since it's 3:45 in the morning...

and I've already read for an hour (a bit from my college journals, most from The Time Traveler's Wife) I thought I would blog for a minute. Nothing spectacular-- just a few things I might want to remember.

First of all, I was locked out of my own house TWICE last week. One time was worse than the other because I had to pee. bad. The first time it happened, it was in the front yard. I was talking with friends who were just leaving our house. The kids had gone in earlier and apparently figured I was already inside. Ben locked the deadbolt and went upstairs to play. I knocked and knocked and knocked... and rang the doorbell a hundred times. I am not exaggerating here. When Ben FINALLY came to the door, I was so mad. Not just because they had locked me out, but because they didn't answer it after all my pounding (and the hundredth ring.) They felt terrible and Ben explained that they thought I was downstairs and that I was ignoring the doorbell because it was some little kid. He said, "I didn't think YOU would be ringing it over and over and over so annoyingly." I laughed about it and forgave them after about ten minutes.

A few days later, Zack and I were in the backyard. Zack was jumping on the trampoline. I was spray-painting their bunk beds (pictures later.) Zack finished and went inside. After a few minutes, I realized that I had to pee, so I tried to go inside. What are the chances that I would be locked out twice in one week?! This time wasn't so funny because there was no doorbell. And I really, really had to pee. I could have walked around to the front door, but I didn't WANT to. I wasn't wearing shoes and I knew there were a million little rocks between me and the front door. Aaron happened to be home but he was in the shower. I knocked and knocked and cursed my children. Eventually Zack came to unlock the door. When he opened it he asked (ever so sweetly) "Were you locked out?" Yes! I was you little brat and you are going to spend the rest of the day in time out! After I peed, he came running to me to apologe, but I didn't accept. Since then, he's mentioned it at least 20 times and every time he talks about it, he laughs. He quickly follows up by saying that he will never, ever lock the door when I am outside again. I think that is an understood rule in most homes, but apparently we need to strictly enforce it at ours.


Next of all, Zack has started pre-school. A few of us in the neighborhood with 3 year olds thought it would be fun to do an unofficial joy school. There are six kids. They are all good friends. Each of the moms takes a week (Tues/Thurs) and teaches a class on letters/colors/manners, etc. I think it's great for Zack to be doing things with kids his own age. He has spent the majority of his life doing/loving what his older brothers do. And a kid should be a little kid at least once. He is really enjoying it.

Last week was my turn to teach. It was a lot of fun and I was surprised to see how much Ben and Luke not only enjoyed having the little ones over, but HELPED. I seriously didn't need to plan anything. They were reading for story time, cutting out crafts, helping the kids glue on.. you name it. It made me so grateful for such sweet kids. I would overhear Ben encouraging one child, "Wow! You are SO good at coloring!" while I saw Luke help another put their papers in their backpack. At first, I was feeling a little uneasy about it-- trying to take on another thing in the middle of our already crazy lives. But I think it will work out just fine. Zack is so adaptable. He will go anywhere with anybody. He is such a sweetheart and so enthusiastic about everything he does. And when he's gone for a few hours in the morning Ben, Luke and I can really hit the books hard...

Zack has said a couple of really funny things this past week. We are always laughing at him, but honestly-- it's hard to write down and capture it because it's all about his face. His facial expressions are out of this world. He scrunches up his nose and changes his voice an octave or two depending on what he's saying. I don't want him to ever grow out of it, but I know he will soon realize that he sounds like a cartoon character when he gets excited.

The other day, while at the dollar store, our boys were deciding what to buy with their money. Luke was extra excited to go because he had a few extra coins from his recent lost tooth. Zack was determined to purchase an Iron Man frisbee, which we all thought was a great choice. And then he saw some Batman fruit snacks and set the frisbee down. Luke was concerned about Zack's new choice. He walked over to him, picked up the frisbee and started explaining all the reasons why it was a better way to spend his money. I overheard a few things like, "We've had those fruit snacks before and they don't taste good. They are supposed to be soft, but they aren't. The frisbee is sooooo cool. We can play with it when we get home and take it to the park....." Zack looked at him, shook his head and said, "If you love the frisbee so much, then YOU buy it." I thought it was so logical and decisive. Luke obviously didn't want to get the frisbee, but neither did Zack. He stuck to his guns and brought the fruit snacks to the register. While ringing up, I told Zack to hand me his money so we could pay for it. He gave me one quarter out of his pocket. I told him I needed all four. He was flabbergasted. He scrunched his nose and squealed out "THOSE fruit snacks costs FOUR monies?" When I said yes, he said, "Then I don't want to buy them!!!" So we put them back. He bought a gumball on our way out and saved the other three quarters. I just shook my head walking out to the car because we spent so much time letting Zack pick something out for himself and it was all for nothing. But at least he's starting to understand how much things cost-- and that fruit snacks at the dollar store are never worth a whole dollar.

There were more things to write about, but I can't remember them now. Back to The Time Traveler's Wife. I am really liking it so far and hope to finish before I see the movie. I will let you know how it all pans out (but hopefully not during another middle-of-the-night blogging session.)



ps. Happy 30th Birthday, Francine! I wish I lived closer to celebrate with you, but I am thinking of you today (even at 4 am..)