And frosted it- yellow, like Sponge Bob.  And decorated it so nicely for your daughter's birthday... what it would look like if a three year old came along and licked all the frosting off?  ALL the frosting?  

(This is not the guilty party, by the way.  The guilty one was hiding under the desk.  This guy learned how to use the web camera, and loves to be a part of any picture taking.)