Christmas goodies

So it is Christmas morning and we are currently waiting for Paige to
wake up. It is now 7:15 and this is the latest she has ever slept in
her life! She is usually awake at 5:30--the time I woke up today.

Yesterday, Paige asked if she could put "candy" on her Christmas list
for Santa.

We were baking Christmas cookies last week and Paige already had about
1,000 when I cut her off. She got upset and then disappeared. I saw
her setting up some Polly Pocket dolls at the kitchen table and then she
came over to me and said, "The pollies really want a cookie.....they are
really hungry. Just give me the cookie and I will give it to them."
Boy does she know how to work it!

Mommy gets the shaft

We were at Costco yesterday when the girls asked (with holiday sugar
induced coma eyes) to get a churro from the snack bar. I calmly
explained that we had been having enough sugar during the holidays and
didn't need to add a churro to our list of sugar sins. So what do the
girls do? They ask Daddy! While I am waiting to pay, Greg slips out to
the snack bar line. The girls immediately knew what he was up to and
began doing a little chant that went something like this, "Daddy rules,
Mommy doesn't rule.....Daddy rules, Mommy doesn't rule!" ( I got several
looks of oh yeah, I've been there, from other moms passing by). After
about 5 minutes of this, (it was a long line at the snack bar) Daddy
emerged with the churro and the girls cheered him on all the way to the
car. He split up the churro and as the girls were hungrily devouring
theirs, he asked if he could have a bite of each girl's churro. Each
girl happily replied yes and handed theirs up to Daddy who just
pretended to take a bite. I explained to Greg that Paige would never
share with me and decided to conduct an experiment--if she shared with
Greg, surely she would share with me. I asked Paige if I could have a
bite to which she immediately shook her head and said "no!"--ah yes,
that is the treatment I am used to! Thankfully Chloe was willing to
share. After the girls had finished their churros, they were relaxing
quitely in their seats for the ride home when Chloe said, "Daddy, you
are soooo nice!" and then added as a less enthusiastic side note,
"....oh, (pause pause) you are nice too Mommy." I have decided that my
new discipline tactic is to walk around with churros in my pocket. :)

the joys of Christmastime

We celebrated Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Ron early this year
because they are traveling over Christmas. The girls each received a
pink pretend cell phone. Grandma suggested that we write their names on
each phone so that they didn't get mixed up. I carefully took a sharpie
pen and wrote a C on Chloe's and a P on Paige's. A few minutes later,
Chloe brought me over her phone and showed me that she had added an M to
her phone. When asked what the M was for, she replied, "For Motorola."

The girls received several nice gifts for the two to share. Needless to
say, some fighting has erupted. Yesterday morning, I heard things
heating up and then Chloe broke out in a song that she sang to Paige
through clenched teeth, "You better not shout, you better not GRAB!" I
have heard her sing her song 4 other times since then...all reflecting
some different injustice that Paige has brought on her--...you better
not go in my room, .....you better not yell, ........you better not
touch my stuff.

Paige continues

Paige has been a little character lately. Yesterday, the girls came in
to wake me up rather early. I told them that I was awake as I continued
to lay there in bed with my eyes closed (I am NOT a morning person!). I
finally rolled over to get out of bed and as I opened my eyes, the first
sight I saw was an 8 inch scorpion on my pillow! Paige had placed a
giant plastic scorpion (it was purchased at a museum gift shop so it was
quite realistic looking) on my pillow. I of course shrieked which made
her get a very concerned look on her face. I told her that it was a
pretty good joke, her concern quickly transformed into a maniacal laugh
and the biggest grin you ever saw--she was pretty proud of that.

I have been busy with the usual holiday frenzy as well as keeping up
with the house etc. The other day I was running around cleaning the
house and kept putting off playing until I had finished my list of
chores I had to do for the day. After about 20 minutes of this, Paige
asked me to come sit with her on the couch. I thought she might want to
snuggle and was quite surprised when she grabbed my head, placed her
hands on either cheek, looked me in the eye and said, "Mommy slow down!"

We saw Santa the other day. The girls each did pretty good and they
each got a nice gift and a candy cane. Paige went over to Greg with her
gift and candy in hand. When Greg asked if Paige needed help opening
her present, she replied, "I will save my present for when we get
home...I want to open my candy now." That is so Paige! The funny thing
is, she doesn't even like candy canes!