Strange Men Make an Appearance in our Life!

Tonight, at the dinner table, I was left speechless.  As the kids finished up their favorite meal of instant oatmeal, Ryan prepared to leave to study for his Board exams.  

This conversation followed with Madeline:

"Dad, where are you going"?

"I am going to study at work for my big test."

"I hate it when you study because all these strange men come over to our house."  There was a 15 second pause that lasted forever as my mouth fell open and Ryan looked at me shocked and confused.    

"What strange men come over to our house"?  He asked accusingly.

I had no idea what Madeline was talking about, but since I had started playing tennis, Ryan and I have had more conversations about appropriate and inappropriate relationships with persons of the opposite sex.  I could see his thinking that strange men coming over while he was gone at night could only be construed as totally inappropriate.

"You know your friends who come over to study with you on Wednesday nights".  

I breathed a palpable sigh of relief, as did Ryan.  But now the question is, does Ryan let his friends know that his daughter thinks they are "strange men"?

Madeline loves peace signs, flowers and dragons (one of these is not like the others)

We had a wonderful weekend, after a busy week.  Madeline and Ella both had Girl Scout Cookie booths to work at, and I volunteered with them.  Ryan took 3 kids with him to clean the church while Ella and I headed to the mall for her cookie booth.  It was a slow start at the mall, and Ella was disappointed, though she worked hard to offer samples and smile at passersby.  Halfway though, a man came by, and said he didn't need to buy any cookies because his daughter was selling cookies, but would Ella take this money and buy a box of cookies for the next five people who walked by.  This delighted Ella, she loved giving away boxes of cookies, and it made the time more enjoyable.  Another nice young man came up, and gave her the money to buy a box of cookies for the girls to share for a snack since they were working so hard.  The kindness of strangers made the booth so much fun.

Max and Sam working in the kitchen with me

After Ryan finished cleaning the church, we made the car pass-off, and I took everyone home for lunch, followed by quiet-time, followed by mandatory outside time.  Everyone groaned and complained as we suited up, but we ended up having a blast sledding outside.  Despite having one sad child, the rest of us really enjoyed making snow angels and sledding.  Sam and Max were proud to be able to sled by themselves, and when Sam went to down, he asked is he had set a world record.  Thinking of his triple roll, followed by his face plant, I considered that to be special enough for a record, and I yelled down the hill affirmatively.  He jumped up, threw his hands in the air, and yelled, "Yes, I knew it".  Tonight as we ate dinner, Sam told Ryan that he had set a world record when we were sledding, and Ella said it was just because he was silly.  Sam was crestfallen, and I quickly told him that his record was for bravery because it was very brave for a 3 year old to sled down by himself.  Since he loves superheroes, he knows that bravery is a really important characteristic, and he was very proud of earning this record.  After coming inside, we took off our wet snow clothes and made hot chocolate and tea, a real treat for our kids.

Max and Sam help me make Ryan's birthday cake

Then it was time for Madeline's cookie booth OUTSIDE.  We were with two of her friends and their parents outside Gander Mountain.  The girls were cold, but they worked very hard at getting people to pay attention to them, and asked many people if they would like to buy cookies.  Halfway through, one mom went to the dollar store, bought some poster board and a marker, and the girls made a sign that said, "Resistance is Futile".  They held up the sign and danced up and down the street as they tried to stay warm.

Both booths were a success.  We have already canvassed our 2 neighborhood, and sold 250 boxes.  The cookie booths sold 85 boxes of cookies.  I can see how my girls are developing into hard workers.

Ella with the side ponytail

Today, we had another great sledding day.  And, this one included Ryan.  He really enjoyed being outside and sledding with us.  At one point he started a snowball fight.  As it progressed, he ran and tried to tackle me onto the snow.  Luckily, I got my arm around his head, and as he pushed me down, his head went right into the snow for a great face plant.   We had such fun time laughing and racing down the hill as we tried to set new records.  

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Ella, Jan 2013

Yes, this is what met me at breakfast a few weeks ago.  I was so stunned it's taken time to recover.  My sweet (sometimes) and annoying (wow- she's so good at that) little girl was wearing bright blue eye shadow and red lip gloss, proud as peacock. Of course, when I pulled out the camera, I caught a little attitude.  She wore this look for a couple of weeks.  Madeline was getting unwanted attention on the bus and at school about why her sister was wearing blue eyeshadow.  Madeline tried it one day, but to a much milder degree.  Where has the time gone.  I still think of her as being 5 or 6, like this:

Ella and Madeline ages 6 and 7

And yet, tell-tale signs all over the place indicate otherwise.  She is infatuated with bras, and can't wait to wear one.  She thinks her best birthday ever will be when she turns 13 and can watch Pirates of the Caribbean, The Avengers, and a growing list of PG-13 movies that she thinks she missing out on life by having to wait to see them.  

For our quarterly date, she and I went to Best Buy to check out the mini I-Pad.  She asked me if it had FaceTime, and when I affirmed, she started asking questions about how much it cost compared to the I-Pad.  I asked if FaceTime was important to her, and she said she wanted to buy a mini I-Pad so she can FaceTime her friends when she moves.  We talked a little about how long it would take a buy an I-Pad at the rate she earns money.  Not wanting to discourage her, I offered to let her use my laptop for FaceTime until she gets the I-pad.  "Mom, not to be mean or anything, but if I use your laptop, then you say things like, "Ella, don't touch that"  or "Three more minutes", and I'd rather have my own so that I don't have to deal with that", she responded.  I told her I could understand her desire, while chuckling to myself.  

I look back at pictures of the girls, and remind myself to enjoy the delight of their ages, because when it's gone, I always think, "ooh, they were so cute and said the most adorable things".  Somehow, when I'm in the mess of all the un-cute things they do and the un-adorable things they say, I can miss the magic of who they are and who they are becoming.