Just something we had our eye on

Actually, we'd never seen this item until Friday morning. But once we did, it's one of the only things Bailey could think about. And it kept her mind off the clearance aisle birthday presents I had for her in the cart. She had her eye on only one thing, and this was it. This was her supreme reason for being. Hey, mine is chocolate, and well, Bailey; and this was obviously hers. Hey, we all live for something, right?



She spent quite a bit of Friday asking when we could put this watchful eye to use. And she lasted until Saturday morn.



So, what do you do with an eyeball?



You put it in a bowl of course.

And then you wait for a few hours. And when nothing happens, the Genius Mother walks in the room and realizes that the Daddy didn't fully read the directions and that perhaps the eyeball should have had its skin peeled off. (Because in this case, the eyeball has skin.)

Once the directions are properly followed, this is what immediately happens:


Lots and lots of crazy bubbles.


Within seconds, things were a lot more interesting than the several hours prior.

As for what was inside, well, we had places to go. Hey but don't worry about it. We've kept an eye on it ever since.

A Mother with a Subpoena

At 8 o' clock this morning, I was served with a subpoena for being a mother.

At least that's how I'm explaining it. And it's interesting because I recently thought about what was happening with this situation, and here it is served by the local sheriff at my door step and in a little over a week, I'm due in court. Wow, months go by and I hear nothing (it happened in June) and then I'm given no time once it does (next Wednesday).

I have no idea what is going to happen. I'm not sure I'm even allowed to tell any of you about it, which is why I'll be brief. But I'm going to court because I am a mother and because I reacted as such. Yeah, I'm just an every day mother, like most. The only difference is that I have a subpoena.

It's personal.

That's what Bailey informed me after asking me, "do you know what this is?"



Yeah, it's personal.

And so was her cutting technique. And relax Grandma H, she was fine. She didn't cut herself and I was observing her. Honest.





Anyway, not only was this personal, but it ended up being a mountain.

And then a shoe.

And finally, with the red dot once added, it was a shoe with a crumb inside.

Art is a personal matter. Maybe not to you, but if you're into art, it can be. And if you're an artist, it definitely is.

Bargain Hunters

While I've never been much into hunting wildlife (I was more likely to join PETA, which is an incredibly scary thought, I know), and even though I don't share Bailey's fondness for ghost hunting, or zombies, I do have an appreciation for a good bargain. I rarely pass up a good deal. While on many adventures in bargain hunting, Bailey often accompanies me. Sometimes, she actually enjoys it.

Well...if it benefits her.

I knew at some point Target (one of our absolutely favorite stores) would have some toys 75% off. Now some of you may have thought at some point that Bailey sure does receive a lot of presents from her parents, but I'm going to share something with you. I spend very little on most of them. In fact, there have been times I've spent more on other people's children than my own, just because I bought Bailey's gifts on clearance and didn't get somebody else's gift(s) the same way. (I usually reserve clearance deals for Bailey or for our adopted families, just because of timing and tastes varying (or constantly changing).)

So, Bailey and I were checking out some deals and we happened to pass something Bailey would be interested in. We'd actually never seen it before, and she was shocked when I asked her if she'd like it. I don't often allow her to get stuff just because, and I didn't. I did however point out to her that she did still have some money left on her gift card from the New Jersey tribe and that if she wanted to purchase her new found treasure with it, she could. (Otherwise, I would've bought it and held on to it for her birthday.) It is intriguing we were buying this item with said gift card because a couple weeks back, the three of us were in Topeka shopping at a Target and Bailey found a toy from this same collection and asked Daddy about buying it. I was in a different aisle and heard the words, "but I do. I have my money from Aunt Susie," which were in response to Daddy saying he didn't know if she had money for it and she'd have to ask her mother.

Now, she didn't end up buying that toy that day (luckily, because it was $16.99 and last night I found it for $4.22 which has become a birthday present). Oh, and if you're curious what she had ended up purchasing first with the gift card, it was her Scooby Doo and the Haunted House game. We finally found it in a store last Friday for $13.98 which was better than the original $20 price and a bonus since we would've bought it anyway. It's an awesome game. (Unfortunately, I then found it last night for $4.98. Ouch!).

I'm not going to force you to read about all my finds (between the ones I found with Bailey and the ones I found later), but I am going to show you Bailey's latest toy.




As obvious, Fudge is already interested. Probably because, as I truly believe, these will soon be chewed up by the little monster canine (in less than 22 seconds, I presume), just like all the Littlest Pet Shop toys she has previously devoured.

I couldn't get the package opened up fast enough to suit Bailey, but we played a little game choosing which animal should be released next and that's when it came to this one's turn.



The Little Orphan Brat

Bailey said, "I'm not sure about her," followed by "What do you do with it?" (Which could possibly be the exact words Daddy muttered at the hospital.)

She had decided all by herself that we should get rid of her because she didn't believe that she belonged with the set. And just as I was going to do her evil bidding by dumping the thing off at a local fire station, she had a change of heart. Now I can't say that I actually saw her show it any other affection besides deciding to keep it, but that's fine. I'm sure I'll dig it out of the toy box soon enough and find it a new home.

It doesn't matter anyway. It was a bargain, regardless. And I certainly like a good bargain.

It's official.

After some plotting and planning and time flying too quickly, it's official: I have a four and a half year old.


Hard to believe, isn't it? The months are sprinting by, the years are too and here is this marvelous child who dazzles me with statements like, "wait right here. I'm going to the bathroom, but if a monster comes in, just yell for me and I'll come kill him, okay?" (And she was disappointed to return and learn no monster had attacked, nor came to stay.) Or the child who is anxiously waiting for Halloween to come around again because she is expecting our deceased canine to crawl out of the ground in zombie form. She was just telling me yesterday that she will wear dresses again and I should buy them and maybe she'll wear them "someday...in like nine days." (For whatever reason, I don't believe her.) Oh, and she can't eat berries or anything with seeds in it because, "that would good for me and I don't like that." She's quite the artisan with her words too and if you couldn't tell, she has a vivid imagination.

Before we know it, she's going to be in Kindergarten driving her teacher crazy and asking or telling her about monsters and zombies and theme parks she's designing. She has been developing this theme park, a robot one and one of the rides is called "Monsters of Darkness." She's incredibly explicit with the details on the kind of ride it is and how you get to shoot monsters and what they look like. I think she's done such a wonderful job describing it, sometimes she thinks it's real and expects to truly visit it someday. Maybe she will. I'm certainly not going to stop her. (Nor could I.)

Every day is indeed a gift, even while I'm sorting through fifteen puzzles worth of pieces and matching them all to their owners. And even if I get tired of fighting with hot cocoa stains in Gymboree shirts (and I'm convinced that once an article of clothing from just that store gets something into its fibers, it will never, ever come out), I do thoroughly enjoying buying her clothes. (Regardless of the lack of wearing dresses.) I'm extremely lucky to have this life of mine, even the laundry, even the arguments over vegetables and kid's meal toys she doesn't agree I should get rid of.



Yeah, hard to believe I have a four and a half year old, but I'll gladly keep her, even if I thought I had a girl and kind of got a boy instead.

A Time for Bedtime Stories

Bailey loves telling a good story. And I'm pretty fond of doing it too, considering I'm some writer wannabe who would love to someday force myself to finally write one of those stories living inside my head. Bailey favors scary stories and telling them around some pretend campfire with a flashlight shining in my face. And if we don't have a pretend campfire lit or a flashlight staring me down, a book is okay too. And we could never ever go to bed without a bedtime story.

We watched a trailer for the movie Bedtime Stories, and Bailey's been interested ever since. After some contemplation and off and on doubt, we decided to take the plunge and go see it on Saturday. We figured she'd at least enjoy the guinea pig, Bugsy. Regardless, it was quite the risk on our parts, being that yeah, it's an imaginative ride, but it's no cartoon. (I'm not sure why that means anything to us though since there are plenty of live-action movies she watches in their entirety and plenty of animated films she can't sit through past ten minutes.)

Our favorite theatre now serves food during half of their movie presentations, so we opted to dine in and only once did Bailey ask to leave. We refused though because we were just that into the movie. I loved it! Daddy even liked it and he absolutely loathes any movie with Adam Sandler in it. Bailey liked it too, mostly because of the big-eyed rodent.

Movies are one of our favorite things to do, so I'm glad all three of us enjoyed it. In fact, in November I was going to write a blog (and obviously never did) about another movie we saw. The blog was going to be entitled:

Thanksgiving Day: We bolted to the theatre


Hopefully, from that title you managed to learn that we went to see a movie on Thanksgiving Day. As for the movie, we saw Disney's Bolt. Bailey started getting bored early on and all throughout the film, but I kept delaying her because I was that entranced by it. I'm rarely that enthralled during a movie, honest, especially an alleged kid's film. I fall asleep through those or get up and start doing dishes or something. I've always been that way, even as an actual child. But Bolt's action had me so engrossed that there was no way I was missing a moment. Not even for Bailey. If I believed she'd sit through it again, I'd beg to see it a second time. But since it's no Horton Hears a Who or Wall*E, I'm guessing there is no second screening. If you think I'm not buying it on DVD though as soon as it is available, you're sadly mistaken.


Then sometime in December we were desperate to see another film which brings to yet another blog entry I never typed up (I know, a shocker). This one was to be titled,

Desperate to see Despereaux


This film, The Tale of Despereaux, looked so adorable in the movie trailers and the art was amazing. We anxiously awaited its arrival to the theatre and when we finally did go see it, I think we were all wiggling in our theatre seats anxiously waiting its departure. Bailey yet again begged to leave and if it hadn't been for curiosity, I think we would have allowed it. It wasn't an awful film, but it felt long and it just had a lot of different plots going on. I must add though, Dustin Hoffman's voice was in it, and for him, I could sit through it, but only for him...and well, Bailey (of course!).


Wow, I've gotten a bit off track, haven't I? I suppose that happens...



So in case you were wondering...you're never too old for a bedtime story, or a movie for that matter.

Batty Socks

I think every child needs a pair of bat socks, or maybe even a couple pairs. And they should get to wear them whenever they want. It makes life more interesting.